Release DraStic Nintendo DS emulator

[knightron]

Alright then. I've got a fare collection, so i'll try and add a few games to the wiki today or tonight.

Edit:

I've just signed up to the wiki page. I was wondering if anyone knows if there's a way to find out the Game id of the roms on the Pandora?

 

[levi]

Hit Y enough times and you'll get to a screen showing the 8 character rom name and the 32 bit game id.

Must say, in updating the wiki it's a slight pain to have to come out of DraStic and ls -hl your nds folder to get the rom size. Do we really need this on the wiki table, given the game id ought to identify a game?

 

[knightron]

These are only the titles of the game, they can easily be changed; and i've renamed some of mine, so the Game id isn't there. Is there a command i can launch in the terminal or something.

lol, never mind, i was pressing the 'Y' on the keyboard, not the 'Y' Button. Found it now, thanks.

 

[Zero3K]

Exophase: Also, I've been noticing lag in The World Ends With You. It occurs during battle when using the "Love Me Tether", etc. pins, screen transitions (such as when going into the menu screen), and certain areas of the game (such as Towa Records).

 

[PowerGod]

@Exophase: do you like duplicate entries with different versions on the compatibility list ? Or we just keep the last one ?

 

[hmc]

To add to that can this also be optionally be displayed like the fps overlay?

I wasn't planning on it. This doesn't seem like something you'd need plastered on the screen all the time, more something you'd just want to go in the menu to check.. I don't think I'd want an option like the FPS display, because people would probably end up constantly enabling and disabling it instead, meaning more work going through the menu. I guess if I had to give an active display option I'd make something that only comes up when you don't press buttons for a while but even that seems iffy to me..

Right, in the menu is good.

Having it on the screen while playing would be annoying.

Boo... fair enough - but I always found the similar feature super useful in ZSNES... (I had a habit of letting hours fly by until I enabled the clock display...)

What about:

- the battery display only coming onto the game screen, when battery runs low, as a warning

- the time is in the menu only

- there is a timer that can be set, after which the emulator will automatically save the game state and quit (useful for letting children play, or for yourself when gaming during the work break )

 

[levi]

@Exophase: do you like duplicate entries with different versions on the compatibility list ? Or we just keep the last one ?

I've taken the approach of updating the version number and not creating a second entry. But if a game has a bug fixed in the latest version, I note that in the description, in case anyone who hasn't upgraded reads the page and wonders why it doesn't work as well as the wiki claims.

It strikes me that listing bugs that have already been fixed is of little interest to Exo.

 

[knightron]

The compatibility list has been over doubled in size. I will add more tomorrow. Please people don't forget to add games if they're not on there.

 

[Loonie]

Looks like that last update fixed the first "My French Coach". This emu is in amazing shape now.

 

[fusion_power]

Could be also useful if there is an indication if an game is good playable wwith only one screen, I just don't like to place 2 DS screens but sometimes I have to. Luckily Advance Wars DS can be mostly played single screen but some modes and situations need the 2. screen so I have to switch. I really hope to get the TV cable soon, this could be an big help when I can use my TV for one DS screen.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Why your eyes can't see small? Use Fusion_Power 

 

[levi]

Hmm, that's largely up for debate. I can't think of any games where having both screens isn't useful. There are lots of games where the 2x:1x mode is very handy because you rarely look at one of the screens, but none of the games I play regularly have nothing at all useful on one of the screens.

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Why your eyes can't see small? Use Fusion_Power 

Edit: Joking aside, what's wrong with going into the menu and select "Single"?  DraStic allows you to swap the screens.   I don't think it's that much of a hassle.

 

[levi]

Don't forget the keyboard shortcuts. In particular the X button, which switches screen arrangements. Watch out though - both the Z and C buttons have behaviours, but they're both two-state, so if it doesn't do the right thing, hit it again to get back. It appears however that X and C do the same thing in TV mode, and Z just blinks the screen (haven't got a TV cable here though, so I can't check the TV side of the arrangement).


The full list of keys are in the readme file.

 

[fusion_power]

I guess I didn't tested the 2x:1x mode yet, however, I like to see the screen filled with only one Screen.  But nice to know that there are also Hotkeys for switching the screen modes. ^^

Again, you can play Advance Wars with only one screen, in that case it's the Touchscreen, the Lid Screen is mainly just for unit and terrain infos, I know these all from the GBA AW games, didn't actualy changed much there.

In Story mode, you see sometimes additional stuff on the Lid Screen, like an Rocket slowly reaching the ground round by round, there are also some options where you have to select stuff on one screen first, then onto another.  I guess Every NDS game makes more or less usage of the two screens (REALY?!?!?   :lol:  ) but sometimes you still can play with only one and don't miss much.

It would be a little bit easier I guess if the Pandoras Design would be not clamshell but of course you can't have everything.

 

[knightron]

I play most of my games in 1x : 2x. I'm very thankful to Exophase that he made it an option. I think Final Fantasy III can get away with just the one screen, and i think you could get away with it in Chrono Trigger too; except when you're asked to name a character on Chrono Trigger, the letters are displayed on the bottom screen. You could also get away with Mario kart on the one screen, but i like to play in 1x : 2x, just in case someone lets off a squid; and then i can use the 1x temporarily instead. I do play Dragon Quest IV and V in once screen mode, and in my opinion it's better. I haven't tested Dragon Quest VI enough yet, but from what i've seen it seems to be nice in one screen mode too. Children of manna seems playable (and beautiful) on one screen as well. Plants vs Zombies runs awesome in one screen mode.

 

[NLS]

Started playing Pokemon platinum a few days ago, and it runs great on the new update. The combat forces you to use the lower screen, but you can still control it with your dpad. Either just remembering the combat moves, or switching quickly through screens with the X button. I've gotten quite fast at it, plus the game will display a small icon whenever you're required to look at the 2nd screen and perform and action there.

 

[JeanLouSchmidt]

Thanks again, Exophase !

Drastic is now nearly perfect, everything I test run smoothly, TrackMania is now enjoyable !

 

[knightron]

In the compatibility list, some one has edited 'Mario and Luigi Bowsers inside story'; made the comment, "Freezes" during first Bowser fight." They haven't said whom it was. Who ever it was, i'd like you to check you're running the up to date version of DraStic, because i had no freeze in the battle against Bowser and continued to play on.

 

[moxie]

The "Freezes at first battle" is a problem from at least two versions back, so I'd agree with knightron.