Posts Tagged ‘state saving’

The news and the old..s

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

Looks like the PS3 will finally be getting a much-needed price cut (not to mention a slimmer model) very soon. Will I finally have an alternative to my 360? We’ll see…

While I don’t plan on porting anything new anytime soon (although release of VICE PSP has flooded me with requests for an Atari ST emulator :) ), I do plan to release sporadic updates for the emulators I currently have out. Software development as a hobby is a double-edged sword – not being compelled to program tends to be a good motivator to program anyway, but when the learning ends, so does the desire to program for a particular platform/purpose. Go figure…

fMSX PSP is probably next in line for a revamp – some of you may be aware that it is my personal favorite emulator (as is the system itself). The usual update to psplib is planned, but two things I feel have been long overdue are improved MegaROM autoselection, and even more importantly, a better saved state format. Because of the unpredictability of save states, I lost my SD Snatcher progress mid-way. Grrr…

At some point, Caprice32 will be updated, but no idea when – the emulator hasn’t been updated for years, and my port doesn’t seem to be popular enough to warrant a rewrite.

Since the release of RACE! PSP, I consider NeoPop dead, so it will not receive rewrites unless something magical happens.

This is a little late, but a fellow named Daniele Fiorentini posted an interview with me on maxconsole.net. It’s from 2007, but most of what it contains is still relevant. I came across it again while I was digging through my list of emails.

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Posted in Caprice32, NeoPop, News, RACE!, fMSX | 8 Comments »

RACE! PSP version 2.16 released

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

New in this version:

  • Time Rewind feature: map ‘Special: Rewind’ to any PSP button in the Controls menu to enable
  • Save state format has changed: RACE! PSP will still read the older save state format, but loading will be slightly slower
  • Not a new feature, but the documentation now includes a section on how to have RACE! PSP load a BIOS ROM file (instead of using the customized hardcoded version)

Time rewind works for approximately 18 seconds of gameplay, and is disabled by default. See documentation for more information.

I’m noting the BIOS support feature (it’s actually been there all along), because I’ve seen folks actually request it. Note, however, that I don’t recommend you make use of it, unless you have good reason to – emulation with the “real” BIOS is largely untested, thus unreliable.

Download

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Posted in RACE!, Release | 3 Comments »

Spam, and spam other spam updates

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

The forum has started to get bombarded by spam from China; this has led me to block a number of IP ranges, as well as add spam protection – full details here. I’ve also added a new forum for posting bug reports — if you have any bugs to report, please do so here.

In the upcoming month or so, expect to see updates to a number of existing emulators – Fuse and fMSX are likely to be some of those updated. Updates are likely to range from very small fixes, to new (and hopefully interesting) features.

If you also own a GP2X, good news — I’ve been contacted by the author of the GP2X port of RACE!, who plans to use RACE! PSP’s state saving code his port. Speaking of which, all signs indicate that state saving works without a hitch — if you’re interested in details, here’s a list of tested games.

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Posted in Fuse, Update, fMSX | No Comments »

RACE! save state feature works perfectly!

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

… or so I assume…

It’s been four days since the release of RACE!, and I’ve gotten no negative feedback regarding the save state feature, and only 1 confirmation that it works as expected. I’ve been doing a considerable amount of testing with Sonic: Pocket Adventure myself, and so far haven’t encountered any issues.

While the lack of comments (positive or otherwise) is surprising, it’s not necessarily disappointing — I’ll just assume that where there’s no smoke, there’s no fire. Still, it would be great to know what your experience was; whether state restored correctly, or not. If you tested the feature, please post your experience in the forum — include the name of any games you may have tested.

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Posted in RACE! | 4 Comments »

RACE! PSP version 2.1 released

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

The latest release of RACE! PSP includes state saving, and the test switch that I mentioned earlier. The switch enables developer-level access to Card Fighters’ Clash, Card Fighters’ Clash 2, Dokodemo Mahjong, and possibly other games.

To enable the test switch/button, map it to any PSP button via the ‘Control’ tab — it’s unmapped by default. With regard to save state feature, I ask that you take its functionality with a grain of salt — at least until more folks report how well it works.

For those of you who are adventurous, please run some tests by saving/loading different games, and post your experience in comments. Thanks.

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Posted in RACE!, Release | 3 Comments »

RACE! state saving update

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

My initial attempt at implementing state saving in RACE! turned out to be more successful than anticipated. I was able to save, then load Sonic The Hedgehog: Pocket Adventure successfully, with the exception of sound, and I have a fairly good idea where to look to fix the problem (possibly the program counter of the Z80 chip).

Thanks to NeoPop’s existing state saving code (and thus neopop_uk), for pointing me in the right direction.

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Posted in RACE!, Update | 4 Comments »

RACE! PSP news, future ideas, new poll

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Flavor recently posted news that he considers RACE! PSP the official PSP port of RACE, and that he doesn’t plan on continuing another port. He also mentioned a new undocumented button (not present on the consumer handheld) discovered by FluBBa, the author of an NGPC emulator for GBA that enables hidden debugging features in several NGP games (namely, Card Fighters’ Clash, Card Fighters’ Clash 2, and Dokodemo Mahjong); this feature will be added in the next release of RACE! PSP; ideally, with the ability to save state.

For a while now, I’ve been seriously considering utilizing PSP’s Media Engine (ME) processor in fMSX PSP, to (potentially) enable full-speed emulation with MSX Audio and MSX Music enabled. Currently, enabling any of the two requires emulation at 333 MHz, while enabling both makes the emulator near-unplayable. Of course, utilizing the ME opens up a whole new slew of issues, not the least of which is the challenge presented by parallel programming. If fMSX/ME succeeds, Handy may be finally coaxed to run full-speed.

RACE! PSP was one of the emulators I reported to be working on; another one is still in the initial stages. If things pan out, there may be another pre-release riddle, which should give you an idea of which system it will emulate. Thankfully, I received my replacement video card yesterday, so I can finally continue work again.

Finally, I’ve added a new poll; if you have some time, please take it.

CORRECTION The discoverer of the undocumented button was not porting RACE to NDS, he’s actually writing a new emulator for the GBA (thanks Flavor)

UPDATE The poll should now be fixed

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Posted in Development, Handy, RACE!, Update, fMSX | 2 Comments »

RACE! PSP version 2.0 released

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

As promised, RACE! PSP, the NeoGeo Pocket and Pocket Color emulator is now available. Like the original release by Flavor, this version does not feature state saving, however, it does save flash memory information routinely (either when exiting to the emulator’s menu, or to the XMB). State saving is planned for a future release, however.

Again, many thanks to Flavor for his original PSP port.

Download

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Posted in RACE!, Release | 10 Comments »