iDeaS 1.0.0.8 WIP Screenshots!!

[Low Lines]

Evrain has posted some cool screenshots showing Castlevania going further than before.
http://www.gbarl.it/UP/varie/cv16jm.gif
http://www.gbarl.it/UP/varie/cv31eg.jpg
http://www.gbarl.it/UP/varie/cv20gj.jpg
http://www.gbarl.it/UP/varie/cv44mz.jpg

This was from an Italian site, and I had a crappy Google translator, but it seems that Lino has been making some progress with the touchscreen, though some games still will not work (touchscreen I mean) and also that 3D emulation has improved as well.

Hopefully Evrain will explain this a little better...
Impressive work Lino!!

[Kenji X]

Nice! Can't wait for 1.0.0.8! :D

[Evrain]

Since Low Lines asked, I'm going to graciously provide more explanations :)
Good news guys, touchscreen is finally up and running, although the malfunctioning in some games (damn bloody Tendo Dokuta!!) is due to the fact that it looks for calibration data straight into the firmware, and therefore we are gonna fiddle some more with the syscalls in order to get even that small fraction of fiendish titles to work as we want them to.

Yes, Castlevania is "playable", that's it if your eye works at 14fps and can see the quasi-transparent sprites. We're even beginning to see some result on Trauma Center (wow! Now there is even a blinking circle! Joy...) and Metroid, with half a menu barely visible, but the still crude 3D emulation has broken quite a few games, so we are gonna look into it and at least get everything back in place before moving on.
And that's it, for now. Now, where were Soma and I?
Evrain

[RockmanForte]

Wow, congratulation to you, Evrain and iDeaS team...keep up the good work. I praise you!!! :D

[Evrain]

Little update... after looking into it, both me and Lino finally managed to get even those games refusing to read data from the USA firmware to recognise touchscreen input, although there are still issues with certain titles (Age of Empires and Tendo Dokuta, to name two, although the first one is shaping up pretty nicely) which will need more bug hunting. Looks like there are two different ways to get inputs out of the SPI bus.

We cleaned the graphic compartment a little bit, and now everything is fixed, plus the benefits of the new 3D core update - still no Trauma Center, though, but everything else in that game now works just fine, until you come to the actual surgery, that's it - and along the way I hunted a nasty layer-stretching bug which showed pretty much in Polarium and fixed Devilish, just because I felt like it. Still some errors in the main screen, damn...

And one final mystery note: there is now a nice feature in 1.0.0.8, but what am I referring to? Hint hint, I can now play Polarium as it was meant to be on MY Nintendo DS... ;)
Evrain

[Musiolik]

umm....save game working? or something ??

[ninja1]

a leaked emulator, ensata had a saving system :P, so taht wouldnt be much news =X, now if it would get implemented with working games, i wouldnt complain than :P

[Evrain]

It's a bit too soon to talk about save emulation (but it will be implemented neverthless). No, it's something else.
Evrain

[ninja1]

wifi/sound? :P

[RockmanForte]

It is not good to bother them about saving or sound or something. Just enjoy this screenshots because it is not worth to bother them about too many questions, ok ? :)

[Musiolik]

Evrain give us a mystery note, a hint :P so we're guessing, but I can stop if this help with the emu.
Great job Lino, Evrain and rest of iDeaS team, keep it going :)

[RockmanForte]

yeah, it is good idea to stop. Of course, a very mystery note but it is better to read and shut up while whatever they are doing. ;) :P

Indeed, good job!

[Low Lines]

Ohh Rockmangames...Don't get so uptight about it.
Evrain was giving us a hint which I would assume he wants us to guess what it is that makes Polarium play like on the real NDS. No one's bothering them about things, they're just trying to guess what it could be.

Hmm...It's a shame I've never played the real Polarium before, or else I would know right away what it might be. It wouldn't be saves (plus Evrain has already said it isn't) and I don't think it would be sound either.
It would have to be something that is specific to Polarium (or at least I am assuming it is) perhaps it could be something like it runs full intros or doesn't skip any bits or something...

Or does it have something to do with the user interface?

[Evrain]

You impress me more and more, Low Lines :) So I will add something: it is specific to Polarium... as well as many other games. But it's not guaranteed you will take advantage of it: it depends on something. I will, that's for sure ;)
Oh yes of course, now I can at least see the terrain as it was meant to be in AoE (as well as a few more things)
Evrain

[RockmanForte]

Can't I help ? Because I do not like to bother Development team and I always give them a respect and make them happily.

[ninja1]

polarium is a puzzle kinda game :), ya unlock new puzzles with it, i know desmume plays it already just doesnt save the progress ya make in the game :(

[Low Lines]

Evrain,
It's just logical thinking that's all...nothing impressive.

It is specific to Polarium... as well as many other games. But it's not guaranteed you will take advantage of it: it depends on something. I will, that's for sure ;)
Oh yes of course, now I can at least see the terrain as it was meant to be in AoE (as well as a few more things)
Evrain
Ohh wait, does it have something to do with the bios?? "it depends on something" You did mention before that the bios were being used (cos they hold all the instructions and that, don't they??)...

But going back to my logical thinking, you say the terrain is being rendered properly now...hmmm...So it definitely must be a graphical fix, that makes things easier.
And it would be 2D specific too right?? (or Arm7)

I have a few thoughts, but I'll wait until I know I'm still on the right track first...
--------------------------------------------------------------
Rockmangames,
You should only worry about those noobs that Evrain was talking about, their the ones who give them a hard time, not you or pretty much anyone else here in this forum (or at least I hope so). If Evrain (or anyone else in the same position) are actually willing to talk about such things, then I suppose it would be alright, but I don't think this talk has got anything to do with asking about improvements and fixes.

As far as I am aware, Evrain is playing a game "ie Guess What We've Done That'll Make iDeaS 1.0.0.8 Way Better Than 1.0.0.7?" (If you get the idea), and he is giving us hints as to what it is.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you gotten things a little confused again with the information posted here. What I suggest you do is have a crack at it yourself and see if you can work it out (before I do!!).

I personally quite enjoy actually getting my brain to think for a bit!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hmm...I didn't know it had been released already...I should be able to work this out in no time...

[Evrain]

Okay, 08 is now out, and some things didn't make it to this release. No big deal, there is still time, and I still have to reach the first boss in Castlevania.
But I managed to fit into this one the firmware language settings, so those who want to play polarium in any other language but French, now can do that ;)
Evrain

[Low Lines]

So that's what it is, is it?
I don't think I would have thought of that, though now that you've said it, it seems a bit obvious, so you mean like it now shows us the select language screen (mostly found in EUR games)??

[RockmanForte]

From iDeaS's site:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/3467/age15pz.jpg
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/871/age26ey.jpg

Good job!!!!!

[Evrain]

Not that great job, to be honest, since AoE is fully playable on Desmume and we still haven't figured out all the touchscreen issues (adding the FW emulation has solved quite a few problems, but there is still a certain method of getting input coordinates we can't find, and it's the one used in Tendo Dokuta and AoE). Right now, we are trying to get Castlevania and Trauma Center to working condition, and that means frameskip and save support will have to wait, although they are already planned.
Evrain

[RockmanForte]

Yeah, I understand. But you guys are hard at working to be done. So, that is a great job, indeed. You guys should be proud and maybe you can asked Desmume about the touchscreen issues some help..but I am sure you guys will manage to do that. CHEERS! :D

[Low Lines]

Ohhh....
AoE is short for Age of Empires!! I was wondering what it was, I was there thinking it was some kind of technical emulation or something...Silly me
:bouncy:

[DeathRain99]

Heh heh, I would've probably been where you were on that one Low Lines :)
...Well except for the fact I spent half of my life so far playing AoE2 online... :(

I'd be fine with iDeaS using BIOs actually. I have a legal DS and all, so I could rip them with something, I'm sure. Buying something to rip it would be the only trouble.

I'm looking forward to the next release of iDeaS, but I was wondering if there will ever be support for 3rd party plugins? Maybe someone would start their own plugins or something, quite a few people make plugins for N64 emulators (Jabo, Rice, etc)

[RockmanForte]

I hope not because the plugins is a pain in the butt for some people. But if they have to do that then that's fine because I have no problem with plugins used by N64 and ePSXe and PS2 as well. But plugins is getting old and nothing is new about it and maybe they need a better way to use instead of plugins every time.

I am not in hurry or anything. I want them to take their time the best way they possibly have even if it have to take 2 years to do it. :)

[Someone!]

I downloaded 1.0.0.8 and it says it's 1.0.0.7.
Weird...

[RockmanForte]

It is really 1.0.0.8 but author forgot to change it so it doesn't matter because it is still an 1.0.0.8 ;)

[Low Lines]

I'm not trying to sound annoying or anything, but iDeaS 1.0.0.8 does seem a little bit rushed (so to speak). Like didn't there used to be a FPS in the window name??

[Someone!]

Yeah, that's true.

[ninja1]

that confused me too.... when i test with DeSMuME, i can usually see very easily if a rom runs or not (fps freezes usually) but ya cant with ideas..which is partially why i dont wanna test

[Evrain]

I am the Project Manager, but that doesn't mean Lino always listens to my words... unfortunately. iDeaS' functionalities can be switched on and of at will in order to experiment with different cores at the same time, and during the last recompiling the FPS flag has been switched off (and the version not changed, except for my debug version). FPS and version show fine on my beta version, although I am waiting for the latest one right now.
Evrain

[Someone!]

iDeaS using BIOs actually. I have a legal DS and all, so I could rip them with something

I have a ds too, it would be cool to have the bios of ds in the pc!

What about an emulator where you start it and it's like the ds bios and in the ds game place there is a button where you select a ds rom! Same as GBA.

:beer:

[RockmanForte]

They already know about it. We have to wait if they will put it or not. :)

[Evrain]

Lol, cool idea, but a bit useless, don't you think? I highly doubt lamers are interested in having a look at the uber-cool DS BIOS :P
THe good thing I can think of is the face they'd make if they knew Castlevania has much improved... ops, did I say that loud?
Evrain

[RockmanForte]

LOL!

It is good to know about Castlevania because I am huge fan of Rockman, Castlevania, Zelda, and now I liked Phoenix Wright very much. But it wont count in my collection until it is going to be series for Phoenix Wright! :D