https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/NINTV-DS
V4.7 : 19-Jan-2024 by wavemotion-dave
- Major refactor of the audio processor for a big speedup in rendering especially with more than one audio processor (i.e. ECS or Intellivoice)
- Switched from individual pixel output to 16-bit (two pixel) output when dealing with scrolling games (big speedup for games like Tron Solar Sailor, Space Spartans, Sorrow, TNT Cowboy, etc).
- The DSi now defaults to NO frameskip on any game and the 'Best' sound quality.
- The DS-Lite/Phat gets a 15% improvement in sound quality and many of the classic games now run without frameskip.
- Aggressive frameskip has been removed - it's not needed on even the oldest hardware anymore.
- With the many updates, the config format changed and will be wiped back to defaults - sorry!
Virtual parity between DS-Lite/Phat and DSi now. It's hard to tell the difference playing on the two systems side-by-side. I think Tron and Space Spartans will drop down to 58 or 59 fps when there is sound, voice and scrolling happening but you can't tell as a player that it's happening anymore. The DS-Lite gets a big boost in sound quality (even though it's still set to the lowest of the 3 sound settings).
For the DS-Lite/Phat, many of the classic games (Astrosmash, Beauty and the Beast, Treasure of Tarmin, etc.) will now automatically default to no frameskip as there is plenty of speed to make that a reality at 60fps. The later games and newer homebrews will still utilize some frameskip to help keep them running at full speed.
For the DSi, all frameskip has been eliminated and the sound quality is set as high as possible on every game. Everything runs at 60fps.
It turns out there is
one more level of audio quality I can enable but it's CPU expensive - only the DSi has the possibility to run that way. I tried this new hypothetical 'Ultimate' sound quality setting side-by-side with the current best/high quality setting in Nintellivision 4.7 and my ears (not perfect by any stretch!) couldn't tell the difference in audio quality. So I've decided to not include this as it really consumes a massive amount of the CPU for what appears to be no significant benefit.
For fun, I went back to my first 0.5 release (I didn't keep alpha versions earlier than this) just to see how far we've come here. I'm pleased with how this one turned out! I'm hopeful that 4.7 will be a stable version for quite some time.