DCEmu Featured News Articles

News via http://dsx86.patrickaalto.com/DSblog.html

For the past week I have been adding the protected mode opcodes for the games I have been using for my tests. The current status of the test games is as follows:

Zone 66 is still on hold, waiting for my implementation of the Virtual 8086 mode.
Jazz Jackrabbit is also on hold, waiting for some improvements to the protected mode segment handling and then for the addition of proper General Protection Fault handling. This is a bit bigger issue so I have not worked on Jazz Jackrabbit any further during the past week.
After putting those two games on hold, I wanted to add a new game to test so that I can hopefully add two different opcodes before testing the new version again. I took Warcraft II as the other game. However, pretty soon I had to put it on hold as well. It turns on the 386 CPU paging system, which is yet another feature that needs a lot of extra work to support. I had thought that only Windows would use the paging (virtual memory) system, but looks like some games do that as well.
Doom is currently progressing fine. It is already in 32-bit protected mode, using the flat memory model, so hopefully it just needs more of the 32-bit opcodes implemented to actually run. Currently it looks very promising, but of course I may encounter something difficult to implement at any moment.

The problem in Doom that I mentioned in the previous blog post, where it jumped to a row of INT 3 opcodes, turned out to be a simple issue. I had forgotten to remove an instruction pointer masking (to a 16-bit value) from one of the jump opcodes I copied from the 16-bit protected mode code, so when Doom attempted to jump to offset 0x00101234 (near the beginning of the extended memory) it jumped to 0x00001234, which happened to have some data containing 0xCC (INT 3) bytes. However, after fixing this issue and adding a few new opcodes, I fought for two days with a problem where Doom suddenly attempted to return from a subroutine to a segment that was not marked executable. Finally after a lot of debugging I found the problem in my LEA opcode handling. I had used the output register as a temporary register in the opcode handler, which was not a smart thing to do when the input and output registers could be the same register! For example, with opcode LEA EBP, [EBP+12], both the input and output register is EBP. I first loaded the immediate byte 0x12 into the output register (EBP), then added the input register (EBP) value to that and finally put the result to the output register (EBP)! After fixing this problem I have been able to add opcode after opcode without any new problems.

Pretty much all of yesterday went to other things besides working on DS2x86. I rearranged the furniture in my appartment, which also meant rerouting all the cabling for my home theater system. That took quite a long time, so I had practically no time left to do any programming. Finally today I have been adding the opcodes that Doom needs, but it keeps encountering new opcodes that I haven't yet implemented for 32-bit protected mode.

That's it for this short update, let's see if I can get Doom actually running by the next weekend! ...

The PSP Emulator for Windows thats written in java gets yet another update:

Heres whats new:

Fixed java.lang.VerifyError when setting methodMaxInstructions = 50.

http://buildbot.orphis.net/jpcsp/ ...

Rumors surrounding the iPad 2 have been swirling for some time now. The latest rumors indicate the next iPad model will sport a higher resolution screen. The current iPad has a resolution of 1024x768 and 132 ppi. There has been much talk lately that Apple will be including a Retina Display (300 ppi) with the next iPad, but that is highly unlikely. A 9.7-inch screen with a resolution that high would be impractical. It’s far more likely that Apple will simply double the horizontal and vertical resolution as they did with the iPhone 4. The iPhone 3GS has a resolution of 480x320, while the iPhone 4’s screen was increased to 960x640.

Recently, a developer found artwork within version 1.1 of Apple’s iBooks app that was larger than typical iPad images. Upon closer inspection the image seemed to be pixel-doubled.

http://modmyi.com/forums/ipad-news/7...36-screen.html ...

Rumors surrounding the iPad 2 have been swirling for some time now. The latest rumors indicate the next iPad model will sport a higher resolution screen. The current iPad has a resolution of 1024x768 and 132 ppi. There has been much talk lately that Apple will be including a Retina Display (300 ppi) with the next iPad, but that is highly unlikely. A 9.7-inch screen with a resolution that high would be impractical. It’s far more likely that Apple will simply double the horizontal and vertical resolution as they did with the iPhone 4. The iPhone 3GS has a resolution of 480x320, while the iPhone 4’s screen was increased to 960x640.

Recently, a developer found artwork within version 1.1 of Apple’s iBooks app that was larger than typical iPad images. Upon closer inspection the image seemed to be pixel-doubled.

http://modmyi.com/forums/ipad-news/7...36-screen.html ...

Despite losing in court last year, Apple is still trying to crack down on jailbreakers and unlockers. This time, they're asking the US Copyright Office for help, using specious arguments about software piracy and copyright infringement. Though these arguments are not new, and had been rejected by federal regulators in last July's decision, it's clearly Apple's hope that if they complain loudly enough and frequently enough, eventually they'll either find a venue where they'll get a favorable ruling, or scare people away from making modifications to their own devices without Apple's sanction.

The Librarian of Congress, who oversees the US Copyright Office, released new exemptions to the Digital Copyright Millennium Act last year which ruled that jailbreaking or unlocking an iPhone or any other device is not illegal. The ruling was clear and unambiguous, and even went so far as to state that there was "no basis for copyright law to assist Apple in protecting its restrictive business model." In a response almost childlike in its vindictiveness, Apple then released a statement vowing to void the warranty of jailbroken or unlocked devices, which is an action that is still permitted under the law, but seemingly aimed more at intimidating users than providing product support.

Today - in an NBC news report that rather typically confuses jailbreaking, unlocking, and pirating - we're learning that Apple has directly approached the Copyright Office asking them to crack down on the practice of jailbreaking, saying in part that "current jailbreak technologies now in widespread use utilize unauthorized modifications to the copyrighted bootloader and operating system, resulting in the infringement of the copyrights in those programs." This gambit comes despite the fact that the Copyright Office explicitly stated in July that "while a copyright owner might try to restrict the programs that can be run on a particular operating system, copyright law is not the vehicle for imposition of such restrictions."

Even if Apple fails once again to legally sanction users who want to modify the devices they have bought and paid for, the mere request itself may serve to dissuade developers for writing apps or tweaks for Cydia, fearing that they may be slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit. It's difficult to see this as anything other than bullying behavior on Apple's part.

http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-news...ers-again.html ...

Despite losing in court last year, Apple is still trying to crack down on jailbreakers and unlockers. This time, they're asking the US Copyright Office for help, using specious arguments about software piracy and copyright infringement. Though these arguments are not new, and had been rejected by federal regulators in last July's decision, it's clearly Apple's hope that if they complain loudly enough and frequently enough, eventually they'll either find a venue where they'll get a favorable ruling, or scare people away from making modifications to their own devices without Apple's sanction.

The Librarian of Congress, who oversees the US Copyright Office, released new exemptions to the Digital Copyright Millennium Act last year which ruled that jailbreaking or unlocking an iPhone or any other device is not illegal. The ruling was clear and unambiguous, and even went so far as to state that there was "no basis for copyright law to assist Apple in protecting its restrictive business model." In a response almost childlike in its vindictiveness, Apple then released a statement vowing to void the warranty of jailbroken or unlocked devices, which is an action that is still permitted under the law, but seemingly aimed more at intimidating users than providing product support.

Today - in an NBC news report that rather typically confuses jailbreaking, unlocking, and pirating - we're learning that Apple has directly approached the Copyright Office asking them to crack down on the practice of jailbreaking, saying in part that "current jailbreak technologies now in widespread use utilize unauthorized modifications to the copyrighted bootloader and operating system, resulting in the infringement of the copyrights in those programs." This gambit comes despite the fact that the Copyright Office explicitly stated in July that "while a copyright owner might try to restrict the programs that can be run on a particular operating system, copyright law is not the vehicle for imposition of such restrictions."

Even if Apple fails once again to legally sanction users who want to modify the devices they have bought and paid for, the mere request itself may serve to dissuade developers for writing apps or tweaks for Cydia, fearing that they may be slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit. It's difficult to see this as anything other than bullying behavior on Apple's part.

http://modmyi.com/forums/iphone-news...ers-again.html ...

News via http://www.aep-emu.de/PNphpBB2-file-...c-t-16223.html

PSXjin is a Sony Playstation emulator for Windows based on PCSX. Quote: "PSXjin is the rerecording version of PCSX with many customized features designed to aid in recording movie input files and a new SPU core."


Quote:
PSXjin v0.1.4
----------------------------------------
PSXjin is an evolution of PCSX-RR, it add new GUI features, fixes movie bugs, and contains a new SPU core

http://code.google.com/p/psxjin/

PCSX-RR v0.1.2
----------------------------------------

PCSX-RR is a special version of PCSX
with many new features such as
input rerecording, cheat support,
RAM search, RAM watch,
customizable hotkeys, etc.

http://code.google.com/p/pcsxrr/
----------------------------------------



What´s New?
-----------
v0.1.4
New SPU! Should be more accurate and reduce a LOT of movie desyncs

v0.1.2
-Eliminated the major cause of desyncs that could occur when rerecording.
-Added a few hotkeys for Ram Search.
-Fixed the dialog title for WIN32_LuaRunScript().

v0.1.1
-Lua scripting.
-Fixed a possible cause of desync in GPU_writeDataMem; only seen when frameskip was enabled (for ex. with Fast Forward). As a side effect of this, Fast Forward is now ~25% slower.
-Screenshots are now taken correctly and they get saved as PNG.
-Added "-lua" command line option.
-Added "Maximum Speed", "Run Lua Script", "Stop Lua Script" and "Reload Lua Script" hotkeys. They will need to be remapped if you´ve used previous versions of PCSX-RR.
-Various minor improvements in the "-RR" code.
-My computer gets 10% slower due to the "pcsx.exe.manifest" file, so it doesn´t come within the release archive anymore. You may want to remove it from your PCSX-RR folder too if you have a slow system.

v0.1.0
-PCSX ignores the CDR plugin disc-switching functionality, so that is only controlled by the core now.
-CDR plugin is automatically closed and then opened after switching discs to force a reload of the CD ID.
-Fixed heap corruption when movie files were outputted. (ume.drink)
-Certain PAD plugins didn´t work before; now all of them should work fine for input recording. (ume.drink)
-Random crashes during FMVs were fixed.

v0.0.9
-Added RAM Poke.
-Spaces can now be used in command line arguments.
-Added "-memwatch" and "-readonly" command line options.
-Plugin filenames changed to gpuTAS.dll, spuTAS.dll, etc.
-TAS CD-ROM Plugin now uses SaPu´s CDR plugin.
-RAM watch can now watch signed values.
-Fixed mistake made since v0.0.7, where the emulator version in the movie file was always "6".
-The movie replay dialog now shows the emulator version that was used in the making of the movie file.
-Cheats don´t return the previous value anymore after being deactivated.
-Fixed bug where temporary memory cards made for a movie were kept even after the movie was stopped.
-Added hotkey for RAM Poke and removed default hotkeys for "Configure X Plugin", since they cause a lot of crashes.
-Removed option to set custom plugins and bios folders. Now PCSX-RR will only use the default "./bios" and "./plugins" folders.

v0.0.8
-Probably fixed a crash in some systems regarding movie playback.
-PCSX-RR and TAS plugins use their own registry entries.
-Other minor stuff I can´t remember.

v0.0.7
-Fixed major bug where Read-Only mode wasn´t Read-Only at all. Thanks to Atma for reporting it.
-Movie file can record two new actions: "Resident Evil 2/3 fix Enable/Disable" and "Parasite Eve 2 fix Enable/Disable". Also, hotkeys for these actions were added.
-TAS Video Plugin is now compatible with .kkapture.
-"Record Avi..." menu option replaced by "Record AVI Help...", which takes you to a help wiki page on Google Code.
-Added "Linuzappz Iso Cdr Driver 1.4" into the archive.
-Fixed bug where the frame counter no longer went red to indicate a lag frame. Thanks to Atma for reporting it.
!!!IMPORTANT!!!: savesates made with v0.0.6 are no longer compatible with v0.0.7. You have to make these again while replaying the movie file.

v0.0.6
-New movie file format capable of recording more actions. Also, now it can have embedded memory cards, cheats, etc.
-New hotkeys: "Play Movie From Beginning", "VSync Advance", "Start/Stop AVI Capture", "Cheats Enable/Disable", etc.
-New options: "Pause After Playback" (core) and "Movie Sync Mode" (SPU).
-Command line parameters support.
-Minor misc optimizations and fixes.

v0.0.5
-Configurable hotkeys.
-Cheat editor.
-RAM search.
-RAM watch.
-GPU updates GUI even if no real frame is being drawn.
-Pause, Frame-Advance and Save State work on FMVs now.
-Input rerecording stuff written from scratch. It uses an internal buffer, so hard drives will be a lot happier now. Also, it may hopefully fix some desyncs.
-New movie file format.
-Fixed a nasty bug where input from Controller 1 wasn´t written to the file for one frame. Some movies made with v0.0.1-3 won´t work anymore, unless they´re hex-edited. Movies made with v0.0.00006 and older will still always sync, even if they didn´t on v0.0.1-3. ...

News via http://www.aep-emu.de/PNphpBB2-file-...c-t-16221.html

The NES emulator HalfNES has been updated.


Quote:
HalfNES Version Notes:
0.024 (1/16/2011)
-Added proper options dialog for changing screen size and keymappings
(but you need to restart the emulator to apply the new settings - will fix that
sooner or later but I need to write code to completely rebuild the window first.)
-Removed the old INI file - now settings are saved in your home folder
-Now remembers the position of the window and the last folder you loaded a ROM from
-Fixed a few more bugs in the graphics code so now the intros of Solstice and
Ninja Gaiden look the way they should.


http://code.google.com/p/halfnes/ ...

News via http://www.aep-emu.de/PNphpBB2-file-...c-t-16218.html

The beta version of the NES emulator Nintendulator has been updated again.


Quote:
January 16, 2011

Project files for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 have been added, and several code changes have been made to ensure that everything still compiles, including changing the build paths once again.

Unlike the existing project files for Visual Studio 2003, these produce only Unicode binaries, as executables produced by Visual Studio 2010 cannot be run on any operating system prior to Windows XP SP3.

http://www.qmtpro.com/~nes/nintendulator/ ...