Chip 8 emulator W.I.P

[CabaretVoltaire]

This is my first Lynx program!

 

I had planned on porting some stuff I'd wrote previously, but the Lynx compiler has a weird syntax so this was mostly wrote today.

 

As it was pretty much wrote from scratch today it's very early, text/font display is really messed up and invaders (one of the 3 included games) is really really slow.

 

I hope to get 100% compatibility within the next week or two if I get more time to work on it, and maybe add enhanced graphics (intercept graphics calls and draw nice coloured sprites instead). Chip8 is pretty crappy but does have some pretty cool games, like version of Pacman and Tetris.

chip8.zip

[CabaretVoltaire]

Oops

chip8.zip

[CabaretVoltaire]

I've added a few games to the binary. Tetris, Blinky, Blitz, etc.

 

The font display is still screwed up, seems to be a problem with displaying "0" weird. Once that it is fixed I'll add superchip support, pretty much all the interesting games are superchip.

chip8.zip

[TailChao]

Just tried your demo, and I must say, it runs quite nicely. As for the flickering and skipped parts of sprites, are you using a single screen buffer, or two?

[Twoface2]

Great! The first EMULATOR for the Lynx !!!

 

I tried it on Handy, and it works nicely.

 

I'm pretty sure all (Super-) Chip8 games fit on a Lynx cart.

[CabaretVoltaire]

The flickering is how the chip 8 draws things

 

Xors pixels.. Whilst some games (see blinky) reduce flickering by only drawing when they need to some like brix and pong aren't so intelligent and do something like:-

 

drawsprite (x,y) //because sprites are xored this will clear the sprite

//some code here to check user input, etc

drawsprite (x,y) //redraw the sprite

 

 

It's possible to get around.. I can analyse the program loops and see when sprites have been xored out... Very game specific though

 

I had planned on doing "remixed" graphics for the games.. This is also very game specific (would have to do a renderer, and draw new graphics for each game) but would get rid of the flickering and make the games look as good as my drawing skills allow.

[CabaretVoltaire]

Great! The first EMULATOR for the Lynx !!!    

 

I tried it on Handy, and it works nicely.

 

I'm pretty sure all (Super-) Chip8 games fit on a Lynx cart.  

 

It might get quite big once I add redrawn graphics, and sound effects (chip8 doesn't really have proper sound but I reckon I could analyse whats going on in the games to trigger sound effects).

 

I wont be adding all games as some (most) are crap, and some would not be playable with the Lynxs controller

[Pocket]

Keep up the good work !

[CabaretVoltaire]

Fixed up some stuff, and started on super chip support.

 

Joust seems a bit slow

chip8.zip

[+Zeptari]

what is a chip 8 anyways?

 

An old game or computer system from oversea's?

 

never heard of it. I did try the emulator, the games look even older then then most 2600 games. I can't believe I've never seen this one before.

 

Someone enlighten me, ok.

[oesii]

Chip 8 details:

 

http://members.aol.com/autismuk/chip8/

[Twoface2]

I don't know if you have noticed, but:

 

Blinky doesn't work any longer in the last release

 

After the labyrinth is built, the ghosts and blinky move 1 step and then the game freezes.

[CabaretVoltaire]

I don't know if you have noticed, but:

 

Blinky doesn't work any longer in the last release    

 

After the labyrinth is built, the ghosts and blinky move 1 step and then the game freezes.

 

oops, sorry about that.. I'll take a look tonight, I'll probably add the superchip version of blinky instead as its a lot better.

[CabaretVoltaire]

Are you using Handy, or running it on hardware? I can only use it with Handy and Blinky seems fine.

 

I've added Super Blinky (which looks tonnes better) and Worm (snake type game).

chip8.zip

[CabaretVoltaire]

I've added "Car" but it's very slow, probably because of how I'm emulating scrolling.. ergh.

chip8.zip

[Twoface2]

Are you using Handy, or running it on hardware?  I can only use it with Handy and Blinky seems fine.  

 

I've added Super Blinky (which looks tonnes better) and Worm (snake type game).

 

I used it on Handy, too! Maybe it depends on the version of Handy. I used 0.60, but your earlier chip8 releases worked with blinky. strange

[gambler172]

Hi Guys

Is there any lnx or lyx file available?

greetings Walter

[EricDeLee]

That's an old post. LOL

 

The link in the second post... have you tried it?

[gambler172]

That's an old post. LOL

 

The link in the second post... have you tried it?

Hi Eric

I only need a lnx or lyx file to play it with my flashcard on original hardware.Unfortunately i am not able to change the o file in a lyx or lnx.

greetings Walter

[+karri]

That's an old post. LOL

 

The link in the second post... have you tried it?

Hi Eric

I only need a lnx or lyx file to play it with my flashcard on original hardware.Unfortunately i am not able to change the o file in a lyx or lnx.

greetings Walter

 

That's not a problem. Lynxer + make_lnx is here to help.

lynxer chip8.o
make_lnx chip8.LYX -b0 256k

 

And voila! The new chip8.lnx is in the file below.

 

chip8.zip

 

Enjoy (I doubt it),

 

Karri

You must be a "die hard retro" guy for emulating really ancient keychain software on a 20 year old ancient system.

Edited May 18, 2009 by karri

[EricDeLee]

how do you do that... someone else needs to know as well

[walter_J64bit]

WOW, this is news to me the LYNX has an emulator.

Edited May 19, 2009 by walter_J64bit

[Fadest]

how do you do that... someone else needs to know as well

You only need an insert.o (which is kind of boot program for Atari Lynx) and lynxer.exe

Then just put both in same directory than the file you want to convert into .lyx (let's say chip8.o) and type

lynxer chip8.o

You can flash a .lyx on flashcard or burn it to an eprom, there is nothing more to do.

You will find both in old BLL kit or new developper kit from Karri.

Also, building his own insert.o is quite easy (but you need sprpck to convert image and an assembler to compile it), I guess there is an example somewhere (maybe on sage site ? or in the BLL kit sources). I also made an explanation in french on Yaronet...

 

If you want a .lnx for Handy, you will also need make_lnx.exe (given with Handy or Handydev I guess) and type :

make_lnx chip8.lyx -b0 256K to build a 256k rom useable with Handy

[JCGhitman11]

how do you do that... someone else needs to know as well

You only need an insert.o (which is kind of boot program for Atari Lynx) and lynxer.exe

Then just put both in same directory than the file you want to convert into .lyx (let's say chip8.o) and type

lynxer chip8.o

You can flash a .lyx on flashcard or burn it to an eprom, there is nothing more to do.

You will find both in old BLL kit or new developper kit from Karri.

Also, building his own insert.o is quite easy (but you need sprpck to convert image and an assembler to compile it), I guess there is an example somewhere (maybe on sage site ? or in the BLL kit sources). I also made an explanation in french on Yaronet...

 

If you want a .lnx for Handy, you will also need make_lnx.exe (given with Handy or Handydev I guess) and type :

make_lnx chip8.lyx -b0 256K to build a 256k rom useable with Handy

What is the best emulator to use for my PC using Windows program. I love My Lynx and have heard some good and bad things about the Handy. You sound knowledgeable, so please guide me in the right direction... what can i expect

[sage]

how do you do that... someone else needs to know as well

You only need an insert.o (which is kind of boot program for Atari Lynx)

 

nop.

the "boot" programm is in the mikey-rom and (if you count that in) the first sector of the cartridge-ROM, which is hardcoded inside the lynxer binary. That means, differnt lynxer version might have differt loaders inside.

insert.o is just a title screen which is displayed by the loader (or not if you disable it in the loader). Really, ist only SCB, palette and sprite data, nothing more.

Edited June 2, 2009 by sage