Picodrive 0.96

[krosfyah]

Street Racer doesnt seem to be working with sound on ... no idea why

Must be your rom, it works fine here.

 

[slaanesh]

It's amazingly fast. I can play most games at full FPS (50/50 for PAL and 60/60) underclocked to 180Mhz with all accurate modes, 16-bit color, timings on, etc. Some will run full speed at less than this. Gauntlet is one game that will slow down a little at the title screen - must be the raster effects.
Alien Soldier and Gunstar Heros run full speed. Beautiful sound too. Try Alien Soldier at 44100hz stereo - Wow!

 

[White Demon]

Try Super Skidmarks. That still requires frameskip @ 200mHz with 16bit colour and 44kHz sound.

That game must have been really heavy on the Megadrive.

 

[ruffnutts]

This is so cool great work, i would realy like to see dual core in other emus
im gonna try this later

 

[Epicenter]

I actually have to underclock my GP2X! This is amazingly fast, maybe a bit too fast?

Definitely too fast. Stick some while(1)'s in there notaz!

- Alex

Then better vsync code to match the MD's 50/60hz framerate is needed rather than while(1)'s which are loops that NEVER end and would just make the emu appear to crash.. :lol:

 

[weirdocollector]

I'm ashamed that notaz is not a Guru yet...

 

[Epicenter]

im currently using drmd, mainly because of the sms and gg emulation. I dont know much about this emu, so are these implemented? If not, will they be in the future?

Just use AlexKidd2x-- it's a fantastic little emulator and very fast. It runs pretty much every game at full speed with the ARM920T CPU at 100 MHz, even. Distinct emulators are usually better anyway, as the author can focus more on one system.

 

[gaterooze]

Just use AlexKidd2x-- it's a fantastic little emulator and very fast. It runs pretty much every game at full speed with the ARM920T CPU at 100 MHz, even. Distinct emulators are usually better anyway, as the author can focus more on one system.

Fully agree. Alexkidd2x is pretty much perfect, and I'd personally prefer to see PicoDrive stick to its core purpose (MD), which it does so well.

 

[WhiteFalcon]

Has anyone tried further levels of Castlevania in PicoDrive yet? In DrMD there was the bug that occured at one of the bosses and prevented the game from being completable.

 

[johnz1]

Has anyone tried further levels of Castlevania in PicoDrive yet? In DrMD there was the bug that occured at one of the bosses and prevented the game from being completable.

If you're talking about Castlevania Bloodlines, I beat the game two weeks ago with PicoDrive .95

The problem I had was about 3/4 through the game, there are giant rotating circular objects that don't display correctly unless you use 16-bit accurate. I dont remember exactly, but I think that is what solved it.

I had no problem with any of the bosses.

 

[notaz]

The problem I had was about 3/4 through the game, there are giant rotating circular objects that don't display correctly unless you use 16-bit accurate. I dont remember exactly, but I think that is what solved it.

Actually you need "accurate sprites" there.

So what about the battery thing, are they dieing faster while using doublecore or not?

 

[WhiteFalcon]

If you're talking about Castlevania Bloodlines, I beat the game two weeks ago with PicoDrive .95

The problem I had was about 3/4 through the game, there are giant rotating circular objects that don't display correctly unless you use 16-bit accurate. I dont remember exactly, but I think that is what solved it.

I had no problem with any of the bosses.

Yes, thats exactly what I meant, thanks.

 

[sbock]

So what about the battery thing, are they dieing faster while using doublecore or not?

I made some preliminary measurements with version 0.963. (Not very exactly and not yet complete)

Testobject: Aleste intro szene, 200 Mhz, 920 only, 44 KHz sound, Frame Skip 0, 60 hz, Volume 90: ca. 430 mA current consumption (@3,3 Volt using a power supply)

200 Mhz, Activating the 940 core: ca. 480 mA

Overclocking 250 Mhz, 920 only: ca. 490 mA

Overclocking 266 Mhz, 920 only: ca. 510 mA

I presume you must overclock at least 50 Mhz to achieve the same framerate as activating the 940 core, but that is only a guess. Whats your opinion?

My conclusion is that using the 940 core is a good way to conserve energy...
I test more games in the future to undergrid this test series...

Regards,
Stephan

 

[deepmenace]

woohoo - chaos engine is perfect with pico.

with the help of savestates i may actually get to complete it.

w00tage!

 

[Alvin]

Shining Force (1 and 2) run 50-60FPS @ 100Mhz and 8bit fast renderer (it has no difference with the 16bit well-done renderer). This is great for battery life! Underclocking isn't exactly a bad thing, so if you can make it faster, we can clock lower and save even more battery life! I played a few hours every night for at least two weeks until my batteries needed changing.

 

[TelcoLou]

I played a few hours every night for at least two weeks until my batteries needed changing.

14 days x 3 hours = 42 hours

I call bullshit <_<

 

[Alvin]

I played a few hours every night for at least two weeks until my batteries needed changing.

14 days x 3 hours = 42 hours

I call bullshit <_<

My batteries are plugged into my mains, which die out every two weeks!

..Yeah!

 

[Alex.]

woohoo - chaos engine is perfect with pico.

with the help of savestates i may actually get to complete it.

w00tage!

The scrolling in that game still stutters in the bottom part of the screen, really annoying. Otherwise it runs great, blasting those toads and ogres can never be a bad thing

- Alex

 

[DaveC]

So what about the battery thing, are they dieing faster while using doublecore or not?

I made some preliminary measurements with version 0.963. (Not very exactly and not yet complete)

Testobject: Aleste intro szene, 920 only, 44 KHz sound, Frame Skip 0, 60 hz, Volume 90: ca. 430 mA current consumption (@3,3 Volt using a power supply)

Activating the 940 core: ca. 480 mA

Overclocking 250 Mhz, 920 only: ca. 490 mA

Overclocking 266 Mhz, 920 only: ca. 510 mA

I presume you must overclock at least 50 Mhz to achieve the same framerate as activating the 940 core, but that is only a guess. Whats your opinion?

My conclusion is that using the 940 core is a good way to conserve energy...
I test more games in the future to undergrid this test series...

Regards,
Stephan

Then there is the fact that not everyone can do massive overclocking. Using the second core allows for everyone to get good speed, even those of us with "lamer" units.

 

[shinneri]

Testobject: Aleste intro szene, 920 only, 44 KHz sound, Frame Skip 0, 60 hz, Volume 90: ca. 430 mA current consumption (@3,3 Volt using a power supply)

Activating the 940 core: ca. 480 mA

Overclocking 250 Mhz, 920 only: ca. 490 mA

Overclocking 266 Mhz, 920 only: ca. 510 mA

So were you clocking at 200mhz when you activated the 940?

If so, could you see how consumption is when underclocking? Say, at 160mhz?