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melonDS 0.7.3
Jan 5th 2019, by Arisotura
After another round of fixoring, we present you melonDS 0.7.3. So, what are the changes in this version? Mostly addressing the issues that popped up in 0.7.1/0.7.2, and improving the interface a bit.


Something that should have been done long ago, and has finally been done: the emulator's main loop was rewritten to use absolute timestamps to keep track of cycle counts. Overall, it's more reliable (far less chances of desyncs), more accurate, and also a bit faster, and the code is cleaner. So we win on all fronts.

This should fix the recent flickering issues, like that of Colour Cross.

The downside is that this breaks savestate compatibility with older melonDS versions.


In the same vein, there's another fix to GX timings. We knew that vertex timings were different when a vertex completed a polygon, but we just found out that timings also differ based on whether the polygon passes culling and clipping. This will help with games that need their display lists to be running fast enough.


To hopefully fix the saving issues, we built a new database, resulting of a mix between the Advanscene XML and savelist.bin from the R4 Wood firmware. For better detection, the new romlist.bin indexes games by their serial code rather than by the ROM's CRC32, which also means that it will work with hacked ROMs. This means you will need to make sure to replace romlist.bin with the newer one if you're extracting this melonDS release over an older one.

There's also a particular fix for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Sky, which uses 128K EEPROM. It should now save properly.

However, note that the correct savefile size for this game is 128KB. If you have a savefile which is 256KB, the game will read it fine but fail to save to it (because that size is detected as FLASH memory and not EEPROM). You can fix this by opening your savefile in a hex editor and deleting the upper half of it. This is especially important if you use a savefile coming from DeSmuME as it will create a 256KB file.


We also have a neat little pile of UI improvements.

melonDS now supports hotplugging joysticks. That being said, it still defaults to the first joystick available on your system. I'm not quite sure how to go about handling multiple joysticks.

Under Linux, the crashes coming from the input config dialog should be fixed.

The main window is smarter about remembering its size: it also remembers whether it was maximized.

There's a tentative fix for hiDPI under Windows, which should atleast make the screens scale correctly.

There's a new menu for setting the window size to an integer scaling factor (1x to 4x).

The setting for savefile relocation when using savestates is now disabled by default. While the feature may be useful, having it enabled by default was confusing for unaware users.


And finally, the misc fixes:

* fix STRD_POST (fixes music in Just Sing - Vol 2)
* 2D: fix blending bugs
* add support for 8bit reads to DISPCNT/BGxCNT (fixes The Wild West)
* make nocashprint also work in ARM mode


Enjoy!


melonDS 0.7.3, Windows 64-bit
melonDS 0.7.3, Linux 64-bit

melonDS Patreon if you're feeling generous
16 comments have been posted.
< Some brighter news thoSome news >
Franco says:
Jan 5th 2019
Hey, thanks for the update. Keep up the wonderful work!
Fantasy says:
Jan 6th 2019
The screen malposition has been fixed It's starting to get better.Hope to add more features in the next version For example cheats
Mike says:
Jan 6th 2019
Thanks for your dedication!
Jean H. says:
Jan 6th 2019
The interface is more stable apparently. Thanks. :D
Copri says:
Jan 7th 2019
When I start the emulator it makes a crack sound and beeps until I load a rom. This isn't gamebreaking by any means, but it is annoying to hear that everytime I want to play. The problem wasn't in 0.7.2

Thanks for the screen size option! It is nice to have it, since I had to edit the resolution in the .ini file. Now we can get that sharp pixels with good x2, x3 and x4 nearest neighbor scaling easily!
XAIXER says:
Jan 7th 2019
This is getting better and better! Are cheats a plan for the future?
AsPika2219 says:
Jan 8th 2019
Thanks for updates!
Kostas Gangstar says:
Jan 9th 2019
Yaaasss Pokermen work now!!!
I wish someone would work on updating the retroarch core in the Android platform since it's very outdated and the touchscreen ain't even working and there are no options
extherian says:
Jan 18th 2019
MelonDS is now on part with DeSmuME as far as basic functions like saving the game and savestates goes, while surpassing it in accuracy.

A great addition to the project would be a buildbot. That way, testers could catch timing renovation problems before they end up in the official releases.

Well done on the great work you've done - you should be proud of yourself.
poudink says:
Jan 19th 2019
well, there's still the hardware renderer that's lacking, and that's a pretty big one.
Bernardo says:
Jan 20th 2019
And there is the lack of fullscreen, and that's annoing.
Bernardo says:
Jan 20th 2019
The program I normally use to fullscreen stuff that can't normally doesn't remove the toolbar at the top, and that is the only thing that stops me from fitting a 4x resolution on my screen.
poudink says:
Jan 24th 2019
rip staplebutter. his death was oddly coincidental with the apparition of an individual named "Arisotura"
Crazymuffin says:
Jan 24th 2019
I'm having a glitch in which the emulator is acting as though the up key is permanently pressed down. Happening over multiple games and doesn't stop even when i change the control config. Great emulator otherwise though, nice work!
Guest says:
Jan 26th 2019
I'm pretty sure that StapleButter and Arisotura are the same person, I just can't find any proof.
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