cleanup: remove cpu ctrl files, move tests

[gpsp.git] / readme.txt

-- gameplaySP  Gameboy Advance emulator for Playstation Portable --\r
\r
\r
-- Release log --\r
\r
v0.91 (minor cleanup release)\r
\r
NOTE: I don't usually do minor releases but I rewrote a ton of\r
things in gpSP 0.9, much of it during the last few days, and although\r
I spent a lot of time debugging a few bugs inevitably crept in.\r
\r
# Fixed some issues in the new memory handlers that crept up, hopefully\r
  should fix the problems between 0.8 and 0.9.\r
# Fixed a bug introduced in 0.9 that could cause crashes when selecting\r
  things in the menu (I hope, at least).\r
# Fixed a bug with a certain invalid opcode causing a jump to be scanned\r
  when there isn't one (fixes Sabre Wulf).\r
# Removed 2048 option for audio buffer.\r
\r
v0.9 (yes, it's still beta)\r
\r
NOTE: As some of you may be aware I'm pretty much tired of these\r
unofficial releases by people (okay, mostly single person) who\r
don't wish to follow my wishes. I'm in the process of asking this\r
person to stop, in his own language. However, I want to make\r
something clear. Look at the last six new features in this\r
changelog. I added these TODAY. I could have done them at any\r
time. But I didn't, because I spent many (dozens, quite possibly\r
hundreds) hours debugging games that people want to play. I have\r
always believed that this is far more important than spending time\r
on new features. Frankly, I'm tired of my emulator being hacked on\r
by other people, and if it doesn't stop I'm going to make this\r
project closed source.\r
\r
Since I know this information is most visible when updated on the\r
major sites, note that it is the news posters I am especially\r
talking to. Next time you upload unofficial releases of my\r
emulator (without even knowing what's changed) bear in mind that\r
you're only encouraging me to stop working on this. If you want\r
to pick sides between me and unofficial devs, be my guest. I'll\r
let you decide by the contents of this release who's doing more\r
for my emulator.\r
\r
Oh, and if you downloaded a version of gpSP that has more than\r
"gpSP" in its name then you're using one of their versions. Shame\r
on them for not even removing this threatening message, and shame\r
on you. Unless you're using a port I endorse (GP2X, Dreamcast, etc),\r
in which case everything's good.\r
\r
\r
# Fixed stereo output being reversed.\r
# Fixed a bug causing misaligned errors on 8bit writes to the gbc\r
  audio channel 3 wave data (fixes various Super Robot Wars games)\r
# Fixed DMA with garbage in their upper 4 bits (fixes a crash in\r
  Zelda: Minish Cap)\r
# Added double buffering to the rendering, removes line artifacts.\r
  Big thanks to Brunni for the idea.\r
# Fixed a bug preventing some SRAM based games from saving (fixes\r
  MMBN4-6)\r
# Fixed a bug causing part of EWRAM to potentially get corrupted if\r
  code segments loaded in EWRAM cross 32KB boundaries (fixes\r
  Phantasy Star 2)\r
# Fixed a bug causing games using movs pc in user mode (very bad\r
  behavior) to crash. Fixes Colin McRae Rally 2.0.\r
# Improved timing a bit more. Fixes GTA Advance.\r
# Fixed a sprite clipping bug (fixes crash in third boss of Zelda:\r
  Minish cap)\r
# Increased translation buffer size significantly (fixes Donkey Kong:\r
  King of Swing)\r
# Fixed a dynarec bug causing add pc, reg to not work in Thumb code\r
  (fixes crash in DBZ:LoZ, seems to fix crashes in battle in Golden\r
  Sun, probably fixes other games)\r
# Made sprites using tiles < 512 not display in modes 3-5 (fixes\r
  a couple minor graphical bugs)\r
# Removed abort on instruction 0x00000000 hack, was breaking a\r
  certain bugged up game (Scurge)\r
# Fixed bug in flags generating variable logical shifts (fixes\r
  SD Gundam Force)\r
# Fixed unaligned 16bit reads (fixes DBZ:LoZ in game)\r
# Redid contiguous block flag modification checking AGAIN and\r
  hopefully got it right this time (fixes Mario vs. Donkey Kong)\r
# Redid ldm/stm instructions, fixing some cases (along with the\r
  timing improvements fixes Mario & Luigi)\r
# Fixed 14bit EEPROM addressing (hopefully fixes saving in a lot\r
  of games)\r
# Completely redid memory handlers, accurately emulates open and\r
  BIOS reads now. Fixes Zelda: Minish Cap (roll bug, last dungeon),\r
  Rayman, MMBN 1 (last dungeon), probably others.\r
# Fixed a minor graphical glitch on the edges of the screen\r
  (thanks Brunni and hlide for the help!)\r
# Fixed crash on loading savestates from files of games not currently\r
  loaded, but be sure you have the exact file you loaded it from or\r
  gpSP will exit.\r
@ New memory handlers should provide performance boost for games\r
  that access VRAM significantly (ie 3D games)\r
@ Added dead flag elimination checking for logical shifts, probably\r
  doesn't make a noticeable difference but should have been there\r
  anyway.\r
+ Added rapidfire to the button mappings.\r
+ Added auto frameskip. Removed fractional frameskip (don't think\r
  it's very useful with auto anyway). Select auto in the graphics/\r
  sound menu to activate it; frameskip value will act as the\r
  maximum (auto is by default on). Thanks again to Brunni for some\r
  help with this. Frameskip options are game specific.\r
+ Added vsync to the rendering. Only occurs when frames aren't\r
  skipped. Seems to reduce tearing at least some of the time.\r
+ Added non-filtered video option.\r
+ Cheat support (Gameshark/Pro Action Replay v1-v3 only), still\r
  in early stages, doesn't support everything; codes may cause\r
  the game to crash, haven't determined yet if the codes are bad\r
  or the implementation is. See cheat section for more information.\r
+ Added ability to change audio buffer size. Does not take affect\r
  until you restart the game.\r
+ Added analog config options.\r
+ Added ability to set analog sensitivity and turn off analog.\r
+ Added ability to change the clock speed. This is a game specific\r
  option. Try lower speeds w/auto frameskip to save battery life.\r
+ Fixed savestate speed on crappy Sony sticks.\r
\r
(legend: # bug fix, + feature addition, @ optimization)\r
\r
v0.8 - ("unlocked" beta)\r
\r
NOTE 1: It has come to my attention that there are actually BIOSes\r
out there that are being used that cause some games to not work.\r
The BIOS md5sum listed here is for the BIOS actually in GBAs and\r
is as accurate as you'll get, (if you have a GBA and a flashcart\r
you can dump it yourself, see http://wiki.pocketheaven.com/GBA_BIOS)\r
\r
NOTE 2: Since I know this is as far as a lot of people here I have a\r
little request. Please, please, (I'd italicize this if I could)\r
please stop constantly asking me when the next release will be,\r
what it'll have, etc. And while you're at it, please stop asking me\r
to implement wi-fi multiplayer, cheat support, or fix all of your\r
games. Some things will happen in due time, other things might not\r
ever happen. I devote about as much time as I can to this emulator\r
and I carefully include as much as I can in releases to try to\r
minimize the number of people who will nag me next time (erm, I\r
mean, to make the most people happy), so I don't release every other\r
day or anything like that. Sorry that I can't release once a week,\r
but I'm a lot busier now than I was when I was first developing this\r
emulator. Good thing I got the first version out before that, wasn't\r
it?\r
\r
Congratulations, you made it this far! Now read the rest of the this\r
thing. *_*\r
\r
\r
# Fixed bug in dead flag elimination, "alt" version no longer needed.\r
# Fixed EEPROM saves being saved as 32kb instead of 512bytes/8kb\r
+ 32MB ROM support has been added. ROMS are "demand loaded" as\r
  necessary and page swapped out; there might be a small loading lag,\r
  but I have yet to ever really notice anything.\r
  NOTE: 32MB ROM support only works for unzipped ROMs.\r
+ Save states have been added. See the save state menu for save/load\r
  options.\r
+ Support for the real-time clock (RTC) chip in Pokemon cartridegs\r
  and other games. The implementation is based off of VBA's, whatever\r
  notes on gbadev I could find, and some of my own reverse engineering\r
  of what the games do... it might not be totally correct. Also,\r
  setting the time does not work.\r
+ Per-game configuration. Currently this only saves frameskip and\r
  frameskip variation options.\r
+ Removed the flash type option from the menu and instead added it\r
  to game_config.txt. Hopefully got everything - let me know if you\r
  find something that isn't there. It's pretty easy to add them if you\r
  have to.\r
+ Added a display in the upper left-hand corner to indicate when\r
  fast-forward is on.\r
+ Added button bindings for save/load state.\r
@ Found a fix of StrmnNrmn proportion: far too much unnecessary mutex\r
  synchronization was going on. Removing the two offending lines of\r
  code gave a massive speed boost for free. Enjoy.\r
\r
v0.7 - (beta than ever)\r
\r
# Fixed a dynarec bug involving flags generating functions in\r
  contiguous conditional blocks. Fixes music in Super Mario\r
  Advance 2-4.\r
# Fixed a dynarec bug where Thumb mov imm instructions wouldn't\r
  set flags. Fixes Zelda: Minish Cap, Megaman Battle Network,\r
  probably others. Comes at a slight speed cost.\r
# Fixed a MIPS dynarec bug where some delay slots might not\r
  get filled rarely, causing chaos. Don't know if it improves\r
  any games.\r
# Improved self-modifying code detection. Makes Golden Sun,\r
  Golden Sun 2, and Madden 2007 sorta work but excrutiatingly\r
  slowly. Looking for a game-specific workaround for this - if you\r
  want to play these games you'll have to wait for now :(\r
# Fixed a bug causing the interrupt disable flag to go down\r
  when SWIs are entered, causing crashes/resets. Fixes\r
  Super Mario Advance 2-4.\r
# Fixed menu crashing when strings with certain characters are\r
  printed (for instance going to the menu after loading the\r
  BIOS)\r
# Accidentally forgot to render win0 + win1 + objwin when all\r
  active at the same time, many weeks ago. Added that, should fix\r
  some parts in games that had frozen screens.\r
# Fixed some issues with gpsp.cfg needing to be present and\r
  corrupting, hopefully. At the very least sanity checks are\r
  performed on the config file.\r
# Made it so assigning the frameskip button to something besides\r
  triangle actually worked as expected.\r
# Fixed ability to restart current game if nothing is loaded\r
  (ie, crash)\r
# Added interrupt on cpsr modification support to the dynarec\r
  (fixes backgrounds in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance)\r
# Added open addressing for ldm/stm instructions (fixes\r
  Super Mario Advance 3)\r
# Improved cycle accuracy a little. Don't know of anything this\r
  fixes, but games with idle loops will run a little better w/o\r
  idle loop elimination (but should still be added when possible)\r
# Fixed some bugs causing sound to play sometimes when it shouldn't.\r
@ Added dead flag elimination for Thumb code. May possibly have\r
  noticeable performance increases (Thumb emited coded size can\r
  have a reduction of 20% or more)\r
@ Added code generation for divide SWI. May have a small speed\r
  increase in some games.\r
+ Added analog nub support (special thanks to psp298 for the\r
  code)\r
+ Added fractional frameskip. Go below 0 to get them. A frameskip\r
  of 1/2 for instance means render 2 out of every 3 frames, 2/3\r
  means render 3 out of every 4 frames, etc. Possibly useful for\r
  games that are not quite fast enough at fs0 but fullspeed at\r
  fs1...\r
\r
v0.6 - (still beta quality, look out for new bugs)\r
\r
NOTE: Please include gpsp.cfg with EBOOT.PBP, this shouldn't be\r
 necessary but I think it is right now.\r
\r
# Fixed a nasty bug that shouldn't have made it into the initial\r
  release; a lot of games that TECM.. erm.. crash won't anymore.\r
  NOTE: This doesn't mean that no game will ever crash, freeze,\r
  otherwise not work.\r
# Fixed some crashes in the GUI and the ability to "go up" past\r
  ms0:/PSP. Made the "go up" button square like it was supposed to\r
  be (instead of cross).\r
+ There's now a menu that you can access, by default press right\r
  while holding down triangle for the frameskip bar.\r
+ Menu option: resize screen aspect ratio, the default is now\r
  "scaled 3:2" which makes it look more like a normal GBA. You\r
  can use "fullscreen" (what it was like before) or "unscaled 3:2"\r
  (tiny but pixel for pixel like a GBA)\r
+ Menu option: You can now load new games while the current one\r
  is running.\r
+ Menu option: You can now restart the currently running game.\r
+ Menu option: Frameskip variation - this defaults to "uniform"\r
  whereas it defaulted to "random" last release. Basically, turn\r
  it on random if you find that frameskip causes flickering\r
  animations to make things disappear. Other than that it will\r
  generally look better on uniform.\r
+ GUI and file loading now have "auto repeat" on the buttons so\r
  they're not such a pain to navigate.\r
+ Menu option: Added support for 128KB flash ROM, some games\r
  require it (Pokemon Firered/Leaf Green, Super Mario Advance 4),\r
  turn it on before running the game to make sure it works.\r
  NOTE: There are some versions of these ROMs that have been\r
  hacked to get around their 128KB flash, and may not even work\r
  properly at all. Look out for them, these games should save\r
  128KB save files after you set the setting to it, IF they use\r
  128KB flash.\r
+ Menu option: Added ability to make the .sav files only update\r
  when you exit the emulator, use with extreme caution (in other\r
  words, it's not a good idea to use something like this in beta\r
  quality software if you care about your saves). Does NOT update\r
  if you exit through the home button, don't use the home button\r
  if you can help it.\r
+ Zip support thanks to SiberianSTAR. It will load the first file\r
  with the extension .gba or .bin that it finds.\r
+ Menu options are saved to gpsp.cfg. Note that it does not save\r
  frameskip options or flash ROM options because these are very\r
  per game particular.\r
+ The emulator will now try to save backup files to something\r
  more matching the backup size than a fixed 64KB.\r
@ Loading ROMs and the auto save of the .sav files is MUCH faster\r
  now. Thanks for the heads up on how to improve this from pollux!\r
@ While coding for the screen resize code I found that SDL just\r
  wasn't cutting it and had to code for the GU myself. Turns out\r
  the new code is faster (but because it is render code any\r
  improvement will be diminished to nothing as frameskip is\r
  increased). Special thanks to Zx-81 for the tips on this one\r
  and for his GU code in the PSPVBA source as an example.\r
@ Added some games to game_config.txt. Note that not all versions\r
  of these ROMs will work with these options, try to use the USA\r
  version if possible.\r
\r
8-19-2006  v0.5 - Initial release (public beta quality)\r
\r
\r
-- About --\r
\r
gameplaySP (gpSP for short) is a GBA emulator written completely from\r
scratch. It is still pretty young (only having started a 3 months prior\r
to the first release) and thus rather immature, but it does a decent\r
job of playing a number of games, and is being improved upon somewhat\r
regularly. It is currently somewhat minimalistic, in the sourcecode,\r
presentation, and features. Its number one focus is to deliver a GBA\r
gaming experience in the most playable way that PSP can manage, with\r
frills being secondary (although still a consideration, at least for\r
some of them).\r
\r
Having said that, optimization was the important way in achieving this\r
goal, with overall compatability being a near second. Because of this\r
some games may not run at the favor of running more games significantly\r
better. Of course, the compatability will improve with time. The\r
compatability in the current version (0.8) is perhaps around 80%\r
(assuming the correct BIOS image is used).\r
\r
Many games will run at their best out of the box, but some games will\r
run very slowly unless idle loops are taken care of. There is a supplied\r
ROM database, game_config.txt, that gives idle loop targets and other\r
settings that may help a game to run better (or at all) on a per-game\r
basis. Currently (as of version 0.8) a few dozen games are on this list,\r
mostly only USA versions. This list will continue to be updated; there's\r
no real telling exactly how many of the ~2500 GBA games will need to\r
appear here.\r
\r
gpSP currently requires an authentic GBA BIOS image file to run. It will\r
make no effort to run without one present; this file is 16kb and should\r
be called gba_bios.bin and present in the same location as the EBOOT.PBP\r
file. Please do not ask me where to obtain this, you'll have to look\r
online or grab it from a GBA. Note that it is not legal to have this file\r
unless you own a GBA, and even then it's rather gray area.\r
\r
\r
\r
-- Features --\r
\r
gpSP mostly emulates the core Gameboy Advance system. As of right now it\r
does not emulate any special hardware present on various GBA cartridges.\r
\r
\r
What it emulates:\r
\r
GBA CPU: All ARM7TDMI ARM and Thumb mode opcodes except block memory w/\r
 s-bit (probably aren't used in GBA games)\r
Video: Modes 0, 1, 2 almost completely, basic 3-5 support, sprites,\r
 windows/OBJ windows\r
Interrupts: HBlank, VBlank, all timers, all DMA channels, keypad\r
DMA: Immediate, HBlank, VBlank, sound timer triggered\r
Sound: Both DirectSound channels and all 4 GBC audio channels\r
Input: Basic GBA input delivered through PSP controls\r
Cartridges: Currently supports ROMs up to 32MB in size (the maximum for\r
GBA) with the technique of ROM page swapping to fit within PSP's RAM.\r
Backup: 32/64kb SRAM, 64/128kb flash, 512bit/8kb EEPROM\r
RTC: The real-time clock present in cartridges such as most of the\r
 Pokemon games and some others.\r
\r
\r
What it lacks:\r
\r
Video: No mosaic, bitmap modes lack color effects (alpha, fades),\r
 there might be some minor inaccuracies in blending...\r
Cycle accuracy: Very cycle innacurate; CPU is effectively somewhat\r
 overclocked, meaning games with rampant idle loops will probably run\r
 rather poorly. DMA transfers effectively happen for free (0 cycle).\r
 Please do NOT use gpSP as a first source for developing GBA homebrew,\r
 try No$GBA instead.\r
\r
\r
Additional features it has:\r
- The ability to attempt to run games at faster than GBA speed (sometimes\r
  they can end up a lot faster, other times not so much)\r
- Savestates: the ability to save a game's state to a file and resume\r
  playing where you left off later.\r
- Mild cheat support\r
\r
\r
Features that it doesn't have (please don't ask me to implement these!)\r
- Wi-fi multiplayer\r
\r
\r
-- Controls --\r
\r
The default control scheme is very simple. If you don't like it you can\r
change it in the configuration menu.\r
\r
At the ROM selection screen:\r
\r
Up/down: navigate current selection window.\r
Left/right: switch between file window and directory window.\r
Circle/start: select current entry.\r
Square: go one directory up.\r
\r
In game:\r
\r
Up/down/left/right: GBA d-pad\r
Circle: GBA A button\r
Cross: GBA B button\r
Square/start: GBA start button\r
Select: GBA select button\r
Left trigger: GBA left trigger\r
Right trigger: GBA right trigger\r
Triangle: Adjust frameksip\r
\r
In frameskip adjustment:\r
\r
Hold down triangle to keep up, press up/down to increase/decrease\r
frameskip, respectively. Press down at 0 to change to auto, and up\r
at auto to change to 0.\r
\r
In the menu:\r
\r
Up/down: navigate current menu.\r
Left/right: change value in current menu selection (if a value is present)\r
Circle/start: select current entry (see help for entry to see what this means)\r
Square: exit the current menu.\r
\r
\r
-- Frameskip --\r
\r
The purpose behind frameskip is to cause the emulator to not render every\r
frame of graphics to make the emulation closer to fullspeed. Many games will\r
run fullspeed without skipping any frames, however, some (particularly more\r
graphically demanding ones) will require this.\r
\r
Frameskip can be set to two forms, either auto or manual. Auto will attempt\r
to skip only as many frames as necessary to make the game full speed, and\r
will not skip more than 4 in a row no matter what speed the game runs at\r
(at this point the benefits of frameskip yield diminishing returns).\r
\r
It is recommended that you keep frameskip on auto, but manual is maintained\r
as an option if you want it and works as follows:\r
\r
Manual frameskip will only render one out of every (n + 1) frames, where n\r
is the current frameskip value (so 0 will render everything). Increasing\r
the frameskip can improve speed, especially with very graphically\r
intensive games.\r
\r
\r
-- Cheats --\r
\r
Currently, gpSP supports some functionality of Gameshark/Pro Action Replay\r
cheat codes. To use these, you must first make a file with the same name\r
as the ROM you want the cheat code to apply to, but with the extension .cht.\r
Put this file in the same directory as the ROM. To make it use a normal\r
text editor like notepad or wordpad if you're on Windows.\r
\r
To write a code, write the type of model it is, gameshark_v1, gameshark_v3,\r
PAR_v1, or PAR_v3. gameshark_v1/PAR_v1 and gameshark_v3/PAR_v3 respectively\r
are interchangeable, but v1 and v3 are not! So if you don't know which\r
version it is, try both to see if it'll work.\r
\r
Then, after that, put a space and put the name you'd like to give the cheat.\r
\r
On the next several lines, put each cheat code pair, which should look like\r
this:\r
\r
AAAAAAAA BBBBBBBB\r
\r
Then put a blank line when you're done with that code, and start a new code\r
immediately after it. Here's an example of what a cheat file should look\r
like:\r
\r
\r
gameshark_v3 MarioInfHP\r
995fa0d9 0c6720d2\r
\r
gameshark_v3 MarioMaxHP\r
21d58888 c5d0e432\r
\r
gameshark_v3 InfHlthBat\r
6f4feadb 0581b00e\r
79af5dc6 5ce0d2b1\r
dbbd5995 44b801c9\r
65f8924d 2fbcd3c4\r
\r
gameshark_v3 StopTimer\r
2b399ca4 ec81f071\r
\r
\r
After you have written the .cht file, you have to enable the cheats\r
individually in the game menu. Go to the Cheats/Misc menu, and you will\r
see the cheats; turn them on here. You may turn them on and off as you\r
please, but note that some cheats may still hold after you turn them off,\r
due to the nature of the system. Restart to completely get rid of them.\r
\r
IMPORTANT NOTES:\r
\r
This is still very work in progress! I basically added this in only 1.5\r
or so hours, and I don't have a lot of time right now to work on it\r
before releasing. So I'll probably improve it later.\r
\r
Not all of gameshark's features are supported, especially for v3. Only\r
basic cheats will work, more or less.\r
\r
Cheats may be unstable and may crash your game. If you're having problems\r
turn the cheats off.\r
\r
Really, there's no guarantee that ANY cheats will work; I tried a few and\r
some seem to work, others are questionable. Try for yourself, but don't\r
expect anything to actually work right now. Do expect this feature to\r
improve in future versions.\r
\r
\r
\r
-- Frequently Asked Questions --\r
\r
Q) How do I run this on my PSP?\r
\r
A) Provided is an EBOOT.PBP which will run as is on a 1.0 firmware\r
   PSP or custom firmware that can run unsigned EBOOTs. On 1.5 firmwares\r
   you must use a kxploit tool to run it (try SeiPSPtool). On 2.0\r
   firmwares and higher further exploits must be used - see\r
   http://pspupdates.qj.net/ for more information. Note that I have NOT\r
   tested this emulator on any firmware version besides 1.5, and it's\r
   very possible that it doesn't run well, or at all on higher versions.\r
   Therefore I strongly recommend you downgrade if possible, and use\r
   Devhook to run games that require > 1.5 version firmwares.\r
\r
   Be sure to include in the same directory as the EBOOT.PBP file the\r
   game_config.txt file included and the gba_bios.bin file which you\r
   must provide yourself.\r
\r
   gpSP does not run on PSPs with version 2.71 or higher firmware yet,\r
   nor does any other homebrew executable.\r
\r
\r
Q) What is a BIOS image file? Why do I need it to run gpSP? Other GBA\r
   emulators don't require this...\r
\r
A) The GBA BIOS image file is a copy of a ROM on the GBA system that\r
   has code for starting up the GBA (it shows the logo), verifying the\r
   game, and most importantly, providing utility functions for the games\r
   to use. It is the latter that gpSP needs the BIOS present for. It's\r
   possible to replace all of these functions with equivilent code, but\r
   this will take time - in the future gpSP may not require a BIOS image.\r
\r
\r
Q) I can't find this BIOS image.. please send it to me.\r
\r
A) Sorry, but you're on your own. I won't send you a BIOS or tell you\r
   where to get one (unless you want to rip it from a GBA yourself, in\r
   which case I'll just give you the same link at the top). I can't do\r
   this because it's not legal to send it around and I don't want to\r
   get a reputation for illegally distributing BIOS images.\r
\r
\r
Q) How do I know I have the right BIOS?\r
\r
A) If you have md5sum you can check if it has this hash:\r
   a860e8c0b6d573d191e4ec7db1b1e4f6\r
   That BIOS should work fine. I think that some others work fine too,\r
   although I haven't confirmed this with absolute certainty. It's also\r
   theoretically possible to use custom (and free) BIOS replacements,\r
   but I don't know of any publically availablone ones.\r
\r
   As far as I'm aware there are two BIOSes floating around, I doubt\r
   you'll get one that isn't one of those two. There's a very easy way\r
   to determine which one you have - just look at the very first byte in\r
   a hex editor. The correct BIOS begins with 0x18, the buggy BIOS begins\r
   with 0x14.\r
\r
\r
Q) My favorite game won't run.\r
\r
A) There probably isn't anything you can do about this, although a\r
   change to game_config.txt might help. gpSP is still an emulator in\r
   its infancy so the compatability is not superb. I don't have time\r
   to test too many games so I'm releasing it as a public beta to get\r
   a feel for some things that don't work. The next version could\r
   perhaps fix it, or it might never run. There are always other\r
   emulators of course, please try one.\r
\r
   However, before nagging me there is one thing I recommend you try,\r
   and that is to add the option "iwram_stack_optimize = no" for the\r
   game in game_config.txt. See the file itself for more information\r
   on how to do this. If this fixes your game (and it's not already\r
   in the game_config.txt) please tell me about it.\r
\r
\r
Q) My favorite game is very slow.\r
\r
A) Emulating GBA takes a number of resources and getting it done well\r
   on PSP is no simple task by any means. Some games are just going to\r
   overwhelm the emulator completely. Of course, there is one special\r
   case of game (a lot of early generation games fall under this\r
   category) that can be made much faster by a simple addition to the\r
   game_config.txt file. Wait for a new version of this file or the\r
   next version of the emulator and the game may be improved.\r
\r
   That aside, there are still numerous optimizations that can be done,\r
   and I sure you future versions will be faster (I just can't tell you\r
   how much)\r
\r
   Also, a lot of games will be sped up considerably by adding an\r
   idle_loop_eliminate_target line for it in game_config.txt. There\r
   are some more obscurer options there that can improve speed too. If\r
   the game is VERY slow there might be something wrong with its\r
   emulation that can be improved. For instance, if you can't get a game\r
   to run fullspeed on any frameskip you should e-mail me about it.\r
\r
\r
Q) Some games run fullspeed but the sound is messed up. Why?\r
\r
A) At least 9 out of 10 times it means the game isn't really running\r
   full speed, but just that you can't notice the difference. Increasing\r
   frameskip will almost always improve sound quality in these\r
   situations, to a certain point (after around frameskip 3 you\r
   probably won't be seeing many more returns if it isn't already\r
   fullspeed). The rest of the time it means there's a bug somewhere else\r
   in the emulator, probably in the CPU core. Chances are that all you\r
   can do is wait for it to be fixed in a later release.\r
\r
\r
Q) The emulator crashed!\r
\r
A) Most games that don't run will probably take the emulator down with\r
   it, or it could be an emulator bug completely unrelated to the game\r
   (but unlikely). Press home and wait for the next version.\r
\r
   There is some information that comes up when the game crashes. This\r
   information may be slightly useful to me, but chances are it\r
   usually won't be all that interesting.\r
\r
   These days games are more likely to exit with a "bad crash" error.\r
   This number is possibly useful to me, but to debug a game I'll have\r
   to reproduce the crash anyway. When this happens it's probably due to\r
   a bug in the CPU core that hasn't been fixed yet.\r
\r
\r
Q) Why won't my game save?\r
\r
A) The game might need 128KB flash turned on and might not be listed in\r
   game_config.txt. See game_config.txt for more information regarding\r
   this. Be sure to include game_config.txt with the EBOOT.PBP file.\r
\r
   Other games might simply have bugs in the save support. For now, use\r
   savestates as an alternative if you can't save.\r
\r
\r
Q) How do I change sound quality?\r
\r
A) Right now, you can't. For those wondering, sound is locked at 44.1KHz\r
   (sounds a bit high? It is, but it's currently necessary to play\r
   everything correctly). I don't have any plans to allow changing this\r
   right now, because I don't think there's really much reason to be\r
   able to (it'd be a tiny speed boost at best and I don't think SDL even\r
   allows for anything besides this sampling rate on PSP)\r
\r
\r
Q) What is this emulator's name?\r
\r
A) Um.. what? It's gameplaySP, isn't it? You call it gpSP for short.\r
   Somehow the name can't have the acronyms gbSP, gbapSP, or really\r
   just about anything else you feel like giving it. Oh, and if you\r
   really want to make me happy get the capitalization right too.\r
   That's gpSP, not gPSP, GPsp.. you get the idea.\r
\r
\r
Q) Does gpSP run Gameboy/Gameboy Color games? Will it later?\r
\r
A) No. Even though GBA can run these games it uses separate hardware\r
   that proper GBA games have no access to (save for the audio chip),\r
   and thus there's no point including it in a GBA emulator (it\r
   doesn't help run GBA games). I recommend using a GB/GBC emulator\r
   like Rin for playing these games. It'll probably give you a lot\r
   more options anyway. gpSP will never actually emulate GB/GBC\r
   games. You'd may as well be waiting for it to emulate PS2 games...\r
   (that was an analogy. gpSP won't ever emulate PS2 games. >_>)\r
\r
\r
Q) Other emulators use the PSP's graphical hardware to accelerate the\r
   video emulation. Is this possible for gpSP?\r
\r
A) I'm honestly not too sure at this point. It's definitely a rather\r
   complicated procedure, and I don't think it'll be possible to\r
   accurately accelerate alpha blending. On the other hand, affine\r
   transformations could perhaps receive a speed boost this way. Any\r
   solution would have to be hybrid hardware/software, which might be\r
   possible due to the nature of the PSP's VRAM. Maybe someone will\r
   be willing to help me think of possibilities here?\r
\r
   But don't bother of you're just going to tell me to render a list\r
   of quads...\r
\r
\r
Q) Other emulators use the PSP's second CPU to offload the sound\r
   emulation. Is this possible for gpSP?\r
\r
A) Yes, but it wouldn't improve it nearly as much as say, SNES9x TYL.\r
   This is because most of the processing that goes into sound on a GBA\r
   game is done in the CPU, not in dedicated audio hardware. It could\r
   help a little, but probably not a lot. Maybe enough to be worthwhile.\r
   It might also be possible to split the video rendering to the main\r
   CPU and the main emulation to the secondary one, but there are a lot\r
   of coherency issues involved.\r
\r
\r
Q) I heard gpSP can only load games 16MB or smaller in size. Is this\r
   true? What about zipped games?\r
\r
A) As of version 0.8 gpSP can play 32MB ROMs. However, they must be\r
   unzipped. The reason for this is that parts of the ROM are constantly\r
   loaded to memory as needed, and for this to be as fast as possible the\r
   ROM has to be present on the memory stick in raw format.\r
\r
   You might be wondering, why not just have gpSP unzip the ROM to a file\r
   then delete the file when it is done? The reason why is because this\r
   would impose a "hidden" requirement of 32MB on the user that very\r
   likely may not be there. Furthermore, there are only a few 32MB games\r
   that anyone actually wants to play. If you only have one 32MB game on\r
   your memstick then it'd actually require signifnicantly more free space\r
   to hold both the ROM and the 32MB raw file. With 2 32MB ROMs you only\r
   gain a around 10-25MB of free space, depending on how effective the\r
   compression is.\r
\r
\r
Q) Savestates? From other emulators??\r
\r
A) See the savestates option in main menu. gpSP will probably never\r
   support savestates from other emulators, there's just too much in the\r
   way of emulator specific data in them.\r
\r
   Savestates are currently 506,943 bytes. They would be a little smaller\r
   without the snapshot, but I find that very useful and it wouldn't help\r
   size immensely. Compression would help, but I wanted the size to be\r
   constant so you knew exactly how much you could hold and to improve\r
   save/load speed.\r
\r
\r
Q) What's with the zip support?\r
\r
A) I hear stories that some games work unzipped and not zipped, so you\r
   might want to try unzipping them if it gives you problems. You also\r
   might want to try making fresh zips with WinRAR - users have\r
   reported some higher success rates doing this.\r
\r
\r
Q) What's with the config file? Should I make it read only?\r
\r
A) There was a bug in version 0.6 that caused the config file to not\r
   get updated or get corrupted sometimes. Hopefully this is fixed now,\r
   but if it DOES get corrupted making it read only can prevent this\r
   from happening in the future.\r
\r
\r
Q) So when WILL the next version be released?\r
\r
A) Sorry, but I almost never announce release dates. Furthermore, I'll\r
   probably be pretty hush hush on internal development, just to keep\r
   people from nagging me about it and building too much suspense.\r
\r
\r
Q) I don't like this emulator. Are there other alternatives?\r
\r
A) Yes. Try PSPVBA by Zx-81 (http://zx81.dcemu.co.uk/). Overall I doubt\r
   the compatability is significantly higher than gpSP's anymore, but\r
   I'm sure there are some games it runs that gpSP doesn't.\r
\r
\r
Q) I heard there was a version of gpSP for PCs. Is that true?\r
\r
A) I developed this emulator internally on PC. It might have a speed\r
   advantage over other PC GBA emulators, although the PSP version has\r
   more sophisticated optimizations. Most people have fast enough\r
   computers to run better GBA emulators for PC and gpSP lacks some\r
   important features (screen resizing) that the PSP version kinda\r
   hides. Even though gpSP spent a majority of its development\r
   gestation as a PC app it was always developed with the PSP in mind,\r
   so the PC version will probably not see the light of the day unless\r
   I get overwhelming demand for it. It is, however, possible to\r
   build it from the source. But I request that you don't distribute\r
   such builds. If you happen to find one, bear in mind that I don't\r
   offer any support for it, and as far as I'm concerned it won't\r
   exist.\r
\r
\r
Q) I hear there's a version of gpSP for other platforms too, like\r
   Dreamcast. And I hear they're slow! What gives?\r
\r
   These are ports, done by other people (or maybe myself?). This is\r
   possible because gpSP is open source and its base version is fairly\r
   portable, but to run fast enough on anything but platforms quite a\r
   bit faster than PSP it at least needs a CPU specific dynarec backend.\r
\r
   I don't (necessarily) maintain all builds of gpSP, so you'll have to\r
   contact the authors of these ports for more information. That\r
   notwithstanding, I try to get as involved in other ports of gpSP as\r
   I can.\r
\r
\r
Q) I want to modify gpSP. How can I do this, and am I at liberty to do\r
   so?\r
\r
A) Yes, you are, under the terms of the GPL (see the included\r
   COPYING.DOC). You can download the sourcecode from whereever you\r
   downloaded this; if you can't find it please e-mail me and I'll give\r
   you a link to it. I would vastly appreciate it if you contacted me first\r
   before forking my project, especially if you're just looking to gain\r
   recognition without adding much to it. It's better to keep all changes\r
   tidy in one branch of development.\r
\r
   I would like to stress this a little more seriously (hopefully those\r
   interested are reading this). Although you are legally entitled to\r
   release your own forks of gpSP it would be much more benficial to me,\r
   to you, and to the users of this program if you instead tried working\r
   with me to get your changes incorporated into the next version. I\r
   really don't feel like competing with other builds of my source\r
   anymore, so please do me a big favor and send me an e-mail if you want\r
   to work with gpSP.\r
\r
\r
Q) How do I build gpSP?\r
\r
A) make will build it. You need to have SDL for PSP installed, as well\r
   as the standard PSP toolchain/PSPSDK and zlib. gpSP isn't much of a\r
   "build it yourself" program so please don't bother me much about how to\r
   build it unless you have a good reason for wanting to do so.\r
\r
\r
Q) What is with the version numbers?\r
\r
A) Anything less than 1.0 means beta. Beta means that I still have major\r
   plans for working on it, and that I don't fully back it as being\r
   stable or reliable software. Of course, if it does hit 1.0, that doesn't\r
   mean it'll be perfect. It just means I'll have spent a lot of cumulative\r
   time working things out. The closer it gets to 0.9, the happier I am with\r
   it overall.\r
\r
\r
Q) Donations?\r
\r
A) Very appreciated. exophase@gmail.com on PayPal. <3\r
\r
\r
Q) How can I contact you?\r
\r
A) exophase@gmail.com, Exophase on AIM, exophase@adelphia.net on MSN. I\r
   welcome IMs, but if you nag me a lot you'll make me sad inside. And\r
   don't ask me for ROMs or the GBA BIOS. I figured this was common sense\r
   but apparently not.\r
\r
\r
-- Credits --\r
\r
Exophase: main developer\r
siberianSTAR: zip support\r
psp298: analog nub code\r
\r
Beta testers for 0.7:\r
theohsoawesome1\r
thisnamesucks837\r
blackdragonwave9\r
dagreatpeewee\r
xsgenji\r
\r
Beta testers for 0.8:\r
Runaway_prisoner\r
theohsoawesome1\r
tanyareimyoko\r
spynghotoh2020\r
\r
Beta testers for 0.9:\r
RunawayPrisoner (my right hand man)\r
Veskgar (my left hand man)\r
qasim\r
\r
-- Special thanks --\r
\r
Quasar84: He's helped me in so many ways with this. We both kinda learned\r
GBA together, he did little demos for me and I got them emulated. It was\r
great trying out your more advanced code for your own projects once you\r
got to them, it was equally rewarding to see your work and to be able to\r
run it at the same time. Least of all I wouldn't have been able to do any\r
of this without your constant support and presence. I really owe this\r
release to you.\r
\r
gladius: You are an amazing GBA coder. I wouldn't have been able to get\r
through some tough parts without your help. Its been good talking about\r
ideas with you.. I'm sure you're glad to see that there's finally a GBA\r
emulator with dynarec ;)\r
\r
\r
Many, many others of course, probably too many to name, and I don't want\r
to make anyone feel bad by putting others above them (well, except those\r
two, heh) so if you think you should be on here, you probably should be!\r
Just pretend you are for now, and maybe I'll put you here next time.\r
\r