Sega GG + Nintendo GameBoy emulator for SP beta test

[Guest tgwaste]

is it supposed to load the application very very slowly?

[Guest bitbank]

is it supposed to load the application very very slowly?

This issue only happens on devices with the Widcomm BT Stack (e.g. Touch Pro 2). I have a correction and will post it tonight. Basically the thread waiting to accept a bluetooth socket request wastes tons of time on devices with the Widcomm stack (which doesn't support BT sockets).

L.B.

[Guest Talsi]

Hi bitbank,

I must say that I really love the emulator, have been playing on it like in old days ;)

The new version is great, I have been playing with it for a while now, even genesis is working better than before - still a bit laggy however, so I thought I will give you some comments. I have been experiencing some problem with certain games, but I won’t bother you with that.

- “Copy to all” in Define Key is great!!!

- Auto video resize is good, but I am missing “fit2win*” manual video size from previous version - got a black borders around picture now - what could probably help would be to set auto as default with option to change it manually in setting; scale from: auto, 75%, 100%, ......300%, fit2win*

- “fill entire display area (fit2win in previous version)” is not much useful as even NES games becomes laggy (got 800x480 screen and 800MHz processor)

- Bluetooth autostart together with SG, since I have hardware keyboard I am not using Bluetooth gamepad hence this mean lower battery life - could you pls add option to turn this off?

- I have also noted this in previous version (trial); “up” and “down” (or left and righ - depends how you look at it) buttons in setting menu are swapped - example: if you want to change default volume, you go to “Settings” a change it manually in scale from 0 to 15, but if you want to increase volume in SG you have to press “left” button - for volume up it is generally “right” - I hope you understand what I want to say.....

- Would is be possible to add manual frame skipping?

- Since SNES is not (yet I hope) supported, I would probably be good idea to remove it from settings -> system and define keys, so that new users would not be confused/surprised/disappointed (as I was :D )

- Auto save/load on genesis (NES seem to run fine) sometimes (very ofter) freeze resumed game and you have to reset the ROM :( - hence you lose your progress if you do not save it manually

[Guest The Dark Prince]

This issue only happens on devices with the Widcomm BT Stack (e.g. Touch Pro 2). I have a correction and will post it tonight. Basically the thread waiting to accept a bluetooth socket request wastes tons of time on devices with the Widcomm stack (which doesn't support BT sockets).

L.B.

Maybe it's just mine (Tp2 of course) but I cannot seem to get any of my assigned keys to work. Everything loads up more or less fine but I can't get into the game at all. Just goes through those introductory animations over and over. Any ideas on how to correct this?

Thanks

[Guest PolloLoco]

I haven't gotten to the Genesis issues yet, but they are on my todo list.

It's very quiet since I released the new beta code. Any comments (good/bad)?

1) Is the new GUI an improvement?

2) Are you happy with the new automated video resizing?

3) Anyone successfully use their BGP100 or Zeemote controllers?

Thanks,

L.B.

1. Yes - it's very nice.

2. Sort of - I have a Touch Pro - 640x480, and I have borders both top and bottom. I would have expected borders on one side but not both. Still, most of the screen is used.

3. I haven't no, I haven't bought the zeemote yet.

One thingI noted is that with TG16 gameplay is still a little choppy with my Touch Pro. Bonks Adventure is a little jittery, sometimes slowing down and speeding up so controls based on timing are often missed. Splatterhouse is almost perfect, however.

Do you see the same "choppy" gameplay on your Touch Pro 2? It has the same processor. If not, what are your settings?

[Guest detuan]

does it work with touch pro?

[Guest bitbank]

Yes - it works on the Touch Pro. I'm using the following devices for my current testing:

1) Touch Pro

2) Touch Pro 2

3) HTC Vox (S710)

4) Dash 3G

I realize the current beta is not in great shape. I have some good fixes coming this week. I changed the video to back to "fit2win*" as the default. I optimized that code to draw quicker and it tries to make smarter choices about when to use it versus the 100%, 150%, 200%, 300% modes. The modes that have specific code (e.g. 200%) draw much faster and cleaner looking than drawing at 187% with the fit2win*. I realize that having black bars on the display is not great (and wasting display area), but the better shaped pixels and faster response is sometimes desirable. I don't want to go back to having to specify each resolution for each game system, so I think I've come up with a good compromise.

The bluetooth battery drain is miniscule compared to actually playing the game and having the backlight stay on. I'll add an option to enable/disable bluetooth, but it's not something to worry about as far as battery life.

I'm working on head-to-head GG and GBC support. I've never seen it done on other emulators and I think it's quite cool for when you have 2 people that want to play some of the old 2-player games. The display will be split in half and only P1's sound will be generated. Some of the old GG/GBC link cable games are quite good, so this is why I'm adding support.

L.B.

[Guest hockeyfan]

Hi Larry,

I was wondering if you could include this small enhancement for SmartGear. I normally have the "hardware buttons" sound settings enabled in my general Windows Mobile settings, since I like to hear the little sound clicks when I type. However, unless I go into Sounds/Notifications and disable the "hardware buttons" sound prior to loading up a game with SmartGear, I can hear the little sounds clicks even during gameplay, and it can be quite distracting.

Would it be possible to code SmartGear such that when it's actually in active use (e.g., not as a background task) that it can automatically disable the Windows Mobile "hardware buttons" sound clicks, or at least provide an option for this? The only sound that should come from the speakers during gameplay are the sounds from the game itself. It's kind of a hassle to always remember to manually turn off those sounds prior to playing SmartGear.

Thanks for considering this!

[Guest ScreamingFalcon]

I've been experimenting with the Wiimote and PS3 sixaxis controllers, but have been unable to make them work. The Wiimote looks like the more likely to eventually get working, but both of them have their challenges.

L.B.

I was not aware that the Wiimote was Bluetooth as well. That sounds like fun to play a Nintendo game with a Nintendo remote!

[Guest bitbank]

I'm sorry about the silence this week, but I only get time to work on this on the weekends. I'm working on cleaning up many of the new and old features. I'll try to post new code tomorrow night. Until then, here's some new status:

1) Head-2-head play now works for GameGear and GameBoy games (run 2 copies on a single phone and simulate the link cable)

2) GBC link cable emulation over bluetooth. Since the GameBoy offered different data rates for using the link cable, so far it appears that only games which used the slower rate will work this way. I'll do some testing and come up with a list

3) Improved NES sound emulation. There was a scratchy sound especially evident in Kirby's Adventure. The sound is still far from perfect, but I will try to further enhance it.

more to come...

L.B.

Further updates:

1) I mentioned earlier that only WM5/WM6 devices would work with the new code...I was wrong. I will continue to support SP2003/PPC2003 devices as long as I can. The newest code with BT networking and wireless controllers DOES support PPC2003 :D.

2) I believe I have finally come up with a good compromise for the video choices. I now offer 3 choices: A) Best Perf, :D Fit-to-Window, C) Fullscreen. I can't see any situation where you really care to choose 75%,100%.150%,etc. The "Best Perf" choice will choose the largest scale that fits and uses the optimized routines. The Fit-to-Window will draw edge to edge with the correct H/W ratio, but it will sometimes be slower because it's using my general stretchblt code for a fractional stretch (e.g. 187.5%). The fullscreen option will paint every pixel of the display (usually an abnormal H/W ratio).

Edited February 22, 2010 by bitbank

[Guest hockeyfan]

3) Improved NES sound emulation. There was a scratchy sound especially evident in Kirby's Adventure. The sound is still far from perfect, but I will try to further enhance it.

Hi Larry,

I know you are still working on this, but will you also be able to resolve the sound problems with Genesis ROMs, as we had previously discussed?

Thanks!

[Guest bitbank]

Hi Larry,

I know you are still working on this, but will you also be able to resolve the sound problems with Genesis ROMs, as we had previously discussed?

Thanks!

Genesis sound will not be forgotten. There's much to do, so I can't promise a schedule, but I would LOVE to have the Genesis code working better, so it will get done.

L.B.

[Guest The Dark Prince]

Genesis sound will not be forgotten. There's much to do, so I can't promise a schedule, but I would LOVE to have the Genesis code working better, so it will get done.

L.B.

...chances of a GBAdvance player in a coming release?

[Guest Menneisyys]

I'm sorry about the silence this week, but I only get time to work on this on the weekends. I'm working on cleaning up many of the new and old features. I'll try to post new code tomorrow night. Until then, here's some new status:

1) Head-2-head play now works for GameGear and GameBoy games (run 2 copies on a single phone and simulate the link cable)

2) GBC link cable emulation over bluetooth. Since the GameBoy offered different data rates for using the link cable, so far it appears that only games which used the slower rate will work this way. I'll do some testing and come up with a list

3) Improved NES sound emulation. There was a scratchy sound especially evident in Kirby's Adventure. The sound is still far from perfect, but I will try to further enhance it.

more to come...

L.B.

Further updates:

1) I mentioned earlier that only WM5/WM6 devices would work with the new code...I was wrong. I will continue to support SP2003/PPC2003 devices as long as I can. The newest code with BT networking and wireless controllers DOES support PPC2003 :(.

2) I believe I have finally come up with a good compromise for the video choices. I now offer 3 choices: A) Best Perf, :( Fit-to-Window, C) Fullscreen. I can't see any situation where you really care to choose 75%,100%.150%,etc. The "Best Perf" choice will choose the largest scale that fits and uses the optimized routines. The Fit-to-Window will draw edge to edge with the correct H/W ratio, but it will sometimes be slower because it's using my general stretchblt code for a fractional stretch (e.g. 187.5%). The fullscreen option will paint every pixel of the display (usually an abnormal H/W ratio).

Great updates - at last another emulator (in addition to the seemingly abandoned & from ClickGamer, removed) Pocket Commodore 64 & Plus 4 with multiplayer and Zeemote. Too bad I only took my (Widcomm-based) HP 210 and my Zeemote with me to my skiing holiday and can't test these features.... *sigh* I'll do this and post a huge test report as soon as I return home!

[Guest tgwaste]

i noticed that if you use the auto brightness function (as i do) it constantly changes the brightness when i play games.

[Guest ScreamingFalcon]

Anything I can do to fix the really bad graphics dropouts on NES games like Dragon Warrior 4? Or is this a known Mapper issue?

Edited March 5, 2010 by ScreamingFalcon

[Guest bitbank]

Anything I can do to fix the really bad graphics dropouts on NES games like Dragon Warrior 4? Or is this a known Mapper issue?

I took a look at this and it's a challenging problem to fix. Some NES games do funny things with the scanline timing interrupt timing and don't look perfect. I'll revisit this in the future, but at the moment I can't fix it.

L.B.

[Guest bitbank]

Finally some great news for SmartGear fans! I worked exclusively on sound issues this weekend and fixed many things. We finally have decent GENESIS playback with full audio!!! I also cleaned up the NES and TG16 sound and seem to have solved that ever present clicked on different handsets. I was playing lots of Genesis games on my TP2 this weekend and they worked extremely well. Here's a rundown of what's changed:

1) Genesis sound fix!!!

2) NES sound fix

3) GameBoy system fixes (more games run now - e.g. Boarder Patrol).

4) Turbogfx-16 sound fixes

5) Sound timing fix - games should play on all handsets without any "clicking" sounds

6) Better battery life - re-enabled sleep for the extra time each frame.

7) Added Graphics and network benchmark tests.

8) Fixed GUI to set game settings to currently displayed "previously played game".

9) Added "head2head" play for GBC + GG. Now 2 players can play linked games on a single device.

10) Changed video settings to 3 choices: Best Performance, Fit-2-window, and fullscreen. Let me know if that doesn't cover all.

IMPORTANT: SAVE STATES WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY IN GG/SMS and GBC. I will fix this on the next round.

Many things are still incomplete, but it's come a long way. Please send all feedback including GBC game compatibility issues.

WM5/6 EXE, no installer:

http://www.bitbanksoftware.com/sg.zip

[Guest pyth27]

.

Edited August 24, 2016 by pyth27

[Guest hockeyfan]

Hi Larry,

I tried the latest beta, but the sound problems with Genesis roms (specifically with Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World) are still there, regardless of video/sound settings. I tried both the 768K and 1.5MB dumps with the same results -- only scratchy sound. It almost seems as if only 1/8th or so of all the possible sound channels are being output. Can you try this specific Genesis rom with your HD2 to see if you can replicate the persistent sound issues I'm still experiencing? I'm using the unlocked GSM Palm Treo Pro.

Thanks!

[Guest bitbank]

Hi Larry,

I tried the latest beta, but the sound problems with Genesis roms (specifically with Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World) are still there, regardless of video/sound settings. I tried both the 768K and 1.5MB dumps with the same results -- only scratchy sound. It almost seems as if only 1/8th or so of all the possible sound channels are being output. Can you try this specific Genesis rom with your HD2 to see if you can replicate the persistent sound issues I'm still experiencing? I'm using the unlocked GSM Palm Treo Pro.

Thanks!

I don't think you're seeing a sound issue. That specific game appears to not work correctly. Try another Genesis game and you should see much better results than any previous build. I'll see if I can track down why this game isn't working correctly.

L.B.

[Guest bitbank]

Hi, I created a new icon for the emulator. It's basically a remake of the old one which includes a 64x64 and 90x90 version for (W)VGA devices running WM 6.5. If you (Larry) like it, you can use it for future builds. I would feel honored because SmartGear is an awesome emulator, although I only use it for NES games. By the way, the latest build fixed the sound bugs for me. Also, playing feels much smoother than with the version I used before (1.1.6).

Here is what the icon looks like:

The icon itself is included in the attached .zip archive.

Thanks for the icon. I'll add it to my next build.

I'm glad to see that you found NES sound to be fixed. I really thought everyone would jump on this new build since the sound issues have been a problem from the beginning and it appears that I've finally conquered most of them.

L.B.

[Guest hockeyfan]

I don't think you're seeing a sound issue. That specific game appears to not work correctly. Try another Genesis game and you should see much better results than any previous build. I'll see if I can track down why this game isn't working correctly.

L.B.

Hi Larry,

Yes, this has always been the problem. Other Genesis games have good sound, even with earlier builds of SmartGear. It's just this one specific game that has sound issues on my particular phone using SmartGear. Hopefully, you can track down what's causing the sound issues with Might and Magic 2. Thanks in advance!

[Guest bitbank]

Hi Larry,

I tried the latest beta, but the sound problems with Genesis roms (specifically with Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World) are still there, regardless of video/sound settings. I tried both the 768K and 1.5MB dumps with the same results -- only scratchy sound. It almost seems as if only 1/8th or so of all the possible sound channels are being output. Can you try this specific Genesis rom with your HD2 to see if you can replicate the persistent sound issues I'm still experiencing? I'm using the unlocked GSM Palm Treo Pro.

Thanks!

I've found and corrected the "Might and Magic" sound problem. It was a bug in my YM2610 LFO logic that was silencing all of the channels.

The sound issue that I fixed last week which I was happy to finally conquer was a phase issue with the DAC values - you could hear the problem in Pac-Attack. Michael Jackson's game still has a problem with some sound effects, but I'm confident I can have that cleared up tomorrow and have a new build by the end of the week.

[Guest hockeyfan]

Hi Larry,

You are officially my hero!! :( I cannot wait to try out the new build and finally be able to play Might and Magic 2 with sound! <_< :mellow: