Homebrew FBA4DSTWO

[Indy13]

Hi friends,

just find a port of Final Burn Alpha on scds2 forum, it works fine with cps1 games (better than mame4ll for some games), Taito and SEGA games (except for somes games like space harrier, after burner 2, enduro racer or chase hq, the games works fine but the problem comes from the controls), cps2 games works but only roms under 8mo, most of the Konami, DATA EAST and Irem games are not recognized, some Banpresto roms runs fine but most of them have gfx problems, most of NeoGeo games have creepy gfx too except prehistoric isle (this game runs perfectly), for some games (generally old games like commando or black tiger) the sound is buzzy, switch the sound from stereo to mono to fix the problem, it seems to be new (only one month I think) so if you try it, you have to know that it's at your own risk (I have to tell), bioses need to be placed in roms folder, big roms can be a little bit longer to load but it's ok, beware of the cache files there are very big (especially for PGM roms), if you don't have too much space on your sd, it will be better to clean the cache folder regulary, you can find FBA4DSTWO here :

http://forum.supercard.sc/thread-12987-1-1.html

The + :
1. a new and great emulator for nds
2. easy to install
3. faster than mame4all for the big cps1 games
4. easy menu
5. intuitive gameplay
6. maybe a bigger compatibility list than mame4all
7. soft reset to return to the dstwo menu
8. with mame4all and neoDS, fba is a great way to complete a little bit more the mame catalog

The - :
1. no settings for vertical scale or zoom view for shoot them up
2. no settings for controls
3. no automatic bottom black screen off when you play
4. compatibility list has to be defined (it will comes with the time)
5. Konami, DATA EAST, Irem games & cps2 roms over 8mo doesn't seems to work.
6. roms are listed by adds and not in the alphabetical order
7. roms are listed by zip name, it's not a big deal and of course you can read the title of the game you play at the bottom of the screen but a list system like mame4all should be better.


Note : There is a graphical bug with the roms tmnt.zip series and mia.zip series (Konami roms), to fix it, I use gberet.zip, mia.zip and toppyrap.zip (SemiCom rom) here is the procedure to follow:

1.run tmnt.zip, then once the rom is loaded, press select + start to return to the menu (gfx bad)
2.run gberet.zip, then once the rom is loaded, press select + start to return to the menu (gfx ok)
3.run mia.zip, then once the rom is loaded, press select + start to return to the menu (gfx bad)
4.run toppyrap.zip, once the rom is loaded, press select + start to return to the menu (gfx ok)
5.run tmnt.zip, now, normally gfx must be ok

Same method for mia.zip, in the same order (1.mia.zip, 2.gberet.zip, 3.mia.zip, 4.toppyrap.zip, and 5.mia.zip)

Here is the list of the working roms I've tested (275 games + 2 bioses):

 

[Pomegrenade]

Nice work, this is pretty cool!

 

[ShadowtearX]

Saw ur recomendation, are there any plans to make it support over other flachards or will lit stay dstwo limited?

 

[reprep]

Anyone interested in better scaling for CPS core? Right now FBA4DSTWO scales preserving the aspect ratio 12:7 (384:224 is resolution for CPS games), this results in black borders on upper and lower parts of the screen. These games are meant to be played on 4:3 aspect ratio though (non-square pixels), which is native AR for DS/DSi (256:192). I edited it so that it scales the width from 384 to 256 (same as before), but cuts the upper and lower 16 pixels to make the height 224-32=192 to fit DS screen. Scaling might be tried too, but this way is faster and probably cleaner instead of scaling height from 256 to 192. A picture is worth thousand words i guess.

BTW this emu is much, much faster than the mame emu for DSTWO, thanks a lot crazii.


Here is the video in action:


The binary and the only changed file (SwapBuffer.S), compiled for CPS1 and CPS2 cores since the AR changes are hardcoded and will break scaling of other cores.

Use the Performance mode to see the new scaling method, you can change to Quality mode to see what was it like before i edited.

https://transfer.sh/Wz1cB/fba4dstwocps.zip

EDIT: New binary which will turn off lower screen when not in use. again only cps core but i created a pull request with the changes to author, so he/she might include them in main branch.

https://transfer.sh/qB7QW/fba4dstwo.plg

EDIT2: Sleep mode added and both the lower screen turn off patch and the sleep mode patch have been submitted to original author. Feel free to DM me if you want to test some binaries.

EDIT3: Getting the binary size reduced makes more games boot, for example i can boot Alien vs Predator CPS2 game with CPS core. There are a few more things to reduce the binary size. Hmm, let me see. BTW any devs/testers can contact me, i am not a great coder but at least i got a Supercard DSTWO sdk installed on my pc and i can mess with a few things.

EDIT4: Did a few more edits to my fork, i will also deliver binaries if asked. https://github.com/rereprep/fba4dstwo

EDIT5: Finally added the fast, purely in MIPS A68K core. CPS1/CPS2/neo geo games are already full speed. A caching mechanism for CPS2 and neo geo games is what this emu needs. unfortunately it is beyond my ability to add caching. I will still work on this emu some more though.

 

[Boriar]

Please, can you reupload the .nds and .plg?
Thanks in advance

 

[HK$]

Anyone interested in better scaling for CPS core? Right now FBA4DSTWO scales preserving the aspect ratio 12:7 (384:224 is resolution for CPS games), this results in black borders on upper and lower parts of the screen. These games are meant to be played on 4:3 aspect ratio though (non-square pixels), which is native AR for DS/DSi (256:192). I edited it so that it scales the width from 384 to 256 (same as before), but cuts the upper and lower 16 pixels to make the height 224-32=192 to fit DS screen. Scaling might be tried too, but this way is faster and probably cleaner instead of scaling height from 256 to 192. A picture is worth thousand words i guess.

BTW this emu is much, much faster than the mame emu for DSTWO, thanks a lot crazii.
View attachment 91523View attachment 91525

Here is the video in action:


The binary and the only changed file (SwapBuffer.S), compiled for CPS1 and CPS2 cores since the AR changes are hardcoded and will break scaling of other cores.

Use the Performance mode to see the new scaling method, you can change to Quality mode to see what was it like before i edited.

https://transfer.sh/Wz1cB/fba4dstwocps.zip

EDIT: New binary which will turn off lower screen when not in use. again only cps core but i created a pull request with the changes to author, so he/she might include them in main branch.

https://transfer.sh/qB7QW/fba4dstwo.plg

EDIT2: Sleep mode added and both the lower screen turn off patch and the sleep mode patch have been submitted to original author. Feel free to DM me if you want to test some binaries.

EDIT3: Getting the binary size reduced makes more games boot, for example i can boot Alien vs Predator CPS2 game with CPS core. There are a few more things to reduce the binary size. Hmm, let me see. BTW any devs/testers can contact me, i am not a great coder but at least i got a Supercard DSTWO sdk installed on my pc and i can mess with a few things.

EDIT4: Did a few more edits to my fork, i will also deliver binaries if asked. https://github.com/rereprep/fba4dstwo

EDIT5: Finally added the fast, purely in MIPS A68K core. CPS1/CPS2/neo geo games are already full speed. A caching mechanism for CPS2 and neo geo games is what this emu needs. unfortunately it is beyond my ability to add caching. I will still work on this emu some more though.

CPS1 games can run at full speed without frameskip? Can you please upload the binary file, Thanks for the great work.

 

[reprep]

It has some frameskip but as supercard dstwo screen update speed is the bottleneck, it plays great as it is. Much, much better than mame4dstwo. I will upload the cps1 spesific plg here, give me some time though. Also please give feedback, i can modify and recompile the source

 

[reprep]

Here is the promised compiled versions for CPS1/CPS2. Unfortunately only small CPS2 games will work as there is no caching mechanism yet (and there will probably never be), anyone interested to add one please contact me and i can share my working dev environment.

Zip file contains two versions one with C68K engine and the other with A68K engine. A68K is written in MIPS assembly, it is faster but buggy in some games. All CPS1 games should work good but vertical screen games aren't rotated properly. Please give feedback. Also if someone uploads files into a more permanent filehoster, i will be glad.

https://transfer.sh/ZxXfX/fba4dstwocps.zip

 

[HK$]

Here is the promised compiled versions for CPS1/CPS2. Unfortunately only small CPS2 games will work as there is no caching mechanism yet (and there will probably never be), anyone interested to add one please contact me and i can share my working dev environment.

Zip file contains two versions one with C68K engine and the other with A68K engine. A68K is written in MIPS assembly, it is faster but buggy in some games. All CPS1 games should work good but vertical screen games aren't rotated properly. Please give feedback. Also if someone uploads files into a more permanent filehoster, i will be glad.

https://transfer.sh/ZxXfX/fba4dstwocps.zip

HI, I've done some test with your builds. The A68K version seems it's faster than the original version. And I like the fullscreen dispaly.

I think you dont have to cut upper and lower pixels, just scales the height from 224 to 192 to keep the right 4:3 aspect ratio. Because the DS screen's resolution is much smaller than CPS, you have to scale the width, the game can't be displayed pixel to pixel anyway. So why not keep the right aspect ratio at least?

I've noticed with the A68K version in some games like Tenchi wo Kurau II: Sekiheki no Tatakai (wofj.zip) you can't insert coin with select key. And Knights of the Round (knights.zip) keeps going into the dipswitch screen.

With the C68K version,CPS1 games there is no display on the top screen (When you press select key you can hear the insert coin sound so the game is running, it just don't display anything).

Thanks for the great work and the builds

 

[Indy13]

Saw ur recomendation, are there any plans to make it support over other flachards or will lit stay dstwo limited?

No, unfortunately i think Crazii who has coded fba4dstwo, has made it only for the supercard dstwo.

Here is the promised compiled versions for CPS1/CPS2. Unfortunately only small CPS2 games will work as there is no caching mechanism yet (and there will probably never be), anyone interested to add one please contact me and i can share my working dev environment.

Zip file contains two versions one with C68K engine and the other with A68K engine. A68K is written in MIPS assembly, it is faster but buggy in some games. All CPS1 games should work good but vertical screen games aren't rotated properly. Please give feedback. Also if someone uploads files into a more permanent filehoster, i will be glad.

https://transfer.sh/ZxXfX/fba4dstwocps.zip

great job dude ! do you think it's possible to add the possibility to use an ez flash 3in1 to get a better result with cps2 games ?


EDIT : here is a new link for download
http://www.mediafire.com/file/92bqx5t6fk9woq3/fba4dstwocpsA68K&C68K.rar

 

[Indy13]

Hi, I have done some tests with these new versions of fba, for the A68K version, there is not much to say, it is faster but more buggy and less compatible, the C68K version is very useful, it's a very good complement to the original version, here is the list of cps 2 roms tested that work with the C68K version on ds lite :

The C68K build seems to support cps 2 roms with 12Mo size (4Mo better than the original build !)

On DS Lite, when you load a game, after playing, when you want to change the game, it's necessary to leave fba and going back to the dstwo menu, then after relaunching fba, you can change the game, if you don't apply this method, most of the time, you'll have a black screen if you load 2 cps2 games in the same gaming session without leaving fba in between.*

*note : It depends the size of the rom you have loaded first, for example : loading a big rom (generally cps2 rom), then loading another big rom, crash happens, but loading a big rom then after loading a smaller one (cps1 or cps2 smaller than the precedent rom loaded), it will works normally.

Suggestions for the C68K :

The C68K is a good way to complete a little bit the arcade catalog on ds but maybe like MAME4ALL (with differents .plg files) few builds are needed to get a complete emulator so maybe it will be usefull to change the path to create a new folder where to put the cps roms, I mean into the FBA4DSTWO folder where you can find the roms folder for the classic version, then this could be useful and really make coexist the C68K version and the original version on the same sd, it would be nice to create a second directory where the C68K can find its own roms, this could avoid mixing the roms that work on the original version with the roms that do not work on the C68K version and vice versa, I think especially roms like captcomm.zip, kod.zip, wof.zip or for the cps2 roms that doesn't work on the original build.

1. a new path for a new folder (ex: /FBA4DSTWO/romsCPS/)
2. pre-setting the Skip Frames at 65% by defaut
3. "black screen crash" needed to be fix between two cps2 loadings
4. a sleeping mode (if it's possible to desactivate it by touching the bottom screen, it could be great)


There is a problem with the sleeping mode on the A68K version, when we have finished playing, when we want to return to the menu of the dstwo, it turns off the top screen, we are forced to turn off and to turn the console back on to solve the problem.

 

[Indy13]

EDIT5: Finally added the fast, purely in MIPS A68K core. CPS1/CPS2/neo geo games are already full speed. A caching mechanism for CPS2 and neo geo games is what this emu needs. unfortunately it is beyond my ability to add caching. I will still work on this emu some more though.

I've tried to make cache file with FBA Caching Script for NEO-GEO, CPS2 and FBA roms (http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/dingoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,73,151) it works fine for the ds2linux fba version but it doesn't work for FBA4DSTWO (original, C68K & A68k), is there a way for FBA4DSTWO to recognize the .fba files ?

 

[reprep]

I've tried to make cache file with FBA Caching Script for NEO-GEO, CPS2 and FBA roms (http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/dingoo.cgi?0,0,0,0,73,151) it works fine for the ds2linux fba version but it doesn't work for FBA4DSTWO (original, C68K & A68k), is there a way for FBA4DSTWO to recognize the .fba files ?

Can you post the source for ds2linux fba version? I will try to look how it caches stuff.

 

[Indy13]

Unfortunately, after several searches, I did not find the source code of DSTWO Linux Beta1.0 and Dingoo FBA320, however, maybe by contacting Slaanesh you can get the source code of FBA320. (I don't have his email address but I've some links that could be helpfull to contact him, I'll PM you for that)

From Slaanesh's blog : http://www.slaanesh.net/2009/09/
"Final Burn Alpha is an emulator specializing in emulating arcade video game machines based on M68000 and Z80 CPUs.
The Dingoo's FBA320 port is a combination of the GP2X and PSP ports of Final Burn Alpha - think of it as part Linux (GP2X heritage) and part MIPS (PSP/Dingoo CPU)."

 

[Retinal_FAILURE]

Does this support RAM expansion on a ds lite?

 

[Indy13]

Can you post the source for ds2linux fba version? I will try to look how it caches stuff.

I've found a dingux fba source code, dunno if it can be helpfull but perhaps if you still work on it with Crazii you can find a way to make cache files, here the link : https://github.com/dmitrysmagin/fba-a320


Edit : I've found something else that could be interesting, NJemu for PSP clone, this emu runs :

CPS1PSP

Capcom System 1 Emulator

CPS2PSP

Capcom System 2 Emulator

MVSPSP

Neo-Geo MVS/AES Emulator

NCDZPSP

neogeo (CD) Emulator


This emu seems to have a cache system for cps2 that using .fba files : https://github.com/phoe-nix/NJEMU/tree/master/romcnv

here a link of the complete source code : https://github.com/phoe-nix/NJEMU



Note : Something different about fba4dstwo is there a way to fix the rotate screen for shump ? Because lots of this kind of games works but they're totally unscaled...

 

[Indy13]

re-up of the original emulator : http://www.mediafire.com/file/n6yobk2scq26ntg/FBA4DSTWO.rar/file