Homebrew DSx86 (DSi Entry)

[Pate]

I plan to create a DSi-specific version of DSx86, which would have 286 protected mode support, and access to up to 12MB of RAM. Thus, I entered DSx86 as a DSi-entry. I will add some updates to the plain DSx86 as well, but I'm not sure if those would be considered significant.

http://dsx86.patrickaalto.com

For compatible games, see here: http://dsx86compatibility.pbworks.com/w/pa...patibility-List

Edit: Added a link to the compatibility wiki, and some screenshots.

Pate

 

[TheAmericanNomad]

I didn't see the original warcraft on the list, is there support for that on any of the versions?

Good work btw, very impressive.

 

[8BitWalugi]

If it can run Curse of Monkey Island, it will be godly.

 

[Recorderdude]

If it can run Curse of Monkey Island, it will be godly.

don't expect that.

...Hell, don't even expect that for DS2X86.

 

[Pate]

I didn't see the original warcraft on the list, is there support for that on any of the versions?

Good work btw, very impressive.

Thanks! The DS2x86 version does support the original Warcraft. Audio still causes problems, but running without audio works fine.

Pate

 

[Pate]

DSx86 version 0.30 released! This is a major update, fulfilling the competition requirements of a significant update. All prior versions of DSx86 have only emulated a 80186 processor, but this is the first version that emulates a 80286 processor, including protected mode features!

When running Windows 3.00a in DSi mode, you will have over 8MB of RAM available, which should allow DSx86 to run many 16-bit Windows games and other programs.

You can download it at http://dsx86.patrickaalto.com/ or if it gets hosted/mirrored here, that is fine by me as well.

Pate

 

[Rydian]

Awesome!

 

[Mbmax]

Thanks Pate for this update !

May i ask you something about the DS and DSi mode ?

In DS mode, could you add the support of some slot 2 flashcart like the ez 3in1 and the m3 gba expansion ?
The RAM Unlocking API (Ram API) from Rick "Lick" Wong could be a great help for that. ^^
In DSi mode, i can allocate 14MB with the last build of GBA emu. Maybe we can have more than 8MB ?
11MB ? 14MB ?

Thanks.

Ps : The RAM API can be found in MemtestARM from Pin Eight

 

[Pate]

I'll look into the GBA RAM expansion at some point.

The reason why you only get 8MB of RAM in DSi mode is that I have the memory mapping table in stack (DTCM) for performance reasons, and having a mapping table for that 8MB already takes quite a big chunk of the available stack space. I'm afraid DSx86 might run out of stack space if I increase it to the full 12MB.

If there is a lot of software that does not run in 8MB but would run in 10MB or more, then I might consider having more RAM available.

Pate

 

[Boriar]

When running Windows 3.00a in DSi mode, you will have over 8MB of RAM available, which should allow DSx86 to run many 16-bit Windows games and other programs.

May be it posible to use ram expansion on gba or ram of flashcart for slot-2?


EDIT: Sorry! I have made post before read all thread. Mbmax just ask about it.

 

[syrusch]

Pat have you planed to update the DSTWO version soon ?

 

[spinal_cord]

I hope there is the possibility of better screen scaling in the future, although I do understand that 640x480 -> 256x192 is a difficult thing to do.

 

[Pate]

@syrusch: Yeah, I plan to continue working on DS2x86 after I get a few more improvements done to DSx86.

@spinal_cord: I'll be adding the Smooth scaling options for the remaining graphics modes in the future updates. The 640x480->256x192 is not especially difficult, each 5x5 pixel square will be turned into a 2x2 pixel square. The problem is in making this fast enough to be usable. There are quite a lot of pixels that would need to be handled 60 times per second, and this operation still should take only a small fraction of the total CPU cycles.

Pate

 

[Pate]

Dsx86 version 0.31 released! This fixes a couple of bugs introduced in the previous version, and implements Smooth scaling mode for common Mode-X and EGA graphics modes. The Smooth scaling implementation still requires some enhancements, so it won't work properly in all games yet.

Pate

 

[Rydian]

A good update as usual, thank you. ^^

 

[Boriar]

A really good addon the smooth scaling!!!

 

[sightlight]

I have a tiny little question: Will DSx86 support Windows 98?

Just asking

 

[RexNebular]

Tiny answer: NO!

 

[sightlight]

Why not?

 

[Buleste]

Why not?

Because the DS is not powerful enough. At the moment DSx86 has only just had the codes to emulate a 80286 processor added. Windows 98 requires the minimum of a 80486 processor and 16MB RAM so DSx86 cannot do it even in DSi mode. In fact DS2x86 will not be able to run it either.

Before you ask DSx86 will not be able to run Windows 95 either but there is an outside chance that DS2x86 might but that's a long way off.