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1 | -- gameplaySP2X Gameboy Advance emulator for GP2X --\r |
2 | \r |
3 | gpSP2X is a version of my (Exophase)'s emulator originally for Sony PSP.\r |
4 | A large amount of effort has been done to make it more optimized for the\r |
5 | ARM CPU present in the GP2X, however it is still very much a work in\r |
6 | progress.\r |
7 | \r |
8 | See readme.txt for the PSP version readme, which contains a lot of\r |
9 | information relevant to the GP2X version (note that some of it does\r |
10 | not apply however).\r |
11 | \r |
12 | \r |
13 | Changelog:\r |
14 | \r |
15 | 0.9-2xb: \r |
16 | -- IMPORTANT-- If you're overwriting an old version, be sure to delete the\r |
17 | gpsp.cfg file first, or be prepared to have a bunch of weird button\r |
18 | settings that would require fixing.\r |
19 | \r |
20 | - Fixed some bugs stunting compatability.\r |
21 | - Optimized alpha blends in renderer.\r |
22 | - Some more optimizations to dynarec output.\r |
23 | - Savestates should work better now.\r |
24 | - Cheat/misc menu won't crash the emulator.\r |
25 | - Main button config window works (not all buttons are in yet)\r |
26 | \r |
27 | 0.9-2Xa: (Exophase release)\r |
28 | - Redid autoframeskip. Should work more reliably.\r |
29 | - Rewrote dynamic recompiler from x86 source (arm_emit.h, arm_stub.S).\r |
30 | Has some more sophisticated behavior than the last version, more is\r |
31 | still to come... Should notice a slight speed improvement over the\r |
32 | last version.\r |
33 | - Tweaked GUI to be a little more useable. Buttons are now mirroring the\r |
34 | PSP version's.\r |
35 | - Code unification + cleanup amongst versions.\r |
36 | \r |
37 | \r |
38 | v9008: (zodttd release)\r |
39 | - Updated the way autoframeskip works. Should be better now. Still has a max\r |
40 | frameskip value.\r |
41 | - Added a slight performance increase to the dynarec.\r |
42 | - Added sync() to make sure files such as savestates and in-game saves are\r |
43 | saved properly to the GP2X.\r |
44 | \r |
45 | v9006: (zodttd release)\r |
46 | - Initial public release\r |
47 | \r |
48 | \r |
49 | Installation:\r |
50 | \r |
51 | 1. Place the "gpsp.gpe" and "game_config.txt" file in a directory on your SD\r |
52 | card used with the GP2X.\r |
53 | \r |
54 | 2. Place your GBA BIOS in the directory from step 1. This file must be named\r |
55 | "gba_bios.bin" in all lowercase as shown, so rename it if needed.\r |
56 | \r |
57 | -- NOTE --\r |
58 | \r |
59 | There are two commonly available BIOSes - one is the correct one used in\r |
60 | production GBA's worldwide and the other is a prototype BIOS. The latter\r |
61 | will not cause some games to not work correctly or crash. If you attempt\r |
62 | to use this BIOS you will be presented with a warning before being\r |
63 | allowed to continue. This screen will give you a checksum of the real\r |
64 | BIOS image (see readme.txt for further information).\r |
65 | \r |
66 | 3. Place your GBA games in the directory from step 1. These files should have\r |
67 | a ".gba" or ".bin" file extension. Zip compressed games should be supported\r |
68 | and are recognized with the ".zip" file extension. Note that 32MB ROMs will\r |
69 | probably not run if zipped. 16MB and smaller should be OK.\r |
70 | \r |
71 | 4. Done. Run gpsp.gpe.\r |
72 | \r |
73 | \r |
74 | Controls:\r |
75 | \r |
76 | How to use gpSP on the GP2X:\r |
77 | Buttons are mapped as follows (GBA/ingame buttons can be changed in the menu):\r |
78 | \r |
79 | GP2X--------------------GBA\r |
80 | X -> A\r |
81 | B -> B\r |
82 | L TRIG -> L TRIG\r |
83 | R TRIG -> R TRIG\r |
84 | START -> START\r |
85 | SELECT -> SELECT\r |
86 | \r |
87 | GP2X--------------------------------gpSP\r |
88 | \r |
89 | -- IN-GAME --\r |
90 | \r |
91 | VOL MIDDLE (UP + DOWN) -> menu\r |
92 | PUSH STICK -> fps display toggle (second number is\r |
93 | frames actually drawn)\r |
94 | \r |
95 | -- IN-MENU --\r |
96 | B -> select option\r |
97 | X -> cancel/exit menu\r |
98 | A -> escape (up one director level in the\r |
99 | file selector)\r |
100 | \r |
101 | When gpSP is started, you are presented with the option to overclock your\r |
102 | GP2X. Use the L/R TRIG to change the CPU clockspeed and press START to\r |
103 | continue. You may also change RAM timings here - experiment with what\r |
104 | works well. Note that going too high on overclocking or low on RAM\r |
105 | timings can cause the game to crash or the GP2X to outright freeze up.\r |
106 | \r |
107 | If you do not want to overclock, press START without using L/R.\r |
108 | You will now be presented with a menu to choose a game. Press the IN-MENU\r |
109 | "SELECT" button shown above to pick a game to load.\r |
110 | \r |
111 | If you would like to test gpSP for the GP2X with a homebrew (free public\r |
112 | domain) game, a game by Russ Prince works very well with gpSP. It is called\r |
113 | Bust-A-Move and is a remake of the classic game it's named after.\r |
114 | \r |
115 | \r |
116 | How to build from source:\r |
117 | \r |
118 | The makefile included in the source is geared towards the Open2x toolchain.\r |
119 | If you use Open2x and installed it in the way recommended then it should\r |
120 | work okay, assuming you also have up to date HW-SDL (and have\r |
121 | arm-linux-sdl-config installed in the right place). The makefile is in the\r |
122 | gp2x directory, so go there first then just type make to build gpsp.gpe.\r |
123 | Might need a little tweaking if your setup is different. If you need help\r |
124 | you can ask me, but I'll probably nag you about why you want to build it in\r |
125 | the first place.\r |
126 | \r |
127 | \r |
128 | GP2X version FAQ:\r |
129 | \r |
130 | Q) Help! This game doesn't work. Am I using a bad version of the ROM?\r |
131 | \r |
132 | A) First, make sure you're using the correct BIOS version. If you aren't\r |
133 | gpSP should tell you. Other than that, there are some games that are\r |
134 | known to not work now (and will probably work later), and perhaps\r |
135 | many more games that I don't know about that don't work. I haven't\r |
136 | launched a full scale compatability test at this version, so it might\r |
137 | take a while before the compatability levels are high.\r |
138 | \r |
139 | \r |
140 | Q) Why is this version slower than the PSP version?\r |
141 | \r |
142 | A) gpSP is still a work in progress. It might be possible to obtain more\r |
143 | speed from both this version and the PSP one too (and others in the\r |
144 | future). With that in mind, know that even a very agressively overclocked\r |
145 | GP2X is still less powerful than a PSP, generally speaking. Still, I\r |
146 | have a lot of ideas. It's unlikely that the GP2X version will ever be as\r |
147 | fast/faster than the PSP version for anyone but anything's possible.\r |
148 | \r |
149 | \r |
150 | Q) How high does my GP2X have to overclock to enjoy gpSP?\r |
151 | \r |
152 | A) That depends on you. Higher overclocking will mean less frames skipped\r |
153 | on autoframeskip, or less frameskip needed if on manual. Or it can\r |
154 | make the difference between whether or not virtual 60fps can be reached.\r |
155 | For some games no GP2X in the world will be able to run them fullspeed,\r |
156 | with any amount of frameskip. A few might run well with no overclocking\r |
157 | and a generous level of frameskip (probably manual). If you don't care\r |
158 | about battery life (or you're plugged into an outlet) you should push\r |
159 | it as high as you can while still maintaining stability, because\r |
160 | chances are high that whatever you play will benefit from it. Right now\r |
161 | you'll probably want 260MHz if you can achieve it, but with a lot of\r |
162 | luck this number will lower slightly in the future (and is just a vague\r |
163 | ballpark figure anyway). I don't want to scare anyone off from using the\r |
164 | emulator, you should give it a try and see how it plays for you\r |
165 | regardless of how high you can overclock. Just note that this is far\r |
166 | from a locked smooth experience for everyone on every game.\r |
167 | \r |
168 | \r |
169 | Q) GBA has an ARM processor, GP2X has an ARM processor. GP2X is more\r |
170 | powerful than GBA. This emulator should run great without overclocking,\r |
171 | so therefore you're doing it wrong.\r |
172 | \r |
173 | A) That's not a question, but I'll field it anyway. Two things: first,\r |
174 | "virtualization", or running the GBA code "natively" on the GP2X is\r |
175 | probably not possible, at least not with the way I want to do things.\r |
176 | For reasons why go read my blog (see below). So yes, you actually\r |
177 | do need more than 16.7MHz of ARM9 power to emulate the GBA's CPU.\r |
178 | Second: there is a whole lot of work behind emulating the pretty 2D\r |
179 | graphics on the GBA, something it can do in hardware a lot better than\r |
180 | this platform can.\r |
181 | End result: GBA emulation on GP2X isn't as easy as you think it is.\r |
182 | \r |
183 | \r |
184 | Q) What are you working on now? When will you release the next version?\r |
185 | \r |
186 | A) See the gpSP development blog:\r |
187 | \r |
188 | http://gpsp-dev.blogspot.com/\r |
189 | \r |
190 | Note that I don't give release dates, ever, unless I'm right on the verge\r |
191 | of releasing. Be grateful that I've decided to be much more open about\r |
192 | the development of the emulator now.\r |
193 | \r |
194 | \r |
195 | Q) Thanks to your blog I heard that you made some improvement. Can I have\r |
196 | a copy of the new code?\r |
197 | \r |
198 | A) No. Builds in transition often have a lot of problems, and I like for\r |
199 | releases to be relatively substantial. I can probably be bribed out of\r |
200 | them with donations though. :P\r |
201 | \r |
202 | \r |
203 | Q) Why do the menu suck so much? Why do half the options not work or not\r |
204 | make any sense?\r |
205 | \r |
206 | A) Sorry, the menu still hasn't been modified very much to fit the GP2X\r |
207 | version instead of the PSP version.. hopefully this will improve in the\r |
208 | future.\r |
209 | \r |
210 | \r |
211 | Q) Who's in charge of the GP2X version anyway?\r |
212 | \r |
213 | A) Originally, zodttd was. I, Exophase, have basically usurped control of it\r |
214 | now to encourage zodttd to work more on his PS1 emulator (that and I'm\r |
215 | possessive of gpSP and get nervous when people work on it too heavily).\r |
216 | zodttd will most likely still be around to work on things though.\r |
217 | \r |
218 | \r |
219 | Q) I'm a super nice person and would like to donate some of my hard earned\r |
220 | money to this one-off GBA emulator. Where do I send my money to?\r |
221 | \r |
222 | A) Exophase: exophase@gmail.com on PayPal\r |
223 | zodttd: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=heirloomer\r |
224 | %40pobox%2ecom&item_number=1&no_shipping=1&no_note=1&tax=0&cy_code=USD&bn=\r |
225 | PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8\r |
226 | ^ Click there for donating on PayPal (remove whitespace/linebreaks).\r |
227 | \r |
228 | GP2X people have already donated a lot more to me than PSP people have,\r |
229 | even though there's an order of magnitude or two less users. And they've\r |
230 | donated far more to zodttd than they have to me. So I'm not going to ask\r |
231 | people to donate..\r |
232 | \r |
233 | However I won't lie: donating ups the chances of me actually working on the\r |
234 | next version (for which I have a lot of ideas, but not necessarily time to\r |
235 | dedicate to.. that time might need more incentive to be allotted from other\r |
236 | things). This could change depending on my employment situation, but right\r |
237 | now I feel guilty doing anything that doesn't help guarantee that I'll be\r |
238 | able to buy food a year from now.\r |
239 | \r |
240 | \r |
241 | Q) Tell me all of your personal information.\r |
242 | \r |
243 | A) Again not a question, but why not. I'm Exophase, real name: Gilead Kutnick,\r |
244 | male, 23 years old, current residence Bloomington, IN; straight/single/not\r |
245 | actively looking, almost have an MS in Computer Science (do have a BS\r |
246 | underneath it), likes PSP more than GP2X, will not write a Nintendo DS\r |
247 | emulator for either, am currently looking for a job for after I graduate.\r |
248 | \r |
249 | \r |
250 | Q) You said you're looking for a job.\r |
251 | \r |
252 | A) Yes. If you have one or know someone who needs a low level oriented\r |
253 | programmer then I'm up for grabs. And this is my resume:\r |
254 | http://exophase.devzero.co.uk/resume.pdf\r |
255 | \r |
256 | \r |
257 | Credits:\r |
258 | \r |
259 | Original codebase: Exophase (exophase@gmail.com)\r |
260 | Foundation gp2x code: zodttd\r |
261 | GP2X dynarec/stubs + current code maintainance: Exophase\r |
262 | \r |