Deunan - Prima Aprilis

Deunan

Prima Aprilis

2nd-Apr-2008 02:35 pm

Originally I intended to "disappear" for a week (just like last time) and have my fun reading the comments, hate mail and cursing. Unfortunately not that many sites picked up on this idea of mine and so I'll have to cut it short. Pity.

I especially enjoyed the threats to move to another emulator. How silly is that? Folks, you're free to do that anytime you want and you don't need my permission. Really.
Let's face it - most of you got angry because you took free Makaron for granted and now I was about to take it away from you. You got all cozy thinking you somehow deserve it. Well... think again.

Having said that - hook, line AND SINKER, people :)

UPDATE: Makaron Test 9/4 for those who like to experiment.
I'd urge you to wait for T10 as this is a bastard mix of current (broken) dev and older T9/2. I got it to compile and run but that's about it - not tested. It does include the DMA changes that should make WinCE games more stable but I make no guarantees.
It's still using old GD code which means (with the DMA changes I've made) it will most likely break Street Fighter Alpha and some other games.
Use the supplied plugins and Maple.ini to get vibration support and use F12 menu to enable VMU LCD overlay. Also, make sure to change sorting mode because it defaults to "Alternate" which turned out not to work for some games.
This release goes beyond experimental, it's downright partisan :) I'm not kiding you - unless you like 'em rough stay clear. I'd like to have some feedback on vibration support for upcoming T10 and that's the only reason it exists.

PS. No changes to full-screen mode in this one, and no support for 16:X aspect ratios. And Yuki, stick to your T9/3 for now :)

UPDATE 2: Okay people, here's what you need to have vibration:
1) T9/3 or T9/4 Makaron executable
2) T9/5 or T9/6 MakaronPAD.dll
3) Maple.ini edited so that MakaronPAD is being loaded instead of MakaronVMU for Slot 1 or Slot 2 on given port
4) Gamepad capable of vibration
5) Game with PuruPuru Pack support (you might still need to enable it in game options)

If you can't get T9/4 to run at all with supplied Maple.ini (crashes with an error), but it does work if you modify it to have VMU (or nothing) instead of MakaronPAD in the Slot1/2, it's a problem with my code not doing the right thing with your pad. Another easy way to check is to use Maple.ini (and plugins too if nothing else helps) from T9/2.
If it does run but you get no FF effects it could be the game doesn't use it or needs to have it enabled first. If you're positive everything is as it should be, it's probably my code again. A fast way to test if the plugin is loaded as it should be:

HOLLY/Maple: 0x20: Makaron controller (0x00270101 / 0x00540905)
HOLLY/Maple: 0x01: Makaron VMU (0x00030201 / 0x00540904)
HOLLY/Maple: 0x02: Makaron controller (0x00270101 / 0x00540905)
HOLLY/Maple: 0x60: Makaron controller (0x00270101 / 0x00540905)
HOLLY/Maple: 0x41: Makaron VMU (0x00030201 / 0x00540904)
HOLLY/Maple: 0x42: Makaron VMU (0x00030201 / 0x00540904)

See, the 0x02 address of port A is using PAD plugin instead of VMU.
BTW, don't try to be too smart and have 2 VMUs and a PuruPuru Pack together. Though it's possible to assign addresses 0x04, 0x08 and 0x10, no real Dreamcast device has more then 2 slots and most games will not recognize such configuration. You can try your luck with homebrew KOS/Linux/BSD software, those usually don't have such limitations.
For those of you who never had a DC controller in their hands - PPP will fit in Slot 1 but it's big and will prevent you from using VMU in Slot 2. Not to mention only Slot 1 VMU LCD is visible (in Makaron too) so it's best to stick PPP into Slot 2.

And another thing - you'd be suprised how broken gamepad drivers can be. I've got two and each had it's nasty suprises (and I've yet to try PS2 Dualshock USB interface). Also, force feedback features can vary from very basic "rumble" ones to a real force working against your moves. It's not that simple to get those more complicated gamepads to do simple vibration it seems...

Tags:makaron

Comments

2nd-Apr-2008 05:54 pm (UTC)

snappycrunch

I admit it. I got pwned.

2nd-Apr-2008 10:55 pm (UTC)

legend80

As did I, damn it!!! Every word was soooo perfect...nice job!

3rd-Apr-2008 02:15 am (UTC)

Anonymous

You should at least put up a donation link for those that are willing to compensate you for your efforts. You're right that most people take for granted the fact that most emulators are free. But some of us realize how much effort it takes to write one, especially this being a solo effort. Put up a donation link and see what comes in.

3rd-Apr-2008 10:16 am (UTC)

dknute

Thought about it - thing is, this would still feel like being paid for work. And of course there would be demands. I'd love the income but I'd hate the consequences even more, so... no.
Not to mention I don't trust much institutions like PayPal.

3rd-Apr-2008 10:06 pm (UTC)

Anonymous

Great!, but where can I download it?

3rd-Apr-2008 11:53 pm (UTC) - awesome

Anonymous

Wow, nice job, this emu is the closest at playing Ikaruga perfectly.

sorting is not perfect though. It gets the best results when turned "OFF", but that messes up the menus. Also, sound emulation has a TON of clipping, its very excessive and downright annoying at parts. But otherwise sound is close to perfect as well. The biggest problem is that the fps is not steady, it makes the audio stutter at parts.

btw, did you think about making an experimental DX10 build? No other emu gets Ikaruga right, especially because of the sorting issue. You already have way better sound, and also fog emulation, may want to give that a try as well.

Vibration works in Ikaruga, but I've no clue how it compares to the console (never had the rumble cart for it). Feels a bit excessive though, but I've no right to compare.

And awesome job on the VMU display, thats another thing no other DC emu can do. Opens up a whole new dimension in some games.

Last thing that comes to my mind: I can't set the analog shoulder triggers under pad setup on my x360 pad, I have to set it to the shoulder buttons and check digital. I'm using the morii x360 pad drivers, and the shoulder triggers are set to Z Axis and Z Rotation.

4th-Apr-2008 09:27 am (UTC) - Re: awesome

dknute

Sorting isn't perfect because current PC graphics cards lack certain features that PVR2 had. Doing it "around" isn't possible either, too slow and still not good enough due to design limitations. I'm still hoping DX11 will have hardware support for order-independant transparency. Really, this is not something that can be "fixed" just like that.

As for sound problems - what are your PC specs? Are you using MT version? Some stuttering is there because the DirectSound buffers are getting out of sync with AICA and the code trying to fix that on the fly is a bit dumb now. Clipping is another story... it might ADPCM stream buffer underrun (happens on slower PCs) - it ends up being way to soft or too loud. Again, what CPU do you have? If it's still Ikaruga we're talking about, what are SH4 counters when you sound starts to clip?

I'd like to try a DX10 build but that's a lot of work (mostly texture conversion). And I need a dev platform - which means DX10-capable card and Vista. Don't have neither (and I'm pretty sure coding this "blind" will not be the best way to spend my time).
Quite frankly unless M$ decides to create DX10 runtime for XP series you're out of luck. I'm not spending another 500E on OS I don't like and card I don't otherwise need :)

As for that x360 pad and analog triggers - I'd like to help. I always assumed that analog buttons will use same structure as digital ones (as long as you don't need more then 255 uniqe positions it's pretty much the same code). It's a bit more complicated with axes emulation but I've planned for that as well, just never got around to implement it. I'll look into it - keep in touch.

4th-Apr-2008 12:38 pm (UTC) - Re: awesome

Anonymous

e6550 and radeon 3650, vista ultiamte (without sp1). More then enough to run Makaron at full speed, even if I wouldn't have my e6550 overclocked.

running the normal exe instead of the MT one seemed to fix the sound, theres a lot less stuttering. Speeds are still not quite constant though, like if the emulated machine was underclocked or so. It feels... slower then normal, especially the music.

The SH4 counters don't seem to change in any way that could affect sound clipping. It happens in a few areas where an ambient bass plays as the scenery changes (in stage 2 when you move into the underground complex, in stage 5 when the 4-egg boss comes up).

I've heard somewhere that order independant transparency, as well as tesselation, is being planned for dx11 so heres hoping. :)

4th-Apr-2008 01:48 pm (UTC) - Re: awesome

dknute

Yeah, that CPU is pretty good (I've E6600 myself, not OC so far). It's strange you're getting better results with non-MT version but I did mess a bit with AICA recently... Err, could you go over your Dziennik.txt and see if there is "AICA DSP mode" log entry anywhere in that file?

As for slowdowns - problem is AICA and SH4 run in the same thread. SH4 takes most of CPU time but AICA must be called often as it runs timers that most games use to sync things (including sequenced music). If you call AICA too often, SH4 preformance will suffer greatly. If you don't call it often enough though, you start to miss timer IRQs - or rather, you process them with a delay. Even if really tiny, these delays sum up because the timer is being reloaded by software in that IRQ. Hence everything slows down...
I'm trying to come up with a system where I could somehow run timers and SH4/ARM/AICA mixer stuff separately. The obvious answer is another thread but that would be wasting a CPU core as this code would mostly do cheking, not actual running. We are talking about 1000 interrupts per second (compare this with SH4 doing some 200+ millions ops per second). Assuming I'd go that way and "waste" some CPU idling, only to catch those IRQ events fast enough, that takes away processing power I might need for rendering or disk I/O for example. Somehow 2 core CPUs are no longer enough :)

Having said that - you got a save anywhere near the places you have problems with sound? I could prepare a test version or two for you to check out, so that I would confirm what exactly is the cause of this behaviour.

4th-Apr-2008 06:11 pm (UTC) - Re: awesome

Anonymous

How exactly would I make a save? I assume you mean savestate. But, Ikaruga is very, very short so you can just download an all-unlocked savegame from gamefaqs, and use the practice mode to warp to levels in easy mode, at worst you have to play it for around 1 minute.

There are no AICA DSP mode entries in the log file (i did a search for "DSP", got no results).

By slowness here's an example at what I mean. I launched Stage 5 with a stopwatch, and played it to the point till the opening jingle repeats in the music. Time in Makaron: 1:15 minutes.
Then, I played the game recording I have of the music (adp files from the gamecube disc), and the same jingle started at the 1:05 position.

So, the game is indeed running a bit slower, this is including the music tempo. I have it set to all japanese mode and VGA output, so I'm sure its not a pal issue either. The BIOS in use is v1.00 according to the header, the md5 of it is 37c921eb47532cae8fb70e5d987ce91c. I'm running Ikaruga from a GDI rip.

The SH4 clock was above 200 during the whole test example, fluctuated between 200-300 actually - steady 300, slowed down at worst to 200 at big explosions.

5th-Apr-2008 12:33 pm (UTC) - Re: awesome

dknute

That's exactly the kind of slowdown I was talking about. I won't be fixing it though, it'll be rewritten once I get other things out of my way.
I haven't really played Ikaruga. It doesn't matter how long it is - simply running a dozen of games to see if they boot and don't glitch in attract mode takes hours.

Try this PAD plugin: http://rapidshare.com/files/105043426/MakaronPAD_T9_6.7z.html
Be sure to uncheck Digital mode!

5th-Apr-2008 07:49 pm (UTC) - Re: awesome

Anonymous

That pad plugin works with analog, thanks a lot!

Can't wait till you sort things out for tighter compatibility, Makaron is currently the most accurate DC emu by far. I'll hope that one day the sorting issue gets fixed too, especially if by DX10.

4th-Apr-2008 02:55 am (UTC)

wasilisk78

Excellent work!
Thanks.

Quality of a picture in RE:CV simply excellent. Plus is emulated a fog.

4th-Apr-2008 08:23 am (UTC) - CheK

Anonymous

Thanks! We very much appreciate your work!

4th-Apr-2008 03:15 pm (UTC) - Vibration

Anonymous

Thx for the new release dknute. Vibration is not working here (Genius Maxfire G-12U). It was tested in the control panel, and activated in-game, don't know if i have to change something in the INIs, though.

Tested with Rez and MvsC 2. Rez has funny textures and the sound has many glitches. There seems to be a little bit of lag too (in the DC swirl logo, the sounds are not synchronized with the letters).

Using XP SP3, C2D E4300@2.4GHz, 1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2, Audigy2 ZS, ATi Xpress 1250 chipset (an x700 integrated video, from what i could gather at Wikipedia)

9th-Apr-2008 11:44 am (UTC) - Re: Vibration

Anonymous

Ok, so i got the INI properly configured and Makaron reports that the plugin loaded correctly at start (like in the example posted in Update 2), but it doesn't work still (it was also activated in-game). Tested with the games i posted above. Well, no biggie, i'll wait for T10.

5th-Apr-2008 12:02 pm (UTC)

Anonymous

Vibration doesn't work with Sega Tetris (purupuru enabled in options) or Gooki Puyopuyo da (although I'm not sure this title even supports vibration).
WinXP-SP2 and Logitech RumblePad 2. I did a clean install of Makaron T9/4 because at first I thought it might be a problem with using the Makaron Frontend for configuration and having some old inis in the directory but it didn't help.
Also the music plays only at about 10% of the speed it should play (MT version). Sound FX are ok though and also the gameplay speed seems to be right.

5th-Apr-2008 12:35 pm (UTC)

dknute

Music is wrong on Tetris or Puyopuyo?

5th-Apr-2008 02:49 pm (UTC)

Anonymous

Music is too slow in Sega Tetris. Seems about 10-20% of real speed with MT version and about 50% with other version. The sound effects are accurate though. System is a Core2Duo 6600 with ATi X1950XTX and onboard sound (some Analog Devices SoundMax HD Audio chip). Music in Puyopuyo seems perfect (in sync and everything).
I really can't get vibration to work though. I get an error with a clean installation (all inis unchanged), but I can play when I enable pad configuration in makaron.ini and configure the pad. Log says "HOLLY/Maple: 0x02: Makaron controller", so it should theoretically work, but it doesn't. Vibration activated in Sega Tetris options and everything. Vibration does work with other games (and is quite strong). Do I have to check/unchek "Sega compatible" or "Digital Trigger" or something to make it work?

5th-Apr-2008 03:30 pm (UTC)

dknute

I knew it. The one game still broken is the one I don't have :)
The error on clean install is caused by PAD plugin not being configured (but assigned as PuruPuru pack). As long as it works after being configured it's OK.
The final question is what do you mean by "Vibration does work with other games"? Other as in PC games or other DC games under Makaron?

6th-Apr-2008 09:15 am (UTC)

naganagaoga

I've sent you a PM (through livejournal) about Sega Tetris. The other games that work with vibration are PC games. I'll test some more DC games soon to see if one of them has vibration effects in Makaron.

7th-Apr-2008 03:02 am (UTC) - Feedback from a HappyGuy

Anonymous

Hi, I just wanted to say that this is a real revelation for me, I never heard of this emulator before and I got shocked when I first tried it. You did a real FAST and GREAT job seriously. Thank you !

I just want to point out that Chu Chu Rocket and Sonic Adventure 2 seems not to works for me (In GDI format ripped using http-ack) but the otehr games I own in GDI works fine !

Also, some button don't works on my (weird 2¢ pirate) controller, for unknow reasons.

You really did a great job so far, looking forward for real good stuff !!

-=FamilyGuy=-

7th-Apr-2008 10:43 am (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

dknute

Both titles should work. I've finished first 10 or so levels on Chu Chu so I would now :) Unless I broke those in the last version, that is quite possible.
If you can't get them to boot, check if you have the right BIOS selected (i.e. dumped Japanese GDs will require Asia-region BIOS to run). Black screen and sound only = bad sorting mode in T9/4. If you can live without vibration and VMU LCD support use Makaron T9/2 which has less experimental code in it.

7th-Apr-2008 11:01 am (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

naganagaoga

Chu Chu Rocket works for me with T9/4 (GDI/NTSC-U). You probably have a bad dump or bios.
Also found some games with working vibration:
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2
- Dino Crisis
- Soul Calibur
- Space Channel 5
- Macross M3

7th-Apr-2008 12:17 pm (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

Anonymous

Skies of Arcadia works with the vibration pack too. Altough with T9/4 there are annoying sorting problems in the menus.

(Not to mention the infamous black screen bug when getting out of said menus that's present in both nullDC and Makaron.)

7th-Apr-2008 03:02 pm (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

dknute

If Makaron & nullDC share a common bug it's probably a nasty one (like cache dependency). For sorting make sure you're not using alternate method, it's a workaround for some games but breaks things.
Is there an easy way to quickly reproduce said bug? Savefile + good description really helps in these cases.

7th-Apr-2008 07:16 pm (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

Anonymous

It's an esay bug to reproduce. Seems to happen somewhat randomly when playing but can be quickly reproduced by pressing repeatedly on the "X" button to get in and out of the menus until it hangs. The screen remains black and never goes back to the game, but the background music will keep playing. The flash file also usually gets corrupted.

You have to be in an area where your characters walk freely. (Not in a fight or conversation.) If you need a save file, let me know how I can send it to you.

7th-Apr-2008 12:25 pm (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

Anonymous

Is there any special config to allow the VMU screen to show? I don't see it in any game.

Plus, is the VMU sound emulated? It'll be a lot easier looking out for chams if you can actually hear it.

7th-Apr-2008 03:07 pm (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

dknute

No VMU sound yet. I was planning to add that but I forgot about it completly :)
You need to have VMU LCD enabled - you can do it in F12 menu. For the time being there is also an undocumented switch for Makaron.ini file: add "LCD = 2" in the [Settings] section and it will be enabled by default. The number is the transparency level, 0 is off, 3 is fully opaque. Please keep in mind this option might change name or be removed in next version(s).

8th-Apr-2008 06:32 am (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

legend80

Rumble works fine for me.

Soul Caliber---X360 pad by Madcatz w/the XBCD 2.6 drivers.

8th-Apr-2008 06:54 am (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

legend80

All the WinCE games that I tried are not any more stable than 9/2...Sega Rally, PBA Bowling 2001, 4X4 Evolution, etc...they all pretty much crash where they used to...no change :(

8th-Apr-2008 11:59 pm (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

Anonymous

I was just about to say that makaron should remember the f12 menu settings, because the VMU screen rocks and I hate turning it on every time I run the emu. This kinda fixes that annoyance I had.

10th-Apr-2008 03:19 am (UTC) - Re: Feedback from a HappyGuy

Anonymous

Please don't remove it :)

10th-Apr-2008 07:32 pm (UTC) - Keyboard support?

Anonymous

Hi!

It's been 3 days since I started looking for a decent emulator for Dreamcast and I'm really impressed with yours. The video and sound quality overcome all emulators I've tested but there's only one problem.
Well, I don't have a game pad and have no intention of buying one. So, I was wondering if there's way to use my keyboard to play. It'd be great! :)

Anyway, thank you for your attention.
And, if you do have a way to use the keyboard, may you send an e-mail to tiagosartor [at] gmail [dot] com explaining how? I'd appreciate. :)

Thank you once again.
Tiago Sartor.

10th-Apr-2008 11:38 pm (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

Anonymous

First, you need to read the FAQ - his policy states very clearly NO KEYBOARD SUPPORT. Second, consider a dash of netiquette. You shouldn't request that he email you directly when it's obvious he responds to the posts right from this board. Why should Deunan take his time to email you directly when you're clearly too lazy to even check back here? He's got, um, better things to do. :)

Having said that, I'm going to contradict myself and second your request for keyboard support. I actually have FOUR gamepads which I sometimes connect to my laptop, but I'm often on travel and sometimes either forget them at home or don't want the extra heft with me. It also helps when all I want to do is beta test the latest release from a different room where the gamepads aren't. So yes, keyboard support would be a BIG plus.

11th-Apr-2008 01:53 am (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

Anonymous

You're right. I'm sorry. I haven't read the FAQ yet because I didn't have time. However, I'll read it. I promise. I requested him to e-mail me because I thought he could be a cool guy who likes to have some feedback about his work, which I find excellent and has a lot to grow, even though I know that it's not easy. And I was in a hurry, so I couldn't bookmark his blog. Just now I realized that if I put the emulator's name on Google I could the address again and fortunately I did.

Well, back to the topic, keyboard support would be a great improvement and a lot of people would enjoy it.

Thank you.
Tiago.

11th-Apr-2008 06:16 am (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

Anonymous

Actually, couldn't someone uses glovePIE to emulate a gamepad using his keyboard ?

That'd make it works pretty well I think, without any extra coding by Dknute, who seems to be the kind of guy that likes to play consoles with a controller (and I agree with this).

Nothing feels weirder than playing nes with a keyboard (beside things that can't be said on TV), the same apply for DC.

However I understand why keyboard support would be a plus: You're 99% SURE the people downloading the Emulator got at least one...

Just my 2 cents

-=FamilyGuy=-

11th-Apr-2008 12:22 pm (UTC) - Keyboard support for make benefit glorious users of Makaron

Anonymous

Well of course GlovePIE could be used... but what a big ugly hack THAT is. I can see the usefulness of GlovePIE in other circumstances, but here, a simple keyboard interface to Makaron itself would eliminate the unnecessary NEED for extra software to be installed/running every time the emu is loaded. Plus, the interface could be whipped up in very short order so it's not like it's a huge coding effort. So yeah, it would definitely be a huge plus. There are so many reasons why I won't even bother posting em here, though I'm sure most people are thinking the same things anyway.

Still, if Deunan wants it that way "just because", hey, he's the boss..

11th-Apr-2008 12:47 pm (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

dknute

There is a keyboard plugin. Not the kind you want though, it emulates DC keyboard :)

It's not like I never used PC keyboard to play, or mouse (seriously, how else would one play FPP games? I can't even walk straight using gamepad in UT or Quake for Dreamcast). Game controllers however were created with simplicity and convenience in mind - and with excellent results too. You get to understand this once you start playing using one.

Aside from limitations of PC keyboards, like the number of keys that can be detected being pressed at the same time, there is no way to emulate analog stick properly (or triggers, not to mention analog buttons that PS2 Dualshocks have). Many games require those - aside maybe from 2D figthers. I'm pretty sure that for every emulator that has gamepad done via keyboard there are number of people who complain on how the analog stick approximation is not enough or too sensitive, not responsive, etc. I don't want to deal with that crap.

USB cable gamepads can be bought cheaply these days, hell even some of the wireless stuff now is pretty affordable. Personally, having owned several pads, I'd go for PS2/X360 + USB adapter combo, as native PC gamepad of equal performance is hard to get and usually more expensive.

Trust me when I say this - right now you might just want to play, so keyboard seems a good and cheap start, but once you get a gamepad and use it some you'll never EVER want to go back. When I got my Beyond Good & Evil for PC and learned it has no pad support I was furious. But Thrustmaster software allows for emulation of keys/mouse via the pad so I worked around it :)

11th-Apr-2008 02:25 pm (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

Anonymous

Deunan, it's not that people don't have gamepads or understand how much better they are. I'll go out on a limb and guess about 90% of the people posting here have pads. I have four myself, not counting a bunch of old ones I have lying in boxes that wouldn't even be worth the cost of shipping if anyone wanted them.

I think it has more to do with other factors. Not everyone has desktop machines with pads that are ALWAYS connected. I have a laptop that goes with me wherever I am, which includes travel. Ever try to play a game with a pad on a plane? You'd look pretty silly. Also, I like to beta test your software when new releases come out, but I'm almost never around my pads when that happens. Without having at least basic keyboard support, I can't even hit "start" or "X" to get into the game from the menus just to see if some of my GDROMs are now emulated better with the new release. It may not sound like a big deal, but I can be away from my pads for weeks at a time, so it's a bummer situation that could be fixed with a simple keyboard interface.

Take MAME for instance - it has full keyboard support, even for classic games like Food Fight that have pure analog controls. These games work decently (though admittedly not as good as with an analog pad), but certainly enough for the MAMEtesters team to look into the game and hunt bugs. So the utility is certainly there.

Deunan, please consider adding keyboard support to a future release. It would definitely help.

p.s. I had no idea you've already emulated the DC keyboard though - very nice! Do you support special characters on that keyboard? Without it, you can only go about 10% into "Typing of the Dead" before you can't continue further since it wants you to type stuff like "(" and "\". NullDC has this problem currently.

Thanks for all you do.

11th-Apr-2008 03:44 pm (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

dknute

The laptop on a plane is a compelling argument, but then again it's also very unlikely scenario for most people :) Still, I'm not exactly a fan of laptops so I'm probably a bit biased here.

The way I see it, features like that bring in the wrong type of crowd. Choosing to use keyboard over a gamepad (for whatever reason) is OK, I just don't want to deal with demands of people who are too, well, stupid, to realise keyboard is just a substitute - not a long term solution. Tell you what, I'll think about it some more.

As for the DC keyboard support - why don't you test it yourself? That plugin is part of distribution since T9/2 I think. It's called MakaronKEY.dll and on T9/4 is assigned to Port D by default (see Maple.ini for details). I can't possibly test all games by myself...

11th-Apr-2008 04:05 pm (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

Anonymous

Thanks for considering it further, Deunan. I totally agree that keyboard is a substitute, and you aren't getting the whole "experience" without playing on a real pad. I even take it a step further and try to play the games on TVs that were popular at the time (for DC that would be a 4:3, standard def, tube TV). I love messing with an Atari 2600 emu on an old BW TV with a wood-grain cabinet! Ah, memories... ;)

OTOH, an emulator IS a substitute by its very definition - real purists would just use a real console and not bother with emulators. :)

Thanks for the tips re: MakaronKEY. Unless I'm missing something though, the Maple.ini in the T9/4 distro only refers to Ports A and B. Easy enough to edit provided I get the addresses right, though I wondered if this was intentional or not. Also, in order to test it I'll need to have my *cough* pads *cough* plugged in. ;)

11th-Apr-2008 05:21 pm (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

dknute

Hmm... my bad. I didn't have T9/4 Maple.ini when I wrote this and just assumed it'd be the same as on my dev version. Just add:

[PortD]
Adres0x20 = MakaronKEY.dll

That's it. Pick another port if the game requires it, but it shouldn't be necessary. The emulated keyboard is always US-104 type, no matter what region you choose. For now at least.

I never had 2600 but I did visit friends with ZX Spectrum or Atari 65XE/800XL quite frequently :) I'm pretty sure even said purists would not like it very much if tape loading times were still about 10 minutes or so.

12th-Apr-2008 04:55 am (UTC) - Re: Keyboard support?

Anonymous

Thanks, Deunan. I actually added that to the file in advance, though didn't know if was correct or not because, well you know, no pads here. ;)

I hear you about the tape loading times... I had an Apple ][+ way back in the day, and was thankfully spared due to Woz' speedy Disk ][ interface!

20th-Apr-2008 04:17 pm (UTC) - Trio Linker Plus II

Anonymous

Hey, just to say that the EMU works well with the Trio Linker PLus II usb gamepad adaptor(PSX\DC\GC) With the generix windows drivers, but won't works with the drivers that come with the adapter. Thus no vibration is possible on the PSX ro GC controller. It works perfewctly with a DC controller without Vibration BTW !

FG

4th-May-2008 07:21 am (UTC)

legend80

Hey!

There hasn't been so much as a comment around here for weeks, so thought I'd say "hey" to Deunan and everyone. I'm bored testing the new Makaron...aside from what I reported before, its fine. Has work resumed for the next version or is the project on haitus? Just wanted to check in. Thanks!

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