I Want To Revive Turbografx/pc Engine Emulation

[gwaine]

Hey Everybody,
I'm a new gp2x owner and I love it. PicoDrive makes the system worth it itself (thanks notaz), but playing Super Punch Out on the SNES emulator and Megaman on the NES emulator is just unreal. I would love to bring TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine emulation up to the level of PicoDrive. I love the gp2xengine software for the most part, but it seems like the project is dead. There are some games that don't work for it (Blazing Lazers comes to mind -- it messes up after the first boss, but it was the missing sprites of Neo Nectaris that drove me to consider this) and it seems like it definitely needs to be optimized for speed. The GUI could definitely be improved too.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. The emulator runs most games really well, but the two I mentioned are biggies for me, and it seems like the code could be optimized some more so that we don't have to overclock so high to play the games.

I use PHP every day, but it's nothing too big, mostly just calls to databases and looping through arrays, etc. -- website stuff. I'm thinking that using C to update gp2xengine would be very hard for a web programmer like myself. I'm definitely willing to learn...I don't want the TG/PCE emulation projects to die on the gp2x.

I have a few questions:

1) Am I understanding open source correctly that it's okay for me to take the gp2xengine source code and mess around with it to try to optimize/improve it?

2) Could someone recommend a sort of primer and give a few tips for a wannabe emu-programmer like myself?

My apologies to the authors of gp2xengine if you guys are still working on it. Thanks for your great program and please let me know if you still are in-fact still working on the project!

Thanks guys!

 

[jbrodack]

I'd personally recommend this: cpce as a good starting point as the emulation is already quite good it could just use extra features like save states a nice gui and some tweaking. It doesnt do cd games though.

 

[DaveC]

No there are no PC-Engine emus known in development. It is not an easy task for a begginning coder either.

The SNAFU is that any coder with the skillz to make a perfect PC-engine emu doesn't want to, and those that want a perfect PC-Engine emu don't have the skillz to do it themselves.

Hope is fading for this on the Gp2X.

 

[Exophase]

No there are no PC-Engine emus known in development. It is not an easy task for a begginning coder either.

The SNAFU is that any coder with the skillz to make a perfect PC-engine emu doesn't want to, and those that want a perfect PC-Engine emu don't have the skillz to do it themselves.

Hope is fading for this on the Gp2X.

You could always learn how yourself. Ever tried it?

PC-Engine is a mid-tier platform to emulate at best. It's probably easier than Genesis, and only harder than Gameboy and to a lesser extent NES and SMS.

 

[skeezix]

I imagine the source id out there for gp2xengine, so that'd be the place to start for newbies .. ie: Tackling from scratch would be some work (not a lot, since they're not writing a new emu, just porting), but still .. just getting it to compile could be a challenge to a newbie.

Theres only so many of us who attack emus on the 2x, and we all have enough projects on the go sadly.

We need Blacks gp32 GPengine back

jeff

 

[Hooka]

Skeezix: Black's emu's source was released a little while back

 

[Squidge]

Starting a PC Engine from scratch isn't that difficult to be honest if you already have a cpu core

 

[Exophase]

Starting a PC Engine from scratch isn't that difficult to be honest if you already have a cpu core

That's not from scratch.

Doing a 6502 interpreter isn't that hard either though.

 

[sam fisher]

I miss Vobbo. HU6280 was so short lived but also pretty brilliant for the time it was written in.

 

[nixeon4x]

If you want to update gpengine please by all means do. The source code was released recently, and is in the GP32 section. I think I speak for all Turbo users out there for the 2X that any improvement is welcome for this great emu.

 

[DaveC]

No there are no PC-Engine emus known in development. It is not an easy task for a begginning coder either.

The SNAFU is that any coder with the skillz to make a perfect PC-engine emu doesn't want to, and those that want a perfect PC-Engine emu don't have the skillz to do it themselves.

Hope is fading for this on the Gp2X.

You could always learn how yourself. Ever tried it?





"...and those that want a perfect PC-Engine emu (like me) don't have the skillz to do it themselves (like me)."

 

[jbrodack]

does anyone else think cpce is a good starting point? I seem to be alone in this

 

[Exophase]

No there are no PC-Engine emus known in development. It is not an easy task for a begginning coder either.

The SNAFU is that any coder with the skillz to make a perfect PC-engine emu doesn't want to, and those that want a perfect PC-Engine emu don't have the skillz to do it themselves.

Hope is fading for this on the Gp2X.

You could always learn how yourself. Ever tried it?





"...and those that want a perfect PC-Engine emu (like me) don't have the skillz to do it themselves (like me)."


I'm just saying, have you tried?

 

[DaveC]

I'm just saying, have you tried?

No, I haven't tried. I haven't tried building a spaceship or running for president either.

And quite honestly I would have a better chance trying and being successful at those things than doing any kind of emu programming. I learned that early that programming wasn't for me, even BASIC confused me :blink:

If you want to update gpengine please by all means do. The source code was released recently, and is in the GP32 section. I think I speak for all Turbo users out there for the 2X that any improvement is welcome for this great emu.

The Gp32 one was better than anything currently on the GP2X, the sound was MUCH better, and it was pretty smooth. There are a few flaws with that that would need fixing though. One is that it only used 8-bit graphics so many colors were missing. There were no saves, backgrounds were missing in a few games (R-type), Blazing Lazers went to mush half way through the first level, and there was no CD support at all. It is still a good start and if it was ported as-is it would still be great.

 

[Exophase]

No, I haven't tried. I haven't tried building a spaceship or running for president either.

And quite honestly I would have a better chance trying and being successful at those things than doing any kind of emu programming. I learned that early that programming wasn't for me, even BASIC confused me :blink:

Odd, I figured someone as technical who shows as much utter scrutiny as you do would have a better shot at it ;P Maybe you should try again.

 

[euro48k]

set up a bounty ?

i will donate

 

[shinra]

Expect a donation if someone manages to emulate dracula X as good as in Yame emulator and shaphire hunters aswell with iso mp3 support.

I really love to do it myself but i'm not an experienced coder, only know the basics, besides i have some projects on antenas and LNAs that keeps me busy and i don't have time to learn more about programming .

 

[DaveC]

No, I haven't tried. I haven't tried building a spaceship or running for president either.

And quite honestly I would have a better chance trying and being successful at those things than doing any kind of emu programming. I learned that early that programming wasn't for me, even BASIC confused me :blink:

Odd, I figured someone as technical who shows as much utter scrutiny as you do would have a better shot at it ;P Maybe you should try again.

Maybe you could do one? I would donate for a good PC-engine emu. Since GPsp seems to have been stopped maybe A PC engine emu would be a nice easy project? For someone as experienced as you PC-Engine should be child's play right? You could probably pump one out in a few days even if half drunk. How much would you want? Maybe we could set up a bounty for you.

 

[Orkie]

Maybe you could do one?

You could always learn how yourself. Ever tried it?

Sounds like pure laziness to me rather than a lack of ability.

 

[Exophase]

No, I haven't tried. I haven't tried building a spaceship or running for president either.

And quite honestly I would have a better chance trying and being successful at those things than doing any kind of emu programming. I learned that early that programming wasn't for me, even BASIC confused me :blink:

Odd, I figured someone as technical who shows as much utter scrutiny as you do would have a better shot at it ;P Maybe you should try again.

Maybe you could do one? I would donate for a good PC-engine emu. Since GPsp seems to have been stopped maybe A PC engine emu would be a nice easy project? For someone as experienced as you PC-Engine should be child's play right? You could probably pump one out in a few days even if half drunk. How much would you want? Maybe we could set up a bounty for you.


Sorry, but I don't think I could do an emulator for money.

Maybe you could do one?

You could always learn how yourself. Ever tried it?

Sounds like pure laziness to me rather than a lack of ability.


Are you referring to me there too?