Basilisk II test release 20 – incorporated new floating point emulation

It seems like developer J.F. has rolled out yet another update to the Mac homebrew emulator for PlayStation Portable, Basilisk II. Counted as the twentieth test release of the program, the new build changes a few mechanics to allow the emulator to run a lot smoother. Find out more about Basilisk II test release 20 in our full article after the jump.

Download: Basilisk II PSP Port test release 20
Download: Basilisk II PSP Port test release 20 source code

It’s no longer a surprise to see homebrew developer J.F. release yet another new update to the Mac homebrew emulator for PlayStation Portable, Basilisk II. Counting itself as the twentieth test release of the program, the new build changes a few mechanics to allow the emulator to run a lot smoother.

A majority of these changes are tied into the new floating point emulation used in test release 20. Without going too far into the technical aspect of things, it basically lightens the code enough to make the other apps on the system run perfectly. The new code also allows it to be ported more easily across different platforms.

Here’s a rather substantial explanation from the developer concerning the new change that was added:

The floating point has been SUBSTANTIALLY rewritten. I’ve incorporated SoftFloat into the FPU emulation to get extended precision floating point. I’ve also added most of the FPU functionality that’s usually only present in B2 when using x86 assembly. The only compromise left is the transcendental functions are still done in double precision. I seem to have cured most of the FPU problems – the scrollbars in OS8.x work, Arashi and Maelstrom play properly, the calculator gives proper answers… I’d appreciate it if people really checked this as well as they can. This was a BIG rewrite of B2 code (for the FPU). This code should also be portable, so it could help folks trying to port B2 to other platforms as well. Given the rewrite in the FPU and other more minor changes to the B2 code that AREN’T platform specific, I’ve decided to bump the B2 version from 1.0 to 1.1.

In addition, J.F. also mentioned that Basilisk II is now designed to shutdown instead of hang upon restarting. Until that particular bug is chased down and squashed, users will have to get used to this little inconvenience.

In any case, you can download both the program and its source code through the links we’ve provided below. You can also discuss Basilisk II with the developer by visiting the project release thread on the source site.

Download: Basilisk II PSP Port test release 20
Download: Basilisk II PSP Port test release 20 source code