Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!scea!paulk
From: paulk@anon.nymserver.com (Paul Kearns)
Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.programming.gnu_compiler
Subject: Good value for seeding the RNG
Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 19:49:26 GMT
Organization: The Hacker's Shack
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Message-ID: <5mcp8h$shk3@scea>
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This doesn't really have anything to do with the GNU compiler, but it doesn't 
have anything to do with graphics or sound, either.  Maybe a 
"programming.misc", "programming.other", or something newsgroup?

Anyway, I'm looking for a decent number to seed the random number generator 
with.  I've always used the real time clock when working with computers, but 
there doesn't appear to be such a thing on the Playstation.

I thought about measuring the amount of time it takes for the user to press a 
key, but that doesn't help for the opening animation or non-interactive 
demos.  All of the other volatile numbers, like clock ticks since program 
start or number of vertical blanks since last VSync(), seem like they'll be 
the same for each run.

Is there a location that will always (or even usually) contain a different 
number each time the Playstation's powered up??  If I read a pixel out of the 
frame buffer without drawing anything, will that be random or zero (and can I 
even do that)?  What about the current horizontal line being drawn or 
something?

Thanks,
Paul Keanrs
paulk@anon.nymserver.com