Joined: 11/27/2017
Posts: 86
Location: United Kingdom
phoenix1291 wrote:
I think a trained eye and ear, like yours, will detect if there is a problem in the video or audio emulation, which I would be unable to do on this machine.
Great, thanks!
That seems to be one of the great plus points about bizhawk's deterministic cores. The videos should always be great, even if your machine isnt :)
Yes, indeed!
That's why I like Bizhawk so much, even in a casual run, it gives an exceptional quality!
This is the reason why I wonder, since M.A.M.E is "soon" being integrated, this emulator and this one have not been tested for integration since the "waterbox" exists for BizHawk. And WinUAE seems perfectly suited for such integration, but nothing seems to be planned.
We need a CPC emulator as I mentioned earlier, and a Game & Watch emulator, and that would be almost perfect!
After, of course, we always want more! :D
Anyway, thanks for your crazy work, I never thought I'd see a ZX Spectrum core in BizHawk!
This is the reason why I wonder, since M.A.M.E is "soon" being integrated, this emulator and this one have not been tested for integration since the "waterbox" exists for BizHawk. And WinUAE seems perfectly suited for such integration, but nothing seems to be planned.
We need a CPC emulator as I mentioned earlier, and a Game & Watch emulator, and that would be almost perfect!
Things are added to BizHawk based on the interest of people adding them. Personally I've never even heard of the CPC before, so I have zero interest in working on it. Realistically it would take someone like Asnivor who is really interested in the system to come in and build the core for it to become a reality. (At this point many common chips, such as the z80 and AY-3-8910, already exist in BizHawk in various forms. And probably a lot of architectural elements from the Spectrum could be borrowed for the CPC, but even still it would take a good 15-20 hours of effort to make work.)
natt is the only person who can do the waterbox stuff, so it's really up to him what happens with it.
Also there just isn't much demand for old computer emulation. Apple II and C64 have a combined 10 TASes.
Having said that, if you happen to know any enthusiasts who are interested in working on emulation, now is a good time to jump in. There is low hanging fruit like MSX where there is basically 100% commonality with parts from other cores. It would mostly just involve learning BizHawk's system to make that one work. From there other systems are not that far off.
Thanks for all this information again Alyosha!
It's interesting to know that a lot of "pieces" can overlap between different cores!
Alyosha wrote:
natt is the only person who can do the waterbox stuff, so it's really up to him what happens with it.
Ah! Ok.
Alyosha wrote:
Also there just isn't much demand for old computer emulation. Apple II and C64 have a combined 10 TASes.
Yes, ten it's extremely few!
For the Apple II if there was joystick support, it would allow more playable games and better controls than the keyboard for those who are compatible..
And the C64 core has been really well developed now, it works really well, it's too bad it's not more successful!
These two cores may have lacked a little "publicity" :)
As you also point out, it is true that many people turn to the machines they have known mainly.
Here are two more small videos, there really was no problem, you really created a solid core Asnivor!
Are there any particular games that should be tested? I don't know, games that are known to be difficult to emulate or that have specific characteristics?
Oh, and another question, does ZXhawk support Currah MicroSpeech?
In the list available here, 75 titles are listed as compatible with Currah MicroSpeech.
Wonder Boy (1987)(The Hit Squad)[re-release](128k).tzx MD5: 4E9050EDF44EF733036CC05279F4A2DD is broken at Area 1 - Level 4.
I'll try another version later to see if the problem is present too.
Link to videoLink to video
Joined: 1/24/2018
Posts: 254
Location: Stafford, NY
Beware that there are plenty of rumored and confirmed unbeatable games for the ZX Spectrum, so any reported problems with the emulation need to be carefully double-checked that they are not simply mimicking something known to happen on the original system.
EDIT: Second thread on the same forum on the same topic.
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
Joined: 11/27/2017
Posts: 86
Location: United Kingdom
phoenix1291 wrote:
Oh, and another question, does ZXhawk support Currah MicroSpeech?
In the list available here, 75 titles are listed as compatible with Currah MicroSpeech.
Not as yet. But its certainly do-able if people want it.
phoenix1291 wrote:
Wonder Boy (1987)(The Hit Squad)[re-release](128k).tzx MD5: 4E9050EDF44EF733036CC05279F4A2DD is broken at Area 1 - Level 4.
I'll try another version later to see if the problem is present too.
Can you confirm the model of spectrum you are running?
I have some suspicions about the +2a and +3 memory paging at the moment. Until I get round to verifying this, stick with 128k, +2 or 48k.
If the bug IS present in the 3 machines above, please let me know.
Ok, thanks for your answer about the Currah MicroSpeech. :)
I mainly use the 128k.
I'll test with the +2, but I don't know if this version is suited for the 48k?
Wonder Boy (1987)(The Hit Squad)[re-release](128k).tzx
Joined: 11/27/2017
Posts: 86
Location: United Kingdom
phoenix1291 wrote:
Ok, thanks for your answer about the Currah MicroSpeech. :)
I mainly use the 128k.
I'll test with the +2, but I don't know if this version is suited for the 48k?
Wonder Boy (1987)(The Hit Squad)[re-release](128k).tzx
Nope, that will be 128k only version.
128k and +2 are basically the same machine from an emulation point of view. I'll see if I can replicate the problem later.
Thanks,
-Asni
* What bios/firmwire do we need?
You don't. All the system ROM images are embedded in BizHawk. Amstrad many years ago allowed the distribution (for the purposes of non-commercial emulation) of the Sinclair ROMs that they purchased back in the '80s.
Embedded??? Is it a joke?? You couldn't imagine how much time I have wasted to find the firmware for old computers! And here comes the first one that doesn't require the firmware! Dude, you are the legend!
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
Ah, thanks for the links Asnivor, it's interesting!
I was wondering, since I couldn't find any Power Drift image or video beyond a single loop, if the graphic artifacts are normal or not? It's only affects some texts.
(I did the game in a classic run, A-B-C-D-E, during the first loop, no worries, but from the second, the text glitches)
Here is a link to the movie file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h15e9ERCrMTWLRLzCtzkqd7Z3GDlHy_-
(Power Drift (1989)(Activision)[a].tzx MD5: 82AB9CEC081AE83CFD9B323203728633)
I would be interested to know how fast can you play it?
I'll put the video here as soon as I can.
Oh, and I still have this speed problem (though, in the meantime I restarted my computer, well I still have as much open stuff, I must say), apparently, as described above, it only affects some games, and sometimes only some game versions, and this is probably due to my hardware, again, but for Power Drift, the maximum I could reach is 19fps and when I dump an avi (at basic resolution x4), I am at maximum 16fps with this game...
Joined: 11/27/2017
Posts: 86
Location: United Kingdom
Those artifacts aren't normal.
There is probably something simple going on with paging, or the shadow-screen implementation.
I haven't really got any time this weekend, but will look into it further next week.
-Asni
Joined: 11/27/2017
Posts: 86
Location: United Kingdom
phoenix1291 wrote:
(I did the game in a classic run, A-B-C-D-E, during the first loop, no worries, but from the second, the text glitches)
Here is a link to the movie file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h15e9ERCrMTWLRLzCtzkqd7Z3GDlHy_-
(Power Drift (1989)(Activision)[a].tzx MD5: 82AB9CEC081AE83CFD9B323203728633)
I would be interested to know how fast can you play it?
I'll put the video here as soon as I can.
Oh, and I still have this speed problem (though, in the meantime I restarted my computer, well I still have as much open stuff, I must say), apparently, as described above, it only affects some games, and sometimes only some game versions, and this is probably due to my hardware, again, but for Power Drift, the maximum I could reach is 19fps and when I dump an avi (at basic resolution x4), I am at maximum 16fps with this game...
Yes, I see the glitches in the movie. I need to work out whether thats a zxhawk thing, or an issue with the original game.
Speed-wise I have no problem at all on my home machine. Its a solid 50fps clocked, up to around 300fps unthrottled on Power Drift.
Thats with Win7 x64, i5-3470, 12GB RAM and an HD 7450. So nothing really that special.
That's weird.
I've never had a speed problem with BizHawk before.
Maybe it is due to interference with my antivirus software or some other program I may have installed recently, I don't know.
The weird thing is that as said before, this is not the case for all games, and sometimes it's only some versions of the same game with which I have this problem.
It's not very important, as long as it works, thanks again!
Since there didn't seem to be any, I opened a "ZX Spectrum Wishlist" topic to discuss a bit about ZX Spectrum games, now that we have this core :)
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
* ZX Spectrum +3 (no floppy drive support yet)
[...]
Features:
* Accepts *.tzx and *.tap spectrum tape image file formats
[...]
Still to do:
* Implement +3 floppy controller and drive emulation
* Will other formats like .z80 and.sna be supported in the future?
This is a possibility I guess. Although I imagine it would need to be strictly implemented only when DeterministicEmulation is set to FALSE.
It's about .trd files, right?
Probably. It starts blocks one by one, but, once all blocks are loaded, emulator loads them again. I'm too young to figure this out. (?)
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.
Joined: 11/27/2017
Posts: 86
Location: United Kingdom
phoenix1291 wrote:
Wonder Boy (1987)(The Hit Squad)[re-release](128k).tzx MD5: 4E9050EDF44EF733036CC05279F4A2DD is broken at Area 1 - Level 4.
I'll try another version later to see if the problem is present too.
Do you happen to have a savestate for this, maybe just before Area 1 - Level 4?
I've already spent 10 minutes trying to get there without success :)
(spoiler: I'm not very good)
Joystick
Pushing the stick left with the button pressed down slows
Thor down. Pushing the stick right while pressing the button
speeds Thor up.
Pushing the stick right makes Thor travel to the right.
Pushing the stick left makes Thor move to the left.
Pushing the stick upwards makes Thor jump.
Pushing the stick downwards make Thor duck.
Control Keys
[...]
P Select Joystick/Keyboard (1,2,3,4)
O Select Number of Players (1,2)
I Select Skill Level (1,2,3,4)
S Pause
1: Keyboard 3: Protek
2: Kempston 4: Interface II
I've press "P", then press "2" to select Kempton Joystick,
I've press "O", then press "1" to select One Player mode
I've press "I", then press "1" to select the first Skill level, then back in game, the player don't move...
Joined: 11/27/2017
Posts: 86
Location: United Kingdom
phoenix1291 wrote:
BC's Quest for Tires (1985)(Software Projects Ltd).Tzx MD5: D843DED0615F44E69EAD691456326E38
According to this manual:
Joystick
Pushing the stick left with the button pressed down slows
Thor down. Pushing the stick right while pressing the button
speeds Thor up.
Pushing the stick right makes Thor travel to the right.
Pushing the stick left makes Thor move to the left.
Pushing the stick upwards makes Thor jump.
Pushing the stick downwards make Thor duck.
Control Keys
[...]
P Select Joystick/Keyboard (1,2,3,4)
O Select Number of Players (1,2)
I Select Skill Level (1,2,3,4)
S Pause
1: Keyboard 3: Protek
2: Kempston 4: Interface II
I've press "P", then press "2" to select Kempton Joystick,
I've press "O", then press "1" to select One Player mode
I've press "I", then press "1" to select the first Skill level, then back in game, the player don't move...
You still need to press 'Enter' to start the game. Then the kempston joystick (and any other joystick) works as expected.
Spectrum games are weird :)
Edit: And as I'm sure you have found out, this is one of these games that has to be run on 48k spectrum.
Link to video
Link to video
