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GB97.TXT
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1997-07-01
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==========================================================================
=========================================
GB97 Gameboy Emulator in 32 bit assembler
=========================================
==========================================================================
Released Builds :
1.989 on 1st June 1997 :
First release build. Four carts don't work.
2.160 on 3rd June 1997 :
Interim release.
Fix bug running under DOS rather than Win95, causing PMode
exception when a key pressed.
Added sweeps to sound & on/off fixed.
Added Autofire.
Added a hack to make Bubble Bobble 1 work properly.
Fixed (partially !) VBLANK Interrupt timing.
Supports 32k RAM Battery Backup Cartridges
2.192 on 4th June 1997 :
Added Autofire On/Off & Messages. Created home page.
2.320 on 5th June 1997:
Added Joystick support
Added Game Genie Cheat codes
Added Gameboy-like background for small screen
Stopped long-play hiss on Zelda 3
2.368 on 6th June 1997:
Added Sprites prioritised by depth (not by position)
2.426 on 9th June 1997:
Fixed sprite bug. (disappeared of Left hand side of screen)
Support for 4 button joysticks.
2.447 on 9th June 1997:
Support for VGB Colour Configuration files (via a Translator)
Fixed Patrik Alexandersson's bug (Bart Simpson)
2.524 on 9th June 1997:
First version with debugger released.
2.604 on 11th June 1997:
Donkey Kong 95 & Hudson Hawk running
2.732 on 12th June 1997:
In game Save & Load (8 per cartridge)
Use 256-colour bitmaps as background
Game Painting
Reset Button Added
Display Mode Toggle Key Added
Pause Button Added
Reversed default sprite order so Zelda IV map looks better.
2.830 on 17th June 1997:
Fix for 'Frank Thornton Baseball' (VBI enabled when screen off)
Fix F7 Save bug in Super Mario Land 2 & 3 and others. [READ NOTE]
Config uses Default.G97 for its defaults (if it exists)
Added new sound code
Added support for 'Or Interrupt Byte' (fixed Waverace)
Added Icon (courtesy of Lee@lp1.demon.co.uk)
Fixed Window Fudge Bug (now removed from Config)
Changed Default Colours
Fixed extra ticks bug - now runs at about 59.5 fps
2.860 on 18th June 1997:
Fix for 'Gauntlet' (starts in one player mode)
Minor fiddles for the sound code. (Pacman was quiet !)
Step Over now works properly.
Joystick uses BIOS rather than port I/O, seems to work better !
Added Autofix for : Altered Space, Asteroids, Bubble Bobble 1,
Daedlian Opus,Doraemon 2,Frank Thomas Baseball,Hudson Hawk,
Ren & Stimpy Vidiots, StreetFighter 2 and WaveRace
2.887 on 20th June 1997:
Hudson Hawk now invokes internal fix correctly.
Early VBI Fix for Addams Family 1
Fixed Alleyway.
Fattened out the display font slightly
Note: There's some GUI code in this. If you click the mouse
you can move it around but it's still in development.
2.890 on 20th June 1997:
Fixed R-Type 2
Speeded up the Joystick code.
2.909 on 23rd June 1997:
Fixes for Alfred Chicken, Jeopardy, Hook, Robocop 2,
Super Hunchback, Obelix, Yogi Bear
Long filename for startup truncated.
Mouse code can be removed.
New background.
Snapshot Loads and Saves can be cancelled. (press RETURN)
2.937 on 1st July 1997:
Added 360 x 144 display mode.
Fixed WWFKing/Ring
Added Jeff Frohwein's new opcode cycle timings
==========================================================================
To run a game, type GB97 <filename> . The filename does not need to end
in '.GB' but the program looks for a '.GB' image.
Example : GB97 ZELDA
There are no command line switches. All files should be in the same
directory (it makes life easier !)
Keys
====
Most of these keys are redefinable (except accelerate and escape I think)
Arrow Keys Joypad
Ctrl A
Alt B
Select TAB
Start RETURN
Accelerate EMU Keypad + (for getting past long title screens mainly !)
Quit ESCAPE
F1 and F2 Toggle Autofire on/off (must be set on in Configuration)
Backspace Reset
/ Switch Display Mode (between normal,stretch and tweak)
P Pause
C Colour the Game
F5 Load in saved game status
F7 Save game status
To activate the joystick, just press either button A or button B. If you
have problems with the joystick, you can disable it (put 0 in joystick
port address in CONFIG) and use JoyEmu (hopefully !) If anyone tries this
can they let me know if it works.
Saving & Loading
================
Each cartridge can have up to 8 saved games (called xxx.Ga0 through xxx.Ga7)
This seems to work ok on the dozen or so cartridges I have tested but it
may not work universally,so I suggest you save twice in different slots
to start with.... this is a bit of a monumental hack. Each file is
over 64k in length so don't save too many !
Important : The first version of this did not work properly because in a
major bout of dementia I forgot to save the Cartridge RAM !!! This is now
saved with the image, so games which use this save method before which
had battery backed Cartridge RAM in 2.732 will not reload properly into
later versions. Sorry ! this was all my fault. THIS ONLY APPLIES TO GAMES
WHICH HAD BATTERY BACKED CART RAM.
If you reload a game state and then exit the emulator saves the cartridge
RAM to disk, as you would expect. However if you RESET a game, it reloads
the cartridge RAM off disk, NOT from the saved image.
I will do my best to make sure that games saved with F7/F5 are backwards
compatible.
Thanks to Patrik Alexanderson & Martin Sjostrand for help with these bugs.
Game Painting
=============
Pressing 'C' allows you to enter the game colouring routine, which allows
the 16 elements of the Gameboy display to be coloured. (They are background,
window,sprite A and sprite B, each having 4 colours). You will see that
the currently selected colour is flashing, the time when it is most 'on'
is the current colour. The left & right arrows change the colour, and the
up and down arrows change the selected element. Pressing RETURN continues
the game. The advantage of this method is you can colour in the game while
you are playing it !
Backgrounds
===========
Gameboy 97 can use any 256 colour 320x200 bitmap for its background. The
default background used is 'Default.Bmp' - if a bitmap with the same
name as the cartridge is found that will be used instead. It is possible
to convert VGB's .GIF files to .BMP files using Paint Shop Pro, or Word
(which is what I used !)
When creating a bitmap you can't use more than 192 colours of the 256
available and it must be saved in 256 colour Bitmap form - 16 colour
bitmaps are not supported.
Configuration
=============
There is a configuration program which creates files of type '.G97' which
contain information on how the emulator operates. There are three possible
scenarios.
(i) The image loaded has its own file (e.g. Zelda.G97) in which case that
is used.
(ii) There is a default file used by everyone available, called default.g97
(iii) There is no .G97 file, the defaults are used.
Generally, the defaults work fine. However, it is possible to redefine the
game keys, which is quite useful, and change the colour scheme.
Configuration Options
=====================
To start the configuration editor type CONFIG (for the default file) and
CONFIG <image> (for an image specific file) - e.g. CONFIG ZELDA
Values are changed either using Space or by typing them in. To exit press
ESCAPE.
For the keys, the scan code is displayed. To check possible scan codes
run a ROM image in the emulator, and when you exit using ESCape hold down
the F3 key. The program will display scan codes as a key is pressed. To
exit this,press ESC. (Note: not all key combinations are possible due
to the very simple keyboard handler)
DisplaySkipRate Set the number of frames per displayed frame. If this is
1 then every frame is displayed. To speed up the emulation
set this to a number greater than 1. 3 looks fine to me.
Sync On Causes the emulation to run at about 59.5 fps (which is about
right). Turning this off means the emulation will run as
fast as it can. On Pentiums its silly !
Frame Rate The number of frames displayed per PC Clock Tick. Increasing
this speeds the game up.
No Int 60 Turning this on disables the keyboard interrupt in the
gameboy. I added this late so I don't know how it will
affect all the games, but it seems to be unnecessary. This
will probably go in a later release, as I'm not sure
exactly how this interrupt functions.
Adlib FM Port The address of the ADLIB card (or soundblaster card adlib
port). I think this is always $388 (904). If it doesn't
work, find out where it is on your machine. (Try using
System Properties in Windows 95). The sound code is
bog standard Adlib stuff.
ModexxCycles These three settings determine how many CPU cycles (tied to
number of instructions) are done in the various bits of the
window. If you have a slow machine, try reducing them (I
recommend the Mode1x Cycle values). This can have
unpredictable results depending on the game in question.
(Try changing the Frame Skip Rate first). Occasionally
increasing this (esp Mode00) will stop some games crashing,
especially if they 'freeze' - e.g. Daedlian Opus.
NoRecursiveInts Stops interrupts being generated while the Z80 IFlag is
disabled. Some games get stuck in a loop where the
interrupt is recalled before its finished (e.g. Bubble
Bobble 1). This is a useful hack.
FastSprites Turning this on goes back to the old 'whole screen' sprite
method, which is a bit quicker.
Hack Hacks for various ROMs. These should be in individual
configuration files only. These have only been tested on
the ROM Images I have.
Hack#1 - Hudson Hawk
Hopefully, these should be removed as the emulation improves.
Barring disasters, .G97 files should always be backwards compatible. I
will endeavour to make it so.
Speed
=====
The development was done on a 586/133,Pentium 120 and a DX2/66 without any
external cache. On all machines it was up to speed. If some games seem
a bit slow,try setting the display frame skip to 3. With the turbo switch
on the DX2/66 off (does this make it a DX2/25 or what ?) some games were
still playable by hacking the Modexx cycle counts (reducing them). If you
have a SX25 or something, please buy a DX2/66 ! It will work, albiet
slowly, on a 386.
Colours
=======
It came to my attention that there were some pretty good colour schemes
available for VGB-DOS. It is now possible to use these in GB97.
The VGB Colour schemes are in .CFG files (e.g. Mario.Cfg). These need
to be converted into Gameboy 97 equivalent files (.C97). Later versions
of Gameboy 97 will allow these .C97 files to be edited in mid-game.
There is a program called trans which translates .CFG files to .C97 files
To call it either use just TRANS which will translate everything in the
current directory, or TRANS MARIO.CFG to convert Mario's .CFG file into
a .C97 file. Loading an image in GB97 now automatically loads the .C97
file in. I thought about incorporating the Colour information into the
.G97 file but rejected it.
The Debugger
============
Gameboy 97 has a debugger built in. This is activated by pressing key
F12 (by default, this can be changed)
The debugger has 3 windows. One displays the status of the CPU and
some of the Gameboy Registers in page $FF, one displays code and one
displays data.
To move around the code and data windows you can use the arrow keys (back
or forward 8 bytes), or Page Up and Page Down (back and forward 64 bytes),
or you can type the address you want directly in (the number keypad isn't
available at the moment). By default, this moves around the memory
pointer in the Code window. To move the pointer in the data window, hold
down the Control key. (e.g. Ctrl+Down increments the data pointer by 8)
The current instruction is shown by a red '>' character in the code window.
Other keys used
===============
F1..F4 Set breakpoint to the current code address (e.g. the
value at the top of the screen). If the breakpoint is
already there , it is cleared.
F5 Runs the emulator until a breakpoint is encountered.
F7 Single Step
F8 Single Step (steps over subroutines either CALL or RST,
they are executed in one keystroke)
F10 Run the program, no breakpoints are tested. (Faster than
F5 , it doesn't do the tests !)
HOME Move the code cursor to the program counter
END Move the data cursor to $FF00
What's missing for now
======================
Alternate large screen video mode which distorts the graphics less.
This will be a VGA hack mode so the old large screen will be retained
as this will work on all monitors.
Graphical User Inteface (GUI)
A better User interface to replace Config , which is basically a
quick botch job.
Games that don't work
=====================
It has been mentioned that some games that don't work under VGB also don't
work under GB97. It should be noted that the underlying code is completely
different - even though it fits the same spec - interrupts etc. are done
a different way. However, there are now several games which work under GB97
which don't work under VGBDOS and I am working towards no failing
games ! (slowly)
Fixing for several game is built in to Gameboy 97. If the program detects
these games it automatically configures the emulator to run them. This can
be turned off by setting 'Fix ROMs' to False.
If you have problems - if the screen contains junk try 'Fudge Window'. If
the game locks try 'No Recursive Interrupts'. You can also try increasing
the Mode00 cycle value or other values - this works for Daedlian Opus.
There is now a list of non-working games on the home page at
http://users.aol.com/autismuk/gameboy.htm
Information
===========
This program should be distributed as a complete entity (the three executables
and this documentation file).
This program is freeware. It cannot be distributed for monetary or other
gain.
Finally
=======
Please do NOT eMail me asking for the location of Gameboy ROM Images. Any
such messages will be ignored. Bug reports, suggestions for improvements,
compliments or money (errmmmm....) are welcome. I'd especially be open to
486/586/Pentium optimisation ideas, as I don't know a lot about this !
Paul Robson
autismuk@aol.com
I would like to acknowledge the (unwitting !) help of the following.
(in alphabetical order), for making available on the internet
Gameboy Source & Code, and information about the machine itself.
Dr Pan of Anthrax for the Gameboy programming Documentation.
Gameboy programming mailing list.
Jeff Frohwein for the Gameboy Technical Website & his disassembler,
the Game Genie information & lots of other stuff.
Jens C. Restemeier for various tools & the GBDemo program & source.
Harry Mulder for the Zoomar program & source.
HeroZero for various programs & sources.
Lee@jlp1.Demon.Co.Uk for the Gameboy 97 Icon.
Marat Fayzullin for the Gameboy FAQ.
Marat Fayzullin & Marcel DeKogel & others for VGB-DOS,especially FmFreqs.H !
Matt Currie for the VGB Interrupt Demo source & code.
Michael Kunstelj for the article on 386/Pentium optimisation.
Michael Tippich for WDOSX, the free DOS Extender.
Mike Mika for some useful documentation & "first gameboy program" code.
Pascal Felber for the MBC Cartridge mapping information.
Peter Quiring for documentation on setting up a keyboard handler.
RTOONist for the new default background.
and lots of others who provided bits & bobs who I've forgotten about.