Genesis Plus DC WIP Release Bug Report

[Christuserloeser]

Okay. Time to edit this thread and to take out the list I had posted here, as nearly all previous bugs are already fixed with the latest test release of GenesisPlusDC.

BlackAura posted some rules for reporting bugs in this thread (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1088145972) as he's aware of most problems that currently need to be fixed.


If it's about graphics glitches, don't bother with a bug report. I'm aware of the issues with the video emulation, and most of it is because of the way the video emulation is designed. I knew what kind of problems it would cause before I started programming it, and some of them will be fixed. Others might not be, because they'll just slow the emulator down too much, or them might not even be possible.

The main problems are:
No interlaced graphics mode (Sonic 2 multiplayer)
No 2-column scrolling mode (Rocket Knight Adventures, second stage)
No mid-frame palette changes (any Sonic game with underwater bits)
No per-line horizontal scrolling (stairstep effect)
No shadow/hilight effects (shadows appear white)
Sprite / background priorities are wrong

As far as I know, there's actually only one real bug in the video emulation, which is the corruption you get on sprites in some games. I know exactly what's causing that, but I don't know how to fix it yet.

I don't want to hear about sound skipping either. I'm working on fixing that now.

If it's a game actually crashing the emulator, I do want to hear about it. If a game does something really wrong (gameplay, not the graphics), or it's really slow without sound (like Zero Wing), or some of the timers / counters are screwed up, or there's something else really wrong with it, tell me.

[BlackAura]

I think you should count yourself lucky that sound works at all. Nobody has even looked at the sound code yet, aside from turning it on and off. Everything's been focused on the graphics emulation so far.

The sound frequency is currently 12000Hz (it needs to be evenly divisible by 4x the framerate), but I think we could bump it to 24000Hz (at least) without a problem.

Before enabling sound, I was going to start using C68K, because it'll give us more CPU time to burn on it. I'm going to work on that today, and maybe work on sound a little. I didn't realize that we might have enough spare time to start doing sound already.

Frameskipping will do pretty much nothing at this stage. I might put the auto framerate control that I did for the software version of GP/DC, so it'll automatically skip the occasional frame if it's running too slowly.

[curt_grymala]

I think you should count yourself lucky that sound works at all.

Believe me BA - most of us consider ourselves lucky that this thing exists at all. The work you have done on this is amazing, and I am really looking forward to the time when you release a final version (although, I am sure it won't be overnight, and I am perfectly happy with the gems that you have already provided). These two releases have put us leaps and bounds ahead of where we were before.

[Christuserloeser]

I think you should count yourself lucky that sound works at all.
Oh, I surely do :P


Nobody has even looked at the sound code yet, aside from turning it on and off. Everything's been focused on the graphics emulation so far.
I know, I didn't wanna sound too critical. I just wanted to mention it.
Are you using MAME's sound core or the GENS one ?


The sound frequency is currently 12000Hz (it needs to be evenly divisible by 4x the framerate), but I think we could bump it to 24000Hz (at least) without a problem.
Yeah, this is what it looks like! This emu has power! thx to your VDP emu!
I wasn't a friend of releasing a early unfinished version to the public at this early stage I have to admit. I thought the final emu would have been the better choice for a public release, but I really love testing the games with it *;D
Now that this has been started, maybe you should release daily builds from now on until the emulation sees a certain level of perfection, then hold the final version with VMU support back until it reached your personal level of perfection.


Before enabling sound, I was going to start using C68K, because it'll give us more CPU time to burn on it. I'm going to work on that today, and maybe work on sound a little. I didn't realize that we might have enough spare time to start doing sound already.
It's great! Sound is really good! throws the Smash Pack away Just that time lag is annoying. Maybe it's specially anoying for me because I forced myself to test every game with sound turned on...

But as I wrote there are a lot of games with sound turned on that'll run at 58/60 FPS !!!


Frameskipping will do pretty much nothing at this stage. I might put the auto framerate control that I did for the software version of GP/DC, so it'll automatically skip the occasional frame if it's running too slowly.
That would be fantastic because one actually could have 48kHz sound support with Frameskip added and it would be like NesterDC v6/7 in the worst case ;D

3:50 AM, time for bed...

Chris

[BlackAura]

Sound does work pretty well actually. A lot better than I thought it would. One of my favourite games (Rocket Knight Adventures) is almost full speed with sound. I'm going to try to fix that today. Hopefully Stef's C68K should be just about enough.

Actually, I wan't going to release this yet either. I've only done source code releases so far.

[obelisk]

bravo. i will try this bad boy out tommorow when i get a blank CD or 2. or should i wait a bit... the temptation to nix one of my wife's CDRrs is growing though, moment by moment.

[BlackAura]

You may as well wait for a bit. This thing is still improving very quickly.

[Christuserloeser]

:) My bug report is now already really outdated in most points! I'll have to update it tonight! ;D

Stay tuned to the devolpment of this amazing emu!


Chris

[Ian_micheal]

Timer bug is a problem in the c68k core makes some games broken on both this emulator and neogeo cd.

So some games are unplayable or broken.

[Christuserloeser]

Updated bugreport (with WIP preview release v3):

All games seem to run at full speed without frameskip but with sound playback (still skipping sometimes but most time in sync on almost every game).

Testing conditions: sound on, Z80 speed at 228

Aero Blasters
*runs perfectly :)

Aleste - Full Metal Fighter Ellinor (J) (M.U.S.H.A.)
*broken (crashes at SEGA logo)

Arcus Odyssey (U)
*runs perfectly :)

Battle Mania 2 – Trouble Shooter Vintage (J)
* background colors aren't colored correctly (stage 1)
* perfectly playable :)

Bomberman Demo (by Factor 5) *
* has some strange graphical issues with tile placing
maybe because some kind of a interlace mode that it uses ???

Castlevania - Bloodlines (U)
* runs perfectly :)

Darius 2 (J) (Sagaia)
* perfect! :)

Ecco - The Tides Of Time (U)
* “ECCO” title screen logo doesn’t show up
* Sonar comunication between Ecco and the other Dolphins isn’t possible,
* as the screen gets messed up
* Ecco's sprite has the known glitches (not sure if they appeared in WIP v1 too ??? )

(Super) Fantasy Zone (J)
* misses background layer (isle landscape) in Stage 1
* Logo screen pseudo*mode7 rotation is slows down the emulation
* black hole corona FX in Anime introduction isn’t correctly displayed
* OpaOpa flickers when he’s facing his dead father O-Papa

Herzog Zwei (U)
* no TechnoSoft sound, just a ‘beep’ in a loop but SoundFX
* sprites aren’t displayed during game
* not tested: 2 player split screen mode

Koutetsu Teikoku (J) (Battle Wings)
* runs perfectly :)

M.U.S.H.A (U) (Aleste)
* same as with Aleste (J)

Master Of Monsters (U)
* game crashes at intro if you don't skip the intro
* with pressing start
* no music, just soundFX

Mazin Saga (J)
* game resets during the opening
* controls won’t respond, no skip possible!

Mega Bomberman (U) *
* runs perfectly :)

Mega Turrican (U)
* title screen (& logo effect) isn't displayed properly
* the game itself runs perfectly (except that there are
*black clouds instead of white little clouds in the background layer)
* works perfectly otherwise :)

New Zealand Story, The (J) *
* runs perfectly :)

Panorama Cotton (J)
* displays grafical glitches on the background
Might be the same problems as with all bitmap scaling racing games and I know that these games aren't your priority atm.... but I just mention it, because I wonder if it will be fixable at all, as I really love this game

Quackshot (U) - starring Donald Duck
* no sound

Sailor Moon (J)
* crashes the emu

Street Fighter 2 Turbo [h1] (16Mbit)
*runs perfectly *:)
* ...well except one strange time counter problem (the same as with NeoCD SDL) during game play.

Street Fighter 2 Special Champion Edition (E/U) (24Mbit)
and
Street Fighter 2 Plus (J) (24Mbit)
*both display "Illegal Instruction 04" after Capcom logo

Super Street Fighter 2 (U) (40Mbit)
* doesn't work (red screen)
this game didn't work with the PC DOS version too

Target Earth (U) / Assaul Suit Leynoss (J)
* works perfectly :)

Thunderforce 4 (J) [t1]
* no music playback
* otherwise perfectly playable :)

...to be continued

[bugaboo]

heres some for v3 with sound enabled

i think the sound skip/repeat happens on all of them, but this is a known problem isnt it.

adams family (ue)
* ok

alien 3 (jue)
* gun stops firing

battle squadron (u) *
* Perfect (one of my faves, but bl***** hard, needs an autofire)

paperboy (jue)
*start maingame, screen freezes and sound loops and shows 30fps
*crashed dc had to reset

cool spot (u)
* main sprite flickers a bit

shadow dancer (u) *
*dog sprites flicker a bit (love the dog)

desert strike (u)
* freezes at debrief screen

devil crash (j)
*4 lines of garbage numbers in the middle of the playing screen
(pity, this is an excellent pinball game)

Hellfire (u)
*all the player and enemy sprites are invisible

junglebook (u)
*ok
*sprites flicker
*music repeats and stutters

mega swiv (u)
*near perfect , dont know if the bomb effect looks right though ?

pac attack (u)
perfect, apart from music repeat etc

Psycho Pinball (oct94)(jue)(c)
*excellent works !, just sound repeat

pacmania
*ok

hangon
*graphics messed up

terminator (u)
*ok, works good

volfied (jue)
*ok, works good

insectorX
*black screen

marble madness
*ok, works good

megabomberman (jue)
*ok, works good


oh one problem on the game select some games are listed on the same line as others and wont load ?
whats that about ?

[obelisk]

road rash 1- 3 no dice. a bucnha crud, no road, as well as Skitchin. i have to find my notes from last nght and i'll post them.

[Christuserloeser]

oh one problem on the game select some games are listed on the same line as others and wont load ?
whats that about ?

it's a problem with the menu when your file names use rockridge format and are longer than a certain number of letters. reburn with shorter names and it'll work

Chris

Edit: Welcome to DCEmu UK, bugaboo :)

[WHurricane16]

road rash 1- 3 no dice. *a bucnha crud, no road, as well as Skitchin. *i have to find my notes from last nght and i'll post them.


Most EA cartridges will give you trouble. This is the case with most emulators. I'm not to technical to know why or even look it up.

[vipor231]

maybe copy protection

[Christuserloeser]

Hm, I think they were developed using different dev tools than the others (e.g. Japanese games) - most EA games were at least partially written in C as I've read and using their own development enviroment (like Sega USA did too), their own cartridge, their own package design etc

[guymelef]

EA games for anysystem have these kind of issues. I'm not trying to start anything but PSX EA games are a pain in the rump.............

[Dragon]

Have Genesis Plus/DC Preview 3 a rom disc support? ???

[law56ker]

yes