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Saturn Lua player woes

television2000 - Sep 7, 2011

		television2000		Sep 7, 2011
			Hey guys, Since the only close thing to programming I did was flash/html, I decided to take up a programming language for myself and decided to use Lua since it's marketed as an easy language. Not to mention it has already been ported to the saturn by the Rockin-B. However I'm WAY over my head or I think have the wrong idea of how to code it past the "Hello world" program. I'm I doing it wrong by simply thinking my saturn is like a 28mhz computer and coding it way as such. Isn't this what the SLP is made for ? To use Lua as a main programming language for it ? I'm still trying to figure out how to load a file/image into memory and print it on the screen. From what I read in the SGL is that the image format HAS to be converted by BGCON in order to be used for the saturn. Does that also apply to this Lua port ? Add to that, I think my Lua code is wrong or none functional as well since I think C is still used for that in the included samples ? I read somewhere that the Rockin-B said that the Saturn Lua player was not ported from the PSP. If that's the case then I presume the info/tutorial that I've been using from this site http://www.evilmana.com/tutorials/lua_tutorial_07.... won't work right ? All the samples/iso are way too advanced for a beginner to experiment let alone comprehend. What do I do then ?

		Chilly Willy		Sep 8, 2011
			Lua is just another language, like any other, it just happens to be interpreted like python instead of compiled like C. It has features that many people like, but nothing that makes it any better for games than anything else. The PSP Lua Player was designed to use the "standard" libraries people are used to using, like libpng or libjpeg, along with a few commands for things like starting an MP3 or setting the video. The Saturn Lua Player is designed around using the regular Saturn libraries since that is how most Saturn devs are used to accessing the features of the Saturn (like the pads and the VDPs). You will have to become familiar with the Saturn libraries to make use of the SLP, you will just be using Lua instead of C for the programming. In that respect, the SLP isn't meant to make programming Saturn games any easier, it just substitutes one language (C ) for another (Lua).

		television2000		Sep 8, 2011
			So a tutorial is still needed then. Too bad that Rockin-B never converted the one from 2005 to the Lua version. I've spent 5 days now straight trying to understand how to import a sprite to the screen with Lua. And from the startup.Lua document supplied with the .zip I can't find the Lua equivalent commands for SGL. Or at least they're there but I can't understand them better yet. :/ Do you just write them like C ? Can I bother you kind sir to show me how to bring up sprites for display ? Any kind of information would be nice. I'm still determined though to learn how to program for the saturn in any way possible.

Chilly Willy

Sep 10, 2011

		television2000 said:
		So a tutorial is still needed then. Too bad that Rockin-B never converted the one from 2005 to the Lua version. I've spent 5 days now straight trying to understand how to import a sprite to the screen with Lua. And from the startup.Lua document supplied with the .zip I can't find the Lua equivalent commands for SGL. Or at least they're there but I can't understand them better yet. :/ Do you just write them like C ? Can I bother you kind sir to show me how to bring up sprites for display ? Any kind of information would be nice. I'm still determined though to learn how to program for the saturn in any way possible.

If you look at the Chrome example and ignore that it has no line feeds, you find it uses SGL like this:

Code:

    slInitSystem(TV_352x256,tex_table,1)

Texture_Load()

slInitGouraud(grreal_test,1024,GRreal(0),vwork)

slIntFunction(slGouraudTblCopy)

slZdspLevel(7)

slSetGouraudTbl(GourTbl)

slDMACopy(gour_palette,VDP2_COLRAM,64)

slCurColor(15)

slPrint("Chrome/Bump demo",1,23)

slPrint("SGL 3.0",1,24)

slPrint("Powered by Saturn Lua Player",1,25)

slPrint("V Count",1,2)

slPrint("Polys Processed",1,3)

slPrint("Polys Drawn",1,4)

slPrint("TotalVertices",1,5)

The lack of line feeds makes it really hard to read, but there doesn't seem to be anything special needed to use SGL. There are text files on SGL in the docs directory of the SLP arc.

		television2000		Sep 10, 2011
			Thanks Chilly Willy ! It did shed some more light into this. However I just started learning C !! Joy! Right now, I'm into the ! , && and \|\| section lol. VERY fun language I must admit. Somehow It's much simpler than C++ which I bought a book for and found it very hard to get into for some reason. :/ Lua IS good however, just not for a full fledged games I'm afraid. Speed issues and what's not.