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I have a couple questions before I vote:
1) In the rollerskate levels, couldn't you save a few frames by getting all the way to the right side of the screen before the level ends? (since level endings seem to be triggered by vectorman's position, having him on the right edge instead of the left should trigger it sooner)
2) Why all the wasted shots on Queen for a Day?
Only the ones that hit her brain hurt her, so why do you keep shooting even when you're below her?
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nitsuja wrote:
It wouldn't use the accelerator table. The configurable ones already don't. If they don't use WM_COMMAND they probably use WM_KEYDOWN or check the input some other way, it shouldn't make too much of a difference how the message gets there.
They aren't handled by messages, they're handled by an explicit Check_Key_Pressed call.
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nitsuja wrote:
But aren't some of the hotkeys already configurable, such as the quicksave and quickload keys? It might not be pretty, but if you're looking to avoid coding a new input checking routing, you could simply duplicate the code those use, and delete the corresponding keys from the accelerator table. (It should be rewritten to be better, though.)
Well, the thing is, if at all possible, I'd like the keys still to be handled as WM_COMMAND messages, just with configurable mappings, instead of the static RAC ACCELERATOR table.
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It's not so much that the code is hard to work with, I've learned how to navigate it with experience.
The problem is that, currently, at least in the windows version, all of those hot keys are handled by a static "accelerator" table, which bypasses direct input entirely, and instead sends a WM_COMMAND message to the main window process.
In order to make them configurable, I'd have to code a whole new input checking routine in.
Again, I'll look into it, but no promises.
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bobxp wrote:
Two things:
1. Tab should be changed back to reset!!!!!! (excess exclamation marks for emphasis) We already have speed control.
2. Talking about speed control, why not change the keys F2, F3 and F4 to this: F2 sets to 100%, F3 slows down, F4 speeds up. There is no point having F2/F3/F4 for only fast forwarding and limit slowdown to the menu.
There's already a +/- for slowdow speed, it just doesn't work from the same keys as the frameskip +/- keys.
I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense to merge them, though.
FODA wrote:
I use TAB for pause on all my emulators. Hotkeys should be fully configurable... It's really bad when i hit TAB and then it resets
TAB doesn't reset in any of the versions I've released, it's a hold-to-fast-forward key.
As for making all of the hotkeys fully configurable. It could be done, but it would involve writing most of the hot-key handlers basically from scratch.
I'll look into it, but no promises.
adelikat wrote:
How about a cheat search function and a memory address viewing capability?
That's my highest priority at the moment. When next I have a big chunk of free time, I'm going to adapt IdeaMagnate's cheatsearch which he wrote into Linux gens.
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Jammer01 wrote:
Couldn't (in a racing game) the game use the distance from the finish line and the velocity of the vehicle at the last whole frame to calculate centiseconds or milliseconds for the final time?
Yes, and I believe this is the most common way of getting sub-frame time resolutions on racing games.
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nitsuja wrote:
upthorn wrote:
My solution was that if you hit save-state during a DMA transfer, it will set a flag that makes it save the state as soon as the transfer finishes in the course of normal emulation.
The downside is that this can cause the state to save a frame or so after the button is pressed.
What if you load a state immediately after saving while the game is paused? (Which is a very common thing to do.) That solution won't work very well.
It also puts a message (but not a popup warning) on screen that the state won't save until the DMA transfer finishes.
Maybe I should make it say "DMA Transfer in progress, please advance frame to save state."
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nitsuja wrote:
upthorn wrote:
Truncated wrote:
2) I sometime get an annoying "Warning: Saving during DMA transfer; savestate may be corrupt." and it won't go away for several saves. I haven't looked into it more.
I have gotten rid of this, but I'm not sure if this unfixed the problem nitsuja fixed by implementing it.
If the game is doing a DMA transfer when you save, Gens causes the DMA transfer to magically finish before saving, which seems likely to cause weird desyncs because it means that the act of saving the game changes the state of the game. I added that warning as a "possible desync alert". Maybe it should be optional?
My solution was that if you hit save-state during a DMA transfer, it will set a flag that makes it save the state as soon as the transfer finishes in the course of normal emulation.
The downside is that this can cause the state to save a frame or so after the button is pressed.
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Truncated wrote:
Small bug report:
1) Assigned QuickLoad key cannot be used unless you have also specified a key for QuickSave.
I'll look into it.
Edit: Found it, this bug was probably in prior versions, too. But there's an if ((QuickLoadKey != 0) && (QuickSaveKey != 0)) where there should be two separate if statements.
Truncated wrote:
2) These two only happened once (together) and I cannot reproduce them: Pressing frame advance when out of pause did not pause the game. The frame advance key had no delay before it started advancing multiple frames.
For me, this happens depending on what other applications are running at the same time as gens.
I have no idea what causes it or how to fix it in the source code, but I've found that it always works fine if I have trillian open.
Repost edit:
Truncated wrote:
I've tried it out a little bit, this is what I've found so far:
1) It seems that the default config in the zip file sets sound frequency to 22050. 44100 should be the default.
I think I accidentally distributed the config I was using, instead of a default config.
Truncated wrote:
2) I sometime get an annoying "Warning: Saving during DMA transfer; savestate may be corrupt." and it won't go away for several saves. I haven't looked into it more.
I have gotten rid of this, but I'm not sure if this unfixed the problem nitsuja fixed by implementing it.
Truncated wrote:
3) The delay for setting keys is annoyingly long.
Fixed.
Truncated wrote:
4) Setting a key changes "AUTO-FIRE/HOLD TOGGLE MODIFIER KEYS" into "SETTING KEY: X". Is this really the intention?
Nope. Because it starts off blank, I forgot to reposition that text label. Fixed.
Truncated wrote:
5) I want to bind "turn layer on/off" to a key.
What key do you want to bind it to?
It's much easier to add fixed hotkeys than to add configurable ones
6) About still says Movie 9d. (Noone cares, but anyway)
Fixed.
bobxp wrote:
Well then - if every other Windows fullscreen program in existance doesn't screw up when you close one of two open modal dialog boxes, why does Gens?
Fixed.
Will make a bugfix release later today.
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I have set up a subversion/trac server for the Gens Rerecording project.
What this means is that multiple coders should be able to work on Gens simultaneously (PM me for details)
But what this also means is that there is
A) A wiki for the Gens rerecording project, just waiting to be put to good use
B) A ticket system of tracking bug reports and feature requests
So, from now on, please report bugs and request features by submitting a ticket at
http://home.ryanc.org:8088/projects/Gens_Rerecording/newticket
This will help me (and any other interested coders) keep track of bugs and features in development.
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Truncated wrote:
Should we get some permanent adress where the latest version of Gens is always uploaded, no matter who happened to make it?
Perhaps this would be a good idea for some of the other emulators too.
I think that's a very good idea. Maybe we should ask bisqwit about hosting the TASable emus on this site.
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bobxp wrote:
Well then - if every other Windows fullscreen program in existance doesn't screw up when you close one of two open modal dialog boxes, why does Gens?
There's no reason it shouldn't be fixed, in fact, there is every reason it SHOULD be fixed.
And I didn't mean that the screen goes black. I mean, the remaining dialog box stays on the screen but is invisible. You have to use the keyboard to get rid of it.
OH, I completely misunderstood what you were talking about. Now I understand the problem. It shouldn't be a problem to fix.
Repost-edit:
How do you even get two dialog boxes open at the same time? When I have one dialog box open, it doesn't let me click on the main gens window to open another.
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Before I forget:
GM2 page wrote:
Hexedit-friendly
The GMV format is relatively hexedit-friendly, although GM2 should store a button press as a 1-bit instead of a 0.
It seems that gens internally stores button presses as 0 bits. And although converting it when reading the movie would be trivial, we'd be unnecessarily complicating the process of reading and writing movies for very little gain.
[edit]
Woops, double-posted. Deleted the second.
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Aitamen wrote:
Most impressive... I'm curious about how much of this is possible on console... perhaps I could get some more info on the through-the-wall and zipping stats? I've made Zipping nessecary for only one record (BB1)... and it seems like they could all have the same effect... but for me, it seemed luck-based... what is there to be known?
Zipping not done in a corner requires frame precise timing in three or four different actions, and even then can't be done in many places, it's highly unpredictable, and I don't believe that it's possible on a console.
However, zipping in places where the ceiling angles is much easier, and can probably be done in real time with about 50% success rate.
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That's not actually a bug, it's caused by the display mode changing back when you close gens. You can fix it by going fullscren and coming out of it on the remaining gens, or by switching to a blit render (anything but "single" or "double" in graphics->render) and back (or vice versa).
Or if you set your windows resolution to 16bit color, then there will be no problem at all.
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IdeaMagnate wrote:
@upthorn:
I can't tell if the suggestion of a unified format was sarcastic or not, but I knew someone was going to say it eventually. It sounds like a good topic for debate. There's no reason not to make this extensible enough that new emulators can use it, but the formats used by most other rerecording emulators are adequate for their purpose.
Not entirely sarcastic, but I was trying to point out, in a round-about way, that adding SMS stuff is premature, and most likely beyond the scope of GMV.
I do like the idea of a unified format, but this discussion isn't about that.
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bobxp wrote:
upthorn wrote:
Highness wrote:
A rewind function could be nice really.
It would be nice to have it during playing a movie, and perhaps while creating a movie as well.
I'm working on a bookmark system of savestates to achieve the same purpose, it won't be automatic, but it will be much more flexible.
You mean like my post nobody replied to?
I wrote:
an idea I had a long time back for the movie recording (keys are all configurable of course):
v - Resync all marks (plays movie from start as fast as CPU allows, and whenever it gets to a mark, updates the savestate for that mark)
b - Go to previous mark
n - Mark/unmark this frame (marked frames save as savestates so you can get to them quick, and you don't accidentally overwrite them)
m - Go to next mark
, (comma) - Rewind movie to start, and play
. (dot) - Toggle record/play mode
/ (slash) - Save and close movie
Movie pauses at end instead of just ending, so you can begin recording from where you left off.
The marking features would certainly save a lot of trouble with remembering which savestate is which, and for making more than 10 points in the game to continue from. You could mark e.g. the beginning of the level, or significant places within the level, or if you're doing something tricky you could mark however many frames you liked.
Yes, like that post. Not exactly like that post. But that is where I got the idea.
I thought I'd replied saying I liked the idea.
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I think there's also enough difference between SMS and Gen/MD controllers to justify a different file format.
Unless we're trying to develop a unified Snes/Genesis/Nes/N64/GameBoy/GameBoyAdvance movie format
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Highness wrote:
A rewind function could be nice really.
It would be nice to have it during playing a movie, and perhaps while creating a movie as well.
I'm working on a bookmark system of savestates to achieve the same purpose, it won't be automatic, but it will be much more flexible.
Fast forward function. Tip in the frame you want to go to. Then the emulator frame skips like crazed and then pauses the emulator and switches to no frame skip.
Now that's easy.
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