We need to document all the parts of the higan UI.

This commit is contained in:
Tim Allen 2017-06-28 17:07:19 +10:00
parent 331c53c896
commit b3b3690948
1 changed files with 149 additions and 31 deletions

180
README.md
View File

@ -465,6 +465,155 @@ of the new version.
[bios]: http://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm#biosfunctions
The higan interface
===================
When you launch higan,
the main window appears,
with a menu-bar across the top,
a status-bar across the bottom,
and a large area in the middle where the game's video output appears.
The Library menu
----------------
The Library menu allows you
to import games into higan's game library,
and to load games from the library.
To play a game from your library,
click on the Library menu,
click on the console manufacturer submenu
(Nintendo for the Super Famicom,
Bandai for the WonderSwan,
etc.)
then click on the console menu item.
A window will appear listing all the games in your library
for that particular console.
Select the game you want to play
and click the Open button,
or just double-click the game,
and it will begin playing as though you'd just turned on the console.
To add a new game to your library,
choose "Load ROM File ..." from the Library menu.
A file-picker dialog will appear,
allowing you to pick any ROM image for any supported system,
with any of the most common file extensions.
It also allows loading ROM images from `.zip` archives,
if the archive contains a single ROM image.
To add many games at once,
run icarus,
or choose "Import ROM Files ..." from the Library menu
(which just runs icarus anyway).
A file-picker will appear,
with a check-box for each file in the current directory.
Check the check-boxes for all the files you want to import,
then click "Import ..." in the bottom right.
For more information about the higan game library,
see [The Game Library](#the-game-library) below.
The system menu
---------------
TODO
The Settings menu
-----------------
This menu lets you configure things
that aren't specific to any particular console.
- **Video Scale** determines the size and shape
of the emulated console's video output
- Small, Medium and Large
control the size of the video output
when higan is running in windowed
(as opposed to full-screen)
mode.
- Aspect Correction,
when enabled,
stretches the image to match the aspect ratio
produced by the original console hardware,
since modern computer monitors use pixels
that are exactly as wide as they are tall,
but many TV-based consoles expected pixels to be
wider or narrower.
Aspect correction applies
to full-screen mode
as well as windowed mode.
- **Video Emulation** applies various effects
to the emulated console's video output
to reproduce some behaviours
that aren't technically part of the console itself.
- "Blurring" simulates the limited horizontal resolution
of standard-definition TVs
by blurring together horizontally-adjacent pixels.
Games like Jurassic Park for the Super Famicom
depend on this to emulate a transparency effect.
For hand-held consoles like the Game Boy Advance,
this simulates the slow response time
of the cheap LCD screens these consoles used
by blurring each output frame with the previous one.
- "Colors" simulates the way a console's display device
differs from modern computer monitor's colour reproduction.
In particular,
it simulates the slightly-different gamma correction
used by the Super Famicom,
the dim, washed out colours of the original Game Boy Advance,
and the pea-green display of the original Game Boy.
- "Mask Overscan" hides parts of
the video output that would have been hidden
by the bezel around the edge of
a standard-definition television screen.
Some games (particularly on the Famicom)
allowed random glitchy output to be displayed in this area.
The amount masked can be configured
in the [configuration dialog](#the-configuration-dialog).
- **Video Shader** TODO
- **Synchronize Audio** TODO
- **Mute Audio** TODO
- **Show Status Bar** TODO
- **Configuration ...** TODO
The Tools menu
--------------
TODO
The Help menu
-------------
TODO
The status bar
--------------
TODO
The Configuration dialog
-----------------------
TODO
The Cheat Editor
----------------
TODO
The State Manager
-----------------
TODO
The Manifest Viewer
-------------------
TODO
The Game Library
================
@ -501,37 +650,6 @@ for each imported game.
For more information about game folders,
see [Why game folders?](#why-game-folders) below.
To play a game from your library,
start higan,
click on the Library menu,
click on the console manufacturer submenu
(Nintendo for the SNES,
Bandai for the WonderSwan,
etc.)
then click on the console menu item.
A window will appear listing all the games in your library
for that particular console.
Select the game you want to play
and click the Open button,
or just double-click the game,
and it will begin playing as though you'd just turned on the console.
To add a new game to your library,
choose "Load ROM File ..." from the Library menu.
A file-picker dialog will appear,
allowing you to pick any ROM image for any supported system,
with any of the most common file extensions.
It also allows loading ROM images from `.zip` archives,
if the archive contains a single ROM image.
To add many games at once,
run icarus,
or choose "Import ROM Files ..." from the Library menu
(which just runs icarus anyway).
A file-picker will appear,
with a check-box for each file in the current directory.
Check the check-boxes for all the files you want to import,
then click "Import ..." in the bottom right.
Why game folders?
-----------------