jEnesisDS 0.7.4 - Genesis Emulator for Nintendo DS

[Lordus]

I decided to release a little update, although most of the things I wanted to do for the next version are not done yet. jEnesisDS 0.7.4 has no new features, but I think it's still worth the update, as the speed is improved by up to 30% and the sound is substantially better, too, in my opinion ;)

Changelog:
********
v0.7.4 *
********
- Changed scheduling of M68000 and Z80.
- Some changes in M68000 internal memory handlers.
- YM2612 FM core mostly rewritten in ASM.
- Some bugs in FM core fixed (Operator 1 was sometimes not considered in certain cases).
- Fixed reset bug for FM core resulting in unstable sound for every game loaded except the 1st one.
- Raised sample rate for FM emulation from 16KHz to 28KHz (28, because a few games can't do 32KHz)
- Sound is completely mixed in hardware now, meaning every FM channel, PSG and DAC have their own DS sound channels.


Download Here (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/jEnesisDS_0[1].7.4.zip) and Give feedback & Compatability Reports Via Comments

[Penguinator]

Gonna test this right away...

[.:PSP1.0:.]

Lordus is a legend! Thank you mate!! :)

[fuzznec]

Really nice !! :thumbup:

[wraggster]

uploaded to FTP, the damn forum uploader is down again :(

[AuroraKnight]

o0o0o0o emulator updates are my favorite! Thanks Lordus! Lookin forward to tryin this one out :thumbup:

[juiceface]

awesome work man, thank you,


just tried it with headphones on , the FM channels sound great!


figured id throw this in as well, in shinobi 3 return of the ninja master the soundtrack is speeded up heavily, just thought id pass that on

[Sir_Voe]

Great update :). The "follow dpad" panning works great, and the sound emulation is magnificent. Thanks Lordus!

[Lordus]

Great update :). The "follow dpad" panning works great, and the sound emulation is magnificent. Thanks Lordus!

Thanks.
I experimented with the follow d-pad thing once, and didn't even realize that i left it in, so take it as an experimental feature for the time being.

[da_head]

awesome! thx man

[darok3k]

thanks for uploading it! this way better than 0.7 now i can actually play top gear 2 without errors!

[zzt]

The new version just freezes, right after I select a game to load, the frames per second on the bottom left of the screen does not come up.... Please help, I want this to work soooo bad....

Card I am using is a Games'n'Music card, Jenesis DS 7.0 works fine...

[Keitaro Urashima]

Thanks for releasing it.:D

[tylerbgood]

The new version just freezes, right after I select a game to load, the frames per second on the bottom left of the screen does not come up.... Please help, I want this to work soooo bad....

Card I am using is a Games'n'Music card, Jenesis DS 7.0 works fine...

I had the same problem with previous releases of Jenesis on my old MMD. Try running it through DS Organize and it should work. Instructions for running software via DS Organize can be found elsewhere, but it's pretty straightforward.

[havoc_012]

Thanks.

[TechRat]

I had the same problem with previous releases of Jenesis on my old MMD. Try running it through DS Organize and it should work. Instructions for running software via DS Organize can be found elsewhere, but it's pretty straightforward.

I also have a Games 'n Music card. I've tried running this new version both directly and through DSOrganize. In both cases I can load up a game but just when the game should be starting it locks up.

With the previous version, it didn't work on Games 'n Music when run directly, but it did work through DSOrganize. Now with this version it doesn't work at all. :(

I'll have to go back to the previous version until this is sorted out. I hope Lordus can correct the problem.

[Lordus]

I also have a Games 'n Music card. I've tried running this new version both directly and through DSOrganize. In both cases I can load up a game but just when the game should be starting it locks up.

With the previous version, it didn't work on Games 'n Music when run directly, but it did work through DSOrganize. Now with this version it doesn't work at all. :(

I'll have to go back to the previous version until this is sorted out. I hope Lordus can correct the problem.

I don't have a Games n' Music, so it's not that easy for me to trace this down. I have a theory though, which i want to test later (have to sleep a bit now..)

[some_guy_named_matt]

works great, only thing is the horizontal scaling, the d-pad follow thing works alright for some games, but some games you just need to see everything on screen.

but other than that, great emulator. =D

[Matt]

[Clodoaldo-N]

Man, you're my idol!!! Sonic 2 running perfectly!! Thanks for doing this. Keep it up.

[paul3100]

o0o0o0o emulator updates are my favorite!

that goes for me too, and this emulator is right at the top for me. cheers Lordus for another fantastic update :-)

I know this update is only minor but will there be any broken games from 0.7 that are now fixed in 0.7.4? or is it just mostly sound that's been improved and speed?

cheers. . . paul

[Mini Moose]

Yes!! Thank you, Lordus!!!

It just keeps getting better, and better!!!

[Echo1]

Nice work Lordus. I do enjoy your updates.:)

Is there any chance in a future version that you could scale the screen like they did with the Neo-Geo emu?

[Lordus]

that goes for me too, and this emulator is right at the top for me. cheers Lordus for another fantastic update :-)

I know this update is only minor but will there be any broken games from 0.7 that are now fixed in 0.7.4? or is it just mostly sound that's been improved and speed?

cheers. . . paul

No, there are no fixes to games, it's "just" the sound and speed that has improved.
I am not really a fan of minor updates, but from my point of view it isn't one, as it was much more work than can be seen. You can add 10 new features in a day, but writing an FM core in ASM takes a bit longer.. And once you're at a certain level, making it even a bit faster can be very very hard.
Anyway, i thought it's much more enjoyable to play with this, than with the former version.



Nice work Lordus. I do enjoy your updates.:)

Is there any chance in a future version that you could scale the screen like they did with the Neo-Geo emu?


I'm trying to relax now, when i hear the scaling question for the 100th time, but it's not always easy ;)
No, the screen can't be scaled like NeoDS does it. If I could do that, then I can tell you that I would, instead of having stupid workarounds like panning and the follow d-pad option.
The NeoGeo composes it's screen almost entirely out of sprites, that NeoDS renders in 3D. With 3D it's relatively easy to scale the whole thing.
The Genesis has 2 background layers and 1 sprite layer, each of which can have high or low priorities (selectable on a per tile basis). So effectively the screen can be composed out of 6 layers. To do this with the DS hardware i need all the 4 backgrounds it offers. Just 2 of those backgrounds can be scaled in hardware, and software scaling is out of the question.
The other alternative is software rendering, where you compose a bitmap out of all Genesis layers, which you can then draw on a single DS background and scale it in hardware.
The downside of this is, that it is incredibly slow. I can tell you, that a typical PC Genesis emulator probably spends about 50% of all its time in software rendering. That's a more than the emulation of the 2 CPUs takes (except the CPU cores are very unoptimized).

[TechRat]

I don't have a Games n' Music, so it's not that easy for me to trace this down. I have a theory though, which i want to test later (have to sleep a bit now..)

Glad to hear there's hope. :)

If you need someone to test with a GnM, let me know. I'd be happy to help when I can.

[Spidery_Yoda]

Lordus you are amazing :).

For the past few months, jEnesis has been literally the only thing running on my R4, and on my DS in general.

I think you can probably tell from the length of your jEnesis threads that i'm not the only one :D.

Anyway, just downloaded this so i'm off to transfer it to the card.

Edit: ok had a small play. This is a pretty huge improvement :D. In 0.7, whenever I did a water level in any Sonic game I had to disable the sound to get it to run smoothly. Now it runs smoothly anyway :D. No sound scrambling so far either, and everything just seems to 'sound better'. I remember the spin dash in Sonic 2 was a little deafening before, even though Sonic 3's was fine. Now they both are. Yes sorry i'm rambling a bit. Take it as a compliment that i play it enough to notice all the little things :).

Also, the mushrooms in Mushroom Hill Zone in Sonic & Knuckles now make their distincive sound when you jump on them. The silent mushrooms were my biggest complaint of 0.7 ;).

Brilliant work, thanks.



I'm trying to relax now, when i hear the scaling question for the 100th time, but it's not always easy ;)
No, the screen can't be scaled like NeoDS does it. If I could do that, then I can tell you that I would, instead of having stupid workarounds like panning and the follow d-pad option.

I still say you should include that as a disclamer in your original post. Every single time. In big red writing.

I remember when I first found jEnesis (0.4 or 5, i cant remember which. Which ever one was part of that competition), I read the readme and posts before I downloaded it and so knew about the scaling issue before I even played it.

And yet, with every single release you make you get people asking about it at least 10 times ber thread. Make it huge and maybe people won't miss it.

[eder182]

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!! Thanks GOD MASTER LORDUS!!!!

Comix Zone Very very Fast! tnx!

[Echo1]

I'm trying to relax now, when i hear the scaling question for the 100th time, but it's not always easy ;)
No, the screen can't be scaled like NeoDS does it. If I could do that, then I can tell you that I would, instead of having stupid workarounds like panning and the follow d-pad option.
The NeoGeo composes it's screen almost entirely out of sprites, that NeoDS renders in 3D. With 3D it's relatively easy to scale the whole thing.
The Genesis has 2 background layers and 1 sprite layer, each of which can have high or low priorities (selectable on a per tile basis). So effectively the screen can be composed out of 6 layers. To do this with the DS hardware i need all the 4 backgrounds it offers. Just 2 of those backgrounds can be scaled in hardware, and software scaling is out of the question.
The other alternative is software rendering, where you compose a bitmap out of all Genesis layers, which you can then draw on a single DS background and scale it in hardware.
The downside of this is, that it is incredibly slow. I can tell you, that a typical PC Genesis emulator probably spends about 50% of all its time in software rendering. That's a more than the emulation of the 2 CPUs takes (except the CPU cores are very unoptimized).

Sos, about asking that dreaded question but I haven't been reading any stuff. I usually just download and play, if ya get me. Thanks for the explanation, though. I (like many others) do appreciate the work you put into this emu and sure do thank you for it.

Cheers.::thumbup:

[tylerbgood]

works great, only thing is the horizontal scaling, the d-pad follow thing works alright for some games, but some games you just need to see everything on screen.

If you absolutely need to see the whole screen you can use PicoDriveDS. It is not nearly as polished as JenesisDS, and has no sound, but it scales games to fit on the screen. (The three scale options can be toggled using the L1 button.)
Now after reading Lordus' explanation of scaling on the DS, I am assuming PicoDrive uses software rendering. I'm learning here, so please someone correct me if I'm wrong

[eke-eke]

I just spend the last hour trying it.. FM sound is better than ever :)

congrats Lordus, I can not imagine how optimized your asm code is !

[Steely]

I always love emulator updates(I only wish SnemulDS would have more frequent updates.. Ah well.).

jEnesisDS works very well, thanks a lot. I don't even really know what features you can add now. Comix Zone works really well now, only a bit of flickering here and there. Sound sounds even better, now(Although in Sonic 2, I think the ring and spin dash sounds are still loud. Is it just me?).

Again, great emulator, and I always look forward to future releases.

[Lordus]

I remember the spin dash in Sonic 2 was a little deafening before, even though Sonic 3's was fine. Now they both are. Yes sorry i'm rambling a bit. Take it as a compliment that i play it enough to notice all the little things :).


I still say you should include that as a disclamer in your original post. Every single time. In big red writing.

And yet, with every single release you make you get people asking about it at least 10 times ber thread. Make it huge and maybe people won't miss it.

Yes, the Sonic ring chimes and spin dash sounds are very sensitive to the sample rate. This is also one of the very few sounds that sound even better at 32KHz, while you otherwise mostly can't tell the difference to 28KHz.

I am not even sure a disclaimer in the post would help. Maybe i should add a Star Wars like scrolling text that you can't interrupt and that shows before every game you play? Well, maybe better not ;P


If you absolutely need to see the whole screen you can use PicoDriveDS. It is not nearly as polished as JenesisDS, and has no sound, but it scales games to fit on the screen. (The three scale options can be toggled using the L1 button.)
Now after reading Lordus' explanation of scaling on the DS, I am assuming PicoDrive uses software rendering. I'm learning here, so please someone correct me if I'm wrong

Yes, PicodriveDS uses software rendering. There was also a version of jEnesisDS (0.4a iirc) that uses software rendering and has scaling.



I just spend the last hour trying it.. FM sound is better than ever :)

congrats Lordus, I can not imagine how optimized your asm code is !

Thanks. I have a Gamecube here, too, but unfortunately no way to run code on it, so I couldn't try your emu(s) yet.

[Spidery_Yoda]

I am not even sure a disclaimer in the post would help. Maybe i should add a Star Wars like scrolling text that you can't interrupt and that shows before every game you play? Well, maybe better not ;P

Well then I guess the next best thing to do would be to type out a standard answer to 'why cant i see the whole screen', and keep it handy whenever you have a new release ready.

The one on the previous page should do. You could even ask a mod to keep it handy too. Heck i'll re-post it to anyone that asks myself if you like.

Keep it on a text file on my desktop ;)

[jaws365]

This emulator is great, thanks alot!!!

I hope you will include scaling in the future too :D

[tylerbgood]

I hope you will include scaling in the future too :D

Sigh...please see Lordus' post on page 3 of this thread:


I'm trying to relax now, when i hear the scaling question for the 100th time, but it's not always easy ;)
No, the screen can't be scaled like NeoDS does it. If I could do that, then I can tell you that I would, instead of having stupid workarounds like panning and the follow d-pad option.
The NeoGeo composes it's screen almost entirely out of sprites, that NeoDS renders in 3D. With 3D it's relatively easy to scale the whole thing.
The Genesis has 2 background layers and 1 sprite layer, each of which can have high or low priorities (selectable on a per tile basis). So effectively the screen can be composed out of 6 layers. To do this with the DS hardware i need all the 4 backgrounds it offers. Just 2 of those backgrounds can be scaled in hardware, and software scaling is out of the question.
The other alternative is software rendering, where you compose a bitmap out of all Genesis layers, which you can then draw on a single DS background and scale it in hardware.
The downside of this is, that it is incredibly slow. I can tell you, that a typical PC Genesis emulator probably spends about 50% of all its time in software rendering. That's a more than the emulation of the 2 CPUs takes (except the CPU cores are very unoptimized).

[Spidery_Yoda]

I was just reading this again and it made me go 'oh i seeeee'



I'm trying to relax now, when i hear the scaling question for the 100th time, but it's not always easy ;)
No, the screen can't be scaled like NeoDS does it. If I could do that, then I can tell you that I would, instead of having stupid workarounds like panning and the follow d-pad option.
The NeoGeo composes it's screen almost entirely out of sprites, that NeoDS renders in 3D. With 3D it's relatively easy to scale the whole thing.
The Genesis has 2 background layers and 1 sprite layer, each of which can have high or low priorities (selectable on a per tile basis). So effectively the screen can be composed out of 6 layers. To do this with the DS hardware i need all the 4 backgrounds it offers. Just 2 of those backgrounds can be scaled in hardware, and software scaling is out of the question.

Is THAT why in Sonic some of the sprites are sometimes incorrectly displayed and so they're in front/behind things they shouldnt be. The Sonic intros where he pops up from behind the word 'SONIC', and a few cases in Sonic & Knuckles where for example a door slides open towards the ground, and you can see the sprite go underground.

And more importantly the one that actually affects the game, during the Lava Reef Zone Robotnik fight where the lava 'tilts', except in the emu it either doesnt move, or all the lava rises up and you cant see.

I always figured it would be something that was hardwired because of the DS hardware. The DS can only display 4 backgrounds you say? Hmm. Or am i completely wrong and rambling about nonsense.

Erm that sounds like a complaint. It isn't. Like i said I just assumed when I saw these things that there's nothing you can do about them. I'm just interested in how it works.

And if the DS can't display enough layers how do you get everything else to look so great?

[zzt]

Anyone got this to work on the Games'nMusic card yet? This version sounds so much better than 0.7...

EDIT: I still could not get this to work, but When I completely emptied my memory card and put just Jenesis 0.7.4 and one game (sonic 2) It still froze but the FPS counter in the bottom left of the touch screen finally did appear and started at 007 before dropping to 000...hope this is some kind of help.

[TechRat]

Anyone got this to work on the Games'nMusic card yet? This version sounds so much better than 0.7...



I have good news for Games 'n Music owners. If you set your DS system clock to 00:00 before running the emulator it will work fine. You can even run it directly without going through DSOrganize. I've let Lordus know about this.

[utz030303]

Thanks Lordus, I really love your jEnesis!! <3

[crookedmouth]

I have good news for Games 'n Music owners. If you set your DS system clock to 00:00 before running the emulator it will work fine. You can even run it directly without going through DSOrganize. I've let Lordus know about this.

It's good news but this workaround has always worked. It was just annoying to have to reset the clock every time you turned your DS on.
Good find though.

[TechRat]

It's good news but this workaround has always worked. It was just annoying to have to reset the clock every time you turned your DS on.
Good find though.

You are the second person who has told me this. If this workaround always existed, how come no one else posted it in this thread when people started saying that it froze on their GnM? :confused:

I mean, it's a little inconvenient, but it's better than nothing.

[zzt]

I cannot belive this, the 00:00 setting works, I thoght it just worked on the MMD.

It is still annoying to have to go back to set the clock 00:00 each time, but I can play it now and it seriously ROCKS:)

I just hope that Lordus can fix this, then it would be the best emulator ever!

[Lordus]

figured id throw this in as well, in shinobi 3 return of the ninja master the soundtrack is speeded up heavily, just thought id pass that on

I can't reproduce that with any setting. I played along for a while with Kega, and they stayed almost perfectly in sync.



I was just reading this again and it made me go 'oh i seeeee'


Is THAT why in Sonic some of the sprites are sometimes incorrectly displayed and so they're in front/behind things they shouldnt be. The Sonic intros where he pops up from behind the word 'SONIC', and a few cases in Sonic & Knuckles where for example a door slides open towards the ground, and you can see the sprite go underground.

And more importantly the one that actually affects the game, during the Lava Reef Zone Robotnik fight where the lava 'tilts', except in the emu it either doesnt move, or all the lava rises up and you cant see.

I always figured it would be something that was hardwired because of the DS hardware. The DS can only display 4 backgrounds you say? Hmm. Or am i completely wrong and rambling about nonsense.

Erm that sounds like a complaint. It isn't. Like i said I just assumed when I saw these things that there's nothing you can do about them. I'm just interested in how it works.

And if the DS can't display enough layers how do you get everything else to look so great?

Oh, the things you mention have multiple causes.
In Sonic for example, you have to emulate sprite limits, because it is used to mask out a portion of Sonic in the intro screen, for example. The Genesis can just display a certain number of sprites and/or sprite pixels per line. Even sprites that are not visible on screen count for this limit. (The DS, or any console have that limitation, too, just that the DS can display a lot more sprites per line). Maybe i can handle that later.

Another problem is priorities. The sprite priorities on the Genesis work differently than for the DS. Normally sprites are displayed in the order they appear in the sprite table (from front to back), so sprite 0 will be above sprite 1. This is true for the Genesis and the DS, but the sprites also have a priority flag, which determines, if they are in front or behind a background layer. The problem is, that on the Genesis, the inter-sprite priority (list position) is more important than the sprite priority flag. So if sprite 0 has low priority and sprite 1 has high priority (flag), and they share the same space, then sprite 0 will still be displayed on top of sprite 1. If there are background pixels between them, this will cause sprite 1 to be masked out where it collides with sprite 0 and you will just see the bg there. (I hope that is somewhat understandable).
Some games use that exactly for that purpose, to mask out portions of sprites.

The DS has double the amount of layers than the Genesis, so it should be enough. Besides the 4 layers it has, you can also display sprites in 4 planes. I just need all of those 4 layers, because of the per tile priority in the Genesis layers (which make it possible to place the 2 layers in practically 4 planes). On the DS, you can just set the priority for the complete BG layer.

The biggest problem though is, that the DS has "just" 1024 tiles that can be used PER layer. Altogether that's more than the Genesis can use, just that it can address all 2048 tiles in any BG. The tiles are dynamically allocated and deallocated to make up for that, but if a game really uses more than 1024 tiles at once, there is a problem. In cases like that, jEnesisDS constantly "recreates" the whole screen, if "Force Update" is ON. Still there will be glitches, like in the Comix Zone title screen.

[zzt]

Any hope for a Games'n'Music fix Lordus?

[Lordus]

Any hope for a Games'n'Music fix Lordus?

I'm pretty sure that there is hope. I just don't know yet, what exactly causes the problem.
Of course, I'll try to fix it, though.

[Spidery_Yoda]

Oh, the things you mention have multiple causes...

Well I think I understood most of that thanks :).

I got a bit lost on the last paragraph, but after reading it a few times I think I understand. Are you saying that the Genesis has fewer tiles than the DS, but the Genesis can address all of its at once while the DS can't?

Well thanks for the big reply. After reading that i'm quite suprised that these sprite errors are as rare as they are. It sounds like a nightmare trying to get everything in the right order.

[Lordus]

Well I think I understood most of that thanks :).

I got a bit lost on the last paragraph, but after reading it a few times I think I understand. Are you saying that the Genesis has fewer tiles than the DS, but the Genesis can address all of its at once while the DS can't?

Well thanks for the big reply. After reading that i'm quite suprised that these sprite errors are as rare as they are. It sounds like a nightmare trying to get everything in the right order.

Sorry, maybe i went a bit overboard ;) Basically it's like you say. The problem is that the DS can use 1024 tile indexes per BG, the Genesis 2048. In practice it can't, because that would take up all of the VRAM, but as long as it uses more than 1024, it's a problem. Normally a game doesn't do that though, mostly just in start screens or intros, where detailed images are displayed.

It's actually very simple with the sprites, i just order them in the same way, they are on the Genesis, just that this doesn't always look like intended, due to what i described before. I will look into improving it later.

[puslar_t]

Lordus thanks for updating this great emulator. I think Racketboy is going to feature it soon. I find it disappointing the DS isn't so hot tech-wise for emulation (though jEnesisDS, SNEmulDS and NeoDS have done wonders).. I hope you're on board with the next iteration of Nintendo's handheld (I don't think it'll be long now, thanks to the PSP's recent strong performance) :)

[crookedmouth]

Games N Music users, try running this version through Spinal's Menu 1.2.Worked for me without needing to use clock reset method. I attached it to help.

[TechRat]

Games N Music users, try running this version through Spinal's Menu 1.2.Worked for me without needing to use clock reset method. I attached it to help.

This worked for me too. It even ran other apps that I normally had to launch through DSOrganize (Arcomage, ApprenticeMinus), and it looks great. I'll be using this as my app loader from now on. Thanks so much for pointing this out!

[crookedmouth]

Cool glad to hear it!
Thank you Spinal, and of course thank you Lordus!

Save States work with this too, where as before you would lose your save states after a power down. :)

[Lordus]

Lordus thanks for updating this great emulator. I think Racketboy is going to feature it soon. I find it disappointing the DS isn't so hot tech-wise for emulation (though jEnesisDS, SNEmulDS and NeoDS have done wonders).. I hope you're on board with the next iteration of Nintendo's handheld (I don't think it'll be long now, thanks to the PSP's recent strong performance) :)

Ah, it's most of the fun for me, to get around the limitations. I hope Nintendo's next handheld has a bigger screen, though, that makes it more suitable for emulation.



Games N Music users, try running this version through Spinal's Menu 1.2.Worked for me without needing to use clock reset method. I attached it to help.

Thanks for the information. Seems like a relatively easy way to make it work, until i find a proper solution.

[hicaow]

woot! .. thank you , i love being able to play NHL94 anywhere! :] .. well NHL94 -07 mack hack that is.

i didn't read through this whole thread so appologies if this has already been suggested. can you make the bottom screen shut off while playing ? save battery , less light ..

thanx again!

[Spidery_Yoda]

Lordus I was just wondering about something.

Your previous (main) goals with jEnesis have been fairly obvious.

1. Get Genesis games to run at a good speed and with as few errors as possible

and then later on

2. Get sound in the emulator without having a negative impact on the speed they run.

Now you've managed to complete both. The first person in the world to do so in fact :). You must feel pretty damn proud with your work so far.

So whats next? Is there more you feel you can do?

You've said you're working on getting the 3Mb games working. So thats one thing. Anything else?

Just curious :)

[Lordus]

Lordus I was just wondering about something.

Your previous (main) goals with jEnesis have been fairly obvious.

1. Get Genesis games to run at a good speed and with as few errors as possible

and then later on

2. Get sound in the emulator without having a negative impact on the speed they run.

Now you've managed to complete both. The first person in the world to do so in fact :). You must feel pretty damn proud with your work so far.

So whats next? Is there more you feel you can do?

You've said you're working on getting the 3Mb games working. So thats one thing. Anything else?

Just curious :)


Thanks.

I am not really that satisfied yet. While 2. is probably pretty close, 1. isn't as much as i wanted.
There are still games that are not always full speed, and that bugs me ;)
But I'm working on it. I will also focus a bit more on compatibility now, and on improving things with the renderer.

I'm not really working on >3MB support directly, but something completely different. In the process of that, 3MB will be supported, too, though.

I'm quite curious myself, about what else can be done. But i intend to find out.

[crookedmouth]

I'm not really working on >3MB support directly, but something completely different. In the process of that, 3MB will be supported, too, though.

I'm quite curious myself, about what else can be done. But i intend to find out.

Again this sounds mysterious, :)
Sorry I'm a curious guy, but you wouldn't happen to be attempting something crazy like 32X support or something?
Since you mentioned Jenesis is a Genesis/32X emulator, is the only reason I'm asking. :)

Again,thanks Lordus!

[giopagent12]

very nice emulator, thanks for making it.

[-evilryu-]

but SSF2(NOT SF2) has glitches problem still now?

[Lordus]

Again this sounds mysterious, :)
Sorry I'm a curious guy, but you wouldn't happen to be attempting something crazy like 32X support or something?
Since you mentioned Jenesis is a Genesis/32X emulator, is the only reason I'm asking. :)

Again,thanks Lordus!


Never, that's too crazy ;) There is no chance to get anywhere with that. The 32X is not so much weaker than the DS in processing power.
jEnesis has 32X support, but the DS version will never get it.

[Spidery_Yoda]

Are you working on incorporating the GBA-slot RAM packs then maybe?

I don't have one of them.

[Omega_2]

Good thing, these updates. Bad luck for my DS, no more touch screen response, even after putting in a new one...no more save states for me then.

[crookedmouth]

Using an R4? Works fine unless I run through DSO.

Maybe try pre-patching unstead of auto?

[Venazard]

This is my first post, so hi I'm Venazard.
Thanks for the update Lordus, but I was was just wondering if you were gonna make a JenesisDS update that would allow players to play bigger files than just 3MB? Thank You. Oh yeah before I forget would that udate be for the M3 DS Real, because that's the device I'm using. Thanks

[Spidery_Yoda]

This is my first post, so hi I'm Venazard.
Thanks for the update Lordus, but I was was just wondering if you were gonna make a JenesisDS update that would allow players to play bigger files than just 3MB? Thank You. Oh yeah before I forget would that udate be for the M3 DS Real, because that's the device I'm using. Thanks

He's working on getting the 3Mb+ games running.

Here's a quote from this very thread:



I'm not really working on >3MB support directly, but something completely different. In the process of that, 3MB will be supported, too, though.

I'm quite curious myself, about what else can be done. But i intend to find out.

So there you have it :).

As for the card, all future updates work on all cards so don't worry about that. Some cards have compatability issues sometimes, but they're usually solved with a few fixes.

[Venazard]

Thanks. I guess I should've checked all the other pages first. Thanks Again.

[zondajag]

brilliant app, i tip my hat to you young dev!

btw that dpad following thing, how do you activate it? is it automatic?

also in all of the sonic games i find that sonic has a few rows from the centre of its sprite missing while running is this due to any vertical scaling going on or just general graphics glitching?

one last thing the Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic 2 & Knuckles roms dont appear to run on this emulator, could it be that they are not 'clean' roms? (as in ones generated using the dumps from Sonic and Knuckles and Sonic 3 cartridges to emulate the physical link that there would usually be as the sonic 3 cartridge used to fit into the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge)(btw im not sure if these roms are under 3mb :P

[Spidery_Yoda]

btw that dpad following thing, how do you activate it? is it automatic?

While playing touch the small gamepad icon at the top left of the bottom screen. It brings up a menu and from there you can select 'follow d-pad'.


also in all of the sonic games i find that sonic has a few rows from the centre of its sprite missing while running is this due to any vertical scaling going on or just general graphics glitching?

That'll be the vertical scaling. You can turn it off to get it to look right but then you can't see much at all.


one last thing the Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic 2 & Knuckles roms dont appear to run on this emulator, could it be that they are not 'clean' roms? (as in ones generated using the dumps from Sonic and Knuckles and Sonic 3 cartridges to emulate the physical link that there would usually be as the sonic 3 cartridge used to fit into the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge)(btw im not sure if these roms are under 3mb :P

They're both over 3Mb. And as you probably know the DS simply doesn't have enough RAM to load them. Which is a shame because in my opinion Sonic 3 & Knuckles is the best thing on the system. So yes they don't work because they're too big sorry. They might work in a future version.

[zondajag]

brilliant! thanks for the info! maybe the next release could support vertical dpad following and perhaps a setting that you can adjust the speed at which the emulator follows so that the screen doesnt jump around to fast. Wonderful emulator! perfect now, im very happy to have got rid of the graphical glitching :)

also could a ram cartridge in a gba slot be utilised in the next release to play games over 3mb? thatd be awesome!

[Spidery_Yoda]

Well he's said that he's working on something that will indirectly allow >3Mb ROMs to play.

It sounds to me like he's working on something like that, yes.

[dm1983]

Does sound work on this?

I have been using 0.5 and I can't get any sound.

[MrIQ]

Yes, this has sound ;)

[dm1983]

Is there any way to change the screen settings so that the whole screen fits in? At the moment part of each side is missing.

[Spidery_Yoda]

Is there any way to change the screen settings so that the whole screen fits in? At the moment part of each side is missing.

Please read the thread next time. You'll find the answer you're looking for without us having to repost it over and over again.

It's horizontal scaling that is needed for the screen to fit, and this is why it can't happen. Ever:



I'm trying to relax now, when i hear the scaling question for the 100th time, but it's not always easy ;)
No, the screen can't be scaled like NeoDS does it. If I could do that, then I can tell you that I would, instead of having stupid workarounds like panning and the follow d-pad option.
The NeoGeo composes it's screen almost entirely out of sprites, that NeoDS renders in 3D. With 3D it's relatively easy to scale the whole thing.
The Genesis has 2 background layers and 1 sprite layer, each of which can have high or low priorities (selectable on a per tile basis). So effectively the screen can be composed out of 6 layers. To do this with the DS hardware i need all the 4 backgrounds it offers. Just 2 of those backgrounds can be scaled in hardware, and software scaling is out of the question.
The other alternative is software rendering, where you compose a bitmap out of all Genesis layers, which you can then draw on a single DS background and scale it in hardware.
The downside of this is, that it is incredibly slow. I can tell you, that a typical PC Genesis emulator probably spends about 50% of all its time in software rendering. That's a more than the emulation of the 2 CPUs takes (except the CPU cores are very unoptimized).

[ds benjmin]

I decided to release a little update, although most of the things I wanted to do for the next version are not done yet. jEnesisDS 0.7.4 has no new features, but I think it's still worth the update, as the speed is improved by up to 30% and the sound is substantially better, too, in my opinion ;)

Changelog:
********
v0.7.4 *
********
- Changed scheduling of M68000 and Z80.
- Some changes in M68000 internal memory handlers.
- YM2612 FM core mostly rewritten in ASM.
- Some bugs in FM core fixed (Operator 1 was sometimes not considered in certain cases).
- Fixed reset bug for FM core resulting in unstable sound for every game loaded except the 1st one.
- Raised sample rate for FM emulation from 16KHz to 28KHz (28, because a few games can't do 32KHz)
- Sound is completely mixed in hardware now, meaning every FM channel, PSG and DAC have their own DS sound channels.


Download Here (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/jEnesisDS_0[1].7.4.zip) and Give feedback & Compatability Reports Via Comments

:thumbup: I love it!!!!! 2 thumbs up
I hope when you make a new release that you can make support for stuff like:
gamegenie&pro action replay,and make sound quality selections in the configuration. EDIT:I also hope the next release includes the savestate sound bug being fixed.

[xneoken]

The screen scrolling idea is ingenius! Perfect for side scrolling games like Sonic. Is a rewind function possible?

[zondajag]

The screen scrolling idea is ingenius! Perfect for side scrolling games like Sonic. Is a rewind function possible?

rewind function? thats madness!

[puslar_t]

Okay if anyone tried Maximum Carnage he or she would notice a full-scale screen running at normal speed and using the newest audio engine! Is the game running in a natively lower res to accommodate the cartoon sprites or does it run in hardware scaling mode? One could hope Lordus has been experimenting with new methods in this build since I don't think full-scale is included any longer!

[ds benjmin]

I decided to release a little update, although most of the things I wanted to do for the next version are not done yet. jEnesisDS 0.7.4 has no new features, but I think it's still worth the update, as the speed is improved by up to 30% and the sound is substantially better, too, in my opinion ;)

Changelog:
********
v0.7.4 *
********
- Changed scheduling of M68000 and Z80.
- Some changes in M68000 internal memory handlers.
- YM2612 FM core mostly rewritten in ASM.
- Some bugs in FM core fixed (Operator 1 was sometimes not considered in certain cases).
- Fixed reset bug for FM core resulting in unstable sound for every game loaded except the 1st one.
- Raised sample rate for FM emulation from 16KHz to 28KHz (28, because a few games can't do 32KHz)
- Sound is completely mixed in hardware now, meaning every FM channel, PSG and DAC have their own DS sound channels.


Download Here (http://www.dcemu.co.uk/jEnesisDS_0[1].7.4.zip) and Give feedback & Compatability Reports Via Comments



:) can you,in your next release,implement
sega cd support and fix the genesis romsize limit for sonic3&knuckles will work.

P.S. sonic3&knuckles does'nt work because
the filesize. :( sorry bout the text size

EDIT:I hope also that there is a way to fix checksum bugs for some roms like the newer version of sonic megamix,a famous/legendary romhack,won't even run with its original checksum or autofix,just shows red screen. It works fine with
gens+ on my computer.

Oh,and what is casino cash
<-
supposed to be for?

[ethd]

can you,in your next release,implement
sega cd support and fix the genesis romsize limit for sonic3&knuckles will work.

P.S. sonic3&knuckles does'nt work because
the filesize.:(
You might consider making your fonts smaller. I think Lordus can read :p
From what I understand, the SEGA CD adds a more powerful 68000 processor to the Genesis's 68000, which is already being emulated. With how much CPU time jEnesisDS is taking already, Lordus would have to super-optimize the code, and even then, on the DS's limited hardware, you'd be lucky to get a playable framerate.
He's already said he's working on a paging system to load big ROMs. For now, why don't you try Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles alone? You've got practically the same game... just minus a few features.
Here's the tl;dr: SEGA CD, probably not next release or even EVER. Big ROM support: probably jEnesisDS 0.8.

Oh, and thanks for the emulator, Lordus. It rocks on my EDGE, and while I have to take a few workarounds to get it to work on my Games n' Music, that's not too much of a problem. It looks great, it sounds great, and it's fast. I can play Dune on the go now :)

[ds benjmin]

I just wanted to textingly be heard,and I did try them alone but wish to have them together for debug mode.

[Spidery_Yoda]

Sonic 3 and Knuckles doesn't work because the DS simply doesn't have enough RAM to load the larger filesize.

Its a shame because I think the 2 together are the best game on the system.

But yeah Lordus is indirectly working on it apparently.

[Flygon]

Okay if anyone tried Maximum Carnage he or she would notice a full-scale screen running at normal speed and using the newest audio engine! Is the game running in a natively lower res to accommodate the cartoon sprites or does it run in hardware scaling mode? One could hope Lordus has been experimenting with new methods in this build since I don't think full-scale is included any longer!

The Mega Drive has a low resolution function that runs at 256*224, the DS runs at 256*192. Going by your confusing question you are asking why you can see the whole screen.

The answer is simply because that game probably runs with the "low-res" mode in order to run faster. 3D flight sims often abused this along with huge borders to get every last bit of lag gone... not that it really helped. :p

[ds benjmin]

:D I have a really good idea,isn't there a way for
games like sonic3&knuckles,with too big
of filesize to run,save a cache memory data
so it will not lag.

And how would sega cd lag so much
when ds games like zelda phantom
hourglass with a vsync disable code
goes faster than normal but like twice
fast? :confused:

[Flygon]

Sega CD emulation would lag severely because the Sega Cd being emulated along with the Mega Drive can actually be considered half the DS's power, in CPU power anyway. Obviously it would be near impossible to get full speed.

And about running sonic 3 and knuckles, it is already cached in the RAM, its just that the game takes up all the RAM, limiting emulator use.

The reason Phanton Hourglass would run so fast is because it is being told to not delay any of the speed as a simple way of saying this. Very similar results are findable using jEnesisDS by turning off VSync.

[ds benjmin]

:) I know,but is there a way to expand the RAM size so you can play games with bigger romsize?
also,because sonic cd is similar to the regular genesis series except for special stages,should it run a decent speed if
support was made for it

P.S. Jenesis DS runs at a very excellent speed at the current time,I think Sonic CD should run at least 45FPS.

P.S.S. A well-known sonic hack made by tweaker and team megamix of sonic retro called sonic megamix runs at full speed for the most:it has loads of features,huge levels,and currently 5 selectable characters,and even a special sound test!

[DanTheManMS]

ds benjmin, unless you have some coding experience yourself, I'd suggest staying away from the "such-and-such emulation should be easy!" comments. They don't help anything.

Sega CD emulation cannot be compared to a native DS game running. At all. The two things are entirely different. For instance, just because the DS can run Super Mario 64 DS doesn't mean it can emulate the N64 at any playable framerate.

[ds benjmin]

I just had expectation because sega cd isn't much
different than genesis. Also I still think it's possible
to make a secondary RAM by making a filetype for it. :) Even though it would take up some space in your sd card but I think it's worth it.

[spajdr]

well, there is always some hope, unless author says otherwise :)

[ds benjmin]

How about this,someone can make a special version of Jenesis DS with sega cd support only! :)

[ethd]

I just had expectation because sega cd isn't much
different than genesis.
You're missing the point ever so slightly. From what I understand, the Sega CD uses the Genesis's processors, too. And while jEnesisDS looks like it's making emulation of the Genesis easy, in reality, Lordus has had to optimize the code several times and make several hacky workarounds in order to ensure its speed. Adding another 68000 to the two processors already being emulated (the Z80 and the 68000) would be near impossible. (I say "near" because Lordus has impressed us all before.) Just look at the old jEnesisDS threads on DCEmu and you'll see that it's been hard getting up to this point.


How about this,someone can make a special version of Jenesis DS with sega cd support only! :)
I doubt that would help anything, because the Genesis still has to be emulated anyways. And "someone" would be Lordus, as jEnesisDS is closed source until/unless Lordus says otherwise.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm just trying to inform you that your expectations may be a bit too high for the DS to handle.

[ds benjmin]

sorry :( ,by "someone" I meant Lordus.
But if each newer/excellent release it gets faster
which makes me think eventually,it will be able to run any sort of sega cd rom
or maybe even 32x roms.

And also,I hope in the eventual next release that
the savestate bug is fixed cuz when you load a save-state,it is missing some sound that I think is caused by it overlooking some of the sound channels,
and that there could be screensize options with,widescreen,fullscreen,screen scaling,and screen-size select.

[crookedmouth]

sorry :( ,by "someone" I meant Lordus.
But if each newer/excellent release it gets faster
which makes me think eventually,it will be able to run any sort of sega cd rom
or maybe even 32x roms.


Quote from when I asked about his mysterious plans. :)

Never, that's too crazy ;) There is no chance to get anywhere with that. The 32X is not so much weaker than the DS in processing power.
jEnesis has 32X support, but the DS version will never get it.

[Flygon]

If you ask me, Sega CD emulation will only happen if sound is NOT emulated, I'm not the author but I'm pretty sure it would be the case =P

ISO size shouldn't be an issue either, you only need to emulate the Sega CD drive and you can load the CD properly, the reason this works is because for the Sega CD game to run it needs to put stuff onto the 256kb RAM.

For example, because I suck at explaining.

Sonic CD's separate acts, zones and I presume timezones are actually separate programs that has to fit into the 256kb of the Sega CD's RAM.

Please correct me if I am wrong, mainly on the RAM size XD

Edit: The soundless save state bug is caused by the emulator not saving the sound RAM or something like that, I presume it should be easy to add sound support while maintaining backwards compatibility, probably through checking the save state size (A save states size will never vary, it takes a complete dump of ALL the RAM it is told to do).

[ds benjmin]

I understand,but I still hope/wish there is a way to make several RAM files,and what makes me curious is with supercard's ds emu built in,it runs almost at perfect speed "with" realtime savestates,and cheats.

I think it has several SRAM associations at once which maybe is how it runs at full speed like with
super mario 64 DS after entering the courtyard
take your game/game itself not rom_ out and it will
not freeze until you read a sign or enter another area!!! :cool:


I'LL just end with this.

Thank you for being so kind with your replies. :D

[TrekkiesUnite118]

No matter how hard I try I can't get this to work on my Max Media Dock. 0.7 worked through DSOrganize, but I can't get this version to work. It loads up fine by itself, in DSOrganize, and in that other loader that was posted earlier for the people having trouble with Game and Music, but when I try to load a game it freezes. Any suggestions?

[crookedmouth]

No matter how hard I try I can't get this to work on my Max Media Dock. 0.7 worked through DSOrganize, but I can't get this version to work. It loads up fine by itself, in DSOrganize, and in that other loader that was posted earlier for the people having trouble with Game and Music, but when I try to load a game it freezes. Any suggestions?


I'm afraid after many tries, the only method I could find to work for you is Renaming JenesisDS.nds to bootme.nds. I tried reseting the clock, spinal's menu, and his newer version DSision and in the end only the renaming trick works as of now that I can find.Save states seem to work fine after powering down and on again, so some good news .

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Well, I guess that's better than not having it work at all. Would be nice to know why this happens though, could it be a memory problem?

[jesus 666]

And also,I hope in the eventual next release that
the savestate bug is fixed cuz when you load a save-state,it is missing some sound that I think is caused by it overlooking some of the sound channels,
and that there could be screensize options with,widescreen,fullscreen,screen scaling,and screen-size select.
Let me guess, you're a "glass is half full" kinda' guy aren't you?

[DanTheManMS]

I understand,but I still hope/wish there is a way to make several RAM files,and what makes me curious is with supercard's ds emu built in,it runs almost at perfect speed "with" realtime savestates,and cheats.

I think it has several SRAM associations at once which maybe is how it runs at full speed like with
super mario 64 DS after entering the courtyard
take your game/game itself not rom_ out and it will
not freeze until you read a sign or enter another area!!! :cool:


I'LL just end with this.

Thank you for being so kind with your replies. :D

The SCDS has no built-in emulators of any sort. I don't know what you're talking about. There are no flash carts with a "DS emulator" built in (aka there is no DS emulator for the DS), as they're running the DS files directly on the DS itself. Technically I suppose that's hardware emulation, but the devices aren't running any special code other than the launch code.

I don't get the SM64DS "SRAM associations" thing either. DS games don't use SRAM, they use EEPROM I believe, and that's for saving. What happened is the game loaded an entire area into the DS's 4 MB of RAM, only to be changed when entering a new area or doing an action that requires the game to access more resources from the cart. This isn't entirely uncommon; Animal Crossing for the Gamecube was originally meant to be an N64 game and is small enough to fit entirely into the Gamecube's RAM, so you can take the disc out and still play the full game. Demos sent over either the DS's wireless "download play" option or the GBA's single-pack link cable hookup are loaded entirely into the system's RAM and run, needing no further cartridge access. Either way, it has very little to do with jEnesisDS (other than the fact that you can eject your homebrew device after choosing your game and it'll still work fine until it tries to save, same thing with SNEmulDS and NES DS).

You cannot have a "RAM file" on your card, called a page file, as the DS does not have a MMU - Memory Management Unit. Without this, a swap file on a memory card would be ineffective.

No offense, but sounds to me like you know a couple of DS-related buzzwords and you're flinging them about to make your case when you don't really know what they mean. I'll admit I tend to do the same as well, though I usually specify that I'm not all that knowledgeable about what I'm talking about.

[ds benjmin]

what I meant by built in emulator is that supercard supports ds roms ran straight off the card,and I think the DS uses your current map loaded on sm64DS in its memory but also it keeps the data of that map only but loads the signs from the card.

And about the gamecube,only certain games let you perform this same trick like zelda collection with majoras mask loaded and with you on the map when not in a scene,you can open the lid but it keeps playing by of course,a memory data it keeps,and even when using games that don,t support that,and show the insert disc screen,it keeps it in a frozen state until inserting the disc and closing the lid.

[DanTheManMS]

Again though, how does that have any relevance to jEnesisDS?

[ethd]

You cannot have a "RAM file" on your card, called a page file, as the DS does not have a MMU - Memory Management Unit. Without this, a swap file on a memory card would be ineffective.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that SNEmulDS had some way of loading big ROMs without a memory expander (though one could be used if available). From what I understood, SNEmulDS used some sort of paging system.
Don't be mad at me, I'm not completely sure what I'm talking about and I probably misunderstood everything :p

[DanTheManMS]

No you're right, SNEmulDS does use a paging system to load up chunks of ROM into RAM as needed so that larger games can run. jEnesisDS does not do this, and it's possible that it could be implemented somehow.

However, what ds benjmin is asking about is a "page file" which is different. A page file sits on your hard drive and acts directly as RAM, and the computer stores information there as needed. On your computer, open up Task Manager and go to the Performance tab to see how much of your page file you're currently using. This is done so that, among other things, the computer doesn't crash when it runs out of the amount of RAM actually installed, basically letting you use more RAM than you actually have available. If the DS could use a page file, it would let applications use more than 4 MB of RAM without having to rely on a slot-2 RAM pack, as the DS would write information to the page file if needed. The application would see it all as RAM, though the DS would know the difference.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Well after trying it out for a day or so I must say this is a very good emulator. Out of the games I tried these were the only 2 issues I noticed:

Thunder Force 4 tends to randomly speed up and slow down, for example the intro seems to play a bit faster than normal, then when the title screen appears it starts to slow down.

Sonic 1 in the special stages Sonics animations don't work very well.

[ds benjmin]

Again though, how does that have any relevance to jEnesisDS?


It has relevance from speed and memory support of the emulator compared to other actual systems/emulators.

[bender709]

EDIT: I got it to work finally, and thanks man, this is one hell of an awesome emulator!

[ethd]

It has relevance from speed and memory support of the emulator compared to other actual systems/emulators.
Elaborate, please. I don't mean to sound rude, but you're really not making much sense. Do you assume that just because a system has little RAM there's not enough for a 3D map and its textures?
Either way, that really has no relevance here. Even bringing up fully native code in a thread dealing with emulation has me scratching my head.


Well after trying it out for a day or so I must say this is a very good emulator. Out of the games I tried these were the only 2 issues I noticed:

Thunder Force 4 tends to randomly speed up and slow down, for example the intro seems to play a bit faster than normal, then when the title screen appears it starts to slow down.

Sonic 1 in the special stages Sonics animations don't work very well.
I haven't tried Thunder Force 4 in jEnesisDS, but I assume it's a frame rate issue. If the number in the lower left hand corner of the touchscreen is anywhere below 60, it's putting some stress on the DS's processors and jEnesisDS just can't keep up.
I've tried Sonic 1, though. I'm assuming the hardware renderer can't update that sprite properly in the context of a special stage. You might've noticed that at the end title card, the "SCORE" doesn't go up as the ring bonus and time bonus are being counted, too. Might be a similar issue. If it's a problem for you, I suggest you try holding X (with 6-Button Pad OFF). It gets old after a while, but it updates better.

[Flygon]

You will find that in many emulators for DS that running a game that lags lots on an original hardware (Like Thunder Force 4, I presume) will lag a LOT more on the emulator, the emulator is essentially underclocked compared to the original console.

An excellent example is running Recca - Summer Carnival '92 on NesDS. Despite the DS being so much more powerful it is almost always less than 95% speed in emulating that particular game.

[Lordus]

You will find that in many emulators for DS that running a game that lags lots on an original hardware (Like Thunder Force 4, I presume) will lag a LOT more on the emulator, the emulator is essentially underclocked compared to the original console.

I cannot speak for other emus, but in jEnesisDS surely nothing is underclocked. Slowdowns can have multiple reasons. Of course you have to distinguish between ingame slowdowns (for games that lag on the original hardware, too) and slowdowns in emulation (fps dropping below 60fps).

The former should ideally be the same in an emulator as they are on the real thing, but it mostly depends on how accurate timing is emulated. You'll see sometimes, that turning H-Int emulation "ON" makes those lags smaller.

Thunder Force 4 has some emulation slowdowns in the title select screen, because it thrashes my tile caching sometimes, and ingame lags, that are present on real hardware, too. I cannot really see it "randomly" speeding up and down. I ran it beside Kega Fusion for some minutes, and couldn't notice any big differences.

[Venazard]

Hey could someone let me know when the update that'll allow me to play ROMS that are bigger than 3MB is ready. Thank You. Also this is an AWSOME!!!! emulator. Thanks.

[Flygon]

I cannot speak for other emus, but in jEnesisDS surely nothing is underclocked. Slowdowns can have multiple reasons. Of course you have to distinguish between ingame slowdowns (for games that lag on the original hardware, too) and slowdowns in emulation (fps dropping below 60fps).

I only really used underclocking as an example, I fully understand jEnesisDS is not underclocked but I was saying that it could be one way of putting the slowdowns, the emulator not having enough time to do its stuff and so on.

I don't claim to be an expert on the Mega Drive, I just know how it works =P

But anyway, great emulator and it has great speed too, it amazes me that NesDS would actually lag more with the crap I tested than jEnesisDS.

By the way, there is a severe error with F-117 Night Storm, the graphics are completely corrupt when you get to the play field (They don't update properly, they change the mappings correctly each frame but the art remains the same).

[TrekkiesUnite118]

I cannot speak for other emus, but in jEnesisDS surely nothing is underclocked. Slowdowns can have multiple reasons. Of course you have to distinguish between ingame slowdowns (for games that lag on the original hardware, too) and slowdowns in emulation (fps dropping below 60fps).

The former should ideally be the same in an emulator as they are on the real thing, but it mostly depends on how accurate timing is emulated. You'll see sometimes, that turning H-Int emulation "ON" makes those lags smaller.

Thunder Force 4 has some emulation slowdowns in the title select screen, because it thrashes my tile caching sometimes, and ingame lags, that are present on real hardware, too. I cannot really see it "randomly" speeding up and down. I ran it beside Kega Fusion for some minutes, and couldn't notice any big differences.

Sorry, randomly was the wrong word. That's what it appeared to to me, it seemed to go faster in the intro then when the title screen appeared it slowed down.

[johwil]

Please,

The zip-file looks to be corrupt.
What shoud I do?

/johwil

[Sir_Voe]

Please,

The zip-file looks to be corrupt.
What shoud I do?

/johwil

You can also get it from the 1st post here: http://boards.pocketheaven.com/viewtopic.php?t=6563&start=0

[shinmarklvl3]

The emulator runs extremely well, congratulations, my main issues where the vertical scaling which was explained earlier and the fact that you cant play sonic 3 and knuckles on it :(

another thing that doesnt run too well is the puyo puyo series.

Dr Robotniks mean bean machine (U)/Puyo Puyo 2 (J):

-Messed up title screen + menu
-White shadows on the beans/Puyo

Other than that its an excellent emulator and i cant wait for the updates.

Im glad i now have a console that can run the sonic hacks properly :)

[ethd]

another thing that doesnt run too well is the puyo puyo series.

Dr Robotniks mean bean machine (U)/Puyo Puyo 2 (J):

-Messed up title screen + menu
-White shadows on the beans/Puyo
Well, be grateful they're not unplayable. The messed up menu makes it hard to select an option, but on jEnesisDS I go straight to single player mode anyways.
Shadows are always a problem in jEnesisDS, the Sonic 2/Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles special stage shadows have issues too. But this doesn't render them unplayable. They just look a little weird and take some getting used to. You can't honestly expect a Sega Genesis emulator to run perfectly on hardware specs as limited as the DS's, can you? ;)

[Spidery_Yoda]

Well, be grateful they're not unplayable. The messed up menu makes it hard to select an option, but on jEnesisDS I go straight to single player mode anyways.
Shadows are always a problem in jEnesisDS, the Sonic 2/Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles special stage shadows have issues too. But this doesn't render them unplayable. They just look a little weird and take some getting used to. You can't honestly expect a Sega Genesis emulator to run perfectly on hardware specs as limited as the DS's, can you? ;)

Well he did say 'the emulator runs extremely well, congratulations'.

[F2bnp]

Anyone got Sonic 3D running?I can't... :(

[Flygon]

Anyone got Sonic 3D running?I can't... :(
Sonic 3D Blast is above the 4 megabyte ROM size limit.

Long story short, it won't fit in the DS's RAM along side the emulator.

[F2bnp]

Oh that's why.Damn...
Hope the next handheld console from nintendo is powerfull enough to emulate most stuff :P

[crookedmouth]

I don't think Lordus is done with this one. Have a little patience and live in the now.

[nuttyhotspurs]

hi i downloaded jEnesisDS 0.7.4 today but have a problem with it.

im running it on a DSTT , i don't know if thats a problem or not?

anyway when i load the games they keep pausing on and off all the time as though im touching the touch screen but im not.

has anyone else had that problem?

ive got a nes and snes emulator on my card and they run fine, i cant understand why this doesn't

any help would be great thanks

[crookedmouth]

Even though the DSTT probably has auto dldi patching, try pre-patching it. Other then that you could try running it through a browser program like in DSOrganize or DSMenu. Other things to try is put the jenesisds file and game roms in the root of your card.

[nuttyhotspurs]

thanks for the quick reply and taking time out to help me. however strangely enough ive just given it another go and it seems to be working. bit slow on micro machines but sonic and summer games works fine.

you seem to know what your talking about so out of interest what is the best card to buy for the ds? there must be a more reliable one than the dstt , there are a few ds roms ive tried on it that have failed, and i get 'save file is corrupt' message on occasion

also where is the best place to download working roms for ds,nes,snes, megadrive etc

thanks in advance

[crookedmouth]

thanks for the quick reply and taking time out to help me. however strangely enough ive just given it another go and it seems to be working. bit slow on micro machines but sonic and summer games works fine.

you seem to know what your talking about so out of interest what is the best card to buy for the ds? there must be a more reliable one than the dstt , there are a few ds roms ive tried on it that have failed, and i get 'save file is corrupt' message on occasion

What games had the save corrupt error? There is a thing known as arm7.bin replacement. I wonder if it would get these games working for you.

What's the best device? It's very debatable, I guess the CycloDS is considered top, but the Supercard dsone apparently autopatches all homebrew with a soft reset(that's cool)

However, I think you've made a good choice with the Top Toy, isn't it getting updated firmware? What have you got installed? If it's old, updating may fix your game problems.

DSTT homepage, downloads
http://www.ndstt.com/en/download.html (http://www.ndstt.com/en/download.html)

I guess it is not overly tested with homebrew apps, so that could be a concern, but quite honestly dldi compatibility is decent even with cards like the Games N Music which everyone knocks but is actual very good. So don't listen to others.Test your card with your favorite homebrew. It works with jenesisDS, and thats great. Perhaps check NeoDS(neo geo) next or SNEmulDS(snes emu). If they work, I wouldn't worry too much then.




also where is the best place to download working roms for ds,nes,snes, megadrive etc

thanks in advance

I'm afraid it's illegal to talk about where to find commercial games, even ancient ones.

[Lordus]

bit slow on micro machines but sonic and summer games works fine.

You could try setting "H-Int emulation" to "on" in the options (press joypad icon while in-game to open the options menu). This should cure the in-game slowdowns in Micro Machines (and other games that show 60fps, but seem to run too slow).

[ds benjmin]

:cool:
I have an idea for a feature I think should be added.
I think you should add all those NES DS has like:
realtime rewind/fast-forwarding,a menu system like NES DS' with touch screen rescaling including widescreen selections,^and also another thing like gamegenie/PAR code support. +=add sample rate selection in the menu

Just a suggestion I wanted to add. :D

EDIT:Sorry for the 1 month bump.

[K1ckass]

Great suggestion ds benjmin, was thinking of the rewind/fast-forward function as well, would be sweet.

[ds benjmin]

:D
Thanks,I am glad there is someone that supports me. :)

[DanTheManMS]

:cool:
I have an idea for a feature I think should be added.
I think you should add all those NES DS has like:
realtime rewind/fast-forwarding,a menu system like NES DS' with touch screen rescaling including widescreen selections,^and also another thing like gamegenie/PAR code support. +=add sample rate selection in the menu

Just a suggestion I wanted to add. :D

EDIT:Sorry for the 1 month bump.

Fast-forward would probably be possible, just a button that toggles the frame limiter when pressed. Rewind would not be nearly as easy, as that would require lots of free RAM, which jEnesisDS is very short on. NES DS can do it because it uses very little RAM (as it's almost a direct port of PocketNES which was made for the GBA and its 256 KB of RAM). jEnesisDS uses up all of the RAM managing the graphics and layering.

If by "widescreen" you intend for it to squish the screen horizontally in any way, then for the 20th time, this is not possible with the way jEnesisDS runs.

[Jeric]

Jumping on the kudos bandwagon, since this seriously is one of the few thigns my DS has been running other than moonshell for the past month


Outside of the 3MB rom 'issue' what other uses would a ram pack have?

Edit:
Using a Datel GnM.

Phantasy Star 2 boots, but throws out garbage graphics, and or blank screens.

[HotHeart]

Are jEnesis and jEnesisDS have something in common?

[crookedmouth]

Are jEnesis and jEnesisDS have something in common?



One is an Genesis/Mega Drive emulator written in Java and the other is for Nintendo DS. Same author I think.

http://www.workingdesign.de/projects/index.php

[Spidery_Yoda]

Lordus? Just wondering if you were still working on this :).

[Jeric]

Problem Solved:
Phantasy Star 2 works with these settings

Force Update On
Autofix Checksum Off
Wait VSync On
H-INT Emulation Off
Sprite Masking On

[azurecharade]

I've recently downloaded and patched JenesisDS but none of the games are loading. No errors, it just stays on loading. Any ideas?

[crookedmouth]

I've recently downloaded and patched JenesisDS but none of the games are loading. No errors, it just stays on loading. Any ideas?

What adapter are you using?

[azurecharade]

Sorry, shoudlv'e put that in my original post. I'm using an M3DSReal card and a microSD chip. I patched jenesisds with the M3 SD DLDI.

[crookedmouth]

Sorry, shoudlv'e put that in my original post. I'm using an M3DSReal card and a microSD chip. I patched jenesisds with the M3 SD DLDI.

Someone else was having problems with a M3 Real

I f your going to prepatch the .nds file make sure you are using the correct dldi patch.

Read This to find the correct way and method
http://dldi.drunkencoders.com/index.php?title=M3_DS_Real

Try running JenesisDS from spinal's DSision, it's a menu and loader program. Works with other cards.
http://spinal.dizidesigns.co.uk/dsision.php

Please report back if any of these ideas work.

[azurecharade]

When i patched the jenesisds nds file it suddenly wouldn't access any folders anymore, and ndscision freezes on a black screen. PicodriveDS works perfectly for me, but i'd like sound etc.

[scratch_porkings]

I play this soo much more than anything else, great program.

Phantasy star 2 runs just fine for me, M3real.

[crookedmouth]

When i patched the jenesisds nds file it suddenly wouldn't access any folders anymore, and ndscision freezes on a black screen. PicodriveDS works perfectly for me, but i'd like sound etc.


Does the last version of jenesisDS work?

Try the older version of DSision also.

Spinal's Menu 1.2
http://www.mediafire.com/?z1twb1fyoav

[azurecharade]

The program itself seems to work, as it comes up and even has a list of my games, however when i try to load anything in just freezes at the loading. i let it sit for a while. I even tried older versions of jenesisds and they all give me the same problem.

[fabiode34]

awesome work lordus!
i tried to play sonic 2 in version 0.7 but sprites are "mixed".
in this version all is ok!

:EDIT
oh... i still can't play Sonic 3D :P

[Devil-Itachi]

I don't know what Lordus added to 0.7 but I can't get that or the newer 0.74 to work, all older versions work. Also couldn't get his SMS/GG emulator to work.

Edit: The Genesis emulator appears to be working until I try to load a game, which it freezes up. SMS/GG emulator just boots up.

[crookedmouth]

I don't know what Lordus added to 0.7 but I can't get that or the newer 0.74 to work, all older versions work. Also couldn't get his SMS/GG emulator to work.

Edit: The Genesis emulator appears to be working until I try to load a game, which it freezes up. SMS/GG emulator just boots up.

What device are you using?

Try running it through Spinal's 1.2 Menu
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=2147506615&d=1216089872

[db73]

Jenesis DS was working fine with my old EDGE card on the DS Lite. Just tried it on my new DSi on an AceKard 2i. Jenesis DS seems to load okay but the game are not working. Anyone else running Jenesis DS on an Acekard 2i?

[redsyrup]

Jenesis DS was working fine with my old EDGE card on the DS Lite. Just tried it on my new DSi on an AceKard 2i. Jenesis DS seems to load okay but the game are not working. Anyone else running Jenesis DS on an Acekard 2i?

Same

[db73]

Anyone got JenesisDS working on the AceKard 2i yet?

[db73]

I haven't seen any other info on this on the net. Is there anyone that has got this working on the DSi at all?

[Weed-4-me]

same with me... AcekardI won't let my dsi play genesis roms :(

Nes ds wont work either!

[db73]

Hope there will b a fix for this. Kind of miss JenesisDS. It was so cool having a desent emulation of the Genesis on the DS.

[Ninja_Lulz]

Hey guys,

I received my Acekard 2i today and I tested some emulators such as NeoDS which works as normal and also jenesisds 0.7.4. which works well also.

I'm using AKAIO 1.4.1 on my Acekard 2i, I created a folder called "games" and put jenesisds inside that folder.

I placed Streets of Rage 2 on the root of my card and when I loaded jenesisds the game showed up on the list and it loaded and played as normal.

Hope this helps.

[mistresstwist]

I can't get a lot of roms to work with jEnesisDS, some do but some don't. In the readme that comes with the emulator it says
"You have to play a bit with the settings to make some games boot or work better.
Some games work faster with "H-INT emulation", others need it to work at all."

I don't know how to change the settings :confused: can someone please tell me how this is done?

[db73]

Hope this gets sorted. Miss my fix of Out Run, Shinobi, Zombies ate my neighbours etc...

[Ninja_Lulz]

I can't get a lot of roms to work with jEnesisDS, some do but some don't. In the readme that comes with the emulator it says
"You have to play a bit with the settings to make some games boot or work better.
Some games work faster with "H-INT emulation", others need it to work at all."

I don't know how to change the settings :confused: can someone please tell me how this is done?
To change the settings, you must first load a game and then on the bottom screen in the top left hand corner you will see a megadrive/genesis joypad, simply press that with the stylus and the jenesisds options screen will appear.


Hope this gets sorted. Miss my fix of Out Run, Shinobi, Zombies ate my neighbours etc...
I have tested the games you mentioned on the Acekard 2i and they work well. At the moment I have 75 games showing up on my list, I haven't tested them all but the ones I did test worked fine.

[mistresstwist]

To change the settings, you must first load a game and then on the bottom screen in the top left hand corner you will see a megadrive/genesis joypad, simply press that with the stylus and the jenesisds options screen will appear.


Thank you so much!! Got those other roms working now ;)

[db73]

Hey guys,

I received my Acekard 2i today and I tested some emulators such as NeoDS which works as normal and also jenesisds 0.7.4. which works well also.

I'm using AKAIO 1.4.1 on my Acekard 2i, I created a folder called "games" and put jenesisds inside that folder.

I placed Streets of Rage 2 on the root of my card and when I loaded jenesisds the game showed up on the list and it loaded and played as normal.

Hope this helps.
I guess I need the AKAIO firmware then. I tried setting things up the way you described & I got the same as before - JenesisDS loads okay but games will not.

What's the deal with the AKAIO firmware? Why this over the Acekard2i firmware?

[Ninja_Lulz]

I guess I need the AKAIO firmware then. I tried setting things up the way you described & I got the same as before - JenesisDS loads okay but games will not.
When I first got my Acekard 2i I used the official Acekard firmware and I could load jenesisds and see games appear on my list but when I tried to load one the screen just went black and nothing loaded.

I read about AKAIO before and decided to give that a shot and it solved my problem.


What's the deal with the AKAIO firmware? Why this over the Acekard2i firmware?
The main thing about AKAIO is that it is often updated, more than the Acekard 2i firmware so any problems encountered are usually fixed very quickly.

There is a lot of information that can be found on here...

http://wiki.gbatemp.net/wiki/index.php/AKAIO

[db73]

I think I'll give AKAIO a try.

One other thing, what's the Loaders thing for? I read on that Wiki page to make sure you have the latest loaders followed by a link to the page where you can obtain them.

[Ninja_Lulz]

One other thing, what's the Loaders thing for? I read on that Wiki page to make sure you have the latest loaders followed by a link to the page where you can obtain them.
The loaders are used to load all the stuff you put on to the acekard 2i, for example emulators, roms etc.

[db73]

It worked! The AKAIO firmware sorted things out & the MD roms fired up okay in JenesisDS. Excellent. Cheers for the heads up on AKAIO ;-)

[Lord Grievous]

Thanks Lordus for making this great emulator, I hope you'll still update this project to add more features and make it more stable.

I do have a little problem, jEnesisDS 0.7 works fine on my DS-X card but 0.7.4 doesn't seem to work at all, and resetting the clock to 00:00 doesn't work either. Hopefully you'll be able to fix this since the sound improvements in 0.7.4 are really great!

Also, I'm planning on buying a new Acekard 2.1 flash card, has anyone tested jEnesisDS 0.7.4 on this card yet?

PS (It's been almost a year since Lordus made the 0.7.4 release, I hope this hasn't died?)

[Lord Grievous]

Sorry for the double post but could someone please confirm that the latest jEnesisDS 0.7.4 works with the Acekard A2.1 card?

I really hope this project hasn't died, this is the best Genesis emulator for the DS out there.

[crookedmouth]

Thanks Lordus for making this great emulator, I hope you'll still update this project to add more features and make it more stable.

I do have a little problem, jEnesisDS 0.7 works fine on my DS-X card but 0.7.4 doesn't seem to work at all, and resetting the clock to 00:00 doesn't work either. Hopefully you'll be able to fix this since the sound improvements in 0.7.4 are really great!

Also, I'm planning on buying a new Acekard 2.1 flash card, has anyone tested jEnesisDS 0.7.4 on this card yet?

PS (It's been almost a year since Lordus made the 0.7.4 release, I hope this hasn't died?)

Try running it from Moonshell 2.0 Stable. This works for me but on a GnM, I too can't run 0.7.4 from the GnM GUI. Moonshell 2 fixes this somehow.

Hope it works and I have only got your hope up for nothing.

[Lord Grievous]

BTW, can someone tell me if the sound for v0.7.4 is really a lot better then for v0.7 of jEnesisDS? For example in Sonic 1,2&3 an Sonic & Knuckles, the sound doesn't seem to keep up at times especially when using a power-up like speed shoes. I read the 0.7.4 changelog and it seems offer some great improvements in theory, but can anyone who's used both 0.7 and 0.7.4 confirm that the sound is really a lotter better?

Also, what's this experimential d-pad panning mentioned somewhere? In 0.7 you could use the shoulder buttons to manually pan left and right (which was great), but I hope this new d-pad thingie doesn't mean that it does this on it's own without me wanting it? And is the shoulder button panning still in?

Thanks for the quick replies :)

[crookedmouth]

I can't remember about sound, just that I wanted 0.7.4 most definitely over 0.7. I think it was better speed and sound though.

The experimental D-pad "thingy" :) was you can set the screen to follow the D-pad. This can help but horizontal scrollers for instance, are still very hard to get the screen in the right position.

[Steveice10]

Please make it so you can use Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

[Granville]

Please make it so you can use Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

There is absolutely no purpose to let that particular game become playable. Just download Sonic 3 and S&K separately and play them. They work fine by themselves. >_>

[Flygon]

Some people happen to like to be able to save their progress on Sonic and Knuckles levels.

Or *gasp* use tails.

[ESE150]

Is development on this project still going on? I really would love a version that supported S3&K.



There is absolutely no purpose to let that particular game become playable. Just download Sonic 3 and S&K separately and play them. They work fine by themselves. >_>
Some people happen to like to be able to save their progress on Sonic and Knuckles levels.

Or *gasp* use tails.

Or Knuckles in the S3 stages. Or Hyper Sonic. Or Hyper Knuckles. Or Super Tails. Or the perfect endings. Or the secret areas and bosses for Knuckles in the S3 zones that are otherwise TOTALLY inaccessible. Or the ability to enable Debug Mode (not included in S&K, and hard as **** to enable in S3 with a emulator), along with the change-the-gravity-at-will cheat (not included in either S3 or S&K, or any other Sonic game for that matter).

Lord forbid some people like to enjoy a *full* game with *all* of its features unlocked.

[Flygon]

Is development on this project still going on? I really would love a version that supported S3&K.



Or Knuckles in the S3 stages. Or Hyper Sonic. Or Hyper Knuckles. Or Super Tails. Or the perfect endings. Or the secret areas and bosses for Knuckles in the S3 zones that are otherwise TOTALLY inaccessible. Or the ability to enable Debug Mode (not included in S&K, and hard as **** to enable in S3 with a emulator), along with the change-the-gravity-at-will cheat (not included in either S3 or S&K, or any other Sonic game for that matter).

Lord forbid some people like to enjoy a *full* game with *all* of its features unlocked.

Thank you for the support.:)

[jesus 666]

Is development on this project still going on? I really would love a version that supported S3&K.Or even is development on any DS emulator still going on?! :(

I really can't remember the last time there was a worthwhile upgrade released for any emulators. For all intents and purposes homebrew for the DS seems to have slowed down to a stage where it seems pretty much dead now.

[LDAsh]

A lot of these developers asked for donations from their users, versus everyone wanting everything for free.

[ChaoticanarchyX]

I really can't remember the last time there was a worthwhile upgrade released for any emulators. For all intents and purposes homebrew for the DS seems to have slowed down to a stage where it seems pretty much dead now.

You know funny thing is, I've been thinking that for the last few months. It seems to be at a stand still. :(

[DanTheManMS]

The author of no$gba with MIA over a year ago, which is why that hasn't been updated in ages. iDeaS continues to be updated, and I'm pretty sure there was an update within the past couple of weeks for something. Others are mostly dead.