Post subject: BizHawk GPU viewers
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I posted a long, rambling request for comment on a couple of other forums. I'll consolidate the results here and open the floor to any tasers who also have feedback http://www.vg-resource.com/thread-28181.html http://www.vgmaps.com/forums/index.php?topic=2137.0
creaothceann
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re: SNES Another way to do it would be to use tabs, a la vSNES' scene viewer. The screen and BG info and the palette, while nice to see, are probably only necessary for ROM hackers / emulator devs. Making them visible only via checkbox / menu option / tab would speed up the game nicely. (I'd also remove the dropboxes and use only radiobutton groups.) Using separate windows for each category is definitely interesting, as long as the layout can be saved. (The windows snapping to each others' edges a la Winamp would be nice too.) Regarding the palette options: AFAIK ZSNES (and SNES9x?) simply shifts the color values 3 digits to the left (XXXXX to XXXXX000), while bsnes uses the topmost 3 bits to fill the lower bits. This "spreads" the colors a bit and makes it possible for a color channel to have the value 0xFF.
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zeromus wrote:
Genesis - with the higher resolutions and VRAM sizes involved, the window is getting unworkably large
I committed ability to shrink the window, that way one can view whichever layer he wants with only a small window. But tabs might works well too, if used consistently on many platforms.
zeromus wrote:
Of course the approach which renders all the views on one screen is pretty slow too.
With a shrinkable window it gets faster and faster as you shrink. Arguably, this approach would work as as all-in-one and as tabs at once!
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.