DevCon ‘96 Wrap-Up:
now the fun begins
Thanks to everyone who attended DevCon ‘96: Sega Saturn Unleashed.
The conference was a success. Our goal was to get developers information
they wanted and needed to complete and improve their games. According
to your high level of participation, one on one interactivity with our staff fromJapan, Europe and America, and your positive feedback from the conference, we hope to have accomplished that goal.
DevCon ‘96 was different than ‘95 in several ways that everyone considered
an improvement. Instead of large conference rooms and lectures, we usedsmall rooms and repeated topics to keep the number of people per seminarlow. This allowed people to simply ask their questions as the presentation
went along instead of waiting for a formal Q&A at the end of the session.
Small seminars also allowed for more interaction with the topic leader, both
before, during and after seminars. We also combined SEGA knowledge
with external expertise by bringing in the developers themselves who had
experience in a particular area of Saturn.
Internally, we wanted DevCon ‘96 to mark the beginning of a new, more
open philosophy of Developer Technical Support and a more progressive
style of helping developers get information. We are currently building our
Web Site (see WWW inside) which will house FAQ’s and information ordering methods, etc. We will be at E3 with a Developer Room which will haveengineers on hand to answer questions if you have them (in addition to ourdisplay). We plan to be using FTP access for more efficient methods of
distribution of bulletins and documentation, etc. We will also be using e-mailto a large degree to distribute information. Therefore, we need your e-mailaddresses. Please send them to us via e-mail (dts@segaoa.com) or on thefax back sheet on the back of this publication so that you won’t miss out on
any announcements.
We hope you continue to get as much out of Developer Technical Support
as you need and we look forward to unveiling our additional services which
will make it easier for you to get your games done better and faster.

V O L U M E

3 ,N O . 6-A p r i l

1 9 9 6

Wiley’s Sound Bulletin ......................... 3
Q&A..................................................... 3
DevCon ‘96 ......................................... 4
BBS/Tools............................................ 5
DevCon ‘96 Demo Code Update ......... 5
DTS WWW .......................................... 5
SEGA Profile - Dick Holmes ................ 6
Documentation .................................... 7

MAKE ANOTE
To Mr. Suzuki, Mr. Adachi, and Mr. Takase,as well as everyone else at SOJ and SOE

EDTS(European Developer Technical Support)
Direct Line: +(44) (0)181 996 4421
Fax: +(44) (0)181 996 4488
E-Mail: edts@soepd.sega.co.uk.

DevelopMental is published monthly by the SEGA Development Technical Support
Department. 150 Shoreline Dr., Dept. 448, Redwood City, CA 94065. Send all generalinquiries, letters and submissions to the address above or dts@segaoa.com

who contributed to DevCon…
Thanks!

As you may have found out

the Saturn Sound Tools®

are still a little buggy. If you

are not shouting at the CRT

because it crashed for the 14th

time today, you are confused as

Q. What is the performance penalty
for using the VDP1 Gouraud
shading hardware?

to why there is hash at the end of your sample. This article will give you tips to help you
work easier and understand what is going on behind the applications.

A. A measurement of the time re-

One of the most frustrating things to happen in sound development is to have your systemquired to draw several hundred non-crash right before you load the last sample into your Tone Bank. First there are a couple oftextured polygons with and without

general things you can do to help prevent unwanted system crashes, then I will get into theGouraud shading indicated that using

finer details of making your sound development system happy.

Gouraud shading slows down the
VDP1 by about a third. It is not clear

Things NOT to do

if the penalty is any different when us-

Send midi commands while editing patch in Tone Editor

ing textures. Note that if all you want

The Tone Editor automatically downloads any editing that you do to the SCSP chip in theis a cheap, flat-shaded lighting model,

Saturn sound system, and if you send any MIDI data via a controller, sequencer, or soundyou can do it without incurring a per-simulator, it is more than likely to crash because it will try to play the tone bank while it isformance hit by making your sprites

getting new patch information.

paletted and enabling color calcula-

Edit wavefile and save it as the same nametions between the sprites and the line

If you have imported a sample into the Tone Editor and then re-edit the sample, you must

screen. Each paletted sprite can se-give it a different name so the “new” sample (with the new edits) can be imported.

lect its own color calculation ratio, giv-

Open the Tone Editor without starting up the sound system

ing up to eight levels of brightness orWhen opening the Sound Simulator it automatically downloads the sound driver and sets

dimness.

up the memory. If there is no sound driver or space allocated for “BankData” then the Tone
Editor will crash when opened.
Q. Can developers still receive

Macintosh RAM:

Saturn documentation on paper?

Tone Editor version 2.06*

minimum:

16mb

minimum:

4000K

smooth:24mb

suggested:

4000K

set of Saturn documentation, thehappy:

36+mb

preferred:

8000K

cost is $250.00. This fee is simply

A. Yes. If you wish to receive a fullthe cost of reproduction and mailing.

SystemMake checks payable to ;version 1.13

Sega of America/DTS.

minimum:

7.0

minimum:

4000K

150 Shoreline Dr.

smooth:any after 7.0

suggested:

4000K

Dept. 448

happy:

7.01

preferred:

8000K

Redwood City, CA
94065

Sound Simulator version 2.06

Wave Editor version 1.13

minimum:

500K

suggested:

2500K

preferred:

5000K

†
†

minimum:

4500K

suggested:

4500K

preferred:

8000K† you should set both the “Minimum” and “Preferred” size to 5000K* version 2.06 of the Tone Editor has a bug in the looping function.
3

4

<BODY>

Dick Holmes<HTML>

Domain Expert/Graphic Artist
If jargon such as “interface, icons, title screens and weapons” arepart of your everyday conversation, than you need to meet Dick
Holmes. Dick is our resident chief Domain Expert in charge of theSaturn art component. Dick’s expertise spans the areas of graphics tools, video compression, animation and conversion tools for
the Macintosh. Dick played a key role at DevCon ‘96 by organizing presentations directed at the artist.
Along with all his other duties, Dick keeps
an eye towards the artist’s needs. His main
goal currently is to improve the communication channels between the artist and Sega.
Dick came to Sega in 1992 from Apple Computer where he helped
develop a large number of key training tutorials, suchas the award-winning Before You Install System 7
disk. Before that, symmetry and aesthetics werestill a part of his world by way of architecture andconstruction.
Occupying the other half of Dick’s life is
his wife and son. When he’s not working out or comic book collecting, he canbe found on the slopes snowboardingwith his son Jeremy. This past winterboth participated in various competitions

As you read this very article, Segaand achieved promising standings.

DTS is assembling one of the mostambitious web sites ever related togame development. This secured
environment will house an FTP site

DEVCON ‘96 EXHIBITORS

filled with Saturn-related publications
AliaslWavefront

416-596-7077

John Sierotko

info@aw.sgi.com

Animetix Technologies

604-730-5627

Adam Walters

adamw@axionet.com

Autodesk, Inc.

415-507-5000

Kevin Blaker

kevin.blaker@autodesk.com

Coryphaeus

408 395 4537

Bruce Sinclair

sales@coryphaeus.com

easy to navigate interface. Over the

Cross Products Ltd.

44-(0)113 242 9814 Ian Oliverenquiry@crossprod.co.uk

next few months we have plans to

Faro Technologies, Inc.

800-736-0234

Jon Houston

info@faro.com

add moderated newsgroups, an FTP

Immersion Corporation

408 467-1900

David Hague

rdhsales@immerse.com

SOFTIMAGE

510-803-2300

Gary Horstkorta

garyho@microsoft.com

Motion Analysis

707 579 6500

Jerry Burgsales@macorp.com

Nichimen Graphics

310-577-0500

Greg Minterthemint@nichimen.com

Polhemus802 655-3159

Ed Costello

info@polhemus.com

PSY-Q Development Systems

44-(0)151-282-3000 John Rostronjohn.rostron@psygnosis.co.uk

and documentation in PDF format.
All components of Saturn development will be part of a colorful andsite for code exchange with ourdomain experts and an electronicmagazine devoted to Saturngame development.

QSound Labs, Inc.

708-256-0044

Brian Schmidt

bls@qsound.com</BODY>SC Imaging Solutions

916 774 0600

Charles Morris

scimg@quiknet.com</HTML>

Silicon Studio, Inc.

415-933-1203

Patty McDonough pattym@studio.sgi.com

The Duck Corporation

212-941-2400

Stan Marder

stan@duck.com
5

S A T U R N

T O O L S

The following is a list of the current Saturn Development Tools.
Refer to the key in order to find the latest releases of these tools.

SMUG
Saturn Master
User's GroupKEY:▲ SEGA DTS MARCH ‘96 CD▼ SEGA DTS BBS● Contact vendor directly for information about product. Details on
where to call are listed.
■ Contact SEGA DTS at 415-802-1719 or e-mail dts@segaoa.com

There is a collaborative effort among developers to share Saturn programming tricks and experience. There is an e-mail Saturn Master's

PROGRAM▼ BGCON (2D Background Converter, version 1.6)
▲ CF.EXE & ROF2BIN.EXE (Converters)▼ GNUTOOLS (SOA960314)
▲
▲
▲
▼
■
●
■
■
■

HSI_TL (For development of Cartdev Tools)
DSPASM & DSPSIM (SCU DSP assembler & simulator, version 2.00 & 2.11
respectively)
VCD (Virtual CD tools & demos)
EXAMPLES from DEVCON96 (Demonstration code)
SNASM2.1 (Development software by Cross Products; assembler/linker anddebugger)
PSY-Q (Development Software by Psy-Q Dev. Systems. Contact Psy-Q Sales at+44 (0)151 282 3000 or e-mail psyq@psygnosis.co.uk)
Hitachi (Development Software: C Computer, Assembler and Debugger)
TrueMotion (Video compression tools by The Duck Corporation)
Cinepak (Video compression tools)

GRAPHICS▲ Sega Macintosh Art Tools
3DEditor 1.72US
MapEditor 1.81E
ScreenEditor 1.07E
QuickViewer 3.17US
Sega2DViewer 1.0US

User's Group (SMUG) that you can join if you
like. It is an on-going conference where everyone sees everyone else's name on the list. Sign
up is completely voluntary and is not automatic.
Although SEGA will help facilitate the project, it
was started by and for developers by Jeff
Lander of Accent Media. If you would like to beplaced on the list and be SMUG yourself,
send

your

e-mailaddress

ing you want to be SMUG. By joining, you canreceive and contribute to ongoing technical discussions regarding Saturn. There are no fees.

SegaConverter 4.83E
SegaPainter 1.11US
SpriteEditor1.36US
PhotoShop Plug-Ins (6 plug-ins)

Vendor PC Art Tools● GAMUT-SG (Downloader/Converter by Animetix for Autodesk 3D Studio ver.
4.0. Contact Adam Walters at 604-730-5627 or e-mail adamw@axionet.com)● InterChange (3D conversion tool by Syndesis for Windows. Contact Tanya
Murray at 414-764-5200 or e-mail syndesis@inc.net, http://www.webmaster.com)▲ PhotoShop Plug-In (Converter created by Sega for Adobe PhotoShop. This
tool is currently being updated and will be distributed shortly.)
Vendor SGI Art Tools● SOFTIMAGE 3D Design Toolkit (Created for version 3.0 of SOFTIMAGE 3D.
Contact Gary Horstkorta at 510-803-2300 or e-mail garyho@microsoft.com, http://
www.softimage.com)● Saturn Express (Downloader/Converter by Nichimen Graphics for N•World ver.
2.1. Contact Bill Clark at 303-693-8999 or e-mail bclark@nichimen.com, http://
www.nichimen.com)● Wire to Sega GL Converter (Created by Alias|Wavefront for PowerAnimator V7.
Contact Alias|Wavefront at 800-447-2542 or e-mail info@aw.sgi.com, http://
www.aw.sgi.com)● General Games Tools (Plug-ins created by Alias|Wavefront for PowerAnimator
V7. Contact Alias|Wavefront at 800-447-2542 or e-mail info@aw.sgi.com, http://
www.aw.sgi.com)

UPDATE TO DEVCON
DEMO CODE AVAILABLE
ON SEGA BBS
An update to the DevCon ‘96 subtree of the
March ‘96 CD-ROM is now available in the
Saturn conference of the Sega BBS. The
file devcon96.zip completely replaces this

LIBRARY▲ SGL (version 2.0a)▲ SBL (version 6.0)

subtree. Here's what's new: A demo thatshows how to combine the line screen withSOUND
▲ Sega Sound Tools & Converters
Sound Simulator (version 2.06ce)
Tone Editor (version 2.06 & 1.13 are both current)
DSP Linker (version 2.0)
Wave Editor (version 1.13)
AIFF to RedBook
Tools Demonstrations
Sample Codea coefficient table on a rotating backgroundhas been added. A demo that shows how
to get the Saturn to display bitmaps having
non-standard sizes, which can save lots of
VRAM, has been added. All the demos now
use SBL v6. The VDP1 and VDP2 libraries
have been revised and expanded.

■
■
▲

to

<evelyn.merritt@segaoa.com> with a note say-

QSound (3D Sound DSP)
eLinker
YSound (3D Sound DSP)
eLinker
InVision Tone Library
6

DOCUMENTATION
Listed below is the complete set of Saturn documentation as of March 28, 1996. If you wish to order a complete set of Saturn documentation contact us bye-mail or use the Fax Back section on the last page of the newsletter. DTS e-Mail: dts@sagaoa.com / Fax: (415) 802-1717

Document Name

Document #SATURN PROGRAMMING MANUAL VOL. 1
Saturn Introduction Manual ......................................................................................................................... ST-155-062094
Sega of America-Introduction to Saturn Game Development ............................................................................. 13-Apr-94
Saturn Overview Manual(temporary version 1) ..................................................................................... ST-103-R1-040194
SCU User’s Manual ................................................................................................................................. ST-97-R5-072694
SCU Final Specifications: Precautions ........................................................................................................ ST-210-110194
SMPC User’s Manual ............................................................................................................................ ST-169-R1-072694
SMPC Sample Program User’s Manual ...................................................................................................... ST-214-111594
Saturn SCSP User’s Manual ................................................................................................................... ST-77-R2-052594
SEGA Saturn Dual CPU User’s Guide .................................................................................................. ST-202-R1-120994
SATURN PROGRAMMING MANUAL VOL. 2
VDP1 User’s Manual ............................................................................................................................. ST-013-R3-061694
VDP1 User’s Manual Supplement ......................................................................................................... ST-13-SP1-052794
VDP2 User’s Manual ............................................................................................................................... ST-58-R2-060194
SATURN DEVELOPMENT TOOLS MANUAL
Sega Saturn Software Development Standards ................................................................................... ST-151-R3-082295
Boot ROM User’s Manual ................................................................................................................... ST-079B-R3-011895
Disc Format Standard Specifications Ver.1.0 ........................................................................................ ST-040-R4-051795
External specifications Saturn file system Library ................................................................................... ST-39-R2-011094
External Specification Doc. Saturn Stream System ...................................................................................... ST-98-031194
Backup System Production Standard ......................................................................................................... ST-203-100494
Sample Game Program User’s Manual ................................................................................................ ST-159-R1-092994
Sample Data User’s Manual ................................................................................................................. ST-160-R1-092994
NEW SATURN Demo - Demo File Loader Specifications Ver. 1.11 ..................................................................... ST-250-091895
SCU DSP Assembler User’s Manual ....................................................................................................... ST-240-A-042795
SCU DSP Assembler User’s Manual Addendum ............................................................................ ST-240-A-SP1-052295
SCU DSP Simulator User’s Manual ........................................................................................................ ST-240-B-042795
SCU DSP Simulator User’s Manual Addendum .............................................................................. ST-240-B-SP1-052295
CD Development Tool Description File ........................................................................................................ ST-211-110494
NEW Virtual CD System User’s Manual ......................................................................................................... ST-129-R2-093094
NEW Virtual CD Supplementary Manual ................................................................................................ ST-129-R2-SP1-061995
NEW MPEG Stream Build Precautions .................................................................................................. ST-129-R2-SP2-082495
Virtual CD System (Release 3) Limitations ................................................................................................. ST-182-081294
Write Once CD-R System User’s Manual ............................................................................................... ST-201-B-092994
SH2 Dynamic Load Linkage Editor ..................................................................................................... ST-19-R1-B-050994
Authoring Environmental Guide .............................................................................................................. ST-91-R1-062794
Saturn Author User ’s Manual ...................................................................................................................... ST-164-062794
SEGA BASIC LIBRARY (SBL)NEW Sega Basic Library 6.0 - ReadMe File Series ............................................................................................. ST-267-011296
Saturn System Library User ’s Guide ver.1.0 ......................................................................................... ST-162-R1-092994
System Library User’s Manual .................................................................................................................... ST-162-062094
Program Library User ’s Guide 1 ............................................................................................................ ST-136-R2-093094
NEW Branching Playback Library User ’s Manual ...................................................................................... ST-136-D-R2-082495
Program Library User ’s Guide 2 ............................................................................................................ ST-157-R1-092994
NEW Program Library User ’s Guide 3 ............................................................................................................ ST-135-R4-092295
DLL Library User’s Manual .......................................................................................................................... ST-200-092994
Saturn Software Library Release 3.01 Supplemental Disk ......................................................................... ST-208-110194
SATURN GRAPHIC LIBRARY (SGL)
SGL Developer’s Manual Tutorial .......................................................................................................... ST-237-R1-051795
SGL Developer’s Manual Reference ..................................................................................................... ST-238-R1-051795
SATURN GRAPHICS TOOLS MANUAL
NEW 3D Editor1.72US (ReadMe, Release Notes) ......................................................................................... SGT-DISK-102795
NEW MapEditor1.81E (ReadMe, Release Notes, Basics) ............................................................................. SGT-DISK-102795
NEW ScreenEditor 1.07E (ReadMe, Release Notes, Basics) ........................................................................ SGT-DISK-102795
NEW QuickViewer 3.17US (ReadMe, Release Notes) ................................................................................... SGT-DISK-102795
NEW Sega2DViewer 1.0US (ReadMe) .......................................................................................................... SGT-DISK-102795
NEW SegaConverter 4.83E (ReadMe, Release Notes) ................................................................................. SGT-DISK-102795
NEW SegaPainter 1.11US (ReadMe, Animation, Menu, Palette/Color, Tool Palette) ..................................... SGT-DISK-102795
NEW SpriteEditor 1.36US (ReadMe, Release Notes, Basics) ....................................................................... SGT-DISK-102795
Saturn/32X Graphics References ver. 2.0 ............................................................................................. ST-124-R1-091394
SATURN SOUND TOOLS MANUALSound Development Manual ver, 1.1 ...................................................................................................... ST-81-R5-062894
Saturn Sound Simulator Manual ........................................................................................................... ST-168-R3-011895
Wave Editor User’s Manual ..................................................................................................................... ST-99-R1-042594
SCSP Waveform Editor Technical Specifications .......................................................................................... ST-67-121593
Tone Editor User’s Manual ...................................................................................................................... ST-68-R1-042594
Tone Editor User’s Manual Addendum: File Format .................................................................................... ST-235-030795
SCSP/DSP Effect Module Specifications ...................................................................................................... ST-69-121693
DSP Linker User’s Manual ...................................................................................................................... ST-70-R1-031094
Parameter Editor User’s Manual ........................................................................................................... ST-227-R1-030595
Saturn Sound Tools Manual Supplement .............................................................................................. ST-198-R1-121594
NEW SATURN Sound Driver System Interface Version 3.03 ......................................................................... ST-166-R4-012395
Standard MIDI File: Converter Specifications ............................................................................................... ST-66-121593
Sound Programming Debugger User ’s Manual ...................................................................................... ST-65-R1-031494
Microcomputing Developing Int. Environment for Macintosh .................................................................. ST-80-R2-050994
7

FaxBack
Thanks to those who have shared comments and ideas regarding the DTS Newsletter. Please continue to give us yourfeedback so we can work together to make the future issues even better. Please take a moment to fillout the information
below and mail or fax it to Sega @ (415) 802-1717, or e-mail us at dts@segaoa.com
What did you like/dislike about this issue of SEGA DevelopMental? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________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 to facilitate communication. _____________________________________________®

Developer Technical Support
150 Shoreline Dr., Dept. 448
Redwood City, CA 94065

8