Get your hand off it

1/26/2012 6:50:50 PM

By RetroRalph

It's funny how a bug can enlighten you to do things in a different way. Picture the scene, I was in the 3D world, loaded a game on the big TV, go back to 3D world and what do I see? Well the skybox is showing the emulator output instead of the sky. And I liked it. Then I realized it would be impossible to play whilst looking at the sky because the existing 'locking' system requires you to "attach" to a screen.

So what is the solution? Look at the screenshot below.
...

Some more Three D

1/24/2012 1:18:59 AM

By RetroRalph

So I'm working hard on getting v0.970 out this week and have been doing a lot of backend stuff in preparation for it. Why? Well it introduces a lot of new things into RetroCopy that will help propel us forward into the future. I'll have more to say about some of that stuff over the coming days. For now here are some screenshots of the latest "man model".



...

Dock with space station RetroCopy

1/22/2012 1:01:17 AM

By RetroRalph

Another day another screenshot! This time of the new main page. I decided to make it more simple and more focused on getting people to log in, and then take advantage of the existing online features in RetroCopy, and the ones coming soon. ;) Maybe tomorrow I will show the new main page once you've logged in too.


...

A human model

1/21/2012 2:29:29 AM

By RetroRalph

Today I've been playing around more with the new 3D world, making it a bit friendlier and snazzier. In particular I've added a human model to the world.


...

Are you Anti Aliasing?

1/19/2012 3:22:31 PM

By RetroRalph

I've been adding anti aliasing support back into the Windows graphics backend and thought I would take a screenshot of the difference it can make. The following image is increased by 300% to show off the anti aliasing more clearly.


...

Moving out of the bedroom

1/18/2012 11:55:28 PM

By RetroRalph

So the past week hasn't seen many updates around the site here.... why? Well I've been busy doing a LOT of RetroCopy work! Tommy and Sasha have been posting bugs to the new bug tracker making it easy (and somewhat rewarding) in fixing bugs as they appear. One aspect which will be seeing an improvement in v0.970 is the 3D room.


...

A video of v0.970

1/10/2012 1:08:20 AM

By RetroRalph

Check out the latest video I made using the latest WIP of RetroCopy. You way want to watch it in 720p for full effect. :)



The "space effect" is something I think looks better than the previous background. However I'm thinking of letting it be customized so you could add say a zooming Sonic mixed with some game art.
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RetroCopy Bug Tracker

1/9/2012 11:43:59 AM

By RetroRalph

I've installed Mantis bug tracker at http://issues.retrocopy.com . Unfortunately it's not tied into the retrocopy.com user system, but it also has anonymous reporting access for those that can't be bothered creating another account.
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More site changes

1/9/2012 12:37:52 AM

By RetroRalph

So if you're reading this it's probably pretty obvious the blog/news section has changed. I will likely let other team members start posting on the blog time to time also. There are still a few other things I want to get done but for now I'm happy with the changes and will go back to working on C++ code.....

Well pretty soon anyhow. I'm deciding whether or not to have an online bug tracking system like a few open source projects do. It would just make it a bit easier to knock bugs off if beta testers are forced to submit them in a certain style. ;) It also makes keeping track of game/system specific bugs a bit easier as we work our way towards 100% compatibility on all systems.
...

RSS feed now available

1/8/2012 3:39:05 PM

By RetroRalph

I have had people asking me since the blog started to have a RSS Feed for it so I made one. You can either access it to the left <------ over there or by clicking the link below. This way you can be updated fairly quickly when there is something new going on.

http://www.retrocopy.com/blogfeed.aspx
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Main Games page updated

1/8/2012 1:10:07 AM

By RetroRalph

Check out the GAMES page for an update on how we display all the RetroCopy games now.
...

Today I've been working on video encoding and the GUI. As some would know we have a video channel on YouTube that deals specifically with game videos. RetroCopy has the largest databases of known games for all the systems we cover which gives us quite the advantage. To get those videos on youtube I use RetroCopy's new video encoding features which allow you to make AVIs of your favourite emulated games in a variety of formats.
...

A new "New" screenshot

1/5/2012 12:05:38 AM

By RetroRalph

After looking more closely at the last image I realized the 3D boxes perspective was all messed up. So I fixed that. :) Now the boxes don't have that "I've been watching too much american idol" look about them.


...

New v0.970 Screenshot

1/4/2012 4:06:13 PM

By RetroRalph

So I'm getting back into the rhythm of things and while there is still a lot of work to be done to get v0.970 to "bullet proof" status it's still working fairly well in it's new design.

I took a screenshot showing the new covers from the recent media work Tommy released.


...

To make the game reviews more visible and also to let people comment on them (I've found myself wanting to comment on a few myself) I've made it so every game review automatically creates a forum thread.

I noticed fadware has added a few reviews overnight so thanks for that fadware! :)
...

Sega Genesis and Mega Drive updates

1/2/2012 3:40:12 PM

By RetroRalph

I've been working on some site updates recently, specifically with Sega Genesis and Sega Mega Drive and including all the work from the recent media torrent.

We have the largest database of unique Sega Genesis games, so check the complete list here :- Sega Genesis Game List

Feel free to add any game recommendations or reviews to our games, we appreciate them all!

I've updated all the covers so you can check them out now by browsing by letter and on the actual game pages themselves. eg :-
http://www.retrocopy.com/sega-mega-drive-games-d.aspx

http://www.retrocopy.com/sega-mega-drive/streets-of-rage.aspx

...

New media torrent is out

12/4/2011 1:45:16 AM

By RetroRalph

So it's been some time since my last update, no I'm not dead! :) I have just been finishing up another project that one day I want to work into RetroCopy, but I'll leave that for another day. Today we can celebrate Tommy and Sasha and all the work they have done in getting Mega Drive, Game Gear and Sega Master System covers and screenshots into a new media torrent. Tommy wanted to say some things below.
...

Cheat engine in action

7/20/2011 2:14:07 AM

By RetroRalph

As promised, a new video showcasing the cheat engine in v0.970 .

...

Hard day at the Bitcoin Mines

7/19/2011 12:18:12 AM

By RetroRalph

Have you heard of BitCoins (BTC) before? Probably not, but it's a kind of cool way of sending people "money" online. Securing itself using "cryptographic voodoo" it's essentially like online cash, untraceable for the most part and anyone can use it. What's best is you can use your powerful RetroCopy-able computers to mine bitcoins and make some real cash.
...

Come get your RetroAction

7/7/2011 6:12:41 PM

By RetroRalph

Found this video on youtube, thought it was cool.

...

Caught my wife cheating

7/1/2011 12:30:25 AM

By RetroRalph

Luckily it was only in the SMS game Sonic the Hedgehog.


...

Duke Nukem Forever vs RetroCopy

6/16/2011 6:24:31 PM

By RetroRalph

So I've put a few hours into Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) over the last few days and one interesting thing I saw in it is how some elements relate to RetroCopy.


...

Arcade at home

6/12/2011 3:08:07 PM

By RetroRalph

So I've nearly migrated all cores to the new "Live option changing" system, and in the mean time I've also brought the arcade section up to the standard of the other systems.


...

More bugs killed here than a road trip to Florida

6/10/2011 1:14:05 AM

By RetroRalph

So I have a new picture to show of the interface changes, which isn't that severe a change from the last one. However there has been lots of internal changes.


...

Oops we did it again

6/4/2011 1:08:30 AM

By RetroRalph

I'll try not to let this 970 blow out to multi weeks, but it's going to take a little longer than I expected. Why? Well after some criticism about the interface from a few people Tommy put together a design he thought looked modern and fresh. I then put it into RetroCopy in a few hours. So if you don't like it, you know who to blame!


...

RetroCopy Set Top Box Style

5/26/2011 6:13:17 PM

By RetroRalph

Some more progress on RetroCopy's small redesign...this time with video playback.

...

Nearly there...

5/24/2011 10:16:50 PM

By RetroRalph

So a little GUI change has occurred. But I believe it is a lot more straightforward now! What do you think?



...

Room of reflecting televisions

5/20/2011 1:10:38 AM

By RetroRalph

So unlike the last version (v0.960) which took 3 months to release, a minor release before I start work on v1.0 is going to be out next week! Wooooo! Let's see first if I can keep that short release date promise. :)


...

RetroCopy v0.960 is released

5/16/2011 5:14:03 PM

By RetroRalph

v0.960 is finally out! Head to the download page now to grab it, or read on for the full change list.
...

v0.960 Preview

5/11/2011 11:39:39 PM

By RetroRalph


...

SG-1000 and SC-3000 fall

5/10/2011 12:13:32 AM

By RetroRalph

So finally I have pretty much finished the switch over to the new GUI system for consoles. The last one I did was SG-1000 / SC-3000 which is a new system in RC v0.960.


...

Doing what Nintendon't

5/4/2011 12:36:50 AM

By RetroRalph

Another update today for the NES. Same formula as the other systems. Compared to last version it's possible to use cartridge scans for all of the systems now, including NES.

There is also a little improvement added to the top left icon area. When a game supports a particular option, that option will zoom in and out to show it, even if it's currently disabled.


...

Are you on the GEAR?

5/2/2011 12:51:45 PM

By RetroRalph

So another quick update, this time from the Game Gear system. Picture is pretty self explanatory. Read the full post to get the higher quality full image.


...

The clouds part and sun shines on a release

5/1/2011 12:46:57 AM

By RetroRalph

Woooo! Seems someone has been busy at reddit? Welcome to the new visitors. After a week and a half of some personal relationship issues (which I perhaps will delve into another day after enough budweisers) I've finally cranked out about 20 hours of coding over the last 2 days and have finished the template for the new GUI. And here it is.


...

Lies make baby jesus cry

4/14/2011 11:24:52 AM

By RetroRalph

Another step in the evolution of the game list GUI. I changed the right side where covers, info, reviews, etc were shown and more....

...

Stocking up on potassium iodide

4/2/2011 11:54:50 PM

By RetroRalph

Why do I forever seem stuck in feature adding mode whenever I want to do a release! It gets addictive I think. After adding SG-1000 / SC-3000 cores I wanted to handle the GUI a little better. Here is a little WIP of what I'm working on.

...

I've been working recently on SG-1000 support as now with a mostly complete cycle accurate TMS9918 it made sense to add it. It's rather simple when you have all the devices it needs emulated at the cycle level. However SC-3000 has also been added....


...

Game Gear and SMS Progress

3/8/2011 2:18:04 AM

By RetroRalph

I've been working with Tommy on Game Gear over the last few days to get the compatibility rate up to 100%, and that includes working gear-to-gear. Of course I also discovered a few more issues that affect SMS.


...

AVI Video Game Recording

2/13/2011 6:50:05 PM

By RetroRalph

Do you like recording your games to AVI format? MPEG? What about MP4? Well it's all possible now with RetroCopy. I'm moving house soon and decided to do a smaller release of RetroCopy before the major v1.0 release, mostly because moving house is annoying and takes unknown amounts of time.


...

The move to MSVC10 on Windows

2/1/2011 1:31:51 PM

By RetroRalph

I had a play with Visual Studio 2010 last night to see what affect if any it would have with RetroCopy. While reading about their new optimizations I realized a setting I was using in Visual Studio 2008 could possibly be causing some hard to track weirdness (nothing major, just minor errors in sound generation and the 3D game room). So with that information at hand I benchmarked the MSVC10 build of RetroCopy and here are the results.
...

Sega Mega Drive database online

1/30/2011 3:05:45 PM

By RetroRalph

Big thanks to Tommy and Sasha for their hundreds of hours spent working on this. Go to the GAMES section of the website to check them out. I've also added the ability to look at title screen shots instead of the covers in the list.
...

It's not the size that matters but the curve

1/23/2011 11:07:20 PM

By RetroRalph

New video showing a new shader in action. Thanks to cgwg for their shader.

One thing I forgot to mention a few months ago is about youtube and its video uploads. When I uploaded a video with the filename having "911" in it (due to RetroCopy v0.911) , the video took about 3 hours to upload. Coincidence or some sort of youtube screening process!?


...

Bug squashing and unicode names

1/22/2011 6:05:14 PM

By RetroRalph

Ah so v0.940 is almost ready. I've been adding some new features that Tommy has requested for the game browser and it took much longer than I wanted. I had to recode certain aspects of the browser so that it was easier to maintain and was more extensible. Over the last week I have been squashing a lot of bugs all over the place.


...

Old video game music in new songs?

1/18/2011 2:10:58 AM

By RetroRalph

Is it just me or does this song by PNAU - "We have tomorrow" (released 2007) sound kinda similar to the level one music of Streets of Rage 2 (released 1992)? You be the judge.




...

Back to the coal mines

1/11/2011 12:58:02 AM

By RetroRalph

So v0.940 is not far from being released on all platforms, what is new in it? Read on.



...

X11 programming is the sucks

12/31/2010 2:23:31 AM

By RetroRalph

I'm not used to programming on Linux, and I guess most Linux developers aren't either. How can I say such a thing? Well you take a look at the core Linux APIs and they are a bit like a 300 page manual on how to make toast.
...

Merry Christmas 2010!

12/25/2010 2:59:44 AM

By RetroRalph

Not much to report except I'm back home after a nice holiday and am able to work on RC again. Tonight I put together the 64bit build environment for Linux and got RC working on that too. This means there will be both 32bit and 64bit Linux builds available very soon. The last thing to add for Linux is gamepad support... but I may leave that till a later build just so I can release it tomorrow or the next day.

Have a good XMAS!
...

More Linux Progress

12/3/2010 7:49:47 PM

By RetroRalph

Input is now in a working state. Don't mind the 3D image, it looks broken because it's powered by the MESA OpenGL library, which is done in software and has some limitations. However it allows me to test the builds quite nicely, all the filters and effects seem to work ok, as does everything else minus sound. Just need to add a few sound drivers and Linux people can have some cycle accurate emulation in 3D environment. I'll be looking at releasing MacOS port also around same time if it compiles without much complaint.



...

Linux progress

12/1/2010 7:59:05 PM

By RetroRalph

Still need to hook up input and sound!


...

The mighty curse of the linux

11/29/2010 2:24:15 PM

By RetroRalph

I wish Linux was better. Don't get me wrong, compared to Windows 7 it isn't that far behind in most areas, and beats it in some. But until Linux is a lot better than Windows why will people move to it?


...

RetroCopy Cross Platform

11/24/2010 4:06:07 AM

By RetroRalph

v0.911 is out there in the public now, thank god for that. The last 2 weeks I have been less and less motivated to work on it as bug tracking is boring, and finishing up GUI features is boring! The thought of adding a new popup menu to set key configurations gives me a shiver down my spine.
...

More Neo Geo Arcade

11/15/2010 10:00:42 PM

By RetroRalph


...

Random picture

11/14/2010 11:57:14 PM

By RetroRalph

After adding NEO GEO support to the .GAME format I had a little play around with a few games active at once. Can anyone list all the games?


...

Neo Drift Out

11/9/2010 1:58:11 AM

By RetroRalph

So I spent the last 4 or so days adding sound and doing other things to the Neo Geo driver and have some videos to show.





One interesting thing about adding sound for Neo Geo is I wasn't aware it had its own PSG as well. As it turns out the AY8910 I did for 1942 is the exact same thing the Neo Geo uses, that made it a bit easier.
...

Neo Geo Emulation

11/6/2010 1:22:22 AM

By RetroRalph

So I've probably done something I shouldn't, I've added Neo Geo emulation. That said it's not complete yet (no sound, some gfx bugs) but still, not too bad for 4 days work.


...

LCD Image Ghosting / Persistence

10/24/2010 4:50:20 PM

By RetroRalph

I've uploaded a video of a new filter in RetroCopy. It basically emulates the passive matrix display found in GameBoy and Game Gear systems.



Or download a 60FPS version which shows the effect much better here.
http://www.retrocopy.com/downloads/passive_matrix_lcd_emulation.zip

...

RetroCopy v0.911 WIP Video

10/20/2010 1:21:20 PM

By RetroRalph

I spent a few minutes putting together a Work-in-Progress video of the next version of RetroCopy. It showcases a few of the newer features. I have settled on the version number 0.911 , mostly because I wrote my thesis on numerology and this is the only way I can put my college degree to use.


...

.VGM or Retro Game Music?

10/16/2010 5:06:14 AM

By RetroRalph

I spent the last few hours adding .VGM support to RetroCopy. I've never looked at the format so I was surprised by a few aspects of it.

VGM (Video Game Music) is a sample-accurate sound logging format for the Sega
Master System, the Sega Game Gear and possibly many other machines (e.g. Sega
Genesis).


...

Robo-traders processed RetroCopy mortgage

10/13/2010 3:03:23 AM

By RetroRalph

What's all this economy stuff about? So a few robots signed off on a few million mortgages, do we need any more proof that the robots are out to get us? Yeah I'm the emulator programmer luddite....

In emulator news I have some screenshot goodness.
...

The social networking emulator movie

10/6/2010 3:36:36 AM

By RetroRalph

Work has been going well for the last few days on the input system overhaul in RetroCopy. Thankfully I've almost finished the template for Sega Master System so the others should fall quickly now.



...

More graphics less text

10/1/2010 3:44:10 AM

By RetroRalph

So tonight I have some work in progress screenshots of the new GAME browser interface I've been working on. Something I have wanted to improve for a while but lacked the motivation to do it, but after a chat with Tommy I was inspired.
...

I don't want any fucking innovation!

9/27/2010 1:47:55 PM

By RetroRalph

I came across an interesting story about the guys behind the popular FaceBook app FarmVille. The title of this post refers to something the company CEO told his employees at one of their meetings.
...

Throw away the SDL with the bathwater

9/19/2010 2:14:49 AM

By RetroRalph

So my mission has been achieved! I have removed SDL from RetroCopy! Now why am I excited about this and why should you care? Good question.
...

RetroCopy v0.850 has been released

9/15/2010 2:33:17 AM

By RetroRalph

So following through on my promise of shorter delivery schedules the next version of RetroCopy is ready to be downloaded.
...

Some site changes

9/9/2010 3:50:28 AM

By RetroRalph

Any regular user will notice some of the more obvious changes to the site however there are some other interesting things to look at too.
...

RetroCopy v0.800 is finally out

9/7/2010 4:07:12 AM

By RetroRalph

Head on over to the download page if you are a member and grab it! Post any bugs and suggestions on the forum. It's currently only released for members, in a day or two it will be public.
...

The last word

9/4/2010 3:23:06 AM

By RetroRalph

So v0.800 is running a few days behind schedule but the good news is *drum roll* it's nearly ready!
...

The downside to XTREME ACCURACY (tm)

8/26/2010 2:23:03 PM

By RetroRalph

So yes the deadline is coming! The end of August approaches and where is the release?! Well it's still coming, today I'll be talking about some emulation accuracy.
...

The next release! Video release that is.

8/20/2010 4:25:56 AM

By RetroRalph

So after what has been 3 days of combined fixing RetroCopy and editing videos, the next video is ready for public consumption!
...

The end of the world as we know it

8/17/2010 12:17:03 AM

By RetroRalph

WOOOOOO what a last 20 days. No I have not been partying it up, getting drunk and snorting lines like most high end programmers. Instead I have just been cranking out RetroCopy code with some new pictures to prove it!
...

No more features!

8/5/2010 12:47:11 AM

By RetroRalph

I've been chipping away at recoding large swathes of RetroCopy's interface and general core design and as it always seems to be when you do such things, new features have emerged.
...

Multi Core - Multi Thread - Multi Problem

7/29/2010 6:19:44 PM

By RetroRalph

As I've said on many occasions RetroCopy was designed from the start to be multicore/multiCPU friendly. Designing complex multithreaded applications like RetroCopy is quite difficult though.
...

Turning Sega Megadrive into Sega Master System

7/28/2010 3:12:36 AM

By RetroRalph

I've pretty much finished all the new shader and graphics filter related code but thought I would show off one that can turn 16bit games into 8bit ones.
...

GPU Graphics Filters using Shaders

7/24/2010 12:08:29 AM

By RetroRalph

I've been working on the "in game" GUI for the actual emulator (yes I know) and while I was there I decided to re-enable some old code I had, and that is shader based graphics filtering.
...

Cure for the cold

7/22/2010 12:07:06 AM

By RetroRalph

I've been sick the last few days with one of those human viruses we seem to get every now and again, the common cold. What is the best way to cure that? Doing more work of course!
...

As the title suggests here you will find the latest video I have made showcasing some of the new RetroCopy features.
...

The big secret

7/14/2010 2:56:38 AM

By RetroRalph

So the last week has seen A LOT of stuff added to RetroCopy but the title of this post is a bit misleading as it is hardly the biggest of things I've been working on. Nonetheless it's also something cool.
...

Even more OpenGL shadow mapping

7/9/2010 6:11:46 PM

By RetroRalph

So I've almost finished up the shadowing aspect for the new release, and I even have a few numbers to throw around in regards to multi-light performance.
...

Shadow Mapping

7/7/2010 11:53:55 PM

By RetroRalph

OpenGL Shadow Mapping has been on my mind for a while now but I always put it to the back burner. With the recent changes to the 3D engine I thought what is a better time?
...

Sega Game Gear

7/5/2010 1:31:09 AM

By RetroRalph

Tommy sent in the near-final database for Sega Game Gear yesterday and I thought I would take a moment to talk about it. The database itself will be used to compile proper GAME files from your Game-Gear rom collections.
...

1942 for Arcade

7/3/2010 2:59:06 PM

By RetroRalph

A friend was talking to me about the arcade game 1942 when I realized, "Hey! That looks relatively simple to add".
...

Collision Voxels

6/28/2010 2:36:32 PM

By RetroRalph

I decided to take a look into adding collision into the RetroCopy virtual room, which may seem like a simple task but it's not as easy as it first seems.
...

Sims 3 for nerds

6/26/2010 12:18:55 AM

By RetroRalph

So today I worked a bit more on the 3D engine of RetroCopy, making it more seamless and easier to use.
...

3D Arcade Construction Kit

6/25/2010 2:28:29 AM

By RetroRalph

Ever wanted to build your own 3D arcade or virtual room? Well... I know a few here have because they have told me to add such features... but yeah.
...

3D Arcade with 3D Sound

6/23/2010 3:33:22 AM

By RetroRalph

So during the last few days I've been working on a new custom 3D sound engine for RetroCopy and like promised here is a video showcasing it.
...

Virtual Arcade Stress Test

6/19/2010 7:44:53 PM

By RetroRalph

Here is another video showcasing off a bit more of the RetroCopy 3D engine. This has 20 virtual machines running, and 20 dynamic lights.
...

3D Arcade

6/18/2010 5:30:21 PM

By RetroRalph

I've made a video of a new 3D arcade in RetroCopy. It's more a possibility of the future of RetroCopy and it's virtual room than anything else.
...

Just around the corner

6/15/2010 2:25:53 PM

By RetroRalph

So the new version is just around the corner. And to celebrate the near 1100 members we have now I'm going to be giving it to RetroCopy members first.
...

More Sega System 1 and 2 Progress

6/11/2010 10:57:54 PM

By RetroRalph

I have now moved fairly far in getting System 1 and 2 fully supported in RetroCopy and I will show some of the progress here.
...

R.Belmont puts foot in mouth

6/11/2010 6:57:09 PM

By RetroRalph

Some weeks ago a user emailed me a link to the MAMEWORLD forums where "legendary" MAME developer R.Belmont posted some critique of RetroCopy.
...

Sega System 1 - There can be only one

6/9/2010 12:48:18 AM

By RetroRalph

I spent the last two days implementing a rudimentary Sega System 1 arcade driver. By rudimentary I mean I haven't completed all aspects of it (including adding System 2 support), but for the most part it's fairly good at the moment
...

Who wants Korean?

6/2/2010 1:54:14 PM

By RetroRalph

Bock sent me an email yesterday telling me of some new games he had dumped from the place that is on the verge of war! No I'm not talking about Israel, Turkey or Iran...I'm talking about Korea!
...

Snail Maze SMS imprinting

4/21/2010 2:24:09 PM

By RetroRalph

Many kids that had the Sega Master System found themselves feeling like 1980's hackers when they discovered the snail maze game that was snuck into the BIOS.
...

Blackjack!

4/19/2010 2:39:51 PM

By RetroRalph

So I've been working away on some interface improvements which is part of the main push for this next version. However there is some more emulation related news to report.
...

The making of a 3D Box

4/8/2010 3:30:57 PM

By RetroRalph

I thought this might interest some people out there, obviously most can see the magic in RetroCopy but how are the 3D boxes built?
...

Sega Mark III 3D Game Box

4/7/2010 11:25:31 PM

By RetroRalph

Following on from the card box below, here is what the Mark III box will look like in the next version.
...

Sega Master System Card game boxes

4/7/2010 2:56:58 PM

By RetroRalph

Anyone ever get a SMS card game? I'm going to be adding the remaining box types for the Sega Master System to the upcoming version which is going to be v0.800.
...

Happy Easter

4/6/2010 5:55:25 PM

By RetroRalph

So just want to give my Easter wishes to everyone, even if a little belated. I don't really celebrate it per se, but it's fun to have a holiday and enjoy the finer things in life.
...

World Australian's day

3/30/2010 6:47:41 PM

By RetroRalph

Easter is almost upon us, the magical time when Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins such as gluttony and emulation. Will there be a Retro Egg Hunt this easter?
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Unplugging from the matrix

3/25/2010 4:09:23 PM

By RetroRalph

Have you ever had your internet service interrupted? These days not being connected to the internet is like unplugging yourself from the Matrix, you have to get your information the old fashioned way.
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Speeding tickets and police radars

3/12/2010 12:04:27 PM

By RetroRalph

Before the release today I want to talk about a problem facing all of us road users, and that is of the police and their little cameras.
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SSE2 Optimizations, now a requirement

3/10/2010 2:36:47 PM

By RetroRalph

So I've been playing around a bit with optimization settings in my compiler. For some reason I thought some x64 CPUs didn't have SSE2, but apparently they all do.
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Some Genesis and Nintendo MP3s

3/5/2010 6:34:52 PM

By RetroRalph

So the next release is almost upon us again. To whet the appetites of what is coming I have uploaded a few MP3's of the sound in RetroCopy v0.720
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One fine audio sample

3/2/2010 9:14:15 PM

By RetroRalph

So I originally was going to be releasing something earlier than the current date but it's been POSTPONED (postpwned?)! The reasons why aren't many but they are important.
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Upgrading Windows 7 RC to Ultimate Final

3/1/2010 12:12:47 AM

By RetroRalph

So it's almost upon us, those who took part in Microsoft's Windows 7 RELEASE CANDIDATE program have just a few days to purchase and install the full ultimate version.
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And on the sixth day... he created sound

2/27/2010 4:35:33 AM

By RetroRalph

So next release is imminent but I thought why not show off a screenshot showing the new sound options.
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A new version ALREADY?

2/26/2010 3:05:39 AM

By RetroRalph

So within a day or two the next release will be out. I will talk about what this next release will contain and post a few screenshots.
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Automatic save states

2/17/2010 11:42:38 PM

By RetroRalph

So I'm trying to get releases out on a quicker schedule from now on, which means limiting how many things I work on at once, but today I have a video showing the new automatic save feature in RetroCopy.
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The 0.700 Release

2/16/2010 2:46:34 AM

By RetroRalph

So as can be seen the new version is out. Hopefully it runs smoothly for everyone, quite a lot of testing has gone into it but you can never be sure can you?
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RetroCopy v0.700 Media Torrent is up!

2/12/2010 1:55:19 AM

By RetroRalph

The torrent file for RetroCopy v0.700 media is now online, so start your torrent programs and get ready for the big release. Make sure you are logged in, head to the download section and grab the torrent file.


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LCD Monitors can blow up?

2/9/2010 2:36:37 AM

By RetroRalph

So there I was using my computer today, viewing RetroCopy's 3D game room when my 22 inch LCD monitor just suddenly stopped working.
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The never ending story

2/5/2010 4:29:03 PM

By RetroRalph

Well today another important feature was added to RetroCopy 0.700 to make it ready for next release. And that is game logging.
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0.700 trailer video is out

2/1/2010 2:28:38 AM

By RetroRalph

So the video for the next version has been worked on and released. Of note to followers of the blog here is it showcases a few things not seen before.
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WIP Update January 27 - 2010

1/27/2010 12:10:58 PM

By RetroRalph

Well I feel rejuvenated, I went for a small holiday over the weekend to refresh the batteries and it worked. I keep being surprised by the amount of work needing to be done before release but as each day passes less and less is needed.
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Excitement building

1/21/2010 4:52:25 PM

By RetroRalph

You know how I can always tell a release week from a non release week? Some crazy real life stuff always happens on a release week and this one is no different.
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After scouring over the members wishes in the wishlist thread I realized that I should stick in something that goes well with covers while I have the chance.
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Who said video games don't make you creative?

1/16/2010 7:43:32 PM

By RetroRalph

They say video games rob people of their creativity, well retro games don't because you still had to use your imagination! Anyhow a status update on the new version, everything is rolling along very nicely for a release in the upcoming week.
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Sega GameGear gear-to-gear emulation

1/14/2010 2:30:09 AM

By RetroRalph

So as can be guessed by the title, GameGear gear-to-gear cable emulation has been added to RetroCopy for the next version.
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So last night I finished the screenshots and every game tested works in RetroCopy. There are still a few more games to be added online also.
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Carpal tunnel, RSI and DVORAK

1/12/2010 1:09:23 AM

By RetroRalph

So I've been busy the last few days taking screenshots of every SMS game. Besides knowing that nearly every game I've tested has worked flawlessly I think I've done myself an injury.
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The GameDB and other site changes are live!

1/7/2010 2:09:41 AM

By RetroRalph

As would be obvious to most regulars the changes have occurred. Stay with us while we update the games with screenshots, cheats, etc over the next few days. You can start posting reviews and recommendations from now.

Other changes include retropoints and a cookie login system (so you stay logged in).
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As the Pixies so eloquently put it in their song the number seven has a special meaning to a lot of people out there. It's not my favourite number but the next release does have 7 in it.
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5 things that should have happened by 2010

1/3/2010 2:03:24 AM

By RetroRalph

So what things did you expect to happen by 2010? I was making a build of RetroCopy on the 1st of this month and up comes 2010 for the file date, I had thought we (Earth) would be in a different place by now.
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Website updates almost here and some new stuff

12/30/2009 1:32:50 AM

By RetroRalph

So as has been talked about in my posts over the last few weeks some changes are occurring to the site very soon, hopefully in the next few days.
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Phantasy Star Megadrive and powerbase converter

12/29/2009 1:37:35 AM

By RetroRalph

Tommy has been going over the SMS games for the new database update and recently got to the Phantasy Star. An interesting thing about this game is the many variants, including a "megadrive version" of it.
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Happy Christmas 2009

12/25/2009 2:03:06 AM

By RetroRalph

Well it's that time of the year again where everybody wishes each other "seasons greetings". Ho ho ho merry christmas!
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Realtek Audio on Windows 7 / Vista

12/22/2009 1:34:08 AM

By RetroRalph

I spent this last Sunday going over my audio code in RetroCopy. Somewhere over the last 2 weeks a small bug had crept into the virtual room audio, at least I thought it was a bug.
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Designing GUI's the hardway

12/20/2009 12:19:01 AM

By RetroRalph

So today I have some more progress screenshots of the next version and the changes to interface.
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Some more interface design

12/17/2009 2:32:41 AM

By RetroRalph

Today I worked more on the interface, including adding a way to filter the games, country flags and even some nice threaded disk access.
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0.700 interface changes

12/16/2009 2:08:26 AM

By RetroRalph

So I have been yabbing on about the new GAME format for a while haven't I. Well the next release is where most of the features of it will actually be used.
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The Natives Are Restless - UNICODE

12/13/2009 1:10:56 PM

By RetroRalph

Tommy, One of RetroCopy's BETA testers suggested the GAME format should provide native names for games for those that are interesed in such things (usually non english speakers). So the next version of the format will be including this.
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Sega Virtua Processor (SVP) Emulation

12/9/2009 10:42:05 AM

By RetroRalph

The Sega Virtua Processor was only used in one Sega Genesis game, however that game has a special place because of the little SAMSUNG powered chip inside it.
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RetroCopy v0.666 Preview

12/7/2009 6:02:48 PM

By RetroRalph

So here is the preview video of the upcoming release. Due to copyright restrictions on youtube I had to put it on metacafe.
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Sonic 2 - 2 player mode

12/6/2009 9:41:46 PM

By RetroRalph

An interesting thing maybe some don't know is that the 2 player mode in Sonic 2 uses a special "high resolution" mode to achieve its little split screen effect.
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Grabs the rebound! NBA-JAM

12/5/2009 12:49:56 AM

By RetroRalph

As I said the other day I have been adding a few cartridge addon chips to the genesis emulation in RetroCopy, today you will see one of them, EEPROM, and it's used in NBA JAM.
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WIP December 02 - 2009

12/2/2009 11:00:14 PM

By RetroRalph

Work continues on the latest installment of RetroCopy. It's funny with emulation, at the beginning of a new core it's all excitement to see something running, but by the stage I'm at now it's more of a chore.
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MegaDrive screenshots

12/1/2009 12:48:41 AM

By RetroRalph

So the last pictures I uploaded of the upcoming release weren't really that exciting. A few colored bars, who hasn't seen that before?
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So who wants accurate Genesis/Megadrive?

11/28/2009 12:11:10 PM

By RetroRalph

So as some people have correctly guessed, Genesis/Megadrive is the next system in RetroCopy, release date to be announced soon. Seriously who falls for the old SNES Sonic hack trick? :)
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Can you keep a secret?

11/23/2009 11:19:33 PM

By RetroRalph

So wow what a release v0.500B was. The most downloaded, the most liked, the least complained about! Well it sure is a change not having to worry about bug reports for once.
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Time to eat the Acai Berry

11/19/2009 2:20:33 AM

By RetroRalph

So in case anyone is still following my release schedule, I missed another one! And is anyone else sick of all these acai berry advertisements on the internet?
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The health benefits of fasting

11/12/2009 2:42:38 PM

By RetroRalph

So it's been a few days, another deadline was missed, and now a blog post about the health benefits of fasting? Are all emulator authors this crazy?
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Working for yourself deadlines mean nothing!

11/7/2009 8:42:30 PM

By RetroRalph

So I missed my self appointed deadline of Friday for the release. If I was a boss I'd fire myself?
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Look another commercial!

11/4/2009 8:57:30 PM

By RetroRalph

So I put together the video package for the next release already. I had a good idea last night and just had to put it together while it was fresh.
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I wrote this song a long time ago

11/4/2009 1:11:09 AM

By RetroRalph

Did you ever wonder who the Tupac Shakur of the emulator world is? ie Someone who got "gunned" down and yet people still think they are out there, emulating things.
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Bug hunting in DirectSound

11/2/2009 2:48:50 AM

By RetroRalph

So I spent a few hours today trying to track down a few issues people have been having in RetroCopy.
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Gamegear in 3D

10/30/2009 1:23:17 AM

By RetroRalph

People have been asking me "when will the Gamegear be added" so I decided v0.500B was the version for it.
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Encryption in Sega System E

10/27/2009 12:13:28 AM

By RetroRalph

Am I the only one who thinks that encrypting arcade games is stupid? I was going to release the new version last night but a few encryption issues put it on hold.
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Cogage TRUE Spirit Review

10/24/2009 4:59:38 PM

By RetroRalph

My cheap INTEL I7 1366 cooler came the other day but I haven't had any time to install it until today when the power went out. You can pick the TRUE SPIRIT up for $40-50 US and for the performance it offers this is very reasonable.
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New RetroCopy Trailer

10/23/2009 7:12:33 PM

By RetroRalph

I spent a few hours today putting together the next trailer for RetroCopy. v0.400B is very close to release and as usual I release a video celebrating it.
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Emulator Benchmark

10/21/2009 2:11:42 AM

By RetroRalph

A month or two ago I mentioned I was working on an emulator benchmark within RetroCopy but I never released it publicly. I spent a few hours tonight putting something together for 0.400B
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OpenGL in VMWare. Emulator in an emulator

10/19/2009 1:49:32 AM

By RetroRalph

So the release is getting close and there have been a few bug reports from people on old video cards about crashes. So I fired up VMWare and also got crashes.
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Introducing The Game Database Editor

10/17/2009 1:43:55 AM

By RetroRalph

4 weeks, 1 litter of puppies, a few beers and what do you get. Well besides a beer gut and the stress, you also get the new Game Database Editor.
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WIP October 11th 2009

10/11/2009 4:06:29 PM

By RetroRalph

So work on integrating GAME into RetroCopy v0.400 is still underway but I have plenty of new things to show in this update.
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White quarterbacks in the NFL

10/11/2009 3:27:05 PM

By RetroRalph

NFL (american football/gridiron) is now being shown in Australia so I've been catching parts of some games. One thing I've noticed is that the players are predominantly black like in the NBA except for the quarterbacks, does anyone else find this strange?
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WIP October 8th 2009

10/9/2009 1:29:44 AM

By RetroRalph

Woo! Finally over the hump of this new GAME format, I'm definitely on a high from it. Not that it is 100% finished yet but it is nearing there.
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Emulator news site

10/7/2009 4:17:10 PM

By RetroRalph

Just a small message! If anyone out there is interested in owning/running an emulator news site get in contact with me. I'm willing to host an emulator news site on this server and provide limited programming for it. So if you have the time and want to start your own enterprise now is the time. :)

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WIP October 6th 2009

10/6/2009 11:45:22 PM

By RetroRalph

So I'm _still_ working on the new GAME database editor. Is it because I have been lazy? No. It's simply one of those projects which grows and turns into something you had no idea of at the start.
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Rambo: And how it applies to programming

9/29/2009 1:28:59 AM

By RetroRalph

I was watching a youtube video of Rambo for the SMS and there were complaints about the games difficulty. Have you ever gone "pffft" when you read/hear something weird, that's pretty much what I did.
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Puppies and GAME

9/23/2009 9:45:39 AM

By RetroRalph

Well what is there to report since the last update? Nothing too exciting unfortunately, unless you're the kind of person that gets excited by databases. I have been working on the revision to the GAME format and basically how that integrates into RetroCopy.
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WIP September 17, 2009 - Retro Arcade

9/18/2009 12:14:47 AM

By RetroRalph

So a lot of people have been saying "Ralph, maybe you should add some arcade systems because you have those arcade machines in there." . And I agreed, after tidying up my code I realized it wouldn't be too hard to add at least one arcade system.
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WIP September 15, 2009

9/15/2009 3:49:29 PM

By RetroRalph

Well it's been a few days since a WIP update so I thought I would put together a few images for people to see of the upcoming 0.400B of RetroCopy.
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Some new Master System software

9/15/2009 11:51:05 AM

By RetroRalph

So I had a little play around with writing something new for the Master System on Saturday. I was surprised how quick it was for me, but since I've been developing emulators for the system for a while now I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
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Website Updates

9/8/2009 12:20:28 PM

By RetroRalph

Over the coming days there may be a little disturbance with the website, so if you see anything weird don't worry too much. I am updating certain aspects of the website and fixing issues people have found.
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WIP September 5, 2009

9/6/2009 3:03:52 AM

By RetroRalph

The next release is almost ready. With every major release I want to do a video showcasing the new features so I spent a few hours tonight getting it ready.
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NVIDIA "threaded optimization" oxymoron

9/4/2009 2:27:33 PM

By RetroRalph

So I talked a bit about NVIDIAs horrible OpenGL VSYNC performance (cpu usage) in a previous blog however I have found a solution to it. I was debugging RetroCopy v0.300B on my nvidia machine when I noticed it.
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So last night sometime I had tweaked a few services on my Windows 7 machine, everything was fine until today when I turned my computer on. I ran into a weird issue with the application experience service which I thought I would write about to save someone in the future wasting a few hours on this like I did.
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WIP August 31, 2009

8/31/2009 12:25:07 PM

By RetroRalph

The RetroCopy virtual gameroom video released the other day seems to have been well received. Thanks to everyone who has rated it and commented on it. I spent the weekend improving the 3D code after finding some issues with it.
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RetroCopy v0.300b Video Preview

8/28/2009 11:28:12 AM

By RetroRalph

As promised 30 hours ago or so, here is the latest video preview of the upcoming version of RetroCopy. Hopefully people will like what they see!
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WIP August 27, 2009

8/27/2009 12:47:28 AM

By RetroRalph

So it's been a few days since my last update. There are a few reasons for this, all of which will hopefully bring joy to RetroCopy users... ;)
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WIP August 21, 2009

8/21/2009 5:27:00 PM

By RetroRalph

So it looks like I'll be breaking my Friday release schedule that I kept up for a whole 2 weeks! Why? Well a few reasons....
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WIP August 18, 2009

8/18/2009 6:01:54 PM

By RetroRalph

So I've got basic .GAME support for NES happening. Unfortunately it's in a very simple state right now because I don't want to waste too much time on getting it perfect until I've done all the research about mapper requirements. I'll likely put my feelers out to the NES gurus and see what they think.
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WIP August 17, 2009

8/18/2009 12:24:37 AM

By RetroRalph

This week I'm adding NES back to RetroCopy. As most would have seen from the videos on youtube it is fairly advanced in some ways , in others not.
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WIP August 13, 2009

8/13/2009 3:38:59 PM

By RetroRalph

Well what a week so far. As mentioned in the BETA I want to get out regular releases from now on as it not only puts a deadline on things for me, but allows everyone else something new to play with.
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RetroCopy WIP - August 11 2009

8/11/2009 3:36:11 AM

By RetroRalph

Well the first public release of RetroCopy has gone pretty smoothly. The bug reports I am getting back seem fairly minor which is always a good sign for a release. Though of course there are lots of suggestions to look at.
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RetroCopy WIP - August 05 2009

8/5/2009 4:49:50 AM

By RetroRalph

RetroCopy will be released this Friday. At least that is the current plan. Originally I was hoping to get it out last week but a few things popped up.
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RetroCopy WIP - August 03 2009

8/3/2009 7:01:22 AM

By RetroRalph

I pretty much finished up the input devices over the weekend for the Master System. I ran into a few snags but nothing too big, and found out some new things about the Sega hardware.
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RetroCopy WIP - July 30 2009

7/30/2009 4:20:23 PM

By RetroRalph

I've been spending most of my time recently going over the Master System emulation and tidying it up in preparation for release, but I have also uploaded a new video showing RetroCopy's NES emulation.
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Emulation aspect ratios

7/28/2009 10:13:58 PM

By RetroRalph

Most people automatically think that old consoles like the Master System, Nintendo, MegaDrive, etc, have an aspect ratio of 4:3 simply because that is what the TV has. However few consoles utilize the whole screen and have borders depending upon which region they are in.
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The Battle of V-SYNC. OpenGL on NVIDIA vs ATI

7/20/2009 5:13:39 PM

By RetroRalph

As some of you would know, RetroCopy is somewhat 3D based, and I decided to use OpenGL for the backend. I recently got a new graphics card in the form of an ATI/AMD 4870 and was not surprised at something I noticed about VSYNC.
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RetroCopy WIP - July 20 2009

7/19/2009 10:51:03 PM

By RetroRalph

I've been fiddling around with RetroCopy again now that I have finished most of my work on the website. Ah it's great getting back to real coding, what can I say, web development makes me appreciative of what I do.
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Intel I7, the holy grail of CPUs?

7/19/2009 6:50:20 AM

By RetroRalph

I splurged recently and got a nice new I7 920 CPU (D0 stepping), which of course meant getting a new motherboard and new RAM. I waited a week for the parts to arrive and am currently posting from the machine, but is it all roses?
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Website Design... learning ASP.NET along the way

7/19/2009 6:15:44 AM

By RetroRalph

I was quite experienced with PHP but decided to learn ASP.NET (C#) to do this website. It has taken about 3 weeks to write a forum, blog and basic user/site management.
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