nes-unif support. we will need to explicitly add every UNIF board we support to their respective mappers, because

[1] each unif board name carries with it its own unique assumptions about which chips are present. 
[2] the unif board names may not be matching bootgod's, which we accept as canonical; 
also fix a small memory leak due to nes boards not being disposed during scan process.

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/BoardSystem.cs

@@ -262,12 +262,15 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 			protected void AssertVram(params int[] vram) { Assert_memtype(Cart.vram_size, "vram", vram); }
 			protected void Assert_memtype(int value, string name, int[] valid)
 			{
+				if (DisableConfigAsserts) return;
 				foreach (int i in valid) if (value == i) return;
 				Assert(false, "unhandled {0} size of {1}", name,value);
 			}
 			protected void AssertBattery(bool has_bat) { Assert(Cart.wram_battery == has_bat); }
 
 			public virtual void ApplyCustomAudio(short[] samples) { }
+
+			public bool DisableConfigAsserts = false;
 		}
 
 		//this will be used to track classes that implement boards
@@ -340,11 +343,21 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 			nes.cart = cart;
 			foreach (var type in INESBoardImplementors)
 			{
-				INESBoard board = (INESBoard)Activator.CreateInstance(type);
+				using (NESBoardBase board = (NESBoardBase)Activator.CreateInstance(type))
+				{
+					//unif demands that the boards set themselves up with expected legal values based on the board size
+					//except, i guess, for the rom/chr sizes. go figure.
+					//so, disable the asserts here
+					if (origin == EDetectionOrigin.UNIF)
+						board.DisableConfigAsserts = true;
+
 					board.Create(nes);
 					if (board.Configure(origin))
+					{
 						return type;
 					}
+				}
+			}
 			return null;
 		}
 

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Boards/MMC3_family/MMC3.cs

@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 
 		public override void Dispose()
 		{
-			mmc3.Dispose();
+			if(mmc3 != null) mmc3.Dispose();
 		}
 
 		public override void SyncState(Serializer ser)

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Boards/MMC3_family/TxROM.cs

@@ -85,6 +85,10 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 					AssertPrg(128, 256, 512); AssertChr(128, 256); AssertVram(0); AssertWram(8);
 					AssertBattery(false);
 					break;
+				case "UNIF_TSROM":
+					Cart.wram_size = 8;
+					Cart.wram_battery = false;
+					break;
 				case "ACCLAIM-MC-ACC": //alien 3 (U)
 					AssertPrg(128); AssertChr(128); AssertVram(0); AssertWram(0);
 					AssertBattery(false);
@@ -93,6 +97,8 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 					AssertPrg(128); AssertChr(128); AssertVram(0); AssertWram(0);
 					AssertBattery(false);
 					break;
+
+
 				default:
 					return false;
 			}

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Boards/Mapper091.cs

@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 		{
 			prg_regs_8k.Dispose();
 			chr_regs_2k.Dispose();
-			mmc3.Dispose();
+			if(mmc3 != null) mmc3.Dispose();
 			base.Dispose();
 		}
 

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Boards/Namcot1xx/Namcot1xx.cs

@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 
 		public override void Dispose()
 		{
+			if(mapper != null)
 				mapper.Dispose();
 		}
 

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Core.cs

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 		string game_name; //friendly name exposed to user and used as filename base
 		CartInfo cart; //the current cart prototype. should be moved into the board, perhaps
 		INESBoard board; //the board hardware that is currently driving things
+		EDetectionOrigin origin = EDetectionOrigin.None;
 		public bool SoundOn = true;
 		int sprdma_countdown;
 		bool _irq_apu; //various irq signals that get merged to the cpu irq pin

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/NES.cs

@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 
 		public enum EDetectionOrigin
 		{
-			None, BootGodDB, GameDB, INES
+			None, BootGodDB, GameDB, INES, UNIF
 		}
 
 		StringWriter LoadReport;
@@ -440,26 +440,41 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 			LoadWriteLine("------");
 			LoadWriteLine("BEGIN NES rom analysis:");
 			byte[] file = rom;
+
+			Type boardType = null;
+			CartInfo choice = null;
+			CartInfo iNesHeaderInfo = null;
+			List<string> hash_sha1_several = new List<string>();
+			string hash_sha1 = null, hash_md5 = null;
+			Unif unif = null;
+			
+			origin = EDetectionOrigin.None;
+
 			if (file.Length < 16) throw new Exception("Alleged NES rom too small to be anything useful");
 			if (file.Take(4).SequenceEqual(System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("UNIF")))
-				throw new Exception("You've tried to open a UNIF rom. We don't have any UNIF roms to test with. Please consult the developers.");
+			{
+				LoadWriteLine("Found UNIF header:");
+				LoadWriteLine("Since this is UNIF we can confidently parse PRG/CHR banks to hash.");
+				unif = new Unif(new MemoryStream(file));
+				hash_sha1 = unif.GetCartInfo().sha1;
+				hash_sha1_several.Add(hash_sha1);
+			}
+			else
+			{
 				fixed (byte* bfile = &file[0])
 				{
-				var origin = EDetectionOrigin.None;
-
 					var header = (iNES_HEADER*)bfile;
 					if (!header->CheckID()) throw new InvalidOperationException("iNES header not found");
 					header->Cleanup();
 
 					//now that we know we have an iNES header, we can try to ignore it.
 
-				List<string> hash_sha1_several = new List<string>();
+					hash_sha1 = "sha1:" + Util.Hash_SHA1(file, 16, file.Length - 16);
-				string hash_sha1 = "sha1:" + Util.Hash_SHA1(file,16,file.Length - 16);
 					hash_sha1_several.Add(hash_sha1);
-				string hash_md5 = "md5:" + Util.Hash_MD5(file, 16, file.Length - 16);
+					hash_md5 = "md5:" + Util.Hash_MD5(file, 16, file.Length - 16);
 
 					LoadWriteLine("Found iNES header:");
-				CartInfo iNesHeaderInfo = header->Analyze(new MyWriter(LoadReport));
+					iNesHeaderInfo = header->Analyze(new MyWriter(LoadReport));
 					LoadWriteLine("Since this is iNES we can (somewhat) confidently parse PRG/CHR banks to hash.");
 
 					LoadWriteLine("headerless rom hash: {0}", hash_sha1);
@@ -481,9 +496,9 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 						hash = "md5:" + Util.Hash_MD5(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
 						LoadWriteLine("  PRG (8KB) + CHR hash:  {0}", hash);
 					}
+				}
+			}
 
-				Type boardType = null;
-				CartInfo choice = null;
 			if (USE_DATABASE)
 				choice = IdentifyFromBootGodDB(hash_sha1_several);
 			if (choice == null)
@@ -491,7 +506,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 				LoadWriteLine("Could not locate game in nescartdb");
 				if (USE_DATABASE)
 				{
-						choice = IdentifyFromGameDB(hash_md5);
+					if(hash_md5 != null) choice = IdentifyFromGameDB(hash_md5);
 					if (choice == null)
 					{
 						choice = IdentifyFromGameDB(hash_sha1);
@@ -500,6 +515,16 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 				if (choice == null)
 				{
 					LoadWriteLine("Could not locate game in bizhawk gamedb");
+					if (unif != null)
+					{
+						LoadWriteLine("Using information from UNIF header");
+						choice = unif.GetCartInfo();
+						choice.game = new NESGameInfo();
+						choice.game.name = gameInfo.Name; 
+						origin = EDetectionOrigin.UNIF;
+					}
+					if (iNesHeaderInfo != null)
+					{
 						LoadWriteLine("Attempting inference from iNES header");
 						choice = iNesHeaderInfo;
 						string iNES_board = iNESBoardDetector.Detect(choice);
@@ -530,6 +555,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 						choice.game.name = gameInfo.Name;
 						origin = EDetectionOrigin.INES;
 					}
+				}
 				else
 				{
 					origin = EDetectionOrigin.GameDB;
@@ -583,6 +609,11 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 				RomStatus = RomStatus.GoodDump;
 				CoreOutputComm.RomStatusAnnotation = "Identified from BootGod's database";
 			}
+			if (origin == EDetectionOrigin.UNIF)
+			{
+				RomStatus = RomStatus.NotInDatabase;
+				CoreOutputComm.RomStatusAnnotation = "Inferred from UNIF header; somewhat suspicious";
+			}
 			if (origin == EDetectionOrigin.INES)
 			{
 				RomStatus = RomStatus.NotInDatabase;
@@ -604,6 +635,9 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 			CoreOutputComm.RomStatusDetails = LoadReport.ToString();
 
 			//create the board's rom and vrom
+			if (iNesHeaderInfo != null)
+			{
+				//pluck the necessary bytes out of the file
 				board.ROM = new byte[choice.prg_size * 1024];
 				Array.Copy(file, 16, board.ROM, 0, board.ROM.Length);
 				if (choice.chr_size > 0)
@@ -612,6 +646,12 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 					int vrom_offset = iNesHeaderInfo.prg_size * 1024;
 					Array.Copy(file, 16 + vrom_offset, board.VROM, 0, board.VROM.Length);
 				}
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				board.ROM = unif.GetPRG();
+				board.VROM = unif.GetCHR();
+			}
 
 			//create the vram and wram if necessary
 			if (cart.wram_size != 0)
@@ -624,7 +664,6 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 			HardReset();
 				SetupMemoryDomains();
 		}
-		}
 
 		void SyncState(Serializer ser)
 		{

BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/Unif.cs

@@ -67,18 +67,20 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 				switch (tmp[0])
 				{
 					case 0: // hmirror
-						ci.pad_h = 1;
-						ci.pad_v = 0;
-						break;
-					case 1: // vmirror
 						ci.pad_h = 0;
 						ci.pad_v = 1;
 						break;
+					case 1: // vmirror
+						ci.pad_h = 1;
+						ci.pad_v = 0;
+						break;
 				}
 			}
 
 			if (chunks.TryGetValue("MAPR", out tmp))
 				ci.board_type = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(tmp);
+			ci.board_type = ci.board_type.TrimEnd('\0');
+			ci.board_type = "UNIF_" + ci.board_type;
 
 			// is there any way using System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1 to compute the hash of
 			// prg concatentated with chr?  i couldn't figure it out, so this implementation is dumb
@@ -88,7 +90,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 				ms.Write(chrrom, 0, chrrom.Length);
 				ms.Close();
 				byte[] all = ms.ToArray();
-				ci.sha1 = Util.Hash_SHA1(all, 0, all.Length);
+				ci.sha1 = "sha1:" + Util.Hash_SHA1(all, 0, all.Length);
 			}
 		}
 

BizHawk.Emulation/Database/Database.cs

@@ -128,6 +128,11 @@ namespace BizHawk
 
 			switch (ext)
 			{
+				case ".NES":
+				case ".UNF":
+				case ".FDS":
+					Game.System = "NES";
+					break;
 				case ".SFC":
 				case ".SMC": 
 					Game.System = "SNES"; 
@@ -144,7 +149,6 @@ namespace BizHawk
 				case ".GEN":
                 case ".MD":
 				case ".SMD": Game.System = "GEN"; break;
-				case ".NES": Game.System = "NES"; break;
 				case ".A26": Game.System = "A26"; break;
 				case ".COL": Game.System = "COLV"; break;
 				case ".ROM":