Release DraStic Nintendo DS emulator


How can I enable TV split mode? No matter what I set in DraStic, the Picture of the Pandora screen and my TV are always identical. HW layer activated of course. I guess I have tried every option and display mode combinations but I just don't get split screen mode working. What's the trick?
I think for this you would have to use Main Layer.  Not at home now so not sure, but try Main Layer and then use TV-split in DraStic.
 
Just finished Okamiden, so it's finishable on the Pandora.

Besides having to occasionally switch off frameskip to make it accept some drawings, I only found one other issue: There's one enemy that heavily slows down the emulation (frameskip 4 and still only 30% speed).

The issue is not that there's too much on the screen that causes the slowdown, because occassionally it goes back to fullspeed for 5 - 10 seconds and slows down again.

You don't have to fight that enemy too often, so no dealbreaker :)

I now started Tales of Innocence (fan translation).

While it runs fullspeed, it has missing graphics (worst: menu graphic).

I'll try creating a savegame :)
 
Would it be possible to implement a "compatible frameskip" option? As in, one that doesn't change the behavior of the emulation, but also doesn't display the skipped frames (kind of like in Single display mode, where the other screen isn't displayed). There are some games that require frameskip to be off that are really close to fullspeed, and get even closer when I switch to Single display mode, so such a feature might possibly help. Just a thought.

Edit: If I understand the DS video hardware correctly, the main thing that needs to be emulated every frame for full compatibility is video capture, which is only for either the entire top screen or just the 3D graphics, right? The bottom screen doesn't need to necessarily be rendered? (Also, if "skipping" the top screen display while capturing only the 3D graphics, the 2D graphics on the top screen may not need to be rendered either?)
 
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Would it be possible to implement a "compatible frameskip" option? As in, one that doesn't change the behavior of the emulation, but also doesn't display the skipped frames (kind of like in Single display mode, where the other screen isn't displayed). There are some games that require frameskip to be off that are really close to fullspeed, and get even closer when I switch to Single display mode, so such a feature might possibly help. Just a thought.

Edit: If I understand the DS video hardware correctly, the main thing that needs to be emulated every frame for full compatibility is video capture, which is only for either the entire top screen or just the 3D graphics, right? The bottom screen doesn't need to necessarily be rendered? (Also, if "skipping" the top screen display while capturing only the 3D graphics, the 2D graphics on the top screen may not need to be rendered either?)
Wanted to update on this a little. No, I haven't implemented anything, just thought about it more ;p

It is a good idea and I'd like to have it. The sticking point is that you really can't update just part of the screen, because it's double buffered. So if you update one screen and skip the other you'll have to copy it, which costs some time; it's still nothing like the expense of rendering it but it makes it a less than free skip. Just something to keep in mind.

Some of the modes like 1x:2x actually do use separate buffers so this may not apply to them. I have to figure out how I want to do this..

Another feature I want to add is USB joysticks. I just don't really know how to. I assume it's standard evdev stuff and not something I'll have to look up specifically for Pandora.

Right now the only thing holding back the next proper Android + Pandora release is writing the changelog. I haven't been very good about keeping this up to date so I'll have to go through the history. This sounds like a silly thing to hold anything up but people start leaving 1 star reviews if they don't think you've written much of a changelog.. seriously.

Then there are a few features I want to work on shortly after. DLDI and 7-zip support are high on my list. If any other Pandora-specific features come to mind for anyone let me know (or remind me) now to increase the chance that I'll implement them.
 
well, I'm still hoping for a screen rotation thing... if notaz (if I remember well) can give you some advice... and be sure to add this in the changelog if you don't want a 1 star from me !! 
 
New version 2.2.0.0 is up. Readme is at the usual place.

This is merely synced with the Android version also just released, it doesn't have any Pandora specific features in it but I'd like to work on that for another version soon.
 
Thank you!  Nice new Gui for the Android version.  But the Android version still cannot play DKJC while the Pandora version can :)
 
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New version of Drastic on Pandora runs fast!  Yay!  Pokemon Black 2 plays smooth as butter at 1.1GHz on latest Drastic which was a little stuttering in previous Drastic version.

The Android version has better GUI though.  And it has filters too!  :(  
 
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But the Android version still cannot play DKJC while the Pandora version can :)
That doesn't sound right. What are you running it on? Do you have the threaded 3D option enabled or something?

New version of Drastic on Pandora runs fast! Yay! Pokemon Black 2 plays smooth as butter at 1.1GHz on latest Drastic which was a little stuttering in previous Drastic version.

The Android version has better GUI though. And it has filters too! :(
Filters aren't free. Just switching to using the GPU for output would be a big perf hit.

If Lordus wants to do a GUI for the Pandora version he can, I doubt he'll want to very much though :p Personally I find the Pandora version's GUI fine for Pandora, I don't want a heavily touch oriented GUI on a device with a keyboard. I can add more keyboard shortcuts if you think they'd be helpful.
 
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