Release Final Burn Alpha ported to Pandora (FAQ in first post)


Right v1.0.9.2 is now up, uses latest src so Chase HQ runs a lot better.

Pause fixed.

Sound is good I think.

Feedback please.
 
Right v1.0.9.2 is now up, uses latest src so Chase HQ runs a lot better.

Pause fixed.

Sound is good I think.

Feedback please.
What about adding an option to use D-Pad or Nub for directional control? Also, the Pause function isn't completly fixed. It takes a couple of tries for it to actually pause the game.
 
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It seems like the framerate has taken a hit, looks like there's always a frameskip of 1 on all the neo games I tried.

I can confirm that the audio is absolutely ultra super rock-solid now. Additionally, NG compatibility is great. Even 3 Count Bout runs.
 
Just gave this a try and it looks great.  Just one thing I noticed is that games seem to always be stretched to a 16:9 ratio (even if scaling is off).  Is there any way to preserve the 4:3 ratio of games?
After playing around with the 1.0.9.2 build, I've found that the 16:9 issue doesn't affect all games.  Neo Geo games play in 4:3 and so does Chase HQ.  Other games like SF2, Progear and Snow Bros all stretch to 16:9
 
It seems like the framerate has taken a hit, looks like there's always a frameskip of 1 on all the neo games I tried.

I can confirm that the audio is absolutely ultra super rock-solid now. Additionally, NG compatibility is great. Even 3 Count Bout runs.
 Didn't recognize that in first place. But now I tried Last Resort and it looks like it skips frames. Runs smoother with 1.0.8.3.

Just gave this a try and it looks great.  Just one thing I noticed is that games seem to always be stretched to a 16:9 ratio (even if scaling is off).  Is there any way to preserve the 4:3 ratio of games?
 After playing around with the 1.0.9.2 build, I've found that the 16:9 issue doesn't affect all games.  Neo Geo games play in 4:3 and so does Chase HQ.  Other games like SF2, Progear and Snow Bros all stretch to 16:9
CPS games are not 4:3 (384x224) and Snow Bros looks OK for me. I use "Scale: Best Fit". However, IIRC MD and PCE games don't preserve the ratio.
 
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I basically locked the frame updating to the audio.

SDL made this difficult as you cannot force the callback to use the right number of samples, but as SDL is fed from an internal ringbuffer I just made the ringbuffer = 5 x samples per frame.   (5 is just the tried and tested number that produces good audio with minimum lag).  The emulator knows when each of these buffers is used up and that equates to one frame of emulation.

The new frameskip code makes sure that the audio never has to wait which is why there is a loss in performance but the frameskip code could be improved.  ZX Dunny suggested a good methodbut would require too much work to implement but there must be other solutions.

THe revised src files were attached to a previous post.

Dave
 
Thanks for the update,

The sound is good now. DoDonPachi and MarsMatrix finally don't hurt my ears anymore :D

Is there any hope for usb game pad support in the furure ?
 
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I think the issue is still with the fact that the SDL sample size is so much bigger than required for one frame.  Every time SDL requests a buffer feed it reads 3 frames worth of samples, so FBA generates 3 frames and then there is a wait for SDL to request more sound.

So even though 60 frames may be generated per second, they are not evenly spaced which is why the screen update still appears to be frameskipping.

I will try to find a way to throttle the frames without corrupting the sound or wasting cycles that slows down the overall emulation.

I'm convinced that the emulation needs to be driven by the sound in order to get good audio, it's just finding a good frameskip method that deals with SDL's sample size.

You can see how poor the current frameskip is by turning the sound off and seeing how much smoother it is even when running at the same FPS.
 
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FBA 0.2.97.24 on the PC has different directories for Arcade, PCE and MD ROMs. On the Pandora, there is only one ROM directory. You must prefix the PCE ROMs with "pce_" and MD ROMs with "md_".


EDIT: The prefix for TurboGrafx is "tg_" and for SuperGrafx it's "sgx_".


The screenshots here have the correct names...

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/6543-final-burn-alpha-ported-to-pandora-faq-in-first-post/page-31#entry209482
Yeah, I renamed all my ROMs to pce_* (not tried MD games yet, I have picodrive for those) and get errors loading from a 0.2.97.27 romset - no filename not found, no filename at all mentioned! The games are showing up in the list so they're using the correct names at least, they just don't load at all.

D.
 
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FBA 0.2.97.24 on the PC has different directories for Arcade, PCE and MD ROMs. On the Pandora, there is only one ROM directory. You must prefix the PCE ROMs with "pce_" and MD ROMs with "md_".


EDIT: The prefix for TurboGrafx is "tg_" and for SuperGrafx it's "sgx_".


The screenshots here have the correct names...

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/6543-final-burn-alpha-ported-to-pandora-faq-in-first-post/page-31#entry209482
You can configure multiple directories in the config file though. Does FBA ignore these?

FBA 0.2.97.24 on the PC has different directories for Arcade, PCE and MD ROMs. On the Pandora, there is only one ROM directory. You must prefix the PCE ROMs with "pce_" and MD ROMs with "md_".


EDIT: The prefix for TurboGrafx is "tg_" and for SuperGrafx it's "sgx_".


The screenshots here have the correct names...

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/6543-final-burn-alpha-ported-to-pandora-faq-in-first-post/page-31#entry209482
Yeah, I renamed all my ROMs to pce_* (not tried MD games yet, I have picodrive for those) and get errors loading from a 0.2.97.27 romset - no filename not found, no filename at all mentioned! The games are showing up in the list so they're using the correct names at least, they just don't load at all.

D.
I usually use mednafen for PCE-Games.

Works pretty good.

Mednafen overall has some good emulations, I use it for PCE, VB (awesome with 3D glasses :D ), SMS, GG, Lynx, Wonderswan, NGP.
 
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FBA 0.2.97.24 on the PC has different directories for Arcade, PCE and MD ROMs. On the Pandora, there is only one ROM directory. You must prefix the PCE ROMs with "pce_" and MD ROMs with "md_".

EDIT: The prefix for TurboGrafx is "tg_" and for SuperGrafx it's "sgx_".

The screenshots here have the correct names...

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/6543-final-burn-alpha-ported-to-pandora-faq-in-first-post/page-31#entry209482
 Yeah, I renamed all my ROMs to pce_* (not tried MD games yet, I have picodrive for those) and get errors loading from a 0.2.97.27 romset - no filename not found, no filename at all mentioned! The games are showing up in the list so they're using the correct names at least, they just don't load at all.

D.
Hmmm, strange. That should work. So then it's not finding the ROM within the .zip file. Not sure whether the ROM files are loaded by name or CRC.

Anyway, I have created a clrmamepro .dat file for PCE and MD ROMs...

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?i52d0dc59hx5l7u

You can use it to scan and/or rebuild your set. Let me know if you're not comfortable with this most user-friendly tool. ;)

The main problem with PCE emulation on FBA is the incorrect screen ratio, the picture is always strechted. Maybe dave18 can fix it.

I use Temper for HuCard and Mednafen for CDROM games.

PS: I don't think it's possible to setup multiple ROM directories. It's not necessary anyway.

PS2: Just received the Turbo Everdrive from ED. Nice card and works very well on my PCE GT (didn't try on the TurboDuo yet). Unfortunately, the ED64 has still not shipped and instead of the SMS ED, a SNES ED was in the package. Also couldn't try the GG ED yet, it requires a small non-SDHC card, which I don't have. I will send you a PM ED.
 
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