Techmaster I was wondering if you can include Aero Fighter on you next release of the extra large build. Raiden and Aero Fighter are one of the best scroll up shooter of all times. Raiden is currently supported in the extra large build, but due to this game use 5 CPU it does run very slow . But Aero fighter only use 3 CPU (2 for the game and 1 for the sound) almost like the 1943 (although 1943 has 4 CPU, but runs very nice) I think that this game will run smooth in Pocket PC.

Actually much depends on the CPU itself and not so much the number of CPUs. That is why Aero Fighter and Midnight Resistance and many other favorites using the 68000 chip are not included in Techmaster builds. Correctly if I am wrong Techmaster but if you included the 68000 not only would it increase the size of the build just for the CPU support alone (I read that a long time ago in this or Ben's forum) but I am not sure there would be any guarantees the performance would be as "smooth" as you would think. Maybe the iPAQ has a chance, but I am guessing the PocketPC is still not there yet as far as technology is concerned. Techmaster please prove me wrong!!

> Techmaster I was wondering if you can include Aero Fighter on you next release
> of the extra large build. Raiden and Aero Fighter are one of the best scroll up
> shooter of all times. Raiden is currently supported in the extra large build,
> but due to this game use 5 CPU it does run very slow . But Aero fighter only
> use 3 CPU (2 for the game and 1 for the sound) almost like the 1943 (although
> 1943 has 4 CPU, but runs very nice) I think that this game will run smooth in
> Pocket PC.
>

Today's pocket PCs are probably too slow to run 68K games the way they are emulated in MAME. I don't say that if somebody makes dedicated ASM coded 68K emulator for Pocket PC it won't be possible. I remember Techmaster once enabled Marble Madness (one of the first and simplest 68K games) and he said it was way to slow on iPAQ.

On the other hand, author of MAME for Digita cameras said he enabled NEO GEO driver and with some tweaks made Puzzle de Pon work at acceptable speed. So there's still hope!

> Actually much depends on the CPU itself and not so much the number of CPUs.
> That is why Aero Fighter and Midnight Resistance and many other favorites using
> the 68000 chip are not included in Techmaster builds. Correctly if I am wrong
> Techmaster but if you included the 68000 not only would it increase the size of
> the build just for the CPU support alone (I read that a long time ago in this or
> Ben's forum) but I am not sure there would be any guarantees the performance
> would be as "smooth" as you would think. Maybe the iPAQ has a chance, but I am
> guessing the PocketPC is still not there yet as far as technology is concerned.
> Techmaster please prove me wrong!!
>
> > Techmaster I was wondering if you can include Aero Fighter on you next release
> > of the extra large build. Raiden and Aero Fighter are one of the best scroll
> up
> > shooter of all times. Raiden is currently supported in the extra large build,
> > but due to this game use 5 CPU it does run very slow . But Aero fighter only
> > use 3 CPU (2 for the game and 1 for the sound) almost like the 1943 (although
> > 1943 has 4 CPU, but runs very nice) I think that this game will run smooth in
> > Pocket PC.
> >
>

You are pretty much correct. The size may increase (by a little or alot is debatable) but the games may not play smoothly due to the way the cpu core code was written, and/or optimized by the original MAME Team, and becuase of the processor architecture being newer.

The size itself would not be an issue since it would be only in the 'many games enabled' build (people who use this build normally put it on a storage card, size is not an issue in that case).

The biggest problem is that I have yet to succesfully compile the 68K processor. To be fair, I have not devoted my full attention to it (and I am sure once I do that it will get compiled ;)
We will have to wait and see if 68K games will be playable or not on the PocketPC. Anything is possible, it is 2001! :)



Cheers,
-Techmaster

> Raiden and Aero Fighter are one of the best scroll up
> shooter of all times.

Opinion.

> Raiden is currently supported in the extra large build,
> but due to this game use 5 CPU it does run very slow.

Raiden has two V30 CPUs (each at 19MHz) to emulate, just to
play the game. There is also a Z80 CPU at about 3.5MHz which runs the sound hardware. Sound hardware consists of a
YM-3812 and an OKI6295, which are NOT CPUs

> But Aero fighter only use 3 CPU (2 for the game and 1 for
> the sound)

Aero Fighters uses a single Motorola 68000 CPU at 10MHz to
run the game. The Z80 at 4MHz is for audio-only, and the
sound hardware is a YM-2610.

> almost like the 1943 (although 1943 has 4 CPU,
> but runs very nice)

1943 runs on a single Z80 CPU at 6MHz. The second Z80 (3MHz) is only for sound, and a couple of Yamaha synthiser
chips are thrown in as sound hardware.
Now we have all the facts straight.

>I think that this game will run
> smooth in Pocket PC.

How well anything runs depends on the hardware of the device, not at all on the operating system.
I think it will not run smooth even on the currently-most-powerful CE3.0 device (iPaq).
Even with sound disabled and underclocking the Z80, 1943 is
not able to mantain full frame-rate on an iPaq.
A 68000 CPU is 16-bit vs the Z80 which is a 8-bit CPU.
It has a much more complicated instruction set and can
access much more memory. Emulating it is more involved than
emulating a Z80. And finally, CPU(s) are far from all that
will affect the speed of a game (although it is usually
the biggest factor in early 80s games). Emulation of the
video hardware, espicially in games from the mid-to-late 80s
on, can be quite complicated and time-consuming.

Bottom line: Aerofighters would be slow as sh*t on an iPaq, although perhaps not quite as slow as Raiden.

Darren

Thank you for all the responses. All have been very informative, as well as educative. I just hope to see these type of game in my Pocket PC in the near future. I hope the next level of PocketPC device will be able to emulate this type of game.

Why include another shooter when most of the current shooters are unplayable because of the fire bug. (You can't press fire several times in a row quickly.) Or am I doing something wrong? (Like not mapping the keys correctly.)

> Techmaster I was wondering if you can include Aero Fighter on you next release

> Why include another shooter when most of the current shooters are unplayable
> because of the fire bug. (You can't press fire several times in a row quickly.)
> Or am I doing something wrong? (Like not mapping the keys correctly.)
>
> > Techmaster I was wondering if you can include Aero Fighter on you next release
>

Which device? It works ok on the iPaq. The Casio has a small stuter after each 3rd missile. Still looking into this.


Cheers,
-Techmaster

Casio E115. Yeah, you can get off three shots in a row quickly if you time the key presses just right. But for the most part the games don't shoot every time you press the fire button. Is there a problem having programs mapped to the fire button (contacts is the default) when running Mame? The only way I've found to be able to shoot every time I press the fire button is to alternate presses between the Launch Menu button and the Contacts button.

> > Why include another shooter when most of the current shooters are unplayable
> > because of the fire bug. (You can't press fire several times in a row
> quickly.)
> > Or am I doing something wrong? (Like not mapping the keys correctly.)
> >
> > > Techmaster I was wondering if you can include Aero Fighter on you next
> release
> >
>
> Which device? It works ok on the iPaq. The Casio has a small stuter after each
> 3rd missile. Still looking into this.
>
>
> Cheers,
> -Techmaster
>