Any Plan For A Model 2 Emulator ?

[metalhammer]

Hi All, I'm not sure if this has been already discussed elsewhere but, with a quick search, I didn't find too much

...so what do you think about a Sega Model 2 emulator for the Pandora, wouldn't that be awesome :lol: ?!

I think that with the PowerVR SGX, on the graphics side, we should be pretty close to the original Naomi's PowerVR 2, right ?!

Cheers !

PS: I just checked and Pandora PowerVR SGX 530 is basically a PowerVR 5 capable of 14MPolys/s @200Mhz.

... it should be then a piece of cake for it to execute old PowerVR 2 code ... unless internal acrchitecure has completely changed of course

 

[jaycee900]

I can't see the Pandora having enough power emulate that! I would love to be proved wrong, but I think Model 1 emulation is hard enough, let alone Model 2!
Even if the power is similar, it has to be whatever times more powerful to emulate the hardware...I'd give my left testicle for a Model 2 emulator on my Pandora!

 

[Magic Sam]

Hi

From Wikipedia:

Model 2 Specifications

* Main CPU: Intel i960 @ 25 MHz
* Graphics Coprocessor: 5 x Fujitsu TGP MB86234 FPU (Model 2/2A-CRX) or 2 x Analog Devices SHARC FPU (Model 2B-CRX) or 2 x Fujitsu TGPx4 MB86235 FPU (Model 2C-CRX)
* Sound CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 10 MHz (Model 2) or Motorola 68000 @ 12 MHz (Model 2A-CRX/2B-CRX/2C-CRX)
* Sound Chip: 2 x Sega 315-5560 custom 28 channel PCM (Model 2) or SCSP (Model 2A-CRX/2B-CRX/2C-CRX)
* Sound Timer: Yamaha YM3834 @ 8 MHz (Model 2 only)
* Display Resolution: 496 x 384
* Color Depth: 16-bit
* Graphical Capabilities: Flat shading, Perspective correction, Texture mapping, Diffuse reflection, Specular reflection, Alpha blending
* Geometric performance: 300,000 polygons/sec. at up to 60 fps

As a SEGA fan boy I'd like to see a Model 2 emulator for the Pandora, but there seem to be quite a few chips inside that beast, making it difficult to emulate, like the Saturn IMO. I remember trying to play some Model 2 games on MAME on an high end PC, without much success

Bye, Magic Sam

 

[metalhammer]

I can't see the Pandora having enough power emulate that! I would love to be proved wrong, but I think Model 1 emulation is hard enough, let alone Model 2! Even if the power is similar, it has to be whatever times more powerful to emulate the hardware...Model 2!

...mmmh, I'm afraid you could be right

Indeed the Hitachi SH4 was running @200Mhz so, if graphics code needs some sort of translation and or adaptation, we won't be able to rely on our Cortex 8 power (unless we can boost it up to 2Ghz range :blink: ) ... not to mention the other stuff in the box !

I'd give my left testicle for a Model 2 emulator on my Pandora!

... I hope you will never need to do that To developers: don't accept jaycee900's offert for a Model 2 emulator please

 

[metalhammer]

Hi

From Wikipedia:

Model 2 Specifications

* Main CPU: Intel i960 @ 25 MHz
* Graphics Coprocessor: 5 x Fujitsu TGP MB86234 FPU (Model 2/2A-CRX) or 2 x Analog Devices SHARC FPU (Model 2B-CRX) or 2 x Fujitsu TGPx4 MB86235 FPU (Model 2C-CRX)
* Sound CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 10 MHz (Model 2) or Motorola 68000 @ 12 MHz (Model 2A-CRX/2B-CRX/2C-CRX)
* Sound Chip: 2 x Sega 315-5560 custom 28 channel PCM (Model 2) or SCSP (Model 2A-CRX/2B-CRX/2C-CRX)
* Sound Timer: Yamaha YM3834 @ 8 MHz (Model 2 only)
* Display Resolution: 496 x 384
* Color Depth: 16-bit
* Graphical Capabilities: Flat shading, Perspective correction, Texture mapping, Diffuse reflection, Specular reflection, Alpha blending
* Geometric performance: 300,000 polygons/sec. at up to 60 fps

As a SEGA fan boy I'd like to see a Model 2 emulator for the Pandora, but there seem to be quite a few chips inside that beast, making it difficult to emulate, like the Saturn IMO. I remember trying to play some Model 2 games on MAME on an high end PC, without much success

Bye, Magic Sam

... indeed !

The only thing which makes room for hope is the following:

Model 2 Geometric performance: 300,000 polygons/sec. at up to 60 fps

... when compared to what the PowerVR SGX is capable (10Mpoly/s) doesn't look too impressive

 

[Yod4z]

the PowerVR on Pandora run only at 110MHz

 

[metalhammer]

the PowerVR on Pandora run only at 110MHz

... this should anyway be enough for, let's say, 5MPolys/s that's way more than Naomi's 0.33MPolys/s @200Mhz !

PS: I just remembered that Model 2 HW is pretty similar do DC's HW so ... fingers crossed ... maybe in the future ... the wonderful developers out there ... with a lot of optimization ...

...don't let me say more

 

[Yod4z]

think much more for Pandora 2

 

[kikeminchas]

You're mixing up Naomi and Model2, SH4 with intel...

Dreamcast (and possibly Naomi, not sure) included a SH4 at 200 Mhz, not Model2.

 

[metalhammer]

You're mixing up Naomi and Model2, SH4 with intel...

Dreamcast (and possibly Naomi, not sure) included a SH4 at 200 Mhz, not Model2.

my bad !

... you're right: I confused Model 2 HW with Naomi's HW which is considered Model 3 successor.

Model 2 had indeed an Intel i960 @25 MHz and its graphics processors (plenty!) were capable of 300KPolys/s
Naomi on the other hand had an Hitachi SH-4 CPU @200Mhz with a PowerVR 2 rendering 5MPolys/s (something close to Pandora SGX then)

Cheers

 

[Magic Sam]

I've found some stuff

Modeler: Sega System 32 and Model 1 Arcade Emulator

Model 2 Emulator v.0.9, homepage is here.

Don't hold your breath though, the first is binary only and seems to be no longer maintained, the second is still updated, but windows binary only

Maybe we could try to contact these guys and ask for the source code ?

Bye, Magic Sam

 

[bce23w]

Don't hold your breath though, the first is binary only and seems to be no longer maintained, the second is still updated, but windows binary only

What the hell is the point of a closed source emulator?! It's not like you'll ever be able to sell it. Sigh.

 

[metalhammer]

I've found some stuff

Modeler: Sega System 32 and Model 1 Arcade Emulator

Model 2 Emulator v.0.9, homepage is here.

Don't hold your breath though, the first is binary only and seems to be no longer maintained, the second is still updated, but windows binary only

Maybe we could try to contact these guys and ask for the source code ?

Bye, Magic Sam

... yeah, I saw that stuff already but since I didn't see any source code I passed ahead

What the hell is the point of a closed source emulator?! It's not like you'll ever be able to sell it. Sigh.

... precisely !!!

 

[Tom`]

What the hell is the point of a closed source emulator?! It's not like you'll ever be able to sell it. Sigh.

I think Exophase doesn't like releasing his source because when he did, people subsequently released hacked-up versions attributed to him. I don't really understand the situation, though, so maybe he'll explain...

 

[philly]

Hello...

My eeepc runs at 900mhz and plays Sega Rally Championship at very playable speeds, It is also running WinDozeXP... I use Model2 emu.

Also something to note though is I shoehorned 2gigs of ram in it which might explain a thing or two but food for thought.

Only problem is I have never seen a linux M2 Emulator :huh:

 

[metalhammer]

... Maybe we could try to contact these guys and ask for the source code ?

Just done !

 

[andy9841]

All is not lost.. PicoDrive supports 32x games most of which were good ports of Model 2 arcade games. So at least we will be able to play the same games..

 

[Magic Sam]

Hi

... Maybe we could try to contact these guys and ask for the source code ?

Just done !

I also emailed both projects yesterday
Got a reply about what happened to the Sega System 32 and Model 1 Arcade Emulator:

It got subsumed into MAME.

So we already have this one !
I hope the authors of the Model 2 emulator will also reply my mail.
Bye, Magic Sam

 

[metalhammer]

I also emailed both projects yesterday

Let's see if I'll get the same reply

I hope the authors of the Model 2 emulator will also reply my mail.

... fingers crossed then !

 

[andy9841]

So 2 years on, did anything ever happen?