Homebrew SNES9x for Old 3DS

[ArtemisM]

and some options to allow users to change the SRAM saving interval, as has been suggested many posts ago.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooou! Now I can actually play various SRW games without that breaking immersion

 

[bubble2k16]

Okay did a quick update today. A few lines of code here and there to fix things bugs and improve playability for games that write the SRAM very often.

Haven't done a full test yet, so I'll release it here as beta.

v0.63b

- Fixed DKC tile corruption issue. This probably also fixes most (if not all) tile corruption issues in other games, if you play it for too long in a single sitting.
- Fixed sound problems when auto-saving SRAM. Somehow the hardware or the library doesn't like us stopping and starting the CSND too often. Not too sure what the problem is.
- Added an auto-save SRAM option to tell the emulator when to save SRAM (1 second, 10 seconds, 60 seconds, or disable auto-save).
Note that regardless of the setting, the emulator will always save any modified SRAM every time you touch the bottom screen to activate the menu. I know I said I wouldn't add this, but I finally realised I couldn't possibly test every SNES game to find out which games write to SRAM like crazy, so here it is.

But we seem to be having too many options now... if I have time I'll have to change how the menu looks. But UI stuff is always low priority now.

@CrashMidnick - You might want to give this version a go to see if you can repro the DKC tile corruption problem. Keep me posted.

 

[ArtemisM]

@bubble2k16

To reduce clutter, you could have the stuff like SRAM, render options etc under an "advanced" tab

 

[nooby89]

I can't send you a MP... @bubble2k16

 

[sieroi]

Bit of a weird request - is there any possibility this will be getting 3D support any time soon?

Not in terms of 3D graphics! It's just something I've noticed in RetroArch's 3DS port, and other 2D games - the appearance of 2D games tends to be significantly nicer when the 3D effect's turned on, even if a 2D image is all that's being displayed. No visible "scanline" effect, individually separated pixels, better colour/image clarity, etc.

Don't suppose that's something that might be feasible at some point, is it?

 

[DiscostewSM]

Bit of a weird request - is there any possibility this will be getting 3D support any time soon?

Not in terms of 3D graphics! It's just something I've noticed in RetroArch's 3DS port, and other 2D games - the appearance of 2D games tends to be significantly nicer when the 3D effect's turned on, even if a 2D image is all that's being displayed. No visible "scanline" effect, individually separated pixels, better colour/image clarity, etc.

Don't suppose that's something that might be feasible at some point, is it?

In other words, for @bubble2k16 , have 3D enabled, but copy the same image output to both sides of the buffer. Should be pretty simple.

 

[bubble2k16]

@DiscostewSM, @sieroi - I had no idea that made the screen look better?

 

[sieroi]

@DiscostewSM, @sieroi - I had no idea that made the screen look better?

It does, actually! I was surprised when I realised it.

At least on my N3DSXL (IPS), having the 3D slider flipped off results in an image with some quite noticable dark "scanline" artefacts- they disappear completely when 3D's turned on. There was a /r/Emulation thread about it a while back- apparently I'm not alone in really liking the way it looks.

 

[TutiBueno]

Thank you!! Just installed the emulator and it is superb!! Keep it up!!

 

[Flame]

by any chance anyone created a smdh for this awesome emu?

 

[ROBRSG]

I'm here to thank you, Bubble2k16. This emulator is very well made!

It simply proves that SNES on OG3DS is possible and very enjoyable!

I was on the fence if my 2ds could handle Donkey Kong Country due to my experience with Blargsnes... And it's amazing how well it runs now.

I'm mainly a Vita user and I was intrigued with your project. Tested at least 4 builds since you've started. Every new one is a very pleasant surprise.

Keep it up, man!

 

[TheGag96]

In other words, for @bubble2k16 , have 3D enabled, but copy the same image output to both sides of the buffer. Should be pretty simple.

I've always kind of thought about how an SNES emulator could implement 3D. Since the console operates with layers, you could potentially have each layer configurable to be drawn at a certain depth level on-screen. Of course settings would need to be different per-game and probably even different per-situation in each game, so a system could be created so that people could write config files to set the layers at certain depth levels based on the values of RAM addresses.

If I can find the time (and the know-how about drawing stuff in 3D lol) it would be really cool to try to implement this and contribute something to this awesome project... Though who knows, maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way to begin with.

 

[DiscostewSM]

I've always kind of thought about how an SNES emulator could implement 3D. Since the console operates with layers, you could potentially have each layer configurable to be drawn at a certain depth level on-screen. Of course settings would need to be different per-game and probably even different per-situation in each game, so a system could be created so that people could write config files to set the layers at certain depth levels based on the values of RAM addresses.

If I can find the time (and the know-how about drawing stuff in 3D lol) it would be really cool to try to implement this and contribute something to this awesome project... Though who knows, maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way to begin with.

The idea has been brought up even with blargSNES, but there are issues with doing it. Location and size of the texture cache is one of them. The amount of polygons for a single frame is another. It all amounts to the GPU becoming the bottleneck, imo, enough to where the game may not even run at 60fps. that's not including that not all games could handle 3D very well, as some are designed in a way that could cause "cracks" to form at the seams of tiles.

That's not to say it's impossible. It just requires a lot of work, and a different method to rendering. Based on StapleButter's work, we have a working method to render a luminous texture (typically used for bumpmapping) as if it's a 256-color paletted texture with optional transparency. A thread I made some time ago requested help for anyone that understands bumpmapping to see whether it's possible to "rotate" the palette LUTs in either the vertex/geometry shader. If it could, then that would immensely help in the effort. It would reduce the "cache" by a LOT, allowing this cache to be transferred to VRAM in much less time, and because it would be in a paletted form, changes in the palette would be easier to handle, with no need t

 

[KJ1]

@bubble2k16 Is it possible for you to add an option below "Exit SNES9X" of directly turning off the system and one option to restart the console if it isn't too much trouble?

 

[Clydefrosch]

@bubble2k16 Is it possible for you to add an option below "Exit SNES9X" of directly turning off the system and one option to restart the console if it isn't too much trouble?

while technically, at least turning the system off shouldn't be impossible, i fail to see why the emulator should have such an option.
cant you use the console integrated power on/off button for that?

 

[KJ1]

while technically, at least turning the system off shouldn't be impossible, i fail to see why the emulator should have such an option.
cant you use the console integrated power on/off button for that?

Yeah, but, if we are launching snes9x from homebrew launcher then we have to hold down the power button for 5-6 seconds I guess, but, yeah, that is definitely not a big problem, so, yeah.. xP

 

[Clydefrosch]

Yeah, but, if we are launching snes9x from homebrew launcher then we have to hold down the power button for 5-6 seconds I guess, but, yeah, that is definitely not a big problem, so, yeah.. xP

does the emulator exit back to homebrew menu? because there, hitting the power off button instantly shuts down the console (after a few seconds, but you dont have to do anything anymore after the buttonpress)

 

[KJ1]

does the emulator exit back to homebrew menu? because there, hitting the power off button instantly shuts down the console (after a few seconds, but you dont have to do anything anymore after the buttonpress)

It doesn't.. and, yeah you are right..

 

[Zetman]

Is it better than blargsnes? Can run a link to the past?

 

[catlover007]

@Zetman Yes it does, atleast as far as I played it