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Porting the newest version of Stella to the PSP.


RamrodHare

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I've been looking for a newer version of Stella for the PSP and haven't had any luck finding one. I don't know anything about what's involved in porting Stella to the PSP and doubt I'd be able to do it on my own. I know Stella for the PC is still being updated, but does anyone know if there is someone still working on porting it to the PSP or if there is someone with the skills and the free time to do so? If there's any documentation on how to do it, I'd be willing to give it a shot myself. The reason I'm so interested, is because I carry my PSP and use it as my main portable system, since it's able to emulate so many different consoles. I play 2600 games more than anything else, but some of my favorite games won't work on the latest PSP version of Stella which seems to be from 2009. Also, if you guys think I might have more luck on a dedicated PSP forum, I'd be willing to give that a shot, if anyone can recommend a good PSP site. :-D

Edited by RamrodHare
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I still use ZX-81's PSP2600 and, yeah, I guess it is from 2009. Wow.

 

I haven't tried any games that didn't work for it so maybe I've been lucky. It works well. When i find something that works well I just keep loading it! :)

That's what I'm using right now too. I've ran into probably 10 games that don't work. It wouldn't be much of an issue if it weren't that half of those were games I really love. :(

I know there's been a massive amount of progress made on Stella since then. So, if there was a way to just update PSP2600 to the newest version of Stella, compatibility would be a lot better for some of the homebrews made since 2009. I'm guessing there's a lot of work involved and that's the reason no one has done it yet.

 

It reminds me of the situation with the Gameboy Color emulators for PSP. The most sought after GBC game is Shantae, but every emulator has an issue with the graphics getting scrambled up when the screen changes. I feel like someone would have fixed that by now, but no one has. That makes me think there's something going on that must be pretty hard to fix. I can play Shantae on my Gameboy Micro, so it's not a big deal, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

I browsed through some PSP forums and some emulator forums last night looking to any info that might be helpful as far as PSP2600 updates or source code, but I came up empty handed. :_(

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Recent Stella support on 'older' devices depends on SDL2 (http://libsdl.org) being available on those devices. SDL2 was never ported to the PSP, so the chances of getting the latest Stella to run on these devices is slim.

 

That being said, even if SDL2 was available, the new features in Stella come with a cost; increased CPU usage. You won't notice it on a recent system (ie, something from the last 5 years), but on a handheld console that was never that powerful to begin with, the new code may be too much for it to handle.

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Some tests have shown that 400Mhz is the absolute bare minimum requirement, and this is only for simple ROMs. Anything advanced, like DPC+, CDF, etc (ie, all the new schemes that people would like to see) would be too slow even at 400Mhz. And once we get the new sound core ported, it's likely that CPU usage will take a hit again.

 

We will have very accurate emulation, but as with everything, it will come with a cost.

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For a few years there was a lot of work on various emus for the PSP, but that scene seems to have dried up.

 

Yeah - almost 100% positive that the PSP and emulators for it are static and no one is even considering working on more. Hell I still haven't figured out how to crack my Vita (haven't tried honestly) and I believe that development on that console is becoming stagnant as well.

 

Next big emulator system should be the Switch. I'd buy a 2nd one just to hack it. :)

Edited by ClassicGMR
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The PSP has been abandoned but emulation development on Android is going strong. I broke down and bought a GPD-XD last year. No hacking required, just load it up with current Android emulators and ROMs and its good to go. The GPD-XD is even capable of emulating the PSP, so it's a bit of a step up. Plus you can enjoy Netflix and every other Android media app you want.

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I love the PSP's emulation capabilities, but yeah I've accepted a long time ago that the way they stand, is pretty much the final way they're going to be. One development in recent times though, that kind of jacks the PSP up 1000% is the advent of cheap large capacity (e.g. 64Gb-128Gb) micro-SD cards, and the cheap adapters for the PSP to use them. Long gone are the days you would fork out $100 for a crappy 1 gig Pro-Duo card and then barely be able to put anything on it. :lol: Now you can stock entire game libraries easily along with dozens of native PSP titles. Yes obviously a lot of emulated games aren't exactly playable, but with the selection, who cares.

 

A PSP, along with a GBA of choice (stocked with an Everdrive) is a powerhouse handheld gaming team for any household offering thousands of games easily. I'd have to check out that GPD-XD as well.. looks great. The next best thing would be the Switch... but that hasn't happened yet. :)

Edited by NE146
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  • 1 year later...

PSP 2000 with CFW and 64GB micro SD card + adapter is still the way to go for retro emulation on a handheld. Android emulation sucks because of input lag; I have no issues with that on my trusty PSP. And GBA games seem to run fine for me, so I have no need of a GBA + Everdrive. I guess I'll have to live with not being able to play Space Rocks and a few other homebrews and ROM hacks on my PSP until Android emulation can be achieved with little-to-no input lag.

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