Another good system?

[ShizZy]

Hey...
Looking for some advice. I've done a Chip8 Emulator. I've done a fairly complete GB emulator. Added partially working GBC support. But I'm feeling a little inspired to jump into new territory (but also still maintain my GB). Any reccomendations on a next system to emulate? I thought about NES, but I think I'll wait a bit, that one will be a lot of work. Maybe something based off of a z80 cpu, so I can reuse some of my GB source? I'm also looking for something that's well documented. Thanks.

 

[refraction]

you could have a shot at the master system, that is based off the z80 is it not?

 

[hap]

why wait for NES ?
how about the GBA ?

 

[Cyberman]

Well VBA an NO$GBA do a good job of it already and there source are freely available. VBA has an optional GDB compatible interface so you can use the insight debugger with it as well.

Although the PSX seems to be 'well emulated' I think modify PCSX to have a GDB compatible debugger interface might be something more useful. (PCSX has been modified to have a debugger interface but it's not GDB compatible).

Why GDB? you can compile and run a program on said system rather easily.
Additionally a 'file system' based CD-ROM plugin might be good as well (IE a file system on the computer made to ACT like the CD-ROM) for faster developement of hobbyist games for the playstation

Cyb

 

[ShizZy]

SMS-couldn't find enough docs on.
NES- it's looks hard. I'm afraid of the mappers
GBA/PSX-Harder than NES I'm no expert at coding.

Thanks for the comments though. I guess I'll eventually move to the NES when I get time, enless something comes up with SMS or another Z80 based system.

 

[albertwesker]

SMS-couldn't find enough docs on.
NES- it's looks hard. I'm afraid of the mappers
GBA/PSX-Harder than NES I'm no expert at coding.

Thanks for the comments though. I guess I'll eventually move to the NES when I get time, enless something comes up with SMS or another Z80 based system.

i've found tons of docs on the SMS
http://www.smspower.org/dev/docs/ ,
and smspower.org has forums hosted by the creators of meka, which is probably the best sms emulator to date.

to be honest, my biggest motivation for the sms is pure nostalgia which is the only reason i chose it over the gameboy. now it's only a matter of finding time to work on it. :happy:

 

[ShizZy]

I'm considering it. Though I don't have any motivation to follow through with the emulator and debug it as I did my gameboy. I never really grew up playing the older sega systems, so I don't have as much interest in them as I should. If I were to pursue it, I'd probably just get it to the point of running a few commercial games. For knowledge/experience.

 

[refraction]

If you cant find any SMS docs look for GG docs, the system was basically the same, just had a different cartridge slot and a smaller screen

 

[Blargg]

NES- it's looks hard. I'm afraid of the mappers

I did a NES emulator and avoided the mappers for a long time. Once I delved into them it wasn't so hard. The trick is to limit yourself to the main four or five, which allows most popular games to run. I've kind of avoided doing a Game Boy emulator partly because it looks hard, with that hblank stuff.

From Everynes Hardware Specifications:

  Type               Games Percent
  Mapper 0 (NROM)     446   12.5%
  Mapper 1 (MMC1)     723   20.3%
  Mapper 2 (UNROM)    397   11.2%
  Mapper 3 (CNROM)    273    7.7%
  Mapper 4 (MMC3)     784   22.1%
  Other Mappers       932   26.2% (less than 2% per type)
  Total               3555 100.0%

NES reverse-engineering is still actively being done, and there are lots of people on the Nesdev boards willing to answer questions. About the only reason not to make a NES emulator is that it seems everyone and his dog is already working on one.

 

[ShizZy]

Hey Blargg, cool to see you set up an account here. GB is really fairly easy - I'd imagine much easier than NES. The HBlank stuff is very simple, all of about 4 lines of code. If you can do the PAPU emulator, it shouldn't be a problem at all for you

As for NES... it's on my agenda, along with SMS. Probably get to NES first, we'll see though. In what little free time I've had I have been working on my emulator's cosmetics... ie layout, gui, options/settings and things, trying to make it release ready (at least as a GB emulator, I doubt I'll ever get the inspiration to finish the GBC setup. I'd rather go elsewhere with emulation).

But as you said with NES, everyone has done one. I'd really like to enter new grounds with emulation, unfortunetly it's usually quite hard. I'd love to do a DS emulator, but don't have the skills nor time to do it on my own.

 

[zAlbee]

offtopic:

blargg, your avatar is sweet. welcome.