DOOM runs in DS2x86!

February 2nd, 2011, 01:15 Posted By: wraggster

Pate has posted some news concerning his Dos Emulator for the DS

Doom in DS2x86
Okay, I'm back from my trip but somewhat tired so I don't think I will get much programming done today. However, just before I went on my trip I got Doom to actually run in DS2x86! One milestone reached! It does not play any sounds yet, which makes it not all that immersive or even playable yet, but it does run and it is possible to evaluate the performance of my protected mode 32-bit emulation with it. Doom runs only at a marginally playable framerate using the default settings, which is not all that unexpected considering that the emulation speed is only about 25MHz 486. I remember when I had a 486/33 machine and played Doom against a friend who had a 486/66 machine, and I usually lost simply because I had a slower machine. Things improved when I also got a 486/66 machine. However, some settings in both DS2x86 and Doom can be adjusted to make it run better, and the best settings I have found so far seem to be the following:

DS2x86 CPU speed at 396MHz
Screen mode Zoom (so the smooth interpolation does not take CPU cycles)
Screen refresh at 15FPS (so the emulation gets more CPU cycles)
Doom Options: Graphic Detail: Low
Doom Options: Screen Size: Less than maximum


There are still problems with the texture mapping of the sprites, at times the texture is not mapped correctly but has a weird vertical wrapping problem. Also, I want to look into adding some audio support (if not very difficult) for Doom, so I won't release the DS2x86 version 0.03 until the next weekend. Sorry for the wait, but at least you now have something specific to look forward to in the new version. :-)

I also hope to implement some fixes to the problems in the DS2x86 debug logs you have been sending, thanks again for those! I have been skipping them when trying to make Doom run, so I think it is time I look into those as well.

CycloDS iEvolution
I also received my pre-release developer copy of the CycloDS iEvolution flash cart last week. I haven't yet had time to do anything with it, and since I don't even have a DSi (only a DS Lite) myself, I need to wait for a friend of mine to borrow his DSi to me while I look into taking advantage of the DSi mode with the original DSx86. If I understand correctly what the people in the thread at http://www.teamcyclops.com/forum/sho...t=10826&page=3 talk about, there are still some problems with the ARM9/ARM7 FIFO handling when trying to take advantage of the DSi mode in homebrew software. I trust these issue will be fixed in the near future, but I think I will still work on the DSTwo version until libnds and iEvolution work fine together in DSi mode. It looks like I don't necessarily need to do all that much work in DSx86 to have it running at twice the current speed on a DSi, but I will know more after I have studied and understood this issue better.

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