SnezziDS 0.28 released

[FAST6191]

SnezziDS 0.28 (probably the best DS code snes emu) dropped earlier today and boasts a nice changelog.

Grab it here:
http://boards.pocketheaven.com/viewtopic.php?t=4787&start=0

Looks like things are picking up now, competition from snesemul can only be good too.

Changelog:
Release Notes:

DS-specific Fixes and Features:
- Overhauled the graphics engine to make use of the DS VRAM
(most games have less graphical glitches now)
- Implemented Mosaic effect.
- Aligned the SNES ROM to 64KB boundary.
(Chrono Trigger now works like Snezziboy on the DS)
- Modified Snezzi builder to allow building of 32Kbyte ROMs.
(32Kbyte Demos seem to work fine noW)
- Reallocated memory to various parts of the ITCM/DTCM/VRAM
- Implemented line-by-line mechanism for the following graphic registers:
- - Horizontal/Vertical scroll offsets
- - background disable/enable (hide/show)
- - tilemap address
- - screen brightness
- - screen transparency
- - screen mode (allows mid-frame switch between screen mode 1-6 to screen mode 7 and back)
(does not support mid-frame switch between modes 1-6 to modes 1-6)
(Chrono Trigger works fairly well aside from background priority issues,
which causes any game screen that has a warp zone to fill up with white/blue circles, 16x16 tiles are still not supported)
- - Mode 7 rotate/scaling registers
(F-Zero is playable!)
- Fixed Megaman7/XMen speed problems by protecting the ROM region, and allowing only Read access. (Previous it was allowing Read/Write access)
- Implemented delayed NMI/IRQ triggered. NMI/IRQs are now triggered 4 SNES clock cycles after the point in which they are fired.
(Chrono Trigger intro now gets past the Courtroom Trial Scene, and possibly some other lock ups)

- Fixed a bug with the writing to register $211A
(Contra 3 title screen/Castlevania 4's bridge now works again)
- Fixed a bug when reading from $2137 register that causes the horizontal and vertical counters to latch incorrectly.
- Fixed a critical bug with the MVP instruction to load the source and destination banks in the correct order.
- Fixed a critical bug with the MVP instruction to decrement the X and Y registers per move (previously it was incrementing the X and Y registers.
- Revised the per scanline timing downwards:
FastROM: 227 cycles
SlowROM: 200 cycles (???)
- Fixed the 16-bit decimal mode SBC to subtract correctly; operand was previously incorrectly set up
(Knights of the Round no longer gets stuck at the score countdown screen)
- Fixed computation of the Mode 7 registers to the GBA's/DS's rotation modes.
(Super Soccer's intro where the ball flies toward the screen shows up
correctly now)

 

[Lily]

Fantastic, thanks for the news! Moved to the front page.

 

[IxthusTiger]

Settings to see the text in Earth Bound:

BG0 P3
BG1 P1
BG2 P0
BG3 P2
this is good for battles, but you still appear in front of things like trees.

BG0 P3
BG1 P0
BG2 P1
BG3 P2
this is good for walking around, but in battles, the enemies are invisible.

is there anything that will solve both problems?

and how do I get the sprites to not block my text?

 

[Takaru]

What settings make Chrono Trigger work the best?

 

[Torte]

Hope it doesn't crash when I open up the debug menu for MMX and the 2 Castlevanias, as did the previous version with my Supercard. Good to see some excellent progress being made from some awesome coders; can't wait 'til CT and Mario RPG are fully playable.

 

[GameDragon]

If I remember, Bubble2k said Super Mario RPG would never work on it due to the chip it requires. With that aside I still love this, I get to play GWED on my DS

.

 

[WishCow]

Correct, Mario RPG will never work.

 

[Muskusrat]

Why will Mario RPG never work? ZSNES does run the game fine and is open source. He could try to get it to work using the code from that emulator.

 

[GameDragon]

ZSNES is a PC Emulator, a PC can emulate the necessary chip needed to run Mario RPG. DS doesn't have the hardware to do that.

 

[PURPLEMUSTANG]

I will settle for chrono trigger ,secret of mana and FF6

 

[blackeromegalon]

For those who've tried SNES emulation on both the DS and PSP: If a game is emulated perfectly on the both portables, which would you rather play?

 

[PURPLEMUSTANG]

ds as the controller is more like the traditional snes controller.

 

[zragnarok]

For those who've tried SNES emulation on both the DS and PSP: If a game is emulated perfectly on the both portables, which would you rather play?

PSP mostly because of the screen

-both the PSP and DS have very similar controls to the SNES
-the PSP has enough hardware to run SNES full speed eventually, DS will get close with enough optimizations

however the DS screen will ALWAYS be 256x192 pixels. Most SNES games run at 256 X 224 pixels and a few nice ones (Secret of Mana) use 512x448 Hi-Res mode. This means that for text heavy games (RPGs etc) that the words will be interpolated and difficult/impossible to read or you have to deal with parts of the screen being cut off on the DS. The PSP's much higher res screen (480x272) allows you to play the games as they were meant to be played without screen cutoff or interpolation.

 

[blackeromegalon]

I just tested Earthbound on both PSP and DS and I have to say that I agree with you, zragnarok.
The text is somewhat difficult to read on the DS, on the PSP it's easier.
As for the controls, if I hadn't opened up my PSP to fix the d-pad I'm pretty sure playing SNES would be unbearable on it.

 

[dimsum411]

Someone tell me EVO The Search for Eden works...

 

[FAST6191]

Whoo the cart myth.
Snes carts occasionally had extra chips added with which to accomplish various things (enhanced graphics, sound, monkey summoning to name but a few).
To emulate these carts the chips had to be emulated too, such tasks are relatively easy for a PC emu so it was done.
Emulator coding on the handhelds involves hellishly large amounts of aggressive optimisation (why do you think the best ones are almost all ASM coded) and consequently you do not want extra chip emulation code clogging up the joint.
So while they may not officially be added the open source nature of the emulators (both DS and PC side) means they could well be made to run these special games (for the record there was several modifed versions of snes advance that were made to run better for some games by sacrificing others and given that the a completely playable snes emu on the DS is no pipe dream which lets face it was for the GBA).

The DS would be my console of choice for emulation anyhow.

 

[rkenshin]

For those who've tried SNES emulation on both the DS and PSP: If a game is emulated perfectly on the both portables, which would you rather play?

I'd choose the PSP for the screen size unless the DS side did some fancy stuff with the touchscreen like fast saving states, enabling Game Genie codes in realtime, that sort of thing

 

[bolton2]

this is the best news ive heard all day. cant wait to see how this emu will fully develope

 

[.TakaM]

someone upload a pic of super metroid running plz
(if it does work)

 

[yee]

PSP > DS for emulation