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Difference between revisions of "WiiHandy"

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m (moved WiiHandy/SDL to WiiHandy: Preparing for upcoming 0.2 release that is no longer based on Handy/SDL (directly derived from Handy).)

Revision as of 07:16, 28 April 2011

WiiHandy/SDL
Lynxicon.png
General
Author(s)raz0red
TypeHandheld emulator
Version0.3
Links
Download
Source
Downloadable via the Homebrew Browser
Peripherals
Wiimote.svg ClassicController.svg GameCube Controller Loads files from the Front SD slot

What is WiiHandy/SDL?

Handy is software dedicated to emulating the Atari Lynx hardware on a standard PC. The software was originally developed by Keith Wilkins [1] and was released under the GPL on 14th April 2004.

Handy/SDL is a port of the WIN32 sourcecode so that it can be used with the GCC compiler and the Simple Directmedia Layer (SDL) library. The Handy/SDL port was developed by the SDLEMU crew [2].

WiiHandy/SDL is a port of the Handy/SDL sourcecode to the Wii developed by raz0red [3].

Where does the name "Handy" come from?

So, one thing that probably isn't obvious is where the name "Handy" comes from. It turns out that what ultimately became the "Atari Lynx" started out life as the "Handy" at Epyx. The same Epyx that brought all those great games to the Commodore, Apple, and Atari 8-bit computers. Atari bought the Lynx from Epyx and as part of the deal Epyx committed to develop software for it. Thus, the software library for the Lynx is filled with a number of titles from Epyx.

For more information on the history of the Handy/Lynx and Epyx check out the following links:

Installation

To install WiiHandy/SDL, simply extract the zip file that this README was distributed with directly to your SD card (retain the hierarchical structure exactly). A lot of people had issues with v0.1 when they tried to rename directories, or didn't properly create the roms directory. The easiest way to avoid this is to simply copy the directories from the zip file as-is to your SD Card.

For the emulator to work, you must provide it with the "Atari Lynx boot rom" (lynxboot.img). This file must be obtained and placed in the WiiHandy/SDL "apps" directory (/apps/wiihandysdl).

Roms must be placed in the "roms" directory (/wiihandysdl/roms). Also, confirm that the "saves" directory exists (/wiihandysdl/saves). Roms may be in native .lnx or .zip format.

Controls

In Menu

Wiimote.svg ClassicController.svg GameCube Controller Action
Wiimote D-Pad Up / Wiimote D-Pad Down Classic D-Pad Up / Classic D-Pad Down Gamecube D-Pad Up / Gamecube D-Pad Down Scroll through the Menu
Wiimote D-Pad Left / Wiimote D-Pad Right Classic D-Pad Left / Classic D-Pad Right Gamecube D-Pad Left / Gamecube D-Pad Right Page through the Menu
Wiimote A Button Classic a Button Gamecube A Button Select menu item
Wiimote B Button Classic b Button Gamecube B Button Previous menu
Wiimote HOME Button Classic HOME Button GameCube Z Button Exit to Homebrew channel

In Game

Wiimote.svg ClassicController.svg GameCube Controller Action
Wiimote D-Pad Classic D-Pad GameCube D-Pad Move
Wiimote 2 Button Classic a Button Gamecube A Button A Button
Wiimote 1 Button Classic b Button Gamecube B Button B Button
Wiimote + Button Classic + Button GameCube R Trigger Option 1
Wiimote - Button Classic - Button GameCube L Trigger Option 2
Wiimote A Button Classic L Trigger / Classic R Trigger GameCube START Button Pause
Wiimote HOME Button Classic HOME Button GameCube Z Button Exit to menu

Snapshots

WiiHandy/SDL now provides "snapshot" functionality. Snapshots allow for saving and resuming the state of games. Each game may only have a single snapshot associated with it (this is something that may change in subsequent versions). All of the operations related to snapshots are exposed within the "Snapshot management" menu of the WiiHandy/SDL menu system. The menu contains the following items:

Snapshot management menu

Menu Item Description
Auto load When a cartridge is loaded, the snapshot (if it exists) for the cartridge will be loaded. (enabled by default)
Auto save When a game is exited, a snapshot is automatically created (replacing any existing snapshot for the cartridge). (disabled by default)
Load snapshot When this item is selected, a list of existing "snapshots" is displayed. You can select one of the displayed snapshots to load the cartridge with the selected snapshot.
Save snapshot This menu item is only visible if you have exited a game while playing (via the Home button). Selecting this item will save the state of the current game to the snapshot associated with the game's cartridge (replacing any existing snapshot).
Delete snapshot This menu item is only visible if you have exited a game while playing (via the Home button) and a snapshot exists for the cartridge. Selecting this item will delete the snapshot associated with the cartridge.

How to use "Rotate screen: (Auto)"

A common complaint from the v0.1 release of WiiHandy/SDL was that the "Rotate screen: (Auto)" option didn't do anything.

This option is intended to work with Keith Wilkins' (the author of the original Handy emulator) rotation utility. The following is quoted from his Handy 0.95 README file:

"Handy now supports automatic rotation of images on startup via a flag in the LNX header of the cartridge. This new addition is completely compatible with any existing files. One of the spare bytes in the header is now used to indicate whether which way the screen image should be rotated. A utility has been provided (ROTATE.EXE) to allow you to patch any existing files you may have."

You can obtain Keith's rotate utility via the Handy Sourceforge project [4].

To make things (a bit) simpler, I added the ability to patch cartridges via WiiHandy/SDL. The somewhat complex process to do this is as follows:

  1. Load the cartridge that is to have its rotation settings changed via "Load cartridge".
  2. Once loaded, exit the game (Home button).
  3. Select the rotation settings that you want for the cartridge via the "Rotate screen" menu item. Choose "None", "Left", or "Right". Do not choose "(Auto)".
  4. Now, enter the "Advanced" sub-menu and select the "Write rotation (cartridge header)" option. Again, if you selected "(Auto)" for the "Rotate screen" option, this menu item will not be visible.
  5. If all goes well, you should see a message stating that the cartridge's header was written successfully.
  6. At this point, you can set the rotation settings back to "(Auto)". When the cartridge is subsequently loaded, it will use the rotation settings found in its header.

There are a couple of caveats that need to be mentioned about writing rotation settings to a cartridge header. First, none of the above tools (via Keith's Windows executable or WiiHandy/SDL's advanced menu) support .zip files (I may fix this in the future).

Second, any existing snapshots associated with the cartridge will no longer work. This is due to the fact that changing the cartridge's header changes its CRC. Existing snapshot loading will fail as they perform CRC checks to ensure they are being loaded for the appropriate cartridge. Any snapshots created after the header has been changed will work as expected.

Status

Visit the following thread for the latest preview builds:

http://www.twitchasylum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=510

The following items are planned for future releases:

  • Improved sound support
  • Graphical menu
  • Cartridge names from header
  • Screenshot support

WiiHandy/SDL crashes, code dumps, etc.

While v0.1 of WiiHandy/SDL seemed to work well for the majority of people, some were experiencing code dumps and various other issues. While it isn't clear why these issues were occurring, it does seem that some of them may be the result of differences in Wii firmware and IOS versions. WiiHandy/SDL has been tested with Wii firmware versions 3.2 and 3.4 (IOS36).

If you are having issues with WiiHandy/SDL, please let me know about it via one of the following locations:

I would really like to resolve these issues, and it would be great to work along with the people who are experiencing them to get them resolved.

Special Thanks

Screenshots

  • Wiihandy-joust.jpg
  • Wiihandy-chip.jpg
  • Wiihandy-todd.jpg

Icons

Changelog

0.3 - March 31, 2009

  • Ability to enable/disable vertical sync (NTSC/PAL60 only)
  • Ability to set the gamma level of the display
  • Added option to load Lynx boot ROM from the root directory
  • Gamecube controller support
  • Fixed a couple of buffer overflow issues causing periodic crashes
  • Refactor of the source code

0.2 - January 28, 2009

  • Save/restore game snapshots
  • Resuming a game (after quitting with Home)
  • Resetting a game (after quitting with Home)
  • Fixed a bug causing homebrew games to crash on load (Lode Runner, etc.)
  • Fixed a bug where games would freeze if left idle for about an hour
  • Fixed a bug where games would not load after file error
  • Fixed minor glitches in frame rate (reworked game loop)
  • Ability to rotate controls w/ game screen
  • Ability to patch Lynx ROMs w/ rotation settings (not supported for .zip)
  • Advanced menu allowing for enabling debug mode, frame rate adjustments
  • Auto-chain detection
  • Reset/power functions (via Wii and Wiimote)
  • Ability to use a custom directory name for application files

0.1 - January 18, 2009

  • Initial version
  • Sound support
  • Wiimote/Classic controller support
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