Dreamcast Emulator Makaron WIP T10 *Update: 08.07.2008*

[Nemu]

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...ist in einer neuen Version erschienen.

Aktuelle links/changes immer am ende des Threads!!!

With addition of full MMU support I introduced a bug into Makaron - games that were previously playable with simple SQ remapping would now require slower MMU recompiler. Fixed. This means only games based on Windows CE will require proper address translation, the rest will happily run on faster recompiler. I guess there is no "SEGA multitasking OS" for Dreamcast after all

As for MIL-CDs, those don't even use address translation at all. They wouldn't work on normal recompiler because it was too fast. Again, due to the bug mentioned I was led to belive MMU was being used - while it was not. Seems like lowering SH4 speed to about 160 MIPS gets those to run, not yet sure why. Could be another DMA issue, all those use the same software MPEG player and it gave me some troubles before on other games as well.

I've tried to investigate the cause of WinCE games breaking TA geometry registration process - without much luck so far. Also many games complain about VMU not having enough free space on it (but some would still create a good save later). Suddenly it seems like a good idea to quickly release T9/2 to just see how frequently it crashes and if that coincides with emulation speed.

I'm done merging the MMU version with the main source branch, seems to work. I've also tried several things to speed up the address translation - again, not much luck there. The lookup tables I'm using now seem to be the limit of what can be done in that aspect. Gee, I almost wish I could make use of x86 paging unit (and yes, I know how complicated that would be - pretty fast though).

In short: unless I discover something obviously wrong for me to fix, I'm going to release T9/2 later today (or so).

UPDATE: Here's Makaron Test 9/2 with MMU support in recompiler.
If you have any problems with it, go back to T9/1. This version is pretty broken (lots of unfinished modifications) but I want to know how badly
Again, too many changes to list. Some bug fixes (to SH4 recompiler as well). PAD plugin now enforces 5% dead zone in analog stick center position - this should cure "cursor keeps running away" problem in some games. New AICA/ARM code (back to interpreter for now) sounds much better, no DSP yet. More messages will now appear in English, in future it will be possible to support many languages (via translation files or something like that).

There's new system of identifying GD-ROMs and MIL-CDs - it's main purpose is to enable MMU where necessary. The database is far from complete though, so some GDs will not be recognized. Please report those, but do make sure to provide proper title, MD5 sum computed by Makaron, region, and whether it is Windows CE game or normal one. DO NOT REPORT PIRATED SOFTWARE. I will ignore/delete such reports on sight. Same goes for dubious ones, with spelling errors and such.
If you happen to stumble upon WinCE game that is not recognized you'll need to enable MMU manualy in the ini file. And let me repeat that again - MMU requires a damn fast CPU. 2,4GHz Core2 Duo is the absolute minimum - the faster the better.

The multi-threaded GD reading is not yet finished. You might want to enable it anyway, see GDROM.ini for that, but be advised that some games will refuse to boot or hang with this option enabled. Most should work.

mehr infos und schöne Screenshots auf:

http://dknute.livejournal.com/

Download ver 9.2

grüße, nemu

[tomwatayan]

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der sieht sehr vielversprechend aus, auch die Screenshots von Ecco sehen aus als sei da alles in Ordnung, bei NullDC waren da haufenweise Grafikfehler. Den Emu muss ich unbedingt gleich mal testen. Ich schreibe dann hier meine Meinung dazu
Vielen Dank für den Tipp, ich kannte den Emu noch gar nicht.

EDIT: Anscheinend benötigt man ein Gamepad? Ich habe leider keines in Reichweite, deshalb komme ich nicht weiter als bis zum Bildschirm, wo ich Datum und Uhrzeit vom BIOS einstellen soll. Schade.. ich habe jetzt auf Anhieb auch kein Controller-Plugin gesehen, wo ich die Tastatur als Gamepadersatz nutzen kann?

[Nemu]

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nein. ist mir leider auch nicht bekannt

[Nemu]

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hier gibts auch was neues:

Vom DC Emulator Makaron gibts neue WIP News und eine neue Version T10:

I think I've finally got the DMA code working. Well, for me at least It needs to be tested further on variety of hardware - and that's where you people come in. Expect T10 soon.

Some loose thoughts I feel like voicing:

1) T10 might be a bit slower than T9 series. It'll most likely affect only low-end systems as there isn't really much of a difference (if any) on my E6600.
2) WinCE games usually crash when emulation speed drops below certain treshold. In other words, if you got fast system you should get stable performance.
3) Due to changes in GD-DMA code loading times are back. It's considered normal behaviour since this is how Dreamcast works. Thanks to those changes compatibility has improved and following titles should now boot and work:
- all Dream Preview discs
- original MIL-CDs
- Street Fighter Zero 3
- SEGA Tetris Online
- Tetris 4D
4) CD-DA (audio tracks) will play, but still use the older method of fetching data. This might cause Makaron to crash but it's very unlikely as data reads and playing audio are mutualy exclusive tasks.
5) There are some minor changes in full-screen setup code (the debug window will be hidden and not forcibly refreshed). No 16:x aspect ratios yet.
6) Changes to sorting/drawing code broke shadows in Virtua Fighter 3tb. I'm not planning on fixing that anytime soon though, as it would break many other things. Late T9 versions have this problem too, by the way.
7) Makaron now disables screen saver when run. It's only going to be a problem if it crashes, as it might not re-enable it on exit. Just so you know.
If you manually enable MMU the recompiler will not switch to address translation mode until it's actually requested, so there's no speed penalty in BIOS and most games. Some however (like Ikaruga) use only partial translation and this can be emulated without full-blown MMU support. It'll work either way but will be a lot slower with MMU enabled. Some WinCE games are automatically recognized (this works only for GD images) and MMU will be turned on when necessary. In short: keep it off unless Makaron complains about it.

UPDATE: Few more notes:

There were some last-minute cleanups in the code, I hope I didn't break anything
MT version is the one I actively develp, the other is just dumbed down not to support threading. Not tested much so your mileage may vary.
As always, make sure you backup your own INI files if you want to keep them. For GDROM.ini though you should comment out the GDMT setting, or choose one of the following:
-1 is immediate mode. This will block emulator and allow the read to complete. In short: worst performance, but should always work. This is also the default mode for non-MT version.
0 is deffered mode. The read still blocks, just not right away but rather outside SH4 main loop. It might provide smoother emulation (if it works at all
1 is threaded mode. Disk reads are scheduled to separate thread for another core/CPU to take care of. Best speed, smooth emulation, should now work with every game. This is the default for MT version.
Threaded mode can't be selected for non-MT version of Makaron - deffered method will be used instead. This limitation was introduced on purpose, and might be lifted in future. Note that unless you have multiple cores/CPUs it will work just like deffered mode anyway.

I'd also like to remind you that there's a frontend to Makaron called mkfro. Highly recommended for people who can't work my INI files.

Anyway, click here to download Makaron T10.

UPDATE2: If you experience random crashes while in-game movies play (or are about to start), or from time to time CD/GD image refuses to boot (but works most of the time) - report this. Give me the title and your PC specs.

thy to AEnEmY@ e-lation.net

[Nemu]

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Auch bei Makaron tut sich etwas. Es gibt ein paar Infos und neue Screenshots:

F355 Challenge works again.


Marionette Company boots now, though there seem to be some geometry missing because I don't get text in dialog boxes at all... It's a WinCE game so maybe it's the Sort-DMA thing again?

thy to AEnEmY@ e-lation.net

[Nemu]

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DKnute hat neue Screenshots und Neuigkeiten zu seinem Dreamcast-Emulator veröffentlicht. Zu sehen gibts das und mehr auf:

http://dknute.livejournal.com/





Liebe Grüße,
Nemu