Nintendulator 0.

970
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Introduction
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Nintendulator started out as NinthStar NES, written by David "Akilla"
De Regt. Written in C++, it was a reasonably accurate (and slow) NES
emulator which used NESten 0.61's mapper DLLs. Numerous other systems
were planned to be emulated within NinthStar (as well as complex
debuggers for each of them), but somewhere along the line, the project
was abandoned.
At that point, I took the existing NES sources and started improving
them. First, the PPU was rewritten to be much more accurate than
before, running cycle-by-cycle according to documentation that had been
released at the time. After that, the CPU was rewritten to execute
instructions more accurately. Then the APU was mostly completed, giving
the emulator proper sound. Somewhere along the line, it was determined
that the C++ usage in the code was very poorly done and was slowing the
program down, so I converted it to plain C and named the program
"Nintendulator".
The eventual goal of Nintendulator is to be *the* most accurate NES
emulator, right down to the hardware quirks. In the meanwhile, it can
certainly be used to test NES code with confidence that if it works
properly in Nintendulator, it will probably work properly on the real
hardware as well.
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Version History
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0.970
- Overall:
Updated all code to use C++ with namespaces, significantly reducing
code size.
Added various debugging statements.
Various code cleanup and bugfixes.
- APU:
Added code to properly emulate race conditions when writing to APU
registers at specific times.
Add noise playback frequencies for PAL emulation.
Fixed DPCM playback to properly emulate cycle stealing from DMA.
Rewrote APU frame timer to properly handle clock jitter.
- AVI:
Major cleanup of AVI capture code.
Optimized AVI code to cache video frame information between frames.
- Controllers:
Rewrote code for all controllers to use proper C++ classes.
Fix data/movie storage for several controllers to allocate the
correct amount of memory.
Changed Zapper code to determine "hit" based on overall brightness
of the target region.
Added support for Vs. Unisystem Zapper controller.
Added ability to configure POV hats, either as 2 overlapping axes or
as 8 buttons.
Updated configuration code to query DirectInput for key/axis/button
names rather than hardcoding them.
Fix mouse input code to disregard axes that are not present.
- Debugger:
 Completely rewrote debugger. New features include:
- Edit CPU registers
- Toggle individual IRQ sources
- Browse CPU, PPU, Sprite, and Palette memory
- Add breakpoints based on execution address, operand address (read
or write), specific opcodes, or interrupts.
- View detailed properties of nametable entries, sprites, pattern
table tiles, and palette entries.
- Game Genie:
Fixed several bugs which could cause entered codes to not work.
- Graphics:
Added support for fullscreen display.
Added option to add scanlines for 2x Windowed and Fullscreen modes.
Configuring a Zapper controller now disables frameskip.
Added RGB palettes for Vs. Unisystem PPUs 0002, 0003, and 0004.
Rewrote NTSC palette generation code to correctly apply color
emphasis.
Adjusted color emphasis coefficients used when loading external
palettes.
After adjusting palette and saving changes, immediately redraw the
screen using the updated colors.
Add option to preview appearance of palette using various color
emphasis modes.
- Mapper Interface:
Updated Mapper Interface version from 3.6 to 3.7.
Updated ROM Information structure to support iNES 2.0 format fields.
- Movies:
Added a dialog for movie recording, allowing a description to be
added (Unicode version only) for the movie being recorded.
Added a dialog for movie playback, allowing the movie's properties
to be previewed before movie playback actually begins.
Fix problems with playing back movies of games whose mappers
maintain state information between resets.
- Main Program:
Savestates, movies, SRAM, and debug memory dumps are now stored
within the currently logged in user's Application Data folder
rather than within the program's own directory.
Nintendulator will now attempt to prevent any configured screensaver
from activating while emulation is active.
Builtin iNES header editor now detects and automatically cleans ROM
headers bearing the "DiskDude!" signature.
Fixed several bugs with configuration storage.
Allow keyboard shortcuts to work properly with various dialogs.
- PPU:
Enabled per-cycle emulation of sprite evaluation.
Improve emulation of PPU I/O registers to properly handle several
race conditions.
- Savestates:
Rewrote savestate code for Controlelrs to correctly store all data,
as well as data lengths for each individual port.
Fixed case where savestates from a previous version might not be
loaded correctly.
- Mappers:
Fixed some MMC5 emulation errors.
Reduced VS Unisystem coin insert delay.
Fixed several bugs in NSF player BIOS.
Enabled 8KB PRG RAM on iNES mapper 0.
Fixed several issues with iNES mappers 22 and 23.
Added support for iNES mappers 37 and 38.
Rewrote IRQ logic for iNES mapper 91.
 Fixed support for NES-SUROM board.
Added support for NES-SXROM board.
Fixed savestate data for several UNL boards.
Fix Vs. Unisystem mappers to force 4-screen VRAM.
0.960
- Overall:
Added proper Unicode support to Nintendulator - as such, there are
now separate ANSI and Unicode builds.
- APU:
Various optimizations to the pulse channels
Removed the sound logging feature from the code, since AVI output
allows sound logging easily.
Re-enabled frame IRQs on reset - the only games that had problems
with these were demos.
- Controllers:
Added a global option to enable Left+Right and Up+Down in normal
gameplay, rather than only allowing it during movie recording.
Cleaned up device handling somewhat.
Fixed several bugs with device enabling.
Moved movie-related code into its own file.
Fixed various controller 'Frame' procedures to use the MovieMode
parameter rather than the global setting.
Improved cursor positioning for the Oeka Kids Tablet controller.
Updated Zapper support to behave more closely to the real thing
- Debugger:
Enabling debugger with 1X size no longer sets the size multiplier to
2x - when closing the debugger, it will now revert to 1X properly.
Various minor fixes.
- Game Genie:
Cleaned up initialization code.
Updated Genie Enable code to use the 'optimized' code handlers.
On savestate load, any active game genie codes will be reported in
the Status window.
- Graphics:
Graphics resources are now unloaded when an invalid bit depth is
detected - this should prevent the emulator from crashing.
Enumerated all available palettes to reduce the possibility of
introducing bugs when newer VS palettes are added.
Added dark grays to the 14th column of the Playchoice-10 palette.
Added the palette for the VS unisystem PPU "RP2C04-0001".
Cleaned up NTSC palette generation code slightly.
Improved Colour Emphasis coefficients to more closely match the real
hardware.
- Mapper Interface:
Added the ability to select which DLL to use when multiple DLLs
support the current game's mapper.
Removed the "Full Reset" reset type.
Added Unicode support, denoted by setting the high order bit of the
CurrentMapperInterface variable.
Moved mapper 'Load' call from NES "File Open" code into LoadMapper.
- NES:
Fixed a bug where changing between NTSC and PAL emulation would load
the "Custom Palette" for the wrong mode.
Fixed a multithreading bug in the main emulation routine.
Fixed a bug in the Load Settings code to perform special mapping for
the Four-Score instead of the Power Pad.
- Main Program:
Fixed command-line parameter handling to behave correctly when the
program and/or ROM filenames are enclosed in quotes.
- PPU:
Added a variable to keep track of fractional cycles in PAL emulation.
For compatibility, this variable is stored in the upper bits of
the "ClockTicks" state variable.
Added preliminary code (currently disabled) to accurately emulate
the sprite evaluation process.
Adjusted the initial VRAM address load to occur at cycle 304 on
scanline -1.
Delayed VRAM address horizontal component reload until cycle 257.
Fixed a bug in Sprite 0 Hit handling during frameskip.
- Savestates:
Moved controller savestate code into the Controllers module.
Moved movie savestate code into the new Movie module.
- Mappers:
Added a new mapper DLL for VS Unisystem games.
Increased MMC3/MMC6 IRQ counter threshold for PPU address changes.
Removed noise emulation from FME-7 sound code.
Updated MMC5 configuration dialog to list unconfirmed Famicom game
titles in Japanese.
Improved mapper 32 slightly.
Updated mapper 45 (and BMC-Super1Min1 UNIF board) to support RAM
at $6000-$7FFF.
Updated mapper 95 to use Namco 118 instead of MMC3.
Made vast improvements to mapper 100 (debugging mapper).
Upgraded MMC5 mappers to full compatibility.
Added iNES mappers 74, 88, 116, 125, and 188.
Added UNIF boards NES-SFROM, NES-TL1ROM. and UNL_A9712.
Fixed UNL-H2288 board (Earthworm Jim 2 pirate) to work correctly.
0.950
- APU:
Fixed behaviour of square channel pitch bends (silences properly in
Mega Man games, Codemasters intros, etc.)
Fixed behaviour of square/noise channel volume envelope
Fixed behaviour of triangle channel linear counter
Rewrote DPCM IRQ code to work correctly
Adjusted DPCM sample fetch to take up to 4 cycles
Reduced PCM volume by 25%
Reading $4015 now correctly acknowledges a DPCM IRQ
Fixed behaviour of frame counter when in 5-stage mode
Disabled frame IRQs on reset (fixes some games)
Added full APU state information to savestate files
Added simple linear downsampling filter to audio playback (improves
noise channel)
Audio output is now clamped to prevent clipping
Improved audio playback code somewhat, should react more smoothly
to brief system slowdowns
- Controllers:
Added SNES controller (compatible with NES controller in most games,
can be used with homebrew games designed for it)
Added alternate Famicom keyboard (used in "Study & Game 32-in-1"
multicart)
Added Family Trainer (similar to Power Pad)
Added Oeka Kids drawing tablet
Individual controllers are now updated exactly once per frame, to
ensure consistent results
Redesigned controller configuration, now prompts to press a
button/key/axis instead of having to select it from a list
Made controller configuration much more flexible, allowing joypad
axes to be used for ANY controller button
 Controllers are now kept acquired at all times, allowing players to
control the game while the emulator is not selected.
- CPU:
Removed 'B' (breakpoint) flag from processor status
Set 'I' flag upon receiving NMI and RESET
Various optimizations to individual instructions
Updated sprite DMA to take 513 cycles instead of 512
Fixed minor bugs in NMI and IRQ handling
Implemented most of the 'useful' invalid opcodes
- Debugger:
Changed window positions to be relative to each other, rather than
fixed
Debugger now forces window size to at least 2X size, removed
half-size nametable viewer.
Fixed crash bug with placing breakpoint on top instruction line
Scrolling through I/O registers in the disassembly window no longer
reads from them (since it would alter their states)
No longer causes graphical glitches under Windows 9x
Added bank status for CPU banks 6/7 and PPU nametables
- Graphics:
Auto-Frameskip now updates the selection in the menu
NTSC palette is now generated at runtime
Added the Playchoice-10 RGB palette as well as its own unique way of
applying colour emphasis
Added a palette configuration dialog, allowing users to select
between a parameterized NTSC palette, a fixed PAL palette,
the Playchoice-10 RGB palette, or one loaded from an external
file (.PAL format, as supported by other emulators)
Separate palette settings are stored for both NTSC and PAL
emulation, though NTSC only uses one set of parameters
Miscellaneous fixes
- Mappers:
Redesigned mapper interface to provide additional functionality
* PPU I/O handlers
* Allow setting PPU open bus
* Allow mapping nametables in arbitrary PPU regions
* Allow mapping custom data into the CPU and PPU
* Removed SRAM save/load handling
* Changed IRQ to select the state (high/low) instead of sending a
pulse
* Replaced Mapper menu with a single callback to let the mapper open
its own configuration dialog
* Removed MMC5 Attribute Cache update operation, as Nintendulator
does not use an attribute cache
* Moved ROM-specific information into a separate 'ROMInfo'
structure, passed to the DLL when a game is loaded. Added
detailed information for all supported file types. ROMs are now
loaded using this information, rather than by only specifying a
mapper number or board name
* Replaced mapper-specific Init/Unload functions with Load, Reset,
and Unload operations.
* Added a global 'UnloadMapper' operation
- NES:
Moved emulation to a thread separate from UI handling
Failure to open a ROM now gives a reason why it failed.
Added "Auto-Run on Load" option
Rewrote file parsing code for all supported ROM types
Added disk writing support for FDS games
NSF player 'control' code now resides in the mapper DLL rather than
in the emulator itself
 NSF playback speed is now adjusted to the actual NTSC/PAL video
rates rather than exactly 60Hz/50Hz.
Switching from PAL to NTSC no longer causes the program to lock
Various optimizations to Game Genie support
Allow compile-time disabling of debugger for improved speed
Changed default stretch to 2X
Added the ability to slow down emulation by a particular amount
Added the ability to pause emulation and advance one frame at a time
- Overall:
Allow specifying a ROM filename on the command-line
Allow opening a ROM by dragging it onto the program window
Opening a menu, resizing the window, or opening the Load File dialog
no longer results in the last sound segment playing over and over
Added a status window, where various messages are reported
Paths for ROMs, movies, palettes, etc. are saved between sessions
Added an iNES header editor
- PPU:
Added I/O handlers for all PPU memory accesses
Made all PPU memory accesses synchronous with PPU emulation
Fixed palette access functionality
Attempting to read from SPR-RAM while rendering now simulates what
a real PPU would return, though it assumes no sprites are drawn
Various timing fixes and optimizations
- Savestates:
Created a new [custom] savestate format; SNSS had too many problems
and did not store certain vital pieces of information
* CPU and PPU state information are stored in separate blocks CPUS
and PPUS instead of a single block BASR
* Added numerous fields to CPU and PPU data stored
* Dropped mirroring status from PPU block - the mapper state stores
this
* CHR-RAM and PRG-RAM no longer store null data at the end, saving
space
* Dropped "SRAM Writable" field - the mapper state stores this
* Mapper data no longer stores PRG/CHR banks separately - the custom
data field stores this in a manner appropriate to the mapper
* Custom mapper state data no longer has a size limitation
* Added storage for Game Genie status and FDS disk write information
When selecting a savestate, the titlebar now also indicates whether
a savestate is present in the slot
- Movie support:
Proper movie support has been added with the following features:
* Record from reset OR from where you are currently playing
* Use (almost) any controllers you want
* Save your state while recording a movie, then load the state to
'rewind' back to that point
* Watch an existing movie, then save and load a savestate to resume
recording at that point
- AVI output:
With a sufficiently fast processor, you can create an AVI of your
gameplay. On slower systems, it is best to record a movie and
then create the AVI while playing back the movie.
Notes:
* Supports video compression using any codecs available.
* Currently does not support audio compression.
0.900 - Initial release
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Supporting Features
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- Supports files of types .NES, .FDS, .NSF, and .UNIF
- Save States (custom format .NS0-.NS9)
- Movie Recording (custom format .NMV) with savestates
- SRAM saving (standard .SAV files)
- FDS disk writing (stored as differences in custom .FSV file)
- 4 player support, and beyond
- Ultra-accurate pixel-based rendering
- Emulates all internal sound channels, as well as most of
the external Japanese ones (FDS, MMC5, VRC6, VRC7, FME-7,
Namco 106)
- Support for all DirectInput controllers
- Built-in REAL Game Genie support
- External mapper plugins
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Known Issues
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- Certain system hardware properties may not be emulated 100%
correctly.
- Not all mappers are emulated perfectly.
- When recording a movie and stopping, excess data at the end of the
movie file is not truncated, though it is ignored during playback.
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Using Nintendulator
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All commands & options are available through menus, many with shortcut
keys.
File:
- Open (Ctrl+O)
Browse to a ROM's location and open it.
- Close
Unloads the currently opened ROM.
- Edit iNES Header
Allows you to open an iNES ROM image and edit its header to change
its PRG/CHR ROM sizes, mapper number, and flags.
- Auto-Run
Causes the emulator to immediately start emulation after a ROM is
loaded. Useful if you don't want to have to press F2 every time
you load a game.
- Exit (Alt+F4)
Closes the program.
CPU:
- Run (F2)
Starts emulation. After loading a ROM, you must use this to start it
running unless you have Auto-Run enabled.
- Step (Shift+F2)
Runs the CPU for exactly one instruction and then stops.
Only useful when the Debugger is open.
- Stop (F3)
Temporarily stops emulation. Use 'Run' to resume.
- Soft Reset (F4)
Resets the game as if you had just pushed the 'reset' button on the
NES. Some games behave differently to hard vs. soft resets.
- Hard Reset (Shift+F4)
Resets the game as if you had just power-cycled the NES.
- Save State (F5)
Saves the game's state.
- Load State (F8)
Loads the game's state.
- Prev State (F6)
Changes the savestate slot to the previous slot.
- Next State (F7)
Changes the savestate slot to the next slot.
- Game Genie (Ctrl+G)
Enables Game Genie support. Perform a Reset to access the code entry
screen, then enter the codes as you would on a real Game Genie.
Press Ctrl+G while the game is running to enable/disable the
currently entered codes.
- Frame Step
Allows you to pause a game and advance it one frame at a time while
updating your controls. Useful for recording movies.
PPU:
- Frameskip
Allows the emulator to skip rendering frames to improve speed.
If you have a slow computer and cannot attain full speed, turn up
frameskip to attempt to speed up emulation. Use Auto-Frameskip to
let the emulator automatically adjust frameskip for best speed.
- Size
Allows you to set the window size between 1X and 4X stretch.
- Mode
Allows you to switch between NTSC (American and Japanese) and PAL
(European) timing. If a game plays at the wrong speed, its music
is off-pitch, or has timing-related graphical errors (i.e. screen
scrolls at the wrong location), try switching modes.
- Palette...
Allows you to choose a different set of colors. In NTSC mode,
specify the Hue and Saturation to your liking; other modes do not
use these settings. If you do not like the builtin palettes,
choose 'Custom' and load a .PAL file.
Nintendulator allows you to specify different palettes for NTSC and
PAL emulation (though the NTSC palette uses the same parameters
in both modes).
- Slowdown
Allows you to slow down emulation in order to better control
the game you are playing.
- Fullscreen
Switches between Fullscreen and Windowed mode.
- Scanlines
Enables 100% scanlines in both Fullscreen and Windowed mode.
Scanlines should only be used in Windowed mode at 2X stretch.
Sound Menu:
- Enabled
Enables sound playback AND speed throttling - when sound playback is
disabled, emulation will be done as fast as possible.
Input Menu:
- Setup
Opens the Input configuration dialog. Select a device for each
controller port and press the corresponding "Config" button to
configure it. Selecting "Four-Score" for one controller port will
automatically select it for the second port.
 When configuring a controller, select a device for each button from
the appropriate dropdown lists and click the corresponding button.
When the "Press a key..." indicator appears, press AND release the
key/button/axis you wish to use.
Controllers cannot be changed while a movie is playing or
recording, though you can still adjust the key bindings.
The option "Allow simultaneous Left+Right and Up+Down" is available
to enable the ability to press two opposing direction buttons at
the same time. Be aware that this causes glitches in some games!
If the option "Configure POV triggers as axes" is checked,
configuring any controller button to use a POV hat will bind it as
a horizontal or vertical axis with a 90 degree range of motion;
if unchecked, it will instead be configured as one of the hat's 8
valid directions.
Debug:
- Disassembly (Ctrl+F1)
Toggles the CPU Debugger window.
From this window, CPU registers can be viewed and modified, various
parts of system RAM can be viewed, and various types of
breakpoints can be configured.
- Video (Ctrl+F2)
Toggles the PPU Debugger window.
From this window, the current nametables, sprites, pattern tables,
and palette can be viewed and examined in detail.
- Status Window
Opens the Debug Information window, where the emulator can display
various status messages without having to pop up a dialog box.
Game:
If the game you have selected has any special options, this menu
will be enabled. Clicking on it will open a dialog box through
which you may configure your game more closely.
This is used mainly for NSF playback (to choose which song to play),
FDS games (to eject/insert disks), and Vs. Unisystem games (to
insert coins and toggle configuration DIP switches).
Misc:
- Start AVI Capture
Allows you to capture video and audio data to an AVI file.
Choose a location to save the AVI file in, then specify a video
codec.
- Stop AVI Capture
Stops the active AVI capture.
- Play Movie
Allows you to play back a previously recorded movie.
Browse to the location the movie is stored and open it.
A checkbox allows you to switch from playback to recording by
loading a compatible savestate.
- Record Movie
Allows you to record a movie.
In the dialog that opens, you may specify whether you wish to record
starting from system reset or from the current state, configure
which controllers you wish to use, and choose where to save the
movie file.
- Stop Movie
Stops any movie currently playing or recording.
Help:
- About
 Displays the obligatory About box.
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Acknowledgements
----------------
TNSe - For writing the emulator NESten, allowing me to implement the
mappers using a simple yet powerful interface.
Akilla - For writing the emulator NinthStar NES, upon which this
emulator was based.
Kevtris - For lots of help figuring out various aspects of the NES's
hardware using his CopyNES and other tools.
Everyone else from EFnet #nesdev and the NESdev board, who are too
numerous to name.
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Contact
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Homepage - http://www.qmtpro.com/~nes/nintendulator
http://nintendulator.sourceforge.net/ (redirect)
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Disclaimer
----------
NES, Family Computer, and FDS are registered trademarks of Nintendo.
Game Genie is a registered trademark of Galoob.
The author is not affiliated with Nintendo of America or any other
company mentioned, and does not encourage the piracy of NES games.
Nintendulator may be distributed according to the terms of the
GNU General Public License.
It may NOT be distributed with copyrighted ROM images.
You use this software at your own risk. The author is not responsible
for any loss or damage resulting from the use of this software. If you
do not agree with these terms, do not use this software.