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[XPort]

First off, sorry about that last post - it was ambiguous.  I had meant to post a followup shortly after that, but I'm only getting around to that now.  That's part of the reason why I've remained silent for so long.

Yes, I was on a "break" and became busy with many other things.  I have not had time to do anything related to past projects.

Yes, I've been reading these forums for a while so I suppose technically I've been ignoring everyone, but not in a malicious way.  There was really no point in posting anything because all it would be is essentially something like "I can't do anything for you right now - maybe later."  This would perpetuate an anticipatory ambience and result in more posts on the subject such as "when?" "you still there?" "what's the status?".  I thought it would be better (for me) to just make a clean break and say something when I have more time.

Yes, it's always been my intention to release the source to everything.  I didn't "just dump" everything somewhere because there are some things in the source that I made simultaneously for a project I was working on at my real place of employment.  Technically, it belongs to the company even though I wrote it.  The chances of someone from my work actually looking at this source and seeing that it's the same as parts of an internal project are pretty remote - and even more remote that action would be taken against me - but that was a potential headache that I wanted to sidestep completely.  

So I've got some free time on my hands again, and I've started tinkering again.  There probably won't be any brand new projects, but there will definitely be updates to existing ones.  At the absolute least, all projects will get a new version to standardize the mismatched GUI features.  There will probably be other odds&ends/additions.  After that's all done, I'll fix what needs to be fixed in the sources, dump everything on xbins, and essentially wash my hands of it.

[tetsuo55]

hi Xport, im very glad you decided to post this message.

im glad to hear that we dont have to re-invent the wheel all over again to update the existing emulators

I have one request for you though, before you wash your hands completely, could you write a guide on porting new emulators/programms to the xbox

the information is currently scarce and although i understand it a little now by tinkering with the sourcecodes i could use some(read a lot) of pointers in the right direction

im hoping that when you release the sourcecodes we can take over where you left off, and also add new projects based on your accompilshments (giving you full credit ofcourse)

 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[BanjoK]

Thank you XPort. Words cannot express how amazing this is. Many of us here appreciate the work that you have put into your emulation projects. I wish you well.

[Manabyte]

I never thought this day would come.  All I can say is wow, thanks Xport.  Are update requests of particular emulators allowed or is that off limits?  Almost all your emulators ported have near perfect compatibility, but there is one in particular where the new sources have drastically upgraded this...

[Diontae18]

Woot! Glad to see a post by you. Some of us were beginning to  think there was a problem with these forums when it'll show you logging on daily, but not being active.

Anyway, Welcome Back
 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[XPort]

QUOTE(tetsuo55 @ Feb 11 2006, 10:43 AM)

I have one request for you though, before you wash your hands completely, could you write a guide on porting new emulators/programms to the xbox

There's not a whole lot to say on the subject.  Grab the sources to an existing xbox emulator project to see how audio/video/input is handled, then find something you wish to port.  Strip out all of the GUI/frontend stuff from it so that you just have something that emulates the machine.  Locate the audio/video buffers and feed them into the xbox routines, then feed the xbox inputs into the emulator code, and that's pretty much it.

You'll have a much easier time "learning by doing" rather than reading something other than code.

QUOTE(Manabyte @ Feb 11 2006, 11:21 AM)

Are update requests of particular emulators allowed or is that off limits?

Request away.

[tetsuo55]

QUOTE(XPort @ Feb 11 2006, 06:04 PM)

There's not a whole lot to say on the subject.  Grab the sources to an existing xbox emulator project to see how audio/video/input is handled, then find something you wish to port.  Strip out all of the GUI/frontend stuff from it so that you just have something that emulates the machine.  Locate the audio/video buffers and feed them into the xbox routines, then feed the xbox inputs into the emulator code, and that's pretty much it.

You'll have a much easier time "learning by doing" rather than reading something other than code.
Request away.

Your right, it would be great to see a before/after of one of the easyer ports, so i can learn from that

[emuola]

I'm so happy that you're back (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I already want to thank you for your updates, because they're gonna rock, that's for sure (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Now as reaquests are allowed I have only one, which I think is on top of many emulator fans list: 720p support on latest xbox versions of Vice64x and Winuaex. That would be the ultimate "cherry on the cake" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) But now as your working on many things already I'm happy just to hear you're back.

[potman09]

when i saw your new post with only one word, "obviously" in the other thread, i almost had a heart attack lol  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
nice to see ya back  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) .
wondering, will u be updating pcsxbox? will the new pcsxbox updates be able to emulate alot of incompatibility games?
cheers.

This post has been edited by potman09: Feb 11 2006, 09:02 PM

[guybird]

Well its definitely nice to know that the man mostly responsible for our xbox emulation bliss is back.  It would have been nice to have a "yeah I'm alive" post somewhere along the line, but as you put it, it probably would've stirred up more of a mess that way.

QUOTE

Request away.

You have probably seen or heard most of this, but here goes:

The bug with 480p enable causing a garbled screen when launching an emulator

Option to toggle between text and icon based game selection.  Myself and many others have made packs to do what we could to select games this way, an option to browse through games by displaying a "0001.png" if it exists would be the ultimate touch to all of your guis.

File this one under "would be nice" but not necessary:  Seperate rom browsing/screenshot save location/save game location for your emulators that run multiple systems in one gui.  Like the Sega Master System/Game Gear or Game Boy/Game Boy Advance.  Granted you can keep the roms seperate by way of subfolders in your rom directory, but with it sharing the same screenshot/save game folders for multiple systems, there are some overlap issues (mostly with master system & game gear having the same games ported to both).

Besides the fact that ported emulators will always be a step behind the original emulators (which isn't too big a concern), the few things I listed above are the only things that are really needed for what is already a nearly flawless experience.

[tetsuo55]

Requested updates:

StepmaniaX
PCSXBox
NeoGenesis

maybe this one too??

MAMEoX+VMM


i would love to see an updated nes emulator, but fce is no longer being developed
so i would like to see "Nestopia" instead of fce NestopiaX

hehe

[zenstrom]

First of all, I would just like to thank you for porting all of these emulators.  My friends and I have a blast playing games from our childhood again.  You updating your code, or at least allowing others to, is nothing short of great.

As far as bugfixes go, the one noteable thing I'd like to see is a simple fix for the dashboard icons.  I know this has been mentioned in previous threads, but for instance: all of my icons for your emulators are the XBOYAdvance icon.  Also maybe a "Reset Game" option.  If it already exists (and I just somehow haven't been able to find it), perhaps add it to the menu when you click the right-analog stick?

Anyways, my vote is for an update to PCSXbox.  Improved compatability and slight speed increases would be amazing, and ISO9660 support wouldn't hurt anybody.  ;]

This post has been edited by zenstrom: Feb 11 2006, 10:18 PM

[Manabyte]

OK since everyone else is requesting updates, Im going to throw two out.  A HUGO update would be huge.  Compatibility has gone way up since the last release.  I'm talking about the PC-E CD of course.  Most of the current CDs are serius glitched, wont boot, or are unplayable.  PCSX might be a good choice too, even thought it's discontued.  Maybe a few tweaks to increase compatibility?  But here's a new one:

How about an update to CDDissect 1.2?

It's perfect excpet for one thing  - would it be possible to add bin support so you don't have to rip directly from the CD?

[XPort]

re: 720p - that's on the todo list

re: 480p - that's fixed

re: updating pcsxbox - update it with what?  There has been no new development with PCSX, so there's nothing to use as a basis.

re: icon selection of games - not likely - more work than I'd care to invest right now

re: separate paths for gg/sms, etc - I'll look at the issue, but this only affects 2 emulators and there is a viable workaround (just rename the few files in question) so it's not really something that warrants much attention

re: stepmania - possibly

re: neogenesis - update it to do what?  The only thing currently lacking (as far as I can tell) is support for Sega CD games that also use 32x.  Has Gens been updated to do this?  If it has, I don't see that info anywhere.  

re: mameox - nope, I'm done with that one

re: Nestopia, Nintendulator - which is better?  I understand that they have "better" compatibility than FCEUltra, but to my knowledge, FCEUltra was about 99% compatible.  Are there really that many games that don't play in FCEUltra that do in Nestopia or Nintendulator?  Can you show me details?  (Game names, etc.)  I'm all for better compatibility, but unless there is a significant improvement in that area, it's not worth it to do an entirely new project.

re: dashboard icons - this is really the fault of the dashboard you're using (avalaunch, for example, does not have this problem) - but if I remember to do so, I'll change the game IDs on everything to something unique which should fix that issue

re: reset game - possibly

re: cddissect - I suggest you just grab daemon tools and use that to mount the bin image and then run cddissect against that virtual drive.

re: HUGO - I've just tried the most recent version and are you sure compatibility is better overall or just for a couple of games that you happened to try?  For one thing, Dungeon Explorer no longer has sound and it freezes if you press the fire buttons (not the run button) at the first screen.  Works fine in the 2.10 version.  Also, the sprites are all messed up in Cadash - you can't see yourself when you play the game.  Again, works fine in 2.10.  Are there options that need adjustment in order to have these play correctly?


This post has been edited by XPort: Feb 11 2006, 10:30 PM

[hanshipp]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Superb XPort is back !!!

you have written "re: 720p - that's on the todo list"

is your todo list very big ? because i think the best is, you write her the todo-list, an any user can see what you plan for the future.

Or is this list secret ? Then i must wait, what you bring to us.

THX  to you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)