nesdev.org

Looking at what could be added to the current hardware, obviously BS-X support is high on the list. I have seen some docs but so far it looks like a mess.

Some (one?) games also use a RTC, maybe that could be loaded/saved from a txt file? Not sure if that would be usable or just too annoying.

Someone mentioned PAR codes work on RAM, I assume that is in cart SRAM instead of system RAM?

Does it support loading save state files (even if it means picking the save state file while loading the ROM, and pressing the Reset button to reload the same save state)? I'm not talking about SaveRAM backups, but emulator save states.

PAR codes work on system ram. There has to be some form of Interrupt handler or code hijacking, in order to be able to update the system ram with the PAR code values, then a means to return back to the game code.

The nice part with this cart, is that you could load in your PAR handler into one of the banks, then in place of the original NMI handler, the first few instructions of it, gets replaced with a jump to the PAR handler bank you chose, that gets run, then those first few instructions that were overwritten get run, followed by a jump back into the remainder of the code.

If the first instruction happens to be a long jump, then it works rather nicely, since the execution of that long jump upon PAR handler completion, will go right into the actual NMI handler code.

I would like to see an option to write new .SRM save files, if that's feasible.

As for BS-X support, isn't there some sort of RTC issue to work out for that, too, since some of those games were scheduled installments? I don't know much about it, but didn't some of the games have to be hacked to work in emulators?

The Sufami Turbo is sort of like the SNES's Aladdin Deck Enhancer. It should be do-able on the SNES PowerPak.

Many of the BS-X games that anyone would really want to play should work fine already, mostly the crappy magazines and things used the BIOS for text and such, I wouldn't put that first on your list.

mic_ wrote:Does it support loading save state files

Is it possible to save the entire state on real hardware? Someone said the SPC state isn't, how about other graphics/timers etc?

caitsith2 wrote:PAR codes work on system ram. There has to be some form of Interrupt handler or code hijacking, in order to be able to update the system ram with the PAR code values, then a means to return back to the game code.

That makes more sense, should be easy just to replace the nmi vector in the game to go to my code instead. Will have to figure out where in SNES mem it can be placed to break the least number games. Shouldn't take that much space.

naI wrote:I would like to see an option to write new .SRM save files, if that's feasible.

Possible but lots lower on the list. Too annoying to enter file names

bunnyboy wrote:

naI wrote:I would like to see an option to write new .SRM save files, if that's feasible.

Possible but lots lower on the list. Too annoying to enter file names

Just copy the name of the ROM (truncated?) + a number + .SRM

The list with three created save files for one game (Final Fantasy VI (J).SMC) would look like:
Final Fantasy VI (J).SRM
Final Fantasy VI (J)_1.SRM
Final Fantasy VI (J)_2.SRM

Something I was curious about was there was talk about certain chips like Cx4 and PICs and PIC cores fitting into the FPGA's remaining room. So does that mean certain more simple chips might be possible like Cx4, OBC-1, not sure what else might fall in that category.

About Save States, many copiers support Save States. But it all depends on how the copier saves and restores a save state as well as the game in question. Some games are no problem saving mid-game. Other games won't work at all, or only in certain parts. For example maybe not during gameplay but between levels or during some sort of cutscene a save state might work. I generally don't use the in game save and restore feature in games but sometimes the feature can be very helpful.

AR Cheats would certainly be a nice feature. If possible it would be nice to have a button combination to enable and disable all codes or if you could have a separate section of codes where certain ones are always on and others toggle on and off. The same thing would be nice for Game Genie codes too. Remember that the Game Genie had a switch on it and some codes required you to disable the codes at certain times to avoid crashing the game.

Is it possible to save the entire state on real hardware? Someone said the SPC state isn't, how about other graphics/timers etc?

I haven't checked which IO regs are readable. But I was talking about loading an existing save state file, not creating new ones on the fly.

If possible some form of simple progress indicator when loading a large rom would be nice.

Save states are possible except the SPC state of course (that would require hacking every game's SPC code). For the write only registers, and registers that once read can't be rolled back, you "need" to put local copies in the FPGA; copiers do it entirely in software like the PAR.

I thought of something in the shower, could the old decompression packs ala http://www.caitsith2.com/sjns/ be used to emulate the few games that use the SPC7110?