Yabause Wii Alpha 1

[Djarum]

I'm actually pretty impressed that it runs games at all! The speed while not great wasn't too bad. Pity he chose Initial D to show the emulator working with though. It's one of the worst games released on the Saturn. I'd definitely say it's an emulator worth watching out for. If they can optimize the code well enough and figure it a nice time slicing routine so it can process both chips at the same it'll probably be runnable.

I know this probably sounds like a dumb question but if you were to compare the Wii to a PC what CPU would it be closest to?

Well it is unfair to compare the internals of the Wii to the PC as they are actually very different beasts. The Wii has a PPC based RISC processor which when programed for actually does things a bit faster than your normal x86 type processor at the same clockspeed. The best comparison I would say in terms of power would be a mid range NetBust based intel chip (Pentium 4). Now this is not talk about clockspeed of the chip but in terms of feel and capabilities.

Where the problem of Saturn emulation has had problems in the past is that the system is largely undocumented. Sega of Japan was pretty tight lipped about much of the system, even to third parties. This is why there was the huge difference in quality of games from SoJ and everyone else. Also that it has a ton of chips on the board, most of which are RISC based which the x86 hardware just doesn't handle well. The Wii on the other hand should be able to emulate many of the Saturn's functions in a faster and much more effective way. Granted I don't have a ton of Wii programing experience so I am not exactly sure if there is any other unforeseen problems that could arise due to it's hardware. But as someone who has worked in the emulation community for 15 years now, it would not surprise me to see a Saturn emulator running full speed on the Wii. Hell, I am surprised Sega themselves haven't done work on one for Power hardware to take advantage of not only the Wii but also the 360. But I don't think Sega themselves really has the manpower or capability to do such a project anymore.

 

[TrolleyDave]

I'm actually pretty impressed that it runs games at all! The speed while not great wasn't too bad. Pity he chose Initial D to show the emulator working with though. It's one of the worst games released on the Saturn. I'd definitely say it's an emulator worth watching out for. If they can optimize the code well enough and figure it a nice time slicing routine so it can process both chips at the same it'll probably be runnable.

I know this probably sounds like a dumb question but if you were to compare the Wii to a PC what CPU would it be closest to?

Well it is unfair to compare the internals of the Wii to the PC as they are actually very different beasts. The Wii has a PPC based RISC processor which when programed for actually does things a bit faster than your normal x86 type processor at the same clockspeed. The best comparison I would say in terms of power would be a mid range NetBust based intel chip (Pentium 4). Now this is not talk about clockspeed of the chip but in terms of feel and capabilities.

Where the problem of Saturn emulation has had problems in the past is that the system is largely undocumented. Sega of Japan was pretty tight lipped about much of the system, even to third parties. This is why there was the huge difference in quality of games from SoJ and everyone else. Also that it has a ton of chips on the board, most of which are RISC based which the x86 hardware just doesn't handle well. The Wii on the other hand should be able to emulate many of the Saturn's functions in a faster and much more effective way. Granted I don't have a ton of Wii programing experience so I am not exactly sure if there is any other unforeseen problems that could arise due to it's hardware. But as someone who has worked in the emulation community for 15 years now, it would not surprise me to see a Saturn emulator running full speed on the Wii. Hell, I am surprised Sega themselves haven't done work on one for Power hardware to take advantage of not only the Wii but also the 360. But I don't think Sega themselves really has the manpower or capability to do such a project anymore.

Nice one, that's the best explanation I've had about it. Looking at Initial D running I don't doubt that the Wii could pull it off in the hands of a decent coder. I'm actually pretty surprised at how well Yabause runs without any optimization. The one thing that always puzzled me was how a single chip CPU could emulate a dual-chip system but someone has already explained it to me.

It would be nice to see someone code a Saturn emu for the latest machines, it had alot of great games that most people have never had the chance to play.

 

[Djarum]

Well after watching the video and playing around with it a bit a couple of things I have noticed that could bring the speeds up a bit.

1: The graphics are all being emulated by the cpu, not by the gpu at all. Now the VDP chips on the Saturn are not the best candidates for being offloaded to a GPU, you should be able to offload some of the more troubling parts to it with little problem. SSF does this to great success and at least at this point it doesn't feel like it is being done at all.

2: The code is all straight C right now. Which is not going to do the Wii any justice. Converting some of the more important stuff (the SH2 processors, the SH1 for CD-ROM) to some ASM would give a huge speed boost. I know of someone who is looking at this as we speak but I am not sure his wokr can be released due to his current employment. It is a shame since he is perhaps the guy qualified guy in the world to do it.

I was reading the forums the guys who compiled this and are working on it earlier and I don't have real high hopes. It is a bunch of kids it seems with a basic level of knowledge of programing and little knowledge of both Saturn and Wii hardware. Hell if I can find some docs on Wii hardware and whatnot I might take a crack at this.

 

[Loginer]

Does anyone feel like trying it out? Sounds pretty fake to me.

 

[Djarum]

Does anyone feel like trying it out? Sounds pretty fake to me.

It is perfectly real. I tried it out. I did a bit more research and the official Yabause team is working on the Wii port and this build of the alpha is unofficial and unsupported. I would almost advise GBATemp to take down the download link since the Yabause team is not entirely happy about it. Some kids just compiled it from the SVN and took out some options. From reading on their forums the Yabause guys have a pretty good plan on how to get the Wii version running at a acceptable speeds.

 

[jservs7]

I am using the Yabause version that has the speed tweak by Ac_K off of WiiBrew.org. When I get to the game selection screen, my Wiimote shuts off and I cannot press A to select the rom. Ive tried removing my Wavebird receiver and GC memory card, but still nothing. I tried naming the ISO game.iso and also change the name, but that doesnt work either. I am loading this through the Homebrew channel.

Anyone else try this new version?