TyRaNiD interview

Please tell us a little about yourself.
TyRaNiD: Real Name : James F.
Job : Student
Likes : Computers beer and women :)

We have a question from Azuco: please explain your handle name. from tyrant ? or Pyramid ?
TyRaNiD: It comes from a Games Workshop roleplaying board game called Warhammer 40,000. A Tyranid was a really nasty alien.
I just liked the name.

So, why do you write it TyRaNiD, instead of Tyranid?
[TyRaNiD] Because im difficult :P

So, why did you start work on S'O'T, and when was that?
[TyRaNiD] I started it back in 1997. My brother just boaught a saturn with XMen vs SF and I really wanted to write an emu. I found a BIOS by chance and a few other emus (such as A-Saturn) and started n a dissassembler.
It grew from the disasm to an actual emu over the next few weeks after that.

and that led to Lucifer.......
[TyRaNiD] Yes Id been contacted by Pharoah a few times as he was trying to write his own emu. It started with a info exchange but eventually grew into Lucifer

What kind of programming/programs had you done before that?
[TyRaNiD] Ive done various things. A few games.An few utilities. A paint package or two. and quite alot of failed attempts at each.

For what systems?
[TyRaNiD] PC and Atari 400 / 800 / XE. Mostly DOS based. Ive only really started writing windoze code when I started Lucifer.

Is that why there hasn't been a release of that emu yet? [TyRaNiD] Sort of. Me and Pharoah spent far too long trying to code the user interface. We just couldnt get it right.
Proably the UI was too ambitiuos.

How far has Lucifer come right now? When do you think there will be a release?
[TyRaNiD] It has come a fair way but we still dont believe it is yet releaseable. Too many niggling problems left. We will do our best to release as soon as we believe it is ready.

How does Lucifer compare to other saturn emus, like A-saturn?
<[TyRaNiD]> Hard to say. We dont have much grafix working at the moment but we do have other things which A-Saturn does not have like almost complete cd code.We are proably about equal in terms of total percentage done.

Do you cooperate a lot, Azuco and Lucifer team?
[TyRaNiD] not really in the past. Ive had the odd chat with Azuco now and again but most of it has been very general infomation.
nothing of note yet

How do you divide work in Lucifer? What does you, Pharoah and JGL do each?
[TyRaNiD] Me and Pharoah just sort of picked and choosed what we wanted to do. I had done alot of work on the cd system so I took on that responsibility and pharoah had done more windoze programming so he has mainly been wrting the ui and porting bits of som.
as for JGL he hasnt done anything yet. He is always busy and has not particapated in any great level.

What do you think is most difficult thing in saturn emulation?
[TyRaNiD] VDP emulation is not very nice and the general level of power which the saturn actually has is going to be a big probelm to overcome.
I feel the hardest part will end up being the syncronisation of so many processors (about 8 or 9) acting together.

Could you explain short how an emulator actually works?
[TyRaNiD] Well at a basic level you take a cpu instruction from a imaginary memeory map and convert it to the native computer code.
You keep a track of how many virtual instructions have been run which allows you to syncronise garfix and sound etc.
The principle is very simple. The implementation is alot more difficult.

You mentioned before that the saturn is really powerful. What kind of computer do you think is necessary for full speed emulation?
[TyRaNiD] Proably for most saturn games which dont use much of the saturns powers maybe a fast P3. Assumming dynamic recomilation cpu cores and HLE emulation.
For the really power hungry games u could be looking at alot more manily dues to the multi processors and things like a fast dsp math processor.
I do believe the saturn was more powerful than the psx it just could never show it.

Whos fault was that? Lazy coders? [TyRaNiD] more bad design on Segas part. It didnt believe it needed 3d hardware so it made it 2d only. When the psxs specs were released sega realised that theyhad made a blunder
and told the designers to add some sort of 3d hardware. In the end it just didnt get the punters because of its poor 3d power as people r quite fickle.
that drove the coder from ever really exploiting the power.

from Azuco: What you think about AZUCO & A-SATURN...
[TyRaNiD] Well Azucos a nice enough person, and A-Saturn has progressed really far since I first saw it. It should do well if enough time and effort can be expended on it.
A-Saturn at the moment is the only contender for the emu which runs the first game apart from Lucifer.

How soon do you think that will be?
[TyRaNiD] Months if not a year. It wont be tommorow I can tell u that.

Why do you think saturn emulation is so far behind PS and N64 emulation?
[TyRaNiD] Because there is no interest. There is the select few people who really care about the saturn but most never had a game they would even consider playing on the saturn.
Also there is not as much fame to be gainined or commercial viability.
Overall it died in the market and except for a select band is almost dead in the emu world.

Which are your favorite games, and do you like gaming or programming more? Fav games are any street fighter including the derivatives MSH etc. and classic shoot um ups. [TyRaNiD] Im a game player first and for most. Programming comes just behind.


Will you release the source-code of Lucifer?
[TyRaNiD]And as for the source MaYbE !

Will Arsenal beat AIK in the champions league (football)
[TyRaNiD] of course
NOT

Anything else you want to tell us?
[TyRaNiD] Just stay happy. That is the only pleasure you will get in life :P oh and stop requesting the BIOS. Please !!


Interview by Tunek
Published: 27/8 1999

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