TG16 / PCE emulator

2008/12/14 1.61 released

 

- CPU processing part and the video chip processing part were considerably sped up. I think that processing lightened in some measure with the not fast personal computer.

- "Volume10-100" was added to the "Volume" menu. The volume can be adjusted in detail. It is possible to adjust it quickly also with [PageUp] and [PageDown]key of the keyboard. Use the resume ("File->Set Resume" menu), and the best volume at each game can be set.

* This menu changes the volume of other Windows Software using it now (software that uses the volume of WAVE like the movie player etc.). It is a specification to make the best use of the tone quality of Ootake to its maximum. It automatically returns to former volume when Ootake is closed.

- CPU-Speed(HuC6280) setting part of the "Speed" menu has been improved. Set the speed often used or the limit speed in the personal computer, and the CPU-Speed can be quickly switched with the [Delete] key. The speed of the video can be quickly changed with [Home] and [End] key.

* As a result, the arrangement of the shortcut key of the speed adjustment changed. Please see the right side of the menu or the manual about new arrangement. The key that returns everything to a normal speed is [backSpace] key.

- A temporary volume adjustment function of the previous version (old "Volume" menu) became "Temporary Volume" menu. Tone quality falls when lowering the volume by this menu.

- The timing of the interrupt processing of CPU was brought close to the movement of a real machine. In "Jack Nicklaus' Golf", the problem that the left side of the screen sometimes falls into disorder was solved at the shot.

- The speed and timing were brought close to a real machine more. In the title screen of "SORCERIAN", the problem that the screen falls into disorder by one frame was solved. In the KEN stage start of "Street Fighter 2 dash", the problem that the screen falls into disorder by one frame was solved. In the shopping screen of "ORDYNE", the problem that the screen falls into disorder by one frame was solved.

- The access timing of Backup-RAM was brought close to the movement of a real machine. In the high-score screen of "DARIUS Plus" and the loading screen of "Lady Sword", how of the screen for disorder has approached a real machine.

- The timing of the raster interrupt processing was brought close to a real machine. In the start of "After Burner 2", the problem that the lower side of smoke fell into disorder occasionally (generated by v1.60) was solved.

- The processing of ADPCM voice was brought close to a real machine. In "Jack Nicklaus' World Golf Tour (CD-ROM)", the problem that Nicklaus's explanation voice had become interrupted on the way was solved.

- In "Mugen Senshi Valis", when a fast CD-ROM drive is used, the problem that had stopped when starting occasionally was solved.

- The processing of the LFO function of a built-in sound was brought close to a real machine. In "Drop Rock Hora Hora", the bug with an amusing tone (generated from v1.59) was corrected.

- The message display when the state save and load was simplified.

- "2dot" and "1dot" was added to the "Show Overscan Area" menu.

- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.

>> Get it HERE.

Today we are announcing the release of Pcsx2 Playground 1.0.0395

Born as a 'playground' test-bed for Pcsx2 modifications and code, the Playground project evolved into much more, over a period of about 4 months.

 

Pcsx2 Playground is now a branch of pcsx2, coded by volunteers and with improvements over the original, without (hopefully) too many bugs added

 

Here is an incomplete list of the improvements:

- Improved Frameskip/VU-skip

- Extra VU/FPU Flags are supported

- Different VU/FPU clamping

- More Speedhacks

- Special Game Fixes Section

- Advanced Options Section

- Various Optimizations/Fixes

- Improved MTGS mode

- Emotion Engine recompiler fixes

- Hopefully a stabler experience in general during emulation

- A brand new logo and icon!

 

Please understand that while this is a milestone, the playground project is always in development, and so different versions can break or fix games. Especially if you compile on your own from the svn repository.

Also, we don't have all the playstation 2 games out there, nor do we have the time to test them all at each revision, so we may have broken games which were working in the official pcsx2 builds.

And do keep in mind that while the changes applied will hopefully result in better emulation, Playground does alot more work with default-settings in order to increase compatibility in problematic games, and this means that with default-options, some games might be slower. However, you can change these settings in the speedhacks dialog for increased speed.

>> Get it HERE.

Java-based PSP emulator

>> Get it HERE.

Fusion is a Sega SG1000, SC3000, Master System, Game Gear, Genesis/Megadrive, SVP, Pico, SegaCD/MegaCD and 32X emulator for Win9x/ME/2000/XP/Vista.

 

Well it's been a long time. Lots of really bad things have happened, often working on Kega felt like the last thing I wanted to be doing.

 

Still. Work on it I did. Lots of changes and additions over the last two years, most of which I've forgotten about again, but here's the stuff I can remember:

 

* Fixed Sound/Timing Issue with Fahrenheit SCD/32X.

 

* Fixed a typo which corrupted a register in the YM2612 SSG/EG section.

 

* Removed a few pieces of test code that were not supposed to be left in, and affected timing of various things under certain conditions.

 

* LOTS of behind-the-scenes fixes and improvements, which I've totally forgotten, but you will notice them and remind me at some point

 

* Rewrote controller code, should fix problems with some USB controllers.

 

* Rewrote Menacer emulation which made it easier to add Konami Justifier emulation. Just the first Justifier is emulated for now. You'll definitely want to calibrate it in games that use it.

 

* Added SegaCD SaveStates that actually, you know, work.

 

* Added support for more games that use custom SRAM, and fixed some that were already emulated, but got broken at some point.

 

* Added support for all unlicensed Genesis games that I know of.

 

* Added support for the Sega Virtua Processor (SVP). Thanks to the reverse engineering work by the amazing Tasco Deluxe, and the proof of concept emulator by Notaz, I was able to write and debug my ASM core for this in just two days.

 

* Removed some filtering in YM2612 SuperHQ mode (you won't actually notice) and instead added a "Filter" option to the sound menu. This filter is very close to that in a real Model 1 Genesis/MegaDrive. Most people will want to leave this off (me included) but I know some people wanted it.

 

* Removed 11025Hz option. It was causing me problems, doesn't work well on most newish hardware, and sucked anyway.

 

* Added preliminary Sega Pico support. There's a lot more I plan to do with this. For now, just load as a Genesis ROM. Mouse is required for Pico, along with the following controls: START switches between StoryWare and trackpad, B is the pico red button, A and C turn pages, and U/D/L/R are, well, U/D/L/R.

 

* Added ability to create 128K SegaCD RAM carts to keep SpinelSun happy

 

* Added two controller sharing options for Netplay. Everybody can now share controller one, or all controllers. The latter isn't very useful, but why not.

 

* Added "Nearest Multiple" option to the Video Menu. The various Aspect modes do what they have always done when this option is enabled, but now when it is disabled, they will allow non-multiple stretching while still keeping the aspect ratio correct.

 

* Added "Use NTSC Aspect" option to the Video Menu. This used to be done automatically under certain conditions, now you have full control.

 

* Added Pause Emulation feature.

 

* Added Frame Advance feature.

 

* Added No Frame Skipping feature. You should pretty much ignore this and let Kega do what is best. But it does also trigger a special case mode when you have VSync enabled, and you hit Fast Forward. Normally, VSync is ignored during Fast Forward, or else Fast Forward wouldn't actually do very much. With No Frame Skipping enabled, it will still do VSyncs. This might be useful to you if your video mode is running at some odd refresh rate. Note that the sound could well sound awful if you do this.

 

* Added AVI Logging using custom Kega Game Video 1 lossless codec. This is needed because logging RAW video causes poor performance even on highend machines, and using any of the available codecs either doesn't compress well enough to fix that, or does compress well enough, but can't keep up with 60fps, so you get poor performance either way. The codec is able to use hints from the emulator to aid in compression, allowing pretty good compression while taking very little CPU time. The codec to allow you to play back and convert the files is included in the archive, and can be installed via right clicking on the INI file and telling the OS to continue with the install. Tested on XP and Vista64, should work fine on 9x and Vista32.

 

Note that these AVI files are not really meant to be shared as they are, it's just a way for you to log video without horrible laggy gameplay. Convert them to Xvid or something using the excellent VirtualDub program (Google it.) I'll open up this codec sometime later incase it's useful for other purposes/programs.

 

* Disabled BIOS use where possible during Netplay games, to prevent out of sync errors when people had different combinations of BIOS/NO BIOS/Different BIOS.

 

* Netplay Games should now automatically change your country code to that of the host.

 

* Added Fast 32X Timing option. This is mainly for development. If you don't know what this is for, leave it disabled.

 

* Added CartBoot option, which is enabled via INI file only. Again, if you don't know what this is for, leave it disabled.

 

* Kega Fusion now runs beautifully under Vista.

 

Kega Fusion was already more accurate than any other emulator, this time around, thanks to various internal tweaks, and removing of left-over test code, it SHOULD be more accurate than ever before

 

I don't think I broke anything, but there have been some very big changes and I have changed machines and build environments twice since the last version, so it's entirely possible. Please let me know if I have.

 

I'll just add here that several people assumed Kega was 'dead' because I hadn't updated it for a long time. Rest assured, this is not the case. Nothing is 'dead' unless I say otherwise. I may well have some problems, or even other projects, that take all my time. But just like Arnie, I'll be back.

 

Gotta go, busy busy busy...

>> Get it HERE.