< Why make it simple when it can be complicated?OpenGL renderer: status update, and "fun" stuff >
Merry Christmas from melonDS
Dec 26th 2025, by Arisotura
I know, I'm one day late.

There won't be anything very fancy for now, though. I haven't worked much on melonDS lately. Over the last week, my training period has been intense, and the long commute didn't help either. However, that went quite well, so I'm hopeful.

Another thing is, there isn't much more to show at this point.

What remains to be done is a bunch of cleanup, optimization work, and adding certain missing features, like proper chunked rendering if certain registers are changed mid-frame. Much like what the blargSNES hardware renderer does. Basically, turning this whole experimental setup into a finished product. It's always nice, but it doesn't really make for interesting screenshots.

As far as the 3D renderers are concerned, my work is mostly finished. I have ideas to improve the regular OpenGL renderer, but that's beyond the scope of the blackmagic3 branch for now. I could mention some, though: for example, attempting to add proper interpolation, instead of the "improved polygon splitting" hack. There would be some other old issues to fix in order to bring both OpenGL renderers closer to the software renderer, too.

With all this, I hope to be able to release melonDS 1.2 by early 2026. We'll see how this goes.

Either way, merry Christmas, happy new year, and all!
19 comments have been posted.
< Why make it simple when it can be complicated?OpenGL renderer: status update, and "fun" stuff >
<3 says:
Dec 26th 2025
Merry Chrimis!
Kula says:
Dec 26th 2025
Merry Christmas! Super excited for MelonDS 1.2! Thank you for all your work on DS emulation! It's very appreciated!
FlyingWs says:
Dec 26th 2025
Thank you for all your efforts, have a Merry Christmas!
Enzx302! says:
Dec 26th 2025
Finally, the filters in MelonDS after 10 years, just wait 2 weeks or more, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Arisotura.
poudink says:
Dec 26th 2025
What filters?
Tagger101 says:
Dec 27th 2025
Thank you for all your work on this emulator! Merry Christmas!!

P.S. Is there any chance we'll see a gamelist GUI (potentially with the option to add an image like box art) in 1.2 or beyond?
DAIKIFG says:
Dec 27th 2025
Merry Christmas dude! Your work is awesome. What do you recommend me study for collaborate to a project like this? From your experience.
Klaus Kinsky says:
Dec 27th 2025
Belated Merry Christmas from me too.
Have a relaxing holiday season and a Happy New Year.

I'm glad you seem to be enjoying your new job. I really hope that in the long run, the commute won't matter or that you'll be able to work from home. I know what it's like. It takes up a lot of time. But the work and colleagues have been a dream so far.
Arisotura says:
Dec 27th 2025
DAIKIFG: do you have programming experience?

Klaus Kinsky: in the long run, I plan to move closer to the job site, so the commute wouldn't be as much of a problem.
DAIKIFG says:
Dec 27th 2025
Yes, but not much. I have knowledge of Python and JavaScript and I apply it to basic projects. But I'm very curious
DJT says:
Dec 27th 2025
Arisutora, whenever I run "Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow" at 3x native resolution or higher I notice strange vertical lines appearing on the screen at the beginning of the game (near the bridge). I'm not sure why this happens, but I run the game with OpenGL (Classic), although I've noticed the same problem with OpenGL (Compute Shader) as well, and like I said this happens whenever I run the game at a 3x resolution or higher and so far I haven't been able to fix the problem with any of the settings. And this problem only gets worse when you rotate the screen 90-degrees to a portrait orientation.

Anyway, this screenshot will better illustrate the problem: https://freeimage.host/i/fVuO1sf
LEGO_Vince says:
Dec 28th 2025
Merry Christmas, 'tura!
Lockstar64 says:
Dec 29th 2025
Have a great new year :) and glad your training is going well despite being tiring. I started my (first proper!) new job last month and I totally get the mix of tiredness and hope lol. Learning and adjusting been getting easier overall as time goes on, and I love the work, so I hope you find that too <3
Arisotura says:
Dec 30th 2025
Thanks y'all!

Hopefully your new job will work out for you!
Kardieus says:
Jan 1st 2026
Hola, feliz año nuevo. Iba a jugar con la velocidad x2 y por algún motivo no me funciona. Ayer mismo había jugado y funcionaba. He estado cambiando cosas haber si se arreglaba pero nada, ¿Alguien tiene idea de qué puede ser?
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