What Is The Gp32 Capable Of?


EoS

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Jan 18, 2004
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Hi , i was wondering: Since the gp32 has a powerfull cpu and a lot or ram ( for a handheld) but no gpu or soundchip / as far as i know), what kind of graphics is he really capable of? for example, the GBA has pretty nice 3d gfx, while having a slower cpu but having a gpu....can the gp32 do similar things, in theory (Im NOT asking for a gba emu!!) ?
 
Well, we have a direct port of doom, with the same graphics as the PC version. So therefor, the GP32 is better than the GBA ;)
 
well , i wasnt even thinking about comparing the 2, i was looking for a purely rational answer :)
 
It has enormous potential beyond any handheld out there (with perhaps the exception of the N-gage) it just takes far more work due to the lack of items you listed above.
 
Actually, that comment about doom was quite rational ;)

If you have ever played the GBA Doom version, you will notice that the developers hat to downgrade Doom quite a lot to have it run on the GBA, and it even runs bad in Multiplayer.
On the other hand we have the GP32, running "only" a homebrew Doom port at a 0. version quite flawlessly.

You can't say an absolute number, but ThunderZ (the guy who works on the Yeti3d engine for the GP32) guesses that the GP32 can support about 2500-3000 polys at the screen at once while also running the complete rest of a game (sound, gameplay, etc) at a decent framerate.

But keep in mind, that is really just a guess, and it totally depends on the engine and also things like texture resolution etc.

I think (and that is again only a guess) that games at the "lower end of the PS1 scale" should run on the Gp32 (while the GBA is really just an enhanced SNES).
 
Think non FPU 486 PC games basicly. The PS1 lower end stuff comparison is probably a good one too. It is a quick little machine unfortunately apart from the never seen Radion(?) there have been no commercial 3D games (yet).

Some of those GBA 3D engines would look extreamly nice ported to the GP32.

-Craig

www.gbax.com
 
You've posted 354 posts, I would have thought you'd have a GP32 by now to see for yourself Mr Popalung...
 
Gp32 for 2d seems great too. I mean little wizard looks pretty good (nice with the colors, very smooth) and that came out when the gp32 first did. If they were to make a sequal or something, and brushed up the animations, you could get a game the gba could only dream about.
 
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