JEnesisDS

JenesisDS
General
Author	Lordus
Type	Console
Version	0.7.4
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2008/07/13
Links
[0.7.4 - 0.6 Download]
Website

jEnesisDS is a Sega Genesis/MegaDrive emulator for the Nintendo DS, by Lordus. It is a port of a Genesis emulator written in Java and it is the only Genesis emulator for the DS with sound support.

It was entered into the NEO Summer Compo 2007 (NDS App, 3rd place) and the GBAX 2007 Coding Competition.

Installation

jEnesisDS uses DLDI for accessing your cards filesystem, DLDI patch for the .nds file and add your rom disks.

User guide

You have to play a bit with the settings to make some games boot or work better.

Some games work faster with Idle Loop Detection, others without (Castlevania, Gunstar Heroes), and some games just boot if it is disabled.

The same goes for H-INT emulation. If a game doesn't boot just try changing those options.

Very few games will just boot, if checksum autofixing is disabled (Dynamite Heady, Thunder Force IV).

Note that 3MB+ games will not work due to the limitations of the emulator.

See also JEnesisDS compatibility list on GBAtemp.

Controls

6-Button Mode (PAD1):

Y - Y button

B - B button

A - C button

X - X button

L - Y button

R - Z button

Start - Start

Start+L+R - Mode

D-Pad - L/R/D/U

3-Button Mode (PAD1):

Y - A button

B - B button

A - C button

D-Pad - L/R/D/U

STart - Start

X - Center screen

L - Move screen area left (if the game has a horizontal resolution of 320 pixels)

R - Move screen area right (if the game has a horizontal resolution of 320 pixels)

Select - Enter File Browser (also accessible by the cartridge icon)

Stylus:

Touch the Joypad icon to enter Setting in game.

Touch save-slot icons to load/save states (2 slots available).

Touch screen to pause. While in pause mode, use the D-Pad for screen positioning in the HW renderer version.

Screenshots

Known issues

With games that suffer from slowdown unless Force Update is enabled or disabled, avoid going to the jEnesisDS menu (pressing the touchscreen) it will cause the slowdown to occur again. Pause using the Start button only (examples are The Lion King, Sonic 3D beta 73, etc).

Changelog

v0.7.4

• Changed scheduling of M68000 and Z80.
• Some changes in M68000 internal memory handlers.
• YM2612 FM core mostly rewritten in ASM.
• Some bugs in FM core fixed (Operator 1 was sometimes not considered in certain cases).
• Fixed reset bug for FM core resulting in unstable sound for every game loaded except the 1st one.
• Raised sample rate for FM emulation from 16KHz to 28KHz (28, because a few games can't do 32KHz).
• Sound is completely mixed in hardware now, meaning every FM channel, PSG and DAC have their own DS sound channels.

v0.7

• Fixed bug in Z80 core, preventing some games from having sound (Wonderboy, etc).
• Fixed bug in 68000 optimization, that could make some games hang (Bonanza Brothers, etc).
• Changed sound handling and doubled sample rate for PCM sound, resulting in slightly better sound quality.
• HW renderer partially rewritten, many glitches should be gone, some are still there (and will probably not be easy to fix ever).
• Sprite rendering completely rewritten in ASM. Should be faster and fix most of the sprite issues.
• Implemented mid frame palette updates (water effects in Sonic games, Castlevania, etc). Note, that this just works, if a game is constantly fast enough, so slowdowns can still cause colors to flicker).
• Many little optimizations in memory handling and the CPU cores. Should reduce slowdowns.
• Added option for sprite masking (Landstalker etc). It is not 100% emulated, just faked to be enough for most games using it (disable it, if sprites are missing, that should be there).
• Added option to change between 3- and 6-Button pad (just works, if the option is applied BEFORE loading a game). When 6-Button pad is disabled, L+R can be used to move the visible screen area, X to center it.
• Added sound state to the savestates, so that the correct tracks should play now when a state is loaded. Savestates are still not 100% reliable and loading old states can potentially cause problems.

v0.6

• Custom Z80 ASM core implemented.
• Custom YM2612 and PSG emulation, running on the ARM7. So there is sound now.
• Many parts rewritten. Speed without Z80 core should be quite a bit faster for most games.
• Idle-loop detection completely rewritten. Shouldn't break any games anymore. Therefore the option to disable it was taken out.
• Some changes to HW renderer. Some glitches should be gone, others were probably introduced. Will be rewritten for the next version.
• Tweaked H-Int auto detection, so less games should need the "ON" option to boot now.
• Mode-Button added (L+R+Start).

v0.5

• Implemented save-states (touch slot icons to load/save).
• Extended SRAM compatibility. Story of Thor and Phantasy Star IV should work now.
• Extended "force update" of HW renderer. Fixes Sonic3 intro, Sonic Bonus stage and probably others.
• Fixed sprites showing garbage if more than 64 sprites were displayed (Comix Zone, Outrun, Sonic, well most games probably).
• Partial rewrite of sprite handling in the HW renderer. Less slowdowns when a lot of sprites are displayed.
• Implemented better VSync. Fixes temporary speedups after slowdowns.
• Implemented vertical scaling option into HW renderer (horizontal is NOT possible, dont ask). Aspect ratio will be incorrect, but makes games more enjoyable.
• Implemented screen positioning in HW renderer (touch screen to pause, then use [D-Pad] to scroll. Push [A] for faster scrolling).
• Rewrote DS interrupt system for HW renderer. Probably less slowdowns, surely safer.
• Added "Fake Z80" option. The faking code can mess up some games (Ghouls n' Ghosts, Aladdin, Cool Spot 2, and others), so it can be turned off now.
  • Interestingly enough, if it is turned off, real Z80 emulation will be executed, BUT just undercertain circumstances, to keep games working and not to slow things down.
  • As with other options, some games might depend on a certain setting to boot (Gaiares just boots when this option is set to "off").

v0.4

• Updated Release.
• Recompiled with current cpu core. v0.4 was "accidentially" compiled with an older version. This should raise compatibility quite a bit.
• Separated HW and SW renderer versions.
• Activated "Force Update" Option in the HW renderer version. If enabled, the chances of tile corruptions are minimized - it can lead to massive slowdowns though, if a game updates more than 1024 unique tiles per frame (Turrican intro, Comix Zone intro).
• You can also temporarily change this option for a one-time update, if the tiles are corrupted(i.e Viewpoint).

v0.4

• Initial Preview Release.
• Custom ARM asm Motorola68000 CPU core.
• Hardware and Software renderer (this release defaults to the HW renderer and the SW renderer can not yet been choosen through the settings.
• VDP emulation with all DMA modes.
• Horizontal & Vertical Interrupts.
• Support for PAL/NTSC and all country codes (all games will run at 60Hz though).
• .smd, .bin & .gen support.
• partial SRAM save/load support (doesnt work for all games yet).
• Line based renderer.
• Scroll Layers A+B & Window rendering with priorities (horizontal Windows arenot emulated in theHW renderer yet).

Credits

Exophase, Stéphane Dallongeville ,Charles McDonald, SiLeNt_Ni.

Anyone else who supported this project in one or another way.

External links

• Author's website - http://www.workingdesign.de/projects/jenesisds.php
• NeoFlash - https://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php?topic=4571.0