Smartphone Game Emulators for C550

[Guest kersley]

So you tried the GBA emulator? And nothing to do...Ohh!That could be really great. What is the difference then? The phone is not enough powerful yet?If you could to this on the SPV, i think that you could win prices from the smartphone community and have the blessings of all of us!I remember that the one who created Picodrive won't a phone or something like this and got a title for one of the best appli developped.Hope you're next Parallax20!

:) from France!

[Guest kersley]

So you tried the GBA emulator? And nothing to do...Ohh!That could be really great. What is the difference then? The phone is not enough powerful yet?If you could to this on the SPV, i think that you could win prices from the smartphone community and have the blessings of all of us!I remember that the one who created Picodrive won't a phone or something like this and got a title for one of the best appli developped.Hope you're next Parallax20!

:) from France!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

eratum : won't : won 8)

[Guest mrmond]

OK, for simplicity sake, I've attached a slightly older version of PocketSNES that will allow you to config directional keys. But to be honest it should pick up the system directional keys.

cheers parallax. That's good of you to do that. aren't the newer revisions supposed to fix other problems though. if editing the registry should help then thats fine. I just need to know what I have to use.

I'm a newbie here due to the amount of posts I've had but I've done registry editing on the pc many times and kernel hacks on linux.

What I meen is, I don't mind getting my hands dirty :)

MrMond

Edited December 11, 2005 by mrmond

[Guest mrmond]

Ok problem solved. did a search on the site for registry and downloaded a registry editor. the value for turning right was set to "0" instead of "40" to set that and hey presto now playing F-Zero to my heart content. Now plaanning to find mario kart as I want serious pose value on my way to work on the Orange staff bus in the morning :)

Mr Mond

[Guest ninjaw]

Mario kart i sth eonly game very slow

[Guest mrmond]

Mario kart i sth eonly game very slow

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know, but having tried it is just about playable. can only say that having now tried a few roms already that R-type is just about the same in terms of speed and knocks many "phone" games into a hat imho.

On picodrive - sonic3D absolutely rocks :)/

off topic: let me know if you would like me to update my new blog with my proposed topics.

Edited December 11, 2005 by mrmond

[Guest Parallax20]

Hi all,

OK, for all those who requested non-QVGA versions. I have amended the source to automatically detect and switch to using the appropriate screen res. So this should now work for all smartphones. Bearing in mind I tested this on my C550, I can't gurantee if it will work 100%. So for those who do have a low res phones, please let me know of any problems you encounter.

PocketSNES users - I fixed a bug related to directional key remapping when changing screen modes during game play. In the old version the cursor keys remained the same regardless of screen orientation. This has now been fixed.

Right, I'm off to port something else to smartphone.

Have fun!

Parallax.

[Guest ninjaw]

Assuming screen mode is unplayable without volume keys, who cares, i asked you about theses keys, no answers.

Btw Pocketgear runs GBC&GG with sound at full speed

[Guest Parallax20]

Assuming screen mode is unplayable without volume keys, who cares, i asked you about theses keys, no answers.

Btw Pocketgear runs GBC&GG with sound at full speed

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ninjaw - not sure if you understand what porting means, but I didn't write the emulators from scratch and I don't claim to have. I converted these from their PocketPC versions to work on smartphone. I fix what I need to fix to get them working on my C550.

If you're unhappy with the way the program works, all I can suggest is don't use them. I've not heard of PocketGear, but if it works better, then use that instead.

If you're an avid programmer, feel free to download the source from finalburn.com or http://www.surrealservices.dsl.pipex.com/ (spacemonkey's website) and make your own modifications. Its all open source, so go for it.

I provided these for the enjoyment others, and I leave it up to them to decide what they have on their phones.

Regards,

Parallax.

[Guest ninjaw]

I love your work i was disapointed with no answers on the volume keys, didnt you notice u can use them on Snes ? unfortunally they work only on "push but release" i need them to enjoy a landscape mode, i was asking if there was a way to trick that as this is the first emulator that can use volume keys.

I mentionned Pocketgear just to say you what the phone could do so far, assuming you are working on a way to play GB on C550+

Btw i tried ScumVM it doesnt work also on qvga ?

[Guest kersley]

Hey Parallax, do you think there is a way to fix the GBA emulator to make it work correctly on our spvs? You think it is not possible or you did not have time for it?If ever you think that it is not possible, i'll be really sad :cry: but if you didn't have time for it, then hope is still there :)

[Guest Parallax20]

Hey Parallax, do you think there is a way to fix the GBA emulator to make it work correctly on our spvs? You think it is not possible or you did not have time for it?If ever you think that it is not possible, i'll be really sad  :cry: but if you didn't have time for it, then hope is still there :)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think I can fix it to run any faster. The core of VBAdvance emu wasn't designed to run on slow processors currently in smartphones. They were written for pocketPC with 500Mhz+ cpus. Plus I don't think the core of it is very optimised and I'm not an emu expert so I just can't delve in and write bits of it. Its not really worth wasting time on it as I have other projects to work on.

I'm sure if there's another programmer out there wanting a challenge they will try and improve upon whats there.

Parallax.

[Guest Parallax20]

I love your work i was disapointed with no answers on the volume keys, didnt  you notice u can use them on Snes ? unfortunally they work only on "push but release" i need them to enjoy a landscape mode, i was asking if there was  a way to trick that as this is the first emulator that can use volume keys.

I mentionned Pocketgear just to say you what the phone could do so far, assuming you are working on a way to play GB on C550+

Btw i tried ScumVM it doesnt work also on qvga ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ninjaw - Apologises if I seemed a little ratty at you before. I've not been well lately so feeling a bit cranky of late. Anyway, I've had a play with PicoDrive again to see if I could get the volume buttons working for you. I did get it to half work, but it became too frustrating to use so I decided to leave it out.

I'll tell you why....1st, the standard call to check keypresses in PicoDrive is GetActiveKeyState() which checks for the key state when its called (keyUp or keyDown). This works fine with buttons that have 1 function, e.g numeric keypad buttons. Other keys such as VolUp and VolDown have double functions and GetActivateKeyState() can't detect these for some reason. VolUp sends a VolUp event if pressed quickly and a Record event if held longer (voice recorder). If you tried to use these in games you would only be able to use the VolUp button by pressing it quickly, holding it down will do nothing as this would be detected as a different button type. So in the case of Sonic, you would only be able to do short jump and not high ones, which makes the button close to useless in game. Similar for any shoot'em type games that allow rapid fire when button is held down, you won't be able to do it with Volume buttons.

2nd, the hack I put to get it to work relied on events and this causes a delayed reaction, less than .5 sec but still a delay making the game slow to react.

I've not found a solution to the volume button issue yet, but if I do...I'll consider updating the code. This is for the C550...I can't speak for other models.

Parallax.

Edited December 13, 2005 by Parallax20

[Guest ninjaw]

Wow thx for the effort parallax I'm glad to see I am not the only one disapointed... seriously you cannot play any landscape mode games on this phone without these damn buttons !

[Guest efishta]

Hi all,

OK, for all those who requested non-QVGA versions.  I have amended the source to automatically detect and switch to using the appropriate screen res.  So this should now work for all smartphones.  Bearing in mind I tested this on my C550, I can't gurantee if it will work 100%.  So for those who do have a low res phones, please let me know of any problems you encounter. 

PocketSNES users - I fixed a bug related to directional key remapping when changing screen modes during game play.  In the old version the cursor keys remained the same regardless of screen orientation.  This has now been fixed.

Right, I'm off to port something else to smartphone.

Have fun!

Parallax.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Once again, thank you for the efforts that you are putting forth to help a lot of smartphone users get more out of their phone.

I realize you're busy with other projects and you're basically donating free time to devote it to porting these apps - so what I'm going to say shouldn't come off as requesting you do anything but if you have some free time then maybe you could look into it.

I asked earlier to see if it was possible to get a version of the new PocketSNES to work with older smartphones with non QVGA resolutions, though I did test the new file you put up and it simply goes back to the File Explorer window, it basically crashes. I dont' know if it's because it was compiled against Windows Mobile 5 SDK and that makes any difference or not, or another error in the file. Did you try running it in the Device Emulator debugger in Visual Studio? (This is of course assuming you're using VS 2005) If so, you could try the Smartphone 2003 SE emulator images since you don't own a previous generation smartphone.

[Guest Parallax20]

Once again, thank you for the efforts that you are putting forth to help a lot of smartphone users get more out of their phone.

I realize you're busy with other projects and you're basically donating free time to devote it to porting these apps - so what I'm going to say shouldn't come off as requesting you do anything but if you have some free time then maybe you could look into it.

I asked earlier to see if it was possible to get a version of the new PocketSNES  to work with older smartphones with non QVGA resolutions, though I did test the new file you put up and it simply goes back to the File Explorer window, it basically crashes. I dont' know if it's because it was compiled against Windows Mobile 5 SDK and that makes any difference or not, or another error in the file. Did you try running it in the Device Emulator debugger in Visual Studio? (This is of course assuming you're using VS 2005) If so, you could try the Smartphone 2003 SE emulator images since you don't own a previous generation smartphone.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi, I'm using embedded vc++ 4, so its mainly developed for WM2003. I've known the emulator to not load certain ROMS because of compatibility problems or ROMs size limitations. This emu is based on snes9x 1.39 so anything that doesn't work on that emu won't work on the phone, you'll need to try a few ROMS. If it crashs on all ROMs then thats a different matter.

Anyone else having this problem on low res phones?

Parallax.

[Guest kjhoran]

Well I only really used the saving and loading features. The auto save/load at the moment is annoying if I muck up something, so I have to back up my saves. Any chance maybe to configure another few buttons for saving and loading?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DO u have the Picodrive file..?? Couldn't see it atached to ur post..

Cheers

K

[Guest Parallax20]

Wow thx for the effort parallax I'm glad to see I am not the only one disapointed... seriously you cannot play any landscape mode games on this phone without these damn buttons !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll have to disagree with you there. I don't play games in landscape right, but I do use landscape left. This way you have the cursor and all 16+ buttons to choose from. Granted it can be a little like playing twister with your fingers but its the next best alternative to using the volume buttons.

Parallax.

[Guest Parallax20]

DO u have the Picodrive file..??  Couldn't see it atached to ur post..

Cheers

K

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Its on the first post.

[Guest kjhoran]

Its on the first post.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

CHeers.

K

[Guest ninjaw]

I'll have to disagree with you there.  I don't play games in landscape right, but I do use landscape left.  This way you have the cursor and all 16+ buttons to choose from.  Granted it can be a little like playing twister with your fingers but its the next best alternative to using the volume buttons.

Parallax.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lol i just found that myself yesterday :) left button+Home+Call ?

Yeah it works great altough volume key were really cool back in SPv1 btw i noticed the Home key got this famous push problem ? when you put mario jump on it it cant jump as long as he would

[Guest efishta]

Hi, I'm using embedded vc++ 4, so its mainly developed for WM2003.  I've known the emulator to not load certain ROMS because of compatibility problems or ROMs size limitations.  This emu is based on snes9x 1.39 so anything that doesn't work on that emu won't work on the phone, you'll need to try a few ROMS.  If it crashs on all ROMs then thats a different matter.

Anyone else having this problem on low res phones?

Parallax.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hopefully it's not something that I'm missing - I tested two of the ROMs that I know work with the original PocketSNES for smartphone, because I'm halfway through Final Fantasy II with the older version, and I just created a new folder, placed the ROM and the new PocketSNES and file selector DLL and it just crashes, no hard lock or anything.

[Guest Parallax20]

Hopefully it's not something that I'm missing - I tested two of the ROMs that I know work with the original PocketSNES for smartphone, because I'm halfway through Final Fantasy II with the older version, and I just created a new folder, placed the ROM and the new PocketSNES and file selector DLL and it just crashes, no hard lock or anything.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you saying it just crashes on start up?

PocketSNES and FileDialogsp.dll should be in the same folder. ROMS can be stored anywhere. What phone do you have? No one else seems to have reported this problem...

Is anyone out there using a non QVGA phone experiencing this problem too?

Parallax.

[Guest fuku]

tried 2 roms: super mario allstars and super mario kart, both return to the file explorer on a low resolution phone..

Edited December 15, 2005 by fuku

[Guest Parallax20]

tried 2 roms: super mario allstars and super mario kart, both return to the file explorer on a low resolution phone..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK guys, I've run PocketSNES through the emulator and have detected what I think may have been the problem. So if someone can try out the new file and let me know if it works or not on an actual device?

Parallax.