byuu says:
It took several hours, but I've rebuilt much of the SNES' bus memory
mapping architecture.
The new design unifies the cartridge string-based mapping
("00-3f,80-bf:8000-ffff") and internal bus.map calls. The map() function
now has an accompanying unmap() function, and instead of a fixed 256
callbacks, it'll scan to find the first available slot. unmap() will
free slots up when zero addresses reference a given slot.
The controllers and expansion port are now both entirely dynamic.
Instead of load/unload/power/reset, they only have the constructor
(power/reset/load) and destructor (unload). What this means is you can
now dynamically change even expansion port devices after the system is
loaded.
Note that this is incredibly dangerous and stupid, but ... oh well. The
whole point of this was for 21fx. There's no way to change the expansion
port device prior to loading a game, but if the 21fx isn't active, then
the reset vector hijack won't work. Now you can load a 21fx game, change
the expansion port device, and simply reset the system to active the
device.
The unification of design between controller port devices and expansion
port devices is nice, and overall this results in a reduction of code
(all of the Mapping stuff in Cartridge is gone, replaced with direct bus
mapping.) And there's always the potential to expand this system more in
the future now.
The big missing feature right now is the ability to push/pop mappings.
So if you look at how the 21fx does the reset vector, you might vomit
a little bit. But ... it works.
Also changed exit(0) to _exit(0) in the POSIX version of nall::execute.
[The _exit(0) thing is an attempt to make higan not crash when it tries
to launch icarus and it's not on $PATH. The theory is that higan forks,
then the child tries to exec icarus and fails, so it exits, all the
unique_ptrs clean up their resources and tell the X server to free
things the parent process is still using. Calling _exit() prevents
destructors from running, and seems to prevent the problem. -Ed.]
byuu says:
Changelog:
- higan now uses Natural<Size>/Integer<Size> for its internal types
- Super Famicom emulation now uses uint24 instead of uint for bus
addresses (it's a 24-bit bus)
- cleaned up gb/apu MMIO writes
- cleaned up sfc/coprocessor/msu1 MMIO writes
- ~3% speed penalty
I've wanted to do that 24-bit bus thing for so long, but have always
been afraid of the speed impact. It's probably going to hurt
balanced/performance once they compile again, but it wasn't significant
enough to harm the accuracy core's frame rate, thankfully. Only lost one
frame per second.
The GBA core handlers are clearly going to take a lot more work. The
bit-ranges will make it substantially easier to handle, though. Lots of
32-bit registers where certain values span multiple bytes, but we have
to be able to read/write at byte-granularity.
byuu says:
I refactored my schedulers. Added about ten lines to each scheduler, and
removed about 100 lines of calling into internal state in the scheduler
for the FC,SFC cores and about 30-40 lines for the other cores. All of
its state is now private.
Also reworked all of the entry points to static auto Enter() and auto
main(). Where Enter() handles all the synchronization stuff, and main()
doesn't need the while(true); loop forcing another layer of indentation
everywhere.
Took a few hours to do, but totally worth it. I'm surprised I didn't do
this sooner.
Also updated icarus gmake install rule to copy over the database.
byuu says:
Nothing WS-related this time.
First, I fixed expansion port device mapping. On first load, it was
mapping the expansion port device too late, so it ended up not taking
effect. I had to spin out the logic for that into
Program::connectDevices(). This was proving to be quite annoying while
testing eBoot (SNES-Hook simulation.)
Second, I fixed the audio->set(Frequency, Latency) functions to take
(uint) parameters from the configuration file, so the weird behavior
around changing settings in the audio panel should hopefully be gone
now.
Third, I rewrote the interface->load,unload functions to call into the
(Emulator)::System::load,unload functions. And I have those call out to
Cartridge::load,unload. Before, this was inverted, and Cartridge::load()
was invoking System::load(), which I felt was kind of backward.
The Super Game Boy really didn't like this change, however. And it took
me a few hours to power through it. Before, I had the Game Boy core
dummying out all the interface->(load,save)Request calls, and having the
SNES core make them for it. This is because the folder paths and IDs
will be different between the two cores.
I've redesigned things so that ICD2's Emulator::Interface overloads
loadRequest and saveRequest, and translates the requests into new
requests for the SuperFamicom core. This allows the Game Boy code to do
its own loading for everything without a bunch of Super Game Boy special
casing, and without any awkwardness around powering on with no cartridge
inserted.
This also lets the SNES side of things simply call into higher-level
GameBoy::interface->load,save(id, stream) functions instead of stabbing
at the raw underlying state inside of various Game Boy core emulation
classes. So things are a lot better abstracted now.
byuu says:
Changelog:
- restructured the project and removed a whole bunch of old/dead
directives from higan/GNUmakefile
- huge amounts of work on hiro/cocoa (compiles but ~70% of the
functionality is commented out)
- fixed a masking error in my ARM CPU disassembler [Lioncash]
- SFC: decided to change board cic=(411,413) back to board
region=(ntsc,pal) ... the former was too obtuse
If you rename Boolean (it's a problem with an include from ruby, not
from hiro) and disable all the ruby drivers, you can compile an
OS X binary, but obviously it's not going to do anything.
It's a boring WIP, I just wanted to push out the project structure
change now at the start of this WIP cycle.
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 says:
Changelog:
- merged AWJ's hires color blending improvements (most notably: fixes
Marvelous' text)
- created sfc/base/ to store base unit (expansion port device) emulation
- synchronized the markup of Satellaview and Sufami Turbo cartridge
slots in the board markup
- fixed "Initializing ..." typo in timing settings
If at all possible, I'd really like to have heavy testing of games that
use hires graphics to check for any regressions.
I trust AWJ's code, and all of the test ROMs I have thrown at it all
appear to work great. But better safe than sorry. Same deal for any core
changes, it's a lot better to catch it now than after v093 is released.
byuu says:
higan changelog:
- compiler is set to g++-4.7, subst(cc,++) rule is gone, C files compile
with $(compiler) -x c
- make throws an error when you specify an invalid profile or compile on
an unsupported platform (instead of hanging forever)
- added unverified.png to resources (causes too big of a speed hit to
actually check for folder/unverified file ... so disabled for now)
- fixed default browser paths for Game Boy, Sufami Turbo and BS-X
Satellaview (have to delete paths.cfg to see this)
- browser home button seeks to configpath()/higan/library.cfg
- settings->driver is now settings->advanced, and it adds game library
path setting and profile information
- emulation cores now load manifest files internally, manifest.bml is
not required for a game folder to be recognized by higan as such
- BS-X Satellaview and Sufami Turbo slot cartridge handling moved out of
sfc/chip and into sfc/slot
- Video::StartFullScreen only sets fullscreen when a game is specified
on the command-line
purify and ananke changelog:
- library output path shown in purify window
- added button to change library path
- squelch firmware warning windows to prevent multi-threading crash, but
only via purify (they show up in higan still)
In the release thread, byuu says:
The first official release of higan has been posted. higan is the
new name for bsnes, and it continues with the latter's version
numbering.
Note that as of now, bsnes still exists. It's a module distributed
inside of higan. bsnes is now specific to my SNES emulator.
Due to last minute changes to the emulator interface, and missing
support in ananke, I wasn't able to include Cydrak's Nintendo DS
emulator dasShiny in this build, but I hope to do so in the next
release.
http://code.google.com/p/higan/downloads/list
For both new and experienced users, please read the higan user guide
first:
http://byuu.org/higan/user-guide
In the v091 WIP thread, byuu says:
r15->r16:
- BS-X MaskROM handling (partial ... need to split bsx/flash away
from sfc/chip, restructure code - it requires tagging the base
cart markup for now, but it needs to parse the slotted cart
markup)
- phoenixflags / phoenixlink += -m32
- nall/sort stability
- if(input.poll(scancode[activeScancode]) == false) return;
- MSU1 / USART need to use interface->path(1)
- MSU1 needs to use Markup::Document, not XML::Document
- case-insensitive folder listings
- remove nall/emulation/system.hpp files (move to ananke)
- remove rom/ram id= checks with indexing
X have cores ask for manifest.bml (skipped for v092's release, too
big a change)
- rename compatibility profile to balanced (so people don't assume
it has better compatibility than accuracy)
byuu says:
higan changelog:
- generates title displayed in emulator window by asking the core
- core builds title solely from "information/title" ... if it's not
there, you don't get a title at all
- sub-system load menu is gone ... since there are multiple revisions of
the SGB, this never really worked well anyway
- to load an SGB, BS-X or ST cartridge, load the base cartridge first
- "File->Load Game" moved to "Load->Import Game" ... may cause a bit of
confusion to new users, but I don't like having a single-item menu,
we'll just have to explain it to new users
- browser window redone to look like ananke
- home button here goes to ~/Emulation rather than just ~ like ananke,
since this is the home of game folders
- game folder icon is now the executable icon for the Tango theme
(orange diamond), meant to represent a complete game rather than
a game file or archive
ananke changelog:
- outputs GBC games to "Game Boy Color/" instead of "Game Boy/"
- adds the file basename to "information/title"
Known issues:
- using ananke to load a GB game trips the Super Famicom SGB mode and
fails (need to make the full-path auto-detection ignore non-bootable
systems)
- need to dump and test some BS-X media before releasing
- ananke lacks BS-X Satellaview cartridge support
- v092 isn't going to let you retarget the ananke/higan game folder path
of ~/Emulation, you will have to wait for a future version if that
bothers you so greatly
[Later, after the v092 release, byuu posted this additional changelog:
- kill laevateinn
- add title()
- add bootable, remove load
- combine file, library
- combine [][][] paths
- fix SFC subtype handling XML->BML
- update file browser to use buttons
- update file browser keyboard handling
- update system XML->BML
- fix sufami turbo hashing
- remove Cartridge::manifest
]
byuu says (about higan):
- dropped release/ root node for individual games (still there in
ananke's database.)
- Memory export uses smarter names (vram.rwm -> video.ram, etc.)
- cheat database moved from XML to BML (3.1MB to 1.9MB file size.)
- cheat codes moved from XML to BML
- resource manifest moved from XML to BML
What can I say, I like consistency. But I'll leave the shaders alone
until I get around to shader folders.
byuu says (about ananke):
Works with higan v091r13. Only does SNES stuff so far.
byuu says:
This release refines HSU1 support as a bidirectional protocol, nests SFC
manifests as "release/cartridge" and "release/information" (but release/
is not guaranteed to be finalized just yet), removes the database
integration, and adds support for ananke.
ananke represents inevitability. It's a library that, when installed,
higan can use to load files from the command-line, and also from a new
File -> Load Game menu option.
I need to change the build rules a bit for it to work on Windows (need
to make phoenix a DLL, basically), but it works now on Linux.
Right now, it only takes *.sfc file names, looks them up in the included
database, converts them to game folders, and returns the game folder
path for higan to load.
The idea is to continue expanding it to support everything we can that
I don't want in the higan core:
- load *.sfc, *.smc, *.swc, *.fig files
- remove SNES copier headers
- split apart merged firmware files
- pull in external firmware files (eg dsp1b.rom - these are staying
merged, just as SPC7110 prg+dat are merged)
- load *.zip and *.7z archives
- prompt for selection on multi-file archives
- generate manifest files based on heuristics
- apply BPS patches
The "Load" menu option has been renamed to "Library", to represent games
in your library. I'm going to add some sort of suffix to indicate
unverified games, and use a different folder icon for those (eg
manifests built on heuristics rather than from the database.)
So basically, to future end users:
File -> Load Game will be how they play games.
Library -> (specific system) can be thought of as an infinitely-sized
recent games list.
purify will likely become a simple stub that invokes ananke's functions.
No reason to duplicate all that code.
[r07 and r08 were not posted to the WIP thread. -Ed.]
byuu says:
I'd appreciate it if you guys wouldn't mind testing out the database
functionality.
Save this file as database.bml (remove the date) inside
~/.config/higan/Super Famicom.sfc/ or %APPDATA%/higan/Super Famicom.sfc/
http://byuu.org/snes/database/database_2012-10-21.bml
Now load any of the 20 games in the database from the file dialog. They
need to be named *.sfc, have no copier header, and have firmware
appended (for Mario Kart only so far.)
If anyone actually does test it, please let me know how it goes for you
and what you think. Note that future versions of higan will have the
database.bml file included with the release.
byuu says:
This release adds initial database support.
The way it works is you can now load game folders as you always have, or
you can load a game file. If you load a game file, it tries to create
a game folder for you by looking up the file's sha256 in a database. If
it can't find it, sorry, the game won't play. I'm not hooking up the
oldschool "make up a manifest" code here. The easiest way to handle this
is to get me every game so I can dump it and add it to the database :D
The database entries are complete entries that can be copied directly.
So it describes the board, the information, file layout, etc. That'll be
what comes with higan releases in the future.
Internally, I'm separating the information and board descriptions, and
will use a tool to merge the two together.
Here's a current database copy, with one game in it. Still hammering out
some details, but it's mostly how it's going to look.
cartridge region=NTSC
board type=1CB5B-20
superfx revision=2
rom name=program.rom size=0x200000
ram name=save.rwm size=0x8000
map id=io address=00-3f,80-bf:3000-32ff
map id=rom address=00-3f:8000-ffff mask=0x8000
map id=rom address=40-5f:0000-ffff
map id=ram address=00-3f,80-bf:6000-7fff size=0x2000
map id=ram address=70-71:0000-ffff
information
name: Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island (SNS) (1.1)
title: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
sha256: bd763c1a56365c244be92e6cffefd318780a2a19eda7d5baf1c6d5bd6c1b3e06
board: SHVC-1CB5B-20
rom: 0x200000
ram: 0x8000
layout
file name=program.rom size=0x200000
[No prior releases were posted to the WIP thread. -Ed.]
byuu says:
Super Famicom mapping system has been reworked as discussed with the
mask= changes. offset becomes base, mode is gone. Also added support for
comma-separated fields in the address fields, to reduce the number of
map lines needed.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<cartridge region="NTSC">
<superfx revision="2">
<rom name="program.rom" size="0x200000"/>
<ram name="save.rwm" size="0x8000"/>
<map id="io" address="00-3f,80-bf:3000-32ff"/>
<map id="rom" address="00-3f:8000-ffff" mask="0x8000"/>
<map id="rom" address="40-5f:0000-ffff"/>
<map id="ram" address="00-3f,80-bf:6000-7fff" size="0x2000"/>
<map id="ram" address="70-71:0000-ffff"/>
</superfx>
</cartridge>
Or in BML:
cartridge region=NTSC
superfx revision=2
rom name=program.rom size=0x200000
ram name=save.rwm size=0x8000
map id=io address=00-3f,80-bf:3000-32ff
map id=rom address=00-3f:8000-ffff mask=0x8000
map id=rom address=40-5f:0000-ffff
map id=ram address=00-3f,80-bf:6000-7fff size=0x2000
map id=ram address=70-71:0000-ffff
As a result of the changes, old mappings will no longer work. The above
XML example will run Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Otherwise,
you'll have to write your own.
All that's left now is to work some sort of database mapping system in,
so I can start dumping carts en masse.
The NES changes that FitzRoy asked for are mostly in as well.
Also, part of the reason I haven't released a WIP ... but fuck it, I'm
not going to wait forever to post a new WIP.
I've added a skeleton driver to emulate Campus Challenge '92 and
Powerfest '94. There's no actual emulation, except for the stuff I can
glean from looking at the pictures of the board. It has a DSP-1 (so
SR/DR registers), four ROMs that map in and out, RAM, etc.
I've also added preliminary mapping to upload high scores to a website,
but obviously I need the ROMs first.
byuu says:
Basically just a project rename, with s/bsnes/higan and the new icon
from lowkee added in.
It won't compile on Windows because I forgot to update the resource.rc
file, and a path transform command isn't working on Windows.
It was really just meant as a starting point, so that v091 WIPs can flow
starting from .00 with the new name (it overshadows bsnes v091, so
publicly speaking this "shouldn't exist" and will probably be deleted
from Google Code when v092 is ready.)
Tim Allen