Crunchy2 has released a new version of the Snes emulator forthe Wii/Gamecube. Heres the release details:
Here for all to try is version 2.0.1b1 of Snes9xGx. Note that I've, at the moment at least, only unofficially taken over this project, though I wouldn't mind being the lead. Alas, this current release does not incorporate any of the changes (other than eke-eke's) that have appeared in other peoples versions since softdev stopped developing it. I intend to take a look at that stuff and incorporate what seems good, but have not done so yet. Obviously I want to hear from everyone with regard to what you do and don't like about this version, what's missing, bugs, etc. Please note that there are no performance improvements in this version over the most recent release by eke-eke, but feel free to complain anyway. I don't mind.
Here is what is included in this new release. Note also that I've dropped the WIP naming scheme and am instead going with a 2.0.1b1 type naming scheme. This is a beta, so use at your own risk! Also note that the name may change at some point, but for now the old name is being used.
Having said all that, here is what I've added:
1. Automatically loads SRAM from the memory card in SLOT B when you load a game and then immediately starts running the game. Note that if there isn't a card in SLOT B it will report that it couldn't load a card in SLOT B, but will work OK, just without autoloading the SRAM. Note also that an actual SRAM save for games isn't required, just a memory card in slot B. If there is no SRAM save for the game on the card it won't load an SRAM and won't bother you with that fact, the game will just start running. If there is an SRAM save, it will load it and then start the game.
For best results, keep a memory card in Slot B! It's a simple as that! This can be an Action Replay memory card, incidentally, so no need to swap that card out if you have and use one!
2. If you manually load SRAM after having already loaded the game it now automatically does a soft reset of the game for you - you don't need to do this manually any more.
3. Option (on a per-game basis, and defaulting to OFF) to automatically save SRAM every time you return to the menu. Enable this feature in the Emulator Options submenu for each game you want it enabled in, and be sure to save SRAM after doing so to make it "stick" (see #3)
4. Option to "Save SRAM Now" right in the main menu, which will save the SRAM (and game settings) to the memory card in SLOT B immediately (see #2)
5. Can now read version 1.43 SRAM saves and convert them - please note that loading a game with version 2.0.1b1 will result in the SRAM save no longer being compatible with version 1.43! So you might want to backup your current SRAM saves.
6. Can now read SRAM saves coming from other platforms (Mac, PC, Linux) and can also save SRAM in a format readible by those other platforms (but see important known bug noted below with regard to saving an SRAM to SD card). To use this feature just load or save from SMB or SD card. It automatically figures out what kind of save you are trying to load, and automatically saves in a format readible by other platforms when saving to SD or SMB (yet still contains all the settings info.)
7. Smart memory card mounting tells you what to do if it can't mount the memory card and allows you do it right then and there (in short, if it can't mount the card you need to remove and re-insert the card, then press A - it tells you do this if it is needed.
8. Reworded and rearranged the menus a bit.
9. Miscellaneous other under-the-skin improvements.
10. If you make a bootable DVD of this, you can optionally put your ROMs on the DVD within an "SNESROMS" folder at the top level of the DVD. If you do this then when you choose to load a game from DVD it will default to showing you the SNESROMS directory. If you don't have an SNESROMS directory on the DVD it will do as before and show you the top level of the DVD, warts and all.
11. Healthy dose of FUN added for free!
Known bugs:
- Saving an SRAM to SD card does not work! Loading and Saving an SRAM from/to SMB works fine, and loading an SRAM from SD works, but if you save an SRAM to SD the file gets corrupted. I don't yet know why and could use help with this.
- Probably other problems I haven't run into yet
About the use of a memory card in Slot B: See post #15 in this thread below for a detailed explanation of why I do this. In short, it is so we have a known place for preferences and data to be saved to and loaded from. I use Slot B like a disk drive. It will allow us to make the program a lot more like an emulator on a computer, and easier to use - it's perhaps worth noting that I started my modifications to Snes9xGx in an effort to make it easy for my 4 and 6 year old boys to use. So, if you don't have an extra memory card, buy a cheap used one on ebay or elsewhere and just keep it in slot B, or buy an Action Replay and use it's memory card which has to be in slot B anyway.
The binary download comes in compressed .7z form and when uncompressed it, confusingly I must admit, ends up as the file "snes9x150.dol", in spite of this being Snes9xGx 2.0.1b1. I'll change the file naming scheme with the next release.
HOW TO USE THE DOL FILE
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If you are using an SD Card adaptor (SD Gecko or equivalent), set up your SD card (and Action Replay if you are using that to load SDLOAD) as instructed, then copy the "snes9x150.dol" file to your SD card. Also create an "SNESROMS" folder at the top level of the SD card and put all of your SNES roms in there. Insert the SD card into your SD card adapter, plug that into slot A. For best results, insert a memory card into slot B (or just keep the action replay memory card in slot B). Boot SDLOAD via Action Replay or however you do that, and run "snes9x150.dol" via SDLOAD.
If you are making a bootable DVD, I recommend, though it isn't required, creating an SNESROMS directory at the top level of the DVD and put your SNES roms in there - see note number 10 above. For example, if you are using "BootableDisc3" to create your bootable DVD, then, in addition to renaming "snes9x150.dol" to "bootldr.dol" and putting that into "my_bootable_disc", also create a folder called "SNESROMS" within "my_bootable_disc" and copy all of your SNES roms into there. Then run BootableDisc.bat and burn the resulting iso file to DVD. See the documentation that came with "BootableDisc3" for details on using that tool - there's more to it than this!
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