Homebrew Snes9x GX 4.3.8 Beta - Feedback requested

[Tantric]

1.54 or 1.55, one of those two, but that shouldn't matter, should it?

Actually, the latest git. So a little newer than 1.56.2. It's right in the first post.

 

[the_randomizer]

Actually, the latest git. So a little newer than 1.56.2. It's right in the first post.

Wasn't aware of that, sorry.

 

[Tantric]

Uh oh. So do I. Maybe just a bad build. I'll try to put together a new one.

Here's a new build:

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2288514/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta4.zip

 

[Maeson]

Hi, using the good Beta 4, I can see that Kirby's Dreamland 3 works slower than in 4.3.7 (or rather, the mod version that Burnt Lasagna did that added compatibility to the translated version of Tengay Makyou Zero).

Whenever the dithering effect is present, the game drops quite a few frames, while in that version it took areas with very heavy dithering for that to happen, and the drop was way smaller.

I also heard a bit of crackling sound on Romancing Saga 3, but that's probably related to the KHZ thing brought in the first page.

 

[Hozu]

Hard to say, but I think the latest beta is a bit better for sound than the previous one, though I've only tested one game.

 

[Edu64]

Here's a new build:

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2288514/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta4.zip

Well, I did a test with some key games (zelda alttp, super mario rpg, chrono trigger and yoshi island), the results are as follows:
- Beta 4 has better sound in general than beta 2 (quality and pauses), less pauses and smaller but still has them, in general lines that section is better than in version 4.3.7.
- Pauses of sound (distortion) in the game menu of "super mario rpg" are not present in both betas.
- Pauses of sound (distortion) in the "chrono trigger" game menu are still present in both betas.
- Super mario rpg has performance problems in the first town, is a problem that had occurred in the past but had already been solved, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
- Chrono trigger has a problem with the music after a battle in the first forest, the background music stops being heard after the battle, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
-Option of "overclocking super fx chip" does not work and shows values of 100 to 200, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
- Due to the previous point, "yoshi island" presents serious performance problems, in 4.3.7 in 40 mhz option, the game works almost 100%
- A strange bug occurs with the left stick of classic controller pro, from time to time it moves to a wrong location, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
Some suggestions could be:
- Remove the sound from the menu
- vbagx filtering options
- Using component cable (480p) it would be great if there is a 240p option with the filtered image.
I use mgba using that option and it looks great on a 24 inch led.
- Any possibility to compile version 4.3.7 with the changes to the sound?
It would be good to check if some problems are causes to that change.

Thank you!

 

[Hozu]

Do note that every incremental version of Snes9x has been a bit slower than previous versions, as accuracy has been improved. Of course it's still fairly light, but that can have an impact on weaker systems like the Wii.

 

[Tantric]

Well, I did a test with some key games (zelda alttp, super mario rpg, chrono trigger and yoshi island), the results are as follows:
- Beta 4 has better sound in general than beta 2 (quality and pauses), less pauses and smaller but still has them, in general lines that section is better than in version 4.3.7.
- Pauses of sound (distortion) in the game menu of "super mario rpg" are not present in both betas.
- Pauses of sound (distortion) in the "chrono trigger" game menu are still present in both betas.
- Super mario rpg has performance problems in the first town, is a problem that had occurred in the past but had already been solved, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
- Chrono trigger has a problem with the music after a battle in the first forest, the background music stops being heard after the battle, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
-Option of "overclocking super fx chip" does not work and shows values of 100 to 200, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
- Due to the previous point, "yoshi island" presents serious performance problems, in 4.3.7 in 40 mhz option, the game works almost 100%
- A strange bug occurs with the left stick of classic controller pro, from time to time it moves to a wrong location, 4.3.7 does not have this problem.
Some suggestions could be:
- Remove the sound from the menu
- vbagx filtering options
- Using component cable (480p) it would be great if there is a 240p option with the filtered image.
I use mgba using that option and it looks great on a 24 inch led.
- Any possibility to compile version 4.3.7 with the changes to the sound?
It would be good to check if some problems are causes to that change.

Thank you!

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'll look at the chrono trigger sound issue. I can reproduce it.​

No idea about the super mario rpg issue. Perhaps a snapshot at this point showing the performance issue would help.

I noticed the chrono trigger music stopping, there was an assert in SNES_SPC.cpp that fails and then the emulator shuts down completely. I commented out the assert so it doesn't "crash" the game but I'm not sure why it's firing.

Regarding the superfx overclock, snes9x changed this setting to a %, and limited it 50% - 400%. I've reimplemented the setting and limited it to 100% - 200%. No idea if that makes sense without knowing what impact changing this setting actually has. But it seemed a reasonable starting point to me. Do you have a snapshot you can post of Yoshi's island at the point of experiencing the performance issue where turning this setting up is supposed to fix? If I get this I can try to figure out if the superfx overclock setting is getting applied.

Regarding recompiling 4.3.7. I could. But that version was released 2 years ago and compiled with a devkitppc from 2012. A lot has changed since then:

• other changes from other people have been merged into the codebase
• 6 years worth of changes to the toolchain, including devkitppc, libogc, newlib, gcc, and portlibs.
• changes to Snes9x upstream

This presents a predicament. What's the best devkitppc? portlibs? libogc? Snes9x? Or is it some franken-build combination of them?

The choice has been made to just go with the newest for everything, except the current byuu sound core, which is known to be significantly slower (and more accurate).

I don't have unlimited time to spend on this project - in the past 2 weeks I've sunk probably 40 hours. And over the past 10 years I'm sure it's in the thousands of hours. Perhaps I'm reaching the point of diminishing returns. I'm definitely reaching the limit of the time I'm going to spend.

It comes down to this - I'm hoping to put out a 4.3.8 release that's on the whole "better" than 4.3.7. It may break some things and fix others. Perfection will never be reached. I just need to know people's opinions of whether or not the current build is worth a release. Otherwise I just won't put out a release.

 

[Coto]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'll look at the chrono trigger sound issue. I can reproduce it.​

No idea about the super mario rpg issue. Perhaps a snapshot at this point showing the performance issue would help.

I noticed the chrono trigger music stopping, there was an assert in SNES_SPC.cpp that fails and then the emulator shuts down completely. I commented out the assert so it doesn't "crash" the game but I'm not sure why it's firing.

Regarding the superfx overclock, snes9x changed this setting to a %, and limited it 50% - 400%. I've reimplemented the setting and limited it to 100% - 200%. No idea if that makes sense without knowing what impact changing this setting actually has. But it seemed a reasonable starting point to me. Do you have a snapshot you can post of Yoshi's island at the point of experiencing the performance issue where turning this setting up is supposed to fix? If I get this I can try to figure out if the superfx overclock setting is getting applied.

Regarding recompiling 4.3.7. I could. But that version was released 2 years ago and compiled with a devkitppc from 2012. A lot has changed since then:

• other changes from other people have been merged into the codebase
• 6 years worth of changes to the toolchain, including devkitppc, libogc, newlib, gcc, and portlibs.
• changes to Snes9x upstream

This presents a predicament. What's the best devkitppc? portlibs? libogc? Snes9x? Or is it some franken-build combination of them?

The choice has been made to just go with the newest for everything, except the current byuu sound core, which is known to be significantly slower (and more accurate).

I don't have unlimited time to spend on this project - in the past 2 weeks I've sunk probably 40 hours. And over the past 10 years I'm sure it's in the thousands of hours. Perhaps I'm reaching the point of diminishing returns. I'm definitely reaching the limit of the time I'm going to spend.

It comes down to this - I'm hoping to put out a 4.3.8 release that's on the whole "better" than 4.3.7. It may break some things and fix others. Perfection will never be reached. I just need to know people's opinions of whether or not the current build is worth a release. Otherwise I just won't put out a release.

i'd suggest you ask a known wii dev that works on updated devkitpro toolchains so you can use the free time on features rather than maintaining (i've been on it for the past 4 years as of now).

What works best for me is to add all the features I want on an environment I know it works, then move everything to an updated environment. If it "doesn't" work, you know it's the new environment. For instance the new GCC builds for 32 and 64bit processors (thus, map files (addresses) of generated binary as 64 bit rather than 32bit) , so things might break in there. So yeah.

Good luck.

 

[Edu64]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'll look at the chrono trigger sound issue. I can reproduce it.​

No idea about the super mario rpg issue. Perhaps a snapshot at this point showing the performance issue would help.

I noticed the chrono trigger music stopping, there was an assert in SNES_SPC.cpp that fails and then the emulator shuts down completely. I commented out the assert so it doesn't "crash" the game but I'm not sure why it's firing.

Regarding the superfx overclock, snes9x changed this setting to a %, and limited it 50% - 400%. I've reimplemented the setting and limited it to 100% - 200%. No idea if that makes sense without knowing what impact changing this setting actually has. But it seemed a reasonable starting point to me. Do you have a snapshot you can post of Yoshi's island at the point of experiencing the performance issue where turning this setting up is supposed to fix? If I get this I can try to figure out if the superfx overclock setting is getting applied.

Regarding recompiling 4.3.7. I could. But that version was released 2 years ago and compiled with a devkitppc from 2012. A lot has changed since then:

• other changes from other people have been merged into the codebase
• 6 years worth of changes to the toolchain, including devkitppc, libogc, newlib, gcc, and portlibs.
• changes to Snes9x upstream

This presents a predicament. What's the best devkitppc? portlibs? libogc? Snes9x? Or is it some franken-build combination of them?

The choice has been made to just go with the newest for everything, except the current byuu sound core, which is known to be significantly slower (and more accurate).

I don't have unlimited time to spend on this project - in the past 2 weeks I've sunk probably 40 hours. And over the past 10 years I'm sure it's in the thousands of hours. Perhaps I'm reaching the point of diminishing returns. I'm definitely reaching the limit of the time I'm going to spend.

It comes down to this - I'm hoping to put out a 4.3.8 release that's on the whole "better" than 4.3.7. It may break some things and fix others. Perfection will never be reached. I just need to know people's opinions of whether or not the current build is worth a release. Otherwise I just won't put out a release.

Hello! I send a saved "yoshi island" at a point where you can do performance tests, it's on the first level, inside the pipe, especially pushing the rock to the red plant.
Using 40mhz in 4.3.7 goes almost 100%.

With respect to this, in 4.3.7, when changing the configuration of the fx chip, the game is restarted, indicating that you have applied the changes.

The problem of "super mario rpg" I remember that it appeared in an old version, maybe the 4.2.6, I can not send the saved, because I occupy a rom in Spanish, but the problem reminds me of this:

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/commit/fd8a742cd95a685fd663726278dd782f6146de3b

On that occasion the problem was solved thanks to that.

In my personal opinion, version 4.3.7 was very well, tested for a long time with more than 100 games, the only big problem was the sound issue.

It would be a dream come true if that problem were solved and perhaps, implement the ideas of filters and image settings of my previous comment.

Thank you very much for your dedication and work!

 

[Tantric]

Hello! I send a saved "yoshi island" at a point where you can do performance tests, it's on the first level, inside the pipe, especially pushing the rock to the red plant.
Using 40mhz in 4.3.7 goes almost 100%.

With respect to this, in 4.3.7, when changing the configuration of the fx chip, the game is restarted, indicating that you have applied the changes.

The problem of "super mario rpg" I remember that it appeared in an old version, maybe the 4.2.6, I can not send the saved, because I occupy a rom in Spanish, but the problem reminds me of this:

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/commit/fd8a742cd95a685fd663726278dd782f6146de3b

On that occasion the problem was solved thanks to that.

In my personal opinion, version 4.3.7 was very well, tested for a long time with more than 100 games, the only big problem was the sound issue.

It would be a dream come true if that problem were solved and perhaps, implement the ideas of filters and image settings of my previous comment.

Thank you very much for your dedication and work!

Here's two more betas, with beta6 having most of the older 4.3.7 core.

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2291668/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta5-156-core.zip
https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2291670/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta6-hybrid-core.zip

 

[Edu64]

Here's two more betas, with beta6 having most of the older 4.3.7 core.

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2291668/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta5-156-core.zip
https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2291670/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta6-hybrid-core.zip

I have done the testing of both versions, here are my results:

- In both versions there is a noticeable improvement of the sound problems, in "chrono trigger" and "super mario rpg" there is no problem when opening the menus.

In "zelda alttp" (in both betas) I only noticed slight "cliks" in the dungeon music, after a while, but definitely much better than the previous versions.

-In both betas the problem of "chrono trigger" music after the battle was solved.

- In beta 5 there is still the performance problem of "super mario rpg" in the first town, it is especially noticeable in the part of the entrance to the castle.

- In beta 6 there is no performance problem in "super mario rpg".

- In beta 5 the changes of the speed of the super fx chip have not yet been applied.

- Beta 6 no problem with the previous topic.

- Better performance in beta 6 with "yoshi island" with speed 40 mhz selected and activated.

-In both betas, there is still the problem of the right stick, mgba had the same problem and was solved, maybe this can help:

https://github.com/mgba-emu/mgba/commit/d18177888339cfc7892b186741e4de603d05b7f4

At the moment that is my report, I will test beta 6 more, in my opinion that beta is better.

UPDATE:
I have found 2 additional problems related to sound:
- If the action is advanced with the right stick, the game is without sound.
- During the game, if the emulator menu is displayed and then returned to the game (while listening to the menu sound) the music of the game will change volume and tonality.

Question:
Are both versions code msu1 the same?
I still can not test that, because I do not have games like that.

Thank you very much for your efforts!

 

[Hozu]

Beta 5 managed to crash when I was playing ALttP randomizer - first time I've had Snes9x GX crash in-game while playing any game. Couldn't get a save state or anything because the whole console locked up.

 

[Deleted User]

@Tantric

I have tested the games that are broken or having other Issues in SNES 9X GX 4.3.7.
I used SNES 9X GX 4.3.8 Beta 6 - hybrid core for testing. I highlighted the games with audio issues.

A small blue arrow(?) on the upper left side of the screen appears when the rendering is set to original.

I know you have limited time and your plate is already full, but could you please look into Tenshi no Uta - Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori? The english translation patch is almost ready for release!

Broken games:

• Bass Master Classic - Pro Edition PAL and US - Black Screen.
  
• 
  
• Chou Aniki - Bakuretsu Rantouden JAP - Black Screen.
  
• 
  
• College Football USA 97 - The Road to New Orleans USA - The game freezes during the EA Logo Screen.
  
• 
  
• Earthworm Jim JAP - The game freezes during the first Level.
• 
  
• Emmitt Smith Football USA - The game freezes after the licensed by Screen.
• 
  
• FIFA 98 - Road to World Cup PAL - Black Screen after the EA Logo.
  
• 
  
• Ganso Pachinko Ou JAP - Game won´t boot.
  
• 
  
• Hayazashi Nidan Morita Shougi 2 JAP - The Game freezes after you start a game.
  
• 
  
• Laser Birdie - Get in the Hole JAP - The game is stuck on the Yellow Caution Screen.
  
• 
  
• M.A.C.S. Basic Rifle Simulator US - Lightgun game. The game appears to be broken.
  
• 
  
• Madden NFL 96 & Madden NFL 96 Reviewer Version US - Black Screen. The game won´t boot.
  
• 
  
• Marko´s Magic Football PAL - The Wii console freezes after the Acclaim presents Screen.
  
• 
  
• Momotarou Dentetsu Happy JAP - Can´t get past the S-Ram Check.
  
• 
  
• Sankyo Fever! Fever! JAP - Black Screen after the developer logo.
  
• 
  
• Tenshi no Uta - Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori JAP - Black screen after pressing start on the Titlescreen.
  
• 
  
• Xardion PAL - To many glitchtes on screen to be playable.

Games with Issues:

• Adventures of Dr Franken PAL - Glitches on the Titlescreen.
• 
  
• Brett Hull Hockey PAL and US - The Audio is broken in the pal version and only works when you fast forward the game. The audio commentary during a match is
• broken in both the Pal and US version.
• 
  
• Chibi Maruko-chan - Harikiri 365-Nichi no Maki JAP - Glitched File Select Screen. You need to reboot the game a second time to recreate the issue.
• 
  
• F1 Grand Prix JAP - Glitches/flicker on screen during a race.
• 
  
• F1 Grand Prix Part 3 JAP - Glitches/flicker on the International Grand Prix Racing Course screen.
• 
  
• Kick Off 3 - European Challenge PAL - Glitches on screen during a match.
• 
  
• Robocop Versus The Terminator PAL and US - Heavy flicker on Screen. Set Filtering to hq2 soft or hq2 bold to reduce the flicker! (Helps only in the US version!)
• 
  
• Shin Nippon Pro Wrestling - Chou Senshi in Tokyo Dome JAP - Glitched up Titlescreen.
• 
  
• Street Combat PAL - The Audio is missing during a fight.

 

[Tantric]

Here's another beta:

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2295228/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta7.zip

• fixed joystick calculations...for me at least the classic controller was making me move left when the joystick was 100% to the right
• mute sound when in turbo mode. Fixes audio buffers going crazy. Still doesn't fix the problem reported by Emu64 above. If you jiggle the turbo stick a little the sound comes back. Not sure how to fix this...
• add soft and sharp video filtering options from VBAGX
• re-add explicit Wii U Pro controller mappings

 

[Deleted User]

Man soo close!

 

[Tantric]

@Tantric

I have tested the games that are broken or having other Issues in SNES 9X GX 4.3.7.
I used SNES 9X GX 4.3.8 Beta 6 - hybrid core for testing. I highlighted the games with audio issues.

A small blue arrow(?) on the upper left side of the screen appears when the rendering is set to original.

I know you have limited time and your plate is already full, but could you please look into Tenshi no Uta - Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori? The english translation patch is almost ready for release!

Broken games:

• Bass Master Classic - Pro Edition PAL and US - Black Screen.
  
• 
  
• Chou Aniki - Bakuretsu Rantouden JAP - Black Screen.
  
• 
  
• College Football USA 97 - The Road to New Orleans USA - The game freezes during the EA Logo Screen.
  
• 
  
• Earthworm Jim JAP - The game freezes during the first Level.
• 
  
• Emmitt Smith Football USA - The game freezes after the licensed by Screen.
• 
  
• FIFA 98 - Road to World Cup PAL - Black Screen after the EA Logo.
  
• 
  
• Ganso Pachinko Ou JAP - Game won´t boot.
  
• 
  
• Hayazashi Nidan Morita Shougi 2 JAP - The Game freezes after you start a game.
  
• 
  
• Laser Birdie - Get in the Hole JAP - The game is stuck on the Yellow Caution Screen.
  
• 
  
• M.A.C.S. Basic Rifle Simulator US - Lightgun game. The game appears to be broken.
  
• 
  
• Madden NFL 96 & Madden NFL 96 Reviewer Version US - Black Screen. The game won´t boot.
  
• 
  
• Marko´s Magic Football PAL - The Wii console freezes after the Acclaim presents Screen.
  
• 
  
• Momotarou Dentetsu Happy JAP - Can´t get past the S-Ram Check.
  
• 
  
• Sankyo Fever! Fever! JAP - Black Screen after the developer logo.
  
• 
  
• Tenshi no Uta - Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori JAP - Black screen after pressing start on the Titlescreen.
  
• 
  
• Xardion PAL - To many glitchtes on screen to be playable.

Games with Issues:

• Adventures of Dr Franken PAL - Glitches on the Titlescreen.
• 
  
• Brett Hull Hockey PAL and US - The Audio is broken in the pal version and only works when you fast forward the game. The audio commentary during a match is
• broken in both the Pal and US version.
• 
  
• Chibi Maruko-chan - Harikiri 365-Nichi no Maki JAP - Glitched File Select Screen. You need to reboot the game a second time to recreate the issue.
• 
  
• F1 Grand Prix JAP - Glitches/flicker on screen during a race.
• 
  
• F1 Grand Prix Part 3 JAP - Glitches/flicker on the International Grand Prix Racing Course screen.
• 
  
• Kick Off 3 - European Challenge PAL - Glitches on screen during a match.
• 
  
• Robocop Versus The Terminator PAL and US - Heavy flicker on Screen. Set Filtering to hq2 soft or hq2 bold to reduce the flicker! (Helps only in the US version!)
• 
  
• Shin Nippon Pro Wrestling - Chou Senshi in Tokyo Dome JAP - Glitched up Titlescreen.
• 
  
• Street Combat PAL - The Audio is missing during a fight.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure many of those game-specific issues are fixed by the newer 1.56 core. But since it's been rolled back, we've lost those fixes. That improved emulation accuracy came at the cost of speed. So it's a tradeoff. So unless someone finds ways to backport the changes without a performance hit, we're stuck. Also it's important to note that I'm interested in things that broke in this build vs 4.3.7. I know not all games work 100%.

 

[Deleted User]

Then I´ll take the lastest beta and start a playthrough of Yoshi´s Island!

 

[Hozu]

I just realized that these betas are assigning saves and other files an improper timestamp. Not super important to fix, I suppose, but I don't believe this was a problem before.

I also had another crash, this time on beta 7 with a different game (Seiken Densetsu 3 w/ the translation patch). Of course since it froze the entire console, I can't provide any files. It did happen during an action where I had no control though, ie. player inputs do nothing.

 

[Edu64]

Here's another beta:

https://github.com/dborth/snes9xgx/files/2295228/Snes9xGX-4.3.8-Beta7.zip

• fixed joystick calculations...for me at least the classic controller was making me move left when the joystick was 100% to the right
• mute sound when in turbo mode. Fixes audio buffers going crazy. Still doesn't fix the problem reported by Emu64 above. If you jiggle the turbo stick a little the sound comes back. Not sure how to fix this...
• add soft and sharp video filtering options from VBAGX
• re-add explicit Wii U Pro controller mappings

Hello! I have tested beta 7 and this is the result:
- The left stick now works without problems.
- The filtering function of "vbagx" seems little noticeable in snes9x, my intention with that was to get a less blurry filter, as it happens notoriously in "vbagx".
- The problem with the sound when advancing the action can be solved as described in the notes of this beta.
Maybe there could be an option in the control configuration where that feature can be activated or deactivated.
- Games tested previously work the same as in beta 6 and version 4.3.7.

I have not had problems where the emulator stops working, although I have not played more than 10 minutes each game, perhaps in a longer session may occur.

As a suggestion there could be an option in the main configuration, where you can select if the menu has sound or not.
This is because there are users who report better performance if there is no sound, in addition it would give the user an option of their preference.

For now and preliminarily, version 4.3.8 is already surpassing the 4.3.7, there is much to test, this weekend I can see more in detail more topics.

The advance is great! Thank you!