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1. SEGA DTS DEVELOPER NEWS elcome to Sega Developer ews Welcome to this issue of DTS Developer News the Technical Support Newsletter from SEGA of America Product Development designed exclusively for SEGA and Third Party Developers We have recently reorga nized our resources in an effort to provide better support quicker response and a stronger offering of tools and documentation As a result we have estab lished a Central Dispatcher position to provide a front line contact for you Judy Jett is your point of contact and this newsletter provides you with information on the ways to contact DTS The preferred method for inquiries is through E Mail To facilitate and encourage you to E Mail your requests and inquiries we have attached a special offer from America Online provid ing 10 free hours of connect time America Online is one of the most cost effective online services and provides an electronic mail and international E Mail gateway for communication through the Internet Of course there are other commercial on line services available such as CompuServe eWorld GEnie and Prodigy as well as direct Internet connections If you do not currently have an account with an on line service we strongly recommend that you subscribe to the service of your choice and establish an E Mail address We have a number of new support tools to assist you in your development efforts First we are pleased to announce the avail
2. after Pro Qbit processing that sound would appear to be coming from well off to the player s right It should be noted that ProQbit while significantly widening the stereo sound field typically does not give as wide an image to sounds as does the QSystem II As with the QSystem II red book audio produced with Pro Qbit is non interactive Non Interactive PCM Audio As its name implies this method uses the PCM chip on the SEGA CD system to produce sounds allowing them to be instantly triggered by the game processor The scheme works as follows First a stereo QSound sound effect is created from a monaural source for example a jet plane flying from 90 degrees to the left to 90 degrees to the right This stereo sound can be created with the QSystem II Pro Qbit or by QCreator a Windows program designed especially for the purpose of creating stereo QSound sound effects from monaural sound files See the QSound Applica tion Guide for more information on QCreator This stereo sound is loaded into the PCM RAM The PCM uses 2 oscillators to play the sound One oscillator is panned full left volume 7f 0 and plays the left channel of the stereo sound effect the other is panned full right volume 0 7f and plays the right channel of the stereo sound effect Then both channels are turned on at exactly the same instant This is very important Both oscillators must start producing the sounds at the same moment Note This i
3. and interactive PCM for the SEGA CD can be implemented on the 32 bit systems However because of the increased processing power available in the new systems QSound has started to port versions of its algorithms directly to the processors on these systems One advantage this has is that only a monaural version of sounds need be stored especially important in a cartridge based product and that QSound can be used on any sound with full interactive control The following are brief descriptions of how QSound plans to implement the QSound algorithms for the 32X and Saturn 32X The 32X contains a stereo PWM DAC for sound generation The slave SH2 can send data to the DAC based on a special PWM interrupt QSound is porting its algorithm to the slave SH2 The goal is to process up to 4 channels of PWM data allowing real time interactive QSound panning of each sound individu ally using less than 15 of the slave SH2 Saturn The sound chip in the Saturn is the sophisticated SCSP chip providing up to 32 channels of PCM and FM sound with a built in DSP processor stage QSound is now developing a DSP software module that will run real time interactive QSound entirely on the SCSP s built in DSP processor This will allow some of the 32 voices to be processed by the QSound algorithms Since the algorithms will run entirely on the SCSP there will be no performance hit on any of the other processors Additional Information
4. by SEGA Bill Walsh College Football by Electronic Arts Cliffhanger by Sony Imagesoft and Joe Montana Football by SEGA If you would like to obtain the Cinepak technology contact your Producer or Account Executive If you would like to find out more about the features capabilities and updates of Cinepak please contact SEGA Developer Technical Support Cinepak 2 0 is scheduled to ship in early 95 It will include e Cinepak runtime driver v2 0 e MovieToSega v2 0 Macintosh utility e SegaCODEC v2 0 CPDUMP EXE a utility for dumping the movie header info e Source code for the player Bugs and features that have been addressed in v2 0 of the Cinepak Toolkit 1 Long Movie Problem this problem prevented a movie longer than 3 minutes and 55 seconds to play to its completion It is now fixed Hesitation Problem from the beginning certain movies caused the Cinepak driver to display an extremely noticeable audio and video hesitation during playback This problem was inherent to most movies that did not utilize a 600 video time scale This problem has been fixed Disk Seek Problem this bug prevented the Cinepak driver code from recognizing a sector overshoot This caused the Cinepak read code to continue searching through the remainder of the CD and then finally quit without locating the target sector This problem has been fixed One Palette Movie Problem movies that were compressed into using a s
5. use with the version 2 0 targets The first of the final version CartDevs for use with production 32X units should be available in November Genesis Mega Mouse This 4 button 3 buttons plus START mouse is available now Genesis Activator The two level body input controller is available now Genesis Team Player The upgraded version of this 4 player adapter is available now It works with virtually all 1 to 8 player games available for SEGA Genesis All prototypes finished product software drivers development tools and documentation should be requested through the SEGA of America Developer Technical Support department Technical Support Newsletter from SEGA of America Product Development 1994 Sega All rights reserved Vol 2 No 2 Oct 1994 Welcome to DTS a I m Judy Jett In my current role as Mat Developer Technical Support Central Dispatcher I am the front line contact for developer inquires and support The preferred way to contact DTS is through E Mail This will save paper and time and provides a tracking record of correspondence If E Mail is not available FAX your requests E Mail dts segaoa com FAX 415 802 1717 DTS Phone 415 802 1719 Note If you do not have an E Mail account we are attaching a special offer from America Online for 10 free hours Sega and Third Party Developers What is the difference between a SEGA Developer and a Third Party P
6. For further information on the features capabilities and updates of QSound please contact QSound Labs Inc 2748 37th Ave NE Calgary Alberta Canada TLY5L3 403 291 2492 fax 403 250 1521 E Mail 72662 466 compuserve com If you would like to obtain the QSound technology contact your SEGA Producer or Account Execu tive Cinepak Cinepak is a utility which facilitates adding video and animation to the SEGA CD Cinepak makes it much easier to add full screen full motion QuickTime movies to SEGA CD With Cinepak you can dramati cally reduce your production time and improve the quality of video in your games Specially tuned to enhance SEGA CD playback Cinepak technology uses high compression ratios and sophisticated color reduction techniques to fully integrate QuickTime movies with your programs Cinepak for SEGA works with the QuickTime digital video format developed by Apple Computer for use on Macintosh computers Cinepak processes QuickTime files so before you can use Cinepak you need to have your video and audio data transferred into the QuickTime format This can be done using tools available such as Adobe Premiere As an alternative professional video production and file preparation services with QuickTime and multimedia experience can use utilized To see examples of Cinepak technology in action check out any of the following SEGA CD titles Jurassic Park by SEGA Dracula Unleashed
7. QSound for the SEGA CD can be done with 3 different methods e Non interactive red book audio e Non interactive PCM audio e Interactive PCM audio Non interactive Red Book Audio The red book audio tracks CD music of a CD title can be processed at mix down time using the QSystem II This professional audio device works in real time allowing the audio engineer to move up to 8 specific sounds around in QSpace using its 8 monaural inputs and stereo output The QSystem II has full MIDI and SMPTE synchronization capabili ties allowing it to be controlled from any commercial sequencer or SMPTE system Once the audio is mixed down to a stereo format it gets transferred to the CD Since the QSound processing happens at the time of mixing the QSound elements are non interactive 1 e they are fixed and the position of the sounds are not change able by the CPU One excellent example of using QSound on red book audio tracks is SEGA s Ecco the Dolphin The background musical ambiance is red book audio processed with the QSystem II QSound has also created a QSound module as a plug in for Sound Designer II This module Pro Qbit can process an already mixed stereo sound file and apply the QSound algorithms to it While not as flexible as the QSystem II Pro Qbit has the effect of greatly widening the stereo sound field For example if the original stereo mix had a sound panned to the full right that is in the right speaker only
8. ability of Saturn Training Materials on videotape These tapes include information pre sented at the Saturn Developer s Conference held in May and have been updated to reflect new develop ments We also have a number of new and updated tools You will find an updated list in this newsletter For those of you that need Saturn or Mars documenta tion we have provided a complete listing in the back of this newsletter Be sure to FAX or E Mail use your requests and please include your E Mail address so we can update our records Thank you for the outstanding products you have contributed to the SEGA platforms We look forward to providing you with the tools documentation and support you may need ike Zakiri Manager Developer Technical Support Hardware ews Here is the latest information regarding new hardware and peripheral products from SEGA of America Genesis Universal Driver Software The latest version is available on the DTS BBS It includes driver code for 3 button 6 button Activator Mega Mouse Menacer and Team Player controllers Note It is imperative to use the universal driver in your Genesis games or one that emulates its exact timing and signal polarities Genesis 32X The Genesis 32X will start shipping in mid November Currently version 2 0 target development systems are available for developers on a priority basis Rev B CartDev development systems with Cross Products debuggers are also available for
9. an yu segaoa com Sound Support wiley evans segaoa com Saturn Support kevin wagner segaoa com Senior European Liaison judie nybo segaoa com Technical Supervisor Third Party Licensing curtis soldano segaoa com FAX Third Party Development Equipment Ordering SEGA Developer Development Equipment godfrey mauricio segaoa com FAX Ordering FAA back We at SEGA of America would like to know your opinion on this issue of the DTS Developer Newsletter and what you would like to see to make it better Please take a moment to fill out the information below and mail or FAX it to SEGA What did you like dislike about this issue of SEGA DTS Developer News How can DTS better support your development efforts What features information would you like to see included in upcoming issues If you need documentation list the title and number below You must have a SEGA non disclosure document on file to receive documentation If you have not signed a non disclosure contact DTS Please provide your E Mail address for our records SEGA SEGA of America Developer Technical Support 150 Shoreline Drive Redwood City CA 94065 FAX 415 802 1717
10. ator User s Manual ST 130 050394 2D Motion Editor User s Guide ST 140 051894 Map Editor User s Manual ST 127 042594 SET 3 SATURN SOUND TOOLS MANUALS Sound Development Manual ST 81 R2 03 1094 Sound Editor User s Manual ST 101 031594 Sound Tool Guide 20 Apr 94 Wave Editor User s Manual ST 99 R 1 042594 Standard MIDI File Converter Specifications ST 66 121593 32X MANUALS Genesis Super 32X System Overview and Hardware MAR 10 032394 32X Hardware Information MAR 25 R5 R6 060694 32X Hardware Manual MAR 32 R4 072294 32X Hardware Manual Supplement 1 MAR 32 R4 SP1 072694 32X Hardware Manual Supplement 2 MAR 32 R4 SP2 R1 072694 32X Sample Disk MAR 40 072094 32X Technical Information MAR 41 R8 090694 32X Technical Information Attachment 1 MAR 42 072694 32X Development Equipment and Materials Menu MAR 45 081594 Judy Jett Mike Larkin Evelyn Merritt Rob Powers Bert Mauricio Emiko Takahashi Gail Tsujita Jean Yu Wiley Evans Kevin Wagner Judie Nybo Curtis Soldano Godfrey Mauricio i internet Addresses DTS Dispatcher dts segaoa com Manager Developer Technical Support michael larkin segaoa com Manager Documentation evelyn merritt segaoa com Cinepak 32X 16 Bit Systems robert powers segaoa com Hardware Support bert mauricio segaoa com Saturn ST V Titan Support emiko takahashi segaoa com Tool Distribution Saturn 16 Bit Systems gail tsujita segaoa com 32X 16 Bit Systems je
11. ingle Genesis palette would not play back properly using the Cinepak driver This problem is fixed DMA Code Split the Cinepak DMA code was overloading the vertical blank routine and was making it virtually impossible to add any further functionality during the vertical blank It was necessary to split the DMA to function across two consecutive vertical interrupts This code change has been implemented Volume Control the Cinepak player previously set the PCM volume to a hardwired value that was not accessible to the game programmer This feature required that a volume parameter be added to the initialization function for the Cinepak driver in order to provide the programmer with a way to preset the PCM volume prior to movie playback This feature has been added SegaCODEC Interface Modification previously in the SEGA CODEC interface the quality slider bar was selecting palettes instead of the compres sion quality of the outputted frames This required that the palette selection be unlinked from the slider bar and reimplemented in another fashion This modification has been implemented SegaCODEC Slider Bar The quality slider bar was previously used to select the destination Genesis palettes Instead the slider bar needed to be linked to the effectiveness of the Cinepak compression This feature has been added Documentation Listed below are our current Saturn and 32X documents Use the FAX Bac
12. k on the last page of this newsletter for your requests When ordering Saturn manuals please order by set 1 e Set 1 Set 2 or Set 3 SET 1 SATURN PROGRAM MING MANUALS Saturn Introduction Manual ST 155 062094 SEGA of America Introduction to Saturn Game Development Saturn Overview Manual temporary version 1 ST 103 R1 040194 VDP1 User s Manual ST 13 R2 120693 VDP1 User s Manual Supplement ST 13 SP1 052794 VDP2 User s Manual ST 58 R2 060194 Saturn SCSP User s Manual ST 77 R2 052594 Boot ROM User s Manual ST 79B R1 062294 Saturn Software Library Supplement ST 114 041294 SH2 Dynamic Load Linkage Editor ST 19 R1 B 050994 Disc Format Standards Specification Sheet ST 40 R2 062294 SATURN DEVELOPMENT TOOLS MANUALS Graphics Data Book ST 124 042594 Sample Data User s Manual ST 160 062094 Authoring Environmental Guide ST 91 062794 Sound Development Manual ST 81 R2 03 1094 Saturn Sound Driver System Interface ST 166 050494 Sound Programming Debugger User s Manual ST 65 R1 0311494 Microcomputing Developing Int Environment for Macintoch ST 80 R2 050994 External specifications Saturn file system Library ST 39 R2 011094 External Specification Doc Saturn Stream System ST 98 031194 Saturn ROM Emulator Installation Guide ST 153 061794 Simple CD Simulator User s Manual ST 161 062094 SET 2 SATURN GRAPHICS TOOLS MANUALS Photoshop Plug In User s Manual ST 125 042594 SEGA Converter User s Manual ST 126 042594 Simple Anim
13. kage for the Mac CD ROM Tools Software Library Two Saturn demos are available for Model S Targets VSHELL3 ZIP for Programming Box 2 0 VSHELL4 ZIP for Programming Box 3 0 and beyond Saturn and Mars GNU Version H 1 A full compiler tool set ew Videos Developer Tech Support is pleased to announce the availability of Saturn Training Materials on Video tape The materials are based on the Saturn Developer s Conference held in May with updated content The set of six tapes are accompanied by a notebook of the slides that make up the presentations The topics include e Saturn System Overview Graphics Tools e SH2 e Developer s Tools e VDPI e CartDev e VDP2 e Sound The tapes are available at a cost of 75 00 Contact your Producer or Account Executive for ordering information Q How do I get the DSP started on the Saturn Use the Linker to configure the DSP that is desired making sure that you have reserved enough ring buffer space Make sure all the mixer and the send and return levels in the tone editor are set correctly Link the DSP with your patches by selecting the menu item Link then download When I install my E7000pc POD into my Saturn Small Box why does IPI give me Invalid Pod Message When you install a pod into a Saturn Small Box there is a 171 pin PGA socket that needs to be inserted into the Saturn board Make sure the socket clicks into place H
14. must put an in line terminator on the SCSI cable con nected to the Saturn QSOUN D Jet planes roar toward you The drone of missiles ap proaches at nine o clock You turn and fire before you even have them in your sights The sound responds as the graph ics do instantly You re react ing with all your senses on full alert faster than you could to sight alone You re playing a game with QSound QSound Virtual Audio QSound is a patented innovative process for creating surround type sound effects using only standard stereo speakers It requires only traditional stereo playback equipment for reproduction and allows a game designer to place sound effects at specific locations outside the range of the speakers Your game is no longer limited to the screen in front of the user Now it surrounds them with audio clues that give real spaital dimension and interactive responsiveness to elements and events on and off the screen Using the QSound process sound sources can be placed in virtual space an arc approximately x90 degrees in front of the listener well outside the speakers and beyond the confines of the video screen QSound processing may be accomplished in a number of ways but becomes in each case an integral part of the stereo audio stream and needs no decoding hardware The listener needs only a normal stereo delivery system to experience the effect QSound on the SEGA CD
15. owever when using an EVA board do not use this extra socket I just got my CartDev and when I run it I get a address out of range error when using the 32X CartDev Development System Make sure the SRAM card is plugged in securely Make sure all four DIP switches on the SRAM card are set to the on position Profile bert Mauricio Bert Mauricio received his B S in Computer Science from San Francisco State University and has been with SEGA for four years Prior to working at SEGA Bert was responsible for testing and QA at The Learning Company At SEGA he spent three years supporting SEGA hardware development systems for GameGear Genesis and SEGA CD He is currently concentrating on 32X and Saturn but continues to support all platforms including Cross Products S N Systems Zaxtek Hitachi and SEGA development systems If you are unsure of how to hook up a development system or have other hardware related questions don t hesitate to contact Developer Technical Support The lexical scanner for the GNU assembler will see ANY string starting with vbr ex vbr_table as a reference to the vbr register Do not use vbr or other reserved register names with the GNU assembler Instead of using vbr_table try vector_base_register_table GNU won t compile Re boot the machine without loading the configuration file In order to make Audio tools run smoother on the Mac for Saturn you
16. s supported as well as dynamic loading of QSound sounds in the Hammond SEGA CD Audio Driver available from SEGA The result is a plane flying from left to right in full QSound Since the sound is loaded into PCM RAM this sound effect can be played instantly by the CPU However the CPU can only trigger the fly left to right sound it cannot change the QSound panning of the sound from moment to moment In that sense it 1s non interactive How ever the sound could be made to go from right to left by reversing the panning of the 2 oscillators Interactive PCM Audio Real Time Panning Interactive QSound This method allows fully interactive control of a QSound sound effect by the CPU on a moment to moment basis It works basically the same way as the non interactive PCM audio with two important differ ences 1 QCreator is used to create a special image file from the monaural sound effect 2 The CPU controls the QSound position of the sound from moment to moment by adjusting the left and right volumes of the 2 oscillators used to play the original sound and the image file sound in specific ways This can work for looping sounds as well as non looping sounds Note This is also fully supported in the Hammond SEGA CD Audio Driver QSound on the Saturn and 32X Since both the 32X and Saturn use digitized data as the basis for sound generation PWM for 32X and PCM for Saturn the methods described above non interactive PCM
17. ublisher SEGA Developer A SEGA Producer will hire qualified parties as needed to develop a game on a contract basis programmers artists etc SEGA will market and distribute the game To become a SEGA Developer contact DTS for details Third Party Publisher The Third Party is licensed to use the SEGA name In order to become a SEGA Third Party Publisher Licensee a company must have the ability to market sell support and create high quality products on SEGA platforms Third Party Developers are parties sponsered by Third Party Publishers to build products on SEGA platforms For more information on becoming a Third Party Developer please direct your correspondence to Third Party Licensing SEGA of America 255 Shoreline Suite 400 Redwood City Ca 94065 Lools All tools are accessible from the DTS BBS E Mail or FAX DTS for information on how to access the DTS BBS 32X 1 MARSDMA ZIP Examples of doing DMA on 32X 2 DIAG_EXE ZIP 32X Hardware diagnostics DIAG_SRC ZIP program 3 CO00915 ZIP CartDev software with a simple 32X example program written in Snasm 32X Snasm example with PWM driver 32X GNU SIERRA C example beta release 4 32X_1012 Z P 1 32X_1014 Z P Saturn We currently have several English and Japanese versions of the following tools The Japanese is for Model S English in translation now available end of Oct and the English is for Model M Graphics Tools Sound Tools pac

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