Questions tagged [emulation]
For questions about processes and software for emulating retro computer and console hardware (e.g. MAME, QEMU).
123
questions
6
votes
1answer
215 views
Reconstructing uncompressed program from compressed tape image
I have a C64 program in a .t64 file. If I load it into an emulator, what I see is that it loads into a cracktro, which then proceeds to uncompress (taking several seconds at 100% speed) the original ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
How does the Everdrive handle all the special chips and stuff that were put in cartridges?
The "Everdrive" is very intriguing to me. Having been continuously disappointed -- not to say appalled -- by every single emulator I have ever tried, for every single console, I've given up ...
0
votes
0answers
64 views
Is there something like “libretro-thumbnails” but with high-resolution, good scans of classic video game box art?
https://github.com/libretro-thumbnails/libretro-thumbnails
This contains cover art for "most" games. Sadly, they are very low-res, often have bad contrast/color, and are frequently ugly/...
3
votes
2answers
303 views
Every single ROM in my collection has the wrong SHA1 hash according to No-Intros
I have a collection of ROM files for the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64 and others. These ROMs match exactly those games that I own or owned growing up.
Recently, I found out about the "No-Intros" ...
27
votes
6answers
5k views
Is there still no “digital version of PCBs and ICs” software that all future emulators can use?
It strikes me that, in theory, it would be possible to skip the classic approach of emulation and instead literally build a NES, SNES, Nintendo 64 or any console with digital "components", ...
12
votes
2answers
793 views
Emulate a text-mode DOS program using a Unix terminal
Is it possible to run a text-mode DOS program in an emulator under a Unix-like operating system (Linux/*BSD/macOS) such that DOS text-mode input and output is done on a Unix terminal instead of a ...
-4
votes
1answer
108 views
What's the deal with “higan”? [closed]
https://byuu.org/higan/
https://byuu.org/bsnes/
The domain is called "byuu.org".
The emulator is said to be called "higan" or "bsnes".
The download link for "higan&...
-8
votes
0answers
50 views
How is it “opinion-based” to ask about the fact that all current emulators “suck” when it actually is true? [migrated]
I tried asking this yesterday: How is it possible that video game console emulators perpetually suck?
Actually, I asked it earlier in the day, but it was mysteriously "memoryholed", as if ...
4
votes
2answers
148 views
Why does the “Mesen-S” SNES emulator require a separate DSP ROM for Super Mario Kart, but *not* for Stunt Race FX?
If I start vanilla "Mesen-S" and load in Super Mario Kart, it says:
This game requires a firmware file for the DSP1B chip.
If I feed the emulator that "DSP ROM" file, it then ...
-1
votes
2answers
192 views
What does “cycle-accurate emulation” mean? [duplicate]
Note: I've attempted to ask this question several times in the "Arqade" category. Just like with the "History" category, anything I ask there is deleted by their broken bots soon ...
3
votes
1answer
151 views
Does anyone have information about the nj32disk.sys driver?
I'm currently trying to use the nj32disk.sys driver to use my USB stick as a virtual hard drive. The problem is that the driver acts like a floppy disk. My question is: Is there a documentation about ...
3
votes
0answers
253 views
What is it with DS emulation being so slow?
I have a fairly decent computer, and I have been messing around with DS Emulation recently. I have found that if a game is running on the emulator, and if I have anything else running, the performance ...
3
votes
1answer
271 views
How can I get MAME to run modified ROMs whose checksums don't match the originals?
In the aftermath of the question about running the arcade Pac-Man ROM on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum I discovered that about the same time that was done, somebody else did the reverse, porting a classic ...
3
votes
1answer
146 views
`DRAW` instruction timing
I asked a question here about CHIP-8 instruction timing, and this answer mentions that DRAW waits for vblank:
For Chip-8 code that draws anything, the limiting factor will be the wait-for-vblank that ...
3
votes
3answers
408 views
Effective speed of original COSMAC VIP CHIP-8 interpreter
The original CHIP-8 interpreter ran on RCA 1802-based kit computers and home computers, most notably on the COSMAC VIP. Some of the CHIP-8 opcodes are complicated and involve many memory round-trips, ...
3
votes
1answer
147 views
How does the GameBoy's Memory Controller MBC1 Work in Mode 1?
In short, are banks 20h/40h/60h accessible in mode 1?
The Pan Docs state that when in mode 1, those banks become accessible.
"...on large carts (using the secondary banking register to specify ...
1
vote
1answer
134 views
Can I run a network game (Empire Deluxe) that uses NETBIOS? [closed]
I use D-Fend to run the video game Empire Deluxe in full screen mode (1366x768) on a Dell Vostro Core i3 laptop running Windows 10. It works fine.
I want to run the game on a second identical laptop ...
0
votes
6answers
324 views
What are the advantages/disadvantages of using retro hardware vs. FPGA emulation vs. software emulation? [closed]
As someone who recently become interested in retro home computers of 80's and early 90's I'm wandering what are the differences between using a real hardware, FPGA based hardware emulators like MiSTer ...
1
vote
0answers
83 views
Do the Tandy CoCo and the Dragon 32 & 64 use all the same disk image file formats?
Tandy's TRS-80 Color Computer "CoCo" and the Dragon 32 & 64 were very similar but not clones and not the same. Floppy disk versions used totally different DOSes and disk layouts.
Both ...
4
votes
1answer
92 views
Are there any CHIP-8 games that break if `SAVE` / `RESTORE` *doesn't* change the pointer register?
The CHIP-8 instructions SAVE Vx (Fx55) and RESTORE Vx (Fx65) are originally specified to increment the pointer register I as each register is saved/loaded, so by the end of the instruction, the value ...
2
votes
1answer
81 views
Which Apple II emulators were the first ones each to use the .do and .po “dsk” floppy disk image file formats?
Apple II emulation must have started around 25 years ago but I can't seem to find a history of emulation of the platform.
There are several disk image file formats but for now I'm interested in the ...
7
votes
1answer
119 views
Understanding the DMK disk image file format used by TRS-80 emulators
DMK is a low-level disk image file format used by TRS-80 Model I & Model III, Tandy Color Computer, Dragon 32 & 64, and MSX emulators. It's capable of representing copy-protected disks and all ...
16
votes
2answers
2k views
Is there a Commodore 64 emulator that can profile running code?
I am developing some software for the Commodore 64, and I am concerned about its runspeed.
Is there an emulator that can report, after running my code, where exactly it spent most of its time? I'm ...
5
votes
1answer
107 views
How to get GOTEK to work with CDTV?
I'm trying to connect Gotek drive to my CDTV using external caddy (amitek).
The drive has 3 digit LED display, after boot i can see F-F. When I insert Flash drive it detects images on it, I can ...
4
votes
2answers
713 views
How does the RST operation of GameBoy (SHARP LR35902) work?
The GameBoy CPU Manual talks about restart operations on page 116. Each of these operations push the current address onto the stack, and then jumps to a specific address (0x00, 0x08, 0x10, etc, ...
2
votes
1answer
148 views
What is the file that VICE refers to as dos1541?
VICE needs a file called dos1541 if you want hardware emulation of the 1541 disk drive. What does that file contain, exactly? The 1541 seems to have two ROMs: a DOS and a KERNAL. But if I take the ...
4
votes
4answers
369 views
Would having the console's CPU help in emulation hypothetically?
If I had a hypothetical computer just like nowaday's computers, but it had an NMOS 6502, would it provide me with a better emulation experience than if I were to emulate the 6502 inside software? Also,...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Are there open source Java libraries for reading DSK and EDSK disk image files as used by Amstrad and Spectrum +3 emulators?
I've been working on some modules for the Ghidra reverse engineering tool.
Ghidra is written in Java, which I'd always avoided when I was more actively programming so this is an opportunity to learn ...
8
votes
1answer
481 views
Was there ever a functional EGA emulator for the Hercules graphics card?
I used to use a CGA emulator (don't remember which one it was), that could show some gfx even in EGA/VGA-only games (when I selected EGA mode). I remember my frustration seeing some garbled graphics ...
3
votes
1answer
344 views
How to emulate Pocket PC (PPC) 2003?
The OS is at least 17-18 years ago. Yet there is a lot of scattered information and dead ends, and no clarity on how to emulate Pocket PC 2003, the early precedent to Windows Mobile.
How to emulate ...
0
votes
1answer
108 views
Do any of the open source Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulators support both TR-DOS and 3DOS?
The number of Spectrum emulators has been growing for decades now so there's quite a lot for different platforms and written in different languages.
I'm interesting in learning about two of the disk ...
3
votes
2answers
146 views
How do I navigate the boot menu in later model Spectrum emulators?
35 years ago I had an original 48K Sinclair ZX Spectrum. I never had any of the Plus or 128K models and practically never even touched one as I moved onto the Amiga quite early.
I'm now playing with ...
7
votes
2answers
601 views
Why does the .z80 emulator-snapshot format have separate fields for the 8-bit refresh register and bit 7 of R?
I've been looking at the .z80 file format for Sinclair ZX Spectrum games.
Most docs discussing the format include pretty much this wording:
Offset Length Description
-----------------------...
6
votes
2answers
361 views
Are there standalone emulators of Applesoft Basic?
My only retrocomputing desire is to program in Applesoft Basic and relive the Apple II days from the 1980's. Playing games is of no particular interest to me. I just want to use a keyboard, not a ...
1
vote
2answers
222 views
How to get rid of keyboard latency in atari800 emulator?
I use the atari800 emulator v. 4.2.0 on windows 10 and linux in latest version.
(https://atari800.github.io)
I notice an annoying keyboard latency of up to 100-200ms (keypress-to-click and ...
14
votes
2answers
770 views
Does the Z80 allow interrupts after processing and ignoring a 0xdd prefix?
I read here that if the Z80 encounters e.g. multiple 0xdd prefixes in sequence, for each 0xxdd except the last it acts almost like a NOP, but does not allow interrupts to occur immediately after "...
8
votes
1answer
2k views
NES chips usage
I am curently studying NES architecture to create a NES emulator. While looking up the NES motherboard schematics (https://console5.com/wiki/Nintendo_NES-001), some of the chips usage are not clear to ...
12
votes
2answers
649 views
Where to upload the odd and rare emulators and related to them ROMs & software?
Over time, I collected some rare and interesting emulators and their roms and software for, for example, region specific computer machines, rare 1-2 gen consoles and what not. Many of these emulators ...
7
votes
2answers
471 views
Get exact position of raster beam on C64/C128
By reading register $D012/$D011 or when pausing the execution of an emulation in VICE starting the monitor and entering io d000, it is possible to get information about the current rasterline. For ...
2
votes
2answers
237 views
Is there such thing as para-emulation? [closed]
Is there such thing as a para-emulation? Like para-virtualization but for emulation? If so, where could I find a website that describes it?
17
votes
4answers
2k views
80286 real mode emulator for 8086
While trying to use a "modern" sound card (an Aztech Sound Galaxy Pro 16 II) in an XT compatible 8086 computer, I encountered the problem that the drivers and tools (like the mixer initialization tool ...
25
votes
2answers
7k views
How does the Gameboy Link Cable work?
I've been looking into implementing Gameboy Link Cable compatibility into Bizhawk (which does not support it yet) using Lua. The problem is that I can't find any mention of how it works online.
I ...
13
votes
1answer
875 views
Does the Commodore CDTV-CR contain a 65C02 for some reason?
Browsing around the FS-UAE source code I discovered a 65(S)C02 emulation core, which appears to not be referenced anywhere outside of some CDTV-CR related source file.
Apparently, a CDTV is ...
8
votes
2answers
819 views
Build a hardware clone or emulator of Apple II?
These days we are constantly seeing low-cost boards that have huge power (raspberry pi, various arduino-like microcontrollers.)
I am hoping I could make, or get, a clone or emulation of an Apple II ...
2
votes
2answers
341 views
emulator library that allows to partially emulate old games [closed]
EDIT: previously I added a lot of examples to this questions. I removed the examples, because the question was voted to be "too broad", so I put more emphasis on the question again.
Question:
Is ...
5
votes
3answers
545 views
Can someone explain this algorithm used to compute the auxiliary carry flag?
I'm debugging my 8080 emulator and I've gone the route of comparing it to the output of another tested emulator to see where I went wrong. When calculating the auxiliary carry flag, I used this ...
9
votes
5answers
1k views
C64 cartridge emulation with ATmega
As a personal project I had the idea to create a custom cartridge for my Commodore 64 and use an ATmega 1284p microcontroller to emulate eproms and/or custom chips.
Basically my idea is similar to ...
60
votes
10answers
8k views
What makes accurate emulation of old systems a difficult task?
Thanks to a lot of passionate and skilled people, we can emulate pretty much any retro platform today.
For most people they perform well enough, but in fact, a substantial amount of these emulators ...
35
votes
1answer
2k views
Did Windows NT 4 emulate x86 on non-Intel platforms?
I've been trying to find more information about non-Intel versions of Windows NT regarding x86 emulation but found very little about it. There is one sentence about it in the Wikipedia page but the ...
-4
votes
4answers
498 views
Operating systems which have non-x86 instruction set architecture [closed]
What are the most famous operating systems for non-x86 computers? I mean, most famous OS which have different instruction set architecture.
Background (to better understand my task):
I ask this ...
