Best Saturn Emu for Testing?
- Thread starter slinga
- Start date
I just can't get this to work...
I've tried Satourne 0.2 and 0.3, both of which, when they are started, say "Opcode Inconue" and then stops. Pressing Start after that gives "Failed to Register Window Class" and some more opcode errors, and it usually ends up crashing. Trying to load binaries during any of this seems to bring more Opcode problems.
I like Satourne (I have only version 1.1, I'll go look for another one soon), and I start emulation and wait for the boot sequence polygons to appear before I try loading the binary, and sometimes it works (if I press RUN and then load the binary), but Running, Pausing, Loading Binary, then unpausing results in an Unknown Opcode, and besides a Cube demo I've found, most of the demos result in Unknown Opcode anyway.
In addition, I can't get GiriGiri to really work well for me...it's a coin flip. I've tried Barnito's hacked GiriGiri, which can run one or two (like the Cube demo) but I hate having to start it up. I don't want to mess with CUEs or anything, I just want to run a binary, and I can't figure out how to get any GiriGiri to do that -- I've had to use demos I've found with a Cue file.
The GiriGiri-Gav emulator doesn't really work at all. Or, which is to say, I can't figure out how to get it to work. It probably involves CUEs too, I suppose. And I've tried the GiriGiri Debugger v6 emulator, which...er, doesn't crash or give errors...it just says in the log it loaded the file, displays a VDP message or two, and doesn't really do anything at all...
Is it really practical for me to expect to be able to test SGL demos and samples on these emulators? I've had really bad luck, and if anybody's got a suggestion I'd love to hear it. And, what does "Start as PC" mean in all the emulators when you try to load a binary?
I've tried Satourne 0.2 and 0.3, both of which, when they are started, say "Opcode Inconue" and then stops. Pressing Start after that gives "Failed to Register Window Class" and some more opcode errors, and it usually ends up crashing. Trying to load binaries during any of this seems to bring more Opcode problems.
I like Satourne (I have only version 1.1, I'll go look for another one soon), and I start emulation and wait for the boot sequence polygons to appear before I try loading the binary, and sometimes it works (if I press RUN and then load the binary), but Running, Pausing, Loading Binary, then unpausing results in an Unknown Opcode, and besides a Cube demo I've found, most of the demos result in Unknown Opcode anyway.
In addition, I can't get GiriGiri to really work well for me...it's a coin flip. I've tried Barnito's hacked GiriGiri, which can run one or two (like the Cube demo) but I hate having to start it up. I don't want to mess with CUEs or anything, I just want to run a binary, and I can't figure out how to get any GiriGiri to do that -- I've had to use demos I've found with a Cue file.
The GiriGiri-Gav emulator doesn't really work at all. Or, which is to say, I can't figure out how to get it to work. It probably involves CUEs too, I suppose. And I've tried the GiriGiri Debugger v6 emulator, which...er, doesn't crash or give errors...it just says in the log it loaded the file, displays a VDP message or two, and doesn't really do anything at all...
Is it really practical for me to expect to be able to test SGL demos and samples on these emulators? I've had really bad luck, and if anybody's got a suggestion I'd love to hear it. And, what does "Start as PC" mean in all the emulators when you try to load a binary?
Haha! I got it to work!
I compiled the first Akira SGL demo and managed to run it in both Satourne 1.1P and Saturnin 0.31.
However...it was somewhat difficult. It took a lot of retries, and it still sometimes doesn't work. With Saturnin, I have to almost time it so that I load the binary halfway through the boot sequence (when the polygons have come toward you and are about to go into the screen).
With Satourne it seems to work well enough.
Is there a way to load a binary or game from the command line with these emus? I'd love to be able to pull up the console, compile some binaries, and immediately pull them up in the emulators.
I compiled the first Akira SGL demo and managed to run it in both Satourne 1.1P and Saturnin 0.31.
However...it was somewhat difficult. It took a lot of retries, and it still sometimes doesn't work. With Saturnin, I have to almost time it so that I load the binary halfway through the boot sequence (when the polygons have come toward you and are about to go into the screen).
With Satourne it seems to work well enough.
Is there a way to load a binary or game from the command line with these emus? I'd love to be able to pull up the console, compile some binaries, and immediately pull them up in the emulators.
Originally posted by Runik@Fri, 2005-01-07 @ 09:57 AM
Usually when the first polygons appear the vector tables are filled and you can load a binary.
That's the way I use binaries in Saturnin
[post=127256]Quoted post[/post]
I tested floupix with saturnin, and it works ok (it's slower than satourne). Would it be possible in the future for you to add a command line option in saturnin making it possible to load a binary and run ? It's a real pain while testing on an emu to do the same mouse clics all the time.
Yes! The makefile target idea would be awesome!
I am glad I got binaries to run at all, though, so, I'm happy. I figure I can test binaries with Satourne and Saturnin, then make some isos and test those with SSF and GiriGiri.
New question for Runik: this may be elementary for someone who can emulate processors, but what exactly is the "vector list" that we're talking about here? I'd just like to know. Some kind of assembly command list or something? Informative links are useful if you have any
I am glad I got binaries to run at all, though, so, I'm happy. I figure I can test binaries with Satourne and Saturnin, then make some isos and test those with SSF and GiriGiri.
New question for Runik: this may be elementary for someone who can emulate processors, but what exactly is the "vector list" that we're talking about here? I'd just like to know. Some kind of assembly command list or something? Informative links are useful if you have any
slinga
Established Member
I use the version of giri giri with debugger support. To save time I launch the app, load the binary, and leave giri giri running in the background. That way I can code, and just load the binary without having to boot up giri giri again (not that it takes much time anyway).
I only know of GiriGiri Debugger 0.6a, which I cannot get to run any binaries or games, and the hacked GiriGiri/Cassini, which I can't run binaries without some BIN/CUE or ISO thing, and GiriGiri-Gav, which doesn't have a debugger as far as I can tell...but I only put it a few minutes with it until I quit out of frustration, so maybe I missed something.
Runik
Staff member
Originally posted by Omni@Fri, 2005-01-07 @ 05:22 PM
New question for Runik: this may be elementary for someone who can emulate processors, but what exactly is the "vector list" that we're talking about here? I'd just like to know. Some kind of assembly command list or something? Informative links are useful if you have any
[post=127274]Quoted post[/post]
It's the interrupt vector list : each interrupt has a vector number (like 0x42 for HBlank-In) that refers to a memory address. So when an interrupt is called, the saturn jumps to that address.
The problem is that at start up, the interrupt functions referenced by the vectors are not yet loaded into the memory, leading in an "Opcode inconnue" error at best ...
So there's 2 ways to bypass this :
- hardcode the functions values into memory (not done right now
)- wait until functions are loaded into memory
@vreuzon : I'll try to do something to make binary handling easier in Saturnin
Anyway, it's nice to see homemade stuff running on it
Hey Runik,
as far as binary loading is concerned,
it would be cool if Saturnin allowes to load files to certain memory positions. That's the case when you got 2 or more binary executables, which have to be located in diffrent RAMs of the Saturn.
I could of course implement loading those binaries from CD, but at early stages of development.... .
BTW: does Saturnin accept iso files instead of cds?
as far as binary loading is concerned,
it would be cool if Saturnin allowes to load files to certain memory positions. That's the case when you got 2 or more binary executables, which have to be located in diffrent RAMs of the Saturn.
I could of course implement loading those binaries from CD, but at early stages of development.... .
BTW: does Saturnin accept iso files instead of cds?
