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DS homebrew announcements > DS2x86 v0.09 alpha released!

#175567 - Pate - Wed Dec 29, 2010 12:11 pm

Hi all!

I decided to release the first alpha version of my DS2x86 emulator (a DSx86 port using the SuperCard DSTwo's MIPS processor), which I have been working on for the last (almost) half a year. It is still missing a lot of stuff and is very buggy, but since I have sort of promised in my blog to release some kind of a version during this year, I thought now would be a good time. Next I need to do some major changes to it so that it will probably get broken for a while, so I wanted to get the first release out before that.

Looking forward to your test reports! Please note that it really is still very buggy, so do not expect to actually play very many games on it yet. I would appreciate your help in testing it, as I prefer coding it instead of testing a lot of different games on it. :-)

You can get it from my download page at http://dsx86.patrickaalto.com/ (also, if you wish to host it elsewhere, that would be appreciated to save the limited bandwidth of my hosting site).

Thanks for your interest!

Ps. I tried to post here immediately when I released it last Sunday, but the forum was down. So, sorry for this late announcement..

Patrick "pate" Aalto
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Last edited by Pate on Sun May 22, 2011 8:14 am; edited 6 times in total

#175568 - sverx - Wed Dec 29, 2010 5:33 pm

Congratulations Pate! :)

Now I just need a SuperCard... LOL!

#175570 - Cid2Mizard - Wed Dec 29, 2010 9:38 pm

Don't works for me !
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#175579 - elwing - Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:48 am

I tryed A-Train with no luck, but I was able to play bloodnet at a great speed... I had a few skippable not supported opcode when using the up button in the save screen but otherwise it played fine (well at least the intro, character creation, 5 minutes of gameplay and saves... I have not tryed to reload them yet through...) from what I gathered it's a 386/486 game for 16MHz+... you did a great work.

I have no time to post log yet... will post them later

#175580 - erbsengehirn - Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:30 pm

BIG THX
but i need a Supercard oO

#175809 - Master_Thief - Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:04 pm

I finally picked up a DSTWO this week and I've managed to get some testing done with 0.03.

I focused on those that either don't run in DSx86 or those that ran rather slowly. There wasn't much in the way of new games playable, but the speed difference in the slow games (alien breed and wing commander especially) was massive. Excellent work Pate :)


Alien Breed - Playable - Excellent speed, no sound though.
Bloodnet - Partially Working - Gets ingame but has some issues with the cursor, also gives an "unsupported opcode" everytime the top menu is shown.
Burntime - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Bram Stokers Dracula - Playable - Runs at a pretty good speed.
Cybercon 3 - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Doom (Ultimate Doom) - Playable - Works, though is a little slow.
Formula One Grand Prix - Partially Working - Gets ingame and runs at a pretty good speed, but gives an "unsupported opcode" at random.
Grand Prix Unlimited - Playable - Excellent speed, though sound only partially working.
Ken's Labyrinth - Playable - Great speed, though no sound.
KGB - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Raiden - Playable - Excellent speed, no sound though.
Sensible Soccer - Playable - Excellent speed, no sound though.
Spellcraft - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Ultima Underworld - Partially Working - Ingame runs at great speed, no sound though and saving/loading not working.
Wing Commander - Playable - Excellent speed, no sound though.
Wing Commander 2 - Playable - Excellent speed, no sound except speech though.
X-Wing - Playable - Excellent speed, no sound though.
Yendorian Tales: Tyrants Of Thaine - Playable - Works, though no sound.

Logfile | Complete list of games tested
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DSx86 Compatibility List

#175810 - Pate - Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:01 pm

Cool Master_Thief, glad to have you also on the DS2x86 testing team! :-)

Yeah, DS2x86 is quite a lot faster than the original DSx86, and I hope to improve it's speed still a little bit. Adding the AdLib sound emulation will sadly slow it down again (when I get around to that).

I hope to get a few more 386-specific games running in the next version.

Thanks for taking the time to test it!

Pate
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#175811 - Lazy1 - Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:05 pm

Is there a hardware problem communicating from the dstwo and the arm7, like not being fast enough?

#175814 - Pate - Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:09 am

I am not sure about the specifics, but it looks like sending two screens and two-channel audio from the DSTwo card to the Nintendo side will pretty much take up all the available bandwidth.

The DSTwo SDK does not allow any access to the ARM9 or ARM7 side, everything needs to be coded for the MIPS processor. Thus I can not use my ARM7 AdLib emulation, instead I need to code it again from scratch for the MIPS architecture. A task I am not looking forward to with any enthusiasm.

Pate
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#175856 - Pate - Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:15 am

Version 0.04 released!

A lot of protected mode opcode work, so a few more 386-specific games might run in this version. Still a lot of work remains to be done, though...

Pate
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#175858 - spinal_cord - Sun Feb 20, 2011 11:20 am

I realise that this project has a lot of work ahead of it, but...

Is/will it (be) possible to install windows 3.1 on 4dos, or use msdos instead?
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#175860 - Master_Thief - Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:10 pm

3 new games now working and others now giving different error (couldn't seem to get Worms or Warcraft running though).

Archer Macleans Pool - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Blake Stone - Playable - Works, though sound not fully working.
Heretic - Playable - Works, though is a little slow.

Logfile | Complete list of games tested
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DSx86 Compatibility List

#175868 - Pate - Mon Feb 21, 2011 7:25 am

spinal_cord: Yes, eventually DS2x86 should be able to run Windows 3.1. I still need to do a lot of other work before starting work on Windows support, though.

Master_Thief: Thanks for your continued testing! Sorry about the Worms and Warcraft issues, I only tested the shareware demo versions of those and not very thoroughly. I'll try to improve them based on the problems in your log file, hopefully the next version works better.

Pate
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#175939 - Pate - Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:37 am

Version 0.05 released!

The major improvements and fixes in this version are the following:

    Preliminary support for high resolution EGA/VGA modes 640x200, 640x350 and 640x480 added. NOTE! Scaling does not work properly in these modes yet.
    Implemented preliminary support for Mode-X mode 360x240 (for the Settlers game).
    Implemented a lot of missing opcode variations, now a majority of the most common opcodes have been implemented, but many rare opcodes are still missing.
    Increased the EMS memory size to 4MB, which allows Elder Scrolls: Arena to start up.
    You can now switch between the configuration sections in the INI file on-the-fly, by clicking on the current configuration name.
    Fixed a stack alignment problem in overlay loading, which caused an "Exception 5" error in some programs.
    Fixed a bug in SETZ opcode, which caused Warcraft to hang when giving a command to dig gold. NOTE! It is recommended that you play Warcraft with "no sound", as the SoundBlaster emulation in DS2x86 seems to cause intermittent freezes and crashes.
    Fixed a bug in division-by-zero interrupt handling, which caused Formula One: Grand Prix to fail.

Please send me the debug logs from this version again, they are very helpful when I improve DS2x86!

Pate
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#175940 - Master_Thief - Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:54 pm

Yet another batch of games now playable in this version :-)

Alone In The Dark 3 - Playable - Works, though framerate is inconsistent, also no sound.
Arena - Playable - Works though is a little slow, no sound either.
Betrayal At Krondor - Playable - Works, no sound though.
Blake Stone 2 - Playable - Works perfectly.
Bust A Move - Playable?? - Now gets to title screen, couldn't get the menu selections to work though.
Death Gate - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Depth Dwellers - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Frontier: Elite - Partially Working - Now gets ingame, but give continous "unsupported opcodes" (which can be skipped).
Hardball 4 - Playable - Works perfectly.
Lemmings 3 - Partially Working - Now gives an "unsupported opcode" error after selecting your level.
Sensible World Of Soccer - Playable?? - Gets to menu, but arrow keys don't work (can't reassign them in setup).
Terminator - Playable - Works, no sound though.
Tie Fighter - Playable - Works, a little laggy in places though perfectly playable, no sound though.
Warcraft - Playable - Works, unstable with sound enabled though.

One weird issue I encountered though was that from time to time some keypresses seemed to become "stuck", i.e. when turning left and right in Alone 3 occasionally when you released the key the character would continue to turn for a second afterwards. It also occurred occasionally when using the d-pad mouse also.

Logfile | Full list of games tested
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DSx86 Compatibility List

#175941 - Pate - Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:28 pm

Thanks for the testing and log again Master_Thief!

The sticky key problem is something that I have been fighting with constantly, pretty much since starting this project. I suspect there is something wrong with either the DS2 SDK itself, or with my nonstandard method of transferring data to the ARM side from the MIPS processor side.

It looks like occasionally the key presses (and releases) simply get lost. I added some checks to the lowest level interrupt handler in the DS2 SDK, and even that does not get all the key events when that happens, so I don't know how to fix this issue properly. Hopefully I will figure out a fix eventually.

Pate
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#176163 - Pate - Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:27 am

Version 0.07 released!

This version has the following improvements:

- Blinking cursor in text modes (finally!).
- HIMEM.SYS emulation added, allows Chaos Engine to run.
- Fixed a serious total crash problem in 32-bit string opcodes.
- Fixed a stack alignment problem that could cause "Exception 4" BSOD errors.
- Improved BSOD reporting, now includes a stack trace.
- Improved horizontal blank reporting, this might solve hanging problems in some games.
- Improved Mode-X graphics blitting code to handle wrap-around properly.
- Changed the screen refresh interrupt interval from 60Hz to 59Hz. This might help with the intermittent "stuck key" problem in some games.
- Direct file read to EGA memory is now supported (f.ex. in "Heimdall").
- Implemented a number of previously missing opcodes.

Pate
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#176166 - Master_Thief - Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:48 pm

Another good update :-)

Alone In The Dark - Playable - Excellent speed, no sound though.
Chaos Engine - Playable - Works, no sound though.
CyClones - Playable - Works, though no sound and is a little slow.
Frontier: Elite - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Indy 500 - Playable - Works, though is a little slow.
In Extremis - Playable - Works, though no sound and a little slow.
Jagged Alliance - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Knights Of Xentar - Playable?? - Now gets ingame, but uses 640 screen resolution so is difficult to play.
Lands Of Lore - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Lemmings 3 - Partially Working - Now gets ingame, but has graphics issues with sprites and bottom options.
Micro Machines - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Mortal Kombat - Playable - Works, though no sound and a little slow.
Mortal Kombat 2 - Playable - Works, though is a little slow.
Nascar - Playable - Works, though is extremely slow.
Quarantine - Playable - Works, though is a little slow.
Theme Park - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Time Gate - Playable - Works, though no sound and a little slow.
Ultima Underworld 2 - Partially Working - No sound and saving/loading not working.
Universe - Playable - Works, no sound though.
Whales Voyage - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Witchaven - Playable - Works, though no sound and very slow.

Logfile | Complete list of games tested
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DSx86 Compatibility List

#176167 - Pate - Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:01 pm

Big thanks again for your extensive testing MasterThief! Your logfile will keep me busy for a while again. :-)

Pate
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#176205 - Pate - Sun May 08, 2011 10:37 am

Version 0.08 released!

This version has the following improvements:
- A lot of new opcodes implemented!
- Windows 3.00a can be run in either Real or Standard mode.
- Improved BSOD reporting further, now errors in the core emulation are reported in the dsx86dbg.log file.
- Some other bug fixes and improvements.

Pate
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#176223 - Pate - Sun May 22, 2011 8:15 am

Version 0.09 released!

This version has the following improvements:
- Implemented screen scaling for all common graphics modes.
- Fixed the DOS and BIOS date/time functions to return proper Real Time Clock values. This might fix some hanging games.
- Fixed EGA Read Mode 1 handling (fixes EGATrek graphical issues)
- Fixed EGA Read Mask initial value (fixes Ultima V hanging)
- Added a warning message for games that need a Floating Point Unit.
- Screen copies are saved to incrementally numbered files SCR00.BMP..SCR99.BMP.

Pate
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#176227 - Master_Thief - Mon May 23, 2011 9:17 pm

Yet more games working in this new version :-)

Alien Incident - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Cannon Fodder - Playable - Works, no sound though.
Daemons Gate - Playable - Works, no sound though.
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands - Playable - Works, no sound though.
Dungeon Hack - Playable - Works, no sound though.
Falcon 3 - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Fantastic Adventures Of Dizzy - Partially Working - Game now runs but has some graphical corruption at bottom of screen and the background.
Gunship 2000 - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Hexen - Playable - Works, though is a little slow.
Legends - Playable - Works, though no sound.
Microsoft Flight Sim 5.0 - Partially Working - Now gets ingame, but no controls seem to work (including mouse buttons).
Realms Of Arkania: Shadows Over Riva - Partially Working - Freezes after exiting first temple
Rise Of The Triad - Partially Working - Freezes after a second of entering first level.
Sensible Golf - Playable - Works, though no sound.

Logfile | Complete list of games tested
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DSx86 Compatibility List

#176228 - Pate - Tue May 24, 2011 7:18 pm

Thanks for testing again Master_Thief!

A few more games working every version.. I hope to soon have time to start working on improving the audio support.

Pate
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