Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
AnS wrote:
Also I don't want to port it (especially since it's different language and platform) until I'm sure a lot of people want to switch to new paradigm.
That might even be shrinking. With Microsoft's push for standard HTML and JS in Windows 8, and Microsoft's Going Native initiative and conferences, some wonder if .NET will even be around a decade from now.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Also I don't want to port it (especially since it's different language and platform) until I'm sure a lot of people want to switch to new paradigm.
That might even be shrinking. With Microsoft's push for standard HTML and JS in Windows 8, and Microsoft's Going Native initiative and conferences, some wonder if .NET will even be around a decade from now.
Oh, I think I misspelled it. By new paradigm I've meant new TASing method (rapid input editing instead of consecutive input recording), not switching from native code to managed (dotnet)! :D But yeah, the platform that was chosen for Bizhawk is also rather arguable.
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
AnS wrote:
By new paradigm I've meant new TASing method (rapid input editing instead of consecutive input recording)
Sorry, my mistake.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
I like Brandon's suggestion of "StarHawk" as the emulator's name. However, if everyone working on the emulator has decided on "BizHawk", then I think that's fine too.
By the way, I think I mistyped the extension I was suggesting: ".bhm" (BizHawk Movie) appears to be more correct than ".bkm" (BizHawk Movie?). However, looking back at it, ".bkm" looks better to me as a movie file extension than ".bhm", kind of like how PCSX-rr's movie file extension looks better as ".pxm" (PCSX Movie) than anything else.
Of course, adelikat has the final say in this, but I would really like him to consider my suggestion to change the movie file extension (which appears to be a popular opinion) and change it if he agrees that it needs to be changed.
I like Brandon's suggestion of "StarHawk" as the emulator's name. However, if everyone working on the emulator has decided on "BizHawk", then I think that's fine too.
I didn't mean to say I like StarHawk; I'm saying that I like the suffix Hawk (*Hawk names). I'm totally cool with BizHawk. I was kind of put off by it at first, but it's grown on me over time. I think StarHawk is also cool, but I don't know if it's cool enough to rename the emulator. Also, I like the hawk in the suit logo. I never liked .tas, though.
Aren't you part of the project? You should ask adelikat about changing the extension (since I don't think he's reading this topic anymore). I'm sure he's open to suggestions.
Aren't you part of the project? You should ask adelikat about changing the extension (since I don't think he's reading this topic anymore). I'm sure he's open to suggestions.
I'm a committer. No, he's not open to suggestions. I've been telling him that .tas was a bad format as early as May. He said straight up in IRC that he has no intention of changing it. I certainly have no more leverage than you do in making this case.
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2178
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
zeromus wrote:
BHM is an airport in alabama
BHM can also mean "Big Handsome Man" and is a term used to define attractive overweight guys... Yeah, I know the most useless things :P (No, I am not gay nor overweight)
If it can mean an airport in Alabama, or Big Handsome Man, I'm definitely going to vote against it! Who's to say that the file you're opening doesn't turn out to be an airport, or a man?! What if it meant Busty Hooker Masturbating?!! I could lose my integrity as a human being just because of a small mistake in naming!
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player
(3574)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
As for the mapper support, BizHawk support pretty much every major mapper, and all USA ones. While it doesn't emulate some of the more obscure ones yet, I'd say about 90% or more of the games TASed on this site are playable in Bizhawk.
Also, the mapper issue is a temporary one, as I am currently implementing mappers. If there is a game someone wants to TAS with bizhawk but it doesn't load, just let me know, and I will make that mapper top priority.
Once I can load basic NES files (Mappers 0,1,2,3,4,7,11), then I can test out Blargg's Test programs to see how good the emulation accuracy is.
Saying it's the "preferred emulator" for TASs is jumping the gun by a lot. Have it pass some of Blargg's test roms first, then call it the preferred emulator.
Some of "Mapper 0" is very well defined:
If prg size is 16k, map it into C000-FFFF, and mirror it in 8000-BFFF.
If prg size is 32k, map it into 8000-FFFF.
If prg size is greater than 32k, ignore the rest.
If chr size is 0, the game gets 8k of CHR-RAM
If chr-rom size is 8k, map it into PPU 0000-1FFF.
If chr size is greater than 8k, ignore the rest.
The rest of "Mapper 0" is not well defined.
But there are De facto standards that cover everything else.
WRAM?
Some newer emulators don't give any WRAM to mapper 0, but all of the older emulators and some of the newer emulators do give 8K of WRAM.
The standard NROM board does not provide WRAM. The Family Basic game is also assigned as Mapper 0, and contains WRAM.
If there is a NES 2.0 header, then there is a clear way to tell whether or not it exists. If the battery bit is set, then the author of the ROM file intends for there to be battery-backed WRAM in there.
Trainer?
Yes, it sounds like an anachronism, but there are lots of old hacked roms made with Mario Improvement that rely on the trainer. Not only that, but there are also actual SMB1 pirate cartridges with the Swim Cheat hack as well. I read about this years ago, so my memory's not the greatest, but I think they used ROM to implement the trainer.
So as for what the trainer should do? Copy the 512 bytes of trainer data to WRAM located at 0x7000, as long as it's not loading a saved game. Or if WRAM is explicitly disabled, map it in as ROM.
Mirroring?
Mapper 0 does not give the possibility of single screen mirroring. There are settings for horizontal and vertical mirroring. Use them.
Four Screen?
Mainly set on bad Punch Out roms. Only about 5 games use it on any mapper, plus VS games. But if the header asks for it, provide it. Even though no mapper 0 games exist that need it.
VS?
This was a somewhat hairy area. Traditionally, the roms that would have been "NROM-like" with the VS system got assigned mapper 99 instead. They have more CHR-ROM than a cartridge.
I have a suggestion for a better name:
EmuHawk. By way of Chickenhawk, a hawk that preys on emus. That way you get some reference to emulation right in the name, and you establish EmuHawk as superior by implying that it eats other emulators for breakfast. Plus, it keeps in line with the previously established awesome bird theme.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11480
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Awesome! It also sounds like "tomahawk".
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.
I'm curious about the name... Bizhawk = Serious business time flies away with this precious gem, right? Now testing some emulation tests.
edit: blarggs' timing_order and timing_basics fails at 3 (PPU frame length dependency and sprite 0 hit, PROBABLY more clocks than it used to be on the real NES)
PhD in TASing 🎓 speedrun enthusiast ❤🚷🔥 white hat hacker ▓ black box tester ░ censorships and rules...
Yeah.. we can't pass every test. The core needs to be fundamentally restructured to get it up to maximum level of detail. This would need to be done by someone who's not me. The goal now is just to get it respectable. That said, I think I'll try to fix the sprite hit tests because theyre causing some trouble, and theres a gap in my understanding of details in this area that would be fun to fill without requiring a complete renovation.
