Mode 7 mod gives HD upgrade to SNES games through emulation

[Seraphic]

Came across an really interesting post by DerKoun on reddit. Using BSNES emulator allows you to enable an HD render of Mode7 games.
Below are a few samples I pulled from other users. Really awesome looking visual upgrade. Might something like this end up on the SuperNT or SD2SNES Pro?

Reddit Post
https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comm ... 71_beta_1/

Sample1:

Spoiler

Sample2:

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... VrzJ6Y1kjQ

Sample3

Spoiler

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compa ... n/EB9MNNNU

Sample4:

Spoiler

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compa ... n/EB9CNNNU

Sample5:

Spoiler

https://twitter.com/byuu_san/status/111 ... 3792458754

Mode 7 games include the titles:

F-Zero, Terranigma, Pilotwings, Yoshi's Safari, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, Super Castlevania IV, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, DinoCity, HyperZone, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, Super Metroid, the Super Robot Wars series, Super Star Wars, Chrono Trigger, ActRaiser, Exhaust Heat, Skyblazer, 7th Saga, Mega Man 7, Kirby Super Star, Axelay, SOS, NCAA Basketball, NHL Stanley Cup, Al Unser Jr.'s Road to the Top, Rendering Ranger: R2, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Zoku: The Legend of Bishin.

[Kez]

This looks awesome.

Don't think it would ever work on the SD2SNES, as the Mode 7 hardware is built into the SNES and has nothing to do with the cart. Super NT is a possibility but I wouldn't bet on it.

[spmbx]

Kudos for the modwork but this makes mariokart look like a soulless pc vesa highres shareware game from the 90s.

[maxtherabbit]

Kudos for the modwork but this makes mariokart look like a soulless pc vesa highres shareware game from the 90s.

pc vesa shareware games from the 90s kick ass

[Sumez]

This is pretty cool to see, but I think it's kind of funny that this is big news considering the biggest challenge for anyone making a SNES emulator has been doing the exact opposite of this

[orange808]

This is pretty cool to see, but I think it's kind of funny that this is big news considering the biggest challenge for anyone making a SNES emulator has been doing the exact opposite of this

Well, many of the best innovations in the doing "the opposite" came from byuu as well.

You know that, right?

[fernan1234]

Emulation does what FPGAdon't.

But seriously, this looks pretty neat, especially in motion. This would look like the stuff of dreams for the developers back in the 90s.

[Taiyaki]

To me this looks hideous, but it's nice for people who care for this kind of artificial improvement.

[mikejmoffitt]

Didn't Snes9x have this "feature"?

[Sumez]

Well, many of the best innovations in the doing "the opposite" came from byuu as well.

To be honest, this feature doesn't feel like a very "byuu" thing to do.

[orange808]

Didn't Snes9x have this "feature"?

Zsnes and Snes9x had Hi Res Mode 7, but I don't recall the results ever looking this good.

Well, many of the best innovations in the doing "the opposite" came from byuu as well.

To be honest, this feature doesn't feel like a very "byuu" thing to do.

I feel like byuu can't win. No matter what he does, someone is always on his case.

This feature obviously doesn't fit the Higan brand name, but that's why it's being added to BSNES.

I see Higan as a project for building accuracy and research. BSNES is great place to just build a fun emulator for people to use everyday and enjoy.

byuu can do both. I love extra toys like this.

----

Now, if we could just get beam racing in BSNES.

[Sumez]

I'm not really too up-to-date on his projects, but isn't bsnes just the SNES core of Higan?

I'm not "on his case" btw, just confused about this. Byuu is an absolute cornerstore in the dev side of classic consoles.

Now, if we could just get beam racing in BSNES.

Maybe I don't understand exactly what "racing the beam" represents, but is it something you can do on the SNES? You can time your code, but usually, you'd use HDMA for raster effects.
As I understand it, the implication of this would be cycle accurate CPU and PPU emulation, and to my knowledge BSNES already does that?

[Elrinth]

Pretty nifty!

I dunno but "Legend" maybe has some mode 7 aswell? The level map screen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw3PSVx_8LA

[orange808]

I'm not really too up-to-date on his projects, but isn't bsnes just the SNES core of Higan?

I'm not "on his case" btw, just confused about this. Byuu is an absolute cornerstore in the dev side of classic consoles.

BNES was revived to provide a high quality emulator that balances performance with resource demands.

Byuu obviously loves to play video games and wants to share the experience with the community.

Maybe I don't understand exactly what "racing the beam" represents, but is it something you can do on the SNES? You can time your code, but usually, you'd use HDMA for raster effects.
As I understand it, the implication of this would be cycle accurate CPU and PPU emulation, and to my knowledge BSNES already does that?

Not necessarily.

It depends on how many frame slices are implemented. All beam racing really does is start "drawing" the frame before the emulator's frame buffer is full. As long as the frame buffer updates stay ahead of the raster, there is no tearing.

As few as four frame slices could be implemented if timing is an issue. In theory, that would cut latency associated with the frame buffer by 75%.

The real problem is all the hard work of redesigning the video output.

[Sumez]

Ah, I thought you were referring to the actual emulation

[Seraphic]

Added a new link for Sample3. Pilotwings and F-Zero

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compa ... n/EB9MNNNU

[orange808]

Pilotwings really benefits from this technique. I always found the shimmering distracting.

[Hoagtech]

What do you think the processor and video requirements are to create a decent experience with BSNES?

I ask because I would love buy a mini PC that meets spec and install SNES low polling controller adpaters into the casing for a windows based Emulator console with frontend in a smaller form factor.

Also does anyone know if these are in fact available from Dragon Box?

Playing my carts and saves would be bliss

[Hoagtech]

What do you think the processor and video requirements are to create a decent experience with BSNES?

I ask because I would love buy a mini PC that meets spec and install SNES low polling controller adpaters into the casing for a windows based Emulator console with frontend in a smaller form factor.

Also does anyone know if these are in fact available from Dragon Box?

Playing my carts and saves would be bliss

I did a little research to answer my own question if anyone is also wondering what the reccomended specs are.

I am still confused.

Apparently BSNES turned into higan but then BSNES was taken over by Byuu which makes google reference both higan and BSNES.

BYUU claims that his emulator is quote: "300% faster (than higan) scanline-based, multi-threaded graphics renderer"

The only reccomended Specs i was able to find easily was for (higan) on a Reddit thread:

"Depends on how important accuracy is to you. Zsnes can run many games on a 300mhz processor and all compatible games on pretty much any PC you have lying around. Zsnes isn't very accurate but it gets the job done. Snes9x is much more accurate but works best with a 1ghz or faster CPU. I would recommend this for your 1.6 GHz dual core CPU. If you're upgrading anytime Higan (formerly called bsnes) Is the only 100% accurate, bug-free SNES emulator out there but its requirements are pretty hefty. 3GHz will play most games, but some games that made use of certain coprocessors (like Megaman X2 and X3 with the cx4 chip) need up to a 3.7GHz to run at full speed."

higan uses a single processing core. With hardware acceleration now being used to support high rez mode 7, Would a video card be recommended?

If anyone knows. I would love to hear what decent minimum pc build would be to support it.

So if 3ghz is reccomended for higan and BSNES is 300% faster. Where does that leave me with the added 3d effect. are p4 processors at 4ghz gonna work?