Emulation: Simpler Machines ?

ChaosBlade · Mar 10, 2005

I wonder if anyone could suggest a machine (arcade\console) to try and emulate before jumping into something truely complex, like the gameboy.
I have finished more or less a chip8 emulator (im still fine-touching it), and have considered doing a gameboy emulator in the future, but id like to practice with a few simpler machines first.

If anyone could suggest anything, or even attach\link to any technical documents, it will be appriciated, Thanks.

retroK · Mar 10, 2005

Try this: http://www.walkofmind.com/programming/pie/pie.htm
or this: http://www.walkofmind.com/programming/side/side.htm

Also useful: http://bcz.emu-france.com/bpe.htm

Doomulation · Mar 10, 2005

ChaosBlade said:
I wonder if anyone could suggest a machine (arcade\console) to try and emulate before jumping into something truely complex, like the gameboy.
I have finished more or less a chip8 emulator (im still fine-touching it), and have considered doing a gameboy emulator in the future, but id like to practice with a few simpler machines first.

If anyone could suggest anything, or even attach\link to any technical documents, it will be appriciated, Thanks.

Hehe, you still haven't done schip8 yet, have you? That's a small challenge, too. Try to get the test game, which was posted in the chip8 thread, working. It uses advanced functions of the machine =)

I better try some of these "simpler" emulators as well

ChaosBlade · Mar 10, 2005

Well, i dont think the schip8 should be that much of a challange. I do know the scrolling opcodes arent that easy, but thats still miles simpler then any other emulation project ive seen.

Ill look into these, even though im reluctent about doing an arcade board emulator, from terms of personal interest. Ive also tried finding some Atari2600 documents, but couldnt find alot.

Doomulation · Mar 10, 2005

Yup. Not that hard concerning other things, but it is a challenge for the chip8 system itself.

refraction · Mar 10, 2005

its a bit confusing when youve never done it before, but a lot of machines use some means of scrolling so its best to do it so you can understand them, plus then you can play ANT and that game rocks, its also a damn good game for finding errors in your emu

Doomulation · Mar 10, 2005

Hoo boy, I never actually finished (or truly played) any game on the chip8 system

Ahaha, oh and you might wish to test your emulator with .... THE TEST ROM!
http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?t=19894&page=19&pp=15

Good luck on that. THEN you start on some other emulator =) I'll try these out too, maybe. Sounds interesting.

hap · Mar 10, 2005

I don't think it's necessary to go for something less complex than Game Boy (or NES ?

), considering you did very well with chip8. With such a project, all you need is patience. And the basic knowledge of how to write an emulator, which you have now.

ChaosBlade · Mar 10, 2005

Well the knowledge i dont have is working with GUIs better, i havent programmed in win32API from scratch before, and never even used D3D\OGL.
Im looking at SDL at the moment, but id definitly want to learn how to use create and manipulate GUIs from scratch before doing an emulator with a real graphics engine, one that cant be resolved to ASCII

gunder · Mar 10, 2005

ChaosBlade said:
Ive also tried finding some Atari2600 documents, but couldnt find alot.

I did some searching for you, I wasn't able to come up with a lot either but here's what I did find. It seems like there should be enough info there for you though. Let me know if this helps you at all.

http://atarihq.com/danb/a2600.shtml

-gunder

ChaosBlade · Mar 10, 2005

Yup, i found that one aswell as another site with less info.
I guess this should be enough incase i try coding an atari 2600 emulator.
Thanks for the help tho

gunder · Mar 10, 2005

No problem, if I come across anything else I'll let you know.

-gunder

smcd · Mar 11, 2005

You might check out some existing emulators for the 2600 like z26 or stella, both have source available and perhaps documentation somwhere... i'd recommend trying to emulate the 7800 since there's not a good selection of emulators for that system

Doomulation · Mar 11, 2005

hap said:
I don't think it's necessary to go for something less complex than Game Boy (or NES ? ), considering you did very well with chip8. With such a project, all you need is patience. And the basic knowledge of how to write an emulator, which you have now.

The gameboy is awfully complex in comparison with chip8. I think it's better to do some simpler machine to learn about all io ports, vblank and stuff.

ector · Mar 11, 2005

It doesn't get much more difficult than the 2600. Avoid it, the timing correctness requirements are absolutely insane!
I hear Phoenix is an extremely easy arcade game to emulate. Other than that SMS (Sega Master System) should be pretty easy too although it's probably on the same level of difficulty as the Gameboy.

ChaosBlade · Mar 11, 2005

Thanks for the advice ector. It does seem like an awefully complex machine for its time (Atari 2600, late 70's ?).

If ill pick up an easier project, it will prolly be phoenix\space invaders\pacman, one of the three. Either way, i plan on doing a gameboy emulator in the future just for personal fun

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