Supported Platforms and Limitations

Polygon Engine is a Windows authoring environment and a PlayStation 1 runtime. Its editor workflow is modern and visual, but every generated game remains bounded by the original console's memory, rendering, input, storage, and CD-ROM behavior.

Polygon Engine is created independently by Novemtails. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or licensed by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Supported Authoring Environment

• Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit, with an OpenGL 3.0-capable graphics driver.
• Projects stored in a user-writable folder outside the installation directory.
• The version-pinned third-party tools shown by the Setup Wizard and Toolchain Health Check.
• DuckStation as the primary development emulator.
• One controller on PlayStation controller Port 1.

The editor supports digital pads, Dual Analog, and DualShock-style input in the generated runtime. Analog gameplay requires both a compatible controller and analog mode enabled in the emulator or on the target device.

L3/R3 stick-click bindings are available to Player Input, Interactable, and Lua when the active analog controller and emulator mapping expose those buttons.

DualShock-style rumble is optional and capability-checked at runtime. A game must remain fully usable when the connected pad, console environment, or emulator mapping does not expose vibration. The PS1 output path follows the documented patch_optional_pad_output technique and refuses to patch when the active BIOS pad handler does not match its expected instruction sites. This fail-closed check still requires validation with a DualShock configuration in DuckStation and a compatible controller on real hardware.

PS1 Build Baseline

The project region controls both the console video mode and runtime frame timing:

Region	Target timing
NTSC	60 Hz
PAL	50 Hz

Release builds use versioned binary scenes and precompiled Lua bytecode. The exact PSn00bSDK, mkpsxiso, and supporting-tool versions belong to the toolchain lock shipped with each Polygon Engine release. Use the Setup Wizard instead of substituting an arbitrary newer tool version.

Intentional Runtime Boundaries

• Runtime collections have fixed limits for GameObjects, scripts, meshes, materials, textures, audio clips, UI elements, and build scenes.
• VRAM is shared by framebuffers, texture pages, and CLUTs.
• SPU RAM and hardware voices are finite; CD-XA is the supported streaming path for longer music.
• The renderer uses ordering tables rather than a Z-buffer. Transparent surfaces, intersecting geometry, and large polygons need deliberate authoring.
• Scene changes are explicit loading operations. They are not seamless desktop asset streaming.
• PS1 Room visibility recursively follows enabled open Portals with conservative aperture-cone overlap. Ambiguous data fails open, and the system is not an exact portal-plane or hardware-occlusion renderer.
• Navigation is a deterministic height-aware grid with a surface base layer and explicitly classified box layers. It is not an arbitrary triangle navmesh, moving- platform system, or dynamic obstacle-avoidance system.
• Standalone Animation clips are bounded concurrent scene sequences; cutscene timelines remain exclusive. Neither is a general DCC animation editor.
• Skeletal animation uses a bounded hard-skinned FBX path with one bone per vertex and one material per runtime asset. It is not arbitrary weighted skinning, morph animation, or automatic conversion of every modern character rig.
• The PS1 Asset Optimizer reduces static triangle meshes. It does not reduce skinned meshes, create missing UVs, repair arbitrary non-manifold models, or guarantee that an impossible triangle target can be reached without violating enabled preservation constraints.
• SaveData uses a bounded, versioned memory-card format.

Use Runtime Limits, the PS1 Budget Dashboard, and Production Acceptance to check a real project against these boundaries.

Not Supported as a General Promise

• Multitap or multiplayer input.
• Compatibility with proprietary Sony SDK projects.
• Fully automatic conversion of arbitrary modern assets into shipping-ready PS1 content. The optimizer provides a constrained starting point; material, draw-order, collision, animation, readability, and real-hardware validation remain production responsibilities.
• Identical behavior under every emulator setting, optical drive, memory card, or console revision.
• Treating an emulator-only test as proof of real-hardware compatibility.

Polygon Engine validates the contracts it owns. Each game still needs representative play sessions on its intended emulator and hardware targets.

Privacy and Third-Party Tools

The editor does not send analytics, telemetry, project content, or crash reports. Tool auto-configuration connects to the official download locations listed in the versioned toolchain lock only after the user approves the setup action. Downloaded archives are verified before installation.

Reporting a Problem

Include the Polygon Engine version, Windows version, target environment, controller configuration, reproduction steps, and the relevant Build/ps1/logs files. Never upload a BIOS, commercial game image, credentials, or third-party assets you cannot redistribute.

Host resources and offline use

After the required managed tools are installed, normal authoring and packaging can run offline. Initial downloads require connectivity. RAM and disk needs depend on source model size, texture processing, imported caches, and retained builds; this documentation does not claim a measured universal minimum. Keep enough free space for source assets, generated output, and transactional replacement files. The runtime's PS1 memory limits are separate from Windows editor resource requirements.