Effective emulator design.

Announce new emulators, discuss which games run best under each emulator, and much much more.

Moderator: General Mods

adventure_of_link
Locksmith of Hyrule
Posts: 3634
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 7:49 am
Location: 255.255.255.255
Contact:

Post by adventure_of_link »

Metatron wrote:
Gil_Hamilton wrote:
blargg wrote:
Gil_Hamilton wrote:What's your point?
His point is that you're an idiot for engaging in discussion (I only know this because I got the point a while back in the linked discussion about binary).
But there's no color at all! Why is he special-casing an argument for the sky?!?!
Think of Squall as Franpa 2.0.

Or shall I need to use hand puppets?
Making Franpa alerts Mark II is fine too
<Nach> so why don't the two of you get your own room and leave us alone with this stupidity of yours?
NSRT here.
grinvader
ZSNES Shake Shake Prinny
Posts: 5632
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:15 pm
Location: PAL50, dood !

Post by grinvader »

Squall_Leonhart wrote:light bouncing
hahahahahahaha

gotta love those happy meal "learn shit while eating shit" cards
皆黙って俺について来い!!

Code: Select all

<jmr> bsnes has the most accurate wiki page but it takes forever to load (or something)
Pantheon: Gideon Zhi | CaitSith2 | Nach | kode54
h4tred

Post by h4tred »

Indeed.

Well, decided between:

* Vectrex (loads of potential ideas there)
* GBA (obviously)
* SNES
* or possibly something N64 related, since PJ64 stinks and plugins are crap.
adventure_of_link
Locksmith of Hyrule
Posts: 3634
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 7:49 am
Location: 255.255.255.255
Contact:

Post by adventure_of_link »

h4tred wrote:Indeed.

Well, decided between:

* Vectrex (loads of potential ideas there)
* GBA (obviously)
* SNES
* or possibly something N64 related, since PJ64 stinks and plugins are crap.
I'd personally do N64 (try to make the pSX of N64 emulation (NO PLUGINS :D), if that's even possible.)

Barring that, it's still your choice nonetheless.
<Nach> so why don't the two of you get your own room and leave us alone with this stupidity of yours?
NSRT here.
I.S.T.
Zealot
Posts: 1325
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:03 am

Post by I.S.T. »

h4tred wrote:Indeed.

Well, decided between:

* Vectrex (loads of potential ideas there)
* GBA (obviously)
* SNES
* or possibly something N64 related, since PJ64 stinks and plugins are crap.
Choose the one that interests you or would give you the most personal satisfaction.
AamirM
Regen Developer
Regen Developer
Posts: 533
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:01 am
Contact:

Post by AamirM »

h4tred wrote:Indeed.

Well, decided between:

* Vectrex (loads of potential ideas there)
* GBA (obviously)
* SNES
* or possibly something N64 related, since PJ64 stinks and plugins are crap.
Wait....isn't it possible to write something like a "LLE" video/audio plugin for N64?

As for "effective emulator framework", I think it will get you nowhere. Just jump in and code already. :D
I.S.T.
Zealot
Posts: 1325
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:03 am

Post by I.S.T. »

It's been done. Can't seem to find it on emutalk anymore though. I dunno where it disappeared to. I'll google it.

Even so, an LLE plugin would only go so far given it'd go into the current emulators...

Edit: Found it via google: http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?t=40640

I searched in the wrong fucking sub-forums when I did the emutalk search. I suck.
ShadowFX
Regular
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 8:55 am
Location: The Netherlands

Post by ShadowFX »

I had high hopes for that plugin, but development stopped, unfortunately.
[i]"Change is inevitable; progress is optional"[/i]
AamirM
Regen Developer
Regen Developer
Posts: 533
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:01 am
Contact:

Post by AamirM »

I can't seem to use that plugin :( .

Requires OpenGL 2 it seems. (I have 1.4. My PC sucks.)
grinvader
ZSNES Shake Shake Prinny
Posts: 5632
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:15 pm
Location: PAL50, dood !

Post by grinvader »

Plugins suck period carriage return
carriage return
carriage return
open bracket slash discussion close bracket carriage return
皆黙って俺について来い!!

Code: Select all

<jmr> bsnes has the most accurate wiki page but it takes forever to load (or something)
Pantheon: Gideon Zhi | CaitSith2 | Nach | kode54
Tallgeese
Justice is Blind
Posts: 620
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 3:33 pm
Location: Test
Contact:

Post by Tallgeese »

h4tred wrote:Indeed.

Well, decided between:

* Vectrex (loads of potential ideas there)
* GBA (obviously)
* SNES
* or possibly something N64 related, since PJ64 stinks and plugins are crap.
bsnes vs mudSNES! FIGHT!

You know you wanna.

Though in all seriousness, if you like GBA, and think VBA is bad...
Panzer88
Inmate
Posts: 1485
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 4:28 am
Location: Salem, Oregon
Contact:

Post by Panzer88 »

another off topic idea for older system emulator authors, would be to write an emulator that could render more of a game horizontally at a time, so you could see farther ahead in a sidescrolling game, effectively creating a native widescreen mode that the original hardware couldn't produce, it wouldn't be easy and probably wouldn't work on all games but it would be very cool and also great for playing on widescreen tvs, monitors, psps, etc. and just the idea of seeing more of the game at once is intriguing.
[quote="byuu"]Seriously, what kind of asshole makes an old-school 2D emulator that requires a Core 2 to get full speed? [i]>:([/i] [/quote]
blargg
Regular
Posts: 327
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2005 1:54 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by blargg »

If rendering more than is shown on screen, it would be hard to avoid having enemies suddenly appear quite a bit away from the edges. Lots of games also only maintain a small portion of the background at a time. Perhaps the emulator could detect scrolling, and remember pixels that scroll off screen and keep displaying the last pixels at that location.
creaothceann
Seen it all
Posts: 2302
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 5:04 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Post by creaothceann »

Most SNES games have levels that are just too large to fit into VRAM. They have to use "manual" scrolling at one point or another, and in that case it makes sense to load only the currently visible screen into VRAM, plus a few tiles beyond.

(Super Mario Kart and Gunman's Proof are two exeptions, btw.)
vSNES | Delphi 10 BPLs
bsnes launcher with recent files list
Exophase
Hazed
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:54 pm

Post by Exophase »

h4tred wrote:Indeed.

Well, decided between:

* Vectrex (loads of potential ideas there)
* GBA (obviously)
* SNES
* or possibly something N64 related, since PJ64 stinks and plugins are crap.
I'd like to somewhat redo my GBA emulator too >_> (if I can work up enough nerve to really get anywhere doing that). If you want to talk about GBA emulation stuff or share source then feel free to contact me, we can talk on AIM or IRC or something.
I.S.T.
Zealot
Posts: 1325
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:03 am

Post by I.S.T. »

He's been banned, so don't expect a reply.
Exophase
Hazed
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:54 pm

Post by Exophase »

I.S.T. wrote:He's been banned, so don't expect a reply.
As of two days ago? Good grief :/

Guess I'd better send him an e-mail...
I.S.T.
Zealot
Posts: 1325
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:03 am

Post by I.S.T. »

Try PMing him over at emutalk, I think his e-mail account here is fake(If the fact that his e-mail account over at emutalk is fake carries over here).
Exophase
Hazed
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:54 pm

Post by Exophase »

I.S.T. wrote:Try PMing him over at emutalk, I think his e-mail account here is fake(If the fact that his e-mail account over at emutalk is fake carries over here).
Okay, thanks for the tip :(
Panzer88
Inmate
Posts: 1485
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 4:28 am
Location: Salem, Oregon
Contact:

Post by Panzer88 »

I.S.T. wrote:He's been banned, so don't expect a reply.
again?
[quote="byuu"]Seriously, what kind of asshole makes an old-school 2D emulator that requires a Core 2 to get full speed? [i]>:([/i] [/quote]
I.S.T.
Zealot
Posts: 1325
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:03 am

Post by I.S.T. »

That is what "-Burninated-" means.
grinvader
ZSNES Shake Shake Prinny
Posts: 5632
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2004 4:15 pm
Location: PAL50, dood !

Post by grinvader »

Panzer88 wrote:
I.S.T. wrote:He's been banned, so don't expect a reply.
again?
The first ban was meaningless, as he asked for it himself from his newer account.
皆黙って俺について来い!!

Code: Select all

<jmr> bsnes has the most accurate wiki page but it takes forever to load (or something)
Pantheon: Gideon Zhi | CaitSith2 | Nach | kode54
gllt
NO VOWELS >:[
Posts: 753
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:59 pm
Location: ALABAMA
Contact:

Post by gllt »

DEAD BRAD
etabeta
Rookie
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:18 am

Post by etabeta »

what? I left for 5 days, and now he's gone?

s**t

I hope that he doesn't give up on his project (especially if he decides for N64). There would be a lot of Pros:

1. N64 scene would definitely need a good emu with no need of per game configurations
2. If the emulator is well written and could be ported to other OSes, I guess he would have infinite thanks from all Unix and Mac users!
3. A portable N64 emu would allow also a better base for improvements to the USF audio format
4. Between MAME/MESS n64 code and MooglyGuy's blog posts, some documentation on the hardware is already out to be used (even if probably more tests are needed).

As a Mac user, I strongly hope he decides to follow this route.


Finally, even if I'm not impartial on the subject, let me add a small remark
I.S.T. wrote:As for MESS.... Fuck 'em as long as they have Cowering supporting/working on it.
On Linux and MacOSX, for many systems MESS is the only available emulatore (and quite often on Windows as well, if you're looking for some obscure systems which only have DOS or Russian emus).
Also, without MESS, there would be no Hartung Game Master and no Epoch Game Pocket Computer emulation, since dumps and units were provided by the MESS team.

When I weight Cow's .hsi files (which are in a simple xml-like format and can be overwritten with nointro equivalent ones without even a warning from the emulator) with the wonders done by Judge [1], Micko and others, I have no doubts about keep using MESS ;)

[1] btw he is now also working on Neo Geo Pocket support, to finally provide an up-to-date alternative to NeoPocott
ShadowFX
Regular
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 8:55 am
Location: The Netherlands

Post by ShadowFX »

etabeta wrote:I hope that he doesn't give up on his project (especially if he decides for N64).
Somehow, I don't think you should get your hopes up.
[i]"Change is inevitable; progress is optional"[/i]
Post Reply