Release DraStic Nintendo DS emulator

[Exophase]

That's where the roms ID are important.

But scene ID (which is what everyone is using in that field) is not a good choice. If you dumped the ROMs yourself or are using a file that was renamed from a scene one then you won't have the ID. What would be useful fields are crc32 and game code. Neither are printed in the menu right now but both are printed in the pndrun stdout file. With the crc32 I can tell if it isn't matching in the database, and with the game code I can probably uniquely identify an officially released ROM.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Well, at least until we can get those full information, it's not a bad starting point.

Btw, do you also plan to print the rom size in the menu ? Will be easy to report all that stuff in one move.

 

[Solstar]

another playtesting note:i noted that if i take a previous saved state (saved with my nds itself or though a emu,with extension .sav)and just rename .dsv,they DO work,but in some games,after reaching a certain point,it crashes the emu.while if i just use the save made by the drastic itself,everything keep going fine...

 

[Askarus]

sav and dsv problem.

Some do work and some don't. Same for me.

Had no crash yet.

 

[ingoreis]

I had only Problems when i updated the Version that the old Save Files dont work correctly,

but when i only use the actual Version of DraStic,have i no Problems.

Only that little Confussion that the Game runs after a Standby many many faster

Exophase,you did so much good work,thx again for working on this Emu ^_^

 

[kirkanoss]

more then a few times testing games i didn't pause in-game but just hit space to bring up the menu then would sleep for a few hr's and pandora would be on standby then when i would wake  it still played normal. using a 512rebirth at 900.

 

[ckblackm]

What is necessary to dump roms from a DSi?  (other than a DSi & the games).

The drastic_readme.txt says use a homebrew program, but doesn't say what to use.

thanks,
Christopher.

 

[apersonthinks]

What is necessary to dump roms from a DSi?  (other than a DSi & the games).

The drastic_readme.txt says use a homebrew program, but doesn't say what to use.

thanks,


Christopher.

Its impossible to dump roms from a DSi (even normal DS carts). You either need a usb-ds cart adapter or ds flash cartridge, and a dsphat/dslite. You can dump over wifi with a phat/lite and a ds flash cart. However, the wifi dumped roms seem to be missing the last couple kilobytes or so (they still work, but the crc's are different). For complete dumps you either need the usb-ds cart adapter or a GBA flash cart as well as a ds flash cart.

 

[ckblackm]

Would using a DS lite be better?   I really just want to know what I need to do in order to use drastic with my own games. 

thanks,

Christopher.

 

[Gandi]

I really just want to know what I need to do in order to use drastic with my own games. 

I just bought a NeoFlash SMS4 exactly for that.

It can save a DS cart to a (Windows) PC.

After fiddeling around with different software releases it seems to work quite well.

I had to test them with DeSmuME, though.

Unfortunately DraStic won't play my own dumps currectly by now, because they cannot be found in DraStics XML-game-file.

But Exophase already said, he will adress this issue in a later release.

 

[Tensuke]

but both are printed in the pndrun stdout file. With the crc32 I can tell if it isn't matching in the database, and with the game code I can probably uniquely identify an officially released ROM.

Didn't know they were in there, I figured since they weren't in the menu yet you hadn't put that in. That'll be very useful to know! I'll go through and update what I can.

 

[notaz]

Since the emu is using ADVANsCEne database, maybe it would be best to submit database corrections to them? They have threads for missing releases and corrections here:

http://www.advanscene.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=18

Otherwise Exophase will have to keep merging ADVANsCEne and his own database forever.

 

[FamilyGuy]

I have a small issue with Chrono Trigger and I'm confused as the wiki says it works fine and I've seen a youtube video of it runing...

When I load the game, all I see is the bottom screen witht the text "Initializing save file memory. Do no turn the power OFF.", it stays there forever.

Seems my rom wasn't recognized because it was "trimmed" or something. It now works perfectly! Great job!
Add Scale2x or Scale3x and this will be the perfect 2D DS emulator!

In the end, fixing the rom so it doesn't crash at the teleporter (copy protection) makes it not work again... Any way I could amnually add the fixed version to the database?

Thank you for your great work!

 

[Exophase]

Since the emu is using ADVANsCEne database, maybe it would be best to submit database corrections to them? They have threads for missing releases and corrections here:

http://www.advanscene.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=18

Otherwise Exophase will have to keep merging ADVANsCEne and his own database forever.

It's not actually the same database, I have to convert from there's anyway. I actually got the database file from dasShiny (Cydrak, the author, said it was okay if I used it) and honestly I forgot it wasn't exactly the same as the ADVANsCEne one. Cydrak probably had code to convert it but I couldn't get in touch with him so I wrote my own to do it, so I could insert the newer releases.

That thread should still be helpful though..

In the end, fixing the rom so it doesn't crash at the teleporter (copy protection) makes it not work again... Any way I could amnually add the fixed version to the database?

Thank you for your great work!

It shouldn't crash in the teleporter in the first place, have you tried it without fixing it?

Next release will match better because it'll first use game code + title, taken from the header, to match with the database. Only if that fails will it try CRC32. This will make ROMs load faster too (especially unzipped ones)..

 

[FamilyGuy]

It shouldn't crash in the teleporter in the first place, have you tried it without fixing it?

Clean dump worked until Crono follows Marle in the teleporter, there it crashes.

Fixing this same dump make it not boot.

Loading a state from the clean rom in the fixed rom (messing with filenames allows this) works for a few seconds, then crashes.

Thank you for the support! Add scale2x or scale3x, different size for each screens and this could become one of the greatest emulator for the pandora!

 

[Exophase]

Okay, I'll look into it. I know there's no teleporter crash on the PC version, but maybe something broke or it's unique to the ARM one (shouldn't be..)

Can you provide a savestate from before the crash in the unfixed ROM?

 

[FamilyGuy]

Can you provide a savestate from before the crash in the unfixed ROM?

There you go: http://www.mediafire.com/?lzdfw788zxur5l4

Thank you!

[EDIT] Had uploaded wrong state, fixed.

 

[aszu]

just to say, that after the latest update, most games i`ve tried work like a charm!

Respect Exophase!

 

[ekianjo]

Exophase, a quick question: would it be possible to implement screen-specific frameskip ? 

Here's what I mean. Usually on DS one of the screen is not used very effectively (just for map, or inventory items), therefore would it make sense to drop more frames on such screen in order to skip less frames on the other ? 

I am not sure how much that would speed up the emulation for the other screen, but this may add up some more performance "for free" to many games where the second screen is pretty much useless. Such settings would need to be saved in the profile for each game, i believe. 

 

[Exophase]

It's possible and I want to do it, but it's not on my immediate todo list.