NESten 0.6 Beta Epitah: Readme.txt 02/11/00 Written by Brad "Zophar" Levicoff for TNSe ------------ Introduction ------------ NESten actually started as a fruit & vegetables emulator. Titled M.U.R.D.E.R (My unnamed rodent didn't eat rice), this was a test to see how long it would be before cavities would develop in the human mouth. Actually, wait, no. The term "NESten" is a Norwegian word for "almost". Therefore, NESten is "Almost NES". Get it? Didn't think so. The project began as a test to see how well emulation of the NES could be done in Delphi. Amazingly enough, the emulator can run full speed on a P166 MMX (with sound enabled, a decent video card is recommended). If you don't like the emulator, you're welcome to try out other emulators, such as N'tendo, iNES and Pretendo. --------------- Version History --------------- See whatsnew.txt ------------------- Supporting Features ------------------- - Ability to play NSFs (NES sound files). Denoted as Mapper 666. (The number 666 is a coincidence!) - Save States (Standardized NES save state SS?) - Movie recording (NESten's own format: SM?) - 4 player support - Fast Scanline based renderer - 8x8 and 8x16 sprites - Recompiling 6502 core (all opcodes emulated) and Interpretive core - Horizontal and Vertical Scrolling - SRAM saving - Emulates all NES sound channels: Square 1 Square 2 Triangle Noise (not 100% perfect) PCM (including RAW PCM support) VRC6 (for games such as Castlevania 3 japanese) - Support for all controllers that support DirectInput (up to 4) - WAV logging - Cheat finder - Mapper plugins - Fullscreen mode (320X240 & 640X480 for scanlines) - Multiple palette support (just load a .PAL file) - And so much more, your brain will freeze over! -------------------------- Unsupported & Known issues -------------------------- - Timing is not perfect - Not all mappers are emulated perfectly (anyone have additional info?) - The GUI is not visible in the fullscreen mode. - Switching desktop color depth while NESten is running sucks - Scanlines in fullscreen mode are buggy for some people - No extra peripheral support (lightgun, powerglove, who cares anyway?) - If you have less than a P200, you won't have too much fun -------------------- Working the emulator -------------------- To have fun playing with yourself in NESten, you should have a P200 or higher (P200+ is recommended for playing with sound). The following should help you learn how to run the emulator in the event that you have a brain lock and can't figure it out on your own. ;) Having said that... File Menu: - Load ROM This opens up the NESten Load Dialogue where you may load a ROM or NSF, as well as get information on the many mappers that NESten supports. This menu is more informative than the generic load dialog. - Load Dialog The generic load dialog for NESten. Fans of iNES and BioNES will recognize it. You can load NSFs and ROMs through this as well. - Unload ROM Frees the currently loaded ROM from memory. - Priorities Use this option to change the priorities for the core & rendering engine, and the sound core. If you notice NESten lagging when many programs are open, you'll want to set these higher. - Reset Configuration Click on this, and you will reset NESten to its default configuration. - Quit Use "Quit" to open up the ROM downloading script. Works in conjunction with Alt + F4 in mIRC. ... actually, it just quits the emulator. CPU Menu: - Run Starts emulation. Useful if you just hit "Stop" and want to resume the game. - Stop Stops emulation. Useful if you find the need to pause the game to take a quick leak. - Save State Saves the game's state in .SS? format. - Load State Loads the game's state in .SS? format. - Prev Slot Changes the save state slot to the previous slot. - Next Slot Changes the save slot to the next slot. - Incremental Saving With Incremental Saving on, every time you save state it automatically changes to the next slot without asking. Quite useful. (TNSe made me say that.) - Record Movie Records a NES movie of you playing with yourself in .SM? format. - Play Movie Plays a NES movie of you playing with yourself in .SM? format. - Stop Movie Stops a NES movie of you... ahh you get the point. - Hard Reset Resets the game as if you had just turned off the NES. - Soft Reset Resets the game as if you had just pushed the 'reset' button on the NES. - Use Interpretive Core Choosing this option will allow NESten to use the slower core. Useful in rare cases where there's a bug with the recompiling core. - Show illegal ops Allows NESten to display illegal opcode messages when it hits them. - Timing This option is for advanced users who wish to fiddle with the NES's timing. This also fixes weird bugs like in CV3. - Cheat Console Allows you to enter Game Genie codes & use the cheat-finder. See cheat.txt for more information. (To be written) Video Menu: - Fullscreen NESten will run in a 320X240 or 640X480 fullscreen mode depending on the window size. Fullscreen mode is usually faster than windowed mode. - NESten Float mode Allows NESten to 'float' when focus is not on it. Similar to 'always on top'. - Sleep while Sync'ing Helps preserve CPU by NESten not using as much CPU while vsync is on. - Sync Allows you to choose how NESten syncs itself: 60FPS, 50 FPS, monitor refresh rate, or off. 60 FPS is recommended for all NTSC games, 50 FPS for PAL. - Size Allows you to choose 1X or 2X size windowed mode. "Maintain Aspect Ratio on Stretch" allows you to stretch the window without distorting the ratio. - Skip Lets NESten skip frames. This should never be set on unless you have a very slow computer and find NESten dragging along. (Hardware upgrade recommended instead :) - Buffer Can be set to software, hardware or Auto. This setting should only be altered if you're having video problems. - 256X224 (NTSC) This should always be on unless you're playing PAL games. NTSC games played with this setting off will result in the top part and lower part of the screen not being clipped, which can look weird. - Effects This allows you to choose 100% scanlines, which makes your hi-res monitor look like a crappy T.V. Useful! (Does however, give a little speed increase) - Palette Console This option opens the Palette Console. The Palette console allows you to load a different palette, modify a palette, save a palette etc. You can choose from the ones that come with NESten or you can create one yourself. Sound Menu: - Enabled Enables sound. Should always be on unless you have a very slow computer or a hearing disability. - Buffers Changes the sound buffering numbers. Only tinker with this setting if you find your sound crackling or lagging (useful for crappy $5 SB clones). - Channels Lets you choose which channels to turn on/off. Useful if you're bored, or if a particular channel sounds strange and you want to submit a bug report. - Start / Stop Logging to WAV You can log any NES tune to WAV with this option on. Be warned, however, 44100Hz 8 bit mono WAVs do take up a bit of space. Time to break out the MP3 encoder. Input Menu: - Player 1 input Allows you to select the keyboard or joystick controls and configure them for player 1. - Player 2 input See above. - Player 3 input See the above "See above". - Player 4 input See above the "See the above"'s See above. View Menu: - Stats Displays FPS (frames-per-second) counter and total frames counter. - Debugger Opens the Debugger window. - Info Opens the Info window that displays ROM header information such as PRG/CHR size and mapper #. - Recompiler Data Displays Recompiler Data. (Right-Click on one to make a .DMP file) - NSF control Allows you to change between different tracks in an NSF file. - DirectX Information Displays DirectX information. Used for bug submitting purposes. - About Opens the about window which displays version #, contact information and thank-yous. ----------- Coming Soon ----------- - To be announced ------------------------------------- Thanks and Greetings to the following ------------------------------------- Zophar - For writing the documentation, beta-testing at 4 in the morning, and hosting the official NESten homepage @ tnse.zophar.net. Be sure to visit www.zophar.net for all your emulation needs. WARNING: These names have been put in a RANDOM order by a semi-sentient program! Repulse, nyef, Jabo, y0shi, [_TRAC_], Neill1712, MickoZ, /Firebug/, Tom-Servo, Niiru, ][ellbent, Azimer, orkim, kevtris, Bananmos, [Vector], SnowBro, _Bnu, Crix0r, Memblers, Lycia, ReaperSMS, W1k, TwoBear, c003y, EFX, loopy, JL_Picard, Quietust, Destop, NeoBlaze, {Slime} ... And the rest I forgot to type in. (or they change nicks so often that I don't remember it :P) (and to make the bots happy, |2099| and Jaellyn) AND ALL YOU OTHER ON #n(letters left out,private channel), #sn(yet another private channel), #ZopharsDomain,#kinox. AND YOU. YES EVEN YOU :) ------- Contact ------- You can reach me at TNSeOWNZ@zophar.net Official Homepage located at: http://tnse.zophar.net Bug reports can be posted on the NESten messageboard. PRAISE SATAN! (But do it before it is too late!) -- EOF --