Picodrive 0.95 Released

[reiboul]

So DrMD = Speed, PicoDrive = accuracy & compatibility?

I'm using both : DrMD while on the go, because it runs games fullspeed with no sound at low CPU speed, and PicoDrive when using AC Adaptor, because runs fullspeed & good accuracy with overclocking

 

[___]

@PokeParadox: Wasn`t it the case with an earlier picodrive release though? Thanks for correcting that anyway. But why then is there a 16bit renderer available?

 

[PokeParadox]

The earlier PD didn't have the 8bit renderer.

Yes the FAST renderrer broke water effects (and other things).

I'm assuming the 16bit renderrer is still there in case something crops up that the 8 bit renderrer breaks...

 

[___]

ah okay, thanks for clearing that up. Hopefully the 8bit renderer didn`t screw anything, cause it is a lot faster. I like the emulator. I think I will switch to it after using DrMD for so long. Is there any games that don`t run on it but run on DrMD?

 

[ryosaeba]

I think PicoDrive only emulates megadrive games, drmd also emulates master system and game gear.

 

[PokeParadox]

Yeah... I also noticed on Sonic 3.. there are some very minor graphical glitches in the 8bit accurate mode. The purple water in Carnival night zone faintly flickers onto the whole screen... I'm not really sure how to best decribe it.
It is only minor though, and I only noticed it when I paused the game to save a state.

 

[krosfyah]

The 8bit accurate renderer still does the sky properly in Road Rash so I'm a little confused myself.

 

[jaesond]

Yeah... I also noticed on Sonic 3.. there are some very minor graphical glitches in the 8bit accurate mode. The purple water in Carnival night zone faintly flickers onto the whole screen... I'm not really sure how to best decribe it.
It is only minor though, and I only noticed it when I paused the game to save a state.

I noticed this while playing Sonic 2. Anytime there was a mid palette change, if it was on frameskip 0 and on 60 FPS, it was fine. If it's FSAuto or not running 60 frames a second, it flickers a lot for me with teh 8bit accurate.

In all honesty, I'm not getting a performance improvement with 8bit accurate. :\

 

[TelcoLou]

Quick note:

Zombies ate my Neighbors gets a black screen after the level load screen. And no sound too.

But daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, is this emu great! Thanks for the update!

 

[sbock]

@ TelcoLou

The NTSC version works for me. Try the option "Accurate timing". That solves a lot of sound related problems.

Regards,
Stephan

 

[TelcoLou]

@ TelcoLou

The NTSC version works for me. Try the option "Accurate timing". That solves a lot of sound related problems.

Regards,
Stephan

Thanks ... that worked!!

 

[___]

yeah this is an awesome emulator. I think I will stick with using it instead of DrMD... eventhough the menu is nicer ;-)...

 

[TelcoLou]

yeah this is an awesome emulator. I think I will stick with using it instead of DrMD... eventhough the menu is nicer ;-)...

I still need to use DrMD for my Kid Chameleon quest .... I'm not starting over. AGAIN!

 

[geise69]

yeah this is an awesome emulator. I think I will stick with using it instead of DrMD... eventhough the menu is nicer ;-)...

I still need to use DrMD for my Kid Chameleon quest .... I'm not starting over. AGAIN!

Not to get off topic but how far along are you on that anyways? Aren't you doing it level by level? That's insanity!

 

[notaz]

But why then is there a 16bit renderer available?

The 8bit accurate renderer still does the sky properly in Road Rash so I'm a little confused myself.

Genesis has 64 color palette, but 8 bits can fit total of 256 colors, so there was 192 colors remaining. So I used these for shadow/hilight effects and mid-frame palette changes. But that does not work well in some cases, for example when game switches shadow/hilight mode in the middle of the frame (Castlevania) or when it does both palette changes and shadow/hilight effects (Street Racer). Also palette sometimes does not get updated in time and some flickering or wrong colors are shown for a few frames. That's why 16bit renderer is still there.

 

[TelcoLou]

yeah this is an awesome emulator. I think I will stick with using it instead of DrMD... eventhough the menu is nicer ;-)...

I still need to use DrMD for my Kid Chameleon quest .... I'm not starting over. AGAIN!

Not to get off topic but how far along are you on that anyways? Aren't you doing it level by level? That's insanity!

(see sig)

I'll play a level untill I finish it (sometimes a few minutes' worth of gaming, other times I hear "Die!" several times over the course of a half hour or so), then make a save state, then forget about it for awhile. I don't have the free time needed to be a 'hardcore gamer' and play the damn thing through in one sitting. We tried back in the day ... but with no SRAM saves or even a password system, it was impossible.

Back on topic ...

... I really don't see a need for a fancy GUI, the menu in this emulator is perfect ... and the save/load states using the shoulder buttons is brilliant!

 

[nik166]

yup, that save/load thingy should become a standard in every emulator of machines that don't have shoulder buttons

 

[krosfyah]

Except when you get a bit too excited during a game and accidentally restore a previous save

 

[TelcoLou]

Except when you get a bit too excited during a game and accidentally restore a previous save

True :lol: ... you could always save from the menu in this emulator though, if you're prone to getting overly-excited.

 

[starpause]

great emulator! accuracy is amazing. i'm playing panorama cotton which never worked under DrMD. i've also started a compatability chart for picodrive over on the gp2x wiki!

the minimal menu is fine but the key configure screen is pretty bad. i can't tell if it's a bug or not, but when you have more than one key associated with an action, picodrive doesn't require a combo of these keys (as you would expect), but ANY of the keys being pressed will cause the action to happen! also, the volume keys can't be assigned and neither can the select key. a .txt file where this is configured would be more minimal and more useful.