don't click here

Gens/GS r7_pre5 - Preview Release

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by GerbilSoft, Jul 28, 2009.

  1. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    I finally got the new plugin system in Gens/GS to a point where I can call it v1.0. However, I'm not quite done with Gens/GS r7. So, I'm releasing an almost-done preview release, r7_pre2.

    Gens/GS r7_pre3 is out now, with fixes for some bugs that crashed the emulator in some situations. (Also, I added a page for mdp_error.h in the MDP documentation.)

    Gens/GS r7_pre4 is out now. Release 7 won't be out until I finish the documentation, but there's a ton of useful bug fixes in r7_pre4, including a fix for an SRAM regression introduced in r7_pre2 and proper POV hat support on Linux. (I have no idea why the Ubuntu developers decided to use POV hats on 9.04, but whatever.)

    Gens/GS r7_pre5 is out now. I really didn't want to do another prerelease, but this has a ton of changes, including fixes for inverted axes in Controller Configuration on the Linux version, plus a fix with POV hats on the Linux version. Additionally, RGB color scaling is now supported, so, for example, an MD CRAM color 0xEEE is scaled to RGB(255,255,255) instead of RGB(224,224,224). This results in brighter images, and is more accurate to how the actual hardware works. (0xEEE tells the VDP to output maximum brightness for all three color components.) [This can be turned off in Graphics, Color Adjust.]

    [​IMG]

    Please test it and report any bugs you may find.

    Changes from m6 to r7_pre5: <a href="http://gs_server.gerbilsoft.ddns.info/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=gens.git;a=blob;f=NEWS.txt;hb=release-7_pre5" target="_blank">http://gs_server.gerbilsoft.ddns.info/cgi-...=release-7_pre5</a>

    Downloads:EDIT: Release 7, Preview 5 is out. :)
     
  2. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    New preview release, Gens/GS r7_pre3. Fixes some crash bugs and some other stuff.
     
  3. Ravenfreak

    Ravenfreak

    2 Edgy 4 U Tech Member
    3,077
    176
    43
    O'Fallon Mo
    Sonic 1 Game Gear Disassembly
    I've noticed that in previous releases of Gens, the PWM was quiet due to a bug. In this release, the PWM is too loud. There's definitely overkill with the PWM. So far, that's the only bug I've noticed.
     
  4. Axel Letterman

    Axel Letterman

    The Saiyan Hedgehog Member
    I've discovered a bug on the windows version.

    When I select Blargg's NTSC filter while having Directdraw 4 as the backend render, it freezes the emulator up. But when I switched the backend to GDI, it works very well.
     
  5. AamirM

    AamirM

    Tech Member
    I reported this bug to GerbilSoft in IRC some time ago. Glad to know its not just me. Its been there since preview1.
     
  6. HighFrictionZone

    HighFrictionZone

    Hi. Member
    855
    0
    16
    Katy, Texas
    Nothing
    It works just fine for me, but I haven't been playing many games recently.
    Something to consider, and this is for anybody who wants to make a plugin: fast forward and re-recording features. Fast forward because sometimes I want to skip past some repetitive part (end-of-level tallies anybody), and re-recording simply because it makes it easier to record a video of whatever hack I'm working on or whatever game I'm playing and make it look like I know what I'm doing.

    Minor feature requests aside, though, this works awesome and I have not encountered any problems with it yet. If I ever encounter any, you'll be the first to know.
     
  7. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    Unfortunately, I'm not able to reproduce this bug, so I can't figure out what's causing this issue. :(

    This might be caused by Chilly Willy's PWM scaling patches. They definitely increase the quality of PWM, but they also make PWM a bit louder than it should be. I'll try to decrease the PWM volume slightly for the final release.
     
  8. Chilly Willy

    Chilly Willy

    Tech Member
    751
    11
    18
    Doom 32X
    See why I left that post-scaling shift in place even though it wasn't being used? I did say that you might eventually need to use it. :D
     
  9. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    The shift you left in place is for subtracting from the shift value, which would make it louder. Then again, if I specify a negative value, it'll be softer, so :P

    Also, with regards to the NTSC rendering problem, I did manage to reproduce it using my actual WinXP partition. If anyone else is having problems with the NTSC renderer being slow (or even if it's working correctly for you), please post your OS and video card.

    Working:
    - Gentoo Linux, ATI FireGL V5200 with Radeon driver
    - Windows XP in VirtualBox, VBox emulated VGA

    Not Working:
    - Windows XP, ATI FireGL V5200
    - Windows Vista, ATI Radeon X1650
    - Windows XP, nVidia GeForce 7300 GS (Sik)
    - Windows XP, Intel 915G (AamirM)
    - Windows XP, Radeon 9600 Pro (Tets)

    EDIT: So it looks like it's just a weird "feature" in VirtualBox that lets it run properly. I'll try debugging it on my XP partition sometime this week.
     
  10. Tets

    Tets

    one rude dude Oldbie
    903
    70
    28
    The NTSC filter is slow for me as well. This is running on Windows XP with a Radeon 9600 Pro.
     
  11. HighFrictionZone

    HighFrictionZone

    Hi. Member
    855
    0
    16
    Katy, Texas
    Nothing
    When using the NTSC filter, performance suffers slightly (though not enough to be unplayable, just somewhat annoying) when using the DirectDraw backend. When using the GDI backend, it runs smooth.

    I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium SP1, graphics card is, according to Performance Information and Tools, from the Mobile Intel&reg; 965 Express Chipset Family. That means fuck all to me, but I assume you can make better use from it.

    As a note, if configure the NTSC filter and disable interpolation, it runs at normal speed when using the DirectDraw backend.
     
  12. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    I figured out why the NTSC renderer runs slow. Instead of double-scanning the NTSC image in the rendering function, it double-scans it afterwards, which requires reading from video memory. Reading from video memory on DirectDraw is slow.

    The fix is to rework the function so it doesn't have to read from video memory. I'll try implementing this later tonight.
     
  13. Sik

    Sik

    Sik is pronounced as "seek", not as "sick". Tech Member
    6,718
    1
    0
    being an asshole =P
    Oh wow.

    That said, why didn't Gens/GS start doing frameskipping even in auto? o.o;
     
  14. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    Automatic frameskip appears to be kinda broken.

    Anyways, I fixed the lag problem with the NTSC renderer. You can get the updated version here: blargg-ntsc-1.1.0-win32.zip
     
  15. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    Bump for Release 7, Preview 4. I haven't adjusted PWM audio yet, because it might actually be accurate. (I remember someone mentioning that on the actual 32X, PWM is really loud.)
     
  16. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    Introducing the new Gens/GS Bugzilla! I set up a bug tracker to make it easier to track bugs in Gens/GS.

    If you find a bug in Gens/GS, you can file a bug report at http://gs_server.gerbilsoft.ddns.info/bugs/ . (Registration is required in order to file bug reports.)
     
  17. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    Bump for Release 7, Preview 5. :)
     
  18. Spanner

    Spanner

    The Tool Member
    You should fix the window issue with Vista and 7:
    [​IMG]
     
  19. GerbilSoft

    GerbilSoft

    RickRotate'd. Administrator
    2,971
    76
    28
    USA
    rom-properties
    I'm not sure what the issue is.

    Unless you're referring to the menu wrapping, which I can't really do much about. (I did rework the code so that it takes the total menu bar size into account when resizing the window, though.)
     
  20. HighFrictionZone

    HighFrictionZone

    Hi. Member
    855
    0
    16
    Katy, Texas
    Nothing
    Perhaps reduce the Help menu to a simple ">>" that can be clicked to display the help menu. Since the help menu is in many cases not all that used, it could perhaps do with this change?