NeoPop 0.50

posted in Emulator Release by stickfig on Jul 21st, 2002

A new version of the constantly updated Neo Geo Pocket Color emulator NeoPop was released today with a gigantic update. Despite the fact that the last update was a little over a week ago, the programmer seems to never sleep. Probably for that reason, NeoPop is now open source. :) Here's what's new in v. 0.50:
  • NeoPop is now open source! (under the GPL) I hope there are people out there who can help improve the sound emulation and fix the remaining problems. If you have fixed a bug or added a useful feature, please e-mail me a description of the changes.
  • A lot of work has gone into making the code as tidy as possible, but the focus has really been on the emulation core - The Windows code is pretty messy, and will probably get a major shuffle at a later date. I hope the interfaces will remain the same, I think i've covered every aspect, but probably i've missed something out. This shouldn't cause major problems for porters... I hope!
  • Rather than describe every little thing, let's just say that there have been a number of bug fixes and optimisations made across the board. Both executables are also a lot smaller.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing residual sound to be played if the next rom you used had no sound chip initialisation (most PD roms). This was caused by the sound chips not being reset.
  • Added buffered stereo DAC output - seems to work pretty well! The timing is wrong for all games, but it's a start. The output frequency is compensated for and the sample is matched to fit. This stops 44Khz mode playing 4 times faster for example.
  • Tried to add a DAC buffer data count to prevent overflows and overruns, however this introduces a lot of noise...
  • Improved sound mixing, should create less noise and distortion.
  • Added auto pause when focus is lost or the window is minimised.
  • Fixed the communications functions to prevent "Gals Fighters" from complaining about a link error during the menus. However, this has caused a similar problem in "Fatal Fury" on the 1P/2P selection, however, this is far less of a problem.
  • Fixed timer interrupt levels
  • I've fixed saving of the main window location in the registry.
  • Disabled an optimisation in the memory viewer. This has fixed the crashing bug that was occuring when using the shortcuts.
  • The memory viewer now wraps around to 0 after the bios.
  • Allowed the memory viewer to alter the rom data - this makes it easier to test out possible hacks.
  • Added HLE support for 'flash write'. The data isn't saved to disk yet, but the rom is altered and settings are saved beteen resets.
  • Hacked "Sonic Pocket Adventure" to ignore it's flash checksum. It is now possible to proceed past the first level = thanks to Judge_ for help with getting started on that one.
  • Hacked "Metal Slug 2" so that it saves as well.
  • Fixed the DAA instruction , finally!
  • Thanks to Judge_ for the code to do it. Improves "CPU Test by Judge_ (PD)" - passes all tests! Fixes the scores in many games. Fixes the betting values in gambling games.
  • Added RLD and RRD instructions. Fixes "Neo Cherry Master Color"
  • Fixed the default hardware window border colour. Improves "Squall (PD)"
  • In the debugger, i've made the two breakpoint values so that they can be copied from, this is more convenient for me when I need to remember a value between sessions.
  • Changed the memory viewer to accept the first 8 digits (previously 6) for both the address targetter and the editor. This makes it easier to cut and paste from the register window.
  • Made the same change to the primary address box, for the same reason.
  • Added colour/greyscale menu option, but it's disabled because the greyscale core hasn't been written yet.
  • Added basic uDMA support, doesn't affect anything ("Fatal Fury", etc);
  • Added DMA state saving, new state version... sorry! You can go pick it up at the Neo Geo Pocket emulators page. Thanks to Yannick Monye for the news.