NEStron 0.6.5b
8-bit NES emulator for Windows 95+
Copyright © 2002, JoshMan
"Didn’t you learn anything from that guy who gives sermons at church?
Captain what’s-his-name?"
Introduction
NEStron is an NES emulator designed for Windows to allow users to play NES games on their PCs. It is coded in C++/assembly and runs quite fast in comparison with other emulators currently available. To run it, you need a Windows-based system with DirectX 7, a decent video card, a decent sound card, and a decent processor.
What’s New
See WhatsNew.txt
Games/ROMs
In order to use NEStron, you must load a NES ROM into it. ROMs are dumps of NES cartridge data stored in a file. Do not e-mail me to ask where to find ROMS. I won’t help you.
Usage
For those new to emulation, using NEStron might be confusing. In this section we will learn the different features NEStron provides, and how to use them.
The File Menu –
The File menu contains commands relating to ROM management.
Allows you to browse for a ROM file, then opens the selected ROM.Open –
Close – Closes a ROM (unloads it from memory and saves any battery-backed data) that may be currently open.
Recent ROMs – This is a list of the last 10 filenames the user has selected using the "open" menu option.
Recent Folders - This is a list of the last 10 folders the user has browsed to using the "open" menu option.
NES Movie - see Movies.
The Emulation Menu –
The Emulation menu contains commands and options relating to NEStron’s emulation
Reset – Performs the same task as pushing the RESET button on your NES system.
Pause – Pauses/Unpauses NEStron’s emulation.
Advance Frame – Executes 1 frame of emulation (1/60 second)
Speed Sync Mode - Allows the user to select the mode of emulation. NTSC is the speed of American NES systems, PAL is the speed of European NES systems.
Save State – Saves the state of NEStron’s emulation.
Load State – Loads the state of NEStron’s emulation.
Save Slot – Allows the user to select from 10 different savestate slots (for each ROM).
Push/Pop savestate slot – Increments the current savestate slot by one on a save state, and decrements the current savestate slot by one on a load state.
The Options Menu –
The Options menu contains commands and options relating to the multimedia aspect of NEStron, such as the graphics, sound, and input.
The Graphics Submenu
Enable Background/Sprites – These options allow the user to enable/disable the background/sprites respectively.
Graphical Preferences – Displays the graphical preferences dialog box (see Dialog Boxes)
Single/Double/Triple window size – Resizes NEStron’s window. All sizes are factors of the actual NES video buffer size.
Widescreen Mode – Horizontally stretches NEStron’s window to emulate the stretched effect of a television set.
Fullscreen – Toggles between fullscreen and windowed video mode.
Limit 8 sprites per scanline – This limitation, found on a real NES, allows a maximum of 8 sprites to be displayed on a single scanline.
Enable NTSC Viewport – Hides the upper/lower 8 scanlines to emulate the effect of an NTSC (American) television set.
Color Palettes – Allows the user to choose between Matt Conte’s color palette, Nesticle’s color palette, or browse for a color palette file.
The Sound Submenu
Enable Sound – Toggles sound on/off. Disabling sound is a good way to gain speed on slow systems.
Stereo Sound - Enables/disables stereo sound mode. Stereo sound mode usually sounds a lot different than in Monaural mode, but for the majority of games actually sounds a lot better.
Sound Preferences – Displays the audio preferences dialog box (see Dialog Boxes)
Sound Channels – The next 5 menu options allow you to disable particular NES sound channels.
The Input Submenu
Player 1/Player 2 Controls – Displays the Input Dialog Box for player 1/player 2 respectively.
Enable GUI Snow – Toggles the snow effect shown in the GUI. Users with low video memory should disable GUI snow.
Dialog Boxes
This allows you to select a resolution/color depth to switch to when NEStron runs in fullscreen mode.The Graphical Preferences Dialog Box –
Fullscreen Video Mode –
Fullscreen Stretch Mode - This mode allows you to select the method NEStron will use to stretch the emulation buffer to the screen.
Hardware Stretch - NEStron will force the user's video card to stretch the buffer to the screen. This option is the least processor intensive, and unless you have a really crappy video card, it will run the fastest.
Pixel Resize - NEStron will manually stretch the buffer by enlarging each pixel.
Interpolation - NEStron will "blur" the image to make it look less "jagged" or" pixelated". This stretch method requires some extra processor power to run at full speed.
SmartScaling - This method is the most visually appealing stretch method, but it is also the most processor intensive. It smooths out the pixelated look of the NES graphics by recognizing color patterns in the video buffer and plotting new pixels based on these patterns.
25%/50%/75%/Full Scanlines - This method emulates the scanline effect found on most TV's.
LED Display - Gives the graphics an LED "scoreboard" look. Why would you have any use for this? I have no idea....
Integral Scaling – When stretching and enabling aspect ratio, NEStron’s emulation buffer will be stretched evenly (1x, 2x, 3x, etc.)
Stretch – NEStron will stretch the emulation video buffer to fit the screen.
Always Maintain Aspect Ratio on Stretch – NEStron will never stretch the height and width of the emulation video buffer by different factors.
Enable Vsync – Syncs NEStron’s display the vertical refresh of your monitor. Uncheck this if there are any graphical/sound problems.
The Audio Preferences Dialog Box –
Sound Frequency – Allows the user to select the frequency of the emulation audio buffer. A higher frequency will sound better but is slower than a lower frequency. Lowering the frequency will speed up NEStron on slow systems.
Buffer Latency – Setting this value higher will make NEStron's sound
The Controller Settings Dialog Box –
Additional Input Device – Allows the user to enable a joystick/game controller device that is currently attached to the computer. Reading from a joystick slows gameplay down on slow systems.
Plugged In – When this is unchecked, NEStron acts as if there is not a controller connected to a particular port.
Turbo Speed - Select the speed of NEStron's turbo-fire. Setting this to 10 Hz will probably work well with most games.
The Default Controls for Player 1:
NES -> PC
Up -> Keyboard Up
Down -> Keyboard Down
Left -> Keyboard Left
Right -> Keyboard Right
A -> Keyboard x
B -> Keyboard z
Start -> Keyboard Enter
Select -> Keyboard Right Shift
Turbo A -> Keyboard s
Turbo B -> Keyboard a
To enable Fast Forward Mode, hold down the '~' key.
Movies
NEStron can record your gameplay into an NES Movie File which can then be played back at a later time. While a movie is playing/recording, many emulation features become unusable, such as savestate, reset, and controller configuration.
To record a movie - Open the desired ROM in NEStron. Once it is open, you may begin recording at any time by selecting "File->NES Movie->Record" from the menu. Once you begin recording, NEStron will begin logging player 1 and player 2 input. Because NES Movies can only achieve a maximum file size of 4 megabytes, Recording will automatically stop approximately 9.7 hours into gameplay. Once the user selects "stop" from the NES Movie menu, NEStron creates and saves the NES Movie file. If no player 2 input has been received since the initiation of the recording, Player 2 input is not saved, thus cutting the total file size in half. It is strongly recommended that the user unchecks the "plugged in" status of the player 2 input dialog unless he/she is planning on recording a 2-player game.
To play a movie - Open the ROM that the desired NES Movie was recorded under. NEStron will not allow the user to play an NES movie in a ROM it was not recorded in. Once the ROM is open, Select "File->NES Movie->Play" from the menu. Browse for the desired NES Movie and select "open". NEStron will begin playing the Movie. To stop the movie, select "File->NES Movie->Stop". NEStron will then give the user control of player 1 and 2 input. If a movie is played to the end, NEStron will automatically stop the playback and the user will gain control of the input.
Because human reaction time is so incredibly slow, NES Movies, when zipped, can be compressed to less than 10% of their original file size.
Game Genie
Note: Game Genie Mode is currently in beta stages.
NEStron can accept Game Genie codes, which are used to "hack" into the game and enable cheating. To access the game genie console, click the "Cheats->Game Genie..." menu options.
Cheat Title - This is a description of the new code reserved for the user. NEStron disregards this information when processing cheat codes. This is just so the user can keep track of which code does what operation. For example, you could enter "Infinite Lives" or "Infinite Energy" here. You could also omit this section, but doing this would make keeping track of each code much more difficult.
Game Genie Code - This is the actual game genie code itself. NEStron can accept 6-letter or 8-letter game genie codes. Enter the codes in all caps, with no extra characters (spaces, etc.)
Take Note
If NEStron’s sound seems to skip frequently, make sure you disable any programs running in the background of Windows. RealPlayer is known to make NEStron skip on some systems.
Contact Info
Author: JoshMan
Web: nestron.emuunlim.com
E-mail: joshman@emuunlim.com