Topic: What I've been working on (iq_132's work in progress)

[vbt]

Namco system 1 is cool too (dragon spirit,splatterhouse,...)

[Arcadez]

You port one namco driver they want em all

[SNK_Dude]

You port one namco driver they want em all

Thats right gamez fan, classic namco is the best. 

[Arcadez]

Thats right gamez fan, classic namco is the best. 

Yeah but a huge amount of work to port the namcos1 driver which runs splatterhouse and some other great games to FBA
for that reason i'd never request it but after the suna8 debacle im barred from requests anyway

[iq_132]

The Namco titles are nearly as nasty as the Konami ones. Right now I just don't have the time.

[SNK_Dude]

So its hard to port these drivers to FBA even though its really old arcade hardware?

[Haze]

So its hard to port these drivers to FBA even though its really old arcade hardware?

There are a lot of MCUs you'd either have to emulate (like MAME does for most of them since they were decapped) or simulate (which old versions of MAME did) with subtle problems if you get them wrong.

Also things like the starfield generator and non-trivial priority systems (PacLand and Super Pacman really abuse them for example) make things more difficult.

Pole Position even uses a CPU nothing else in MAME uses (some old computer / terminal systems use similar, but even then not an identical CPU)

Namco System 1 is a mess of multiple CPUs and MCUs with very heavy memory banking etc. when it was first emulated people considered it something of a miracle.  (of course porting something is easier than having to reverse engineer and understand it in the first place, but still, a lot of work)

Old hardware doesn't mean 'easy to emulate' at least not if you want a good quality of emulation.

[iq_132]

Not really an update I can show, but Cowering's cleanup of the ics2115 (think PGM sound) code made porting the newest version very simple. The next version of FBA will have muuuch better sound in games lok ddp3, espgal, and the many other PGM games.

[JacKc]

I can confirm PGM games now sounds better with new ICS2115 version ported to FBA

Just need now to fix player 4 button for olds & clones and PGM will be great in FBA 

[iq_132]

I can confirm PGM games now sounds better with new ICS2115 version ported to FBA

Just need now to fix player 4 button for olds & clones and PGM will be great in FBA 

I'll have time next week to look at it. I'll try to remember. Dink has a list for me too.

edit
Actually, can you uncomment this in pgm_run and play olds for me.
    //    default:
    //        bprintf(PRINT_NORMAL, _T("Attempt to read byte value of location %x (PC: %5.5x)\n"), sekAddress, SekGetPC(-1));

if it shows reads from 0xc08000 or 0xc08001, add this to PgmReadByte:

        case 0xC08000:    // p2 controls
           return ~PgmInput[1];
                 
        case 0xc08001:    // p1 controls
           return ~PgmInput[0];


I'm curious the game is trying to read the controls as a byte instead of a word. ddp2 does this for the dips.

[JacKc]

uncommented

        default:
        bprintf(PRINT_NORMAL, _T("Attempt to read byte value of location %x (PC: %5.5x)\n"), sekAddress, SekGetPC(-1));

and added to UINT8 __fastcall PgmReadByte(UINT32 sekAddress) :

        case 0xC08000:    // p2 controls
           return ~PgmInput[1];
                 
        case 0xc08001:    // p1 controls
           return ~PgmInput[0];

But it does not fix the player 4 button issue in olds & clones.

NOTE: Player 4 button is working for olds103t before and after this...something related to protection?

[iq_132]

uncommented

        default:
        bprintf(PRINT_NORMAL, _T("Attempt to read byte value of location %x (PC: %5.5x)\n"), sekAddress, SekGetPC(-1));

and added to UINT8 __fastcall PgmReadByte(UINT32 sekAddress) :

        case 0xC08000:    // p2 controls
           return ~PgmInput[1];
                 
        case 0xc08001:    // p1 controls
           return ~PgmInput[0];

But it does not fix the player 4 button issue in olds & clones.

NOTE: Player 4 button is working for olds103t before and after this...something related to protection?

Probably. I was hoping it would be this. I'll have to look at it next week.

[JacKc]

Sadly i can't remember in which FBA version the player 4 button for olds & clones has been broken...But i know by the past, the player 4 button has worked.

So maybe something related to last changes in "improving" olds protection with the intro which previously crashed at the end?

[SNK_Dude]

There are a lot of MCUs you'd either have to emulate (like MAME does for most of them since they were decapped) or simulate (which old versions of MAME did) with subtle problems if you get them wrong.

Also things like the starfield generator and non-trivial priority systems (PacLand and Super Pacman really abuse them for example) make things more difficult.

Pole Position even uses a CPU nothing else in MAME uses (some old computer / terminal systems use similar, but even then not an identical CPU)

Namco System 1 is a mess of multiple CPUs and MCUs with very heavy memory banking etc. when it was first emulated people considered it something of a miracle.  (of course porting something is easier than having to reverse engineer and understand it in the first place, but still, a lot of work)

Old hardware doesn't mean 'easy to emulate' at least not if you want a good quality of emulation.

Thanks for that quality description Haze, I kinda feel like a fool now thinking just because its older means its easy to emulate, I have even more appreciation to you devs now after understanding that fact.   

[Arcadez]

Directed at no one in particular just stuck it here and all ive heard Some folks would like to see this one in FBA sometime
nice wee game and is heavily based off the Double Dragon driver code

China Gate