Post v1.42 ZSNES WIPs

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:38 pm

pagefault wrote:This has nothing to do with DMA. It is caused by a typo in the code which made it into the WIP. Another reason to love WIPs.

I wonder how this infamous typo got in the first place... It's always good to find out what borks a working feature.

Pagefault, if you could comment on my last post on the following thread, it would be appreciated... http://board.zsnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5794

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:32 am

EDIT: Nevermind, just retryed the game with the same configs, and the background is there now... -shrugs-

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:17 am

pagefault wrote:
Deathlike2 wrote:
creaothceann wrote:Isn't that the normal way of the game showing that you can't access that menu option?
I should've explained it better..

Of course the game does show the mosiac effect when you cannot select that menu option.. but look at the upper right hand corner and the left of Shadow's picture.. you will see some "white blocks" of some sort where there shouldn't be in the first place.
Mosaic rendering problem. See my other post for details.

Hopefully that fix comes soon then..

I have a related question... does this mosaic problem also affect Chrono Trigger.. the one where I've shown that the transparancy is lost on the menu in the mosaic effect when you run away... or is it a different problem altogether?

Edit: Is the typo bug the cause of the flicker in Chrono Trigger battles when there is some text that appears?

ipher · Post by **ipher** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:24 am

For all you movie buffs...

2/26/06
ALL: Fixed loading of SD F-1 Grand Prix Sample (uses sa-1). [Nach]
ALL: DMA fix for Tetris Attack (and probably other games). [grinvader]
ALL: Fixed typo, fixes SA-1 games. [pagefault]
ALL: Changed NTSC sync value [pagefault]
ALL: Removed EWJ2 hack [grinvader]
W_S: Updated the Browser Launch code [Nach]
W_S: Added a "Documentation" button in the about box [Nach, ipher]
MOV: Movie encoding using mencoder!. [Nach]
MOV: Rates other than 32KHz now recorded properly too. [Nach]
MOV: Audio and Video files now saved in ZSNES launch directory [Nach]
GUI: Added more movie options [Nach]
GUI: Made error message appear if mencoder is not found [pagefault]
PSR: Allow more than one per app [Nach]
PSR: Overhauled Unified PSR. [grinvader]
TOL: Updated source counter tool a bit. [grinvader]
SRC: Directory /cvsroot/zsnes/zsnes/src/psrhead added to the repository [grinvader]
SRC: Unused CL param dropped and cleanup. [grinvader]

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:29 am

Thanks you!

Starman Ghost · Post by **Starman Ghost** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:31 am

Holy Awesome!

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:44 am

Hmm... are you sure the new options are there? Unless something was different between Nach's movie version and this version.. it doesn't appear to have the changes...

Nach's version has the X264 encoder feature.. this does not... unless there is some sort of detection mechanism in ZSNES to find out if mencoder is available and show the GUI option...

snkcube · Post by **snkcube** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:04 am

Thanks a bunch devs!

Cobra · Post by **Cobra** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:22 am

ipher wrote: ALL: Fixed typo, fixes SA-1 games. [pagefault]

You sure about that? I'm having the same issues in SA-1 games as I did with the previous version.

They used to work just fine. Maybe I have bad roms, but I doubt it.

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:24 am

Cobra wrote:
ipher wrote:ALL: Fixed typo, fixes SA-1 games. [pagefault]
You sure about that? I'm having the same issues in SA-1 games as I did with the previous version.

They used to work just fine. Maybe I have bad roms, but I doubt it.

Start a thread in ZSNES Talk or Bug Reports, and post your NSRT info.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:39 am

Jipcy wrote:
Cobra wrote:
ipher wrote:ALL: Fixed typo, fixes SA-1 games. [pagefault]
You sure about that? I'm having the same issues in SA-1 games as I did with the previous version.

They used to work just fine. Maybe I have bad roms, but I doubt it.
Start a thread in ZSNES Talk or Bug Reports, and post your NSRT info.

I think Cobra's right.. simply because some of the fixes/additions don't work...

The most obvious one is the added movie support..

Refer to this thread:
http://board.zsnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic ... 627#100627

See the pic in that?

Look at the movie screen in the 2/26/06 WIP

Tell me that Nach has somehow hidden/removed that feature.. I think the code for it is still not included (as well as some of the fixes noted in the changes.txt file)

Edit: I meant 2/27/06 WIP.. although in the changes.txt and ipher's post and the WIP internally says 2/26/06...

Aerdan · Post by **Aerdan** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:51 am

I suspect it's CVS being broken again.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:08 am

According to pagefault in the development thread...
http://board.zsnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6425

CVS -> SVN

This sounds like a stupid question.. but what is PSR? In the changes.txt file, it just says PSR = PSR and I'm like wtf...

Post by **grinvader** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:12 am

SVN isn't up, and devs have no issue checking out CVS.

Ipher might have built an older source or something... No blame intended.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:24 am

grinvader wrote:SVN isn't up, and devs have no issue checking out CVS.

Ipher might have built an older source or something... No blame intended.

I don't blame ipher.. I figured as much.. I think there's some transitioning problem that needs to be addressed.

Post by **pagefault** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:25 pm

Improvments in SPC are also in this release with the removal of some skipping code that was causing problems. The music in EWJ2 is fine now but the sound effects will require some extra work. You will notice differences in other games too, Top Gear, any game that plays very fast music.

Post by **Nach** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 6:49 pm

pagefault wrote:Improvments in SPC are also in this release with the removal of some skipping code that was causing problems. The music in EWJ2 is fine now but the sound effects will require some extra work. You will notice differences in other games too, Top Gear, any game that plays very fast music.

pagefault there was no release. You mean upcoming release.

Post by **pagefault** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 7:23 pm

Oh ok.

Kilo11 · Post by **Kilo11** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:13 pm

This my be way off topic, but I just noticed that it has been over a year since the last official release of ZSNES.

kieran_ · Post by **kieran_** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:17 pm

There have been buttloads of Work In Progress releases though. I guess the developers have a certain criteria for what will constitute a full release, which has not yet been reached.
Pagefault made a list on this board a while back, I'm too lazy to find it.

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:49 pm

From November:

Nach wrote:
Palin wrote:what are the criteria for the next stable release?
Stability - Crush the core ramdomness once and for all.
Complete movie support (and it's needed sister features).
Complete new netplay support.
Graphics overhaul.
DSP-4 finishing touches.

Maybes:
DSP-3.
BS-X.
Sound overhaul.
Improved archive support (do not ask for details, read FAQ).
Mapping improvements.
More porting.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:04 pm

Jipcy wrote:From November:
Nach wrote:
Palin wrote:what are the criteria for the next stable release?
Stability - Crush the core ramdomness once and for all.
Complete movie support (and it's needed sister features).
Complete new netplay support.
Graphics overhaul.
DSP-4 finishing touches.

Maybes:
DSP-3.
BS-X.
Sound overhaul.
Improved archive support (do not ask for details, read FAQ).
Mapping improvements.
More porting.

Core randomness.. I have still yet to figure how you can identify it and what part of it is affected..

Nach's already included his improved movie support, so that's probably complete..

I have no idea who is dealing with the netplay, but I suppose that is being hindered by the core randomness..

With the graphics overhaul.. I only know that the mosiac effect has to be redone by pagefault.. but otherwise I know no other effects that need work. There's more likely to be others that I'm not aware of, but I think there is a need to improve Mode 7 support (Illusion of Gaia intro) and Windowing (TOP battles)

I have no idea how the progress with (that game) is going... but I do believe that's the only game that uses DSP-4.

Post by **grinvader** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:15 pm

Deathlike2 wrote:Core randomness.. I have still yet to figure how you can identify it and what part of it is affected..

The same input from the same state leads to different outcomes. That's how you identify it. What part of the core is affected isn't exactly known, and that's part of the trouble in fixing it.
This must be crushed for movies and netplay to be desync-less.

Nach's already included his improved movie support, so that's probably complete..

Not exactly. Back then, we were in a coding fury and made huge improvements almost everyday. But when we reached frame-by-frame input, every movie we made to test stuff started desyncing.
Movie features were halted until that was fixed, but several features thought up back then are still not in.

I have no idea who is dealing with the netplay, but I suppose that is being hindered by the core randomness..

Exact. We didn't even start on it because testing would be a total hassle as long as unexpected results happen on a single machine (so with 2+ machines on a network, psshhh...).

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:25 pm

grinvader wrote:
Deathlike2 wrote:Core randomness.. I have still yet to figure how you can identify it and what part of it is affected..
The same input from the same state leads to different outcomes. That's how you identify it. What part of the core is affected isn't exactly known, and that's part of the trouble in fixing it.
This must be crushed for movies and netplay to be desync-less.

Hmm, are there any particular games that would generally expose this? I've done a lot of savestate loading/saving and been able to cause different outcomes (either by time or different input or even a combination of both).. I don't think I've come across it unless there's a particular game or genre that has it (games that cause it I can at least look into it more)

Note that most of my testing are on RPGs, but it is not limited to it.

Also, if you could tell me which version (WIP) probably started this?

Post by **grinvader** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:48 pm

Deathlike2 wrote:I've done a lot of savestate loading/saving and been able to cause different outcomes (either by time or different input or even a combination of both).

That's not the issue, this kind of difference is normal and necessary for TASes (it's 'luck manipulation').

unless there's a particular game or genre that has it (games that cause it I can at least look into it more)

If we knew, that'd help. So far there's an added problem of feature-based randomness:
- skipping frames is bad. Forcing autoframe rate with a max speed of 1x and 0 max frameskip would be a solution, though hackish.
- step-by-step... completely breaks most movies. Unusable so far. Recording just 1 frame in step-by-step is enough to break movies for some games.
- and the last one I found, rewind states. When zsnes saves a rewind state, "something" happens and makes it go differently compared to if zsnes didn't save that state. Standard states do not seem to have that behaviour.

So, if you record a movie with 0 frames skipped, rewinds states set at 0, and never using step-by-step you'll never(?) desync. At least I never got a desync in ~500 test movies when using the same version of zsnes the movie was made with.