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NesterDC	
by Ken Friece
http://nesterdc.emulation64.com/

NesterDC is a port of nester (a NES emulator) for the Dreamcast 
console. It was developed using Libdream.

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Version 3
06-03-2001

New Features:
- The sound is close to 100% perfect.
- The game menu selection screen has been improved, but there is now a 
  limit of 2048 (with a 128 character limit per name) roms per cd.
- The menu's look much better now, thanks to the artwork of Dave 
  Arnold, who is also the webmaster of http://nesterdc.emulation64.com/
- Version 3 is noticably faster than Version 2.
- There are new frame skip options.
- If a game exists in the GAMES directory called GAME.NES, NesterDC 
  will skip all intro menu's and run that game. This will lead to 
  single game cd's that feel more like a real NES.
- The source code has been released.

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Version 2
03-13-2001

New Features:
- The sound is much better, but still not 100% perfect.
- Exit from a game to the main menu.
- Save game SaveRAM to a vmu.
- Save user settings to a vmu.
- Mapper 24 support from nester public beta 4. 

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Version 1			
02-20-2001
Initial Release

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Features:	
	- good speed
	- 2 player support
	- Sound
	- good mapper compatibility 
        - save support

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Burning instructions:
    	- the following website offers excellent burning 
      		instructions. If you follow these instructions, 
		simply place games in the /GAMES directory and 
		burn the image. 
		http://mc.pp.se/dc/cdr.html
		I created a copy_script.txt. This may help some
		peole burn the BIN images.

        *** Important: If you downloaded the bin files, you 
            MUST follow the instructions above to burn NesterDC.
            This involves doing the steps in the copy_script.txt. 
	    You cannot simply burn the files to a cd using Easy 
	    CD creator. It's just not that easy.*** 
	
    	- there will also be diskjuggler images available for 
		download. These images will require another CD 
		with games placed in a /GAMES directory. When 
		using a seperate games cd, wait until the emulator
		loads the main menu before putting in the GAMES 
		cd. The diskjuggler image was created with verion
		2.00.419. 

	- Things to try if the diskjuggler burn doesn't work.
		1.) A different version of diskjuggler (I have heard 
		    that some versions are not compatible with each 
		    other).
		2.) Burn at 1x.
		3.) Look for a different format image. Some burners 
		    don't get along well with diskjuggler.

NOTE: People that are not familiar with linux should use the disk 
juggler image. I have also seen Nero images floating around the 
web. You need a seperate games cd, but these are much easier for 
newbies to burn.

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Controller settings:
     	- NES DPAD	= DC DPAD
     	- NES start  	= DC start
     	- NES select 	= DC Y
     	- NES A 	= DC A or DC B
     	- NES B      	= DC X or DC A

	- Press the right and left triggers at the same time to 
	  exit from a game to the main menu.

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Options:
	- Frame skip : 	Range 0-4. 
				0 - display every frame
			        1 - display 2 frames, skip 1 frame
			      * 2 - display every other frame
				3 - display 2 frames, skip 2 frames
				4 - display 1 frame, skip 2 frames 
	- Adjust NES A and B Buttons.
			      *	[NES_B = DC_X] [NES_A = DC_A]
				[NES_B = DC_A] [NES_A = DC_B]
				[NES_B = DC_X] [NES_A = DC_B]
	- Toggle Sound 
			      	[OFF]
			      * [ON]
	- Toggle 1 / 2 Player Mode
			      *	1 Player 
				2 Players
	- Toggle Save Support
			      * [OFF]
				[ON]
	Note: The default option has a * before it.

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Notes on GAME.NES
	1.) If a game exists in the GAMES directory of NesterDC called 
            GAME.NES, NesterDC will skip all intro menu's and run that 
	    game. This will lead to single game cd's that feel more 
 	    like a real NES.
	Limitations:
	1.) Saving. NesterDC cannot differentiate between two different
	    games that are both named GAME.NES. It will save one just 
	    fine, but beware when mixing saves from different GAME.NES 
	    games. An easy way around this problem is to remove your
	    memory card for games that don't need to be saved. I am 
	    looking into other ways to implement saving with GAME.NES.

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Notes on saving:
	1.) Enable saving at your own risk. This was tested with 
	    Sega vmu's. It may work with other memory cards, but 
	    I don't know that for sure. Do not try to use memory 
	    cards with your good saves on them! I don't want to 
	    have anyone email me and say their Phantasy Star save
	    was erased by NesterDC. I coded defensively, but I 
	    had limited time to test. You have been warned...
        2.) Only the memory card in the first controller is used.
	3.) Each game save takes up 18 blocks. The user settings 
	    save takes up 2 blocks.
	4.) When the save option is on, user settings will be 
	    saved to the vmu and loaded the next time NesterDC
      	    is started.
	5.) Game saves occur when the save option is on, and the 
	    user exits a game to the main menu. The save will 
	    load the next time the game is selected.
	6.) Some games that don't have SaveRAM are being saved. 
	    I am not sure how to fix this, and it is better than 
	    the alternative (not saving some games with SaveRAM).
	    It would be wise to turn save support off when playing
	    a lot of different games that don't need to be saved.
	7.) The time is incorrect when viewing the save in memory
	    card manager. It shows 09/13/2036 19:24. I would rather 
	    add in other features than spend effort on getting the 
	    time correct here. It isn't hurting anything.
	8.) There is no picture for the save in the memory card 
	    manager. 
	9.) I plan on adding the ability to save any game at any 
	    time in the next version.

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Possible future improvements:
   
     	- improved compatibility.
     	- faster.
	- SNSS save support.

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I would like to thank the following people for their great work:

Darren Ranalli 	-- The author of nester.
Mathew Conte    -- The author of fast NES6502 and NES APU C cores.
Dan Potter 	-- The author of libdream.
Jordan DeLong 	-- The author of libdream.
Marcus Comstedt -- Lots of info on the Dreamcast, and many 
		   incredibly useful programs.
Groepaz/Hitmen 	-- A SH4 GCC setup guide.
tubooboo 	-- A C++ SH4 GCC setup guide. 
Jules		-- A development site that has all of the latest 
		   development tools.
David Arnold    -- For his work on NesterDC menu's, and the website.
dcdev board     -- For currently being so active. There is a lot 
 		   of great info being exchanged on the board, and 
		   the quality of homebrew programs is increasing 
		   rapidly because of it.
everyone who 
worked on the 
dc_tonic cd     -- I was blown away when I saw the work you
		   guys did. Very cool... 

A special thanks goes out to Marcus Comstedt and Christopher Van 
Beek for giving me some sound pointers.

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Recommended Dreamcast / NES development sites:

http://nester.dranalli.com/
http://nesdev.parodius.com/
http://mc.pp.se/dc/index.html
http://dcdev.allusion.net/
http://www.ngine.de/
http://www.inode.at/hitmen/hitdc/index.html
http://www.julesdcdev.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dcdev/

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"Sega" and "Dreamcast" are registered trademarks of Sega Enterprises, Ltd.

"Nintendo" , "Nintendo Entertainment System", and "NES" are registered 
trademarks of Nintendo of America. 

Use this software at your own risk. I am not responsible for any 
damage or loss caused by the use of this software.

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If you have a question about burning or other things, please make 
an effort to find the answer before emailing me. I don't mind 
answering questions, but the "how do I change directories in cygwin"
types of questions are getting old.

contact info: nesterdc@yahoo.com

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The Dreamcast won't die anytime soon...