================================================================= NESticle Version x.xx (xx/xx/xx) by Bloodlust Software ================================================================= Email: bldlust@maelstrom.net Death to the defiler. Do not send any files without asking first. Do not ask about SNESticle (or anything else you want emulated). --------------------- What it is --------------------- NESticle is a DOS/Win95 based emulator for the Nintendo Entertainment System written in C++/Assembly. It is freeware and it is not to be distributed with game ROMs and it is not to be modified or sold. A majority of the NES technical information used to create this came from Marat Fayzullin's (fms@freeflight.com) great NES.DOC. Sound information was provided by AJG, Fanwen, Mikael Iushin and Y0SHi. --------------------- Revisions --------------------- Version x.xx: - ???? --------------------- What it does --------------------- NESticle emulates the basic NES hardware, along with several of the memory mapping chips used by various games. What's emulated: -6502 CPU -PPU -VRAM/VROM -Horizontal/Vertical mirroring -Scrolling -8x8 and 8x16 Sprites -Dual joypads -iNES Memory mappers fully/partially supported: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,15,19,22,23,32 -Battery backed RAM -Sound emulation Other neat features: -Multiple save states -Joystick/"GrIP" support -Network play (Win95 exe only) -"Friendly" GUI -VESA/DirectDraw support -Fullscreen 256x224 VGA mode (DOS only) -Save .pcx snapshots -Editable pattern tables (CHR/tile/vrom) -iNES single file cart format -Wave output loggable -Editable palette (I dont have the correct colors) --------------------- What it doesn't do --------------------- Lightgun Mapper/compatibility problems Palette changes during frame (W&W, Startropics) --------------------- What you need --------------------- A 486 or Pentium running DOS or Windows 95/NT. The DOS version requires DOS4GW, available separately. For the Windows version you MUST HAVE DirectX Version 3.0. It's available somewhere on Microsoft's labyrinth of a website. At least 16MB of memory for the Win95 version. NESticle can take advantage of VESA 2.0 support if it exists. If it does not exist, NESticle will resort to only the video modes 320x200, 256x224, 256x240, 256x256. 256x256 has scanlines. You need about 8MB of memory for the DOS version. The DOS version supports true Soundblasters ONLY. The Win95 version utilizes DirectSound for digital output. --------------------- How to work it --------------------- Load up a .NES rom from the File/Load ROM. Reset the rom from CPU/Reset. If you're running in a high-res mode (>320x240), the NES game screen will appear in a window. You can maximize the window with the "SQUARE" button in the title bar. You close the window with the X button. You can toggle the GUI on and off by pressing ESC. You change the input devices from the Settings/RedefineInput menu(s). No matter what the settings are, Enter/Tab are always Start/Select in order to accomodate 2 button joysticks. Enter/Tab only work if the game window has input focus (click on it) or the gui is disabled. F5/F7 saves and loads your games. Essentially it stores the entire NES state in a state file. Pressing the keyboard keys 0-9 (not the numeric keypad ones) will change the current state slot for subsequent saves/loads: 0 = "xxxx.STA" (xxxx is the rom file name) 1 = "xxxx.ST1" 2 = "xxxx.ST2" ... etc The default slot whenever a rom is loaded is 0 (ie "xxxx.STA") With statebackuping on, when saving, the old state file is renamed to 'xxxx.bak'. You'll have to manually rename the backup state file to use it again. You can record movies with CPU/NES Movie/Record. This will create a NES Movie file (*.nsm) which contains the NES state along with recorded input. To edit patterns, View/Pattern tables, then click on a pattern and edit it. Right clicking on a pattern will change its attribute (palette), to aid in drawing. If you wish, you can save the changes with File/Write VROM, and the VROM will be written directly to the .NES file, so beware. --------------------- ROMS and stuff --------------------- NESticle currently uses the iNES single file cart format (*.NES). The ROMs must be stored in the same dir as the .exe. Here's a description of a sample cart 'ZELDA' and some possible extensions: - ZELDA.NES The actual ROM/VROM data preceded by a 16-byte header - ZELDA.HDR An alternate 16-byte header file. If NESticle encounters this in the dir of the ROM, it will use this header instead of the one present in the NES file. - ZELDA.SAV 8K file representing the contents of the battery backed memory used in some games. This file is automagically saved and loaded as needed. - ZELDA.ST? It's the 'state' file used by saved games. - ZELDA.NSM Recorded NES Movie. - ZELDA.PAT Text file containing ROM patches --------------------- ROM patching/GameGenie --------------------- I finally deciphered GameGenie codes with some basic info provided by Benzene of Digital Emutations (demu@wspice.com). No thanks to Galoob. NESticle supports GameGenie codes and general patching of the CPU ROM address space ($8000-$FFFF). Bring up the ROM patching dialog with F6 or from the CPU menu. There are two edit fields in the dialog, the Name and the Code. The Code field is where the actual code goes (eg APZLGG). The Name field lets you type in a description of the code (eg Megajump), if no name is entered then the code string is used as the name. Once you've filled these in, clicking "Add" (or pressing enter) will add it to the list of patches. To activate or deactivate the patch, doubleclick on the code name in the listbox or click on "Toggle". "Remove" deletes the patch completely. "Save" writes all the patches to the text file <romname>.pat, this file is decribed below. NESticle accepts either GameGenie codes or raw patches. GameGenie codes can be either 6 or 8 digits and use the letters: A P Z L G I T Y E O X U K S V N Deciphering the GameGenie code is a mess and I won't go into it here. NESticle internally converts them to a raw format. The raw patches have two formats that coorespond to both types of Game Genie codes: <$addr>:<$val> (6 letter GG code) <$addr>?<$key>:<$val> (8 letter GG code) <$addr> is a 15-bit hex address within $8000-$FFFF of the CPU address space (the rom area). <$val> is the 8-bit hex value to be patched at that address. <$key> is an 8-bit hex number that MUST be present at that ROM location before the patch will be active. Examples: 10A4:10 patches CPU address $90A4 with the hex value $10. 05A1?5B:FF patches CPU address $85A1 with the hex value $FF if and only if $85A1 currently contains $5B NESticle can save a .pat file that contains all the patches created during a game. This file can be modified using a text editor. Each line of the .pat file looks like this: [+]<code> [<name>] [+] if a '+' is prefixed to the code, then it will be automatically activated when the game is run <code> is the patch itself (GG 6/8 or raw format). <name> is the text description of the code, if no name is supplied then the code is used as the name Note: If more than one patch modifies the same address (and have compatible keys) then only one can be active at once. Activating one will deactivate the others (ie they are mutually exclusive). --------------------- Input Devices --------------------- NESticle supports analog joysticks, 4-button gamepads, the Gravis GrIP gameport and keyboard input. Some general things: - There are two input devices, one each for NES controller 1 and 2. - Change the input devices with Settings/RedefineInput - Enter/Tab will simulate Start/Select on NES controller 1, ONLY when the GUI is disabled or the NES game window has input focus (click on it) - You can remap the buttons for a joystick input device with the command line option '-remapbut' or from the "Remap buttons" dialog... Simply click on the NES button type and then press the joystick button you wish to use. Pressing any key will set the NES button to "None". - You can redefine the keys for a Keyboard input device with the Redefine Keys dialog, or with the '-setkey' command line option Under DOS: - Joystick 1 or 2 refer to 2-button analog joysticks only! - "Gamepad" refers to a 4-button analog joypad (or joystick) The default button mapping for "Gamepad" conforms to that for a Gravis Gamepad (ie, 0 2 1 3), but can be changed - Due to hardware limits, only one 4-button device can be connected - You can interactively calibrate the joystick with the "Calibrate" button. Just center and swirl. The joystick thresholds can be also set with the '-joythresh' command line option. - In order to enable GrIP support, you MUST copy the "grip.gll" file to NESticle's startup directory. NESticle will load the driver if it finds it and the GrIP devices in slot 1 or 2 can be used. - For the MS Sidewinder to work in digital mode under Win95, you must have v1.5 of the MS Sidewinder software and you must press the mode button a few times. Under Win95: - Joystick 1 and 2 refer to joystick device ...
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