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I might have to go in the CJS direction in the implementation, though, as there is no memory to "waste" on a phone for a virtual disk image.

A virtual disk image doesn't mean all sectors have to be stored in memory. You could keep a translation table which administrates for each sector what it is used for: empty or (file, offset) of the file that is stored there. You could store a file ID in a byte (MSX root dir only allows 112 files anyway) and offset in 3 bytes, so 4 bytes per sector would be enough.

True. I'll have to look into that when I come back, thanks for the tips, now I'm off for a holiday for a week

BTW, I don't know if MSX Disk ROM BIOS supports it, but the number of root directory entries can be anything between 1-65535, the number is stored in the boot sector as a 16bit integer.

All the info fields in the boot sector are ignored by the MSX disk ROM. It only looks at the Media ID byte, which is read from the first byte of the FAT. The disk ROM then uses a set of built-in tables (DPB = Drive Parameter Block) which contain a fixed layout for each supported Media ID.

Let me just say this: I just installed fMSX for S60 and I am just so very happy

Hi,

I'm new to all this MSX stuff, but am keen to learn.

I have a N-Gage and donloaded fMSXs60_98a.sis from the site, but after messing with it for nearly 5 hours I cant understand how to use it. I know i need a bios for either the MSX1 or 2 / 2+ (learning quick anrn't I?) but what folder does it go in and where do the games go?

Please, anything will do.

Thanks in Advance;

Digicreator

Check out this ROMPackager. It will create a nice SIS file for you

Thanks, its dose it now, but i still get a error message and then it closes it. Theres also no Icon on the menu so i have to use FExploerer to access the folder its installed at (E:systemappsfmsx)


Any help?


Thanks to Jr while im here, we need more people like you in programming, your a saviour to so many symbian and MSX gamers.

DGN

The MSX-icon is in the Games section. You're sure you checked that subdir?

there' no games folder anywhere on my phone, it was in the media folder (its an n-gage).

Just while i'm here, could anyone tell me where to get the MSX2 BIOs ROMs? I REALLY want to play metal gear.

Thanks in advance,

Digicreator

The MSX2 BIOS is copyrighted material. When you check the news archive on MSX Revival, you will see that there is renewed commercial interest in MSX, especially in Japan. We won't allow direct links to illegal software....

But erhm.....Did you know there is a great MSX emulator called NLMSX? You should check their site: nlmsx.generation-msx.nl/

If you think it would be better I can also make the icon appear on the top level of the application shell by default instead of the games folder.

I know that on N-gage it goes under Media folder for some reason, I don't know why, perhaps the Media folder on N-gage has the same ID as the games folder on other S60 phones.

If anyone has tried the emulator on Siemens SX1 I would be interested to know whether it works on it or not and if there are any "strange" behavior like the folder problem on N-gage.

I've been occupied with other things lately but I'm planning to release v0.99 soon with the autorun support for disks and some minor changes. Version 1.0 is approaching =)

Well.. I just got my 6600. It's very cool to play MSX games on a mobile phone. The user interface is cool, and with fast fit MSX1 emulation can run some nice sound too.

On MSX2 and/or with SCC things aren't as smooth as I'd hoped for, however. I had some ideas to optimize the emu, which might improve speed a bit more:

- Build in a real frameskip. Meaning, when I do 'frameskip=1' now, things just go twice as fast. I thought the idea behind frameskipping was not drawing a frame every now and then while keeping the emulation speed 'correct'. This way the emu has less CPU load (only 50% of the screen output compared to 'normal'), which can be used to improve sound emulation.

- Build in a screen buffer. Don't know if there's enough memory for this, nor if it works, but the MSX is refreshing its screen at 50Hz or 60Hz and most of the time nothing or only little things change. If outputting the screen takes quite some CPU load (and I think especially rotated screens do), maybe it's smart to put a check. If something has changed -> output. NOthing has changed? Skip frame! Maybe you can even update parts of the screen instead of the full screen each time.

Maybe these ideas are just bogus, or already implemented... but euhm... maybe they are of help!

Another thing I'd like to see is auto-disabling the sound emulation when I have my phone on 'silent' mode

Keep up the good job, JR! I'm looking forward to future releases!

I guess you're right about the frame skip, I could try improving it. As it is at the moment the kind of "real" frame skip you described is already in, the emulator is always drawing only every second frame.

My screen buffering scheme is a bit complex already =) Currently non-rotated raw and fast fit rendering are done differently than the others. This can be done because they do not need any "post processing". I suppose this could also be done for rotated raw and fast fit rendering but I haven't had the time to pursue that track -- still on the to-do list.

I never thought about obeying the system sound volume but that is a good idea, I'll see what I can do about it.

In the mean time, I started rewriting the Z80 emulation code today. The way it is implemented in fMSX does not seem optimal to me so I want to try another approach. I'm also adding all the undocumented opcodes fMSX Z80 core does not support. I think I also found some bugs in the fMSX Z80 emulation, I'll try to correct them as I go. I didn't get it quite done yet (perhaps about 80% done) but I believe that I'll finish the core tomorrow and then I'll see if my thoughts were right

Which makes it not really an FMSX emulator anymore, right?

What about sharing the fixes in Z80 core with Marat Fayzullin ?
This way you can help in improving a lot of fMSX-based emu's, including Red/BlueMSX !