ZXDS is an emulator of Sinclair ZX Spectrum for Nintendo DS, written by Patrik Rak. It is steadily reaching a mature stage of development, and it already has some noteworthy features, like accurate emulation of Spectrum 48k, 128k and Pentagon models (including sound), or support for TAP/TZX/PZX tape files, TRD/SCL disk files and RZX playback files.

ZXDS 0.8.1 beta 2 (3.12.2008)

* Tweaked RZX code to work with more nonconformant but commonly available recordings.
* Worked around sound clamping while keeping the sound loud by throwing dummy sample into the mix.
I knew there must have been a reason why I didn't use sound bias 0 alone long time ago.

ZXDS 0.8.1 beta 1 (27.11.2008)

+ RZX playback (no SZX snapshot support yet, though).
+ Files stored in ZIP archives can be browsed and loaded directly.
+ Support for poke cheats in POK file format, including autoload.
+ Added log screen for better problem diagnostics, especially those RZX related.
+ Turn off the bottom screen backlight after configurable timeout.
+ Automatically save state and enter sleep mode when the lid is closed.
* Alternatively boot from saves/boot.z80 instead of last session state.
* Skip loading of either state upon startup when L/R buttons are held.
* Replaced few busy loops with inactive waits to further improve battery life.
* Improved the last menu action to cycle through all recently used views.
* Extended the range of both AY and speaker samples to make the sound louder.
* Tweaked the Z80 snapshot loading code to support some less conformant files.

I worked on this for the last two days and have it at least in a playable fashion. If you don't know what Khet is, here is a description.

It's the game that combines lasers with classic strategy. Players alternate turns moving Egyptian-themed pieces having two, one or no mirrored surfaces. All four types of pieces (pharaoh, obelisk, pyramid and djed column) can either move one square forward, back, left, right, or diagonal, or can stay in the same square and rotate by a quarter twist. Each turn ends by firing one of the lasers built into the board. The laser beam bounces from mirror to mirror; if the beam strikes a non-mirrored surface on any piece, it is immediately removed from play. The ultimate goal is to illuminate your opponent's pharaoh, while shielding yours from harm!

(The red laser shoots out the top left, from the circle there, the grey one from the bottom right. red pieces can't go on the grey squares and grey pieces can't go on the red squares)

This game is being released to get feedback, etc. I will be updating it with more features. As of now, it is only 2 player on the same DS. I hope to add Wifi and computer AI soon. I will also be adding different configurations to play with. There are 3 main ones in Khet but I am also going to make it that players can make their own. I am also looking at redoing the graphics, possibly 3D.

As for now, enjoy the game! This is my FIRST DS game and also my first C/C++ program so please let me know what you think!

v1.02 - 03 Dec 08
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Added in the 3 basic layouts. These are the ones that are in the rules. The way it works is:

* Classic: Use this setup if this is your first time to play Khet. Good for learning the game
* Imhotep: A variation on CLASSIC that opens up new defensive possibilities.
* Dynasty: A setup with an immediate balance of offense and defense that develops quickly.



v1.01 - 03 Dec 08
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* Added the ability to deselect an item, to do this just click any where off the game board
* Added a highlight so you can see which piece you have selected
* Added a version number on the Rules screen so you can see what version you have.
* (Updated link)


v1.00 - 03 Dec 08
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*Game added

Hey my friends ..

We're all hungry for our release units, and we all know everyone is dieing for more info and news, and we all know the boys are too busy to fill our demands But there are a few of us devkit lads on board now, so likely some more info will get leaked.

This is unofficial; I'm not speaking for the devs, and may make errors. I'm not intending to step on the toes of any of the very fine devs for any of the devices (disclosure, I've got dev units of all of them!). Craigs statement about saying something that is true for only 3 days being bandied about for 3 months is ever so true It is also tough to post performance numbers without people thinking its a diss to the non-topmost machine. I don't want to say that, since there are other factors (price, portability, screen preferences, add-ons, support, controls, weight, and so on.)

You might recall my past thread http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php...opic=44373&hl= comparing gp2x to GP2x Wiz. See that for some commentary on what is accurate or inaccurate for those tests (ie: optimized code on gp2 versus unoptimized code on the Wiz, including SDL versus framebuffer, meaning the Wiz numbers are artificially lower and the gp2x ones are pretty high, so the Wiz should actually perform higher in relation to the gp2x than I showed.) Defining a 'fair' benchmark is hard since everyone has a different idea (all running at their best or worst? the type of test.. be it math, graphics, bus intensive .. it is easy to have a test that hits a weakness in one but a strenght in another, and is that a fair thing (typical use) or a cheat (atypical use)? Hard questions.)

Suffice to say my number is a _SINGLE_ (yet repeatable) test; a good benchmark is comprised of many benchmark tests so you can get a good picture from many perspectives.. not just a 'throwing this out there' number.

Still, it is a pretty telling number sometimes as well!

All that said..

Given OutcaST (an emu for which many of you have seen and used for some 6+ years from me in various forms), in a emulated CPU-torture test. (ie: Atari ST sitting at the GEM desktop with a stock TOS image will be in a tight CPU grind loop.) Doesn't really hit the ST's graphic system hard or the like, but the ST wasn't really a complex machine for graphics anyway. So it tests the emulation pretty well, in a situation that makes the mu perform worse than average. (ie: If it normally woudl run 60fps for a game, it'd run this GEM situation at 40-45fps at a guess.) Its also easy to auto-boot into, so no keyboard or audio or the like making the test more situational.. its pure out emulation with the machine not even trying to play audio.

GP2x stock F100, 200MHz IIRC. Highly optimized code.

GP2x Wiz dev unit (not final hardware but pretty close); The code is on GPH slow software only SDL. (no acceleration.) 533MHz.

Pandora Mk2 (version 1.1) devboard; 500MHz. Notaz quick SDL port using framebuffer. ie: Not optimized, but I think its prolly better than the GPH version on the Wiz. (GPH stuff tends to be slower for some reason, perhaps they don't compile with optimizatoins on in the compiler, or add debugging stuff, or the mouse support is in the way, or something.)

Sony PSP original FAT version. Not optimized for multi-cpu core, not really using the separate GPU for anything in this test. (ie: alpha blendsing UIs and such are in the code, but not during this test.) Essentially the PSP is chugging along at 333MHz if memory serves.. I don't recall if I'm clocking down or not in this case .. didn't loo back at the code to see.

Latest version of Outcast fro mthe gp2x, converted crappily to SDL on the non-F100 machines.

GP2x 49fps

GP2x Wiz 70fps

Pandora dev board mk2 180fps

Sony PSP 53fps

During actual game emulation the numbers are all higher by about 20-25%, but thats out of scope for this.

It is hard to explain the pandora being so far out in front of the others; my guess is the less congested bus, the processor being a multigenerational gap (the Pandora CPU is a far far newer design than in the GP2x), and the big cache on the CPU in the pandora.

Note my comments above; the 70 versus 49 (Wiz to gp2x) may not seem so impressive in relation to the pandora, but going back to the origiunal post I was pretty impressed. The Wiz _IS_ a snappy beasty (and this is a bit of a torture test, not a typical emu gameplay test!), so it is a very exciting device.

The Pandora is freaking goddamned fast.

jeff