Emulator Development

[Shirohagen]

Hi

I was thinking about all the ongoing emulation projects for the GP32 at the moment and while it's great to see so many I was wondering when you know they are finished. The one I use the most is Frodo and while it is very capable it isn't really finished yet and development seems to have stopped. Now, don't get me wrong as I know people code in their spare time but I thought I would try to arrive at a definition of what I would like to see in a finished emulator (in no particular order):

1. Sound implemented with the option to disable it for extra speed
2. Save states
3. Support for long filenames
4. Overclocking options if necessary but optimised as far as possible for below 166
5. Support for ZIPped ROMS where they are large in size
6. A nice splash screen (Email me if you want one made up) & clear menus etc. Emulation should pause when you enter the menu (It's tricky to locate the pause key quickly in Frodo etc)
7. A nice icon and all the title info etc which file launchers show entered correctly (so we can tell what it is or the difference between versions)
8. As small an FXE as possible
9. 90% Compatibility with commercial games
10. As many GP32 buttons as possible free for user configuration and a virtual keyboard in the case of computer emulators

There yoi go, a lot of those are details which I'm sure are quick to do after the bigger issues, but I'd love to see Frodo reach the finished stage!

Do we actually have any finished emus yet? Which ones do we reckon will be first to get there or are we doomed to see projects abandoned desperatley close to the end as new projects come up?

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[EvilDragon]

He, trust me, no one can say when the emulators will be finished (can emulators ever be FINISHED...?)
Sometimes, a coder says "I've still got a lot to do and don't have time for anything" and releases a new version a few hours later

Other times, a coder says "Yeah, it should be finished pretty soon" and it takes months...

We do not know, coders do not know (after all, they can encounter unexpected code difficulties which take a lot of time), so nobody can give you an answer here.

 

[Shirohagen]

Yeah, I wasn't really looking for an answer, just starting off a discussion about the idea. I know that almost all of the emulators we currently have will never be finished, I just wondered what other people thought about it. Those 10 points would be what I would consider "finished"

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[fdave]

3. Support for long filenames

Still haven't figured this one out yet - I can copy long filenames to the SMC, but don't know how to read them, they just come out as "AFTERB~1.BIN". I think it's quite complex :-(

Is there any (simple... hoping!) sample code out there?

 

[scottm]

chatboard support for Frodo would be excellent

 

[skeezix]

You forgot Chatboard too

I think CaSTaway covers all the bases, no?

jeff

 

[Belgarath]

Add decent gamma options to the list and then no castaway doesn't cover all the bases

 

[Shirohagen]

Yeah the Chatboard is good but that relies on you having one. Every emulator which needs it should have a Virtual Keyboard so that we can all use it and I suppose Chatboard would be a good extra.

It's the same thing as the Overclocking, I think each emu needs to cater for a standard GP32 setup and then Chatboard, Overclocking and other non-Gamepark innovations can be added.

The gamma thing is a good one though, so long as the emu can remember it for the next session as it's annoying to get it just right and have to keep doing it.

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