Developer Rich Whitehouse  releases the latest version of BigPEmu , the Atari Jaguar console emulator and currently the only program capable of guaranteeing compatibility with the entire library of retail cartridges, together with excellent performance and a variety of unique features.

 

 

This new update contains several unique features, including an advanced scripting system. This scripting system allows Jaguar games to run at their native resolution, taking advantage of full hardware acceleration.

 

It also allows for patching, tweaking, and other customizations to games in a flexible way. This update expands the possibilities for customization and optimization of the gaming experience on BigPEmu , giving users greater control over the settings and performance of Jaguar games .

• Full Compatibility .
  • BigPEmu can run all the games in the Jaguar console’s retail cartridge library.
• Fast .
  • The emulator runs the entire library of retail titles (with default settings) at full speed on almost any x64 compatible processor. Each Jaguar processor runs on a single native core (maintaining deterministic emulation) and does not rely on any dynamic recompiling (maintaining console compatibility), while maintaining extremely low system requirements.
• Accurate .
  • It is the most accurate Jaguar emulator to date, although there is still a lot of room for improvement. I work continuously to get accurate times for the cycle at the system level.
• Better than hardware .
  • While the emulator defaults to settings that cater for compatibility and accuracy, it is capable of much more. The settings are exposed to the overclock/underclock of each of the Jaguar cores as well as adjusting the speed and accuracy of other system components. BigPEmu lets you play many Jaguar games at 60 frames per second for the first time ever!
• Save states and movies .
  • Everything is completely deterministic, just like real life. That’s right, I went. This means that all “randomness” is also controlled by a preserved seed. BigPEmu can record footage from nothing more than controller input and play it back with perfect accuracy. You can even stop playing a movie and start playing on its own at any time.
• Excessive presentation details .
  • I did everything for this. There’s native support for the Jaguar Game Drive MRQ format in the cartridge browser (as well as box art sourced from PNG files), support for global and per-game backgrounds, and even support for controller overlays! Overlays are dialed on the fly in the Jaguar controller, displayed both on the input binding screen and on the controller’s helpful pop-up info display.
• Additional device support .
  • Featuring support for analog controllers (both via external bank switching and via ADC), drive controllers, rotary controllers, and Team Tap.
• Glorious shaders .
  • The emulator features a powerful post-processing system that is fully customizable. The system supports every type of effect imaginable, from applying smooth filters to simulating CRT displays.
• Native HDR support .
  • HDR displays are natively supported, complete with options to adjust output based on display characteristics and to force post-process effects to use HDR buffers throughout the post chain. This means that post-processing effects take full advantage of that increased color accuracy and push it all the way to your eyes. CRT shaders reap all the benefits. At 4K with HDR color output, they’re an amazing sight to behold.
• Game Profiles .
  • Mapping your Atari Jaguar controller to something other than a phone with wings can get a little tricky, so you might want to change the controller mapping for different games. You can do it! With per-game profiles, you can automatically load a new input pattern (or any other emulator setting) every time you load a game.
• Time manipulation .
  • Native fast forwarding capability, which can be assigned to any input.
• Plugins.
  • The stock plugins cover video, audio, input, and networking support over widely compatible APIs, with the ability to easily expand to any platform/interface. The OpenGL video plugin can fully scale from its default incarnation (with support for effects, distance field fonts, etc.) up to the fixed OpenGL 1.0 feature, meaning the emulator can run on virtually any capable GPU. to run GLQuake (although the font would look pretty bad on some of them).
• The usual .
  • Enjoy all the emulator subtleties you have come to expect in modern times. Automatic EEPROM preservation, PAL support, custom boot ROM images, native support for multiple displays and different aspect ratios, custom display cropping, highly customizable input, custom language support, and so much more.
• Full of terrible secrets .
  • No, really, it is. You will never find them.

Future goals

• Jaguar VR support .
  • I’m thinking of giving Jaguar VR the same treatment I gave Sega VR ! As with Sega VR, I was able to build a good implementation without having access to the hardware, but having the hardware would still help a lot and ensure a greater degree of authenticity. Same as above, if you have any hardware you would like to part with please contact me.
• JagLink support.
  • After all, what good is anything if you can’t play Deathmatch? Again, I might need some support on this, as I need to buy a JagLink (or modern replacement) and another Jaguar if I’m going to get beyond blind software implementation.
• Greater accuracy .
  • Timing is still far from perfect in BigPEmu. There are a few known quirks here and there, but the next big step towards even greater accuracy is full bus access and priority emulation. This is generally an expensive thing to do in software, so it will likely be bundled into the next goal…
• Make it even faster !
  • BigPEmu is already quite well optimized, but there are still some fruits to further improve the performance. This will allow BigPEmu to run on even older hardware, but perhaps more importantly, it will make room for the expensive options that bring us closer to loop accuracy.
• Developer builds.
  • Behind the scenes, BigPEmu already enjoys full integration with the Noesis debugger and has a wide variety of other debugging and development features. However, I still have to clean up some of these features and prepare separate builds that are specifically aimed at Jaguar developers.
• Flexible scripting.
  • Natively, BigPEmu has already implemented a complete interface for scriptable breakpoints and uses a special technique to make breakpoints free on RISC processors. My plan is to open this system up with script bindings, so you’ll be able to easily set breakpoints, poke RAM, and otherwise do anything you might want to do to the emulated system through easy to use script code. This will enable TAS, results and many other things.
• Porting.
  • BigPEmu is already extremely portable and runs on at least 6 different console/desktop platforms. The framework it uses for this standalone release is also designed around portability, so I’m planning on porting to Linux and macOS at a minimum. However, I don’t currently have any machines running macOS, so it’s a small block.
• Eliminate all bugs.
  • There are probably still a bunch of bugs that I don’t know about and you can help me find them .

Installation

BigPEmu doesn’t require an installation process, just download the latest version and unzip it somewhere (with the directory structure intact), then run the BigPEmu.exe.

The developer has also created a very useful online user manual where all the settings and operation of the BigPEmu emulator are explained in detail .

Changelog

• New scripting system. In developer mode, scripts are automatically recompiled on startup. There are also options for developers to automatically detect script changes while the application is running. Compiled scripts need to be enabled through a new feature of script modules.
• Included a new script that allows Cybermorph to render polygons/textures at native resolution.
• Added a new option to adjust MSAA to video settings. This is only relevant for things that use the native depth buffer, like the new Cybermorph script .
• Included a new script that allows you to unlock the framerate in Alien vs. Predators .
• Included a new script to fix flicker in the Brett Hull Hockey prototype .
• A streamlined CRT library along with a whole set of BigPEmu specific API functionality is included in the scripting system via the Scripts/bigpcrt library.
• The Core Native DLL Call (CDECL) functionality has been implemented into the Scripting API, so others can take the initiative to start implementing things like RetroAchievements as desired.
• Added native support for mouse input (must be enabled in input settings). Mouse movement and buttons can be mapped to analog, rotary, and digital inputs interchangeably.
• More work has been done behind the scenes on debugger-enabled builds, but this shouldn’t affect anything user-facing just yet.
• Even more terrible secrets have been added.

Rich Whitehouse is currently battling cancer and facing several hardships in his battle. One of his stumbling blocks is his use of social media, particularly Twitter, to reach out to interested audiences.

The disease has made it even more difficult for him to communicate with the community and share his experiences and projects. Despite these challenges, Rich Whitehouse continues to struggle and seek alternative ways to connect with interested audiences despite the difficulties he faces.

Anyone interested in helping Rich Whitehouse in his battle with cancer, or just for emotional support can reach out to him directly on Twitter or join the Patreon fundraiser .

Download: BigPEmu v1.06

Source: richwhitehouse.com