This file contains documentation specific to the win32 version of Gens. MMMMMMM MMMM2;,:S8MM MMM7 iM MM2;2MM WMMMMM0W ,[email protected] MM M MM MM M MM MMMM :@MMB ; M M M @BM MM :MMMMMMMMW;@ MMMMWMW MM MMMMZ iM MM Ma ,M MM M M ZM M2 .MM S MBM;MM2WBMMMWMaMMMMMMXZMM MX SMM0 B MM M Sega 16bits Emulator ?1999 2006 Stéphane Dallongeville. MMX M MMMMMMMM; M W @ Homepage: http://gens.consolemul.com MMMMMMMM Email: [email protected] (Tech. Support) Use the forum to contact directly the author of Gens.
NOTE: This text file is only intended to be a basic guide for using Gens, for a more detailed explanation of its operation you should visit the Genesis Project (http://www.genesisproject.co.uk) and download the Official Gens Manual. Context Sensitive help is also available once you have downloaded the manual, but you will need to set its location through the Directories and Path Configuration in the options Menu before this is activated.
______ /################/ /# INTRODUCTION #/ /################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾? Gens is a Win9x based emulator for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive/Sega CD/ Mega CD/32X systems, it allows you to play games developed for these classic SEGA 16bit game consoles on your x86 compatible PC. Gens is developed by Stéphane Dallongeville and has been coded 35% in C/C++ and 65% in Assembler. It runs under Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP and requires DirectX 7.0 or above to be installed on your system. The genesis compatibility of Gens is very high : * about 93% of games work perfectly or with no noticeable problems. * a further 5~6% of games are playable with minor problems. * 1~2% of games are unplayable. (figures quoted are for Genesis/Mega Drive only from tests conducted by the Genesis Project and are approximate.) The compatibility for Sega CD/Mega CD emulation has been estimated as being about 90% or higher and the 32X system compatibility turn around 75%.
______ /##############/ /# DISCLAIMER #/ /##############/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾? GENS ?1999/2000/2001/2002 Stéphane Dallongeville. SEGA/Genesis/MegaDrive/SEGA CD/Mega CD/32X are trademarks of Sega Enterprises Ltd. Gens is free for your own personal use and can be distributed freely as long as it is not modified. This text file must be included in any distribution and you must not include any game roms. The author is not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from the use, or misuse of Gens, you use it at your own risk. If you do not agree with these terms you should delete Gens now. Gens is cardware, if you like it you can send a post card to its author at: Snail mail: Stéphane DALLONGEVILLE 7 Rue Danton 80090 AMIENS (FRANCE) I'd really appreciate it, thanks :) ~ Stéphane. ______ /#######################/ /# SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS #/ /#######################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ All the system requirements below assume you are using the Normal (320x240) video mode. For Genesis/Mega Drive emulation you will need: Minimum System: Recommended System: * Pentium 200Mhz+ * Pentium II 300 Mhz or above * 32Mb of Ram * 32Mb of Ram or more * 2Mb Video Card with DirectDraw * A good video card like a TNT Support in 15/16bpp mode * Win9X/2000/ME/XP * Win9X/2000/ME/XP * DirectX 7.0 or above * DirectX 7.0 or above [+ Gens will run on a Pentium 133 or above, but a Pentium 200Mhz is needed to achieve a reasonable frame rate!] If you want to use the Sega CD/Mega CD emulation you will also need: Minimum System: Recommended System: * PII 233Mhz or K6 300Mhz * PII 333Mhz or K6 2 450Mhz * CDROM drive (Single Speed) * CDROM drive (Quad Speed) * The latest ASPI drivers * The latest ASPI drivers * Sega CD/Mega CD bios files * Sega CD/Mega CD bios files For 32X emulation you will also need: Minimum System: Recommended System: * 800 Mhz CPU * 1 Ghz CPU * 32X bios files * 32X bios files On my machine (Duron at 1Ghz) all 32X games runs at 60/50 FPs in fullscreen 320x240 and sound set to 44100 Hz. I guess you can play some 32X games on slower CPU (550 700 Mhz) but you will need to downclock manually the SH2 CPU clock (see section 32X).
______ /#############################/ /# DEFAULT KEYBOARD SETTINGS #/ /#############################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ The default keyboard layout for players 1 and 2 are shown below, you can of course change these to whatever keys you wish or map them onto a Windows compatible Joystick/Joypad. (via the Joypad utility in the Options Menu) Player1 Player2 UP Up Y Down Down H Left Left G Right Right J A A K B S L C D ?/ X Z I Y X O Z C P Start Return U Mode R Shift T
______ /#############################/ /# USEFUL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS #/ /#############################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ Open Rom Ctrl + O Boot CD Ctrl + B Close Rom Ctrl + C Open/Close Tray Ctrl + V Game Genie Ctrl + G Netplay Ctrl + N Rom 1 to 9 (history) Ctrl + 1 to Ctrl + 9 Save Slot 0 to 9 Shift + 0 to Shift +9 Save State F5 Save State as Shift + F5 Previous state F6 Next State F7 Load State F8 Load State as Shift + F8 GCOffline (Optional) F1 Auto FrameSkip F2 FrameSkip 1 F3 FrameSkip + 1 F4 Fast Blur F9 Show FPS F10 Previous Render Mode F11 Next Render Mode F12 Full Screen / Window Mode Alt + Return Stretch image Shift + F2 VSync Shift + F3 Force software blit Shift + F9 Perfect Synchro/Normal mode Ctrl + P DAC sound (speech) improvement Shift + F10 PSG sound improvement Shift + F11 YM2612 high quality emulation Shift + F12 Screen shot Shift + Backspace Hard Reset TAB Pause ESC
______ /###################/ /# DISPLAY OPTIONS #/ /###################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ Gens features Windowed (Default) and Fullscreen graphics modes, you can swap between the two by clicking on the Windowed/Fullscreen option in the Graphics menu or by pressing Alt + Enter on your keyboard. In Fullscreen mode the menus are replaced by a floating menu which can be accessed by clicking your right mouse button, all the options in the floating menu are exactly the same as the Windowed version. Gens also supports several different Render modes, you may not be able to use all of them depending on your graphics card and the speed of your computer, MMX is also required for some modes. You can change the Render mode by clicking on an option in the Graphics menu or by pressing F11 and F12 on your keyboard to cycle through the different modes in the following order. F12 . | Normal (320x240) /|\ | Double (default) (640x480) | | Interpolated (640x480) | | Scanline (640x480) | | 50% Scanline (640x480) (MMX Only) | | 25% Scanline (640x480) (MMX Only) | | Interpolated Scanline (640x480) | | Interpolated Scanline 50% (640x480) (MMX Only) | | Interpolated Scanline 25% (640x480) (MMX Only) | \|/ 2xSaI [Kreed] (640x480) (MMX Only) | ' F11 Windowed and Fullscreen modes use different graphics engines and you will not always be in the same Render Mode when changing between the two, Gens will use the last render mode that you used in the current screen mode. For example if you were using the 2xSai mode in windowed mode and swapped to fullscreen you would now be in Double mode (or whichever render mode you last used in fullscreen). Certain games run with a black bar down either side of the screen which some people find annoying. You can remove these bars by enabling Stretch from the graphics menu (or pressing Shift + F2). Please note that the Stretch option is not available in all Render Modes. One additional "mode" is only available through a keyboard shortcut, pressing Shift + F9 whilst in Fullscreen "Normal" and "Double" render modes will activate "Force software blit". This isn't necessary for most computers but you can try it if you are experiencing low frame rates in Fullscreen modes on slower computers.
______ /#################/ /# SOUND OPTIONS #/ /#################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ The default sound setting is 22050Hz, you may want to increase this to 44100Hz especially for Sega CD/Mega CD emulation. Alternatively if you have a slower computer you may want to try reducing the sound Rate to 11025Hz. There are several other sound options available for "improved" sound output: Gens now features a custom YM2612 (main sound chip) sound core which features a "High Quality" mode. HQ mode can be enabled from the sound menu or by pressing Shift + F12, also to get the best results from HQ mode you should change the sound rate to 44100Hz. The sound output is more accurate in HQ mode, it can be a good deal slower on some systems however so you may want to leave it turned off. Gens also features an "improved" DAC (part of the YM2612) sound mode, this can be enabled by pressing Shift + F10. This makes the sound in a few games, Street Fighter 2 for example, much better than it would be on real hardware, however it also causes bugs in other games so you should leave it turned off most of the time. Finally there is optional PSG sound "improvement" which is available by pressing Shift + F11. This changes the PSG sound output from Square waves to Sine waves which is technically incorrect but can make some games sound better. Again you should leave this turned off unless you really hate the normal PSG sound.
______ /#######/ /# 32X #/ /#######/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ Before you can begin playing 32X games you must configure the 32X bios files: 1. Download the 32X bios files which are available from Eidolons Inn (http://www.eidolons inn.de). 2. Set the location of your bios files through the 'Misc/Bios Files' configuration in the 'options' menu. Your files should have the following size : M68000 BIOS (32X_G_BIOS.BIN) = 256 bytes Master SH2 BIOS (32X_M_BIOS.BIN) = 2048 bytes Slave SH2 BIOS (32X_S_BIOS.BIN) = 1024 bytes You will now be able to play 32X games just as genesis games. When a game isn't recognized as a 32X, force the file type field to 32X. Keep in mind that 32X emulation needs a very powerful machine , here's a description of "what's emulated" when 32X runs : 2 SH2 RISC CPU running at 23 Mhz 32X VDP 32X PWM sound chip 32X stuffs as FIFO/DMA ... 1 M68000 running at 7.67 Mhz 1 Z80 running at 3.58 Mhz Genesis VDP YM2612 sound chip PSG sound chip ... The 2 SH2 can take up to 75% of the emulation time ! To gain some FPS on slower machine, Gens offers the possibilities to change SH2 CPU clock, you need to modify the following lines in the gens.cfg file : Main SH2 Speed=100 Slave SH2 Speed=100 Replace 100 by a lower value to speed up the 32X emulation. 100 means SH2 runs at 23 Mhz and 0 means 0 Mhz... easy :) Gens doesn't emulate some wait states presents in the real 32X hardware so you can decrease the master CPU to 60 for almost game without affecting the in game speed. Slave CPU is mainly used for sound emulation (except for some games with many 3D calculations as Virtua Racing), so you can decrease it if you think PWN sound isn't important.
______ /#####################/ /# SEGA CD / MEGA CD #/ /#####################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ Before you can begin playing Sega CD/Mega CD games you must configure Gens ready for CD emulation: 1. Download the Sega CD/Mega CD bios files which are available from Eidolons Inn (http://www.eidolons inn.de). 2. Set the location of your bios files through the Directories and Path Configuration in the options Menu. 3. Whilst the Directories and path configuration window is still open you also need to set the default BRam directory for Sega CD/Mega CD save games. Click on OK to save your settings. 4. Open the Option menu and click on the Current CD Drive option, this will bring up a list of available CD and DVD drives, select one of the drives from the list. If no drives are shown then you do not have the ASPI layer installed. You will need to download and install the latest ASPI drivers before you can play any Sega CD/Mega CD games. Gens is now ready for Sega CD/Mega CD emulation.
* Running a Sega CD/Mega CD Game from a CD: Place your Sega CD/Mega CD game in the CD drive you selected above and click on Boot CD in the File menu, or press Ctrl + B. Gens will now initialize Sega CD/Mega CD emulation and begin reading the CD, after a few seconds the Sega CD/Mega CD bios screen should appear. If the bios screen fails to appear read the FAQ section for more help. Note that it's normal your CD tray is locked right after you clicked on Boot CD, this is to permit the CD swap stuff (read the Multi CD game for more infos) to work correctly.
* Running a Sega CD/Mega CD Game from a CD image/Mp3 file: Gens also supports CD images (backups) in .iso/.bin/.raw format with .mp3 audio. It is recommended that when using CD images that you have both the CD image and the correct .mp3 files available as many games will not run if the audio tracks aren't present. For Gens to correctly identify any .mp3 audio tracks for your CD images they have to be placed in the same directory as the CD image file with the same file name as the CD image followed by a track number. For example if you are using a CD image called Blaster.iso with three .mp3 files you would need to put all the files in the same directory and rename them like this: Blaster.iso Blaster 02.mp3 Blaster 03.mp3 Blaster 04.mp3 There are a couple of important points to remember when setting up your CD images & .mp3 files for use with Gens: * The CD Image should NOT be numbered, it won't work if you have "Blaster 01.iso" instead of "Blaster.iso"! * The CD image acts as track one so the first audio track will always be track two+. * The track numbers must also be a TWO DIGIT number: 02, 03, ..10 etc, NOT 2, 3,...10. * The space between the file name and the track number is optional. [+ Gens actually calculates the track order by looking at the numbers at the end of the .mp3 files. You can use any numbers you want, for example 10, 27, 32... however it's easier to rename them in the way shown above.] Once you've set up your CD image and .mp3 files as shown you're ready to begin. Instead of clicking on Boot CD in the File menu click on Open Rom as if you were going to load a normal Genesis/Mega Drive game. The Open file window will appear as usual, click on the arrow on the "Files of type" box and select "Sega CD isos files (*.iso,*.bin,*.raw)" from the drop down list. Now locate your CD image file and click on the Open button to begin loading the game. Gens will now initialize Sega CD/Mega CD emulation and begin reading the CD image/.mp3 files. Please note it can take a while before the Sega CD /Mega CD bios screen appears as Gens needs to calculate the length of all the files before it can begin.
* Multi CD game: Some Sega CD/Mega CD games has severals CD so you'll need to change the CD at some moment to continu your game. If you're playing from a real CD, normally gens will lock your CD tray right after you clicked on Boot CD, i *need* to do that because there is no way to detect if the tray is open or not with win32 API (nor ASPI) ! Well so when you need to change the CD, press Ctrl+V combinaison a first time to eject the CD (tray open), then place the new CD and press Ctrl+V a second time to close the tray. For slot in CDROM drive, press Ctrl+V after you inserted the new CD. If you are playing from an iso image, you have to process in the same way : when you want to change CD press Ctrl+V to fake the open tray, press it again to fake close tray and normally a dialog box will appear to choose the new iso file. Important : Sometime the CD swap processing doesn't work well du to some misemulation problem, just retry until it works correctly.
Save states aren't supported yet for Sega CD.
______ /#####################/ /# VIRTUAL RAM CARTS #/ /#####################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ The Sega CD/Mega CD came with 8kb of internal BRam for save games, this only allowed fairly basic save game features and is often a problem on real hardware as games begin to argue over the limited space. External SRam carts were also available, ranging from 8kb to 64kb in size. The small amount of internal BRam is less of a problem on Gens because it creates a new virtual machine, and separate internal BRam file, for each game. However to offer greater flexibility, and more save slots for each game, Gens also supports "virtual ram carts". Each BRam file created by Gens stores both the internal BRam and external SRam data in the same file. You can set the size of the virtual ram cart to None, 8kb, 16kb, 32kb or 64kb through the options menu. It is recommended that you always set this to 64kb however because if you later wish to increase the size of the virtual ram cart you will need to reformat it and any existing save data will be lost. To setup the virtual ram cart for your Sega CD/Mega CD game boot the CD or load your CD image as normal. When the Sega CD/Mega CD logo screen appears press the A, B or C button to access the advanced menu and then select the memory management features by moving the pointer to "option" or "memory", depending on the bios version being used. Follow the on screen instructions to format your virtual ram cart then start your game as normal. Don't forget that you will need to set up the virtual ram cart function separately for each Sega CD/Mega CD game that you wish to use it with.
______ /###########/ /# NETPLAY #/ /###########/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ Gens also has the ability to play games over the Internet (.net) or a Local Area Network (LAN) using the Kaillera network client. Please note that although the kailleraclient.dll file is not needed to run Gens that you will only be able to play Netplay games if it is present in your Gens directory. If you want to play over the .net you must be connected to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you want to play over a LAN, you must be running the Kaillera Server software which you can download from http://www.kaillera.com. Also if you use a firewall you need to give Gens access to the Internet/LAN. When you are playing games over the .net or on a LAN all players MUST be using the same filename for the game being played. For example if one player is using a rom called "Columns (REV 01) () [!].smd" and the other is using "Columns.smd" it WILL NOT work, even if the roms are otherwise identical! It is recommend that you use Cowerings GoodGen to rename your roms ready for internet use. To start a NetPlay session select the Netplay option from the File menu, or press Ctrl + N on your keyboard. The Kaillera Client window will now open and a list of active game servers will be loaded. The servers are listed by Ping rate, the lower the Ping the better your online experience will be. Don't forget to specify a user name in the box at the bottom left of the Client window, this is the name that other people on the Kaillera server will see when you are online. Next choose the server where you want to play, Kaillera will attempt to connect and if it's successful a window will open showing the other players connected and their status (eg, playing ...) Along the bottom of the server window you will see a list of games currently running, if you wish to play one of these (and the status is waiting) just click on 'join' the game. You can create your own game room by clicking on the 'Create new game' button, a list of games in your current directory will be displayed, select the game you wish to play from the list and click on it to create a new game session. Now you can wait for others players to join you or start playing the game alone. To close the Netplay session first close any games you have running by clicking on Close rom in the File menu, then close both the Kaillera windows. You are now in offline mode again and can continue using Gens as you normally would or Quit back to windows. You must close the Netplay session and the Kaillera windows before Quitting Gens otherwise it may crash! (This is a Kaillera bug... sorry) If you want more information about how use Kaillera, check the homepage at http://www.kaillera.com For others emulator authors who want to create a Gens compatible NETPLAY /Kaillera function here's the format of the data sent by the kailleraModifyPlayValues function for one player (2 bytes long): F E D C B A 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 1 M X Y Z S A B C U D L R o t p o e i d a w f g e r n t h t t Value : 0 if the button is pressed, and 1 if inactive.
______ /#####################/ /# GCOFFLINE SUPPORT #/ /#####################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ There is optional GCOffline support (Genesis Collective Database or GCO) built into Gens, press F1 whilst any game is running and the GCO should open on the correct page. To enable this you will first need to download the GCOffline files from the Genesis Collective (http://www.genesiscollective.com). You only need the GCOffline.chm and Genesis.chm files for GCO support to work, all the other files are optional. You should place all the GCO files into a single directory, further instructions for setting up the GCO are available at the Genesis Collective site and in the GCO itself. Once you have downloaded the files you need to set their location through the Directories and Path Configuration in the options Menu before GCO support becomes available.
______ /########################################/ /# FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (General) #/ /########################################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾? Q : When I try to run Gens I get the following message : "Error with Query Interface". How do I fix it? A : You have to reinstall directX 7.0 (or above).
Q : I can't set my joypad because keys are automatically pressed (quickly), what's the problem? A : Some people have experienced problems getting Gens to use their Joypad because when they press a button Gens reads multiple inputs and sets all the controls to one button! To fix this you should reinstall your Joypad drivers and then reinstall DirectX 7.0, don't forget to recalibrate your Joypad before running Gens. If this doesn't fix the problem it is probably your Joypad drivers that are at fault, check for newer versions. Unfortunately if this doesn't fix the problem you'll have to use the Keyboard.
Q : I can't get diagonals using my joypad, or diagonals have stopped working how do I fix it? A : Several people have reported this problem and it seems to be a Gens.cfg problem. Quit Gens, find and delete your Gens.cfg file. Now restart Gens and set your joypads up again, hopefully you should now be able to get diagonals.
Q : Why are all the colors are wrong! A : Graphics cards use several types of internal 16bit rendering modes, some use 555 mode (eg ATi Rage Pro) whilst others use 565 mode (eg NVidea TNT2). Gens automatically tries to detect which graphics standard your video card uses, unfortunately it doesn't always get it right. If the palette is all wrong on your system you can force Gens to use the correct video mode by editing the Gens.cfg file. Open the file with Notepad and under the [graphics] section add one of the following commands until the problem is corrected: Force 555=1 or Force 565=1
Q : Game Genie doesn't work!!! A : Game Genie often seems to cause no end of problems for people, for more information about using Game Genie codes it is recommended that you download the Official Gens Manual and/or the Big Book of Game Genie Codes from the Genesis Project. (http://www.genesisproject.co.uk)
Q : Where can I find roms? A : It's easy to find roms with a search engine, don't forget that it's illegal to have roms unless you have the original game. We can't be held responsible for your actions.
Q : Why does Netplay sometimes crash? A : The Kaillera library has some bugs, Gens has others so unfortunately Netplay can sometimes be a little unstable.
______ /########################################/ /# FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (Mega CD) #/ /########################################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾? Q : Gens returns to the blank/intro screen after I used Boot CD (or loaded an ISO image), why? A : Your sega CD bios files aren't correctly configured, read the the Sega CD/Mega CD section for more information. Another reason for this happening when using an ISO image can be that you have a corrupted ISO file, Gens can't recognize it as an Sega CD/Mega CD file so it canceled the loading process.
Q : I always get the BIOS CD player interface with the "NO DISC" message when trying to run a Sega CD/Mega CD game, what's the problem? A : If you have several CD/DVD drives in your system have you put your Sega CD/Mega CD in the correct drive! The CD Drive support in Gens may not work with all drives, if you have more than one CD or DVD drive installed in your system try using the other one to see if that fixes the problem. If you only have one drive, or none of your drives are working, try updating to the latest ASPI drivers.
Q : The bios keeps saying "CHECKING DISC"! A : This means that the CD isn't being recognized as a Sega CD/Mega CD. Check to make sure you have placed your Sega CD/Mega CD in the correct CD Drive and that the disc itself isn't damaged. Again using a different CD/DVD drive or updating to the latest ASPI drivers may also solve the problem.
Q : I don't hear any music in my Sega CD/Mega CD game when using an ISO with MP3 files. How do I fix it? A : Make sure that your ISO and MP3 files are correctly named and numbered, read the Sega CD/Mega CD section for more information.
Q : I don't hear any music in my sega CD/Mega CD game but i'm it playing from a CD, why? A : There are several possible reasons why this sometimes occurs: 1) With Gens 1.40 or above this normally doesn't occur, or it's an emulation related problem! 2) If you have more than one CD or DVD drive in your system is the drive which you are using for Sega CD/Mega CD emulation connected to the sound card!? 3) Have you disabled CDDA playback in the sound options?
Q : There is a problem with CD Audio playback which happens about every minute, why? A : This is a known bug, it occurs when the sound rate is set to 11Khz or 22Khz, simply set the sound rate to 44Khz (CD quality) to prevent this from happening.
Q : I get an SRam error message when I try to play some Sega CD/Mega CD games and I can't continue the game. How do I fix it? A : You need to format the optional virtual ram cart for this game to run. Read the section about virtual ram carts to find out how to do this. Q : Save state doesn't work ! A : This is normal, save state aren't yet supported with Sega CD/Mega CD. You can use the normal internal game save (Backup RAM) instead.
______ /####################################/ /# FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (32X) #/ /####################################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾? Q : 32X doesn't work ! A : Be sure you correctly configured the 32X bios files (read the 32X section). Q : Why is it so slowwwwwwwww ? A : Because 32X hardware is complex and use 2 fast RISC CPU, read the 32X section for more infos and how speed up emulation.
Q : Why XYZ game doesn't work ? A : 32X emulation is still in development, some games aren't yet supported.
______ /##################/ /# TECHNICAL INFO #/ /##################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾? The following features are present in Gens: * Main & Sub 68000 CPU : Starscream 680x0 emulation library by Neill Corlett ([email protected]) modified for Gens * Master & slave SH2 CPU : Custom ASM core * VDP 32X : Direct color mode with priorities Packed pixel color mode with priorities Run lenght mode Fill function * VDP Genesis : DMA transfers (all modes and timing respected) Scroll A and B planes with vertical scrolling (overall, 2 cells) and horizontal scrolling (overall, cell, dot) Window plane Sprite plane Vertical and Horizontal Interrupts All raster effects Highlight/Shadow effects Interlaced mode Sprite collision & sprite overflow flags * GFX coprocessor : Rotation/enlargement supported in all modes Font color/data conversion GFX dots/cells conversion supported in all modes * IO ports supported (controller 1 and controller 2) with Partial Multi Tap (4 Player) joystick adapter support * CD interface : CDD and CDC emulation ASPI used for low level CD access ISO/MP3, BIN, RAW file support * Z80 CPU emulation : Custom ASM core * Custom YM2612 chip emulation : Special mode channel 3 supported AMS & FMS LFO supported High Quality emulation mode (sound calculation at the correct rate) * PCM chip emulation * PWM chip emulation * PSG 76489 emulation * SRAM fully supported (no custom Sram support yet) * BRAM and virtual ram carts supported. * Frame Skip (Auto, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4) * Save/Load State. (Genecyst save state format) * Window/Fullscreen Render modes * Game Genie Support * Netplay (Kaillera) support The following features are missing from Gens: * SVP chip support. (Virtua Racing) * Complete Multi Tap support * Menacer Light Gun support * Mouse support * Custom SRAM chip support * Full Sega CD/Mega CD Support (Subcode stuff). * Full 32X support (PWM DMA, packed 32X VDP mode mixed with genesis VDP...).
______ /######################################/ /# GREETINGS (in no particular order) #/ /######################################/ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾? * Neill Corlett for his very fast 68000 Starscream emulator. * Michel Gerrie, Steve Snake, Jagboy, Trzy, Atani, Quinneston, Charles Mac Donald, Christian Chriller.. for SEGA system information and general help. * Red5 from The Genesis Project for testing Gens and writing the official Gens Manual. * Mysticales for all the help she gives me. * Christophe Thibault for making Kaillera. * Kreed (Derek Liauw Kie Fa) for his excellent 2xSaI engine. * David González Flores for help with SEGA CD stuff. * Nicolas BRAY, NiNjA LEMoN, Arzeno Fabrice, DaGee, Thierry Caland, Mickagame, Nik 166, Belgarion, Darkfalz, Herakles, Biohazard ... (I'm surely going to forget someone, sorry) for being Gens beta testers. * Thierry Caland for making the Gens beta testers site. * Combacker for designing the Official Gens Site. * Durrenberger David dines (http://www.koubis.com) for the Gens logo/icon. * Consolemul staff (and specially Sir Jaguar) for hosting it. * Emuforce staff (and specially D[J]) & Emusphere staff for report bugs, feedback and for hosting the site in past. * UPX by Markus Oberhumer & Laszlo Molnar (http://upx.tsx.org). * All people who sent me translations packs (Wisesage for korean, Markus for Finnish, Suay for German, NIX for Italiano, Klaas Wim van Diermen for Dutch, Biohazard for Russian, U4 TONE for Japanese ... ). * Everyone which report bugs, which give support for Gens by replying questions on the forum... * Anyone else I forgot !