jEnesisDS v0.7, ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6

jEnesisDS v0.7, ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6 - Image 1Homebrew developer Lordus released a new update to the jEnesisDS, an award winning Genesis/Megadrive emulator for the Nintendo DS. Alongside the many bug fixes released for jEnesis version 0.7, the coder also released a preview to another emulator also for the dual screen handheld. ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6 is a Sega Master System portable/Game Gear emulator, though as it’s an early version, it has its share of issues that must be sorted out. Get all that at the full story.

Download: jEnesisDS v0.7 with ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6 preview

jEnesisDS v0.7, ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6 - Image 1

As one of the winners of the Neo Summer Coding Competition 2007, Lordus’ jEnesisDS stood with 10 other honorable mentions in the Nintendo DS applications category, though at version 0.5, the Genesis/Megadrive emulator still had a couple of rough edges to smooth out.

jEnesis version 0.7 is the latest update that clears up many of the hitches that DS users may have experienced with certain Genesis games, though some portions are still partial re-writes. The changes have been outlines by the homebrew developer, which are the following:

  • Fixed bug in Z80 core, preventing some games from having sound (Wonderboy, etc.).
  • Fixed bug in 68000 optimization, that could make some games hang (Bonanza Brothers, etc.).
  • Changed sound handling and doubled sample rate for PCM sound, resulting in slightly better sound quality.
  • HW renderer partially rewritten, many glitches should be gone, some are still there (and will probably not be easy to fix ever)
  • Sprite rendering completely rewritten in ASM. Should be faster and fix most of the sprite issues.
  • Implemented mid frame palette updates (water effects in Sonic games, Castlevania, etc.). Note, that this just works, if a game is constantly fast enough, so slowdowns can still cause colors to flicker.
  • Many little optimizations in memory handling and the CPU cores. Should reduce slowdowns.
  • Added option for sprite masking (Landstalker etc.). It is not 100% emulated, just faked to be enough for most games using it (disable it, if sprites are missing, that should be there).
  • Added option to change between 3- and 6-Button pad (just works, if the option is applied BEFORE loading a game). When 6-Button pad is disabled, L+R can be used to move the visible screen area, X to center it.
  • Added sound state to the savestates, so that the correct tracks should play now when a state is loaded. Savestates are still not 100% reliable and loading old states can potentially cause problems.

An extra treat has been added – Lordus packed in a preview version to a Sega Master System/Game Gear emulator for the DS, though this program was only created as tool to master the ins and outs of the Z80 core. Thus, the emulator in itself is only stripped down to the bare essentials and then some. Some features completed with ApprenticeMinusDS version 0.2.6 include:

  • Enhanced Z80 ASM core used in jEnesisDS.
  • SMS/GG emulation.
  • 10 Savestates per game.
  • Rewind and fast forward feature.
  • Settings can be saved per game.
  • Fully rendered by the DS 2D hardware.
  • Perfect sync option, that actually syncs every scanline (emulated scanline to DS scanline).
  • This option is more accurate, and needed for some games to look correctly, but it can be problematic to use it, when “Rewind” is enabled.
  • sample accurate (almost ;P) PSG emulation.
  • Stereo sound for GG games.

The download archive includes documentation for both emulators, and you’ll need to course through them for usage instructions and key map.

Download: jEnesisDS v0.7 with ApprenticeMinusDS v0.2.6 preview

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