melonDS 0.8.1
melonDS 0.8.1 is out, and that fixes some of the issues that were discovered in 0.8 (mostly stupid oversights, heh), but also adds a few other features and fixes. Let's see.

Edit- If fast forward doesn't work for you, it means one of two things: you're using OpenGL and your video driver is forcing vsync, or melonDS is just not running fast enough for fast-forward.




Input upgrade

The input code has been reworked to be more pleasant to deal with, especially with regards to adding hotkeys. In less nerdy terms, what does this mean?

It is now possible to map keys with modifiers, like Ctrl+Z or Shift+R or even combinations like Ctrl+Alt+Q. It is worth noting that during mapping, you should use left-hand Ctrl/Alt/Shift keys for these mappings. However, ingame, both sets of keys should work. This feature may not be too useful for DS input, but it should be more handy for hotkeys. It is also possible to delete a key mapping by pressing the Backspace key during the mapping process.

I have also been upgrading joystick support. You can now choose which joystick to use, and can map axes to buttons/hotkeys.

The twist to this is that I liked the old "axis maps to DS dpad" feature, and how it could be used alongside regular button/hat controls. I didn't want to lose the ability to use both, but I also wanted to make it, well, not a hardcoded mapping. So instead, you can map both a button/hat direction and an axis to each control. When mapping a joystick control, pressing a button/hat direction keeps the axis mapping intact, and vice-versa. You can delete both mappings by pressing Backspace during the mapping process.

The aforementioned axis support should also be able to support analog triggers, which are typically exposed as axis controls.

I also added support for multiple hat controls.


OSD

This new, optional feature shows some short, temporary status messages onscreen. For example, when loading or saving savestates, pausing, resuming...

The idea is to give some visual feedback about these operations, rather than, say, have savestate loads just appear to do nothing because the slot is empty.

You can disable the OSD if you find it to get in the way.


New hotkeys

You might remember that some early melonDS versions had a secret hardcoded fast-forward hotkey. This seems to have appeared in version 0.3, but eventually disappeared with the UI revamp in version 0.5.

Well, now, with Ace4896's contribution, this feature is back with a proper hotkey mapping. There is also a 'toggle' hotkey that enables or disables the framerate limiter.

I also added hotkeys for pausing and resetting emulation.


OpenGL fixes

Several of the crashes and rendering errors that appeared in 0.8, stemming from the new OpenGL support, have been fixed in this version.

I also added a little hack to support line triangles in OpenGL, and a preliminary implementation of edge marking, which you can see demonstrated in one of the screenshots above.


There's also a bunch of little fixes and optimizations, as usual. Enjoy!


melonDS 0.8.1, Windows 64-bit
melonDS 0.8.1, Linux 64-bit

If you're feeling generous, if you want to help us take this OpenGL renderer further: here's our Patreon
RinkuSonic41 says:
Jun 12th 2019
OpenGL still gives me black screen to me
Theanh says:
Jun 12th 2019
Fast forward was not work for me.
Peduls says:
Jun 12th 2019
Amazing work. DS games look great at 4x native resolution. Is there no way to run the emulator in fullscreen?
Guest says:
Jun 12th 2019
I see from the GitHub issues that there are time-related issues in Pokémon Platinum.
I can say that the same exact issue plague Pokémon HeartGold, and I am guessing all of the main Pokémon DS games.

This does not affect things that happen solely against specific hours, only days.
So say, if you enter the game at 11:59PM, starting from 12:00AM, everything will be fine, however if you enter the game starting from 12:00AM, everything that is based upon specific days (e.g., National Park, the Week Siblings, etc.) will show as if you had already completed it.
Guest says:
Jun 12th 2019
By the way, why does the prebuilt binary weigh so much (comparatively)?
When I compile it, I get a ~1.1MB binary, however the prebuilt binary weighs ~3.2MB.
Ammako says:
Jun 13th 2019
I find that OpenGL is very screwy when it comes to Pokémon. But the vast improvements that have been made in recent releases in terms of performance make the games run at a stable 60 FPS for me, even with Software graphics, so I guess I don't really mind it.
Michael says:
Jun 13th 2019
AMD Video Card do not work with OpenGL. This sucks.
SIGMA says:
Jun 13th 2019
But they do, it depends on the GPU. I am using a RX480 and can run most games at 60FPS at x4 the internal resolution.
A dragon says:
Jun 13th 2019
Just letting you know, there's some oddity going on with Animal Boxing's fonts. It's blurry and seems to be bouncing around. Could you please look into this when you get a chance? Thanks.
Riancaio says:
Jun 13th 2019
Fast Foward Dont Work For ME I Press TAB And Noting Happens
Riley says:
Jun 14th 2019
Thank you so much for the continued work. This emulator is my reason for living right now, LOL
KostaSaizo7 says:
Jun 15th 2019
So DSi for next release?
poudink says:
Jun 15th 2019
probably not?
poudink says:
Jun 15th 2019
seems like quite a big thing to add in just one release
Guest says:
Jun 15th 2019
Possibly, though without confirmation from Arisotura, we cannot know for sure.
One thing is definite, though, and that is that Arisotura is working on DSi support (on a separate branch).
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