Glitches and emulation errors in Mega Drive System

I admit that i had spend a lot of time playing games and somethings do not bothered me, but, is time to share some informations:

About Sample Rate, i noticed that there is something strange. I'm not an sound engineer neither that is my kind of programing, so this comment is more like a doubt. Some games like The Immortal present a lot of noises in 44100Hz sample rate but, in 192000Hz the sound is clean and beautifull. Other games like Granada and Gynoug gets muted in 192000Hz and present a good sound experience in 44100Hz.

In Gynoug, even in 22050Hz i noticed that the game bgm has some problem, i don't knoe how to explain well, but it appears that some music notes are not there, are missing. In Out Run 2019 looks like that the higher sample rates the higher missing notes. In Out Run 2019 i noticed that the music is a little slower that it should be.

Other glitches i found are showed in this pictures:

PS.: There is some other way we can help beside sending pictures?

Pictures are fine for graphics glitches. Just post them as you find them, much easier for me to go along and fix them when there is a big easy list to look at. If the glitch is obscure, using a graphics program to highlight the area would help too. If you want just start a thread or use this one, and just edit the top post with the bugs as you find them.

I will be implementing some GENESIS fixes before next release which is in a week or so. Until then the more that are found the better it will be in next release.

I hope that you wait till next week to deploy the new version, beacause this week had been so crazy, with a lot of projects to deliver in my job. What can i do? Whe're in the end of the year already. And into this chaos, i find little time, even in home, to use RetroCopy and analise this points that need work.

I will spend more time this weekend with RetroCopy, so i will be able to help a little, giving some more infos about emulated games. I will use this thread to post the things i found.

If anyone is reading this post, i ask your help, to help RetroRalph release a new very powerfull version of Retrocopy. I will make a revision of all games (including diferent region versions) of Mega Drive, but, in one weekend i will not be able to play the 0-A to Z list of games. I plan to review the games from 0-A to M, so if you are interested in help this project, make a review of games from N to Z.

One more thing, if you are a SNES/Nintendo fan (i am too, i confess), please, support this huge SEGA release of RetroCopy. We need to be retrogamers united.

PS.: All of this is my own person opinion. Do not make wrong opion of this project.

For Gynoug, i think it's a problem with window emulation, i had the same too in my emulator when i started to develop.

Yes I also thought it was a Wplane bug micky.

Fadware, there is no need to go overboard playing every single Genesis game yet. There are some bugs which will show up in a few games that I already know the causes of. When the emulation of Megadrive reaches a higher point it's probably more important then to know which games don't work correctly.

As to when the release will be..... Christmas is next Friday so I would like to get it out before then. It all depends though, basically I want SMS database finished, and this will mean the online database for SMS is also finished and working, cover downloading, etc. It's a lot to get done but it's possible.

Ralph, i don't know if anyone notice this, because, Shadow Of The Beast isn't a very popular game for Genesis, but, when you play the US dump of the game, you are invincible.

This weekend i was with my wife on the beach (Oh! What a sunny weekend!), and, at night i had tried some old games that i have on cartridge, and then this "glitch" come to my attention.

If you had not played this game because of it's difficulty, play it on 0.666 and just run through the stages.

I found other glitches too, in "Risky Woods" the player sprite is not visible, and either "Streets of Rage 2" or "Streets of Rage III" plainly refuses to show anything.

I'll try and get a few genny fixes in for the next version so if you find any others keep them coming as it makes it easier to track down any bugs.

In "Lemmings 2 - The Tribes", the game won't react at "Start" button being pressed, it goes through the whole intro you like it or not. I don't know if later the game is playable or if this issue prevents it from starting, I'll check later.

Another thing, more general: I've noticed that whenever I start Retrocopy and click on "Play games", the gamelist takes some time to appear. If that's because RC is looking for new games, maybe you should disable checking every time and place a "Check for games" button on the main menu instead. My RC folders are quite big now, and I could do without the latency in changing between systems.

Have you tried forcing a 3button or 6button controller ? Some games don't work correctly with a 6button controller.



Well the next version improves this somewhat by not "holding up the program" when it happens, instead it shows you a progress bar of what is happening so it looks a lot smoother. I may come up with some way to cache the files or store them in a quicker to read format.

On the other hand buying a SSD improves it beyond belief... There are certainly ways you can improve it for existing hard drives don't get me wrong, it's just always going to be slow and laggy with older type hard drives no matter what I do, it bothers me also and I have Raptor hard drives. My next computer purchase will be a SSD.

Yes, forcing a 3-button pad solves the issue, just checked.

As for SSDs... maybe they are the future, we'll see. I tend to distrust stuff like that. Recently my CRT screen died and I was forced to replace it for a TFT. For all the benefits it has (it's much less bulky and refresh rates no longer seem an issue), if I could replace with a CRT of the same resolution I'd do it at once. It works great at 1440x900, but smaller resolutions look like crap, and you have to be right in front of it, otherwise image looks weird.

And there are reasons to be suspicious of SDDs too. I had to Google to learn what SSDs are, and one of the first answers was a Spanish press article mentioning they have a 10% - 20% failure rate, much higher than regular HDDs. I'm no longer paranoid about losing my data. USB drives are quite affordable now, and most of the stuff in my PC can be easily re-downloaded from the Internet. Still, I'd rather stick to what I know it's reliable.

Actually SSDs are fairly good at keeping data when they break. What happens is they end up not being able to be written, so whatever data is on there is static. I think the generation of SSD that will be out this year will be the one where most enthusiasts decide to embrace it.

The good thing about SSDs is there are no moving parts, less power usage, much quicker and no latency when compared to a normal HD. Only downside at the moment is the small size and high cost, but those will be addressed as time goes on you would say.

One thing I don't like about the SSD movement is it still limited by SATA-II which caps hard drives to about 300MB/second max (you won't see it that high though). I think there are SSDs coming that actually plug into your PCI-E slots for much faster speed.

I think I have another one, "Mr. Nutz (Europe)" won't load.

Version 0.700


Request: I will happy if you add option for Mega Drive 2 - Mono output.

Request: graphic filter Hq2x work very good with all games.

Request: Sound SuperHQ.

Request: Lowpass Filter for emulation close to real TV with 22050Hz.

Sonic & Knuckles start as blue Sphere instead it self, this game run as hocked up with Sonic 1.

Golden Axe 3 bug: scrolling big words with glitches on left side of screen:

http://radikal.ru/F/s006.radikal.ru/i214/1002/04/2fb2126c25e4.jpg.html

MUSHA - on title screen music screwed.

Road Rash 2 & 3: start first level and we see two lines of glitches at horizont:

http://radikal.ru/F/i073.radikal.ru/1002/0b/543ac22e542e.jpg.html

RetroCopy not recognize for converting .smd extensions, only .gen but it quite annoying

Comix Zone - i can't control game, due to bugs in Mega Drive 2 controller code, use 3-button controller

Contra hard corps - no playable due to various bugs in VDP.

Lawnmowerman - all 3D levels with serious graphic bugs:

http://radikal.ru/F/s47.radikal.ru/i116/1002/9a/be1bda639f85.jpg.html

Mortal Kombat 3 - i can't control game, due to bugs in Mega Drive 2 controller code + some H/W bugs in VDP, use 3-button controller

Sonic 3D Blast - H/W bugs in main menu + triple line glitch in 3D Bonus Stage, issue of YM2612, DAC work not correctly, it happen if you play in view TV and if go to fullscreen all sounds fine, :

http://radikal.ru/F/s003.radikal.ru/i201/1002/19/9ddebc695ffc.jpg.html

Gargoyles - not playable due to inaccurate codes.

Judge Dredd - i can't control game, due to bugs in Mega Drive 2 controller code, use 3-button controller

4 in 1 - need special handler for run all games.

Primal Rage - i can't control game, due to bugs in Mega Drive 2 controller code, use 3-button controller

Shadow of the beast - screen splashes with different colors when i enter in another location, + collision bug, player not get damage from enemyes.

Turrican - not run at all.

Part 2:

Virtua Fighter - in game menu some problems with H/W in VDP:

http://radikal.ru/F/s41.radikal.ru/i092/1002/4f/acb726861bba.jpg.html

Haunting starring polterguy - something wrong with sprite limitation, you may see half of character:

http://radikal.ru/F/s004.radikal.ru/i206/1002/61/7020bdc0acee.jpg.html

Sonic & Knuckles in Sonic 3 - Issue of YM2612, DAC work not correctly, second picked ring i can't hear, it happen if you play in view TV and if go to fullscreen all sounds fine, strange small color glitches in water:

http://radikal.ru/F/s54.radikal.ru/i146/1002/bb/5ae944688f50.jpg.html

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 - Issue of YM2612, DAC work not correctly, second picked ring i can't hear, it happen if you play in view TV and if go to fullscreen all sounds fine.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Issue of YM2612, DAC work not correctly, second picked ring i can't hear, it happen if you play in view TV and if go to fullscreen all sounds fine.

Spider-man and venom separation anxiety - i can't control game, due to bugs in Mega Drive 2 controller code, use 3-button controller

Sub-terrania - main menu in start game with glitch:

http://radikal.ru/F/s56.radikal.ru/i154/1002/98/f8cdc6ef09e0.jpg.html

Super mario bros (unl) - not run at all, show: Decode Body Error.

Thunder force 4 - not run at all.

Bram stoker's dracula - after intro and option just hang, not playable yet.

Soleil - some bugs in text scrolling in dialog window:

http://radikal.ru/F/s005.radikal.ru/i211/1002/16/4a8eb70f9607.jpg.html

Return of Strider - serious collision bug, nobody can't do damage.

Lotus turbo challenge - various glitches in VDP:

http://radikal.ru/F/s002.radikal.ru/i197/1002/45/53166be5f64a.jpg.html

OutRun - various glitches in VDP:

http://radikal.ru/F/s001.radikal.ru/i195/1002/72/fa5ac9b44c81.jpg.html

Alien Soldier - in weapon select menu, animation of squares with enlargement wrong:

http://radikal.ru/F/s15.radikal.ru/i188/1002/46/fe725cbe1147.jpg.html

Cheese cat-astrophe starring speedy gonzales - no sound at all!

Fatal rewind - after EA logo, screen flashes white color and hang.

Lion King 2 - when you run, on background of mountains you notice small color squares.