Created on 19.03.2009 - 11:08

Hello,

I've been trying for a long time to capture some 3D meshes in ePSXe (for educational purposes only, honest ) and have always failed so far, so I have a few questions to ask - just to know if it can be done and I'm doing it wrong, or if it's impossible and I should just give up. ^^

I tried to capture 3D geometry and textures from ePSXe a few years ago, using a modified Direct3D DLL coded by a friend. It did basically the same thing as 3D Ripper DX does now, only at the time it was very new and mind-blowing. This way we were able to capture, for instance, 3D models and textures from Half-Life 2 (which at the time had just been released).

Unfortunately, Pete's GPU plugins made use of D3D6 and D3D7 only, while my modified DLL was for D3D8 or D3D9 only... So I tried a GPU plugin named Next3D, as this one was using D3D9. And it did rip some textures, but no 3D geometry - ever ! My coder friend said it may have to do with the emu rendering all models with triangles instead of polys (or something like that) but it could also be a bug with either Next3D or our modified DLL...

Then lately, I found out about 3D Ripper DX and GLIntercept, which sound great and seem to work really well with (respectively) D3D and OGL. So I did it again ! I tried capturing geometry and textures with both tools, using either Next3D or Pete's OGL/OGL2 plugins. But the result is still the same : textures ok ; 3D models nowhere to be found.

Considering I tried it with 2 different tools for 2 different rendering modes - although always in the one same old ePSXe emu - I think the failure is definitive... But I thought I might as well come here and ask. So what do you, Pete and visitors, think ?

Is it a problem with the way these GPU plugins render geometry ? Is it a problem with the way ePSXe sends geometry information to the GPU plugins ? Can it ever be fixed or tweaked ? Or should I just stop trying ? XD

Created on 20.03.2009 - 14:53

its more likely the fact the PSX doesn't actually do 3d at all.

Created on 20.03.2009 - 20:15

Yeah, I guess so. The way the PSX displayed 3D stuff has few common points, if any, with 3D the way it's done nowadays... Yet I thought that maybe, considering the GPU plugins do use 3D hardware acceleration... I mean if said plugin can wrap whatever 3D functions the PSX hardware uses and make them go through standard Direct3D or OpenGL functions, like Z-buffers, bilinear filtering, anti-aliasing, isn't there a point in handling the geometry the same way ?

Created on 21.03.2009 - 09:33

Pezito schrieb Yeah, I guess so. The way the PSX displayed 3D stuff has few common points, if any, with 3D the way it's done nowadays... Yet I thought that maybe, considering the GPU plugins do use 3D hardware acceleration... I mean if said plugin can wrap whatever 3D functions the PSX hardware uses and make them go through standard Direct3D or OpenGL functions, like Z-buffers, bilinear filtering, anti-aliasing, isn't there a point in handling the geometry the same way ?

PSX doesn't have a zbuffer, or 3d rendering.

It renders a 2D image in a way that makes it look 3D

Created on 21.03.2009 - 12:30

That's right technically, but you can't ignore the fact that the GPU plugin fit some 3D in there. The PSX doesn't do texture filtering or mipmapping either, but the GPU plugin does, right ?

We're talking about an emulator adding its own layer to the console, not about the real console's hardware, thus why I asked about geometry.

... Now that I think about it, the explanation could be just that ! While it was quite useful to add higher resolution, antialiasing and texture filtering on top of the PSX graphics, there was no real point in accelerating the geometry as well (considering it wasn't especially detailed)...

Created on 23.03.2009 - 10:30

Pezito schrieb That's right technically, but you can't ignore the fact that the GPU plugin fit some 3D in there. The PSX doesn't do texture filtering or mipmapping either, but the GPU plugin does, right ? We're talking about an emulator adding its own layer to the console, not about the real console's hardware, thus why I asked about geometry. ... Now that I think about it, the explanation could be just that ! While it was quite useful to add higher resolution, antialiasing and texture filtering on top of the PSX graphics, there was no real point in accelerating the geometry as well (considering it wasn't especially detailed)...

And emulator is exactly that, it emulates the original functions by using available computer functions. The only thing it can modify is images and audio during the output stage, not the preparation stage.