There are so many files that it can become confusing to determine what
is exactly on this CD, and it's very difficult for us to know how to
present the information to you. Therefore, we're trying to provide
you with several ways of finding the files.
This document describes all of the categories of software provided by SCE, its subsidiaries, and its tool partners. For ease of maintenance, this file is on both the Programmer Tools CD and Graphic Artist Tools CD, therefore some hyperlinks will not work if the wrong CD is placed in the CD-ROM drive:
This list should be read in conjunction with the "Family Type" column of the Tool Index in \doc\content.pdf.
2D artist tools are intended to help you work with sprites or any 2D bitmap. Generally, these tools are used to convert to the PlayStation's TIM format, and to position the image and its clut on the PlayStation's VRAM.
On the Programmer Tools CD, these tools are expected to be run in an MS-DOS window.
The Graphic Artist Tools CD contains the MS-DOS based tools plus Windows based converters, as well as Adobe PhotoShop plug-ins.
For more information, refer to the Overview Manual and the 3D Artist Tools manual on the Technical Reference CDROM. If you are a programmer, you should study the graphics samples in "\psx\sample\graphics\tuto" and "\psx\sample\graphics\2D". Many of the TIM images are stored in header files as arrays of type "unsigned long";
timtool.exe is a useful tool that allows the placement of Playstation TIM files within the Playstation Frame Buffer, and supports conversion of the following formats: Windows BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PCX, and PNG. Contributed by Malachy Duffin and Mark Breugelmans, SCEE. Refer to the document \psxgraph\bin\timtool.txt for release information. A Windows .HLP file is included which describes some of the other features of the tool.
3D Artist Tools
Directory: \psxgraph\bin
3D Artist Tools help you work with 3D dimensional data, such as the DXF format, and the text-file based PlayStation RSD format. Converters in this category can then create a PlayStation TMD formatted file, which can be read by routines in libgs.
3D Studio Plug-ins
Directory: \3rdParty\3DS
These tools, written at SCE (Japan), are used with 3D Studio. They are provided in the directory \psxgraph\bin for backwards compatibility, but we have also placed them in a separate directory in \3rdParty\3DS. Full information and instructions can be found in the directory "\psx\3rdParty\3DS" on the Programmer Tools CD and the Graphic Artist Tools CD:
Warning: Remove the SN-Dongle, and attach the 3D Studio dongle before progressing with a modeling session that uses the 3D Studio plug-in. Do not remove or add dongles while the PC is powered ON.
Warning: Always remove dexbios, cdbios, and mess1 (if they are already installed) before starting a 3D Studio plug in session.
Adobe PhotoShop plug-ins allow you to use the power of PhotoShop to create TIM files. The plug-in can import and export TIM format files, and preview the image directly on the television screen through the Graphic Artist Board (DTL-H201A). There are plug-ins for the following versions of PhotoShop:
For more information, refer to the document \psx\3rdParty\Adobe\readme.txt.
The Alias-Wavefront 8.0 plug-in is stored as \3rdParty\alias\alias8_0\AliasTar.gz. This file was created on a PC using WinZip and contains a compressed tar archive file. You should download this from a PC, unzip it with WinZip, then transfer it to your Unix workstation. From there, run "uncompress alias.tar", then "tar xvf alias.tar".
Then you need to install it.
The Material Editor is a tool that edits surface attributes (materials) of polygons, such as colors, textures (patterns), and method of shading of 3D models.
In order to use the Materials Editor, set the I/O address to access the artist board (DTL-H201A) using the Windows tool, "aboard.exe".
Refer to the Developer Reference Series, 3D Graphics Tool User's Manual on the Technical Reference CD, for additional information on "aboard.exe".
Bug note for Aboard.exe: The address settings list in this program does not allow you to set the address to be 0x1360 even though the board may be set to that.
These example batch files usually consist of a one or two line command, and are written merely to help ease the pain of typing long path names. For example, rather than typing
run c:\ps\pssn\bin\selcd
(which allows the development boards to access their own CD-ROM drives), you could place the same command in a batch file called "runselcd.bat".
These files are not machine generated, and the correct paths will vary depending on your development system setup. Therefore, please use them only as examples.
This directory contains a number of software development tools (and sometimes library files) that are considered to be in beta. Read \beta\readme.txt for more information.
These files are useful for the Brief Editor, the "Programmer's Editor", according to some. They consist of the macro source and a compiled version of the macros.
For more information, refer to the "SDevTC Development Environment" manual on the Technical Reference CD.
"CDGEN.exe" is an application that allows you to create PlayStation gold disks. However, CDGEN is sold separately.
In the Programmer Tools CD, we've provided the licensing files, which are required when you make a PlayStation CD that you can play on your blue debugging stations. The licensing files are in the directory \CdGen\LcnsFile.
You can use the utility MCheck to verify your mastering information. The Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 versions of MCheck are in the directory \CdGen\MCheck and \CdGen\MCheck95.
Here's a quick summary of the steps you need to do to make a debug station CD:
1. Remove PCRead( ), pollhost( ), and other PC file system calls from your code. 2. Link with 2mbyte.obj. For library versions 3.1 and later, the 2mbyte.obj and 8mbyte.obj are no longer required. With versions 3.1 and later, the heap sector for SP initial values or at the start up can be set by defining the two variables of _ramsize and _stacksize in the program. If you are defining two variables, please make sure that both are defined. If only one of the two is being defined, an error occurs at the time of establishing a link. int _ramsize = 0x00200000; /* RAM SIZE */ int _stacksize = 0x00008000; /* STACK SIZE */ 3. Execute cpe2x.exe /C[area] on the .cpe file. 4. Add files to CDGEN. Choose the correct file type for XA items. - Use Mode 2 Form 1 for game data. - Use Mode 2 Form 2 for XA files. - Select both Form 1 and Form 2 for a combined audio and video file. - Use the file type button to set the type for each file. - Standard file is Mode 2 Form 1. 5. Using the additional dialog button in the volume panel of CDGEN, set the System Area File to the path of your company's licenseX.dat file. For example c:\cdgen\licenseA.dat 6. Using the master dialog button in the layout panel of CDGEN, set the License Area to : - J is you have a Japanese debug station. - A if you have an American debug station. - E if you have a European debug station. 7. Set the minutes to 74 minutes. However, you should use 71 minue media. A 74 minutes media might work, but we do not support it. You must use the CD-R71PS for the mastering process for submissions to SONY. 8. In CDGEN, press the record (REC) button. 9. Always verify the completed disk.For more information, please consult the Technical Reference CD.
The SDevTC development environment consists of SN System's rapid assembler and the Gnu compiler. These tools are MS-DOS commands and should be run in an MS-DOS console window.
The assembler and linker components are in \pssn\bin, and the compiler components are in the \gnu directory of the Programmer Tools CDROM. Two versions exist:
Note: The important file "sn.ini" (formerly known as "psyq.ini") resides in \pssn\bin, and allows you to specify which libraries need to be linked into your program. With each CD-ROM release, this file will change to accomodate new libraries.
To install these tools, you can simply run "setup.exe" on the Programmer Tools CD in Windows 95, and choose the "SDevTC Tools" and the "C-Compiler" options.
If you don't have Windows 95, or if you need more information, refer to the following:
In addition, a new Windows 95 debugger for the DTL-H2000 system from SN is included on this CD, in the directory \pssn\windebug.
The Hierarchical Mesh Definition file format allows LIBGS based programs to manipulate complex hierarchical models with animation. Refer to the directory (on the Programmer Tools CD only) \psx\sample\hmd for samples that demonstrate how to process the objects. In addition, in the \psx\sample\hmd\data directory are a number of models, each with a "readme.txt" that describes how they were made.
Support for LightWave can be found in the directory \3rdParty\LightWav. Read the document \3rdParty\LightWav\readme.txt" for more information.
Within this directory are a number of subdirectories that contain PlayStation libraries and executables associated with the Metroworks CodeWarrior for PlayStation. The directories are as follows:
MIMe is an animation technique unique to the PlayStation, and can be configured to be a form of polygonal morphing. For an in depth discussion on generating MIMe files, refer to the 3D Graphics Tools manual in the Technical Reference CD.
In addition, there is source code for a mime-wave previewer, in \psxgraph\src\preview\.
These movie tools are a collection of programs used in handling streaming on the PlayStation. The movie tools contain tools to convert between other movie formats and the PlayStation streaming format, and tools to pack created streaming data.
MovConv handles the formats shown in the list below for input and output.
MovPack is a tool which interleaves streaming data or XA-ADPCM sound data created by MovConv, and assigns channel numbers to this data.
For more information, consult the "Overview Manual" on the Technical Reference CD-ROM, and the Windows based help files "movpack.hlp" and "movconv.hlp".
Note that these tools have been updated to
For the first time, Performance Analyzer files are being distributed on the Programmer Tools CD. These files include the "PA32.exe" program, flash utilities for the DTL-H2700, and instructions on installing the DTL-H2700. For more information, read \PA\readme.txt. After using these flash utilities, you can use the SDevTC tools in order to compile and debug your program.
These are MS-DOS tools provided by SCE (Japan). For more information, refer to the Technical Reference CD.
These files were created by SCE (Japan) for running programs on the DTL-H2000 ISA card. For information on using them, refer to the directory \psx\bin\DTLH2000.
These files were created by SCE (Japan) for running programs on the DTL-H2500 PCI card. For information on using them, refer to the document \psx\bin\DTLH2500. They are incompatible with the software driver h25bios.com in the SDevTC development environment, but are needed for diagnostic purposes and run with the h25drv.exe driver.
These files were created for the SDevTC development environment, and can work with the DTL-H2000 ISA card, the DTL-H2500 PCI card, and the DTL-H2700 ISA card (the Performance Analyzer). Such files include the debugger (dbugpsx), utilities to dump the contents of various files (dumpcpe.exe, dumpexe.exe, dumpobj.exe, and dumpsym.exe), and a "printf" message handler (mess1.com).
Some brief release notes for these utilities can be found in \pssn\version.txt.
For more information on using the tools, refer to the document "Psy-Q Development Environment" in the Technical Reference CD. You can also refer to either of the directories \psx\bin\DTLH2000 or \psx\bin\DTLH2500, which have the installation documents that contain tutorials on how to install the boards and use them with SCE Tools and SDevTC Tools.
Source code for the utility symmunge and libsn.lib can be found in the directory \pssn\src.
These files were created for the SDevTC development environment for the DTL-H2500 PCI board in order to initialize its flash BIOS. For more information, refer to the directory \pssn\bin\DTLH2500.
These files enable you to switch between the CD Emulator or the development system's CD-ROM drive (the DTL-H2010 or the DTL-H2510). For example, with the h25bios.com (or the dexbios.com) driver running, resetps your system, then type the following:
For more information, refer to the instruction manual that comes with the CD Emulator system (sold separately).
SCE ported a number of 2D and 3D graphic utilities for SGI workstation operating under IRIX 5.3,
including the movie converter, mimefilt, and mktod. They are in the directory \3rdParty\SGI.
These utilities are stored in a compressed-tar format. Follow the instructions
\3rdParty\SGI\readme.txt for instructions on how to install them.
Some of the utilities are unsupported. Note: The Japanese documents that
are inside the compressed archives have been translated and incorporated into the
"Data Converters" book in the Technical Reference CD. We apologize for the confusion
this may cause.
These files are DOS versions of similar files existing for the Sound Artist Board development system on the Apple(R) Macintosh. They allow you to create MIDI music and create PlayStation sequencing files, and convert from AIFF format into PlayStation's VAG and VAB formats.
Check the \beta directory
for new sound tools!
Check the \psx\utility directory
for a new sound library!
For more information, refer to the Technical Reference CD.
Available only on the Graphic Artist Tools CD
Directory: \psxgraph\bin
The sprite editor is an image data tool dedicated to the PlayStation. It provides the capability to create data interactively with sprite and BG picture components on Windows. For more information, read the Sprite Editor manual on the Technical Reference CD.
Note:In order to use the Sprite Editor the user must set their windows display drivers to 256 colors (an 8-bit palette).
This directory contains various utilities that are useful for PlayStation development. Refer to the document \psx\utility\readme.txt. for more information.
The Graphic Artist CD provides you with the same art tools found on the Programmer Tools CD -- and more. Windows based GUI utilities allow you to work with your tools much more easily than with the MS-DOS based commands. They include the following:
In the directory \psxgraph\wingpu are the statically linked libraries and a DLL that enable you to write your own Windows applications that can communicate with the Graphic Artist Board, making it possible to write your own Material Editor! The contents of the sub-directories are as follows:
![]() |
We appreciate your comments and
suggestions about our HTML documentation project.
Contact us at DevTech_Support@interactive.sony.com
Copyright © 1997 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. All Rights Reserved. |