Some Quick Relevant Updates Need Addressing...

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:42 pm

OK, I've finally updated some of this stuff. Sorry for taking so long.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:30 pm

I guess that's ok. My newer posts are just incremental changes to the existing stuff anyways. Just make sure we're getting there when it is crunch time..

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:09 pm

I'm also waiting to see what Jipcy is going to do. Apparently, he has some things in mind for all of the stickied topics in this forum, but I don't know what his intentions are for some of them. Hopefully we'll hear more from him in the fall.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:35 pm

Hmm.. the question regarding scanlines may need to be revised.

I'm not sure what the situation is with SDL port+scanlines. For the Windows port, you would need to use a res based on a factor of 256x224 (it would work most likely as a Windowed mode) or a fullscreen res based on a factor of (320)x240. Note that 320 does not literally has to be the base width in this case.

A FAQ question regarding dual-core probably needs to be added. There are threads on this topic you can dig up.. and I believe the solution is to set affinity of ZSNES to 1 or something like that.

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:55 pm

Deathlike, I can give you SVN access to the docs if you want. That way, if you have any small additions or corrections to make (or if I make a mistake in one of my commits), you'll be able to do it.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:01 pm

It's up to you.. I think I might have been already given it, but I hadn't touched it at all. So, do what you think makes sense.

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 10:17 pm

Deathlike2 wrote:It's up to you.. I think I might have been already given it, but I hadn't touched it at all. So, do what you think makes sense.

Ah, I see. I must have overlooked it, but you do already have SVN access.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:07 pm

As pointed out by some rude IRC guy, we don't have a list of file formats that are supported. (Well, just the extensions we support really.)

Also worthy of note, users of 2k/XP (probably Vista as well) need to pipe the output of the command line in order to see the possible command line options. Also, I believe the list of extensions are all mentioned in this output.

"zsnesw -? | more" will work.

"zsnesw -?" will not just work as is (it produces no output).

This info needs to be noted in the command line section.

Post by **Nach** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:34 am

Deathlike2 wrote: Also worthy of note, users of 2k/XP

All versions of Windows, not just NT.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:16 am

Mmmm.. the command I put out only works for Windows 2k/XP..

However... "zsnesw -? > cmdopts.txt" will work for Win9X+2k/XP.

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:14 am

Deathlike2 wrote:As pointed out by some rude IRC guy, we don't have a list of file formats that are supported. (Well, just the extensions we support really.)

I was actually already thinking about this just recently. To be honest, I'm not really sure what "SNES file formats" are. Is this just referring to copier headers?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:17 am

I believe we support all the copier formats, but what is more relevent are the extensions supported (I do believe ZSNES doesn't give a damn about the copier support.. it's just data after all).

creaothceann · Post by **creaothceann** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:35 am

"Copier formats" would be mostly about normal / interleaved / splitted ROMs?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:48 am

creaothceann wrote:"Copier formats" would be mostly about normal / interleaved / splitted ROMs?

Pretty much, but the only notable thing they bring is that rom header stuff...

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:10 am

Ok, after that recent WIP release.. I've just realized we need two more FAQ questions (or at least revise existing ones).

1) We need to improve the "Why don't older savestates work?" question

A: Other than the "savestates being old" mantra, they are simply incompatible between versions that have core changes. They are simply invalid states in the revised core.

2) We need to tack on something into the DOS Sound question (it has been addressed somewhat in the WIP docs, but it needs a FAQ question).

The question would be like "Why do I see N/A in the sound rate/frequency box?"

A: If ZSNES detected an 8-bit sound card (which is any non-SB16/32/64) or has Force 8-bit sound forced, N/A will be shown instead of the normal values. The original SB only supported modes up to Stereo/22KHz or Mono/44KHz.

It should be noted in the GUI section that if ZSNES detects an 8-bit sound card (regardless of the Force 8-bit option), N/A will also be shown.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:22 pm

I've changed the default res in the Windows port, so hopefully the "black screen" or "double vision" (haven't tested against double vision) would not manfest itself by default. I have added code to check if your video card is unable to use a DR mode simply due to the following (the related question needs to be modified).

1) Your video card/drivers suck. Please go update them or buy new hardware... seriously.

If for some reason you cannot do the above, then you have to do the following:

2) Go use a 16-bit desktop. Yes, this is mostly related to using video drivers that have poor Windowing support.

3) Go use a non-D Windowed mode. This will still allow you to have a 32-bit desktop, at the cost of not being able to use any filters.

Alternatively, you could try to use a HQ mode, since for some reason, it does work.

xamenus · Post by **xamenus** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:49 am

Deathlike2 wrote:I've changed the default res in the Windows port

Hmm, hopefully people won't complain when they can't find the graphics filters.

OT: By the way, I don't expect this to be done but I thought I'd mention it anyway: Since you're changing the default res, you could make "256x224 R" the default instead, as that would most accurately simulate the resolution of a real SNES.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:41 am

xamenus wrote:
Deathlike2 wrote:I've changed the default res in the Windows port
Hmm, hopefully people won't complain when they can't find the graphics filters.

Sheer stupidity will be struck by RTFM.

Would you prefer those that complain about the black box issue, or those that are dumb enough not to figure out how to get the filters.

OT: By the way, I don't expect this to be done but I thought I'd mention it anyway: Since you're changing the default res, you could make "256x224 R" the default instead, as that would most accurately simulate the resolution of a real SNES.

Maybe, but then again, I personally would not bother changing it again simply because I'd rather not have people complaining about the default res not supporting hires out of the box.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 7:15 am

I wonder, should it be mentioned that "Use a Higher Priority" ups the priority to "High" on a Win9x OS and "Above Normal" on 2k/XP/2003/Vista?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:14 pm

Part of the Sufami Turbo and Same Game; SD Gundam G-Next in the FAQ section need to be updated.

1) Games with the ST file extension are supported via the GUI.
2) The full path AND filename must be put in the paths.

AspiringSquire · Post by **AspiringSquire** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:37 pm

I think that you should all know something about this:

'IPS Patching' in the Readme wrote:Note: Zipped ROMs are patched according to the unzipped name (e.g. Seiken3.zip containing SD3.smc is patched by SD3.ips, not Seiken3.ips).

The above note is completely false. It has been incorrect for a long time, and I'm not sure if it was ever accurate. ZSNES only loads IPS files that match the archive filename (at least for an IPS file outside of a zip file).

By the way, are there any plans to add support for auto-patching multiple IPS files? The order for patching could be determined by the extension, e.g. *.ip0, *.ip1, etc. (and *.ips would be the first one loaded). This is a request.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:56 pm

AspiringSquire, what you are saying is true (I did test this)..

Also, if there is an IPS patch contained within the file, it must be named the same as the ROM filename inside that file (which I believe is what it was supposed to mean).. I did test this as well.

So.. that does need to be corrected...

On the multiple IPS patch front, I'll inquire if that sounds sane (I would like it for a few games that would benefit)... although, be warned that some IPS patches are rather specific in the ORDER they are patched.. so if you put it in the wrong order, shit can happen.[/quote]

Post by **Nach** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:44 pm

AspiringSquire wrote:I
'IPS Patching' in the Readme wrote:Note: Zipped ROMs are patched according to the unzipped name (e.g. Seiken3.zip containing SD3.smc is patched by SD3.ips, not Seiken3.ips).
The above note is completely false. It has been incorrect for a long time, and I'm not sure if it was ever accurate.

ZSNES used to decompress zip files when loading them. If you remember the old zzipdir.zip disaster. It then loaded the ROM as normal for a temp directory. As such, all filenames (srm, zst, zmv, ips) were based on the filename of the ROM, not it's zip container.

Since it was really stupid like that, when I joined the team, one of the things I did was port the loading code to C and remove that stupidity. Now ZSNES loads the ROM directly from the zip container without extracting it anywhere but memory.
I recall at first I made it use the name inside as the filename loaded, but as other changes got applied to ZSNES, that was phased out.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:51 pm

Edit: Nach added this in like 10 mins, so the method described (.ips, .ip0,... ,.ip9).. up to 11 IPS patches are supported.

Good time to rewrite the IPS support section too...

The extended support works in zip files as well.

AspiringSquire · Post by **AspiringSquire** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 7:28 am

Wow, thanks for the prompt implementation!

Nach sure is quick on the draw with his programming... Speak and it shall be done.

ZSNES board

Some Quick Relevant Updates Need Addressing...

An IPS Patching falsehood

Re: An IPS Patching falsehood

Nach, ZSNES's quick-draw programmer