byuu says:
Changelog:
- higan: `Emulator::<Platform::load>()` now returns a struct containing
both a path ID and a string option
- higan: `Emulator::<Platform::load>()` now takes an optional final
argument of string options
- fc: added PAL emulation (finally, only took six years)
- md: added PAL emulation
- md: fixed address parameter to `VDP::Sprite::write()`; fixes missing
sprites in Super Street Fighter II
- md: emulated HIRQ counter; fixes many games
- Super Street Fighter II - status bar
- Altered Beast - status bar
- Sonic the Hedgehog - Labyrinth Zone - water effect
- etc.
- ms: added PAL emulation
- sfc: added the ability to override the default region auto-detection
- sfc: removed "system.region" override setting from `Super Famicom.sys`
- tomoko: added options list to game folder load dialog window
- tomoko: added the ability to specify game folder load options on the
command-line
So, basically ... Sega forced a change with the way region detection
works. You end up with games that can run on multiple regions, and the
content changes accordingly. Bare Knuckle in NTSC-J mode will become
Streets of Rage in NTSC-U mode. Some games can even run in both NTSC and
PAL mode.
In my view, there should be a separate ROM for each region a game was
released in, even if the ROM content were identical. But unfortunately
that's not how things were done by anyone else.
So to support this, the higan load dialog now has a drop-down at the
bottom-right, where you can choose the region to load games from. On the
SNES, it defaults to "Auto", which will pull the region setting from the
manifest, or fall back on NTSC. On the Mega Drive ... unfortunately, I
can't auto-detect the region from the ROM header. $1f0 is supposed to
contain a string like "JUE", but instead you get games like Maui Mallard
that put an "A" there, and other such nonsense. Sega was far more lax
than Nintendo with the ROM header validity. So for now at least, you
have to manually select your region every time you play a Mega Drive
game, thus you have "NTSC-J", "NTSC-U", and "PAL". The same goes for the
Master System for the same reason, but there's only "NTSC" and "PAL"
here. I'm not sure if games have a way to detect domestic vs
international consoles.
And for now ... the Famicom is the same as well, with no auto-detection.
I'd sincerely hope iNES has a header bit for the region, but I didn't
bother with updating icarus to support that yet.
The way to pass these parameters on the command-line is to prefix the
game path with "option:", so for example:
higan "PAL:/path/to/Sonic the Hedgehog (USA, Europe).md"
If you don't provide a prefix, it uses the default (NTSC-J, NTSC, or
Auto.) Obviously, it's not possible to pass parameters with
drag-and-drop, so you will always get the default option in said case.
byuu says:
Changelog:
- added higan/emulator/platform.hpp (moved out Emulator::Platform from
emulator/interface.hpp)
- moved gmake build paramter to nall/GNUmakefile; both higan and
icarus use it now
- added build=profile mode
- MD: added the region select I/O register
- MD: started to add region selection support internally (still no
external select or PAL support)
- PCE: added cycle stealing when reading/writing to the VDC or VCE;
and when using ST# instructions
- PCE: cleaned up PSG to match the behavior of Mednafen (doesn't
improve sound at all ;_;)
- note: need to remove loadWaveSample, loadWavePeriod
- HuC6280: ADC/SBC decimal mode consumes an extra cycle; does not set
V flag
- HuC6280: block transfer instructions were taking one cycle too many
- icarus: added code to strip out PC Engine ROM headers
- hiro: added options support to BrowserDialog
The last one sure ended in failure. The plan was to put a region
dropdown directly onto hiro::BrowserDialog, and I had all the code for
it working. But I forgot one important detail: the system loads
cartridges AFTER powering on, so even though I could technically change
the system region post-boot, I'd rather not do so.
So that means we have to know what region we want before we even select
a game. Shit.
Tim Allen