I Got Gpsp (gba) Running With Sound!

[Gruntfuggly]

Some reports on homebrew games tested with version 2 - my card reader has dissappeared - so I can't try the fast version! 8-(

* Elite TNK - runs, good speed, but several parts of the display are missing - ships, radar, etc...
* Elite A - whitescreen
* Lemmings - runs, but too slow
* Bust A Move - runs well, but sound is slightly out of sync
* Thrust Advance - whitescreen
* Another World - very slow
* Rogue - locks up GP2X on image selection
* Dunjunz - whitescreen

 

[dosteridge]

Finnally got to test this last night, and must say im very impressed zodttd, its really great work. Ill be donating to both of you. Here are some of the games my son and I tested:

Harry Potter 1 - Dont work
Harry Potter 2 - Works very well with slightly distorted sound
Harry Potter 3 - Playable but a little slow
Harry Potter 4 - Playable but a little slow
HP Quidditch - Works but crashes after the menus
Hobbit, the - Works very well, certainly playable, sound stuttery
Crash Bandicot - Works ok, a little slow and crashes when you lose a life
Prince of Persia - Works, but very slow
Pop Idle - Works but very slow
Pirates of the caribean - Works and playable, a little slow

Thats all I can think of at the moment, you can guess the games my son tested!
All tested oced to 270 with fs1

Excellent work, really looking forward to seeing this progress, thanks

 

[dontspam]

Some reports on homebrew games tested with version 2 - my card reader has dissappeared - so I can't try the fast version! 8-(

* Elite TNK - runs, good speed, but several parts of the display are missing - ships, radar, etc...
* Elite A - whitescreen
* Lemmings - runs, but too slow
* Bust A Move - runs well, but sound is slightly out of sync
* Thrust Advance - whitescreen
* Another World - very slow
* Rogue - locks up GP2X on image selection
* Dunjunz - whitescreen

Just tested the Arkanoid games and they work at about 80-90% after a bios boot.

Also the FIFA games also run at a playable speed.
Virtual Tennis crashes at the player select screen and Crazy Taxi works but is v.slow.

All tested at 250 on v3

 

[virusx]

Donations done. Great work Zod & Exophase !
More games for my little beast !!!

I only tested Chuchu rocket wich is almost fullspeed (95%) with 1fs and 250OC.
Supermetroid fusion is playable with some skips, in the music particulary

All this tested with V1 of the Emu. I'm about to install V3...

 

[cowai]

Will Exophase's bugfixes include speed-ups? Do we get a overall faster v4?

 

[Lobo]

I can't turn off sound with v3. Is it just me?

 

[kamakazieturtle]

Savestates works just fine for me in all versions, including v3_Fast.
I've never had any problems with it.

If savestates are working for you I think I'll try a fresh download of v3 and then test them again.

 

[cowai]

I can't turn off sound with v3. Is it just me?

I just press wildly on the volume buttons and it suddenly gets muted.

 

[kamakazieturtle]

I can't turn off sound with v3. Is it just me?

Sometimes I have to press Vol-Down more than once, sometimes like 3 times?

Also I got a new download of v3 and it seems to be saving and loading savestates okay now.

 

[clone]

I can't turn off sound with v3. Is it just me?

Sometimes I have to press Vol-Down more than once, sometimes like 3 times?

Also I got a new download of v3 and it seems to be saving and loading savestates okay now.

Tapping Vol - as quickly/lightly as possible works for me. It's just a bit over-sensitive. Like the menus are.

 

[xenon_soft]

Here is another clean and simple background pic if you want to use it. It is not real bright so it isn't distracting.

Great background Nice.

 

[ryosaeba]

I think that a good idea to solve (at least temporarily) the issue with games that don't load if you don't start a working rom first is to modify the emu so that it load the gba_bios.bin by default at start.
As a side effect there will be the default gameboy advance animation at start that IMHO would be nice...

 

[shinneri]

Agreed. Great job, DaveC.

 

[Godmil]

Concerning background images, I was listening to an interview with David Crane (Inventor of the platformer with Pitfall and co-founder of Activision), who said a trick they always used on the Atari 2600 games was to give the screen a black border, because due to the way your eyes work this makes the colours of the game appear more vivid.

So I'm sticking with black borders if possible

 

[krosfyah]

Zodttd, what are the chances of this version getting on a par with the PSP version speedwise? I just tried that version for the first time and it's bloody fast!

 

[critical]

Zodttd, what are the chances of this version getting on a par with the PSP version speedwise? I just tried that version for the first time and it's bloody fast!

To be fair, the PSP version uses a dynarec, and clocks the PSP to 333MHz. Since zodttd has only just got going with GP2X-specifics, it's unlikely that we'd see such performance in the near future, IMHO.

 

[bbodin]

Just load a game that does work, and then enter the menu and load the game that didn't work before. It will then most likely run fine.

I'm using v3 on firmware 2.0 and this does't seem to work for me. When I get into a game and goto the in-game menu and select "load game" it doesn't take me to the main menu to let me choose another game, but rather loads a previous game of which I have no control (i.e. Mario Kart).

So for example, I was playing Dogz, I then hit the FS button, push right to get me to menu, then select "Load Game" and Mario Kart starts playing (I never chose it from the menu, it just starts playing that game). Because of this I can't ever get to the menu to select one of these "white screen" games.

 

[clone]

Just load a game that does work at and then enter the menu and load the game that didn't work before. It will then most likely run fine.

I'm using v3 on firmware 2.0 and this does't seem to work for me. When I get into a game and goto the in-game menu and select "load game" it doesn't take me to the main menu to let me choose another game, but rather loads a previous game of which I have no control (i.e. Mario Kart).

So for example, I was playing Dogz, I then hit the FS button, push right to get me to menu, then select "Load Game" and Mario Kart starts playing (I never chose it from the menu, it just starts playing that game). Because of this I can't ever get to the menu to select one of these "white screen" games.

This has been mentioned before ~~ you need to tap X LIGHTLY when selecting the "Load game" option from the menu.
Ryo: I made the same suggestion a few pages back

 

[dagrooved1]

If you want to keep the nice border by DaveC, but still make the colors appear vivid, couldn't you use some sort of darker grey version of DaveC's border?

 

[Vimacs]

Zodttd, what are the chances of this version getting on a par with the PSP version speedwise? I just tried that version for the first time and it's bloody fast!

To be fair, the PSP version uses a dynarec, and clocks the PSP to 333MHz. Since zodttd has only just got going with GP2X-specifics, it's unlikely that we'd see such performance in the near future, IMHO.

Thats true, but once we have a dynarec at gp2x ist could be way more effective then the psp one, cause it would actually be able to translate most instructions 1to1 due to the same instruction set.
At least thats my logic there, correct me if im wrong.

I remember this demo to run faster than fullspeed on gpa, http://www.gbadev.org/demos.php?showinfo=486 , gpsp is not there yet but i guess once we have a dynarec it could get near.

Also I guess using the hardware blitter could give some good performance gain seeing how much of a difference frameskip makes with some games.