Homebrew blargSnes -- SNES emulator for the 3DS (WIP)

[Xenon Hacks]

fyi gpu stuff is undergoing a big revamp so aemstro and ctrulib will be pretty "unstable" in the coming weeks; you probably won't want to be on the bleeding edge.

turnGPUon()

 

[xantoz]

So I don't know whether this is unwanted information or not since it pertains to git versions entirely.

At one point (stupidly I didn't record from which commit I compiled this binary) Umihara Kawase was playable, albeit with a whole lot of Open Bus 2144 messages.

However at the most recent commit I get "!! SPC IO MIRROR READ 44" messages instead and the game doesn't respond to controls, just like it does with blargSnes 1.2 official release (albeit on the official release it gives Open bus 2144 messages and has more graphical glitches).

EDIT: It stops being playable at (everything during stages is completely frozen) at commit e8b55fb0eb244bb7f95e7d53ba887ea47b11f5d2, Fix VBlank timing.

Still don't know at what commit it starts working.

 

[Arisotura]

Haha Xenon Hacks you remind me of that guy who thought you could speed up an emulator with a magical setSpeed() function


xantoz well that's that it says on the tin...

Seriously though, I guess I finally have a test case for the SPC I/O port mirrors. I also hope that's why your game is hanging. Otherwise, that'd mean the incorrect VBlank timing made it work, hinting that there is something wrong somewhere else.

 

[sj33]

Here's the weird graphical bugs in Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu, the English patched version as you can see. The Raditz graphic has inverted colours, and the characters in-battle are garbled.

The game is still fully playable so hardly a big issue, just pointing it out in case other games suffer from something similar.

 

[Onion_Knight]

fyi gpu stuff is undergoing a big revamp so aemstro and ctrulib will be pretty "unstable" in the coming weeks; you probably won't want to be on the bleeding edge.

I noted it; I started walking back aemstro when I used the current version to try and compile and it threw some python int conversion errors.

 

[LumInvader]

Wow ! I finaly got latest revision and this is a bomb!
F-Zero ran flawlessly! it has a frameskip of 1, which is very good right now

Psp has been beaten by this ! I hated to play this shit on a aproxsoft render with a frameskip of 3
At least Blargsnes renders lightning properly with mode7 in the same time
StapleButter you did an amazing job!

1.3 is definitely going to be HUGE

Frameskip of 3? You either don't have the correct build or have no idea what you're doing.

On the PSP, F-Zero runs perfectly fine on MECM builds with frameskip 1. In fact, ~95% of the games run full speed with either 0/1 frameskipping.

 

[sj33]

^You can use the speed hacks too to give things an extra boost. I got F-Zero working at ~55fps, marginally below full speed. This is on a Vita w/ cfw so doesn't even support MECM. 'Snes9x TYLcm 0.4.2 Mod Rev.26' to be exact.

But still, blargSnes is already showing signs that it should surpass it.

 

[LumInvader]

^You can use the speed hacks too to give things an extra boost. I got F-Zero working at ~55fps, marginally below full speed. This is on a Vita w/ cfw so doesn't even support MECM. 'Snes9x TYLcm 0.4.2 Mod Rev.26' to be exact.

But still, blargSnes is already showing signs that it should surpass it.

The big advantage blargSnes has is StapleButter. He's extremely active and is open to feedback from the gbatemp community. I don't want to pressure the guy, but I also get the feeling about blargSnes eventually surpassing the PSP builds.

And let's face it, as fast as the PSP builds are, full speed games still suffer from occasional random tearing even with v-sync enabled.

 

[Arisotura]

Speaking of the PSP emulator, how good is its audio with and without the ME?

From what I see in the code, it does blocking audio output (wait until the buffer is done playing). With mixing inbetween, that should cause crackling...

 

[LumInvader]

Speaking of the PSP emulator, how good is its audio with and without the ME?

From what I see in the code, it does blocking audio output (wait until the buffer is done playing). With mixing inbetween, that should cause crackling...

My experience is mainly with the ME builds, but I haven't noticed any crackling. It's audio performs as expected pretty much.

 

[dronesplitter]

Poor sound was always what I got from SNES on PSP. No crackle but the sounds didn't match well at all with the real thing.

 

[sj33]

Sound was definitely better in CATSFC. With the PSP emulators the priority was trying to get something approaching full speed, so we tolerated inaccurate sound.

 

[Myria]

That hackers managed to get SNES games on 3DS faster than Nintendo Virtual Console is a travesty. A Link to the Past should be on the 3DS alongside its sequel A Link Between Worlds.

 

[MajinCubyan]

That hackers managed to get SNES games on 3DS faster than Nintendo Virtual Console is a travesty. A Link to the Past should be on the 3DS alongside its sequel A Link Between Worlds.

I been saying put SNES on VC forever now. I feel like I been filling out the Club Nintendo surveys for nothing. Haha.

 

[Arisotura]

Mh, I see.


Nintendo doesn't bring SNES classics to the 3DS because they want to push the WiiU

In the end, not really a good choice though. They could make some money if they released SNES VC games to the 3DS, really.

 

[Kazanye]

Mh, I see.


Nintendo doesn't bring SNES classics to the 3DS because they want to push the WiiU

In the end, not really a good choice though. They could make some money if they released SNES VC games to the 3DS, really.

Well, the fact that they brought back colored ABXY buttons onto the New 3DS definitely hints at SNES VC games coming exclusively to the New 3DS in the near future. Really, I don't believe they would bring about a new handheld model just for the sake of slightly improved graphics and better 3D. Nintendo want perfect, or at least near-perfect emulation of their older consoles, and I believe that's why they wanted a faster processor to guarantee flawless execution of their amazing timeless SNES classics.

But hey, who needs a fancy New 3DS now ?

 

[the_randomizer]

Poor sound was always what I got from SNES on PSP. No crackle but the sounds didn't match well at all with the real thing.

That would be due in part to the fact they used emulators based off Snes9x 1.43, inaccurate sound all around, that, and they rely a lot on frameskip AFAIK.

Mh, I see.


Nintendo doesn't bring SNES classics to the 3DS because they want to push the WiiU


In the end, not really a good choice though. They could make some money if they released SNES VC games to the 3DS, really.

Oh definitely, you're proven that the 3DS is more than capable of running Snes emulation and is only getting better. Keep up the good work People do what Nintendon't.

 

[LumInvader]

That would be due in part to the fact they used emulators based off Snes9x 1.43, inaccurate sound all around, that, and they rely a lot on frameskip AFAIK.

Nonsense. The vast majority of ME games run without frameskip -- over 80%.

 

[the_randomizer]

Nonsense. The vast majority of ME games run without frameskip -- over 80%.

I stand corrected, my apologies. But I do still stand by the fact the audio emulation accuracy is still garbage on the PSP's Snes emulators. Being based off of 1.43, this kills a lot of the sound effects and SPC700 (S-SMP) timing is way off; BlargSnes has accurate sound effects in most cases. Special chip games barely run at all. The 3DS might have a chance at least with the SA-1, which I hear has a similar clock speed to the main Snes CPU.

 

[weatMod]

Well, the fact that they brought back colored ABXY buttons onto the New 3DS definitely hints at SNES VC games coming exclusively to the New 3DS in the near future. Really, I don't believe they would bring about a new handheld model just for the sake of slightly improved graphics and better 3D. Nintendo want perfect, or at least near-perfect emulation of their older consoles, and I believe that's why they wanted a faster processor to guarantee flawless execution of their amazing timeless SNES classics.

But hey, who needs a fancy New 3DS now ?

"Nintendo want perfect, or at least near-perfect emulation of their older consoles"

well if that is the case then they need to go back to the drawing board because their NES VC emulator is fucking crap