Omnimaga

Omnimaga => Completed => Our Projects => TI-Boy SE - Game Boy Emulator For TI-83+SE/84 => Topic started by: TheCoder1998 on January 11, 2014, 11:21:54 am

Title: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TheCoder1998 on January 11, 2014, 11:21:54 am
hey guys
i've got some ideas to improve the tiboy:

1: a fast forward button (like the ones you got in emulators)
2: an option to stop emulating the music (i noticed that different music makes tiboy run slow)
3: an option to make a screenshot of the current screen

also i've got a question:

does [-] + [a number] slow the emulator down?
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: fb39ca4 on January 11, 2014, 11:44:11 am
IDK how feasible a fast forward button would be. TI-Boy is already pushing the hardware to its limits.
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: Hayleia on January 11, 2014, 01:00:13 pm
2: an option to stop emulating the music (i noticed that different music makes tiboy run slow)
Doesn't Stat toggle sound emulation on/off ?
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TIfanx1999 on January 11, 2014, 01:02:38 pm
I think it does IIRC. :)
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TheCoder1998 on January 11, 2014, 01:03:54 pm
i think it only enables the use of a microphone, not the emulation of the music
i think that's why it's running so slow

or i'm just talking out of my arse :P
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TIfanx1999 on January 11, 2014, 01:23:50 pm
Quote from: TI-Boy Readme RTFM edition TM
Controls:
  Arrows: Game Boy D-Pad
  2ND: Game Boy "A"
  ALPHA: Game Boy "B"
  MODE: Game Boy "START"
  XT0n: Game Boy "SELECT"
  ON: Game Boy power switch (exit the emulator)

  CLEAR: Teacher Key or Battery Saver (suspends emulation and turns off the screen)
  STAT: Toggle sound emulation (default is off). See FAQ for more information.
  * (Times): Increase LCD contrast
  / (Divide): Decrease LCD contrast
  + (Plus): Zoom in
  - (Minus): Zoom out
  Numpad: Move view
  F2,F3,F4 (WINDOW,ZOOM,TRACE): Light,Normal,Dark monochrome modes (smooth zoom)
  F5 (GRAPH): Grayscale mode (rough zoom)
  . (Decimal): Follow next sprite in the internal list (selected sprite will flash for a few frames)
  5: Center view on selected sprite
  0: Turn off sprite follower
  (-): Set frameskip (hold the negation key and press a number 0-9 to set the value)
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TheCoder1998 on January 11, 2014, 01:30:17 pm
oh, i guess i was just talking out of my arse :P
does clear still use battery power?
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TIfanx1999 on January 11, 2014, 01:34:55 pm
Yes, even if your calculator is "off", it still uses battery power.
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: Runer112 on January 11, 2014, 04:56:09 pm
Yes, even if your calculator is "off", it still uses battery power.

Well, technically. But I think the answer he was looking for is really no, because it doesn't use any more power (or maybe a tiny bit more) than when you turn the calculator off normally in the OS.
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 11, 2014, 05:05:45 pm
Quote from: TI-Boy Readme RTFM edition TM
Controls:
  Arrows: Game Boy D-Pad
  2ND: Game Boy "A"
  ALPHA: Game Boy "B"
  MODE: Game Boy "START"
  XT0n: Game Boy "SELECT"
  ON: Game Boy power switch (exit the emulator)

  CLEAR: Teacher Key or Battery Saver (suspends emulation and turns off the screen)
  STAT: Toggle sound emulation (default is off). See FAQ for more information.
  * (Times): Increase LCD contrast
  / (Divide): Decrease LCD contrast
  + (Plus): Zoom in
  - (Minus): Zoom out
  Numpad: Move view
  F2,F3,F4 (WINDOW,ZOOM,TRACE): Light,Normal,Dark monochrome modes (smooth zoom)
  F5 (GRAPH): Grayscale mode (rough zoom)
  . (Decimal): Follow next sprite in the internal list (selected sprite will flash for a few frames)
  5: Center view on selected sprite
  0: Turn off sprite follower
  (-): Set frameskip (hold the negation key and press a number 0-9 to set the value)

You forgot the most important part of the TI-Boy readme:

Quote
Q. how do i tern on my claculater
  A. ...

:P
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: Dapianokid on January 11, 2014, 06:38:54 pm
yes plz hlp i knt tern it on
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TheCoder1998 on January 21, 2014, 11:26:17 am
is a savestate option possible?
yes plz hlp i knt tern it on
XD
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: Runer112 on January 21, 2014, 08:15:38 pm
is a savestate option possible?

I've been occasionally pestering calc84maniac to add this for the last few years. I've even talked through most of the implementation hurdles with him on IRC, but nothing has come of it yet.

/me violently stabs calc84maniac
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: The_King on January 21, 2014, 10:49:06 pm
*hking1 stabs Runer112 for murdering calc84maniac
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TheCoder1998 on January 22, 2014, 02:15:16 am
*TheCoder1998 stabs everybody because it's his birthday  ^-^

seriously, why hasn't he implemented a savestate feature?
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: Dapianokid on January 23, 2014, 03:41:13 pm
TheCoder1998, this and similar questions have been answered in depth, thoroughly, in different ways by different people, all throughout the forum, from the time it began and it will until quantum computers are invented (in which case, we can pretty much do whatever we want.)

I'm going to try to be brief and understandable.
There are 2 reasons in this community things don't get done generally, in the software area for projects like this.
1.) Programmer is either incapable of the request or the device is incapable of supporting it.
In this case, the calc does not support a legit savestate feature that can allow for saves to be transferred as individual files between calcs. The closest you get is the unique system with which his application can and does store environment variables and all of the game's memory in appvars/in SMC in the ROM itself. It IS possible to save your state, otherwise my time spent using the application would have been miniscule. I don't knwo exactly how the process worked, but you can load the previous state of the ROM into the game via some process I used to have to do over and over. It also helped when the game crashed or I ran out of batteries.
2.) The programmer has no interest in completeing the task.
Programmer will either lose interest, not care enough about userbase, not place much value on whatever you want to have implemented, feels insulted (as in, feels like the userbase is just USING him instead of appreciating his incredible feats in coding and hacking), have no time to do this, no energy, or has encountered circumstances which difficult this process tremendously.

The original author doesn't even have the source anymore, I don't think, and even if he did, he  isn't actively working on it right now. He has a habit of abandodning finished products, which TI-BOY is. It's finished. That isn't to say he might nto try to work on it again in the future. :)

Both of the reasons listed apply to this case. You don't need to read the bulk  of this, just the reasons I gave.
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: calcdude84se on January 23, 2014, 04:02:02 pm
You also forgot the simple one: programmer is busy/distracted/lazy :P
And I wasn't under the impression calc84 had lost the source--I thought that was the Nspire 83+ emulator project. Could be wrong, though.
Also, at least to me, "savestate" means the ability to store (and restore) the complete game state at any point--in the middle of a level, for example--not just when the game saves. Supporting multiple savestates is a typical feature. TI-Boy, at least as far as I can tell by the documentation, doesn't have this. You're probably thinking of just regular saving, which I agree it would be silly for TI-Boy not to have.
Also, I don't want to assume anything, but your post does sound frustrated and perhaps even somewhat aggressive/attacking towards TheCoder1998 and perhaps the forum in general. Hopefully you didn't mean it that way :).
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: Dapianokid on January 23, 2014, 04:54:08 pm
I didn't mean to come accross as aggressive. I just feel like I'm looking back at myself and this is what I would want somebody to tell me in the event that I act that way. Sorry :3
By the way, you're right, it was another poject that got lost.
Title: Re: some ideas for the ti-boy
Post by: TheCoder1998 on January 24, 2014, 02:05:23 am
TheCoder1998, this and similar questions have been answered in depth, thoroughly, in different ways by different people, all throughout the forum, from the time it began and it will until quantum computers are invented (in which case, we can pretty much do whatever we want.)

I'm going to try to be brief and understandable.
There are 2 reasons in this community things don't get done generally, in the software area for projects like this.
1.) Programmer is either incapable of the request or the device is incapable of supporting it.
In this case, the calc does not support a legit savestate feature that can allow for saves to be transferred as individual files between calcs. The closest you get is the unique system with which his application can and does store environment variables and all of the game's memory in appvars/in SMC in the ROM itself. It IS possible to save your state, otherwise my time spent using the application would have been miniscule. I don't knwo exactly how the process worked, but you can load the previous state of the ROM into the game via some process I used to have to do over and over. It also helped when the game crashed or I ran out of batteries.
2.) The programmer has no interest in completeing the task.
Programmer will either lose interest, not care enough about userbase, not place much value on whatever you want to have implemented, feels insulted (as in, feels like the userbase is just USING him instead of appreciating his incredible feats in coding and hacking), have no time to do this, no energy, or has encountered circumstances which difficult this process tremendously.

The original author doesn't even have the source anymore, I don't think, and even if he did, he  isn't actively working on it right now. He has a habit of abandodning finished products, which TI-BOY is. It's finished. That isn't to say he might nto try to work on it again in the future. :)

Both of the reasons listed apply to this case. You don't need to read the bulk  of this, just the reasons I gave.

okay, thanks :thumbsup:

it's sad to see a project like this not being worked on anymore :'(