Homebrew [Release] PicoDrive for 3DS

bubble2k16

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v0.94 Released (24 Mar 2018)

Again for those who still own old 3DS/2DS or still care about the 3DS :P (it's been rather quiet here)... and if you still want to enjoy Sega MD games on your Old 3DS/2DS at full speed:

This is a port of notaz's PicoDrive emulator to the old 3DS / 2DS. Although PicoDrive is already highly optimized for ARM processors, if ported as is, it still doesn't run full speed for all Mega Drive games on the old 3DS / 2DS, as it's evident in the RetroArch's version. So this port heavily relies on the 3DS's 2nd core to emulate the FM synthesized music for the YM2612 FM chip to achieve 60 FPS. But the 2nd core on the old 3DS is unfortunately not fast enough to generate the FM synthesized music at a full 44100Hz, so sounds are generated at 30000Hz on an Old 3DS. It sounds ok for many games, except for those that use high-pitched notes or sound samples.

The screen rendering is done completely using the original PicoDrive's ARM processor-optimized renderer.

You can play Master System, Mega Drive games and Sega CD games, and 32X games. CD games run a little slower (you should enable 1-2 frameskips) on an Old 3DS, but it runs very well on a New 3DS. 32X games can only played at a reasonable speed on a New 3DS using the .CIA version of the emulator. Some dynarec instructions for 32X games will crash the emulator (Virtual Fighter, Virtual Racing Deluxe have this issue).

The default maps for the controls are:
1. 3DS' Y Button -> MD's A Button,
2. 3DS' B Button -> MD's B Button,
3. 3DS' A Button -> MD's C Button,
4. 3DS' X Button -> MD's X Button,
5. 3DS' L Button -> MD's Y Button,
6. 3DS' R Button -> MD's Z Button

This emulator uses the same user interface as VirtuaNES for 3DS, TemperPCE for 3DS, Snes9x for 3DS. It will run better on the New 3DS as usual, where all music and sound samples will be generated at 44100Hz.

Download
https://github.com/bubble2k16/picodrive_3ds/releases/download/v0.94/picodrive_3ds-v0.94.zip


qr.png

Homebrew Launcher:

1. Copy picodrive_3ds.3dsx, picodrive_3ds.smdh and picodrive_3ds_top.png into the /3ds/picodrive_3ds folder on your SD card.
2. Place your ROMs inside any folder.
3. Go to your Homebrew Launcher (either via Cubic Ninja, Soundhax or other entry points) and launch the picodrive_3ds emulator.

CIA Version:

1. Use your favorite CIA installer to install picodrive_3ds.cia into your CFW. You can also use FBI to download from TitleDB.
2. Place your ROMs inside any folder.
3. Copy picodrive_3ds_top.png to ROOT of your SD card.
4. Exit your CIA installer and go to your CFW's home screen to launch the app.

CD-ROM BIOS


1. If you have the CD ROM BIOS, place them in the /3ds/picodrive_3ds/bios folder.
2. They must be named:
- bios_CD_U.bin,
- bios_CD_J.bin,
- bios_CD_E.bin,
for the respective regions.
3. You can place all three BIOS in the /3ds/picodrive_3ds/bios folder.


When in-game:


1. Tap the bottom screen for the menu.
2. Use Up/Down to choose option, and A to confirm. (Hold down X while pressing Up/Down to Page Up/Page Down)
3. Use Left/Right to change between ROM selection and emulator options.
4. You can quit the emulator to your homebrew launcher / your CFW's home screen.

Game Screenshots:

PicoDrive01.bmp

PicoDrive02.bmp

PicoDrive03.bmp

PicoDrive06.bmp
 
Last edited by bubble2k16,

bubble2k16

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Looking great, as usual! Fine addition to your series! Thank you!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Lol doubt I'd even notice those missing pitches.

:rofl2: You can download and try to see if it sounds too jarring.

Contra Hard Corp's intro has this screechy sound that sounds terrible to me on an Old 3DS, especially on headphones. Not that it's fantastic on a New 3DS with the 44.1Khz sampling, but still... it's worse on the old 3DS.
 

senkunmusashi

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:rofl2: You can download and try to see if it sounds too jarring.

Contra Hard Corp's intro has this screechy sound that sounds terrible to me on an Old 3DS, especially on headphones. Not that it's fantastic on a New 3DS with the 44.1Khz sampling, but still... it's worse on the old 3DS.

Downloading as I type, will try Contra HC out asap. 8-)
 
D

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v0.90 First Release! (07 Jan 2018)

Again for those who still own old 3DS/2DS or still care about the 3DS :P (it's been rather quiet here)... and if you still want to enjoy Sega MD games on your Old 3DS/2DS at full speed:

This is a port of notaz's PicoDrive emulator to the old 3DS / 2DS. Although PicoDrive is already highly optimized for ARM processors, if ported as is, it still doesn't run full speed for all Mega Drive games on the old 3DS / 2DS, as it's evident in the RetroArch's version. So this port heavily relies on the 3DS's 2nd core to emulate the FM synthesized music for the YM2612 FM chip to achieve 60 FPS. But the 2nd core on the old 3DS is unfortunately not fast enough to generate the FM synthesized music at a full 44100Hz, so sounds are generated at 30000Hz on an Old 3DS. It sounds ok for many games, except for those that use high-pitched notes or sound samples.

The screen rendering is done completely using the original PicoDrive's ARM processor-optimized renderer.

You can play Master System and Mega Drive games, but it does not support CD or 32X games yet. Meanwhile use the Retroarch versions for Sega CD and 32X games. :)

The default maps for the controls are:
1. 3DS' Y Button -> MD's A Button,
2. 3DS' B Button -> MD's B Button,
3. 3DS' A Button -> MD's C Button,

This emulator uses the same user interface as VirtuaNES for 3DS, TemperPCE for 3DS, Snes9x for 3DS. It will run better on the New 3DS as usual, where all music and sound samples will be generated at 44100Hz.

Download:
https://github.com/bubble2k16/picodrive_3ds/releases/download/v0.90/picodrive_3ds-v0.90.zip

Homebrew Launcher:

1. Copy picodrive_3ds.3dsx, picodrive_3ds.smdh and picodrive_3ds_top.png into the /3ds/picodrive_3ds folder on your SD card.
2. Place your ROMs inside any folder.
3. Go to your Homebrew Launcher (either via Cubic Ninja, Soundhax or other entry points) and launch the picodrive_3ds emulator.

CIA Version:

1. Use your favorite CIA installer to install picodrive_3ds.cia into your CFW. You can also use FBI to download from TitleDB.
2. Place your ROMs inside any folder.
3. Copy picodrive_3ds_top.png to ROOT of your SD card.
4. Exit your CIA installer and go to your CFW's home screen to launch the app.

When in-game:

1. Tap the bottom screen for the menu.
2. Use Up/Down to choose option, and A to confirm. (Hold down X while pressing Up/Down to Page Up/Page Down)
3. Use Left/Right to change between ROM selection and emulator options.
4. You can quit the emulator to your homebrew launcher / your CFW's home screen.

Game Screenshots:

PicoDrive01.bmp

PicoDrive02.bmp

PicoDrive03.bmp

PicoDrive06.bmp
Another fine addition! Thanks a lot bubble2k16!:D
 

slaphappygamer

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sweet! i have a 2dsxl coming and this will be a great addition. also, the theme for contra hard corps always reminded me of sir mix-a-lot's "i like big butts.
 

kane159

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wow a new emu!! love u so much bro! did this support sega cd games? If so where should i put the bios files :)
 

DominoBright

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Games like Sonic & Knuckles, Ristar, and Vectorman are running at 50 FPS instead of 60. It looks like it defaults to PAL for multi-region games such as those.
wow a new emu!! love u so much bro! did this support sega cd games? If so where should i put the bios files :)
Sega CD isn't supported on this version (yet). The Retroarch version supports it though. On that, the BIOS files are placed in /retroarch/system.
 
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tronky11

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omg thnks for bring this emulator , there is some possibility of use game gear roms and the possibility configuring the buttons to 6 buttons like sega genesis 6 buttons controller thnks bubble2k16 good work , i prefer your emulators more than those of retroarch
 

DominoBright

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For some reason, the UI only shows master system (.sms), but not genesis ones (.smd, .bin).
.md is visible. Rename the extensions to that and see if it works.
omg thnks for bring this emulator , there is some possibility of use game gear roms and the possibility configuring the buttons to 6 buttons like sega genesis 6 buttons controller thnks bubble2k16 good work , i prefer your emulators more than those of retroarch
Unfortunately, PicoDrive never had Game Gear support, so there probably won't be compatibility here.
 

Instandhaltung

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Ok, so this is what I found out so far. As mentioned above, the .md files are visible, but the .smd ones are not. Maybe you could add this file ending to those which are visible.
Also Picodrive should be able to play 32x and SG1000 games. Could you add these file endings as well, so that we can test the functionality? SG1000 games have the .sg ending. Since the SG1000 and the Master System are very similar, no changes should be nessesary to make these games work (they already work when you rename them and add .sms, but you can't see an image).

Keep up the good work!
 

senkunmusashi

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:rofl2: You can download and try to see if it sounds too jarring.

Contra Hard Corp's intro has this screechy sound that sounds terrible to me on an Old 3DS, especially on headphones. Not that it's fantastic on a New 3DS with the 44.1Khz sampling, but still... it's worse on the old 3DS.

Sounds very scratchy but tolerable to me, and once in game I'm not really noticing the sound quality when everything's smoothly running at 60fps... Haven't tried that many games but everything that I've thrown at it so far is perfect! Thanks again @bubble2k16 !

i prefer your emulators more than those of retroarch

Amen to that!
 

tiduscrying

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This is awesome! Always great to see a new emulator from you @bubble2k16!

Here are some initial results from a few minutes of playing:
  • The Adventures of Batman & Robin - Runs well, but has graphical distortions and some minor audio slowdown
  • Puyo Puyo 2 - Graphical glitches on the main menu, otherwise runs full speed
  • Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Definite audio problems, BGM seems to be missing some instruments and sound effects are pretty crackly. Graphically fine, though.
I am super excited to see more of this! The Genesis would have probably been my favorite system back in the day... I just like the music in the majority of the games so much more (Streets of Rage, anyone?). Thanks again for yet another awesome emulator! Also, I still absolutely love your UI design. It is miles ahead of any other emu I've used, period. It just looks so fantastic!
 
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Hopalongtom

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I always found Picodrive to be one of the slower ways of playing Megadrive/Genesis games, however I'll give this version a try!
 

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