Release Picodrive Released

[fusion_power]

My fav. Emulator onto the GP2X. GZ for Pandora release.
I don't have a Pandora yet so maybe people who are blessed with thie Handheld could do some compare between GP2X and Pandora Version? I'm interested of the MHz clocking. I was able to play every Megadrive Game Full Speed (not counted Virtua Racing and Sega CD) at 200MHz or even 166MHz onto the GP2X (22K Sound Quality, most GFX quality settings on, 16 Bit renderer). Does this also run at 200MHz onto the Pandora? Or does the Pandora need more MHz to have same speed?

 

[notaz]

Does this also run at 200MHz onto the Pandora? Or does the Pandora need more MHz to have same speed?

It needs a bit more because there is no 2nd ARM CPU to handle FM emulation that GP2X had. I could try employing the DSP for that but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

 

[Joshwaan2k]

Notaz just wanted add something about the emulator Sonic 2 looks fantastic and runs perfect. I don't detect any ghosting while going very fast in it

On the other hand I know the Snes emulator is very new atm, I play super mario world and notice heaps of ghosting more then normal anyways. Any one noticed this?

Is this due to some sort of sync issue or something?

 

[craigix]

Notaz just wanted a add something about the emulator Sonic 2 looks fantastic and runs perfect. I don't detect any ghosting while going very fast in it.

On the other hand I know the Snes emulator is very new atm, I play super mario world and notice heaps of ghosting more then normal anyways. Any one noticed this?

Is this due to some sort of sync issue or something?

It seems to depend heavily on the colour set up.

 

[notaz]

Yeah, for me Sonic1 is the worst LCD offender so far.

 

[fusion_power]

Does this also run at 200MHz onto the Pandora? Or does the Pandora need more MHz to have same speed?

It needs a bit more because there is no 2nd ARM CPU to handle FM emulation that GP2X had. I could try employing the DSP for that but I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

Ah, I forgot that Picodrive was one of the few programs that really made usage of the 2. Processor from the GP2X.
Well I guess the DSP from the Pandora OMAP was included to do something useful. I don't know what ARM had in mind but maybe it can be used for Sound somehow.
Uh, I don't know much about Emulation but is the Pandora SGX Unit somehow useful to emulate the SVP Chip or maybe later, do some useful stuff for (3D) 32X Emulation? ^^""

 

[Esn]

Yeah, for me Sonic1 is the worst LCD offender so far.

paddy wrote some impressions of picodrive in this thread. He seems to be saying that Sonic 2 graphics stutter sometimes (vertical sync issues?) @ 500mhz but run fine at 860mhz, and thinks it would probably run fine at 550mhz.

 

[CapcomSuicide]

It would be nice if we could get some kind of compatability list for the beta. I'm very sensitive to stutter/frameskip and Picodrive on my F200 and Wiz is the best emulator of all 16Bit consoles for that. 60fps, Stone wall solid. It would be interesting to hear which games are not quite full speed yet, and of course if a small overclock fixes that. Do we have a picodrive Pandora wiki for such info? Again, thumbs up to Notaz for his great support.

 

[notaz]

paddy wrote some impressions of picodrive in this thread. He seems to be saying that Sonic 2 graphics stutter sometimes (vertical sync issues?) @ 500mhz but run fine at 860mhz, and thinks it would probably run fine at 550mhz.

I don't see any reason this would be true, perhaps he had something running in the background chewing the CPU.

 

[Joshwaan2k]

I ran Sonic 2 at 600MHZ it was fine from what I've seen.

 

[DrDerekDoctors]

I've been playing a buncha' stuff with Picodrive and it's superb! It's the first time I've found an emulator which didn't have serious graphical issues when running The Chaos Engine (although that might be because I'm using the Soldiers Of Fortune US ROM instead?). Excellent!

 

[Pleng]

I ran Sonic 2 at 600MHZ it was fine from what I've seen.

Same here. I think Paddy may be imagining things!

Micro Machines 96 (PAL) and Military (PAL) refuse to load. There are some audible clicks as Military attempts to load, but nothing with 96. Micro Machines II (NTSC) works fine.

 

[SomeGuy99]

How can I remap the start button? It defaults to 'Enter'.

 

[notaz]

How can I remap the start button? It defaults to 'Enter'.

"configure controls" from the main menu?

 

[SomeGuy99]

How can I remap the start button? It defaults to 'Enter'.

"configure controls" from the main menu?

Nope. It defaults to 'enter'.

 

[naples39]

How can I remap the start button? It defaults to 'Enter'.

"configure controls" from the main menu?

Nope. It defaults to 'enter'.

You mean it keeps switching back? I noticed the same thing as it keeps resetting to 3x2 display mode. I figured it's just an early software bug. Either that or I didn't save settings properly.

It's only a beta/initial release, and it's already in better shape than other software vie tried so no complaints.

 

[SomeGuy99]

How can I remap the start button? It defaults to 'Enter'.

"configure controls" from the main menu?

Nope. It defaults to 'enter'.

You mean it keeps switching back? I noticed the same thing as it keeps resetting to 3x2 display mode. I figured it's just an early software bug. Either that or I didn't save settings properly.

It's only a beta/initial release, and it's already in better shape than other software vie tried so no complaints.

But they won't know the bug is there till we tell them. B)

 

[Pleng]

You have to press B, followed by the button/key you want to use to set a new value.

You have to press A to clear a value.

If you are editing a value in GPIO (Gamepad) settings, but press a keyboard key, it will send you to the keyboard screen - adding your new binding without removing the original one, so you need to go back to the original screen and press 'A' to remove the binding.

One you have finished setting up your controls press X to leave the binding screen, move down to 'save global config' and it should remain that way for your future uses. It has done for me, anyway.

 

[paddy]

What i have found so far is that regardless of the clock setting most roms will run full speed but at some points the frame drops slightly ,it causes in some cases a tear near the bottom the the screen ,its not a performace issue like i first thought and seems more like mabe there is something running in the background that takes over so it looks like a stutter now and then not framerate in general that is the problem.That tear on the screen that i was talking about is much more noticable on something like sonic but i have tested 80 roms so far and most all of them do it at some point.


I am going to try this on default clock with minimenu instead and also test at 700mhz as i think this is much more than enough for the emulator.

 

[laurens]

Maybe the framedrops are caused by some wifi-reconnecting/keep-alive thing? Maybe you can disable wifi, see if that improves things.