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fMSX PSP version 3.5.40 released

Monday, March 1st, 2010

It’s been almost two years since fMSX PSP last saw an update, so today seems as good a day as any to release an updated version. New in this release:

  • PSPLIB updated to latest version
  • Images are now saved under PSP/PHOTOS/fMSX PSP
  • Virtual keyboard updated, option for “toggle display” mode
  • Screenshot previews in file browser

This release also significantly improves the save state format by adding versioning, and automatically switching the emulated machine to the system specs appropriate for the save state (no more cryptic state loading errors). To clarify, say you save a game in MSX1 mode, then switch to MSX2. In earlier versions of the emulator, unless you switched back to MSX1 prior to loading state, state would refuse to load. If you changed other features, such as memory sizes and video mode (NTSC/PAL), you would have to remember the specific setup for the game, or the game would not load. In 3.5.40, save state format includes all the necessary system data, and will automatically switch to the appropriate setup. This is the normal behavior in most other computer emulators, such as Fuse and VICE.

That said, please note that only new states will benefit from this – while fMSX PSP is backwards compatible, previously saved states will only load if you restore system setup prior to loading, as before. Of course, if you never switch from the usual setup (MSX2, 128kB, NTSC), this whole discussion is probably moot :)

Download

Posted in Release, fMSX | 7 Comments »

Spark version 1.0 emitted

Friday, February 26th, 2010

The very much real Spark is now out. You can find it at its official website, as well as on Android Market (link is Android browser-specific). Here’s the complete feature list:

  • Support for multiple accounts
  • Account summary
  • Game history
  • Achievement statistics
  • Message composition/message review
  • Friend status, summary, management (add, remove, approve and reject friends)

The application is free.

Posted in Release, Spark | 8 Comments »

Spark developments

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

I never really posted the full list of features in Spark, so I thought it proper to do so now. Features that will definitely be in the application:

  • Support for multiple accounts
  • Account summary
  • Played games statistics
  • Achievement statistics
  • Message composition/message review
  • Friends list
  • Friend summary (bio, location, rep)
  • Game comparison
  • Friend management (add, remove, approve and reject friends)

(more…)

Posted in Spark, Update | 3 Comments »

New features in Spark

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Some new developments on the Spark (gsDroid replacement) front – see screenshots below. Specifically, the look of the app has changed to a lighter theme, and a message viewer has been added.

I’m getting a small, but considerable number of reports of logins failing for certain users.This issue is difficult to debug, as it involves people’s usernames/passwords, and I’m not quite sure how to deal with it delicately. If you’re currently experiencing an error with gsDroid and want to help troubleshoot, I’m planning on putting together a testing application to investigate the problem. You will need to run the program and provide credentials. It will write some files to the SD card, which you can then review and forward to me via email.

Because Spark will use the same authentication method as gsDroid, if gsDroid is not fixed, Spark will have the same problems. If you can help with testing, please send me an email, or post a comment here (include your email address if you do).

UPDATE: This has been fixed.

Posted in Spark, Update | No Comments »

Icons, icons everywhere

Monday, December 14th, 2009

The successor to gsDroid is coming along nicely. I’ve managed to shear off a significant amount of time in the processing phase of the data fetch by among other things, performing bulk inserts. The end result is a significant reduction in the amount of time needed to populate list of played games – from ~32 seconds down to about 16 (on a 3G connection, with a list of 60 games). This assumes that you’re fetching the list of played games for the first time – for subsequent refreshes, update time is a lot shorter (few seconds).

The other news is that icons for games, achievements, and friends have been added, as you can see in the screen captures below. Of course, they will result in longer fetch times, but they’re optional, and can be disabled.

Posted in Spark, Update | No Comments »

Adventures in Android land

Friday, December 11th, 2009

My XBox Live application for Android has been out for a while now, and while feedback has been mixed, it has been rather encouraging. If you’re interested, you can check it out by using Android’s Barcode Scanner app to snap the image to the right.

As feedback shows, a small percentage of users are understandably wary of providing their email address and password to the application, and completely refuse to use it. Most of the current applications that perform similar functions use the XBox Live proprietary API, which requires only a gamertag to obtain similar information. gsDroid, on the other hand, obtains its information by signing in to the XBox Live site and scanning it for information. The upside of this is that I can generally obtain a lot more information than the (free, but proprietary) API can provide. The downside is that it takes a lot of time to fetch this information, and process it raw. And of course, it requires a user’s full account information – the gamertag alone will not suffice.

To make things worse, shortly before releasing gsDroid, I realized that I went about the application completely wrong. gsDroid schedules itself as a service, and performs a full update every 15 minutes. This means that it must refresh the list of games, achievements and friends at each 15-minute interval. Most users need only an up-to-date friends list, and only occasionally an updated list of games; yet gsDroid’s design does not make it easy to do this. Instead of completely scrapping everything, I decided to release gsDroid as a free application.

That is why shortly after releasing the application, I started working on another version, designed from the ground up to be a lot more flexible, and not fetch information unless necessary. Work is progressing along nicely, and I’m already seeing a lot of improvement over gsDroid’s design – for one thing, the seemingly age-long initial synchronization process is completely gone, and while, say, initial fetch of your game list does take some time, it doesn’t take nearly as much time as with gsDroid. For this reason, gsDroid’s not likely to receive any newer features – most of my spare time is currently going towards the new application.

To keep up with the application’s progress, keep checking this site; I will try to post information on new features as it comes up.

Posted in News, gsDroid for XBox Live | 1 Comment »

…you’re sure to get a smile, from seven stranded…

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

It’s been a while since I last wrote a post, so I thought it only fair to update on my recent work.

I considered the requests to write another port of Castaway, and actually began porting two different versions to PSP. Both attempts ended similarly – 4-color mode works, but the 16-color mode sets the emulator in an infinite loop, from which it never exits. My attempts to get in touch with the earlier developer of Castaway (PSP) were unsuccessful, so after about a week of hitting brick walls, I abandoned the work. I may still return to it eventually (VICE PSP was shelved for about 3 months before I got it to work), but I’m not completely certain, and would rather not make any promises I can’t keep.

Other than that, I got a Google Android phone recently, and found myself fascinated with the platform. The idea that one can actually look at the source code of one’s own cellular phone seems almost surreal, yet it’s very much a reality. I’m currently working on an XBox Live Profile viewer, which will be releasing soon – if you’re interested, check back in a while. I’m fairly certain that I will not be porting any emulators to the platform, as its controls are woefully inadequate for proper game enjoyment, and the platform is more or less limited to Java development (read: managed platform; considerable speed limitations).

That said, I’m not abandoning PSP development. But I do feel like I should take a break for a while.

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Posted in Android, PSP, Update | 4 Comments »

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