msxDS version 0.8

this is a nice emulator you got going here. id never tried any msx till now.
i just had some fun playing Vampire Killer=)

it was kinda hard to get it running, as there was no read-me and i couldnt find any set-up information.
but after i figured out that i needed some additional files (msx2.rom, msx2p.rom, etc.) its running good.



is there a save function? edit: nvrmnd just found the statsave and statload

 

hmm. Sounds like I better pass until proper documentation/instructions present themselves.

 

I just tried it too....
I agree, it needs a read me in the archive with the setup instructions.
I found the website and by poking around I found simple setup instructions in the download section, although I expected it to be somewhere else.
But definitely a readme file in the archive should be a must.

I also had trouble patching the .nds file, I tried the usual dlditool but for some reason it still wouldn't run on my old supercard SD ( which for convenience is what I use for emulation ).
So just to see if it was a patching problem or was I missing files ( this kind of error message should be given at the start to clarify things !) I put it on my slot 1 G6 Real ( which has auto dldi patching ) and it worked.

Now the emulation itself is great, I tried some MSX disks and roms ( HERO, Bruce Lee ) and some MSX2 disks and roms ( Aleste 2, Nemesis 2 ) and they worked flawlessly , albeit a little slow , but I prefer it that way compared to having frame skips ( I hate when a scrolling is already choppy and it's made even worse ) .
Sound was spot on, but very low ! I could barely hear it from the DSL speakers, I am sure there is a way in the devkit to adjust the volume levels.
Speaking of sound, I couldn't hear any FM music in aleste 2, just the AY sound, while the cartidge based nemesis 2 had the proper multichannel music.

The keyboard is simple, which is not a problem, but sometime while pressing keys they would get corrupt, like displaying japanese characters instead.
And the file selection is nice, but could use some scrolling tabs instead of using the d-pad and a double tap should be able to select a file.

The scaling is great, it worked really nicely, but it would be nice to see the changes in real time.
Also a reset button would be helpful, instead of switching it on and off.

Yeah all it all a solid emulator, I will try more games on it, but surely speed needs to be improved.
I don't know how that would be feasible on the DS , but games should run faster.
Maybe when somebody hacks the DSi there would be a way to use the little extra cpu power and improve the emulation speed, but that remains to be seen.

Anyway I had a blast playing the MSX H.E.R.O on my DS, it's my favorite version !
Good job!

 

would a slot-2 device such as a 3in1 with added ram speed things up?

 

I don't think it's a ram problem, the MSX and even the MSX2 and MSX2+ had at most 256Kb of vdeo memory ( not counting the later turbo R machines ),
so I think it's a matter of raw processing power.
An efficient , heavily optimized Arm7 - Arm9 code could speed things up, but there is only so much you can do when dealing with hardware sprites, custom sound chips and video processors.
Like I said, the emulation is pretty solid, but it really needs to speed up a little.

 

yea someone needs to compile a read me for the interface. it is a bit confusing to figure out what you need to do the first time. it took me about 10 min to get it all set up and working (when looking back it should have taken me 10 seconds). There should also be some information (linked or collected) that explains what can be done with the keyboard. what special function keys exist, etc.

fonts in some games appear to be cut off by a scanline or two. i see this mostly happening in translated games. as this was a japanese system most users are going to be running translated roms. i also see this in the msx basic v3.0 prompt screen.

the volume doesn't go very loud. it would be nice to see a 2x,4x,8x option added. even with ear buds it is much to quiet for me.

emulation is still a bit slow for some games but overall this is a nice project and working well. is there any way to frame skip or the like to speed up some games?

-another world

 

Thank you for this greatest MSX emulator for DS. Previous version (0.83) is work fine for me. This version (0.84) didn't work with my system (DS lite + Acekard 2i + EZflash 3in1) that games is freezed after insert disk file (in emulator) and press power button (in emulator).

 

Metal Gear 1 - 2 , Outrun, etc. didn't work at all. I tested with MSX2 and MSX2+ mode but it is freezed at the same point that occur after pressed start button and show message below on-screen keyboard ..

------------------------
LoadROM Start
FAT_fopen OK
Load CMOS.ROM..ok
LoadROM Start
------------------------

After that, it is freeze at all on msxDS 0.84 but fine on msxDS 0.83. It can't be interacted anything after above point.

note: test environment - DSL + AK2i + AKAIO 1.7 + EZFlash 3in1 (I tested for insert EZflash 3in1 and not insert too)

 

Games that work on 0.83 but freeze 0.84 on my system for both .DSK and .ROM files. There are Kanji.rom and carts.crc (from extraction of msxDS-0.84-.7z) in /msxDS.

 

System I used is in Post #13 + Micro SDHC Kingston 4GB class 4 (Japan)

 

Kanji Rom is 128KB. BASIC didn't load.