Hu6280 Alpha 0.9 Released!

[vobboomg]

V0.92 Released!

I finished off my inifile code and enabled it for public release...!

+ more changes - see the readme


you can just edit hu6280.ini with notepad to suit your own tastes!


Enjoy it! - http://www.vobbo.gptheatre.co.uk/


Vobbo h34r:

 

[sam fisher]

V0.92 Released!

I finished off my inifile code and enabled it for public release...!

+ more changes - see the readme


you can just edit hu6280.ini with notepad to suit your own tastes!


Enjoy it! - http://www.vobbo.gptheatre.co.uk/


Vobbo h34r:

All praise Vobbo!

 

[DaveC]

it sucks that people haven't been donating but its probably been due to the alpha without sound status of the emu combined with the basic site you had up earlier. now that you have a site which shows cd games run and looks nice plus you have sound working just haven't released it yet you may get more donations and im sure you will get a lot more donations once you have sound working. i will even donate a little once you release a version with sound.

adding frameskip 1 as an option wouldn't hurt the experience so those who don't want to overclock wont have to.

Thanks for the feedback... I guess i`ll add a frameskip option so people can play at fullspeed without overclocking...

I must have got lucky with my GP2X , mine runs 4+ hours playing hu6280 overclocked at 266mhz on batteries


anyway... back to the coding... I`m trying to gain some more speed...!


Vobbo h34r:

So does that mean that the GP2X hardware is not capable of running PC-Engine at full speed and sound without frameskip or overclocking? I was hoping since GP-engine is full speed w/sound FS1 at 133 MHz on a GP32 that the GP2X could pull off full speed w/sound at fs0 and 200 MHz. Do you think if linux was thrown out that would be possible? Hopefully at least te Gp2X will be able to pull off full speed fs1 with sound at least. FS2 or more is too choppy.

 

[sam fisher]

I dont see anywhere where he said its not possible. I think he means in the current situation. I would of thought that at the lowest though that the GP2x could handle at least FS1 at 200mhz otherwise that makes it worthless and the exact same as its predecessor in usable power.

 

[vobboomg]

it sucks that people haven't been donating but its probably been due to the alpha without sound status of the emu combined with the basic site you had up earlier. now that you have a site which shows cd games run and looks nice plus you have sound working just haven't released it yet you may get more donations and im sure you will get a lot more donations once you have sound working. i will even donate a little once you release a version with sound.

adding frameskip 1 as an option wouldn't hurt the experience so those who don't want to overclock wont have to.

Thanks for the feedback... I guess i`ll add a frameskip option so people can play at fullspeed without overclocking...

I must have got lucky with my GP2X , mine runs 4+ hours playing hu6280 overclocked at 266mhz on batteries


anyway... back to the coding... I`m trying to gain some more speed...!


Vobbo h34r:

So does that mean that the GP2X hardware is not capable of running PC-Engine at full speed and sound without frameskip or overclocking? I was hoping since GP-engine is full speed w/sound FS1 at 133 MHz on a GP32 that the GP2X could pull off full speed w/sound at fs0 and 200 MHz. Do you think if linux was thrown out that would be possible? Hopefully at least te Gp2X will be able to pull off full speed fs1 with sound at least. FS2 or more is too choppy.

Well, HU6280 is a pretty accurate emulator, and the price to pay for accuracy is speed... The GP32 emulator probably rendered to a 256 colour byte-per-pixel screen loosing half the pc-engine colour palette right there, and doubling the speed of the rendering...

GP2xEngine by hermes also rendered to a 256 colour screen...

My goal is to emulate the pc-engine as accurately as possible, so a 16bit RGB screen is a must... I might add an option from the menu for BPP rendering - this would gain me ~25fps - I actually have the old BPP rendering code from the pc version kicking around somewhere, i`ll dig it out and have a play...

HU6280 is now running galaga at 53fps with no overclocking, so maybe with some more optimizing I`ll get there... As for sound, hu6280 is already emulating the sound, the public release version just doesnt have the audio mixer enabled The problem with my audio emulation is, if the game isnt running at 60fps, the audio goes out of sync and screws up big time... I`m working on it...

Anyway, As the donations have starting coming in, I`ll start adding some new features, BPP render mode is definately an option for playing the games at 60fps with no frameskip and sound at 200mhz... I`ll get to work on adding it.

I`m currently tidying up my savegame code and looking into enabling that in the next release...


Vobbo h34r:

 

[DaveC]

I just tried this now but when I select a ROM it just locks up. Does it not support compressed zipped games? Please tell me it is not so. I have tons of PCEngine games if they can't be compressed that will eat up way to much space. It shows zips in the selector so I don't know. I will try uncompressing everything and try again.

Edit: yeah no compressed roms allowed Could that be added? Please?

It also has an option in the menu to enable sound but I still don't hear anything, Is it still not implemented? I wouldn't think it would be in the menu if it didn't work right?

 

[vobboomg]

I just tried this now but when I select a ROM it just locks up. Does it not support compressed zipped games? Please tell me it is not so. I have tons of PCEngine games if they can't be compressed that will eat up way to much space. It shows zips in the selector so I don't know. I will try uncompressing everything and try again.

Edit: yeah no compressed roms allowed Could that be added? Please?

It also has an option in the menu to enable sound but I still don't hear anything, Is it still not implemented? I wouldn't think it would be in the menu if it didn't work right?

Zipped roms arent supported yet :/ The sound mixer is disabled in the public release, the menu option just enables or disables the internal soundchip emulation in the public release...

h34r: Vobbo h34r:

 

[sam fisher]

it sucks that people haven't been donating but its probably been due to the alpha without sound status of the emu combined with the basic site you had up earlier. now that you have a site which shows cd games run and looks nice plus you have sound working just haven't released it yet you may get more donations and im sure you will get a lot more donations once you have sound working. i will even donate a little once you release a version with sound.

adding frameskip 1 as an option wouldn't hurt the experience so those who don't want to overclock wont have to.

Thanks for the feedback... I guess i`ll add a frameskip option so people can play at fullspeed without overclocking...

I must have got lucky with my GP2X , mine runs 4+ hours playing hu6280 overclocked at 266mhz on batteries


anyway... back to the coding... I`m trying to gain some more speed...!


Vobbo h34r:

So does that mean that the GP2X hardware is not capable of running PC-Engine at full speed and sound without frameskip or overclocking? I was hoping since GP-engine is full speed w/sound FS1 at 133 MHz on a GP32 that the GP2X could pull off full speed w/sound at fs0 and 200 MHz. Do you think if linux was thrown out that would be possible? Hopefully at least te Gp2X will be able to pull off full speed fs1 with sound at least. FS2 or more is too choppy.

Well, HU6280 is a pretty accurate emulator, and the price to pay for accuracy is speed... The GP32 emulator probably rendered to a 256 colour byte-per-pixel screen loosing half the pc-engine colour palette right there, and doubling the speed of the rendering...

GP2xEngine by hermes also rendered to a 256 colour screen...

My goal is to emulate the pc-engine as accurately as possible, so a 16bit RGB screen is a must... I might add an option from the menu for BPP rendering - this would gain me ~25fps - I actually have the old BPP rendering code from the pc version kicking around somewhere, i`ll dig it out and have a play...

HU6280 is now running galaga at 53fps with no overclocking, so maybe with some more optimizing I`ll get there... As for sound, hu6280 is already emulating the sound, the public release version just doesnt have the audio mixer enabled The problem with my audio emulation is, if the game isnt running at 60fps, the audio goes out of sync and screws up big time... I`m working on it...

Anyway, As the donations have starting coming in, I`ll start adding some new features, BPP render mode is definately an option for playing the games at 60fps with no frameskip and sound at 200mhz... I`ll get to work on adding it.

I`m currently tidying up my savegame code and looking into enabling that in the next release...


Vobbo h34r:

Please dont stop release because of donations Or at least not most of them. Get everything but sound and CD support enabled and then not release them till you get more donations if you must. I think that once the emulator is finished more people will donate.

I just tried this now but when I select a ROM it just locks up. Does it not support compressed zipped games? Please tell me it is not so. I have tons of PCEngine games if they can't be compressed that will eat up way to much space. It shows zips in the selector so I don't know. I will try uncompressing everything and try again.

Edit: yeah no compressed roms allowed Could that be added? Please?

It also has an option in the menu to enable sound but I still don't hear anything, Is it still not implemented? I wouldn't think it would be in the menu if it didn't work right?

I don't remember why zips aren't in yet but there was a reason. Also if you jsut read above, sound is already emulated, its just not completely ready because if it runs below 60fps there are bad syncing issues.

 

[DaveC]

Well, HU6280 is a pretty accurate emulator, and the price to pay for accuracy is speed... The GP32 emulator probably rendered to a 256 colour byte-per-pixel screen loosing half the pc-engine colour palette right there, and doubling the speed of the rendering...

GP2xEngine by hermes also rendered to a 256 colour screen...

My goal is to emulate the pc-engine as accurately as possible, so a 16bit RGB screen is a must... I might add an option from the menu for BPP rendering - this would gain me ~25fps - I actually have the old BPP rendering code from the pc version kicking around somewhere, i`ll dig it out and have a play...

Vobbo h34r:

Ahhh that explains alot of things. I always wondered why it seemed that the GP32 ran PC-Engine so well. It is because they were "cheating" a little I never noticed any missing colors though, strange.

That would be a good idea though to have a selectable mode in your emu "fast" and "accurate" if you wanted the speed boost.

Thanks for explaining it, it makes sense now. Can't wait for the sound version. It sounds like it will be great.

Thanks for the awesome work on this.

 

[god_at_hell]

if accurate means that "Blazing Lazers" runs (GPEngine only plays the first level), than this is awesome .

 

[geise69]

I just want to say that I am definitly going to be donating when sound and cd support is enabled. Money is just tight with me right now. Bills, Mortgage, more bills, vacation coming up. I still will be donating though. I love the work that has been going into this. Even though people haven't donated they do appreciate what you're doing. This emu is turning out amazingly well. I will go ape shit when sound and full iso support is added. Also your paypal account will go ape shit as well

 

[moz]

if accurate means that "Blazing Lazers" runs (GPEngine only plays the first level), than this is awesome .

i can confirm that gunhead plays past the first level

 

[Jarska333]

Well, for what it's worth, emulator of this quality would also get me to loosen my purse strings, if I were at all interested in PCE. Never owned the machine...

 

[Gadget]

I haven't got my GP2X yet, but I will be trying this and likely donating (when it gets SOUND!!!). I have written emulators myself in the past (CMNES - NES emulator) and understand the difficulties.

With regards to accurate emulation of the pixel depth, I would consider an option of 256 colour mode if it's reasonable easy to implement into your engine? This likely would allow 60 fps with sound, and many users would rather have a great playable game (with SOUND!!!) than an fantastic looking game that needs to be overclocked to run accurately at standard clock speeds.

Keep up the great work, watching this one closely.

 

[JyCet]

A little explanation of the rederer quality with some picture
The program test is my own demo whish display 481 colors simultaneously
(you can grabb it HERE if you want to test yourself )

screenshot with MagicEngine from PC

screenshot with HU6280 from GP2X (fgrab used)

screenshot with Squidgengine from GP2X (fgrab used)

screenshot with GP2XEngine from GP2X (fgrab dont work, digital camera used)

With 3 pcengine emulator on gp2x
-hu6280 & squidgengine have a high quality redering display (16bits)
-gp2xengine have the worst display redering (8bit).

I hope it can help the people to understand the speed difference ...

Reagrds
JYCET

 

[vobboomg]

A little explanation of the rederer quality with some picture
The program test is my own demo whish display 481 colors simultaneously
(you can grabb it HERE if you want to test yourself )

screenshot with MagicEngine from PC

screenshot with HU6280 from GP2X (fgrab used)

screenshot with Squidgengine from GP2X (fgrab used)

screenshot with GP2XEngine from GP2X (fgrab dont work, digital camera used)

With 3 pcengine emulator on gp2x
-hu6280 & squidgengine have a high quality redering display (16bits)
-gp2xengine have the worst display redering (8bit).

I hope it can help the people to understand the speed difference ...

Reagrds
JYCET

nice explanation JYCET!

h34r:

 

[___]

so basically the smoothness of the colors would be affected and there wouldn't be any "missing" colors... thanks for making that clear.

 

[sam fisher]

Well the colours would be less smooth as there would be much less colour depth so there would be less colours.

 

[iignotus]

I don't see a difference

Blind as a bat, I know...

 

[sbock]

Hi vobbo !
Great work so far. Just donated to keep you in a nice mood.
I like your concept to do an accurate PC Engine Emulation.
Can't wait to see the sound working...

Thanks for the hard job...

Regards,
Stephan