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https://github.com/daniel5151/anese

Another NES Emulator - written for fun & learning - first implementation of wideNES
https://github.com/daniel5151/anese
6502 apu assembly cmake cross-platform emulation emulator emulators nes nes-emulator nestest ppu retro sdl sdl2
Last synced: 23 days ago
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Another NES Emulator - written for fun & learning - first implementation of wideNES
Host: GitHub
URL: https://github.com/daniel5151/anese
Owner: daniel5151
License: mit
Created: 2017-10-13T03:05:39.000Z (about 7 years ago)
Default Branch: master
Last Pushed: 2022-01-11T22:34:57.000Z (almost 3 years ago)
Last Synced: 2024-09-30T05:44:59.099Z (about 1 month ago)
Topics: 6502, apu, assembly, cmake, cross-platform, emulation, emulator, emulators, nes, nes-emulator, nestest, ppu, retro, sdl, sdl2
Language: C++
Homepage: http://prilik.com/ANESE
Size: 42.4 MB
Stars: 398
Watchers: 24
Forks: 28
Open Issues: 6
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project

README

        


  

    

  





  

    

  

  

    

  

  

    

  



**ANESE** (**A**nother **NES** **E**mulator) is a Nintendo Entertainment System

Emulator written for fun and learning.

Accuracy and performance are long-term goals, but the primary focus is getting

popular titles up and running. There are still a lot of bugs, but many games are

working quite well already.

ANESE is _cross-platform_, and is regularly tested on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

ANESE core uses clean and _interesting_ C++11, emphasizing _readability_,

_maintainability_, and _approachability_. It is well commented, providing

in-line sources and insights for much of the implementation. It is also

dependency free (aside from stdlib), making it easy to embed in other projects.

## WideNES

**wideNES** is a novel technique that can automatically "map-out" levels and

worlds in NES games. Check out the [wideNES Readme](/ANESE/wideNES) for details.

A GIF is worth a 1000 words:



  



Pretty cool huh? Here's another one:



  



## Downloads

Official releases of ANESE can be found on the Releases tab on GitHub.

Alternatively, for the most up-to-date version of ANESE, nightly builds are

available. These are compiled directly from the latest ANESE commit, so there

may/will be bugs.

**Windows:** You can download builds of ANESE from

[AppVeyor](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/daniel5151/anese)'s build artifacts

page.

**macOS:** Travis uploads ANESE.app bundles to

[this GDrive folder](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GWiinQ4tjDSZlhjReVMdElwK1b-Zvagf).

## Building

### Dependencies

ANESE's emulation core (src/nes) doesn't have any major dependencies, but the UI

does use a couple. Most of these dependencies are bundled with ANESE

(see: /thirdparty), although some require additional installation:

- **SDL2** (video/audio/controls)

  - _Linux_: `apt-get install libsdl2-dev` (on Ubuntu)

  - _MacOS_: `brew install SDL2`

  - _Windows_:

    - Download dev libs from [here](https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php) and

      unzip them somewhere.

    - EITHER: Set the `SDL` environment variable to point to the dev libs

    - OR: Unzip them to `C:\sdl2\` (Where I put them)

    - OR: Modify the `SDL2_MORE_INCLUDE_DIR` variable in `CMakeLists.txt` to

      point to the SDL2 dev libs

### Generating + Compiling

ANESE builds with **CMake**

On macOS / Linux

```bash

# in ANESE root

mkdir build

cd build

cmake ..

make

make install # on macOS: creates ANESE.app in ANESE/bin/

```

On Windows:

```bat

mkdir build

cd build

cmake ..

msbuild anese.sln /p:Configuration=Release

```

## Running

ANESE opens to a directory-browser, from which ROMs can be launched.

ANESE can run from the shell using `anese [rom.nes]` syntax. Certain features

are _only_ accessible from the command-line at the moment (e.g: movie recording

/ playback, PPU timing hacks). For a full list of switches, run `anese -h`

**Windows Users:** make sure the executable can find `SDL2.dll`! Download the

runtime DLLs from the SDL website, and plop them in the same directory as

anese.exe

## Mappers

Most popular Mappers are implemented:

 \#  | Name  | Some Games

-----|-------|--------------------------------------------------

 000 | NROM  | Super Mario Bros. 1, Donkey Kong, Duck Hunt

 001 | MMC1  | Legend of Zelda, Dr. Mario, Metroid

 002 | UxROM | Megaman, Contra, Castlevania

 003 | CNROM | Arkanoid, Cybernoid, Solomon's Key

 004 | MMC3  | Super Mario Bros 2 & 3, Kirby's Adventure

 007 | AxROM | Marble Madness, Battletoads

 009 | MMC2  | Punch Out!!

Feel free to open a PR for any mappers you implement :)

## Controls

Currently hard-coded to the following:

Button | Key         | Controller

-------|-------------|------------

A      | Z           | X

B      | X           | A

Start  | Enter       | Start

Select | Right Shift | Select

Up     | Up arrow    | D-Pad

Down   | Down arrow  | D-Pad

Left   | Left arrow  | D-Pad

Right  | Right arrow | D-Pad

Any xbox-compatible controller should work.

There are also a couple of emulator actions:

Action             | Key                  | Controller

-------------------|----------------------|-------------------------

Pause / Open Menu  | Esc                  | Left Thumbstick Button

Reset              | Ctrl - R             |

Power Cycle        | Ctrl - P             |

Toggle CPU logging | Ctrl - C             |

Speed +25%         | Ctrl - =             |

Speed -25%         | Ctrl - -             |

Fast-Forward       | Space                | Right Thumbstick Button

Make Save-State    | Ctrl - (1-4)         |

Load Save-State    | Ctrl - Shift - (1-4) |

(there are 4 save-state slots)

## DISCLAIMERS

- ANESE is not the best emulator out there, far from it! Expect bugs!

- My APU uses a naive sampling algorithm with a basic lookup table grafted from

the nesdev wiki. The `blargg-apu` branch has an older version of ANESE that uses

Blargg's awesome `nes_snd_emu` library for the APU, and while my integration was

a bit unstable at times, it did sound a lot better when it did work.

- The CPU is _instruction-cycle_ accurate, but not _sub-instruction cycle_

accurate. While this inaccuracy doesn't affect most games, there are some that

that rely on sub-instruction level timings (eg: Solomon's Key).

  - The `--alt-nmi-timing` flag might fix some of these games.

## TODO

These are features that will add major value to ANESE:

- [ ] _Implement_: Cycle accurate CPU (will probably fix _many_ bugs)

- [ ] _Implement_: Better menu (not just fs, also config)

- [ ] _CMake_: more robust macOS bundles (good way to get SDL2.0 packaged?)

- [ ] _Implement_: LibRetro Core

- [ ] _Implement_: Get the Light-gun working

- [ ] _Debugging_: Add debug GUI

  - All objects implementing the Memory interface _must also_ implement `peek`,

    i.e: a `const` read. As such, a debugger could easily inspect any/all memory

    locations with no side effects!

Here's a couple that have been crossed off already:

- [x] _Implement_: My own APU (don't use Blarrg's)

- [x] _Refactor_: Modularize `main.cc` - push everything into `src/ui/`

  - [x] _Refactor_: Split `gui.cc` into more files!

- [x] _Refactor_: Push common mapper behavior to Base Mapper (eg: bank chunking)

And here are some ongoing low-priority goals:

- [ ] _Refactor_: Roll-my-own Sound_Queue (SDL_QueueAudio?)

- [ ] _Cleanup_: Unify naming conventions (either camelCase or snake_case)

- [ ] _Cleanup_: Comment the codebase _even more_

- [ ] _Security_: Actually bounds-check files lol

- [ ] _Cleanup_: Conform to the `.fm2` movie format better

- [ ] _Cleanup_: Remove fatal asserts (?)

- [ ] _Cleanup_: Switch to a better logging system

               (\*cough\* not fprintf \*cough\*)

## Roadmap

### Key Milestones

- [x] Parse iNES files

- [x] Create Cartridges (iNES + Mapper interface)

- [x] CPU

  - [x] Set Up Memory Map

  - [x] Hardware Structures (registers)

  - [x] Core Loop / Basic Functionality

    - [x] Read / Write RAM

    - [x] Addressing Modes

    - [x] Fetch - Decode - Execute

  - [x] Official Opcodes Implemented

  - [x] Handle Interrupts

- [x] PPU

  - [x] Set Up Basic Rendering Context (SDL)

  - [x] Implement Registers + Memory Map them

  - [x] Implement DMA

  - [x] Generate NMI -> CPU

  - [x] Core rendering loop

    - [x] Background Rendering

    - [x] Sprite Rendering - _currently not hardware accurate_

    - [x] Proper Background / Foreground blending

  - [x] Sprite Zero Hit

  - [ ] Misc PPU flags (emphasize RGB, Greyscale, etc...)

- [x] APU

  - [x] Implement Registers + Memory Map them

  - [ ] Frame Timer IRQ - _kinda_

  - [x] Set Up Basic Sound Output Context (SDL)

  - [x] Channels

    - [x] Pulse 1

    - [x] Pulse 2

    - [x] Triangle

    - [x] Noise

    - [x] DMC

  - [x] DMC DMA

- [ ] Joypads

  - [x] Basic Controller

  - [ ] Zapper - _still needs work_

  - [ ] NES Four Score

### Secondary Milestones

- [x] Loading Files with picker

- [x] Reset / Power-cycle

- [x] Fast Forward

- [x] Run / Pause

- Saving

  - [x] Battery Backed RAM - Saves to `.sav`

  - [x] Save-states

    - [ ] Dump to file

- [x] Config File

  - [x] Preserve ROM path

  - [x] Window size

  - [ ] Controls

- [x] Running NESTEST (behind a flag)

- [x] Controller support - _currently very basic_

- [x] A SDL GUI

  - [x] SDL-based ROM picker

  - [ ] Options menu

### Tertiary Milestones (Fun Features!)

- [x] Zipped ROM support

- [ ] Rewind

- [ ] Game Genie

- [x] Movie recording and playback

- [ ] More ROM formats (not just iNES)

- [ ] Proper PAL handling?

- [ ] Proper NTSC artifacting?

- Multiple Front-ends

  - [x] SDL Standalone

  - [ ] LibRetro

- [ ] Debugger!

  - [ ] CPU

    - [ ] Step through instructions

  - [x] PPU Views

    - [x] Static Palette

    - [x] Palette Memory

    - [x] Pattern Tables

    - [x] Nametables

    - [ ] OAM memory

### Accuracy & Compatibility

- More Mappers! Always more mappers!

- [ ] Add automatic testing

  - [ ] Screenshots: compare power-on with 30 seconds of button mashing

  - [ ] Test ROMs: Parse debug outputs

- CPU

  - [ ] Implement Unofficial Opcodes

  - [ ] Pass More Tests

  - [ ] _\(Stretch\)_ Switch to sub-instruction level cycle-based emulation

        (vs instruction level)

- PPU

  - [x] Make the sprite rendering pipeline more accurate (fetch-timings)

  - [ ] Pass More Tests

  - [ ] Make value in PPU <-> CPU bus decay?

## Attributions

- A big shout-out to [LaiNES](https://github.com/AndreaOrru/LaiNES) and

[fogleman/nes](https://github.com/fogleman/nes), two solid NES emulators that I

referenced while implementing some particularly tricky parts of the PPU). While

I actively avoided looking at the source codes of other NES emulators while

writing my initial implementations of the CPU and PPU, I did sneak a peek at how

others solved some problems once I got stuck.

- These awesome libraries are used throughout ANESE's UI and in WideNES:

  - [cfg_path](https://github.com/Malvineous/cfgpath) - cross-platform config file

  - [clara](https://github.com/catchorg/Clara) - argument Parsing

  - [cute_headers](https://github.com/RandyGaul/cute_headers/) - cross-platform directory browsing

  - [miniz](https://github.com/richgel999/miniz) - zipped ROM support

  - [sdl2](https://www.libsdl.org/) - A/V and Input

  - [SDL_inprint](https://github.com/driedfruit/SDL_inprint/) - SDL fonts, without SDL_ttf

  - [simpleini](https://github.com/brofield/simpleini) - ini config parsing / saving

  - [stb](https://github.com/nothings/stb) - image loading / writing