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Captain Boomerang
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Post by Captain Boomerang » Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:14 pm

Hi,

It's been a long busy time since I last posted here! I love all the progress you've done on the emulator AamirM! I finally had the time to go over the readme and history documents again, fixed some typos, and added the 0.93 changelog to the history file, while fixing stuff and making everything look good in my opinion. Tell me what you think as you can download the updated docs from the following location;

http://www.zshare.net/download/171491687416dca2/

Just make sure you updated the credits for Nemesis and others, just to remind you of course.

I wish to comment on a couple things if nobody minds me doing so. I still read about some users having issues opening the roms folder after loading cheats, I can confirm this still exists. Might have to bite the bullet on this one, and add a setting to the directories for the roms folder and this issue should be gone forever.

And I also notice that SuperHQ forces the 48000MHz sound rate, is it possible to have SuperHQ with 44100MHz like Kega has as well? I'd like to also request the other sound rates added 11025MHz and 22050MHz like Kega has as well so it's all even.

A couple questions and little things; did you know the Regen window is slightly bigger length wise than Kega is in Windows Vista? Is there a reason why this is like this? Brighten works, but it doesn't look like how Kega has it. Is there any plans to improve this feature to look like Kega? In regards to cheats, is there ever going to be a cheat editor within the emulator itself to add/remove and edit cheats? There's certainly room for improvements there if you ask me.

I have a couple requests too, if you don't mind;

-Scanlines with settings to adjust how much scanlines there are like Kega has.
-Full screen resolution settings like Kega has.
-TV Mode settings Kega has, yes I know there's a plugin, but I meant a native mode like Kega has.
-Can you add a setting to the INI file to specify the background color of the window when no game is loaded? I'd like to be able to make it black like Kega has.
-Support for the Konami Justifier lightgun that's used in the games Lethal Enforcers and Lethal Enforcers 2, so I can use the mouse with those.

One last question (please don't shoot me!), but is there any plans to add Sega CD and 32X to Regen? I know you've probably been asked that before, but I'm just wondering. You could add the cores Gens32 or Gens+ uses for the time being until you get a chance to build your own cores for each.

Overall you're doing a damn good job, and I hope you don't take my comments the wrong way as me complaining or nitpicking or anything, I assure you I'm not! :( I'm just a perfectionist and wish for everything to be perfect. Keep up all the good work!

-Adam

P.S. Is there anything you can do about the flickering in Sonic 2's 2-player mode? I have this game and I don't notice flickering that much at all and I know Kega can play it perfectly. I know it's what the hardware does, but how it does it in Regen makes it kinda hard to play.

AamirM
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Post by AamirM » Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:29 am

Hi,

Glad to see you here again.
And I also notice that SuperHQ forces the 48000MHz sound rate, is it possible to have SuperHQ with 44100MHz like Kega has as well? I'd like to also request the other sound rates added 11025MHz and 22050MHz like Kega has as well so it's all even.
YM2612 runs at ~53 KHz. So if resampling from 53Khz to 48000Hz will produce better sound than resampling it to 44100Hz. And around 99% cards support this rate very well so its not going to change. About the other sample rates, I can't see a point in adding those. The only reason they may be in Kega is because of speed reasons. To overcome that, there is an experimental "FastHQ" option in the regen.ini file. But even then, the speed gain is not worthwile compared to quality loss.
A couple questions and little things; did you know the Regen window is slightly bigger length wise than Kega is in Windows Vista? Is there a reason why this is like this?
I rarely, if ever, test Regen on Vista. But it shouldn't be too hard to fix :) .
Brighten works, but it doesn't look like how Kega has it. Is there any plans to improve this feature to look like Kega? In regards to cheats, is there ever going to be a cheat editor within the emulator itself to add/remove and edit cheats? There's certainly room for improvements there if you ask me.
The brighten feature is to be fixed soon as well. Cheat editor will be there in the next release.
-Scanlines with settings to adjust how much scanlines there are like Kega has.
-Full screen resolution settings like Kega has.
-TV Mode settings Kega has, yes I know there's a plugin, but I meant a native mode like Kega has.
-Can you add a setting to the INI file to specify the background color of the window when no game is loaded? I'd like to be able to make it black like Kega has.
-Support for the Konami Justifier lightgun that's used in the games Lethal Enforcers and Lethal Enforcers 2, so I can use the mouse with those.
They'll be added. But don't expect them to be in the next release. The priority for me right now is to make debug version of Regen.
One last question (please don't shoot me!), but is there any plans to add Sega CD and 32X to Regen? I know you've probably been asked that before, but I'm just wondering. You could add the cores Gens32 or Gens+ uses for the time being until you get a chance to build your own cores for each.
Yes, plans are there to add it. But I am lacking the motivation, to be honest. If I ever add them, I'll write it on my own and not going to use Gens' (but it can be used as documentation).
P.S. Is there anything you can do about the flickering in Sonic 2's 2-player mode? I have this game and I don't notice flickering that much at all and I know Kega can play it perfectly. I know it's what the hardware does, but how it does it in Regen makes it kinda hard to play.
Not right now but in the future.
Overall you're doing a damn good job, and I hope you don't take my comments the wrong way as me complaining or nitpicking or anything, I assure you I'm not! I'm just a perfectionist and wish for everything to be perfect. Keep up all the good work!
I appreciate your comments as it makes the emulator perfect. And thanks for the fixed typos as well.

stay safe,

AamirM

Shiru
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Post by Shiru » Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:16 am

AamirM wrote:About the other sample rates, I can't see a point in adding those.
It's understandable if you talk about lower rates, but how about higher ones - 96KHz, 192KHz? There is many sound cards that supports those rates, and I think, upsampling will have better quality.

TmEE co.(TM)
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Post by TmEE co.(TM) » Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:17 am

potential bug in 0.93 - after the "you run this first time message" Regen crashes with page fault error on my 98SE setup. When I move the EXE to a location which already has a config file, no error comes. It seems Regen is unable to create a new config file or something... I tried it with KernelEx installed (a thing that makes 98SE more or less XP compatible), but it had no effect.
Mida sa loed ? Nagunii aru ei saa ;)
http://www.tmeeco.eu
Files of all broken links and images of mine are found here : http://www.tmeeco.eu/FileDen

AamirM
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Post by AamirM » Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:13 pm

Hi,
Shiru wrote:It's understandable if you talk about lower rates, but how about higher ones - 96KHz, 192KHz? There is many sound cards that supports those rates, and I think, upsampling will have better quality.
Are you talking about 53Khz upsampled to 96Khz/192KHz? or running YM2612 core directly at 96KHz/192KHz and output sound without any resampling? Upsampling will have better quality while running directly at 96KHz/192KHz will have less aliasing.
TmEE co.(TM) wrote:potential bug in 0.93 - after the "you run this first time message" Regen crashes with page fault error on my 98SE setup. When I move the EXE to a location which already has a config file, no error comes. It seems Regen is unable to create a new config file or something... I tried it with KernelEx installed (a thing that makes 98SE more or less XP compatible), but it had no effect.
I think you don't have the "Fonts" subfolder where you are putting Regen. It must be present there. It does not depend on config file but only the "Fonts" folder. And you should get this build. It will run more faster and comfortably on a slow PC. And Regen will now run even without KernelEx now :wink: .

stay safe,

AamirM

HardWareMan
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Post by HardWareMan » Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:14 pm

TmEE co.(TM) wrote:potential bug in 0.93 - after the "you run this first time message" Regen crashes with page fault error on my 98SE setup. When I move the EXE to a location which already has a config file, no error comes. It seems Regen is unable to create a new config file or something... I tried it with KernelEx installed (a thing that makes 98SE more or less XP compatible), but it had no effect.
It is not a bug. And it is present in early versions. Becouse, it is EXE only, it required font and other files (not configuration only). So, just copy folders from working Regen or run this EXE in folder working Regen.

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Post by Shiru » Sun Aug 17, 2008 1:22 pm

AamirM wrote:Are you talking about 53Khz upsampled to 96Khz/192KHz? or running YM2612 core directly at 96KHz/192KHz and output sound without any resampling?
53Khz upsampled, but if it's possible to implement both methods (optional), it will be good.

HardWareMan
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Post by HardWareMan » Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:30 pm

Now, this is a record from real YM2612 (same game, same track): Real YM2612. How you explane this difference? Look at this:
Image
Image
It is noteworthy that Regen 085 P4 has the same form signal, but a lesser amplitude.
Record taken from this board (real Yamaha YM2612, not of its clone):
Image

King Of Chaos
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Post by King Of Chaos » Sun Aug 17, 2008 3:35 pm

Captain Boomerang,

Good work on the updated docs! They look pretty nice if you ask me. :)
Captain Boomerang wrote:I still read about some users having issues opening the roms folder after loading cheats, I can confirm this still exists. Might have to bite the bullet on this one, and add a setting to the directories for the roms folder and this issue should be gone forever.
Yeah, I have this issue too. I found a workaround for it in Vista, but it's trying to load the last opened folder, which in that cause would be the Cheats folder since you loaded a cheat from it AFTER loading the ROM. However, your idea might fix it once and for all if you specify a ROMs folder, but I think if this is added to the Directories window, that leaving it blank (or adding a checkbox under it) will automatically open the last opened folder (hopefully ROMs, except on Vista when loading cheats).
Last edited by King Of Chaos on Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

AamirM
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Post by AamirM » Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:00 pm

Hi,
Shiru wrote:53Khz upsampled, but if it's possible to implement both methods (optional), it will be good.
Okay :) . Upsampling will take a bit of time to implement though it will be interesting.
HardWareMan wrote:Now, this is a record from real YM2612 (same game, same track): Real YM2612. How you explane this difference?
Thanks a lot for your help in this. I've fixed it. The problem was that the core was not correctly setting the maximum frequency (slightly lower) if the overflow occured. Here is the recording from the fixed version. It sounds closer to real hardware recording you posted. Thanks again.

stay safe,

AamirM

HardWareMan
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Post by HardWareMan » Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:10 pm

AamirM wrote:Thanks a lot for your help in this. I've fixed it. The problem was that the core was not correctly setting the maximum frequency (slightly lower) if the overflow occured. Here is the recording from the fixed version. It sounds closer to real hardware recording you posted. Thanks again.
WOW. Nice work. But, I have some remarks for you. Look at this:
Image
In your record that sound effect starts quite early, then in record from real YM2612. Why that happen? Not perfect syncronization Z80 with YM2612?
Next, look at this:
Image
Compare PSG level. In record from real hardware PSG level a little smaller, than in your record from Regen. And it's perfect square waveform a bit annoying, additional buzz is heard. And PSG seems like inverted. Or late-phase 180 degrees.

Zoomer
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Post by Zoomer » Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:43 pm

Hello all again. Aamir, I'm continued to test sound of your emu. Found some strange glitch. Dune - The Battle for Arrakis (E).bin . If I'll disable sound, then do Hard Reset and then reenable it after reset - some sounds in intro's music will skip. Not sure but this may happen in another games. Thats not to serious, but anyway.. :)
Also, it'll be better, i think, if ReGen will display wich country region it autodetected.
@HardWareMan: Yea, the difference is really huge between real hardware and regen 0.93. I can't even notice that instrument on my shitty chinese cloned megadrive. You have a really good rig there :)
Last edited by Zoomer on Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.

King Of Chaos
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Post by King Of Chaos » Sun Aug 17, 2008 10:50 pm

Zoomer wrote:Also, it'll be better, i think, if ReGen will display wich country region it autodetected.
This could be done like Kega has it, where it'll display the region in the title of the window, next to game title (Genesis/Megadrive, along with region).

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Post by Zoomer » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:09 pm

Yep, maybe so. This will be useful for making screenshots. ReGen displays Rom Header there at the moment. Maybe it'll be better if there will be file name and region?

And one more thing. Aamir, it's great that ReGen now understands 7z archives. But when i'm opening such archive I can't tell what file from that archive is opened exactly. Can you please make window like Nestopia has? When you're selecting some archive - another window pops up where you can choose wich rom file to load from archive.
I've asked about that earlier but don't know if I sounded understandable. My English is not so good :oops:

Also there is some built-in video filter in Kega, that can be enabled at the same time with another plugin video filter. It have no name, just "Filtered" in video menu. But it looks quite good with 2xSai filter. Does anyone know, what it is? :) Here is the example image of how it looks. Notice, that picture provided by regen is slightly bigger than kega's and because of this (i think) it has lower quality. Something with window proportions?
Image
Last edited by Zoomer on Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

AamirM
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Post by AamirM » Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:31 am

Hi,
HardWareMan wrote:In your record that sound effect starts quite early, then in record from real YM2612. Why that happen? Not perfect syncronization Z80 with YM2612?
I looked at it and it turned out be due to timers. Although I managed to correct it but it makes sound in some games little slow. Here is a recording with fixed timers. I don't know if I should make those changes to the timers. What do you think? Thanks for your help again. Interestingly, Kega has the same problem too which may indicate it doesn't has correct timers as well. And about the PSG level, yes its incorrect. I will be writing a band limited PSG core soon which won't have perfect square waves and correct noise waveform levels.
Zoomer wrote:Hello all again. Aamir, I'm continued to test sound of your emu. Found some strange glitch. Dune - The Battle for Arrakis (E).bin . If I'll disable sound, then do Hard Reset and then reenable it after reset - some sounds in intro's music will skip. Not sure but this may happen in another games. Thats not to serious, but anyway..
Also, it'll be better, i think, if ReGen will display wich country region it autodetected.
Okay. Its a good idea. I'll do it.
Zoomer wrote:And one more thing. Aamir, it's great that ReGen now understands 7z archives. But when i'm opening such archive I can't tell what file from that archive is opened exactly. Can you please make window like Nestopia has? When you're selecting some archive - another window pops up where you can choose wich rom file to load from archive.
I've asked about that earlier but don't know if I sounded understandable. My English is not so god

Also there is some built-in video filter in Kega, that can be enabled at the same time with another plugin video filter. It have no name, just "Filtered" in video menu. But it looks quite good with 2xSai filter. Does anyone know, what it is? Here is the example image of how it looks. Notice, that picture provided by regen is slightly bigger than kega's and because of this (i think) it has lower quality. Something with window proportions?
I am working on 7z/Zip file selection already so it will be available.
"Filtered" in Kega just seems to apply bilinear interpolation to the final output. Window sizes are correct here. Are you using Windows Vista?

stay safe,

AamirM

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