Sega GG + Nintendo GameBoy emulator for SP beta test

[Guest bitbank]

I have the latest version of SmartGear installed on my Blackjack II. I have the program and the games stored on my storage card. When I try to save games (I've tried with Pokemon Blue, Pokemon Red, and Pokemon Silver), they don't show up when I try to load them. I'm not talking about save-states, I'm talking about regular saving in a game. I don't even see save files created when I try this.

I've noticed this on occasion with the 1.0.4 build. I believe I've correct it. Please try the new build (see below).

[Guest bitbank]

Ok - finally a new beta available for you to try (1.1.0). This is to evaluate the new features only. Here are the particulars:

1) Genesis is totally broken - don't try it.

2) SNES is disabled

3) The code will stop after 2 minutes of play (whether registered or not). This is to limit its distribution.

4) Settings menu should scroll on touchscreen devices.

5) Please try the previously played game and screen shot features (saves as a BMP file in the \SAVED_GAMES folder).

6) Let me know if the quick save/load works as you would like it to.

7) Please suggest any other missing features before I go back to working on the performance and Genesis/SNES.

The current "previously played game" code saves the last 10 games. Each snapshot image takes 2-5K bytes and is stored in the \SAVED_GAMES folder as a TIFF file. Please let me know if you want me to change this number.

Overall, please comment on the new stuff and anything strange you see in GG/GBC/NES/PCE support. Genesis will be re-activated soon with full sound.

These zip files contain EXEs without installers. Copy to your device and run.

SmartGear for Pocket PC (touchscreen)

SmartGear for SmartPhone (non-touchscreen)

Enjoy,

L.B.

Edited December 17, 2008 by bitbank

[Guest tgwaste]

Ok - finally a new beta available for you to try (1.1.0). This is to evaluate the new features only. Here are the particulars:

looks good so far..

settings screen works now (although holding the down arrow on the scroll bar scrolls very very slowly, probably because you have to manage these events?)

the box of the last 10 games seems to be lower on the screen than it should be? ive included a picture.

can this box be made tap-able to execute?

awesome awesome feature.. well done :rolleyes:

screen cap works great.. i noticed one time it made a .bmp instead of a .tiff (not sure how that happened).

I also noticed that i cant view .tiff on my mobile or XP. :) can we keep the .bmp format (or maybe .jpg) ?

specifying your own path for saves would be cool (so as to place on mem card)

game play is nice (just as good as before).

quick save/load keys are AWESOME!

copy to all seems to work nicely

i was playing a game and my 2 minute time ran out which seems to have cleared all the top10.

Edited December 17, 2008 by tgwaste

[Guest bitbank]

looks good so far..

settings screen works now (although holding the down arrow on the scroll bar scrolls very very slowly, probably because you have to manage these events?)

the box of the last 10 games seems to be lower on the screen than it should be? ive included a picture.

can this box be made tap-able to execute?

awesome awesome feature.. well done :rolleyes:

screen cap works great.. i noticed one time it made a .bmp instead of a .tiff (not sure how that happened).

I also noticed that i cant view .tiff on my mobile or XP. :) can we keep the .bmp format (or maybe .jpg) ?

specifying your own path for saves would be cool (so as to place on mem card)

game play is nice (just as good as before).

quick save/load keys are AWESOME!

copy to all seems to work nicely

i was playing a game and my 2 minute time ran out which seems to have cleared all the top10.

Thanks for trying it

1) I don't normally use a touchscreen device, so thanks for keeping me informed. I'll add touch controls for the previously played games.

2) The screen capture will save a full sized BMP file. The previously played games will save a TIFF LZW icon sized image.

3) Good idea for the saved games dir - will make the settings dialog bigger, but it's worth the hassle.

4) The last played games can get confused if the name of the game comes up blank. It will make it appear as if there are none available. Please let me know what game caused this to happen. I'll change the logic to display the image even when the name is blank.

L.B.

[Guest tgwaste]

Thanks for trying it

1) I don't normally use a touchscreen device, so thanks for keeping me informed. I'll add touch controls for the previously played games.

2) The screen capture will save a full sized BMP file. The previously played games will save a TIFF LZW icon sized image.

3) Good idea for the saved games dir - will make the settings dialog bigger, but it's worth the hassle.

4) The last played games can get confused if the name of the game comes up blank. It will make it appear as if there are none available. Please let me know what game caused this to happen. I'll change the logic to display the image even when the name is blank.

L.B.

1> awesome!

2> so i think the screen capture should maybe save with a unique identifier?

ie: karate.champ.1.bmp karate.champ.2.bmp

or something because you can only capture one shot per game. any additional capture for that game overwrites the previous

3> i bet if you reduced the font size of the settings by 25% you could fit it all on one screen nicely. maybe for the bottom settings put two settings on each line?

4> i think this was my fauly for deleting the tiffs. :rolleyes: I was gonna suggest if it cant find the name then use a part of the filename instead but i think it already does this? although looking at the picture below maybe it doesnt. maybe it shows the console names (GameGear in this case) instead?

does 'copy all' copy settings as well as keys?

i switched orientation to 90 just to see what would happen and it appears to take effect on all systems

any further ideas on my punch out not working problem?

here are two more pictures of the last10 box showing how it goes below the bottom of the screen.. maybe raise the whole box up 10%?

Edited December 17, 2008 by tgwaste

[Guest mikeeey]

Great build, the touchscreen scrolling works.

When I saw the last recent games I kept trying to tap the icon expecting it to open, till I realized I had to press the center button.

The sound bug is still there on my device. I guess describing it as a "skipping" rather than a "clicking" suits it better.

[Guest tgwaste]

Great build, the touchscreen scrolling works.

When I saw the last recent games I kept trying to tap the icon expecting it to open, till I realized I had to press the center button.

The sound bug is still there on my device. I guess describing it as a "skipping" rather than a "clicking" suits it better.

hey,

what game are you having this issue on again? i would like to test it on my end.

[Guest mikeeey]

hey,

what game are you having this issue on again? i would like to test it on my end.

any game on any system, NES, GBC, TG-16, etc...

try any zelda game for the GBC, or Super Mario brothers DX for the GBC. I'll go record a video right now lol.

[Guest bitbank]

Great build, the touchscreen scrolling works.

When I saw the last recent games I kept trying to tap the icon expecting it to open, till I realized I had to press the center button.

The sound bug is still there on my device. I guess describing it as a "skipping" rather than a "clicking" suits it better.

Hi Mikeeey,

I believe the sound bug is not a sound bug, but a timing bug on the MSM7200 CPU. Unfortunately I am stuck with my Touch Dual which won't allow me to debug. I'm looking around for another MSM7200 device that won't cost me a fortune so that I can debug and fix this issue. I'll keep you posted.

L.B.

[Guest mikeeey]

Hi Mikeeey,

I believe the sound bug is not a sound bug, but a timing bug on the MSM7200 CPU. Unfortunately I am stuck with my Touch Dual which won't allow me to debug. I'm looking around for another MSM7200 device that won't cost me a fortune so that I can debug and fix this issue. I'll keep you posted.

L.B.

Your Touch Dual should have the same MSM7200 Chip that my kaiser has, shouldn't it? Anyway, I'm putting together the quick video I took, It's a bit harder to hear when recorded but you can still notice it, especially when I compare it to it running smooth on my computer. I'll have the video up in under 30 minutes.

[Guest bitbank]

Your Touch Dual should have the same MSM7200 Chip that my kaiser has, shouldn't it? Anyway, I'm putting together the quick video I took, It's a bit harder to hear when recorded but you can still notice it, especially when I compare it to it running smooth on my computer. I'll have the video up in under 30 minutes.

No need to make a video. I can reproduce the problem on my Touch Dual. I can't debug it on the Dual because when I set a breakpoint, the EXE won't start. This is something strange that's unique to the Touch Dual (google search it). So far there is no solution, so I need to get another MSM7200 device. On Tuesday I will be able to borrow a Kaiser and should be able to track down and fix it (I hope).

L.B.

[Guest tgwaste]

No need to make a video. I can reproduce the problem on my Touch Dual. I can't debug it on the Dual because when I set a breakpoint, the EXE won't start. This is something strange that's unique to the Touch Dual (google search it). So far there is no solution, so I need to get another MSM7200 device. On Tuesday I will be able to borrow a Kaiser and should be able to track down and fix it (I hope).

L.B.

i guess the reason why i am not experiencing this is cause the treo pro is MSM7201.. guess they must had fixed something there.

[Guest kburkhart84]

No need to make a video. I can reproduce the problem on my Touch Dual. I can't debug it on the Dual because when I set a breakpoint, the EXE won't start. This is something strange that's unique to the Touch Dual (google search it). So far there is no solution, so I need to get another MSM7200 device. On Tuesday I will be able to borrow a Kaiser and should be able to track down and fix it (I hope).

L.B.

Good luck with that. To tell the truth though, I think you are going to have the same problem on the borrowed kaiser as well. You would be better off finding a non-HTC device with the same processor. Apparently HTC is the only one without proper drivers for the qualcomm, so you may not even have the problem on other devices. I too have a kaiser, with the same clicking that Mikeeey is talking about, though I never let it bother me much.

[Guest mikeeey]

i guess the reason why i am not experiencing this is cause the treo pro is MSM7201.. guess they must had fixed something there.

strange, cuz the 7201 only fixed some overheating problems, which sometimes caused people's screens to crack.

-----

what other non htc devices use the Qualcomm CPU? I wasn't aware of this lol..

[Guest kburkhart84]

strange, cuz the 7201 only fixed some overheating problems, which sometimes caused people's screens to crack.

-----

what other non htc devices use the Qualcomm CPU? I wasn't aware of this lol..

Several newer phones use them, including the treo you are talking about just now. Sony Erickson XPeria, Pantech Duo, Toshiba Portege, Pharos Traveler, I-mate Ultimate, LG KS20, and the upcoming Blackjack 3 and Asus Galaxy device are all on qualcomm processors.

What I want to know, is if these devices have good video drivers that the Kaiser is missing. It would be great if they did, because as is now, I don't know how the qualcomm processors stack up to the rest, and the Kaiser is my only example, and isn't a good one without video drivers.

[Guest PolloLoco]

Several newer phones use them, including the treo you are talking about just now. Sony Erickson XPeria, Pantech Duo, Toshiba Portege, Pharos Traveler, I-mate Ultimate, LG KS20, and the upcoming Blackjack 3 and Asus Galaxy device are all on qualcomm processors.

What I want to know, is if these devices have good video drivers that the Kaiser is missing. It would be great if they did, because as is now, I don't know how the qualcomm processors stack up to the rest, and the Kaiser is my only example, and isn't a good one without video drivers.

The Touch Pro definitely has video drivers. When not using the keyboard, it plays as fast as I'd expect from a 520 mhz device - and that's using a VGA screen. I'm comparing against my 6700 that was 416mhz stock, by the way. I'd overclocked it to 624, and that's faster than my Touch Pro - but keep in mind that it was a QVGA device.

Others will tell you that the Touch Pro doesn't have video drivers, but I believe they're talking about certain aps that don't take advantage of the drivers - or they're confusing the problem with keyboard lag. If you use the keyboard to play games, every time you hit a button there's lag. That's partially due to the T9 predictive software. If you disable it, you get big improvement - but not all the way. If you play games using the external buttons - you get great, fast gameplay. My best success so far is using a bluetooth gamepad (BGP100 terrible though it is) and mapping to the external buttons. That gets you fast gameplay as well. I've used it well for smartgear, Picodrive, FinalBurn and Nop's SNES (VGA).

[Guest asrrin29]

All the new features are great, but unfortunately I don't have enough time on the "trial" to test the RTC. also, it looks like I am still unable to save inside the ROM.

[Guest mikeeey]

The Touch Pro definitely has video drivers. When not using the keyboard, it plays as fast as I'd expect from a 520 mhz device - and that's using a VGA screen. I'm comparing against my 6700 that was 416mhz stock, by the way. I'd overclocked it to 624, and that's faster than my Touch Pro - but keep in mind that it was a QVGA device.

Others will tell you that the Touch Pro doesn't have video drivers, but I believe they're talking about certain aps that don't take advantage of the drivers - or they're confusing the problem with keyboard lag. If you use the keyboard to play games, every time you hit a button there's lag. That's partially due to the T9 predictive software. If you disable it, you get big improvement - but not all the way. If you play games using the external buttons - you get great, fast gameplay. My best success so far is using a bluetooth gamepad (BGP100 terrible though it is) and mapping to the external buttons. That gets you fast gameplay as well. I've used it well for smartgear, Picodrive, FinalBurn and Nop's SNES (VGA).

Picodrive and n0p's SNES work well? I was talking to DSF on xda-devleopers and he said they really suffer on his TouchPro:

ok, tried all. n0p pocketsnes, it lags when sound enabled. the masterall version (the one which doesn't show controls on screen) lags muuuch more.

tried genesis plus, GenPP.v1.03 & GenPP.v1.06, poor performance , even worse than masterall's picodrive.

maybe I will record tomorow some videos showing the poor gameplay.

so no joy :rolleyes: .

Edited December 19, 2008 by mikeeey

[Guest tgwaste]

Picodrive and n0p's SNES work well? I was talking to DSF on xda-devleopers and he said they really suffer on his TouchPro:

how do you comfortably play games on a device without a dpad? :rolleyes:

[Guest PolloLoco]

Picodrive and n0p's SNES work well? I was talking to DSF on xda-devleopers and he said they really suffer on his TouchPro:

I'd already told you before - Picodrive and Smartgear work 100% if you get around the keyboard button lag. He must not realize that. Nop's SNES works slow but well - maybe 50% speed.

[Guest mikeeey]

I'd already told you before - Picodrive and Smartgear work 100% if you get around the keyboard button lag. He must not realize that. Nop's SNES works slow but well - maybe 50% speed.

o haha, IMO 50% is not well lol.

[Guest PolloLoco]

o haha, IMO 50% is not well lol.

You also made multiple comments about Finalburn, Smartgear and Picodrive - and I can assure you those run 100% speed. Besides, my 6700 overclocked to 624 mhz couldn't run snes at fullspeed. This is a slower processor (520 mhz) and a VGA screen (not QVGA) - so I'm surprised it runs SNES as well as it does. So I, and many others - are certain that the Touch Pro has some video drivers.

[Guest bitbank]

Someone wrote me to tell me that SmartGear doesn't display properly on the new Samsung Saga. I can only assume this means that the "RAWFRAMEBUFFER" method is no longer supported on that device. In order to remedy this, I'm going to change the video settings to have a dropdown list like this:

Automatic

GAPI

RAWFRAMEBUFFER

GDI

DirectDraw

This should allow it to work on all devices from PPC2003/SP2003 to the latest as well as allow direct comparison of performance using the different methods.

Another issue I've been thinking about is sales. Sales were never very much, but have slowed down significantly in the past couple of months. I can attribute this to the lack of recent releases, slowing economy, and piracy. I've thought about the following options moving forward:

1) Change the sales model to "donate-ware" and allow people to send how much they feel like.

2) Increase the complexity of the DRM to try to combat the pirates.

3) Change the sales model to "non-registration" where purchasing the product will provide a link to a non-demo version.

4) Leave things as they are.

I would very much like to continue improving this product, but it's very hard to justify. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

L.B.

[Guest tgwaste]

Another issue I've been thinking about is sales. Sales were never very much, but have slowed down significantly in the past couple of months. I can attribute this to the lack of recent releases, slowing economy, and piracy. I've thought about the following options moving forward:

1) Change the sales model to "donate-ware" and allow people to send how much they feel like.

2) Increase the complexity of the DRM to try to combat the pirates.

3) Change the sales model to "non-registration" where purchasing the product will provide a link to a non-demo version.

4) Leave things as they are.

I would very much like to continue improving this product, but it's very hard to justify. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

L.B.

i say go with #1.

youll never thwart the piracy guys forever.

id be willing to donate for every significant release.

hell ill give ya $10 right now if you turn off that damn timer :rolleyes:

[Guest kburkhart84]

Another issue I've been thinking about is sales. Sales were never very much, but have slowed down significantly in the past couple of months. I can attribute this to the lack of recent releases, slowing economy, and piracy. I've thought about the following options moving forward:

1) Change the sales model to "donate-ware" and allow people to send how much they feel like.

2) Increase the complexity of the DRM to try to combat the pirates.

3) Change the sales model to "non-registration" where purchasing the product will provide a link to a non-demo version.

4) Leave things as they are.

I would very much like to continue improving this product, but it's very hard to justify. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

L.B.

1. Not a bad idea, considering the above post. You aren't going to get around pirates, and I don't think it is worth trying too hard.

2. Waste of time, for the same reason as above.

3. This might help, but you are still going to run into someone who purchases the product and then distributes the non-demo version via bit-torrent etc.

4. Your sales probably will increase some with the SNES support assuming it is better than PocketSNES when you are done with it.

I hope you continue to improve Smartgear. I recommend number 4 really, because with donate-ware, it is hard to get people to donate, and a lot of people are going to be getting the product either free, or for 1 penny donations. If you work on getting the SNES emulator better than PocketSNES, you could probably sell a lot of copies of smartgear. If you are having trouble, I recommend your download the SNES9x source code, which PocketSNES is based off of. I know you are using your own code, but the C++ code in SNES9x could help you with compatibility issues, especially for the special chips in games like MarioRPG, Pilotwings, etc... I believe that SNES9x has the highest compatibility for the SNES emulators. The other one that may come close is ZSNES. The problem with ZSNES is that the code is mostly assembly language, and not ARM assembly, so it wouldn't be as useful to you probably as compared the the SNES9x code, which I believe is all C/C++. I'm sure you could use it.