Pocket Heaven

[Vyen]

My first question is...where do I go for the newest version of this thing? http://www.snemul.com/ds/ seems to be down. http://snemul.free.fr/ds/ has versions through 0.4 if you direct-link to the .zip, and otherwise redirects you to the snemul.com site. I've seen verson 0.6 when I did a Google search, but I can't find it on any other page except the one it was on (maxconsoles?), which makes me wary of its...well, if only one site seemed to know about it, is there really a v0.6?

Then, I read the "Card Compatability" sticky to find my card isn't supported by any of the new versions to begin with. ::sigh:: So, I tried the 0.2 (the version linked to in this sticky for M3 SD users: http://www.pocketheaven.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=4762

It doesn't matter it has no save support, because while the DS rom boots up, it can't find my roms in the SNES directory. The 0.2 .NDS is in the root folder. I attempted to DLDI patch it, but it has no DLDI 'sector' (or whatever error message DLDIrc would give for a rom with no DLDI header). It gets to the "Please reset if frozen" message, thinks for a while...before it finishes loading with the "No Roms Found" message.

The aforementioned v0.6 version is now DLDI patched. That rom ALSO boots up...and it lets me scroll thorugh my card and find the roms I want. I can even load ROMs with this version of the program. I tried SMW2:Yoshi's Island, and ended up with a White Screen, bottom screen locked, but bouncing from 169% and 172% intermittently. I don't think it was on the compatable games list, but I know Chrono Trigger was - even if it has its own issues, it should have at least booted up. All I ended up with was a White Screen, a % that bounces around, though the bottom screen worked this go 'round.

...is my M3 DS Simply just not capable of running SNemulDS? Or am I doing something wrong?

Bonus Note: My 'L' button is broken. >.>" Its not stuck down or anything. But you press it and nothing happens, so I hope I don't need it for any 'fixes'. ::sigh:: I have another 'shell' I've been meaning to put on - when and if I go about doing that, is the button fixable at that point?

[dantheman]

Hm, you're right in that SNEmul.com seems to be down entirely. Wonder what happened with that. However, prior to now the blog got messed up so that v0.3 was the latest entry shown, with the v0.6 Alpha entry actually found several entries back. v0.6 Alpha is legit, don't worry. It should work on any DLDI-capable device, so the "card compatibility" sticky is a bit out of date. The release thread for it is at http://www.pocketheaven.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=6041 though of course the download link is now down.

Yoshi's Island does not work as it uses a special co-processor chip. Chrono Trigger should launch however. My guess is that it's due to the 4 GB card you have. It's very difficult to find 4 GB microSD cards that aren't microSDHC, and the ones that do exist are non-standard and known to be buggy. This could be the issue. Otherwise, try reducing the number of files in your SNES folder. Also, if you're using a 3in1 expansion pack, make sure you either eject that or change the "map external RAM" setting in snemul.cfg before attempting to launch a large game like Chrono Trigger.

[Vyen]

Bwahaha! I read that the 3-in-1 pack 'broke' things sometimes...I think that's one of those rumble/memory/something packs I saw on the M3 website? I don't have one of those, but I have the official DS Memory Pak for use with the Opera Browser. Popped that out, worked just fine. Didn't think that would do anything...but I probably shoulda tried that anyway.

Chrono Trigger boots up just fine now, and I haven't tried many more games than that. It's a shame Yoshi's Island won't work, as thats my favorite SNES platformer. But you take what you can get, I suppose - if I wanna play that badly, there's always E-Bay. XD

Thanks for the tip. It probably would have been at least a week before I realized that the DS Brower expansion pak was the culprit. ><

[dantheman]

Glad you got it working. To be honest the expansion thing was more of an afterthought, so I'm glad I added it in the post.

Check out the PHwiki for some compatibility lists for SNEmulDS.

[jackman]

Owning a copy of both v0.6a and 0.6WIP2, I've temporary uploaded them onto my Webspace.

Download:
SNEmulDS v0.6 Alpha (includes RAM Extension Code for some Slot-2 Adapters)
SNEmulDS v0.6 WIP2 (also includes RAM Extension Code, but modified to work with some problematic Adapters (SuperCard SD))

[dantheman]

Thanks for the mirrors. I've uploaded them myself just as another backup:
http://danthemanms.googlepages.com/SNEmulDSv06a.zip
http://danthemanms.googlepages.com/SNEmulDS06-WIP2.zip

Perhaps we should update the PHWiki article to reflect these mirrors. If it's not done by Saturday when I get back from camping I'll do it.

[Granville]

For Yoshi's Island, just get the gba port since you have a 3-in-1. It's a nearly perfect translation of the snes game. Here's my analysis I posted on gbatemp a while back which includes all the changes I was able to find (I added a few things since then):

Changes:
-----------------------------
Graphics:

1: Brighter and lower resolution to fit the GBA screen
2: Touch fuzzy effect is more jagged and not present in the farthest background
3: Some of the rock-textured platforms scroll vertically more choppily (as does one of the lava effects). Strangely this problem is only present in one of the platforms and lavas. Only a couple of levels have this strange issue (probably just lazy programming on Nintendo's part).
4: The stomach of the frog boss doesn't have a wave effect anymore.
5: The ending sequence with the stork is choppier and slower.
6: The spell effect where Kamek transforms the boss in the beginning of a battle doesn't have the colored transparent curtain that used to pore over the screen like a liquid. He just drops some sparkling dust over the screen. Strangely, the effect is still seen when you beat the boss and multicolored spheres bloom out of the boss. I guess another lazy programming error.

There are probably some other things lost in translation graphically, but the art style and most of the primary effects remain intact. I only did this deep of an analysis because I used an emulator to view them side by side. Most people will pay no heed to the changes (I myself forgive them because of a great game.
------------------------------
Sound:

1 Yoshi now has his "Yoshi's Story" voice and some other sound effects have been added from that game too.
2: Slight GBAifying of the music. They didn't really butcher it much, and it's still good and catchy.
3: Old sound effects have also been toned down a bit. Kamek has a heavily altered version of his old voice and it sounds like it's being played through a badly tuned radio underwater. Mario has a different (but no less obnoxious) cry.
---------------------------
a new world map has been added that shows all the worlds from the beginning of the game to Bowser's castle. It's used to select the worlds and to move between them (as opposed to selecting tabs above the individual levels. You may still do that as well however.)

Also included are 6 new levels you get for beating the final boss.

Yoshi's Island Advance is still the same game and people who have played it a long time ago will notice the alterations much less than people fresh off the SNES version. A game I highly recommend and a great portable game with a long lifespan. I give the SNES version a 10/10 and the GBA version a 9.5/10. It retains the same gameplay with a few minor cut corners in GFX/sound, and it's PORTABLE!
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I may not eat meat, but I have no "beef" with those who do.

[Vague Rant]

I can also vouch for the GBA port of Yoshi's Island. It's very fortunate that while it's the only Mario platformer that won't run in SNEmulDS, the port fills that space just fine. The rest of the Super Mario Advance series is unplayable due to the horrible voice effects (see: "Hoo-hoo, just what I needed!" every time you get an item in SMA4:SMB3), but Yoshi's vocalisations are much less grating.
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I've got nothing to say, but it's OK.
Vague Rant

[Granville]

Heh! I'd never say unplayable as the gameplay is exactly the same. The new sounds aren't any more annoying than mario's woo and every other sound he makes in Mario 64. No one complained about them and they came far more often than in the Mario Advance games. I actually thought the new sounds added some modern Mario charm/personality to the mix. Charles Martinet is always fun to hear. But I can understand and respect your opinion.

I actually consider them very good ports. The only real noticeable differences were brighter graphics (fixed in SMA4 Mario 3 I assume due to the release of the backlit SP) and a bit of sound quality loss (also fixed for SMA4).

But there's no need to fret as Mario Allstars and World work perfectly fine in SnemulDS. So we can each have our own versions. I personally prefer the GBA ports for their enhancements and lack of emulator glitches, however. It's also nice to be able to save anywhere in Mario World. And believe it or not, I found using the spin jump in Mario World more intuitive with the R button than the A button. You never have to move you thumb.

You want a mediocre port? Go play the DKC trilogy on GBA. Still retains some of the gameplay and fun, but they haxxored the graphics and sound. Makes me glad of SnemulDS. They could still use some tweaking to get them working.

You want to play a truly terrible and unplayable port (if it can be called that)? Go try out Sonic Genesis. THIS makes me glad of JenesisDS.
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I may not eat meat, but I have no "beef" with those who do.

[Vague Rant]

I know, the DKC trilogy and Sonic Genesis are depressingly bad. I might find the Super Mario Advance series annoying, and you're right that "unplayable" was probably too strong a word, but those games are just an embarrassment. I don't understand why Rare felt the need to gimp those games so hard. I mean, they haven't made a decent game in what, at least seven years? And that's assuming you think CBFD is a decent game; personally, I can't stand it, but I guess I'm fairly easily turned off, as you can see from my feelings about SMA. But back to my point, you'd think even if their new games aren't up to par, they could handle a few ports. But no, they somehow thought they could improve on them and just ruined them in the process. Sonic Genesis can at least be blamed on lazy developers or a short development time, they didn't try to change it too much, they just screwed up the port, but Rare actively ruined the DKC trilogy. I have no idea what's wrong with them.

On the SMA trilogy (excepting YI), though, I still think the samples are worse than in Mario 64. What was the longest sample in that, "It's-a me, Mario"? And you really only had to put up with that once every time you played. Besides that, there wasn't much verbal stuff in Mario 64, besides the "Oh no" when you die. I'm fine with the grunts of exertion when Mario jumps and such, but "Hoo-hoo, just what I needed!" is on a whole 'nother level. It's a sentence, and you might hear it three or more times in a single stage. I can understand people having no problem with it, but personally it drives me mad, and I can't stand it for more than a couple of stages at a time. I think the worst part is that it wouldn't have been that hard to make the samples optional, but instead they're just tacked on and we're stuck with them.

Sorry for the rant. And before you make a clever remark about me suiting my name, be aware that it's been made. About a thousand times. You can still make it if you want, but I wanted to steal your thunder first.
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I've got nothing to say, but it's OK.
Vague Rant

[Covarr]

I find Sonic Genesis to be far worse than the DKC games. The DKC games broke the style, but they at least kept the gameplay mostly intact (though they destroyed the world maps in DKC3). Sonic Genesis was a buggy mess with all sorts of physics problems.
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My Rig:
M3 + 256MB Kingston miniSD
CycloDS + 8GB Transcend microSDHC
EZ-Flash V 3-in-1

Final Fantasy VII (PC Version) is not dead!

[Granville]

It's more than just a "vague rant" but don't worry, I'm not one to attack people over their names. I pretty much agree with you on the things you said, but the sound clips just never bothered me (personally). Like I said, the existence of SnemulDS lets us choose which version we want and we can respect each other's opinions.

Some people liked the DKC GBA versions, but I didn't. The gameplay was still good, but we know the GBA was capable of far more than that. It's not only the brightness they cranked up, many of the cool effects (day-night transitions and other lighting effects) were gone as well. They said it was due to the GBA being too dark, but they could have had a brightness option like the GBA Zelda port to handle it on a pre-sp GBA. I don't know what happened.

Sonic Genesis was just terrible. Nothing more to say about it. It's not even an opinion.
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I may not eat meat, but I have no "beef" with those who do.

[tepples]

[jackman]