gpSP-DC (GBA emu for Dreamcast) by Troy

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gpSP-DC (GBA emu for Dreamcast) by Troy

Post by Christuserloeser »

Couldn't find a topic about this, so I've started this one.

Download: http://gpf.dcemu.co.uk/gpSPDC.shtml

Videos: http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showth ... ght=gpspdc


mog123 wrote:What's the speed on the emu, and does it support saving?
Sadly I didn't have time to test this yet :( but I'd guess it's at a playable speed in some games. Uses the C core, and no dynarec like the psp version.

Here's what I gathered from the reports of others at DCEmu UK: 80-85% speed + even works with 32MByte (!) ROMs.



And here are some words by the original author of the PSP version:
Exophase wrote:I can at least try to help them with a dynarec. And I can probably help them get the snapshot un-screwed up ^_-

Converting x86_emit.h/x86_stub.S to sh4_emit.h/sh4_stub.S might be a good start. Even though SH4 is RISC the fact that it only has 16 registers, 2 address format, and very small immediates (all thanks to the 16bit instruction format) means that you won't have a lot of luck going from the Allegrex recompiler to it (gpSP's MIPS recompiler also uses a lot of fancy things like the ext/ins instructions on a regular basis).

The x86 recompiler is really halfway between a threaded interpreter and a real recompiler; it calls functions for most of the regularly executed instructions, although it generates code for barrel shifts, memory address generating, writeback, etc. Some more things could be inlined in x86_emit.h (it wouldn't be too hard for me since I'd probably go from mips_emit.h) and tested on PC, which would then be mostly portable to SH4. An SH4 dynarec would then only need emiters, some register definitions, some code to split instructions with large immediates into immediate setup instructions, and the x86 emit calls replaced with their equivilent SH4 ones. Then perhaps some of the leftover SH4 registers can be statically mapped to GBA ones, but not all of them (there just isn't room). Maybe around 8 or so. Some analysis of GBA games might determine good registers to map.

At the very least gpSP's recompiler backend (cpu_threaded.c) is portable and represents a good half of the work necessary for a dynarec.

I'd possibly like to help more directly but unfortunately I don't have a Dreamcast. Anyone want to donate one to me?
Someone in the US to send the man a Dreamcast ?
Last edited by Christuserloeser on Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by mog123 »

oh, so no Saving?
And what about Sound?

Sorry for so much questions ;)
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Post by Christuserloeser »

Sound is supported, although the videos are recorded without sound.
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Post by Juan »

Christuserloeser wrote:Couldn't find a topic about this
viewtopic.php?t=87217
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Post by Christuserloeser »

Sorry, I did a quick search for 'gbspdc' but that's it.
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Post by Juan »

Christuserloeser wrote:Sorry, I did a quick search for 'gbspdc' but that's it.
There's the problem =P
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Post by Christuserloeser »

Fixed the thread's title ^^
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Post by mog123 »

which is better:

Visual Troy Advance or gpSP-DC?

Which supports more options, and has sound/saving?
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Post by Christuserloeser »

This is the better/faster/more compatible one and it has sound ...but you could just try them both ;)

Also, if you post some feedback (e.g. test results) at GPF's forum over at DCEmu UK or write a few lines to Exophase to say thank you, you might even motivate them to continue working on it.
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Post by mog123 »

I lent my DC to my friend who's on vacation. So i can't test it now(my pc is too slow for a dc emu)
Anyway, i still haven't got any replies about saving :P
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Post by Christuserloeser »

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showth ... ght=gpspdc ;)

It's in the source but not yet enabled in the DC port.
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Post by Arqueiro »

lets give a dreamcat for this guy ! :kiss)
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Post by tekkaman1 »

Sounds interesting!
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Post by mog123 »

enabling saves would ownsomz ;p

Couldn't anybody write a mail to him about saving?
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Post by BaldMonk »

mog123 wrote:enabling saves would ownsomz ;p

Couldn't anybody write a mail to him about saving?
Can't you email him and ask about saving? I doubt he'd enable it, as he doesn't have a Dreamcast to see if it works.

32meg roms??? That's quite a feat. I wonder how he's done it. I'll eventually try it... Sounds very promising.
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Post by Christuserloeser »

...GPF however does ;)

32meg roms??? That's quite a feat. I wonder how he's done it.
I'd guess similar to how Chui & Fox68k did it in Neo4All/AES: loading parts of the game on demand via MMU.


Nice to see you around again BaldMonk :)
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Post by BaldMonk »

Cheers... Been seriously busy with work and all that nonsense :D Oh, and holidays...
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Post by dcemuler »

I will test it tonight, looks very good, hope they keep working on it
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Post by mog123 »

lol, i just noticed in the screenshots
That it has "save/load save state"

So save states are working, or that's just to be cool?
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Post by Dreamcast4life »

Does this emulator run better then the videos shown? if so I will skip this for now because thats just too slow for my taste. Nice to see GBA run on a DC though but at that speed I wouldn't be able to have too much fun on it.
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