Picodrive 1.34


notaz

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Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
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Location
Lithuania
Website
notaz.gp2x.de
After nearly 4 months I finally updated my Genesis/MegaDrive/SagaCD/MegaCD emu. This is a maintenance release, with fixes for various issues reported over time.

ketchupgun persuaded me to change menu graphics a bit, so now it has some skinning support. Nothing new on the emulation front, though.

Changelog:
  • Updated Cyclone core to 0.0088.
  • Added A r k's usbjoy fix.
  • Added "perfect vsync" option, which adjusts GP2X LCD refresh rate and syncs emulation to it to eliminate tearing and ensure smoothest scrolling possible.
  • Added an option to use A_SN's camma curve for gamma correction (improves dark and bright color display for mk2s).
  • Sometimes stray sounds were played after loading a savestate. Fixed.
  • Fixed a problem where >6MB mp3s were corrupted in memory (sound glitches in Snatcher).
  • PD no longer overwrites video player code in memory, video player now can be used after exiting PicoDrive.
  • Fixed a bug which was causing Sonic 3 code to deadlock in some rare conditions if "accurate timing" was not enabled.
  • Fixed support for large hacked ROMs like "Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy". Upto 10MB hacked ROMs are supported now.
  • Config profiles added (press left/right when saving config).
  • Changed key configuration behavior to the one from gpfce (should be more intuitive).
  • Added some skinning capabilities to the menu system with default skin by ketchupgun. Delete skin directory if you want old behaviour.
  • Some other little tweaks I forgot about.
1.34:
  • Some new optimizations in memory handlers, and for shadow/hilight mode.
  • Added some hacks to make more games work without enabling "accurate timing".
  • Adjusted timing for "accurate timing" mode and added preliminary VDP FIFO emulation. Fixes Double Dragon 2, tearing in Chaos Engine and some other games.
  • Fixed a few games not having sound at startup.
  • Updated serial EEPROM code to support more games. Thanks to EkeEke for providing info about additional EEPROM types and game mappers.
  • The above change fixed hang of NBA Jam.
  • Minor adjustments to control configurator.
download
source (1.33)

EDIT: updated with info for 1.34
 
Thanks for the update!

I like the new font and the skin options and bug fixes are always appreciated!

I just found a couple little niggles, which I'm sure you want to hear about. :)

I was playing Chaos Engine (E) a few days ago and found that like all (E) games it runs at 50FPS - of course matching the screen rates from the UK.
Picodrive 1.32 didn't seem to handle this very well as there was a lot of tearing when the game scrolled. I remembered that you were working on Perfect Vsync but couldn't find it. So now here it is!

I am just wondering, should this work with 50FPS games as there still seems to be some tearing as Chaos Engine (E) scrolls?
Also, Perfect is spelled with an "f" ("Perfecf vsync") in the menu. :)
 
this release is great except this and gpfce turn up the brightness on my gp2x screen and it makes everything look ugly :(
 
Thanks again for all of your great work :)

Will your next release support touchscreen? j/k
 
Wonderful. It's great to see PicoDrive still gets some maintenance.
Thanks notaz!
 
slaanesh said:
I am just wondering, should this work with 50FPS games as there still seems to be some tearing as Chaos Engine (E) scrolls?
This is not because I do blitting incorrectly, the game itself updates the scroll registers at the wrong time. This happens because of incorrect timing, and I find it most difficult to get timing right in all emus I worked on (genesis/NES/SNES all have huge number of games for them, and it's very time consuming to test even a small part of them after a change is made).
It seems turning off "accurate timing" helps this one, doesn't it?

slaanesh said:
Also, Perfect is spelled with an "f" ("Perfecf vsync") in the menu. :)
whoops..

damned said:
this release is great except this and gpfce turn up the brightness on my gp2x screen and it makes everything look ugly :(
Try deleting picoconfig.bin in PD directory. It shouldn't touch gamma if you never adjust it in menus.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It seems to happen when I put perfect vsync on.

P.S: I have a MK1

EDIT: It's the same in gpfce if I put vsync the screen gets bright and washed out.
 
Pico Drive is one of the best Emulators for the GP2X :)
I will try the new version soon. I hope, my old per-game gonfigs working with the new version. (with older updates, they always got lost)
And is the old Savegame-bug in "Psyco Pinball" fixed? (Game doesn't save progress so Highscores always lost after reset) You need to use the meulator Quicksaves to keep your score but this isn't the best solution
 
Notaz...I really appreciate the new release! The joystick mapping interface is a lot better and my joystick has a neutral calibration now (it used to go up without pressing anything). It is awesome being able to play my favorite games again! Thank you! I hope you'll continue work on this project! :)
 
OMFG it's even better than before just because the perfect vsync option,it's better than the console itself; i don't have to use my nomad anymonre :lol:, tnx.
 
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