Homebrew Stella-DS Improved

[Cris1997XX]

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/StellaDS

V6.7 : 24-Jun-2023 by Dave Bernazzani (wavemotion)

• Fix for Sword of Surtr so it runs correctly.
• Hold L+R shoulder buttons for ~1 second to take a snapshot of the screen (written to SD card)
• DSi now defaults to the 'Accurate' BUS MODE for maximum compatibility.
• Improved data bus handling for undriven pins in Tia:eek() for improved compatibility.
• A few more tweaks to a few more games to make them as accurate as possible.

This is probably it for a while on StellaDS. I've gotten the compatibility as high as I can and kept the speed as fast as I can. On the DSi and above (running at 134MHz) pretty much the entire library should be playable with the exception of a few of the really complex ARM-assisted games which might drop below full frame-rate. The older DS-Lite/Phat should play most of the classics the way you remember.

Enjoy!

We salute you for updating this wonderful emulator for over two years! It finally reached its peak, and it possibly couldn't get any better

 

[CrashMidnick]

Thanks Dave, this emulator is a must have on NDS

 

[wavemotion]

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/StellaDS

V6.8 : 01-Jul-2023 by Dave Bernazzani (wavemotion)

• Improved RSYNC so Extra Terrestrials (1984 by Skill Screen Games) works.
• Improved keypad handling so Magicard and similar keypad/keyboard game work.
• Added a few of the ultra-rare games discovered in the last decade to the internal database.
• Updated internal database to ROMHUNTER v18 for the classic-era games.
• Starpath Supercharger (AR) carts now clear RAM by default (prevent lock-ups).
• Added Dual Keypad/Keyboards for the few game that need them (BASIC, Magicard mostly).

Hard to leave well enough alone I guess. Was just playing through the entire original library of 600+ games and noticed a couple that didn't play so I fixed those. Added improved and dual keypad handling for the few games that want that setup - it seems damn unlikely anyone would ever program in ATARI VCS BASIC with 128 bytes of RAM ... but why not make it possible?! A few of the ultra rare original games that have surfaced in the last 10 years are now working - I think there are currently only 4 copies of Extra Terrestrials (no... not the famously bad ET game) found in the world (out of a reported 100 sold in 1984).

 

[wavemotion]

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/StellaDS

V7.0 : 10-Dec-2023 by Dave Bernazzani (wavemotion)

• Champ Games Edition! Major overhaul to the CDFJ/+ driver to squeeze out every bit of performance.
• Fix for Genesis gamepad emulation (detection now works).
• Other minor cleanups and tweaks as time permitted.

StellaDS now supports all current Champ Games offerings through Turbo Arcade and Elevator Agent. These games represent the cutting edge of what is possible on the Atari 2600 using an ARM co-processor to help move data through the system. These games push the limits of the emulator. To run these advanced arm-assisted games, you will need a DSi or greater running either Twilight Menu++ or Unlaunch to unlock the 2X CPU (134MHz). The original DS (or the DSi/2DS/3DS running with an R4 cart) will only run in DS compatibility mode (67MHz) which is too slow to render these games full speed.

It is also recommended that you use an XL/LL model - these larger screens have a slower LCD fade resulting in a picture that more closely resembles an old TV. This means less flicker overall.

Be aware that most of these games utilize a significant amount of overscan. The DS/DSi/XL/LL only has 192 pixels of vertical resolution and this means the extra 16-20 pixels of game information will render-off screen. StellaDS will always show the main gameplay portion of the screen and utilizes a screen pan UP/DN to shift in the score or status (non-gameplay) information. For example, in GORF, you will not see the score at the top normally... but if you press the X button (pan UP), the screen will momentarily shift up to show you the score and then automatically pan back down. It's quite smooth and is very serviceable in normal gameplay.



All Champ Games should run at or near full speed with the exception of the two most complex games: Turbo Arcade (which dips framerate slightly for some complex rendering scenes but is generally not noticeable for gameplay) and Elevator Agent which runs at 55+ (often up to full speed) but is variable enough that you will hear some slight wavering in the music output (but still quite playable and enjoyable). Try the DEMO roms first to be sure you're happy with the emulation quality here. Be aware that any performance issues related to these cutting-edge games is a reflection of my emulation and not the superior craftsmanship of the games themselves.

 

[wavemotion]

Merry Christmas all!

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/StellaDS

V7.1b : 25-Dec-2023 by wavemotion-dave

• Squeezed out one extra frame of performance on CDFJ/+ games.
• New light frameskip applied to Draconian for a performance boost.
• Minor fixes and tweaks to make all the latest homebrew games look and play their best.
• Version 7.1b eeks out another partial frame on the hardest hitting ARM-assisted games.

This is as fast as science will allow the ARM assisted games to run. I spent about 15 hours deep in optimization and managed to squeeze out approximately 0.975 extra frames per second on the most demanding and cutting-edge games. I'm at the point now where I have to profile the games for 10 minutes each when making tweaks to ensure that I get an accurate assessment of a performance boost.

If you haven't, search for "Champ Games Demo roms" and go download the full pack of 15 demo games that Champ Games offers. Especially love Qyx, Gorf Arcade and Lady Bug Arcade.

 

[wavemotion]

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/StellaDS

V7.3 : 05-Jun-2024 by wavemotion-dave

• Added wF8 banking scheme for the new dump of Smurf and Zaxxon.
• Added JANE banking scheme for the new Tarzan prototype release.
• Added support for Champ Games Tutankham Arcade.

After 40+ years, two new Coleco banking schemes were discovered - and we finally get the prototype release of Tarzan of which there are only two copies known to exist in the world.

 

[raxadian]

Thanks for the update, time to play that Snoopy vs Red Baron game.

 

[djleviticus]

Thanks a lot. Great update.

 

[signer-ink-beast]

This emulator is wonderful, as are the other ones you've been working on. It's been really impressive seeing how well these work even in DS-mode.

I do have a question though. I've come across problems running when I launch the emulator via Twilight Menu installed on my Ace3DS X+ card in DSi mode on my 3DS. I get no sound output, and returning to Twilight Menu hangs.

If I launch the emulator directly via GM9i in DSi mode, I still get no sound, but returning to Twilight Menu works.

If I put a rom on my 3DS console SD, and launch a game via Twilight Menu on 3DS with my flashcard removed (so it doesn't auto-launch my flashcard), it works perfectly, sound and all.

Is this a problem on other flashcards, too, or just this one? Does anyone else have this problem?

I tried replacing my files and double-checked my settings on both my flashcard installation of Twilight and on console.

Also, in DS mode, waking from sleep while the emulator is running often, but not always, crashes the emulator. I mainly notice this with Beamrider and Enduro. Beamrider doesn't crash it unless maybe it's been more than 30 minutes or 1 hour. But Enduro will crash it quicker and more consistently IME, unless I wake my console from sleep within 5 minutes. Those aren't hard numbers. I didn't actually time anything. I have to return to 3DS menu and relaunch my flashcart.

Maybe it's my SD card in the flashcart. I've got a 64 GB SanDisk Ultra in it. But then I haven't had much problem with most homebrew, with some exceptions. The weird one has been NetHack not liking to save on my flashcart. Whenever it would, it saves successfully, but then it hangs. But I haven't tested that lately to see if it would still be a problem or not. I've chalked any others up to age + incompleteness, or I installed it wrong.

I don't have much experience with NDS homebrew, so I don't know what could be up.

 

[wavemotion]

If I launch the emulator directly via GM9i in DSi mode, I still get no sound, but returning to Twilight Menu works.

If I put a rom on my 3DS console SD, and launch a game via Twilight Menu on 3DS with my flashcard removed (so it doesn't auto-launch my flashcard), it works perfectly, sound and all.

Is this a problem on other flashcards, too, or just this one? Does anyone else have this problem?

I tried replacing my files and double-checked my settings on both my flashcard installation of Twilight and on console.

Also, in DS mode, waking from sleep while the emulator is running often, but not always, crashes the emulator. I mainly notice this with Beamrider and Enduro. Beamrider doesn't crash it unless maybe it's been more than 30 minutes or 1 hour. But Enduro will crash it quicker and more consistently IME, unless I wake my console from sleep within 5 minutes. Those aren't hard numbers. I didn't actually time anything. I have to return to 3DS menu and relaunch my flashcart.

Maybe it's my SD card in the flashcart. I've got a 64 GB SanDisk Ultra in it. But then I haven't had much problem with most homebrew, with some exceptions. The weird one has been NetHack not liking to save on my flashcart. Whenever it would, it saves successfully, but then it hangs. But I haven't tested that lately to see if it would still be a problem or not. I've chalked any others up to age + incompleteness, or I installed it wrong.

Thank you for the feedback!

I'm not sure on the GM9i or 3DS... I have used an R4 on my 2DSXL and that works fine and I've heard others using R4 clone cards on their 2DS/3DS working well... Maybe others will chime in.

And yes, I have also seen the wake-from-sleep crash on my emulators. Honestly not sure on that... I was kinda thinking it was less my emulators and more that I'm running custom firmware / TWL++ but I've just taken to avoiding sleeping the DS and haven't really investigated it.

I really should just add savestates to StellaDS. They have been amazing for my other emulators... but I never got around to doing it for StellaDS.

 

[raxadian]

Is this a problem on other flashcards, too, or just this one? Does anyone else have this problem?

Most flashcards are made to work on the DS and that's it. Also the quality of most flashcards is quite bad. I got one that it won't even let me save stuff in homebrew.

 

[wavemotion]

V7.4 : 19-Aug-2024 by Dave Bernazzani (wavemotion)

• Adding save/restore state handling for all games. Use the new down-arrow icon in the lower left.
• Added 03E0 banking for Parker Bros. Brazilian carts.
• Added 0FA0 banking for Fotomania Brazilian carts.

The big new feature is Save States... finally! Only took me 3 years. They say I'm a fast learner

 

[raxadian]

Any chance for a DSi version upgrades?

 

[wavemotion]

Any chance for a DSi version upgrades?

Not sure what you mean... can you elaborate a bit?

 

[raxadian]

Not sure what you mean... can you elaborate a bit?

In DSi mode the emulator would have access to more ram?

Then again by sales numbers most people would be using a 2ds/3ds with Twilight Menu instead of an actual DSi.

 

[wavemotion]

In DSi mode the emulator would have access to more ram?

Then again by sales numbers most people would be using a 2ds/3ds with Twilight Menu instead of an actual DSi.

All of my emulators take advantage of the DSi extra speed and memory.

However, for StellaDS, only the extra CPU speed is a benefit as even stock DS memory of 4MB is two orders of magnitude more than is needed for a 4K cart

 

[raxadian]

All of my emulators take advantage of the DSi extra speed and memory.

However, for StellaDS, only the extra CPU speed is a benefit as even stock DS memory of 4MB is two orders of magnitude more than is needed for a 4K cart

Yeah the Atari 2600 was quite underpowered.

You can technically get near early Nes game quality on it but the coding for that is kind of a nightmare.

One of Atari many mistakes was make way too many of the darn things ignoting how fast tech was advancing.

 

[wavemotion]

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/StellaDS

V7.5 : 23-Aug-2024 by wavemotion-dave

• Overhaul and refactor of cart/device handling to gain a 3-4% speed boost across the board.
• Improved memory handling to use a bit less of the precious DS resources.
• Fixed multi-load Starpath Supercharger (AR) carts so they work again (broken for almost a year!)
• Cleanup as time permitted

Every so often I work on a build that only has speed improvements. I haven't done this in a while on StellaDS mainly because the last few efforts (for the ARM core stuff), burnt me out significantly. But I've had enough time to recharge the Borg circuits and decided to take another pass.

I wasn't hopeful that I'd squeeze much more out from this emulator which is already pulling all the stops to get speed but I did manage to refactor the various cart drivers and get a nice 3-4% speed increase across the board.

What does this mean in practical terms? Well, on the DS/DS-Lite running in compatibility mode (via R4 or similar) it means more games can run at full speed - almost all games got a solid 2-3 frames per second speedup. Games that were close to running before are now playable (Grand Prix and HERO are two examples). Other games that were running right at the margins now have enough spare CPU to enable better sound or improved screen rendering (flicker free, etc).

For the DSi, there was no need for speed on 98% of the library but the ARM assisted carts did get a solid 1 to 1.5 frames per second boost - even the mighty Draconian which hits the emulator really hard got a full frame of improvement. It's not much but we're operating at the upper end of my skill set here on the poor little DS hardware

Oh... and I fixed a long-standing bug for Starpath Supercharger games... some of those games load a 2nd or 3rd segment (from cassette tape on the original 2600) and I broke that sometime last year. Most people wouldn't notice unless you played through the full adventure of Survival Island or Escape from the Mindmaster... anyway, that's been fixed.

Overall a nice solid release!

 

[raxadian]

Thank you for the update.

Anything decent to. play besides the Mappy clone, and Snoopy vs the Red Baron?

 

[wavemotion]

Thank you for the update.

Anything decent to. play besides the Mappy clone, and Snoopy vs the Red Baron?

For the 2600? There are dozens and dozens of classics that I still love and enjoy... but if you're looking for some cutting-edge homebrews, anything from Champ Games is amazing. He's got working demos of all his games - Gorf Arcade is one particular favorite as is Lady Bug Arcade. Wizard of Wor is nearly arcade perfect.

Also, Space Rocks is outstanding - not Champ Games but pushes a lot of bits through the ancient system.

You will need a DSi running at the 2X CPU rate for these ARM-assisted games to run anywhere near full speed.