Sorry for the drought of blog posts lately: I’ve been busy with work and a lot of other IRL stuff. Still, if there’s one thing I can give an update on, it’s that two of my projects have finally seen a release: clownmdemu and clownassembler have been released on Sonic Retro, Sonic Stuff Research Group,Continue reading “clownmdemu and clownassembler released”
Tag Archives: clownmdemu
clownmdemu – Z80 Support
With the addition of FM support, my Mega Drive emulator came much closer to being able to provide a complete experience for certain games such as Sonic 1. Unfortunately, there was still one major missing feature: drums, voice clips, and sometime even all audio entirely, were inaudible. What gives? Sonic 1 plays most of itsContinue reading “clownmdemu – Z80 Support”
clownmdemu – FM Audio Emulation
It finally happened! With university over, I decided to tackle what is perhaps my greatest challenge yet in writing this emulator: emulating the YM2612. The YM2612 is the Mega Drive’s primary audio chip. Apparently, it is a cost-effective, stripped-down version of the YM2608: while the YM2608 featured FM, SSG, Rhythm, and ADPCM modules, the YM2612Continue reading “clownmdemu – FM Audio Emulation”
The Mega Drive’s Interlaced Video Output
Today, I looked into adding support for the Mega Drive’s interlaced video output to my emulator. It didn’t go how I planned, and I eventually realised that it was worthless to pursue. Still, I think this makes for a fun story. First, I should probably go over the basics of how old CRT TVs wouldContinue reading “The Mega Drive’s Interlaced Video Output”
Mega Drive Emulator Update: Debug Menus
It looks like I wanted to get one more thing done before the project enters hibernation again. While not exactly an accuracy-focussed emulator, I do fancy the idea of making clownmdemu into a useful developer tool. After all, I do make hacks and homebrew for the Mega Drive occasionally. For now, it features a bunchContinue reading “Mega Drive Emulator Update: Debug Menus”
Progress on My Mega Drive Emulator – clownmdemu
My emulator has recently seen some work, but development seems to be on the verge of slowing down again, so I think now is a good time to post a write-up here. So, what’s new in clownmdemu? Holy Moly, an Actual GUI Yes, your eyes aren’t deceiving you: I’ve actually made a GUI. I knowContinue reading “Progress on My Mega Drive Emulator – clownmdemu”
Even More Mega Drive Emulator Making
It happened a lot sooner than I was expecting, but here it is – full Sonic 2 support: Interlace Mode 2 Support Adding support for Interlace Mode 2 means that Sonic 2’s two player mode works now. This is a very weird feature: remember how I said that the Mega Drive’s display is made upContinue reading “Even More Mega Drive Emulator Making”
More Mega Drive Emulator Making
So I figured I’d give an update on the Mega Drive emulator: As you can see, it’s come a long way since the last blog post: support for rendering sprites has been added, the colours are richer, and the visual errors have been corrected. At the time, this broken title screen was really the bestContinue reading “More Mega Drive Emulator Making”
Making a Mega Drive Emulator
So, I was a little bored and wanted a new project to sink my teeth into. With university starting up again soon, I decided to see if I could make a prototype Mega Drive emulator in a week. So, how’d I do? Well, I came pretty close: I started it on the 20th, and finallyContinue reading “Making a Mega Drive Emulator”