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Old 19-04-18, 13:55   #1
b122251
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Default PSX: Messing with water colours

Hi everybody,

I was working on a new program (which I will tell you all about... some other time) and as part of the process I was investigating water colour on PSX.
I discovered that unlike the PC, on PSX "water colour" as such doesn't really exist. Rather, the PSX has two sets of colour palettes: one for above water, and one for under water. And if Lara goes under water, the playstation swaps out the palettes.
Therefore what water looks like is not determined by the engine, but by the level file.
I embedded the option of changing what water looks like in my program, and here is me messing about with it a bit.
Some of these are viable options and could add a nice effect to a level, and others just look weird and cool.
Hope you like it.

Greetings,
b122251
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Old 19-04-18, 15:40   #2
Alex Fly
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Wow it's so cool, thanks for sharing. Some of those variations really make incredible effects!
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Old 19-04-18, 15:57   #3
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Interesting. I understand that the "underwater palette" is also used when Lara is on the surface and we see inside water tanks?

What is the default scheme for the water palette on the PS1?
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Old 19-04-18, 15:59   #4
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That's really interesting! Would be fun if we could use some of those above water, too, play whole levels like that .
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Old 19-04-18, 16:20   #5
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Wow nice !
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Old 19-04-18, 16:23   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dustie View Post
Interesting. I understand that the "underwater palette" is also used when Lara is on the surface and we see inside water tanks?

What is the default scheme for the water palette on the PS1?
Dividing the value for red by 2 using a logical right shift of one bit (or in my notation: R>1).

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Originally Posted by Zebra View Post
That's really interesting! Would be fun if we could use some of those above water, too, play whole levels like that .
I could easily do that. Instead of altering the underwater palette, just alter the above-water palette.
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Old 19-04-18, 16:24   #7
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But I've been wondering that how do you do all these stuff on PSX files ?
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Old 19-04-18, 16:26   #8
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But I've been wondering that how do you do all these stuff on PSX files ?
I'm a programmer. I write a program that alters them. In the end every file on earth is just a series of bytes. If you know what the bytes mean, you can come up with ways to change them. I had to figure out how the PS1 format worked, but now I know, and can use that knowledge.

The program I'm currently working on (which I also used to change the water palettes in this thread) isn't released yet. When it is, anybody can do this.
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Old 19-04-18, 16:32   #9
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Very interesting. It's great to see what programmers can do with old games like this.
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Old 19-04-18, 16:33   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by b122251 View Post
I'm a programmer. I write a program that alters them. In the end every file on earth is just a series of bytes. If you know what the bytes mean, you can come up with ways to change them. I had to figure out how the PS1 format worked, but now I know, and can use that knowledge.

The program I'm currently working on (which I also used to change the water palettes in this thread) isn't released yet. When it is, anybody can do this.
I'm a professional C++ program though . But I was wondering how do you do it with PlayStation engines ? The only thing I want to know is that do you use any special softwares or SDKs ?
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