Hi,
I think the biggest advantage of emulator vs hardware console is possibility of beautify graphics (mainly by resolution increase). Disadvantage - problems with smooth gameplay.
Over year ago I was wondering if is possible to get around this problems, at least for Gamecube. That time I though main problem is with emulating PowerPC CPU. I am interested in FPGA chips so I started working on gekko-flipper bus sniffing tool (to make co-operation of hardware and emulation).
Nowadays my project is on significant stage. Two FPGAs, FIFO to USB3.0 bridge, RAM chips. All 108 bus signals connected. I already have a few samples of data, for example full GC boot. But I started wondering again - is sense of make this? I decided to make simply test scenario. Episode from game Zelda Twilight Princess on Gamecube. After lakebed temple boss (save from here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gamecube/920769-the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess/saves). My emulation speed - 30% (look screenshoot). Later I started emulation without graphics (backend "NULL"). Speed ~135%. Over 4x more!
Soo... does this means that my project is useless? What is the biggest bottleneck in emulation today?
I think the biggest advantage of emulator vs hardware console is possibility of beautify graphics (mainly by resolution increase). Disadvantage - problems with smooth gameplay.
Over year ago I was wondering if is possible to get around this problems, at least for Gamecube. That time I though main problem is with emulating PowerPC CPU. I am interested in FPGA chips so I started working on gekko-flipper bus sniffing tool (to make co-operation of hardware and emulation).
Nowadays my project is on significant stage. Two FPGAs, FIFO to USB3.0 bridge, RAM chips. All 108 bus signals connected. I already have a few samples of data, for example full GC boot. But I started wondering again - is sense of make this? I decided to make simply test scenario. Episode from game Zelda Twilight Princess on Gamecube. After lakebed temple boss (save from here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gamecube/920769-the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess/saves). My emulation speed - 30% (look screenshoot). Later I started emulation without graphics (backend "NULL"). Speed ~135%. Over 4x more!
Soo... does this means that my project is useless? What is the biggest bottleneck in emulation today?