Bmax part 0.5

 In this entry we will create the basic folders and files. For that goal we are going to copy and modify the pretty_livearea and the sdl/rectangle.

 From the pretty_livearea we are going to copy the whole folder. After that, we modify the makefile, and later the pictures, and the template.xml to adapt to our homebrew.

 The changes to the makefile consist in changing: project name, app name, app title, and link libraries (to add the sdl since we are using the make file from the pretty live area).

Modifying the makefile step 1

Modifying the makefile step 2

The changes of the template.xml consist on changing some texts with our data:

Modyfing the template.xml

From the sdl/rectangle we are going to copy the src/main.c file to ours.

Since it is the first entry of the project, and creating new picutures is not part of the blog, we stop here for today.

In the next entry we will have those pics changed acording to their needs, and we will start with the new code.

As a prologue of the following entries of this project, we are going to use this tutorial as a helper for the sdl library:
http://lazyfoo.net/tutorials/SDL/index.php

Note: also we may need the sdl part of the game controller and the joystick mapping:
https://wiki.libsdl.org/CategoryGameController

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Screenshot from the project in the current state running on the vita

Bmax livearea

 

setting the machine PART 2

Now that we have a machine to work,we need the programming tools in it.

Don't forget that, from now on, we are using only the virtual machine (for the code part). Unless otherwise stated, follow the instructions inside there.

In this step, we are going to set up the VitaSDK tools or the DolceSDK tools. For that, we are following their linux guide (because that is the OS we chose to work in).

Clarification: in this guide, we will be installing the VitaSDK tools, but the proccess is the same for both.

To do that, we have to open a terminal in our system, and type the commands they give us.

    Note: the indepth of what is going on (in this commands) is clearly written in their page, that is why we are not explaining them. You can, and should, read that there, if you need to.

Remember that here, the order is important:

# prerequisites:

apt-get install make git-core cmake python

# installing the actual VITASDK:

export VITASDK=/usr/local/vitasdk
export PATH=$VITASDK/bin:$PATH # add vitasdk tool to $PATH

# our OS didn't come with curl,but we are going to need it for the next step, so... 

sudo apt install curl

# SDK installing commands

git clone https://github.com/vitasdk/vdpm
cd vdpm
./bootstrap-vitasdk.sh
./install-all.sh

After this, if everything is correct, we should have everything ready. 
The machine and the sdk should be installed and runing correctly.

We can check that, because we have now a file with the name vdpm in our VM home.

Clarification: this just gives you the SDK base, you need to "update it" the first time. With this, you will get the samples and any other required extra file.

Now, with vitasdk installed and in your PATH, just run vitasdk-update to get the latest toolchain build.

End note: you should have the sample folder inside vdpm, if you don't have it, you can just download it from their github https://github.com/vitasdk/samples/archive/master.zip and copy it yourself.

setting the machine PART 1

First of all, we need to set a machine to work.

We will have to mess around a lot, and we want to have a clean environement. Because of that, we will use a virtual machine for our project. (This is not a requirement, you can skip this if you prefer it).

We have decided to use the oracle VM to run ours, but you can use a different one if you want to.

We also need to decide an operative system to make the project. The SDKs give us the usual options (linux, osx, and windows). Nevertheless, they recommend using linux, so we are using that one. Again, we need a distribution of linux, you can choose whichever you want to, we will use an ubuntu 16.04 64bits.

Installing those is as easy as to follow the screen steps, but we need the virtual machine to have at least a minimum of 4GB RAM for the vita3k, so take that in mind. We finish the install info here, because no more details are needed.