Working On A Dynarec For Gpsp For The Gp2x

[DaveC]

Hi everyone,

Once complete, full speed GBA emulation will be obtained. I just wish compiling didn't take 10 minutes.
When I can afford a new computer I'll be much more relieved. It's a pain for anyone just trying to wait for this page to load. I will respond to PM's in the coming days.

I'll check this thread as often as possible, but understand I can't get responses made too quickly.

Thanks for the update. This will be great if you can get full speed GBA going. I will donate something for that.

Does the PSP version use dynarec? Or is it just ASM or something? That seems full speed. I wonder if Exophase can give you help to save you some time?

Good luck and thanks for the hard work on this, and I hope things work out well.

 

[shinneri]

What a wonderful couple weeks the GP2X has had! Good luck, Zod.

 

[zodttd]

Back. Here's the update. I rewrote the dynarec so it's now a "wrapper" around the MIPS dynarec Exophase wrote. it's nearly identicaly except in design and functionality expect it outputs ARM code instead of MIPS. I have a register caching system in place that can cache up to 7 regs at once, though only 4/5 (maybe temp reg?) are usually needed at most for a single instruction. Having twice the amount means less loading and storing from/to memory. It's not quite 1:1 instruction conversion due to flag emulation still being used.

Point is, I spent 4 hours completely starting over with the dynarec, and it's already translating many code blocks. Soon a dynarec will be complete.

As for hardware donations, as much as I'd like to say yes, I really shouldn't. I am saving up for a notebook pc that's $1500. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. I have about $500 to $800 handled depending on my finances currently.

I'll check the power supply on the fried PC. It could be that. The PC sucked to be honest.

 

[Feeg]

(Obviously this scorn isn't directed at ZodTTD..)

:lol: :lol:
You let your computer get fucked by lightening FOUR TIMES? Haven't you heard of surge protectors? :rolleyes:

Also, don't forget, when your PSU blows, it can take a lot of other hardware out with it.

 

[Blah]

...And your surge protector can take out what's plugged into it (honestly, what good is the tiny circuit breaker in a surge protector against thousands of volts?).

 

[J201605]

I don't want to sound like an asshole because i understand that updating emulators is hard. But will there be a release of any kind by next thursday? (going away for a while).

 

[evol]

(Obviously this scorn isn't directed at ZodTTD..)

:lol: :lol:
You let your computer get fucked by lightening FOUR TIMES? Haven't you heard of surge protectors? :rolleyes:

Also, don't forget, when your PSU blows, it can take a lot of other hardware out with it.

i had a surge protector plugged in and it,s not like lightning shoots out of the wallsocket, it,s more like my psu didnt like the fluctuations in current given to it. So yes i let my comp get fried 4 times. and the surgeprotector is in the garbagecan now. i just slughter old comps and take out the parts i need, (when the curse strikes again i will be ready)

and yeah the psu blowing can take other parts with it, but i lost more parts to static electricity than to stormy weather.

 

[PokeParadox]

This talk of computer being fried by lightning gives me images of some silly geezer sat with a laptop on a mountain with a big metal rod... trying to catch the power to charge his batteries... :lol:

 

[Rivroner]

Thank for the report Zodttd
We´ll be waiting for more updates.

 

[prairiefire]

Zodttd,

It always amazes me how much you've contributed to this scene. In light of losing your development computer, you find a way to keep developing. Thank you for brightening my day and I look forward to playing this emulator when it's complete. I never owned or played on a GBA, although my sister has(had?) one and quite loved it. It should be fun to get into these games as well and further expand the versatility of my '2X.

 

[Vimacs]

well, get a usv(is that ups in english?), they are cheap now and you are 99% protected.

 

[DaveC]

Back. Here's the update. I rewrote the dynarec so it's now a "wrapper" around the MIPS dynarec Exophase wrote. it's nearly identicaly except in design and functionality expect it outputs ARM code instead of MIPS. I have a register caching system in place that can cache up to 7 regs at once, though only 4/5 (maybe temp reg?) are usually needed at most for a single instruction. Having twice the amount means less loading and storing from/to memory. It's not quite 1:1 instruction conversion due to flag emulation still being used.

Point is, I spent 4 hours completely starting over with the dynarec, and it's already translating many code blocks. Soon a dynarec will be complete.

As for hardware donations, as much as I'd like to say yes, I really shouldn't. I am saving up for a notebook pc that's $1500. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. I have about $500 to $800 handled depending on my finances currently.

I'll check the power supply on the fried PC. It could be that. The PC sucked to be honest.

Well you will probably get (I hope) alot of donations once GBA gets to full speed. I will give some.

I guess the SNAFU is that you need a PC to get the GBA emu out, but you need the GBA emu to get donations for the PC

Thanks for the great work though.

 

[rokdcasbah]

it doesn't have to be the power supply. i know a few people who've lost equipment due to lightning overcharging the signal line...like the phone line shocking the modem & mobo, and tv getting fried via the coax.

and yeah we call them UPSs in the states. it's nice how cheap they've gotten. on a normal day, they just function as a big-ass voltage regulator, which can do a lot for the life of your equipment, especially if the current in your house/building fluctuates more than what's reasonable.

anyway, good luck zodttd. hope you get a sweet laptop.

 

[slaanesh]

You probably already know what laptop you are going to get - but I highly recommend a MacBook as you can run OSX and Windows. I've found it to be an excellent development machine. The natural unix of Mac Os X is brilliant and you can always whip into Windows for programs that need it.
As for gpSP, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing this from a technical point of view. Personally I'd also love to see this on the good old Zodiac - isn't that what your name sake was originally about Mr Zodttd?

 

[Mudi]

Removing this post, this thread doesn't need a flamewar. Sorry guys.

 

[J201605]

You probably already know what laptop you are going to get - but I highly recommend a MacBook as you can run OSX and Windows. I've found it to be an excellent development machine. The natural unix of Mac Os X is brilliant and you can always whip into Windows for programs that need it.
As for gpSP, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing this from a technical point of view. Personally I'd also love to see this on the good old Zodiac - isn't that what your name sake was originally about Mr Zodttd?

Macs are for noobs.

 

[Amon_Re]

Never really liked OSX compared to linux, to restrictive, as for MacBooks, i do have experiance with them, kinda dissapointed with those machines tho, prefer the current HP models (not the pavilion ones tho)

Currently i use an HP NX7400, it's a nice little laptop, not too expensive, no unneeded bells & whistles

 

[zodttd]

I'd really love a MacBook Pro, but I'm waiting for the new desktop's to arrive for that.

Jackd: I'm not sure how long it will take to finish this dynarec, but it's nearly ready. So I can't say for sure either way.

I did get a homebrew game I had lying around to display though! Many commercial games start to display but I have a bug in the updating code that makes it too slow to wait for it. Fixing that bug now.

 

[DaveC]

I'd really love a MacBook Pro, but I'm waiting for the new desktop's to arrive for that.

Jackd: I'm not sure how long it will take to finish this dynarec, but it's nearly ready. So I can't say for sure either way.

I did get a homebrew game I had lying around to display though! Many commercial games start to display but I have a bug in the updating code that makes it too slow to wait for it. Fixing that bug now.

Sounds great. Can't wait to see this running. Do you have any idea of how fast it will run with sound when finished and what clock speed it would need?

Thanks for the update.

 

[reiboul]

I'd really love a MacBook Pro, but I'm waiting for the new desktop's to arrive for that.

Jackd: I'm not sure how long it will take to finish this dynarec, but it's nearly ready. So I can't say for sure either way.

I did get a homebrew game I had lying around to display though! Many commercial games start to display but I have a bug in the updating code that makes it too slow to wait for it. Fixing that bug now.

Sounds great. Can't wait to see this running. Do you have any idea of how fast it will run with sound when finished and what clock speed it would need?

Thanks for the update.

I'm not Zod but I believe GBA emu can be fullspeed. At what clockrate I don't know!

Little question : I often heard of DS or GBA running SNES games... Since theyre both ARM-based, is it possible to take a look at how they perform well with so weak processor?