byuu says:
- bsnes: added video filters from bsnes v082
- bsnes: added ZSNES snow effect option when games paused or unloaded
(no, I'm not joking)
- bsnes: added 7-zip support (LZMA 19.00 SDK)
[Recent higan WIPs have also mentioned bsnes changes, although the higan code
no longer includes the bsnes code. These changes include:
- higan, bsnes: added EXLOROM, EXLOROM-RAM, EXHIROM mappings
- higan, bsnes: focus the viewport after leaving fullscreen exclusive
mode
- bsnes: re-added mightymo's cheat code database
- bsnes: improved make install rules for the game and cheat code
databases
- bsnes: delayed construction of hiro::Window objects to properly show
bsnes window icons
- Ed.]
byuu says:
Changelog:
- gb: added TAMA emulation [thanks to endrift for the initial notes]
- gb: save RTC memory to disk (MBC3 doesn't write to said memory yet;
TAMA doesn't emulate it yet)
- gb: expect MMM01 boot loader to be at end of ROM instead of start
- gb: store MBC2 save RAM as 256-bytes (512x4-bit) instead of
512-bytes (with padding)
- gb: major cleanups to every cartridge mapper; moved to Mapper class
instead of MMIO class
- gb: don't serialize all mapper states with every save state; only
serialize the active mapper
- gb: serialize RAM even if a battery isn't present¹
- gb/cartridge: removed unnecessary code; refactored other code to
eliminate duplication of functions
- icarus: improve GB(C) heuristics generation to not include filenames
for cartridges without battery backup
- icarus: remove incorrect rearrangement of MMM01 ROM data
- md/vdp: fix CRAM reads -- fixes Sonic Spinball colors [hex\_usr]
- tomoko: hide the main higan window when entering fullscreen
exclusive mode; helps with multi-monitor setups
- tomoko: destroy ruby drivers before calling Application::quit()
[Screwtape]
- libco: add settings.h and defines to fiber, ucontext [Screwtape]
¹: this is one of those crystal clear indications that nobody's
actually playing the higan DMG/CGB cores, or at least not with save
states. This was a major mistake.
Note: I can't find any official documentation that `GL_ALPHA_TEST` was
removed from OpenGL 3.2. Since it's not hurting anything except showing
some warnings in debug mode, I'm just going to leave it there for now.
byuu says:
Changelog:
- ruby/audio/xaudio2: ported to new ruby API
- ruby/video/cgl: ported to new ruby API (untested, won't compile)
- ruby/video/directdraw: ported to new ruby API
- ruby/video/gdi: ported to new ruby API
- ruby/video/glx: ported to new ruby API
- ruby/video/wgl: ported to new ruby API
- ruby/video/opengl: code cleanups
The macOS CGL driver is sure to have compilation errors. If someone will
post the compilation error log, I can hopefully fix it in one or two
iterations of WIPs.
I am unable to test the Xorg GLX driver, because my FreeBSD desktop
video card drivers do not support OpenGL 3.2. If the driver doesn't
work, I'm going to need help tracking down what broke from the older
releases.
The real fun is still yet to come ... all the Linux-only drivers, where
I don't have a single Linux machine to test with.
Todo:
- libco/fiber
- libco/ucontext (I should really just delete this)
- tomoko: hide main UI window when in exclusive fullscreen mode
byuu says:
Changelog:
- added 30 new PAL games to icarus (courtesy of Mikerochip)
- new version of libco no longer requires mprotect nor W|X permissions
- nall: default C compiler to -std=c11 instead of -std=c99
- nall: use `-fno-strict-aliasing` during compilation
- updated nall/certificates (hopefully for the last time)
- updated nall/http to newer coding conventions
- nall: improve handling of range() function
I didn't really work on higan at all, this is mostly just a release
because lots of other things have changed.
The most interesting is `-fno-strict-aliasing` ... basically, it joins
`-fwrapv` as being "stop the GCC developers from doing *really* evil
shit that could lead to security vulnerabilities or instabilities."
For the most part, it's a ~2% speed penalty for higan. Except for the
Sega Genesis, where it's a ~10% speedup. I have no idea how that's
possible, but clearly something's going very wrong with strict aliasing
on the Genesis core.
So ... it is what it is. If you need the performance for the non-Genesis
cores, you can turn it off in your builds. But I'm getting quite sick of
C++'s "surprises" and clever compiler developers, so I'm keeping it on
in all of my software going forward.
byuu says:
This WIP substantially restructures the ruby API for the first time
since that project started.
It is my hope that with this restructuring, destruction of the ruby
objects should now be deterministic, which should fix the crashing on
closing the emulator on Linux. We'll see I guess ... either way, it
removed two layers of wrappers from ruby, so it's a pretty nice code
cleanup.
It won't compile on Windows due to a few issues I didn't see until
uploading the WIP, too lazy to upload another. But I fixed all the
compilation issues locally, so it'll work on Windows again with the next
WIP (unless I break something else.)
(Kind of annoying that Linux defines glActiveTexture but Windows
doesn't.)
byuu says:
Changelog:
- added Cocoa target: higan can now be compiled for OS X Lion
[Cydrak, byuu]
- SNES/accuracy profile hires color blending improvements - fixes
Marvelous text [AWJ]
- fixed a slight bug in SNES/SA-1 VBR support caused by a typo
- added support for multi-pass shaders that can load external textures
(requires OpenGL 3.2+)
- added game library path (used by ananke->Import Game) to
Settings->Advanced
- system profiles, shaders and cheats database can be stored in "all
users" shared folders now (eg /usr/share on Linux)
- all configuration files are in BML format now, instead of XML (much
easier to read and edit this way)
- main window supports drag-and-drop of game folders (but not game files
/ ZIP archives)
- audio buffer clears when entering a modal loop on Windows (prevents
audio repetition with DirectSound driver)
- a substantial amount of code clean-up (probably the biggest
refactoring to date)
One highly desired target for this release was to default to the optimal
drivers instead of the safest drivers, but because AMD drivers don't
seem to like my OpenGL 3.2 driver, I've decided to postpone that. AMD
has too big a market share. Hopefully with v093 officially released, we
can get some public input on what AMD doesn't like.
byuu describes the changes since v067:
This release officially introduces the accuracy and performance cores,
alongside the previously-existing compatibility core. The accuracy core
allows the most accurate SNES emulation ever seen, with every last
processor running at the lowest possible clock synchronization level.
The performance core allows slower computers the chance to finally use
bsnes. It is capable of attaining 60fps in standard games even on an
entry-level Intel Atom processor, commonly found in netbooks.
The accuracy core is absolutely not meant for casual gaming at all. It
is meant solely for getting as close to 100% perfection as possible, no
matter the cost to speed. It should only be used for testing,
development or debugging.
The compatibility core is identical to bsnes v067 and earlier, but is
now roughly 10% faster. This is the default and recommended core for
casual gaming.
The performance core contains an entirely new S-CPU core, with
range-tested IRQs; and uses blargg's heavily-optimized S-DSP core
directly. Although there are very minor accuracy tradeoffs to increase
speed, I am confident that the performance core is still more accurate
and compatible than any other SNES emulator. The S-CPU, S-SMP, S-DSP,
SuperFX and SA-1 processors are all clock-based, just as in the accuracy
and compatibility cores; and as always, there are zero game-specific
hacks. Its compatibility is still well above 99%, running even the most
challenging games flawlessly.
If you have held off from using bsnes in the past due to its system
requirements, please give the performance core a try. I think you will
be impressed. I'm also not finished: I believe performance can be
increased even further.
I would also strongly suggest Windows Vista and Windows 7 users to take
advantage of the new XAudio2 driver by OV2. Not only does it give you
a performance boost, it also lowers latency and provides better sound by
way of skipping an API emulation layer.
Changelog:
- Split core into three profiles: accuracy, compatibility and
performance
- Accuracy core now takes advantage of variable-bitlength integers (eg
uint24_t)
- Performance core uses a new S-CPU core, written from scratch for speed
- Performance core uses blargg's snes_dsp library for S-DSP emulation
- Binaries are now compiled using GCC 4.5
- Added a workaround in the SA-1 core for a bug in GCC 4.5+
- The clock-based S-PPU renderer has greatly improved OAM emulation;
fixing Winter Gold and Megalomania rendering issues
- Corrected pseudo-hires color math in the clock-based S-PPU renderer;
fixing Super Buster Bros backgrounds
- Fixed a clamping bug in the Cx4 16-bit triangle operation [Jonas
Quinn]; fixing Mega Man X2 "gained weapon" star background effect
- Updated video renderer to properly handle mixed-resolution screens
with interlace enabled; fixing Air Strike Patrol level briefing screen
- Added mightymo's 2010-08-19 cheat code pack
- Windows port: added XAudio2 output support [OV2]
- Source: major code restructuring; virtual base classes for processor
- cores removed, build system heavily modified, etc.
Tim Allen