

fGEN32 01/07/04 first release (public), (c) 2003-2004 rlyeh and Robster


1. What's fGEN32 ?
2. History
3. Features
4. Screenshots
5. Installing fGEN32
6. Using fGEN32
7. FAQ
8. Resources
9. Credits
A. Greetings


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1. What's fGEN32 ?
------------------

 Genesis Plus is a portable Genesis console emulator coded by Charles Macdonald.
 fGEN32 is a emulator port for the GP32 handheld console by rlyeh and Robster.
 fGEN32 was ported and modified from the original Genesis Plus v1.2 sources.
 fGEN32 uses Cyclone 68000 ASM ARM core from Dave.

 You can download the original Genesis Plus source code from http://cgfm2.emuviews.com/
 You can download the Cyclone 68000 source code from http://www.finalburn.com/

 You can download the latest fGEN32 binary from http://www.retrodev.info/
 I will release the source code as soon as I clean it a bit.


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2. History
----------

  
 01/07/04: fGEN32 first release (public)

    - almost full Genesis support,
    - amazing speed! all games play between frameskip 0/1 @ 133 mhz with sound OFF,
    - full working zipped savestates and loadstates,
    - full ROM/BIN/SMD/ZIP loading, (packed files using ZLib)
    - sound support,
    - crystal sound rendering output, using Robster's library,
    - saving screenshots to PNG format, using my own library,
    - CRC32 ROM naming detection using GoodGen by Cowering,
    - fSMS32 style user interface 
    - fast fileselector (able to scan some hundred zipped roms per minute),
    - featuring extras: preliminary GUI. 

    What's lacking:

    - adding horizontal interrupts
    - adding Z80 support for driving sound
    - adding more missing options
    - adding RF multiplayer
    - fixing known bugs as usual :-)


-----------
3. Features
-----------


    - almost full Genesis support,
    - amazing speed! all games play between frameskip 0/1 @ 133 mhz with sound OFF,
    - full working zipped savestates and loadstates,
    - full ROM/BIN/SMD/ZIP loading, (packed files using ZLib)
    - sound support,
    - crystal sound rendering output, using Robster's library,
    - saving screenshots to PNG format, using my own library,
    - CRC32 ROM naming detection using GoodGen by Cowering,
    - fSMS32 style user interface 
    - fast fileselector (able to scan some hundred zipped roms per minute),


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4. Screenshots
--------------

   Not available in txt file.


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5. Installing fGEN32
--------------------

   Put your fGEN32.FXE into GPMM\
   Put your ROM/SMD/BIN files uncompressed or preferredly zipped into GPMM\GENESIS

   Note: Only first file from ZIP will be used at the moment. It will be fixed soon.
   Note: I suggest using *ONLY* zipped files. It improves speed at loading and
         minimizes SMC space usage.


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6. Using fGEN32
---------------

   PAD is mapped as first player's gamepad.
   A fires the joystick button C.
   B fires the joystick button B.
   SELECT fires the joystick button A.
   START  fires the joystick button START.

   Press L+R to choose options while playing.


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7. FAQ
------

   Q. Will savestates format change in next releases?
   A. Yes they will, and sorry for that. The savestates will only work this release probably since we're
      not including the z80 registers at this moment.

   Q. I choose Sound ON but most games won't sound after all, why?
   A. Almost all games need a Z80 cpu emulation to drive sound, which is not emulated in this release.
      Games which sound without Z80 are Sonic 1, Shinobi 2, Shinobi 3, Streets of Rage series, etc...
      Wait for a further release. Z80 is incoming.

   Q. I choose Sound ON but games which sound do not sound ok, why?
   A. Games like Sonic1 still needing some Z80 emulation to drive drums for instance.
      Wait for a further release. Z80 is incoming.

   Q. I have some games not working or graphics are apparently messed up, why?
   A. Although fGEN32 first release is very compatible, the missing hints emulation, plus the missing
      z80 emulation and the inaccuracy at some points in Cyclone 68000 makes all together to some games
      not working properly or showing graphical glitches.

      Here's a small list of *known* issues from hearth:

      - Another World, black screen (cyclone issue).
      - Cool Spot, bad region (fgen issue).
      - Comix Zone, black screen before playing (cyclone issue).
      - Contra Hardcorps, background at logo does not wave (cyclone issue). some raster issues (hints issue).
      - Ecco the Dolphin, Ecco jumps too much sometimes (cyclone issue).
      - Flashback, hanged up at intro (it used to work before) (fgen issue).
      - Flicky, SEGA logo shown at half (fgen issue).
      - Gargoyles, reboots gp32 (cyclone issue). 
      - Gunstar Heroes, logo messed up (hints issue).
      - Outrun, graphics messed up (fgen issue).
      - Robocop vs Terminator, bad region (fgen issue).
      - Samurai Spirits, START key does not work (fgen issue).
      - Sonic 1, sonic above logo at splash screen (fgen issue). Missing drums in sound (z80 issue). Water issue and laberynth map (hints issue).
      - Sonic 2, blue background at logo (fgen issue).
      - Sonic 3, floor flickering at bonus stage (fgen issue).  
      - Sonic 3D, wrong sprite priorities (fgen issue). movie playback half the size (hints issue).
      - Sonic & Knuckles, bad region (fgen issue).
      - Snow Bros, enemies move to the right all time (cyclone issue).
      - Streets of Rage, sometimes points get crazy at finishing stage (cyclone issue).
      - Street Fighter II Championship, reboots gp32 before playing (cyclone issue).
      - Super Street Fighter II, reboots gp32 (fgen issue).
      - ThunderForce IV, reboots gp32 (cyclone issue). 
      - Turbo Outrun, graphics messed up (fgen issue).
      - etc 

      Wait for a further release. 

   Q. The screen has some chunky scroll sometimes, why?
   A. I've disabled the double buffering option for this release.
      Wait for a further release.


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8. Resources
------------

Genesis Plus at Charles' site         - [ http://cgfm2.emuviews.com/                                ]
PD roms      at Kojote's site         - [ http://www.pdroms.com/                                    ]


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9. Credits
----------

  Charles Macdonald, for the Genesis Plus emulator.

  Robster (RobBrown), for helping me out with lots of optimizations and interesting ideas,
   for driving sound like a master, and for your very interesting private chats honey ;-)

  Dave, for his wonderful Cyclone 68000 core. It rules! :-)

  Antiriad, for his cool icon and his marvellous splash screen :-)

  Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler, for the ZLIB library.

  Cowering, for the GoodGen DAT file.

  Mr_Spiv, for the B2FXEC tool.

  MameDev team, for the 68000 C, z80 C and sound cores.

  _Anarchy_, for supporting fGEN32 so much at www.gp32spain.com.


------------
A. Greetings
------------

  all the gp32 scene staff, for keeping GP32 spirit alive. 

  zardozj,spiv,Toris,DJWillis,RobBrown,Skeezix and black--, for cool dev chats :-)

  mr_spiv,darkfader,pacman,for some dev tools. Good work! :)

  all the ppl who sent irc/mails msgs encouraging the emulator! ^__^

  A600,_Anarchy_,Antiriad,APL-3,AR3NA,atrkid,Badxil,betisweb,black--,CHN,Costis,_cr4sh_,
  craigix,DarkFader,DarkWolf9,Desther_1,dev,DICEASE,DJ_Syto,DrWh0,Ecthegion,esoteric_,
  eXcess,FagEmul,[FireFly],Flavor,FoxRage,fx-man,galaDky,giffel,groepaz,Guyfawkes,hando,
  HaunteR,Hokutoy,_Hybrid,IcemanGP,Intelecto,Intruder,jegHegy,JyCet,karter,karthur,Kojote,
  krb_,Linkeado,MikeDX,MikeHunt,mr_spiv,_Mystic_,Nebur2k3,Neo-Gaka,NhuNhu,Nuria[],Pekele,
  ph0x,prophet,rattboi,reliant77,|Rico,rino,Robster,Sanosuke,skeezix,tethor,Tetsu,tfc,TheWub,
  ThunderZ,_Toris,TRaNS,Tyke|,_tyrell_,vimacs,Whitesnake,xns,Xtherm,Yenaphe,ZardozJ,etc!..
  many c==3s 4 all, thx for supporting/complaining all time about my emus :-)

  And to my lovely girlfriend cariii who's dedicated this emulator to :-)

                                        
         _______   ______    _______   _______     _______  _____
        / _____/\ / ____/\  / _____/\ / _____ \   /____  /\/____ \
       / /\____\// /\___\/ / /\____\// /\___/ /\ _\___/ / /\___/ /\
      /  ___/\  / / /__   / ____/\  / / /  / / //____  / // ____/ /
     / /\___\/ / /_// /\ / /\___\/ / / /  / / /_\___/ / // /____\/
    /_/ /     /______/ //______/\ /_/ /  /_/ //_____ / //______/\
    \_\/      \______\/ \______\/ \_\/   \_\/ \______\/ \______\/ !rlyeh





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 God bless bits.
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