Vice3DS

vice3ds

This is a port of the VICE C64 (x64) emulator v3.3 to Nintendo 3DS with a lot of 3DS-specific goodies and added functionality. VICE - the Versatile Commodore Emulator - http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/

@spinal_cord made a C64 emulator (Breadbox) based on Frodo but it does not work anymore with recent firmwares and he is not updating it anymore, so I gave it a shot to port the Vice C64 emulator v3.3 to the 3DS. Vice does support SDL1 but porting was not quite as easy as "just compile": A new sounddriver for the 3DS needed to be written, devkitpro libraries do not support all functionality required by full fledged Vice (so I had to strip them in quite some places) and lots of other things that needed tweaking or adaption. Apart from this, the 3DS needed a UI for the bottom screen, so this had to be written from scratch. Moreover, a lot of new & 3DS-exclusive functionality was added (check the release notes below).

Screenshots

Installation

Install .cia file with FBI - or - copy .3dsx file to /3ds/vice3DS-C64 directory on your SD card and launch in HBL - or - launch .3ds file from flashcard. Apart from this, a DSP-dump is required for sound to work correctly in the CIA version. https://gbatemp.net/threads/dsp1-a-new-dsp-dumper-cia-for-better-stability.469461/

Usage

Preconfigured button functions:

Select: open Vice menu
Start: open Gamebase64 launcher
Directional Pad / A-Button: Joystick
B-Button: Joystick Up
R-button: Autofire. Within vice menu, R-button starts the mapping of a hotkey.
C-Stick: cursor keys
L/ZL-buttons: left/right mouse buttons if mouse is enabled.
3D-slider: Emulation speed (0 = 100%, max = Warp-mode)
Soft buttons functions (from left to right, top to bottom) :
- Autostart image
- Hit RUN/STOP - RESTORE
- Toggle joystick ports
- Toggle C-Pad / D-Pad for joystick
- Warp Mode

- Quickload snapshot
- Quicksave snapshot
- Toggle True Drive Emulation
- Hard Reset
- Pause emulation

- Attach disk image to drive 8
- Toggle Sprite-Sprite collisions
- Power off bottom screen backlight
- Type command: LOAD\"*\",8,1 - RUN
- Type command: LOAD\"$\",8 - LIST

- Hit RUN/STOP
- Hit SPACE
- Hit RETURN
- Enable Mouse
- Toggle No borders / Fullscreen

This (and a lot of other things) can be changed in Vice menu. To change the mapping of a soft button (or actually any other button incl. all the 3DS- and soft keyboard buttons) to a menu item in Vice menu, press the R-button when the menu item is selected, then touch/press the button. This button will now be mapped to the selected menu entry.

From v1.6 on, Vice3DS will run with acceptable framerates (~20 fps with fastSID emulation) on O3DS. However, a N3DS is recommended: Only here, you will get the full 50fps and incredible reSID sound.

Changelog

v2.4.1 Senbei

enhancement: netplay is now possible
optimization: issue warning at startup if 3D-slider is not set to OFF
bugfix: no more sound errors on resume after pressing home button
bugfix: fix gamebase64 launcher crash if more than 64 games are downloaded

v2.3 Mochi

enhancement: gamebase64 launcher now works on O3DS with reduced database size (and lots of other memory optimizations)
enhancement: auto switch to (hopefully) correct joyport/control scheme when starting a game in gamebase64 launcher
enhancement: new joystick handling (only 1 joystick, plugable in p1/p2 and switchable between dpad/cpad, B-button = joy up, R-button = autofire)
enhancement: auto-switching PAL/NTSC / TDE / Control scheme in gb64 launcher can now be turned off
enhancement: soft button positions are now saved in snapshot files when saving configuration
enhancement: volume can now be increased to 200%. This will make some games more audible but will most probably result in sound distortions for most games.
enhancement: VICE menu cleanup & restructure
enhancement: all downloads are a lot faster
enhancement: if no fliplist is active, the currently attached image directory or current directory is automatically a fliplist
enhancement: cracker group info in gb64 database/screen
enhancement: list of "popular" games extended in gamebase64 launcher
enhancement: issue UI warnings if true drive emulation is disabled but a program needs it
optimization: START button now starts gb64 launcher, moved rs/restore soft button back to top, included "enable mouse" in soft buttons again
optimization: removed lots of unused or unnecessary vice code
optimization: remove cartridge before autostarting an image if not default cartridge
optimization: true drive emulation enabled by default but autostart initially loads without TDE
optimization: autostart will not require selecting a file within the image anymore, new menu entry "autostart file in image"
optimization: numbers in download/installation progress now better readable
optimization: Option to turn off database update prompts in gamebase64 launcher
optimization: directory structure for downloaded games now resembles gb64 structure
optimization: make statusbar wider & remove keyboard status bar (who needs this anyways?)
optimization: Default drive idle method is "None" for N3DS and "Skip cycles" for O3DS
optimization: game files are directly downloaded with ftp from 8bitfiles.net, not over http proxy anymore (needs a custom build version of libcurl, fincs does not want to fix it in devkitARM https://github.com/devkitPro/pacman-packages/issues/130 )
bugfix: no more freeze/crash when switching from/to fullscreen multiple times
bugfix: last selected file was not always identified correctly in file dialog
bugfix: no more crash when restoring default settings on NTSC machine
lots of other bugfixes and small enhancements

v2.2 Onigiri

enhancement: gamebase64 UI
optimization: setting AutostartHandleTrueDriveEmulation turned on per default
bugfix: key mappings were not saved correctly
bugfix: icon generation for "L btn", "ZL btn" etc did not work as expected
bugfix: Emulation was paused after installing a memhack
bugfix: When autostarting two tape images, the second image would not RUN automatically
many other small enhancements, optimizations and bug fixes

v2.1 Congee

enhancement: Online-Updater
enhancement: Key mappings now support multiple target keys, key combos are obsolete & removed
enhancement: "Settings management" menu - added option to hide menu button on bottom screen
enhancements for building custom vice3ds games:
- if file romfs:/prefix.txt exists, changes default directory on SD card to /3ds/vice3DS-C64/<contents of file>
- added "ChgRootDirectory" resource to change root of file selection dialog
- added "AutostartImage" resource to specify exact location of autostart image
- at startup, all files in romfs:/autocopy will be copied to default dir without overwriting existing files
- Custom help texts for keys (configurable in in menu "Help")
some other small enhancements, optimizations and bug fixes

v2.0 Screw Driver

enhancement: vice menu moved from top to bottom screen, emulation does not pause anymore while menu is open
enhancement: vice menu now useable with stylus
enhancement: customizeable C64 keyboard command shortcuts
enhancement: show hint about how to exit edit sbuttons mode
enhancement: "power off bottom screen" is now a toggle button
enhancement: file sorting now case insensitive
enhancement: vice3DS checks for autostart.*-files in romfs:/ and vice directory and autostarts at startup
enhancement: autofire can now be configured in the joystick keysets
enhancement: support of zip files for autostart
enhancement: configurable key combos
optimization: cancel-key moves one directory up in file dialog
optimization: move statusbar menu entry back to original location (main menu)
optimization: changed button functions in menu: map hotkey with R-button, press L-button to use the emulation while menu is active
optimization: smooth scrolling scroll bar in menu, file and imgfile dialog
optimization: speed reducion/speedup ranges in slider adjusted
optimzation: passing end/beginning in file/imgfile dialog wraps the cursor to beginning/end
bugfix: removed monitor from cpujam messagebox
bugfix: sometimes d64 files were corrupted after autostart
bugfix: fixed crash when closing the 3ds lid, home button works now
multiple bugfixes in file selection dialog, screen update routine
lots of other bugfixes, optimizations and small enhancements

v1.6 Espresso

enhancement: major performance increase by optimizing and merging top (SDL) and bottom (citro3D) screen update routines
enhancement: reSID sound engine support. Default engine is fastSID for O3DS, reSID for N3DS. reSID is more performance-hungry than fastSID, but sound is by far better. To change this setting, open VICE menu and go to "Machine settings" -> "Model settings" -> "SID settings" -> "SID model"
enhancement: new help screen to show all current button functions (in emu and in menu)
enhancement: soft button positions can now be changed by activating edit-mode (VICE menu: "Misc" -> "Edit bottom screen button positions") and dragging the soft buttons with the stylus. New positions are saved when saving settings
enhancement: applying default setting will not require restart anymore
enhancement: config files (vicerc, ROMs, icons etc.) are stored internally per default, files on SD card override internal files. Added menu entry in "Settings" menu to copy all internal config files to SD card.
optimization: remove SDL joystick - all 3ds buttons and pad directions are now "keys" for vice3DS. These keys can be mapped to C64-joysticks via definition of keysets.
optimization: define all default settings in code, no sdl-vicerc config file needed anymore
optimization: optimize compiler flags for speed
bugfix: eliminated sound distortions when using bottom screen (result of performance increase)
bugfix: some soft buttons wouldn't unstick, fixed bug in MaxScreen softbutton
multiple other small enhancements, optimizations and bug fixes

v1.5 Cappuccino

spin-off: Exerimental C128-emulator (.3dsx only). It runs ok, but VDC-mode is painfully slow. https://gbatemp.net/threads/release-vice3ds-c128-c128-emulator.545436/
enhancement: added sampler device "3DS built in microphone audio input". Haven't you always wished to record 4bit samples with your 3DS that you can play on your C64 computer?
enhancement: added sampler settings menu & other devices for joyports
enhancement: add 'advance frame' menu entry to vice menu
enhancement: show mouse button mappings on touchpad
optimization: optimized keyboard handling (e.g. c-stick mapping & file dialogs)
optimization: remove RS232 stuff from vice menu (wasn't working anyway)
optimization: revamp build system, no more buildtools necessary

v1.4 Cereal

enhancement: speed up directory loading times in file selection dialogs
enhancement: enabled mouse support / bottom screen is now a touchpad when mouse is enabled, L- and ZL-buttons are mapped to left and right mouse button per default. Mouse sensitivity configurable. Tested for hours with Arkanoid :-)
enhancement: create button mappings in "Misc" menu (key->key, key->joy, key->mousebutton), icons for mapped soft buttons are auto-generated. Now, B-button can be mapped to Joy-UP easily ...
enhancement: added option to save key mappings and hotkeys in snapshots
enhancement: added hotkey management entries in menu "Misc" (list hotkeys, unmap hotkey). Haven't you wished to easily get rid of your hotkey mappings?
enhancement: cleaned up "Settings management" menu, hotkeys are now saved with other settings in file sdl-vicerc.
enhancement: added menu entry/icon for no borders & fullscreen. No more magnifying glasses needed when playing.
enhancement: added video size menu (fullscreen with multiple stretch options, etc.)
enhancement: added video border mode menu
enhancement: new icon (yay!)
enhancement: status bar now on bottom of emulator screen (like standard SDL-Vice)
optimization: moved button to create hotkey mapping from ZL-button to L-button
lots of other small enhancements and bug fixes

v1.3 Pancake

enhancement: button to show/hide the keyboard, more soft buttons below keyboard
enhancement: pixel perfect screen representation (required change in libSDL, thanks to @Vague Rant)
enhancement: paint color keys on keyboard with palette colors
enhancement: added help menu
enhancement: remember current directory for file dialogs across restarts
enhancement: standard soft button icons are copied to SD-card at startup, they can now be modified/amended by the user
enhancement: added some more helper menu entries in menu "Misc"
enhancement: added some soft button icons
bugfix: no more freeze when exiting via home or power button
bugfix: roms added for all C64 machine types
bugfix: re-center display after machine type change
optimization: stripped some unnecessary code (vkbd, hvsc)

v1.2.1 Bacon&Eggs

fix random lock-ups (was actually a bug in libSDL)
fix for "not possible to select external palette files"
fix for "crackling sound when using keyboard"
fix for "not possible to change back to stock rom from another rom"
fix for "menu entry 'Restore default settings' messes up screen"
added menu entry/icon 'Misc/Power off bottom screen backlight'
added two icons for sprite collision menu entries
added menu entry to restore all default settings (incl. hotkeys etc)
quicksave/-load now always saves to/loads from /3ds/vice3ds
added "RUN" to LOAD"*",8,1 menu entry
Added F2/F4/F6/F8 keys to keyboard for easy access
Added pause icon / ability to pause via soft button
Nice new banner / startup logo
other minor bugfixes and optimizations

v1.1 Breakfast Toast

Customizeable soft buttons on bottom screen.
Changed standard assignment of autofire buttons: Joy1=R, Joy2=ZR
True drive emulation now turned off by default
Emu-speed adjustable with 3d slider (0=100%, max=Warp)
Added menu 'Misc' with some helpers: RUN/STOP + RESTORE; LOAD"*",8,1
Bugfix for loading external ROMs and other sysfiles

v1.0.1 Sunshine

clearer keyboard
bugfix for "Vice menu sometimes does not update screen when navigating"
bugfix for autofire

v1.0 Morning Glory

Autofire support (configurable in VICE menu under "Machine settings" -> "Joystick settings")
New keyboard layout
Bugfixes

v0.9 beta

Bugfixes
CIA/3DS build

v0.4

Larger keyboard / keys
Configuration files in romfs - will be copied to SD card if not existing there.
Key names showing correctly now in vice menu
vice3DS now exits gracefully when pressing the menu button
Show drive status in notification LED (settings in "Drive" menu)
v0.3 was accidentally a debug build, so v0.4 is faster

v0.3

OSK works now in vice menu when inputting file names
new, flashy background and keyboard images compiled in binary
removed some menu entries that will break things on 3ds
C-stick/ZL/ZR working, C-Stick mapped to cursor keys
status bar (can be activated in menu "Settings management")
when switching machines, bottomscreen is no more blanked

v0.2

On screen keyboard on bottom screen

v0.1 Dawn of Vice3DS

Compiling

You need devkitARM (provided by devkitPro) and the following packages: 3ds-zlib, 3ds-curl, 3ds-libpng, 3ds-bzip2 and - optionally - graphicsmagick. Without graphicsmagick, no version numbers will be included in the icon and bottom screen images.

Install these packages with pacman / dkp-pacman:

Windows:

pacman -S 3ds-zlib 3ds-curl 3ds-libpng 3ds-bzip2 optional:

pacman -S graphicsmagick Linux:

[sudo] pacman -S 3ds-zlib 3ds-curl 3ds-libpng 3ds-bzip2 optional:

[sudo] apt-get install graphicsmagick

Actually, a modified version of 3ds-curl is required for game downloads to work with the gamebase64 launcher. The 3ds-curl version provided by devkitPro is buggy and @fincs does not want to fix it. Please see https://github.com/devkitPro/pacman-packages/issues/130 for details. Providing instructions for compiling this modified 3ds-curl version, however, would go beyond the scope of this README.

Apart from this, bannertool (https://github.com/Steveice10/bannertool/releases) and makerom (https://github.com/profi200/Project_CTR/releases) should be available in your path.

Clone the repository (including symlinks) and change into the directory:

git clone -c core.symlinks=true https://github.com/badda71/vice3ds cd vice3ds If you received any error messages regarding symlinks during cloning, execute copylinks.sh to correct the symlinks

chmod +x copylinks.sh ./copylinks.sh Finally, start the compile with the command

make

Thanks to:

The Vice-Team of course
@Elwyndas for the good ideas on how to make this project better, for the great test support and for sending me the O3DS so I can test there, too!
www.gamebase64.com for providing the C64 games library and an easy way to integrate
@nop90 for the 3DS libSDL port - porting VICE to 3DS would not have been possible without it (even though I had to tweak it in a couple of places ...)
@spinal_cord for breadbox, the keyboard images and design ideas
@thealgorithm for providing the essential clue on how to enable reSID support