“Master Hardware Hacker Achieves Unprecedented Feat: Running GTA Vice City on Router Using eGPU and Debian Linux – Tom’s Hardware”

Rewritten:

A German Hacker Takes Gaming to the Next Level: GTA: Vice City Runs Smoothly on a Router

Are you a fan of classic games? Have you ever imagined playing GTA: Vice City on a router? It may seem like an impossible task, but a talented hardware hacker, known as KittenLabs, has made it a reality.

In a recent blog post, KittenLabs reveals how they were able to get the popular game running smoothly on a TP-Link TL-WDR4900 router. By using a unique hardware combination of the router and an AMD Radeon HD 7470 connected as an eGPU, along with some software tweaks, KittenLabs was able to install Debian Linux and successfully run the game.

The story behind this gaming hack is fascinating. The TP-Link TL-WDR4900 router was chosen for its impressive performance, thanks to its NXP/Freescale QorIQ P1014 CPU, which is actually a PowerPC processor. However, as routers do not have a PC GPU-friendly PCIe slot, KittenLabs had to get creative in order to install the eGPU.

Their solution was a custom miniPCIe breakout PCB and a little bit of DIY work to attach it to the router and create a spare PCIe 2.0 interface. After some additional software wrangling, which involved installing OpenWrt and bootstrapping Debian Linux, with the necessary kernel modules and AMD graphics driver support, the system was up and running.

(Image credit: KittenLabs)

However, it wasn’t without its challenges. The first GPU they tried, an AMD Radeon RX 570, was incompatible, but after switching to a legacy AMD Radeon HD 7470 with an older driver, the system ran smoothly. There were still some hurdles to overcome, such as finding a version of the game that would run on the Debian / PowerPC system. Eventually, they discovered reVC, a reverse-engineered version of GTA Vice City, and the game was successfully compiled for the router platform.

But, the project hit a roadblock when glitches appeared whenever non-player characters (NPCs) were involved in the game. This issue was finally resolved with the help of a Wii U port of reVC and an update to the Mesa 3D graphics library, which was no easy task as it involved updating several dependencies. Ultimately, the project was a success, and KittenLabs even documented the process with a video and blog post.

(Image credit: KittenLabs)

KittenLabs’ blog is a treasure trove of interesting content for hackers, gamers, and retro computing enthusiasts. From the recently achieved GTA: Vice City on a router, to a homemade musical instrument using floppy drive hardware, there is always something fascinating to discover. KittenLabs’ innovative approach and determination make them a standout in the world of hardware hacking and gaming.

Source: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMilQFodHRwczovL3d3dy50b21zaGFyZHdhcmUuY29tL3ZpZGVvLWdhbWVzL3JldHJvLWdhbWluZy9oYXJkd2FyZS1oYWNrZXItcnVucy1ndGEtdmljZS1jaXR5LW9uLWEtcm91dGVyLXdpdGgtYS1saXR0bGUtaGVscC1mcm9tLWFuLWVncHUtYW5kLWRlYmlhbi1saW51eNIBAA?oc=5