Gens for Linux ubuntu package

[megamaced]

Gens is a Sega Megadrive (Genesis), 32x and MegaCD emulator.

Information in this post is out of date and links probably don't work. Please use Gens/GS

http://info.sonicretro.org/Gens/GS





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Packages:
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Gens/GS 2.15.5 M5

Gens/GS is a version of Gens for Linux maintained by GerbilSoft. The main goal of Gens/GS is to clean up the source code and combine features from various forks of Gens.

For Hardy Heron (Intrepid)
http://info.sonicretro.org/images/a/a9/Gens-2.15.5-gs-m5-1_i386.deb
For Suse, Fedora, Mandriva
http://www.zshare.net/download/50439696022b92a5/
Source
http://info.sonicretro.org/images/6/6c/Gens-2.15.5-gs-m5.tar.gz
Website
http://info.sonicretro.org/Gens/GS
Forum Thread
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=959074

Gens 2.15.5

Built from the offical Gens for Linux CVS tree. Features include integrated GTK interface & openGL support. Use this package if you want to run the "official" Gens.

For Hardy Heron (Intrepid)
http://www.zshare.net/download/20011849e53d2280/
For Dapper Drake (Edgy, Feisty, Gutsy)
http://www.zshare.net/download/20011749ecd028fe/
For Suse, Fedora, Mandriva
http://www.zshare.net/download/2001200202565a76/
Source
http://www.zshare.net/download/20011662a458fbbf/

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How to install:
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1) Download the Gens package

2) Double click the file and choose "Install Package"

or

Open a terminal and type

sudo dpkg -i gens_*.deb

To uninstall, type:

sudo aptitude remove gens

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News:
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UPDATE: 05/10/08

Gens 2.15.5 released!

A bug fix release, fixing various issues with the GUI enabling / disabling options. The new feature for this release is internal save state for SCD games. Thanks to ilguido for the patch.

UPDATE: 01/09/08

Gens 2.15.4 released!

This is a good release for ATi users. You can now enjoy openGL support!

[ 1488458 ] opengl: optimization for ati card

UPDATE: 24/08/08

Gens 2.15.3 released!

[ 1923815 ] Fix startup crash

UPDATE: 20/06/08

Gens 2.15.2 released!

The Gens available here is no longer a fork. Thats the big news for this release. I have merged all the patches that are used in Gens 2.15.2 upstream to CVS.

Big thanks to ilGuido for adding an option to choose your CD-ROM drive (Options > Current CD Drive). Thats the big feature for this release.

If anyone wants to submit a patch, you can use the Gens sourceforge page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/gens/

As always, keep hacking!

UPDATE: 09/06/08

No the new package does not offer anything thats already currently available. Its simply a version bump to stop confusion with other packages labelled version 2.14

UPDATE: 07/06/08

New package uploaded! The big news is that Gens now supports real MegaCD / SegaCD CD-ROMs. Gens assumes that your CD-ROM is mapped to dev/hdc, but you could create a symlink if its not. Thanks to ilGuido for the patch

UPDATE: 19/05/08

I've uploaded a new version of Gens for you all, albeit unofficial in that it strays from CVS. The changelog is at the bottom of this post

UPDATE: 26/04/08

The Hardy Heron package is here but unfortunately Gens CVS just segfaults for me. Even the Gutsy package segfaults with Hardy. This could be a major incompatibility issue between Gens and the Hardy libraries should this issue not just be isolated to me.. At this point I suppose we should all be crying out to programmers to kick-start the Gens development again!

PS. The Gens stable package is OK with Hardy

UPDATE: 08/03/08

Unfortunately Wryun, our Gens guru, is currently unable to devote much time to coding these days. Rather then let Gens go unmaintained again, I am calling out for developers to pick up where Wryun left off. For those who want to code, the priorities to fix are:

- add the ATI patch in

- clean up joystick support
- work out what's going on with the GUI updates, and put the OpenGL option into the Glade files
- fall back properly to no OpenGL when OpenGL fails
- rework the config files parsing (it's kinda ugly, and more significantly relies on unique chars which potentially conflict with things in filenames. I changed from [] to *? for this reason).
- work out why it loses the plot sometimes on fullscreen/window switch

Enhancements:
- XVideo support for those whose OpenGL isn't working - see the latest generator source
- J-Cart support - one of the recent console emulator releases has it, can't remember which (PSP?)
- run all the files through a code beautifier so the indentation/style gets half-way consistent (didn't do it myself because it would make the repository a mess of changes; wanted to wait until the basic patches were in and 2.13 was something stable)
- rewrite the terrifying joystick code

UPDATE: 08/11/07

Finally got around to compiling Gens CVS 20070625 with the Gutsy libraries. You can find the Gutsy package in the downloads section of this post. As for an altogether new CVS package, well you will have to harass Wryun for that!

UPDATE: 29/06/07

Several users have been reporting crashes in the new Gens CVS package (cvs20070625). The package was built in an Dapper Drake environment and this might be causing problems for Feisty Fawn users. I have now re-packaged Gens in an Feisty environment and maybe this will solve the problems. You can find the updated packages in the "Packages" section of this thread

Note that you need openGL support to run Gens CVS.

UPDATE: 25/06/07

Gens-2.13-cvs20070625 released!

Okay people, time to get excited! The first glimpse of Wryun's work is upon us!! I have made a package of the latest snapshot in CVS. Be aware that it may contain bugs and should be considered unstable until Wryun releases the final product.

UPDATE: 14/06/07

Great news! Gens is being actively maintained again and we can expect a new version in the coming weeks! An alpha build will be released soon, followed by a stable 2.13. Ubuntuforums member wryun is responsible for the new work being carried out, and we thank him for his contributions! I'll be packaging the new version(s) so be sure to check back here!

UPDATE: 16/05/07

Gens-2.12b released!

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Changelog:
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## gens-2.15.5
- [ 2138114 ] fix the bugs of the gui (by ilguido)

## gens-2.15.4
- [ 1488458 ] opengl: optimization for ati card (by nbondoux)

## gens-2.15.3
- [ 1923815 ] Fix startup crash (by Mark Schreiber)

## gens-2.15.2
- New CD-ROM drive chooser (by ilGuido)

## gens-2.15.1
- Version bump to stop confusion with the Gens 2.14 linux package
- No other changes

## gens-patched20080606 changes
- CD-ROM support (assumes /dev/hdc). (by ilGuido)

## gens-patched20080519 changes
- Fixed segfault on startup. (by MonkeeSage)
- Set OpenGL mode default to off, since it's crashprone if you don't have
the proper bpp selected (and sometimes even if you do). (by garron)
- The Pause button on the keyboard pauses emulation. Same as Escape, but
Escape also quits the game when gens is started with --quickexit.Ideally
these should all be remappable, but that has to wait for another day.(by garron)
- Add a listing for --quickexit to gens --help. (by garron)

## gens-cvs20070625 changes
- ROM window now integrates with main interface
- Full command line options now implemented
- OpenGL turned on by default
- Better joypad support
- Tons of other undocumented improvements!

## gens-2.12b changes
- Open ROM dialog box remembers last used directory
- Source code now compiles using gcc4

## gens-2-12a changes
- Rebuilt using proper Debian way; no more checkinstall :)

- Changed package naming scheme
- Dependency list now included

[anti-trend]

Disclaimer: I am not an Ubuntu user; I'm running Debian 'Etch'.

But this package worked perfectly for me, both installing and removing with apt, along with the k-menu entry. If nothing else, this proves baseline Debian compatibility.

Good job dude,
-AT

[zcal]

I'm using Dapper and the package installed perfectly, though it would not open with the GUI installer when I tried. Haven't tried uninstalling it yet as I'm still trying to work out my issues with the emulator, which you can look at here (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1713241#post1713241).

[profshiny]

Thank you very much for this. I'm on 6.06, and it works for me. I've only tried Shining Force so far, but I'll test some others and get back to you.

Few minutes later, I've tried a few more games. This runs smoother than Gens on my XP install. The 32x games run perfectly as well(but are, unfortunately, still 32x games,) and hopefully I'll find some of my old Sega CDs soon to try that out. The only hitch I've found so far is that, when I tried 48khz sound, the emu spat out a godawful noise, but 22khz (default) and 44khz (what I generally use anyway) work fine.

Okay, last edit, I promise. It won't let me select or configure a CD rive, so it won't try to play CDs. I don't have any .isos around, so I can't test those. If anyone sees a reason why, I'd sure appreciate the feedback.

I lied, it plays CDs, you just have to hit ctrl+b. Durr.

[Sethiano]

This worked like a charm!

Many thanks! I have struggled to get Gens to work for a long time now.

[megamaced]

Good to hear it's working for most people.

I find it strange that the ubuntu repositories have Zsnes and vbaexpress, but don't have a Sega emulator as well. Okay, well they have DGen, but that sucks :D

[jm2003uk]

Just installed it and is working brilliantly. Tried DGen a while ago but wasn't impressed. Glad to have stumbled across this.

[hikaricore]

Oh gawd now I have to dig toejam and earl out of my backup archives on the external hard drive. hehe

Thanks for sharing. :)

[Chrono86]

That package worked great!

Now for one minor problem...whenever I try to change the resolution Gens just quits...here's what bash says:

The program 'gens' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'GLXBadContextTag'.
(Details: serial 1990 error_code 158 request_code 148 minor_code 144)
(Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)


But if I run it with the --sync flag it doesn't tell me any more...anybody else having this problem?

[Frem]

Very, very nice.
There was an occasional half second pause when switching between levels in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but nothing that interfered with gameplay. Also, the colors seemed slightly flat when running in windowed mode. But fullscreen is Where It's At anyway, so I'm not complaining.

[megamaced]

It's possible to get Gens running on very old hardware with a bit of tweaking. I've got it running perfect full screen on an old P2 laptop with no direct rendering. For older hardware it's best to disable OpenGL in Gens and change the frame skip from 'auto' to '3' or '4'.

[narceron]

NEWBIE ALERT

Where should I extract it to?

[megamaced]

You can extract the zip archive wherever you want to. The Gens installer is in the zip archive.

[TheRingmaster]

could you make a .deb for the xe-emulator?

http://www.xe-emulator.com/

[TheRingmaster]

I get this error

petey@Data:~$ sudo -i
root@Data:~# dpkg -i gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb
dpkg: error processing gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb (--install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb
root@Data:~#

[NESFreak]

I get this error

my system denies it's existence to

NESFreak

[bebop_tango]

It seems the package is corrupted...

[LinuxSince92]

It installs fine but I can't use the emu because of a missing lib. If anyone out there knows where to find libpangocairo-1.0.so.0 please let me know where to find it. I've been looking for it for a little while. :confused: ](*,)

[megamaced]

Try:

sudo apt-get install libpango1.0-0

[megamaced]

I get this error

my system denies it's existence to

NESFreak

It seems the package is corrupted...

I downloaded the package myself and got the 'No such file or directory' error. Strange because the version I have stored on my hard drive doesn't do that. It seems as if the package became corrupt on the Ubuntu servers somehow. Anyway I have removed it and uploaded it again. Should be OK now, let me know.

[Mike'sHardLinux]

Works for me in Edgy. Thanks!

[bebop_tango]

The zip archive is fine, but I still cannot open the .deb package.

:-k

[IronMan7491]

Works great. Thank you very much!

[NESFreak]

I downloaded the package myself and got the 'No such file or directory' error. Strange because the version I have stored on my hard drive doesn't do that. It seems as if the package became corrupt on the Ubuntu servers somehow. Anyway I have removed it and uploaded it again. Should be OK now, let me know.

alternative server?

NESFreak

[d3x7r0]

The emulator looks fine but the sound keeps slowing down like the computer can't handle it :? I have an Audigy 4 on a Pentium 4 3.06GHz so I don't think the computer is to blame... And I really wanted to play those good ol' sonic games... :(

[sharperguy]

Works perfectly w/o beryl, but no netplay :( - grayed out

[cookfromfrozen]

Either the zip or deb is corrupted at the mo, not working here.

[sharperguy]

install it with "dpkg -i" instead of gdebi graphical installer and it should work

[bebop_tango]

It finally worked!

:D

Well, I tried to install it with "dpkg -i" before and it didn't work... this time it did.

I was using an old rpm package converted with alien. The sound was buggy - it couldn't run full speed at 60fps.

But now with opengl support it runs wonderful!

:D

[megamaced]

I've removed the Gens package from the Ubuntu forums and uploaded it to ZShare instead. The link to the package is in the first post and here as well (http://www.zshare.net/download/gensforlinux_3-5rc-1_i386-deb.html). Hopefully this will bring an end to the corrupt package problems that some users have been experiencing. :)

[leech]

What would be nice is if we could get the package in Universe or Multiverse. Just an apt-get install gens away.

Leech

[NESFreak]

I've removed the Gens package from the Ubuntu forums and uploaded it to ZShare instead. The link to the package is in the first post and here as well (http://www.zshare.net/download/gensforlinux_3-5rc-1_i386-deb.html). Hopefully this will bring an end to the corrupt package problems that some users have been experiencing. :)

tnx now it works.
btw added the package to MOTU/Packages/Candidates as a request

NESFreak

[megamaced]

btw added the package to MOTU/Packages/Candidates as a request

The package isn't finished yet! I need to configure the dependencies first :p

[cborga1985]

It even works on amd64. Just do
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb
Reminder Doing this often can be dangerous but I think it's safe to do with this.

[psyke83]

could you make a .deb for the xe-emulator?

http://www.xe-emulator.com/

Here you go:
http://www.zshare.net/download/xe_06-11-01-1_i386-deb.html

Nice emulator, but desperately needs opengl or xv support :)

[TheRingmaster]

Here you go:
http://www.zshare.net/download/xe_06-11-01-1_i386-deb.html

Nice emulator, but desperately needs opengl or xv support :)
thanks again for this

[psyke83]

Hi,

I've updated the gensforlinux 3.5rc package, adding a fix that allows the File Open dialog to remember the last visited directory (instead of defaulting to ~/.gens every time). I have also attached the newer "rc4" from cvs, but on my system I have noted stuttering sound despite the same video fps as the older version.

Version 4rc: http://www.zshare.net/download/gensforlinux_4rc_cvs-1_i386-deb.html
Version 3.5rc_fix: http://www.zshare.net/download/gensforlinux_3-5rc_fix-1_i386-deb.html

Enjoy!

[Charlie51]

Can anyone get their joypad to work with this?

I can redefine the keys but they don't work?

[Valinski]

Works great! Thx for the package. I was having trouble with the source code stuff but that was quick and easy. cheers

[rolando2424]

SWEET MOTHER ALL THAT IS WORTH EXISTING...

THIS ROCKS!

Edgy install, and it's working perfectly :D

[megamaced]

I have also attached the newer "rc4" from cvs, but on my system I have noted stuttering sound despite the same video fps as the older version.

Can you tell me where you found the 'RC4' source code? I was under the impression that 'RC3.5' is an unofficial build and is the latest release so far? Does RC4 include OpenGL?

Thanks

[psyke83]

Can you tell me where you found the 'RC4' source code? I was under the impression that 'RC3.5' is an unofficial build and is the latest release so far? Does RC4 include OpenGL?

I got it from here: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages/gens-cvs/
Also, I believe this is the same (webcvs): http://gens.cvs.sourceforge.net/gens/Gens-MultiPlatform/linux/

The "Open Rom" dialog fix is from member KingFisher's post on Gentoo Forums here: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-204287-postdays-0-postorder-asc-start-75.html

I haven't compared the code of RC3.5 to RC4 in depth, but to my recollection it appeared that RC4 is based on RC3.5, and OpenGL support is included.

Regards,
psyke83

[sub7]

Will this ever be available in amd64?

[wryun]

I think the reason why some people are getting stuttering (at least on auto frame skip) is that the Linux Gens version has no auto frame-skip implemented if sound is enabled. That means setting frame skip to Auto is basically like setting it to 0. So, if ever your computer can't handle a frame in the audio time, it's all over (crackle).

Having said that, I'm surprised that so many people have this issue, but it's certainly a problem on my Celeron 300 (overclocked to 450!) ;)

Anyway, I hacked together a few lines to 'fix' it as long as the required frameskip is less than 2, at the cost of the audio being very slightly out of sync (I don't care about it, you can't tell - purists can hate me now). I'm feeling lazy, though, so someone will have to want it for me to post it.

PS For Debian users like me - that package won't work on anything except experimental at the moment, since it requires GLIB_2.4.

[jon_benge]

This is geat! Thanks

[disturbedite]

i don't mean to revive an old thread but...
i've gotten permission (and encouragement) from the maintainer/author of gens32 (for windows) to port it to linux. imho, at least on windows, gens32 is the best genesis/md/32x emulator there is. (unfortunately, neither gens or gens32 run with wine). he gave me the source code, the only problem is, i have no experience compiling assembly.

i have nasm installed. (feel free to recommend any other asm compiler). could someone here who has experience compiling asm provide a tutorial for compiling gens?

or if that would be too tedious/difficult, i could send someone the source and they could upload the deb package for the rest of us to try out. (i'd also prefer a tar package for a general linux binary/executable, so the author can post it on his site obviously).

thanks

EDIT: nvm, i found this (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=166980).

[ViperKnight]

I'm on an AMD64 system and this deb isn't working for me:(

It installs fine but when I try to run it I get this in the terminal:
gens: error while loading shared libraries: libSDL-1.2.so.0: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64


I have libSDL and all other dependencies installed.....but I think it has something more to do with using a 64bit version instead of the 32bit files. Any ideas?

[dannyboy2k]

When I do this:

dpkg -i gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb


I get this message:

dpkg: error processing gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb (--install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb


When I do this:

gdebi gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb

I get this:

/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/apt/__init__.py:17: FutureWarning: apt API not stable yet
warnings.warn("apt API not stable yet", FutureWarning)
gdebi error, file not found: gensforlinux_3.5rc-1_i386.deb


What?

I'm a bit of a newbie. Running Edgy.

Can anybody help me?

[megamaced]

I've rebuilt the package. Download and install the new version instead :)

[disturbedite]

thanks so much for the release megamaced! i checked the about dialog, and even tho you said its based on 2.12a it still says 2.12-rc3, is that the same release, or has it just not been updated in the dialog box?

isn't gens as an organized project dead? it is afaict. i've checked the gens site, forums, and sourceforge site and can't find anything more than a couple years old. anyone feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, but it appears that gens as an organized project is dead and only survives through random ppl making patches.... at least its not entirely dead in that manner.

(gens and gens32 don't run under wine, they throw a directx error: Oops... Error with lpDD_Back->SetSurfaceDesc).

i am an acquaintance of the developer of gens32 (http://gens32.emubase.de/), which is a HUGE improvement over gens, but unfortunately, its only for windows. i contacted him over im to inquire about creating a linux port, and he encouraged me and sent me the source. i then noticed it didn't contain any make files or config files and he doesn't have any linux experience so...
i finally made a little headway in getting some info out of him about it recently...
he told me that gens32 is currently being developed with msvc2005. that made my stomach turn. so this brings me to my question.
is there a way to port it to linux being that its a vc2005 project? my guess is no.
but...i did strike up the subject of how we (him & i) could go about creating a linux port and he said we'd basically have to recreate the project (obviously based on the win port/version) for use with other compilers. thats about the current state of affairs as far as gens32 is concerned.

anyone that would be willing to help please contact me or him via the gens32 forum or email him.

[megamaced]

As far as I am aware, the Linux port for Gens hasn't been maintained in a long time. They may be waiting for a new release of Gens for Windows, which if I understand correctly, is undergoing a complete re-write. On the other hand, perhaps they got bored and left it for dead

The version of Gens I've packaged is an unofficial build that contains OpenGL support. Basically it's just a patched version of the official build. I think it was only ever a 'one-off' though as the author has also dispanded this project (from what I can tell).

To be perfectly honest with you, somebody should fork this OpenGL version of Gens for Linux and build a new community around it. It would be much easier using it as the building blocks for a new Gens, rather then starting from scratch with Gens32. I don't have programming experience so I don't know for sure.
If you can get a team around you then I'll be more then happy to contribute! Like I said, I don't have programming skills but I know how to build a decent Debian / Ubuntu package :)

Let me know

[disturbedite]

thanks for the response. i think you're prolly right that forking this version with opengl support would be easier than basically recreating gens32. i don't have programming experience either, but i can/could take care of much of the rest. the only experience i have creating deb packages is with checkinstall, i've done that a lot, but understand that it isn't the preferable way of creating/maintaining a debian package. so if you have experience creating them the proper way, your skills woud be valuable.

i'm not sure about how to generate interest in a new gens-based project. i guess i'll post a new thread about it.

[D--]

Hi,

I've updated the gensforlinux 3.5rc package, adding a fix that allows the File Open dialog to remember the last visited directory (instead of defaulting to ~/.gens every time). I have also attached the newer "rc4" from cvs, but on my system I have noted stuttering sound despite the same video fps as the older version.

Version 4rc: http://www.zshare.net/download/gensforlinux_4rc_cvs-1_i386-deb.html
Version 3.5rc_fix: http://www.zshare.net/download/gensforlinux_3-5rc_fix-1_i386-deb.html

Enjoy!

Does anyone have these files? ZSHARE is dead right now (10:35 AM China time, March 24). I had someone in the USA try too, just in case it was the Great Firewall blocking me. It's not.

[megamaced]

They appear to be working now

[Benshiro]

For anyone on AMD64 getting libSDL error messages:
Despite installing all the compatibility libraries and updating libSDL, I found I had to manually retrieve the 32 bit version of libSDL-1.2.so.0 in order to get gens to work on my AMD64. Simply unpack the rpm from here http://rpm2html.osmirror.nl/libSDL-1.2.so.0.html and copy libSDL-1.2.so.0 to /usr/lib32/. Other than --force-architecture for the install this is all I had to do to get it running.
I'm pretty clueless as to how this stuff works, just thought I'd put this out there in case anyone has had a similar problem.
Finally I can play Bare Knuckle again!

[D--]

Thanks, I got it when it came back up.

WOW! What a difference.

The one in the Ubuntu sources was running with skipping at a solid 2GHz on my PC. What a brutal beating :( This one runs beautifully even at 800MHz.

[megamaced]

The one in the Ubuntu sources was running with skipping at a solid 2GHz on my PC. What a brutal beating :(

Are you refering to DGen? That emulator hasn't been updated in years. In fact, I think it's totally abandoned now. I never got it to work properly anyway

[HeXy]

thanks very much for this :D

[D--]

Are you refering to DGen? That emulator hasn't been updated in years. In fact, I think it's totally abandoned now. I never got it to work properly anyway

No. There was an old old old Gens version in the Ubuntu repositories. Not sure if it was Multiverse or Universe or what. I had to remove it with Synaptic before installing yours.

Again, kickass job.

[bhuthogg]

hi there this works for me but when i shift between full and windowd mode it freezes my ubuntu (had to power down) is there a 2.14 ver ?

[megamaced]

As far as I know, Gens 2.12a is the latest version for Linux. I don't think anyone is maintaining the project anymore.

I can't replicate your full screen issues. I've tested Gens on Dapper, Edgy and Feisty and I've not experienced any problems. Maybe you are running Compiz / Beryl or have altered something with your system?

[bhuthogg]

As far as I know, Gens 2.12a is the latest version for Linux. I don't think anyone is maintaining the project anymore.

I can't replicate your full screen issues. I've tested Gens on Dapper, Edgy and Feisty and I've not experienced any problems. Maybe you are running Compiz / Beryl or have altered something with your system?

thanks for your reply,

to be honest i have just started playing with ubuntu. but haven't altered anything to my knowledge, bit of a bummer that its freezin up on me on feisty i have lotsa old roms id like to play too :(

maby its cos im on the 7.04 beta? ive dun all the updates.

thanks

Bri

[megamaced]

Maybe try toggling OpenGL on and off. Or try changing the OpenGL or SDL screen resolutions.

[megamaced]

Compile Gens for 64-BIT users (Please test!)

Below are instuctions for compiling my Gens source package against an x64 system. Now I don't have a 64-BIT installation, so I am assuming the compiling process is no different from x86 systems.

Anyhow, please test and see if you can produce a Gens 64-BIT package from these instructions. If you suceed, please post the package in this thread. Thank you!

Firstly, you must install the tools needed to compile source and built Debian packages:

sudo aptitude install build-essential fakeroot dh-make

Now you must install the build dependencies for the Gens compile

sudo aptitude install debhelper autotools-dev gcc-3.4 nasm libgtk2.0-dev libsdl1.2-dev

Download the gens_2.12a_src.zip package from here (http://www.zshare.net/download/gens_2-12a_src-zip.html) and extract it. Then extract the gens_2.12a.tar.gz archive. You should now have a new gens-2.12a folder. Enter the new folder:

cd ~/gens-2.12a

Then run:

fakeroot debian/rules clean

Then build the package with:

fakeroot debian/rules binary

Finally, run:

debuild -us -uc

That should be all you need. The new package will be waiting for you in the Gens folder. If not, it will be in your home folder.

[Blairboy]

The program works beautifully, but I can only play roms. If I try to use a sega cd, the option to boot from cd is always greyed out. I've tried using both of my cd drives, one of which I know worked under windows with gens. Anybody got any ideas?

[megamaced]

The program works beautifully, but I can only play roms. If I try to use a sega cd, the option to boot from cd is always greyed out. I've tried using both of my cd drives, one of which I know worked under windows with gens. Anybody got any ideas?

You need to download the Sega CD BIOS. Sorry, no links because that's illegal :)

Also, you might try making an ISO file. But only if you own the actual CD.

[Blairboy]

Wow, did you even read my post? I can play sega cd games. I have the proper files to do so. Gens just doesn't give me the option to play it from a cd drive. It makes me use a rom/iso.

[megamaced]

Okay, no reason to patronise! Allow me to have a few beers and get it wrong!

I see what you mean though. I hadn't even noticed it because all of my Sega CD games are on ISO. However, I am not a programmer so I don't know exactly what's wrong. I only package the program!

Anyhow, glad you enjoy the program :) Long live Sega!

[Blairboy]

So nobody but me is having this problem? Everyone else can boot from a cd in gens?

[megamaced]

I can't use CDs either. Like you said, the option is grayed out.

[Blairboy]

I did a little digging and it turns out you need ASPI installed for it to recognize the cd drive. The only cute little problem with that is I can't seem to find any information on how to install ASPI in linux.

[mrazster]

I don't know if it's me or something went wrong...but I can't find any roms installed anywhere.

It installed fine but no roms....do I have to download them somewhere....did I missunderstand something..?

[disturbedite]

yes, you misunderstood everything about emulation. there is no such thing as an emulator that includes roms.

[mrazster]

yes, you misunderstood everything about emulation. there is no such thing as an emulator that includes roms.

Ahh yeah...got it....figured it out now...thnx for the pointer. :)

Everything works prefectly fine...

[adam0509]

Can't get my joystick/gamepad to WORK FFS §§§ The directions aren't reconized


I try all I can do, and I try about 3 or 4 different package...


I read this HOW-TO but it don't work :


If you must edit gens.cfg by hand to configure your joystick :

Down : 4096 + 256*which + 1
Up : 4096 + 256*which + 2
Left : 4096 + 256*which + 3
Right : 4096 + 256*which + 4

Buttons : 4112 + 256*which + x


where which = 0 for first joystick,
= 1 for second joystick,
x = the number of the button

Here how a typical gens.cfg with joystick would look like (modify for your own needs)

P1.Up=4097
P1.Down=4099
P1.Left=4100
P1.Right=4098
P1.Start=4112


That's weird cause I got exactly these values under Windows, but it WORKS on Windows...

I use a Sidewinder game pad (NOT analog) correctly configured/calibrated...



Linux will still suxx about games, as far as a 3D virtual machine will be available on Linux...

[DoktorSeven]

The program works beautifully, but I can only play roms. If I try to use a sega cd, the option to boot from cd is always greyed out. I've tried using both of my cd drives, one of which I know worked under windows with gens. Anybody got any ideas?

Booting from CD via the menu is apparently not supported. However, since in Linux the CD device is represented as a file, can you point it to /dev/cdrom and get it to run? (Edit: CD audio probably won't work, though.)

[megamaced]

@ adam0509

Does your joypad work in other Linux games?

[wryun]

My (4!) USB joypads work just fine under gens configuring them through the menu system. But be careful if you have more than two installed - you'll need to fix the source up to support that.

[wryun]

Hmm... or alternatively, there are really lots of patches out there:
http://mythtv.wbond.net/gens_for_linux_mythgame_edition/
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=73619&atid=538344

(and note that the version in CVS on the sourceforge site is slightly newer than the rc3.5 build that people here are using)

[megamaced]

Hmm... or alternatively, there are really lots of patches out there:
http://mythtv.wbond.net/gens_for_linux_mythgame_edition/
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=73619&atid=538344

Thanks for these links. I will apply those patches to my build soon and create a new debian package.

(and note that the version in CVS on the sourceforge site is slightly newer than the rc3.5 build that people here are using)

I don't think it's part of the opengl branch though

[megamaced]

Gens-2.12b released. I added the Open ROM and GCC patches :)

@ wryun

I couldn't find the code for the joypads. I could only find the gens source code with the patch already applied. Where did you find the patch?

[sl1pkn07]

sl1pkn07@SpinFlo:~/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b$ fakeroot debian/rules binary
dh_testdir
# Add here commands to compile the package.
/usr/bin/make
make[1]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
/usr/bin/make all-recursive
make[2]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
Making all in src
make[3]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src'
Making all in starscream
make[4]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
Making all in main68k
make[5]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
/usr/bin/make all-am
make[6]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
make[6]: No se hace nada para `all-am'.
make[6]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
make[5]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
Making all in sub68k
make[5]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
/usr/bin/make all-am
make[6]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
make[6]: No se hace nada para `all-am'.
make[6]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
make[5]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
make[5]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
make[5]: No se hace nada para `all-am'.
make[5]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
make[4]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
Making all in gens
make[4]: se ingresa al directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/gens'
source='gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c' object='gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o' libtool=no \
depfile='.deps/gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.Po' tmpdepfile='.deps/gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.TPo' \
depmode=gcc3 /bin/bash ../../depcomp \
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../.. -I./gens_core/cpu/68k -I./gens_core/cpu/sh2 -I./gens_core/cpu/z80 -I./gens_core/sound -I./gens_core/mem -I./gens_core/misc -I./gens_core/gfx -I./gens_core/io -I./gens_core/vdp -I./segacd -I./mp3_dec -I./sdllayer -I./util -I./port -I./emulator -I./debug -I./netplay -I./gtkui -I./gtkui/glade -I. -DDATADIR=\"/usr/share/gens\" -I/usr/include/SDL -D_GNU_SOURCE=1 -D_REENTRANT -DPNG_NO_MMX_CODE -I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/include -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -c -o gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o `test -f gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c || echo './'`gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: el elemento inicializador no es constante
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: (cerca de la inicialización de ‘M68K_Fetch[1].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: el elemento inicializador no es constante
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: (cerca de la inicialización de ‘M68K_Fetch[2].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: el elemento inicializador no es constante
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: (cerca de la inicialización de ‘M68K_Fetch[3].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: el elemento inicializador no es constante
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: (cerca de la inicialización de ‘S68K_Fetch[0].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: En la función ‘M68K_Set_32X_Rom_Bank’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:365: aviso: conversión de puntero a entero de tamaño diferente
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: En la función ‘M68K_Set_Prg_Ram’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:390: aviso: conversión de puntero a entero de tamaño diferente
make[4]: *** [gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o] Error 1
make[4]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/gens'
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[3]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: se sale del directorio `/home/sl1pkn07/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
make: *** [build-stamp] Error 2
sl1pkn07@SpinFlo:~/aplicaciones/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b$

any ideas?

kubuntu 7.04feisty on amd64 bits

[wryun]

The patch is towards the end of the page - it's a bundle patch with the others you've already applied. However, I'd strongly suggest you make further builds off the CVS version: it is based on rc3.5 (the OpenGL version), and since I now have dev access (thanks Stéphane) I've been rolling some patches in. See: http://gens.cvs.sourceforge.net/gens/Gens-MultiPlatform/linux/

(the GensForLinux directory is the old one; this is the OpenGL one)

Hopefully I'll make a tar ball for release in a week or so, after a bit more testing and the rest of the sf.net patches are in, so you may want to hold off till then. Tell me if you want CVS access too.

EDIT: Hmm, there are also some patches in NetBSD ports. So many people fiddling, so little coordination :-)

[Kumeelyun]

Re-sizes work well, sound is good, Tried it out with Gunstar Heroes and it plays beautifully. Thanks for the package. Quite excellent!

[megamaced]

Hopefully I'll make a tar ball for release in a week or so, after a bit more testing and the rest of the sf.net patches are in, so you may want to hold off till then.

Thats excellent! I have been hoping someone was still maintaining Gens! Please contact me as soon as you've built the tarball!

Tell me if you want CVS access too.

Thanks ;)

So many people fiddling, so little coordination :-)

Couldn't agree more :D

[VFiend]

What's the status on this tarball, wryun?

[megamaced]

Added an RPM package for any SUSE or Fedora user that might be passing through. It's built using Alien, so I cannot predict the quality of the package. Seems OK on SUSE though.

Get it here:

http://www.zshare.net/download/2249004789d17b/

[VFiend]

Seems to work perfectly on Fedora 7, thanks

[wryun]

What's the status on this tarball, wryun?

I've finished with the most interesting patches - including embedding the graphics display in the window - but still have a few minor things to work through before I release a source tarball. It's all on CVS however - feel free to grab it and compile from there.

Note that if people are having performance problems with ATI cards, there's a patch on sourceforge to deal with that (not sure if this is relevant for the latest drivers, as I have an NVIDIA myself).

[VFiend]

I've finished with the most interesting patches - including embedding the graphics display in the window - but still have a few minor things to work through before I release a source tarball. It's all on CVS however - feel free to grab it and compile from there.

Ah, great, thanks for your work!

[BigSilly]

Installed this great and everything runs really lovely, except I can't get the joypad to work properly. It calibrates in the options perfectly, but when you go to play a game it doesn't work correctly. The buttons are OK, but the directions are broken.

Has anyone else had this problem and been able to fix it? Your help much appreciated.

[megamaced]

I've finished with the most interesting patches - including embedding the graphics display in the window - but still have a few minor things to work through before I release a source tarball. It's all on CVS however - feel free to grab it and compile from there.

That's great mate. Can't wait for your tarball. Please let us know when it's ready so I can package it ASAP!

So I guess you are the only current maintainer for Gens at the moment? Or are you going to create your own branch and fork it? Let me know what version number you want the new package to have! :)

EDIT: I might make pre-release packages from your CVS if people are interested. As I mentioned, just let me know how you want the packages to be numbered

[wryun]

So I guess you are the only current maintainer for Gens at the moment? Or are you going to create your own branch and fork it? Let me know what version number you want the new package to have! :)

I wouldn't go as far as to call me a maintainer - I'm just trying to get the latest fixes into the main repository. No forking for me (gens has already been forked way too many times) ;)

I'll probably call the tarball 2.13alpha and hopefully get some feedback on how it's working, then release a Linux 2.13.

[megamaced]

Okay, so looking at the Gens CVS, I need to download and compile /Gens-MultiPlatform/linux/ right?

[wryun]

Okay, so looking at the Gens CVS, I need to download and compile /Gens-MultiPlatform/linux/ right?

Yes, just that directory, and you'll need to mess around with aclocal, autoconf and automake then run ./configure and make. You may want to pass 'CFLAGS=-O3 -march=i686' or similar to configure.

EDIT: By the way, if people use this, they'll need to get rid of their old ~/.gens/gens.cfg file.

[jemy_x]

Hello there

I get this message when trying to install your latest package as instructed:

$ sudo dpkg -i gens_2.12b_i386.deb
dpkg: error processing gens_2.12b_i386.deb (--install): package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)
Errors were encountered while processing: gens_2.12b_i386.deb

Yes indeed, it's the 'ol "thought-I'd-be-smart-and-try-64bit" trap. Any ideas how I might fix/overcome this? Aside from running back to my 32bit happy-place...

Cheers!

[leech]

You have to use --force-architecture. Like this sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture gens_2.12b_i386.deb

As a side note, this is truly fantastic that gens is finally getting some love.

There are so many emulators for Linux out there that have just kind of floundered on the wayside.

It'd be cool if we could get a list of them (in a new thread obviously) and get some programmers to show them some love. I know virtual jaguar is one that I'd like to see completed, but it's been in a sort of limbo for years.

I'll start that thread now.... :D

Leech

[BigSilly]

Can no-one help with the joypad configuration? As I say above, all seems OK when you configure it, but when you try to play it it doesn't work. Up and down on the analogue works for left and right for some reason, but the digital pad doesn't work at all. I'm using a dual analogue Speedling 2 pad, so if anyone can help it'd most appreciated. I'd love to play some old Megadrive faves in Linux.

[megamaced]

Yes, just that directory, and you'll need to mess around with aclocal, autoconf and automake then run ./configure and make. You may want to pass 'CFLAGS=-O3 -march=i686' or similar to configure.

I ran:

cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@gens.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/gens login

And pressed enter for the password but nothing happened! What am I doing wrong?

[eadmaster]

Can no-one help with the joypad configuration? As I say above, all seems OK when you configure it, but when you try to play it it doesn't work. Up and down on the analogue works for left and right for some reason, but the digital pad doesn't work at all. I'm using a dual analogue Speedling 2 pad, so if anyone can help it'd most appreciated. I'd love to play some old Megadrive faves in Linux.

I suggest you to try with some joypad 2 keyboard converter like QJoyPad.

[eadmaster]

I wouldn't go as far as to call me a maintainer - I'm just trying to get the latest fixes into the main repository. No forking for me (gens has already been forked way too many times) ;)

I'll probably call the tarball 2.13alpha and hopefully get some feedback on how it's working, then release a Linux 2.13.

Can you please apply the patch described here (http://brian.gentoo-clan.org/2006/08/30/gens-command-line-parameters/).

Currently it seems that command line options are not processed so Gens cannot be associated with any file type.

[Jimbob17]

Yeah, it works fine for me also. Brings back memories of playing NHLPA 93 non stop ....

[disturbedite]

its really great that its being maintained in a somewhat orderly fashion by wyrun.

thanks all.

p.s. i don't know how many of you are familiar with gens32 (on windows) but it'd be great to get some of the options gens32 has in gens (for linux). in particular the sound options, rom explorer (for archived/compressed files), & the improved game genie ui...

[wryun]

I ran:

cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@gens.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/gens login

And pressed enter for the password but nothing happened! What am I doing wrong?

You shouldn't see anything much happen after that. You need the next line then (look at the directions on the sf project site):

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@gens.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/gens co Gens-MultiPlatform/linux

---

To the person who mentioned command line arguments: are you using the CVS version? If you are, it should work (although in a slightly different fashion to that described by the patch). See --help.

[wryun]

Can no-one help with the joypad configuration? As I say above, all seems OK when you configure it, but when you try to play it it doesn't work. Up and down on the analogue works for left and right for some reason, but the digital pad doesn't work at all. I'm using a dual analogue Speedling 2 pad, so if anyone can help it'd most appreciated. I'd love to play some old Megadrive faves in Linux.

Hard to say. The joystick code's a bit of a mess; it's probably a simple fix, but without knowing what numbers your joystick is generating I wouldn't know what to change. Does it work ok in other apps?

[BigSilly]

Pretty much. I'm also using ZSNES 1.51 with no pad or control problems, and also Mupen64 works great with my joypad. I managed to configure Secret Maryo Chronicles to work with it as well, and FakeNES works as it should also. There's only GridWars I can't get to work at all, and this version of Gens with broken controls, which is a real bummer! It's a great emulator, though, and I'd love to see further updates to it.

Thanks for your replies.

[Tommerz]

Hey, just want to say thanks for the package, it's running really well on my gibbon install.

One problem I'm having though, is save states won't load. :(

[wryun]

Hey, just want to say thanks for the package, it's running really well on my gibbon install.

One problem I'm having though, is save states won't load. :(

There's an issue with save states in the non-CVS version. It should work if you use the 'preset' quicksaves in the menu.

[megamaced]

You shouldn't see anything much happen after that. You need the next line then (look at the directions on the sf project site):

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@gens.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/gens co Gens-MultiPlatform/linux


Thanks for that. I will play around with it when I get home and build a pre-alpha package - unless your tarball is almost done ;)

[D--]

Hey, is anyone else having a speed issue? The games are running unplayable fast for me even though I have Perfect Syncro checked and Frameskip set to auto.

[wingnux]

Same problem here, even with vsync on all games run at 100+ fps =/

Btw, nice job with the emu, I was really missing a genesis emulator on ubuntu ::D

[wryun]

Same problem here, even with vsync on all games run at 100+ fps =/

Have you got the sound enabled? It should run at the correct speed then...

[adam0509]

There is an 2.14 version there :

http://www.getdeb.net/app.php?name=Gens

Where does it come from ??

[megamaced]

There is an 2.14 version there :

http://www.getdeb.net/app.php?name=Gens

Where does it come from ??

I don't know. I will install it later to find out. Wryun do you know about this package?

[megamaced]

I am now even more confused having installed the package! There is no opengl support, no logos in the 'start menu' or gens menus and the 'about' box still shows 2.12r3!

I wonder if this version might be an old CVS version and the package has been incorrectly named?

[megamaced]

Okay people, time to get excited! The first glimpse of Wryun's work is upon us!! I have made a package of the latest snapshot in CVS. Be aware that it may contain bugs and should be considered unstable until Wryun releases the final product. If you want to use the current stable instead, please download gens-2.12b in the first post

Please enjoy and report bugs!

deb (dapper, edgy, feisty, gutsy)
http://www.zshare.net/download/242791807a267a/

rpm (suse, fedora, mandriva)
http://www.zshare.net/download/2428380177a720/

Wryun, I love the embedded ROM window! I haven't used it much yet but will let you know more soon :D

[BigSilly]

My sincerest and most heartfelt thanks for this incredible update! All seems to be working really well. I downloaded and installed as soon as I saw your file (removed older Gens first) and have been playing around with it since. Joypad works beautifully after calibration, and when stretched to full screen with scale 2x I swear it adds an extra generation to the old Mega Drive!

Perhaps the only thing I've noticed is a really really tiny delay on the sound effects. It's barely perceptible, and I suspect it may be some setting I haven't checked yet (or just me!) rather than a problem with the program. Honestly you can hardly notice it.

I've sent this off to a mate of mine who is a big Mega Drive fan and Linux user. He'll be thrilled as I am. Many many thanks again.

/plays Streets of Rage :)

[wingnux]

This build crashed here while the 2.14 one worked fine and fixed the vsync problem :O

[BigSilly]

Ah, I knew it was a setting I hadn't looked at with regards the sound. I changed the rate from 22050 to 48000 and it's absolutely perfect. This is now my favourite MegaDrive emulator. One thing though, is it supposed to support 32X games, or is that something you'll be adding at a later date? None of mine seem to work.

[megamaced]

This build crashed here while the 2.14 one worked fine and fixed the vsync problem :O

You could make yourself useful by telling us what you were doing when it crashed ;)

One thing though, is it supposed to support 32X games, or is that something you'll be adding at a later date? None of mine seem to work.

Yes it plays some 32x games but it's not as compatible. It can play rougly 50-60% of all 32x games produced (which wasn't many of course). Do you have the 32x bios files and paths configured in Gens?

[BigSilly]

Ah I see, no I don't think I even have them. My rom collection is just one I dragged over from my Kega Fusion on Windows. All my 32X roms work fine on that without bios files etc. I didn't even know you needed them. I'll certainly grab hold of some now.

Sorry for any confusion.

[MetalMusicAddict]

Can someone host the Ubuntu package someplace that doesn't require acceptance of 100 cookies or pop-up ads?

If someone can get it to me I can also mirror.

Also is someone working to get this into Gutsy? I can help with this as well.

[BigSilly]

OK, got hold of the bios files needed to run 32X games, and configured the path in the settings. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working for me at all. I've tried to run a few games now with no luck. Tried Afterburner, Virtua Racing, Knuckles Chaotix, Darxide and Space Harrier and all that happens is that Gens shuts down. I'll keep trying though, in case I missed something.

Still, the Megadrive stuff looks and plays wonderfully. Kega Fusion only manages a windowed screen even when I select stretch in the options, but not so here. It's a proper full screen beauty!

This really should be in the official repositories. If you intend to continue developing it, you should find the biggest audience possible. :)

EDIT: Got Brutal Unleashed 32X to work, but unfortunately the other games I have don't work at all.

[megamaced]

Knuckles Chaotix, Darxide and Space Harrier all work on my Gens so I am assuming you might have the wrong files. For reference:

Gens > Options > Bios / Misc files

BIOS name File name
M68000 32X_G_BIOS.BIN
Master SH2 32X_M_BIOS.BIN
Slave SH2 32X_S_BIOS.BIN

And for Sega CD BIOS files:

USA us_scd2_9306.bin
Europe eu_mcd2_9306.bin
Japan jp_mcd1_9112.bin

[BigSilly]

Yeah, my bios files are set up exactly how you describe, but no joy with my roms apart from Brutal Unleashed. I'll certainly go on the hunt for other downloads of Darxide, Knuckles and the others, but they do all work fine in Kega Fusion on XP so it strikes me as odd that they don't work here. Could it be anything else?

[megamaced]

I can think of several things:

1. the BIOS are incorrect, fake
2. the ROMs are broken somehow
3. Try different regions of games, might be that an eu works over an us
4. the gens configuration is wrong somewhere.

As I said, all games you've mentioned work on the Gens CVS. BTW, I should probably mention that you need to own the games and the system to legally hold the BIOS. Don't want to get the tread locked :)

[BigSilly]

I'll try all the things you mention just to make sure. It's certainly worth it for me, since this is an excellent emu. :)

I'll post back when I've had a good tinker. I'm afraid it'll probably be tomorrow afternoon before I get the chance to play around again, but I'll certainly report any developments. Thanks for your patience.

[wryun]

I don't know. I will install it later to find out. Wryun do you know about this package?

If he's built it from what he says (the 2.14 win32 bundle), it's an old version (that '2.14' didn't contain any linux updates). In other words, it is 2.12rc3 as the about box reports.

Sorry for not getting any more updates happening; I've been relatively busy lately (and will be for a couple of weeks). I'll let you know here if I find time to make any interesting changes.

And yes, whoever it crashed for, please say if you have any further details :)

[BigSilly]

OK, downloaded new bios files from another site I know. Tried a couple of different versions of Afterburner 32X but to no avail I'm afraid. It just shuts Gens down as soon as I try to play it. However, got hold of alternative version of Space Harrier 32X (JU! rather than E!) and that runs great.

I'll keep tinkering with it and try to get more alternative downloads, so if I can help in any way I'll report back.

[meschaffe]

Thanks, I've been looking for a decent Genesis emulator for weeks now - even tried running Gens32 via Wine. For some odd reason, sound is screwy in windowed mode, but near perfect in fullscreen, no matter what my frequency is. Not much of a problem since I don't play in windowed mode, though. Aside from that, it's just as good to me as the windows version was before I converted. Many thanks to everyone involved.

[Frem]

I get a crash also. I used "sudo apt-get remove gens" to get rid of stable, then I used dpkg to install the new CVS version. A roughly 640x480 window appeared, with the menubar at the top. I tried to click on the menus, but they didn't open; the whole interface was frozen up. About five seconds later, it closed.
Tried running it again, and it closed almost instantly.

I get the same console output every time.

/home/james/.themes/Clearlooks-Boring/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:46: Clearlooks configuration option "menuitemstyle" is not supported and will be ignored.
/home/james/.themes/Clearlooks-Boring/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:47: Clearlooks configuration option "listviewitemstyle" is not supported and will be ignored.
/home/james/.themes/Clearlooks-Boring/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:48: Clearlooks configuration option "progressbarstyle" is not supported and will be ignored.
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

I'm pretty sure the stuff about my Clearlooks theme is irrelavent because I switched to Crux & reran, and the only thing that showed up was "Segmentation fault (core dumped)"

[wingnux]

That's what happens to me: "Segmentation fault (core dumped)"

[megamaced]

To all the people that Gens CVS crashes on, can you confirm the following:


That you have Direct Rendering, OpenGL support enabled
The graphics card you are using
The version of (K/X) ubuntu you are using


OpenGL is enabled by default in Gens CVS so it will crash if you don't have DRI.

[Frem]

Wait, I thought DRI was bad because it allowed things to access the video card directly? That was why running StarCraft in wine in non-OpenGL mode was slower than on Windows, because they had to emulate it because DRI was a security hazzard?
Or am I thinking of something else?

In any case, I've got the official ATi drivers installed, and glxinfo confirms that I do have direct rendering.

edit: actually, thinking about it, even the old stable version would go slow and crash when I tried to enable OpenGL mode. I know OpenGL works, but this card has an absolutely horrid implementation of it; it's very slow. Interesting...

glxinfo output:
name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, GLX_OML_swap_method,
GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_hyperpipe,
GLX_SGIX_swap_barrier, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer
client glx vendor string: ATI
client glx version string: 1.3
client glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_ARB_multisample,
GLX_ATI_pixel_format_float, GLX_ATI_render_texture
GLX version: 1.2
GLX extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_multisample
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON XPRESS Series
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6334 (8.34.8)
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_EXT_texture_env_add, GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array,
GL_S3_s3tc, GL_ARB_depth_texture, GL_ARB_fragment_program,
GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow, GL_ARB_fragment_shader,
GL_ARB_multisample, GL_ARB_occlusion_query, GL_ARB_point_parameters,
GL_ARB_point_sprite, GL_ARB_shader_objects, GL_ARB_shading_language_100,
GL_ARB_shadow, GL_ARB_shadow_ambient, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_compression, GL_ARB_texture_cube_map,
GL_ARB_texture_env_add, GL_ARB_texture_env_combine,
GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3,
GL_ARB_texture_float, GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat,
GL_ARB_texture_rectangle, GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_ARB_vertex_blend,
GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object, GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object,
GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_ARB_vertex_shader, GL_ARB_window_pos,
GL_ARB_draw_buffers, GL_ATI_draw_buffers, GL_ATI_envmap_bumpmap,
GL_ATI_fragment_shader, GL_ATI_separate_stencil,
GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3, GL_ATI_texture_float,
GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once, GL_ATI_vertex_streams,
GL_ATIX_texture_env_combine3, GL_ATIX_texture_env_route,
GL_ATIX_vertex_shader_output_point_size, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_bgra,
GL_EXT_blend_color, GL_EXT_blend_func_separate, GL_EXT_blend_minmax,
GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_clip_volume_hint,
GL_EXT_draw_range_elements, GL_EXT_fog_coord, GL_EXT_framebuffer_object,
GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays, GL_EXT_packed_pixels, GL_EXT_point_parameters,
GL_EXT_rescale_normal, GL_EXT_secondary_color,
GL_EXT_separate_specular_color, GL_EXT_shadow_funcs, GL_EXT_stencil_wrap,
GL_EXT_texgen_reflection, GL_EXT_texture3D,
GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc, GL_EXT_texture_cube_map,
GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp, GL_EXT_texture_env_combine,
GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3, GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias, GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp,
GL_EXT_texture_object, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_vertex_array,
GL_EXT_vertex_shader, GL_HP_occlusion_test, GL_NV_blend_square,
GL_NV_occlusion_query, GL_NV_texgen_reflection, GL_SGI_color_matrix,
GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap, GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp,
GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp, GL_SGIS_texture_lod, GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x23 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x24 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x25 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x26 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x27 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x28 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x29 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x2a 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x2b 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x2c 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x2d 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x2e 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x2f 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x30 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x31 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x32 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x33 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x34 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x35 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x36 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x37 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x38 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x39 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x3a 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x3b 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x3c 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x3d 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x3e 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x3f 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x40 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x41 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x42 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x43 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x44 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x45 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x46 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x47 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x48 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x49 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x4a 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x4b 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x4c 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x4d 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x4e 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x4f 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x50 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x51 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x52 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x53 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x54 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x55 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x56 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x57 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x58 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x59 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x5a 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x5b 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x5c 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x5d 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x5e 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 16 16 16 16 0 0 None
0x5f 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x60 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x61 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
0x62 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None

[megamaced]

The crashes may be due to the ATi cards but I can't confirm this. I am using an nVidia Geforce FX 5200 on Kubuntu 6.06 and Gens CVS runs perfectly.

The Gens CVS package was built in an Dapper environment and this might be causing problems for Feisty Fawn users. I have now re-packaged Gens in an Feisty environment and maybe this will solve the problems.

Gens CVS for Dapper Drake
http://www.zshare.net/download/248242463f1bee/

Gens CVS for Feisty Fawn
http://www.zshare.net/download/2482436eb33dc0/

[leech]

It isn't very fond of Compiz, that's for sure. After I disabled the desktop effects in Gutsy, both packages would work fine. Before I disabled it, I would get similar results on my 6800GT that were reported by Frem, though mine wouldn't segfault, I would have to kill it. It wouldn't even die on it's own or pop up the Force Quit / Wait dialog, instead I had to close the terminal that I had started it from.

But it seems to be working fine without Compiz.

Leech

[Nythain]

yay, a working gen emulator that does everythign i want it to for linux... time to bust out those classics... Dark Force, its time to meet your maker

[disturbedite]

well, i get a different crash than the other ones reported here. but its kinda ok, since it doesn't affect anything (that i'm aware of). its that gens triggers a core dump when exiting. the config is saved tho, so its fine i guess.
i'm on kubuntu gutsy i386 with an integrated intel i845g with dri enabled. i am using the gens_2.13-cvs200706257.04_i386.deb package with opengl enabled. here is the info:

*** glibc detected *** gens: free(): invalid pointer: 0xb0a24020 ***
======= Backtrace: =========
/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6[0xb75b5f7d]
/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(cfree+0x90)[0xb75b95c0]
/usr/lib/dri/i915_dri.so(_tnl_free_vertices+0x27)[0xb49107b7]
/usr/lib/dri/i915_dri.so(intelDestroyContext+0x2e)[0xb48615ae]
/usr/lib/dri/i915_dri.so[0xb48486f5]
/usr/lib/libGL.so.1[0xb7f0e3d5]
/usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0[0xb7e5c086]
/usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0[0xb7e60907]
/usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0[0xb7e60b15]
/usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0(SDL_VideoQuit+0x50)[0xb7e4dc90]
/usr/lib/libSDL-1.2.so.0(SDL_QuitSubSystem+0x65)[0xb7e22025]
gens[0x806b6e0]
gens[0x807d418]
gens[0x807e749]
/lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xdc)[0xb7563ebc]
gens[0x804d3e1]
======= Memory map: ========
08048000-081f7000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8208736 /usr/bin/gens
081f7000-08225000 rwxp 001ae000 08:01 8208736 /usr/bin/gens
08225000-099c9000 rwxp 08225000 00:00 0 [heap]
afea9000-aff09000 rwxs 00000000 00:09 414810117 /SYSV00000000 (deleted)
aff09000-aff7c000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8438033 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf
aff7c000-afffb000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8438036 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf
afffb000-b09fb000 rwxp afffb000 00:00 0
b0a24000-b0cee000 rwxp b0a24000 00:00 0
b0cee000-b2cee000 rwxs f3800000 00:0e 26204 /dev/dri/card0
b2cee000-b33ae000 rwxs f3000000 00:0e 26204 /dev/dri/card0
b33ae000-b3a6e000 rwxs f2800000 00:0e 26204 /dev/dri/card0
b3a6e000-b412e000 rwxs 2e01c000 00:0e 26204 /dev/dri/card0
b412e000-b47ee000 rwxs f00e0000 00:0e 26204 /dev/dri/card0
b47ee000-b4a1d000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8225244 /usr/lib/dri/i915_dri.so
b4a1d000-b4a2c000 rwxp 0022e000 08:01 8225244 /usr/lib/dri/i915_dri.so
b4a2c000-b4a37000 rwxp b4a2c000 00:00 0
b4a37000-b4a38000 ---p b4a37000 00:00 0
b4a38000-b5238000 rwxp b4a38000 00:00 0
b5238000-b5298000 rwxs 00000000 00:09 414515204 /SYSV00000000 (deleted)
b5298000-b5317000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8438036 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf
b5317000-b5341000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8210149 /usr/lib/libkdefx.so.4.2.0
b5341000-b5342000 rwxp 0002a000 08:01 8210149 /usr/lib/libkdefx.so.4.2.0
b5342000-b5371000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8210103 /usr/lib/libidn.so.11.5.19
b5371000-b5372000 rwxp 0002f000 08:01 8210103 /usr/lib/libidn.so.11.5.19
b5372000-b5387000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8210796 /usr/lib/libart_lgpl_2.so.2.3.19
b5387000-b5388000 rwxp 00014000 08:01 8210796 /usr/lib/libart_lgpl_2.so.2.3.19
b5388000-b538a000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 9144579 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libutil-2.5.so
b538a000-b538c000 rwxp 00001000 08:01 9144579 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libutil-2.5.so
b538c000-b539b000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 9144575 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libresolv-2.5.so
b539b000-b539d000 rwxp 0000f000 08:01 9144575 /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libresolv-2.5.so
b539d000-b539f000 rwxp b539d000 00:00 0
b539f000-b53d0000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8210124 /usr/lib/libDCOP.so.4.2.0
b53d0000-b53d1000 rwxp 00031000 08:01 8210124 /usr/lib/libDCOP.so.4.2.0
b53d1000-b53d3000 rwxp b53d1000 00:00 0
b53d3000-b5609000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8210147 /usr/lib/libkdecore.so.4.2.0
b5609000-b5619000 rwxp 00236000 08:01 8210147 /usr/lib/libkdecore.so.4.2.0
b5619000-b561c000 rwxp b5619000 00:00 0
b561c000-b561f000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 9109535 /lib/libattr.so.1.1.0
b561f000-b5620000 rwxp 00002000 08:01 9109535 /lib/libattr.so.1.1.0
b5620000-b5626000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 9109531 /lib/libacl.so.1.1.0
b5626000-b5627000 rwxp 00005000 08:01 9109531 /lib/libacl.so.1.1.0
b5634000-b5636000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8323275 /usr/lib/pango/1.6.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so
b5636000-b5637000 rwxp 00001000 08:01 8323275 /usr/lib/pango/1.6.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so
b5637000-b563b000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 8257705 /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-png.so
b563b000-b563c000 rwxp 00003000 08:01 8257705 /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/loaders/libpixbufloader-png.so
b563c000-b563f000 r-xp 0000Aborted (core dumped)also, gens freezes when i try to set the bit depth to 32bit. the only output from konsole is this:
*** glibc detected *** gens: free(): invalid pointer: 0xb0a4f020 ***.

other than that, it works fine. thanks for all the hard work keeping this great emulator alive!

if you guys have the source debianized, would you be willing to post it so i could make a gutsy package?

[megamaced]

if you guys have the source debianized, would you be willing to post it so i could make a gutsy package?

Sure:
http://www.zshare.net/download/248946971f0557/

I have been reluctant to build a Gutsy package because it's still a moving circus and not stable yet. Let us know if your Gutsy build works any better for you :)

[disturbedite]

it (the gutsy package [i386]) doesn't really run any differently, except it doesn't do the core dump any more on exit....

[wingnux]

No luck with this new build either =/ I have DRI enabled and I'm using ATI's official drivers (Radeon 9600 Pro) on Ubuntu Feisty. All OGL games run with no problem at all (even zsnes with ogl support).

[K-Starz]

Awesome, I'm thrilled find these packages!

I used to use Gens+ in Wine, but that stopped working, I couldn't get the Linux ones working.

Thanks!

[disturbedite]

btw, i've got a question.

gens 2.14 was released for windows right? the source for this says its "gens 2.13cvs"...i assume this (2.13) cvs version IS actually newer than the 2.14 release right?

also, why wasn't the 2.14 source used as the basis for this linux port? was it cuz the 2.14 release was only for windows/windows related?

[Devezu]

NOOB ALERT!

Gens works perfectly for me, but i cant select a cd drive or anything (basically run any sega cd games!) help me... Sonic CD is calling for me...

[disturbedite]

noob alert for sure.

if you looked around the options a bit or read the gens website, you'd know why...
you need bios files for 32x & cd. i can't tell you how to get them tho cuz you're supposed own them yourself.

[bluemech]

Alright, now anybody have any luck getting this compiled/installed on a 64-bit system? I tried megamaced's instructions here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=2547879&postcount=64) on three separate source packages already: 2.12a, 2.12b, and the presently-unstable CVS. No luck.

This is what I get (note that this is from trying to compile 2.12b, but I get similar errors with the other two):

mix@desktop:~/Desktop/gens-2.12b$ fakeroot debian/rules clean
dh_testdir
dh_testroot
rm -f build-stamp
# Add here commands to clean up after the build process.
/usr/bin/make distclean
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `distclean'. Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b'
make: [clean] Error 2 (ignored)
cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.sub config.sub
cp -f /usr/share/misc/config.guess config.guess
dh_clean
mix@desktop:~/Desktop/gens-2.12b$ fakeroot debian/rules binary
dh_testdir
# Add here commands to configure the package.
CFLAGS="-Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs" ./configure --host=x86_64-linux-gnu --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --prefix=/usr --mandir=\${prefix}/share/man --infodir=\${prefix}/share/info
checking build system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking target system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... no
checking for mawk... mawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking for x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc... x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name... a.out
checking whether the C compiler works... yes
checking whether we are cross compiling... no
checking for suffix of executables...
checking for suffix of object files... o
checking whether we are using the GNU C compiler... yes
checking whether x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc accepts -g... yes
checking for x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc option to accept ANSI C... none needed
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking dependency style of x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc... gcc3
checking whether x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc and cc understand -c and -o together... yes
checking for strerror in -lcposix... no
checking how to run the C preprocessor... x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -E
checking for egrep... grep -E
checking for ANSI C header files... yes
checking for pkg-config... /usr/bin/pkg-config
checking for GTK+ - version >= 2.4.0... yes (version 2.10.11)
checking for sdl-config... /usr/bin/sdl-config
checking for SDL - version >= 1.1.3... yes
checking for nasm... /usr/bin/nasm
checking for OpenGL support... yes
checking for clock_gettime in -lrt... yes
checking for getopt in -lc... yes
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating pixmaps/Makefile
config.status: creating src/Makefile
config.status: creating src/gens/Makefile
config.status: creating src/starscream/Makefile
config.status: creating src/starscream/main68k/Makefile
config.status: creating src/starscream/sub68k/Makefile
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: executing default-1 commands
dh_testdir
# Add here commands to compile the package.
/usr/bin/make
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b'
cd . \
&& CONFIG_FILES= CONFIG_HEADERS=config.h \
/bin/bash ./config.status
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: config.h is unchanged
config.status: executing default-1 commands
/usr/bin/make all-recursive
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b'
Making all in src
make[3]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src'
Making all in starscream
make[4]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
Making all in main68k
make[5]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
source='star.c' object='star.o' libtool=no \
depfile='.deps/star.Po' tmpdepfile='.deps/star.TPo' \
depmode=gcc3 /bin/bash ../../../depcomp \
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../../.. -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -c `test -f star.c || echo './'`star.c
star.c:497: warning: ‘force_trickybit_process’ defined but not used
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc: -z: linker input file unused because linking not done
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc: defs: linker input file unused because linking not done
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -lGL -o star star.o -lc -lrt
./star main68k.asm -hog -name main68k_
STARSCREAM version M0.26d
Generating "main68k.asm" with the following options:
* CPU type: 68000 (24-bit addresses)
* Identifiers begin with "main68k_"
* Stack calling conventions
* Hog mode: On
Decoding instructions: 0123456789ABCDEF done
Building table: done
routine_counter = 7244
/usr/bin/make all-am
make[6]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
make[6]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'.
make[6]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/main68k'
Making all in sub68k
make[5]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
source='star.c' object='star.o' libtool=no \
depfile='.deps/star.Po' tmpdepfile='.deps/star.TPo' \
depmode=gcc3 /bin/bash ../../../depcomp \
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../../.. -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -c `test -f star.c || echo './'`star.c
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc: -z: linker input file unused because linking not done
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc: defs: linker input file unused because linking not done
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -lGL -o star star.o -lc -lrt
./star sub68k.asm -hog -name sub68k_
STARSCREAM version S0.26d
Generating "sub68k.asm" with the following options:
* CPU type: 68000 (24-bit addresses)
* Identifiers begin with "sub68k_"
* Stack calling conventions
* Hog mode: On
Decoding instructions: 0123456789ABCDEF done
Building table: done
routine_counter = 7244
/usr/bin/make all-am
make[6]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
make[6]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'.
make[6]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream/sub68k'
make[5]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
make[5]: Nothing to be done for `all-am'.
make[5]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/starscream'
Making all in gens
make[4]: Entering directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/gens'
source='gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c' object='gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o' libtool=no \
depfile='.deps/gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.Po' tmpdepfile='.deps/gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.TPo' \
depmode=gcc3 /bin/bash ../../depcomp \
x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -I. -I. -I../.. -I./gens_core/cpu/68k -I./gens_core/cpu/sh2 -I./gens_core/cpu/z80 -I./gens_core/sound -I./gens_core/mem -I./gens_core/misc -I./gens_core/gfx -I./gens_core/io -I./gens_core/vdp -I./segacd -I./mp3_dec -I./sdllayer -I./util -I./port -I./emulator -I./debug -I./netplay -I./gtkui -I./gtkui/glade -I. -DDATADIR=\"/usr/share/gens\" -I/usr/include/SDL -D_GNU_SOURCE=1 -D_REENTRANT -DPNG_NO_MMX_CODE -I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/lib/gtk-2.0/include -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -Wall -g -O2 -Wl,-z,defs -c -o gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o `test -f gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c || echo './'`gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[1].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[2].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[3].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: (near initialization for ‘S68K_Fetch[0].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: In function ‘M68K_Set_32X_Rom_Bank’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:365: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: In function ‘M68K_Set_Prg_Ram’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:390: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size
make[4]: *** [gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o] Error 1
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src/gens'
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b/src'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/mix/Desktop/gens-2.12b'
make: *** [build-stamp] Error 2

I'm running Feisty, on 64-bit like I said.

[Devezu]

i DID provide the bioses (DUH! (plus, its ok - i have a sega cd)) but i still cant select the option to boot a cd, disturbedite disturbedite is offline
Way Too Much Ubuntu

[disturbedite]

@bluemech
i would try just downloading one of the 32bit packages & force the architechure while installing and see if that works.

@Devezu
do you have the disc in the drive? or are you trying to play an image?

[Bablefish]

It works for me at least as far as the Genesis roms, it does not work on the 32X roms.

If anyone wants to know of an excellent vurus free rom site that has these 16 bit and earlier titles PM me and I'll send you the link

[disturbedite]

even that might earn a ban, i'd be careful babelfish.

[EvilMarshmallow]

Hey all,

I've got a weird issue... not sure if it's Gens-related or because of my game pad.

I use a Playstation2-style controller that plugs in via USB. When I calibrate everything's ok... then I go to map the buttons in Gens and it won't allow me to select the d-pad or the analog sticks for my directions!

All the other buttons on the device work fine... but the dpad and analogs (which show up as axes, maybe that's why?) won't allow themselves to be mapped to the UDLR controls in Gens.

[bluemech]

@bluemech
i would try just downloading one of the 32bit packages & force the architechure while installing and see if that works.
That's what I did next actually. Got the 2.12b deb and forced it. It runs, but not very well. For one, it generates theme errors, making the interface messy. Not a big deal, but then again there's the controller issues of 2.12b, not to mention that sometimes it just decides to break down and seg fault on me. Not really nice when you're knee deep in Shinobi bosses. :P

So again, I'll repeat my question: anyone out there who has managed to compile a 64-bit version from the source package? Mind sharing?

[disturbedite]

@bluemech
why the heck would you use an older version? i meant the newest packages.

[verb3k]

Thanks man , works perfectly :)
great packaging
Thanks ;)

[Devezu]

No desturbedite, i put a cd in the drive (a copy), but no option.... (then again, i have two drives and only tried one..)

[disturbedite]

its possible that it won't recognize more than one drive. or maybe looks for a specific device name (i.e. cdrom or cdrom0).
the first thing i would have tried (before posting) would have been to stick the disc in the other drive...

[Epilonsama]

Hi I tested it and it work at some extent but whne I activate OpenGL, cuz SDL runs slow on anything expect normal size, the screen went blank and it soon crashed, any help on this?

[bluemech]

@bluemech
why the heck would you use an older version? i meant the newest packages.
I already did that before I looked for help here. CVS version seg faults immediately. It just doesn't work. At least with 2.12b I got as far as actually playing the game even though I got a ton of GTK errors:

Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "pixmap"

And yeah, I've already installed gtk2-engines-pixbuf, and even gtk-engines-pixmap. No go (well actually, it's a go, but like I said in my previous post, there are some problems with it.)

[acoustibop]

No desturbedite, i put a cd in the drive (a copy), but no option.... (then again, i have two drives and only tried one..)

FWIW Devezu, I've had success with other emulators starting games from CDs with /dev/hda, /dev/hdb, /dev/hdc or /dev/hdd, depending on which IDE channel the drive is - hda = channel 1 master, hdb = channel 1 slave, hdc = channel 2 master, hdd = channel 2 slave.

The advantage of this is that you know what drive you're pointing at. Not only do you not know which drive cdrom, cdrom0 or cdrom1 is without checking, I've known it to change sometimes. Apparently those labels only point to hda, -b, -c or -d anyway.

[Carbon Tiger]

No desturbedite, i put a cd in the drive (a copy), but no option.... (then again, i have two drives and only tried one..)

I fixed this on my end the first time by going to files on Gens and having it open:

/dev/disk/by-id/ NAME OF CD DRIVE (name as in the company who made it)

Also make sure Gens is set to all files in the file choice drop down menu so it will list what you need to open.

Or as acoustibop noted you can use: /dev/_____ In my case it was /dev/cdrom but your set up may be different. As for the grayed out CD button on the emulator itself I have no idea how to fix that. Also you can run isos which is a lot faster in many cases but a bit of a hassle.

The same Cd path fix has also worked in Hu-Go (PC Engine/TG 16) emulator to run its CD games.

[F-3582]

I'm not sure if this has been said, already... Didn't want to go through the entire thread and the CVS version crashes constantly. Anyway, the GUI sinda keeps forgetting some of the options I set. This involves the sound stuff (improved engines) and the SegaCD Perfect Synchro option in Gens up to 2.12b:

Sometimes some of those options appear turned on although they are off, sometimes it's the other way round. The only way to make sure is watching the GUI messages.

Anyway, the packages work splendidly.

EDIT: Well, looks like there are still issues. Silpheed locks up sometimes even though Perfect Synchro is activated. This didn't happen with 2.12rc3.

[Vince4Amy]

On the CVS Version I get:

X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 148
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
X Error: BadDevice, invalid or uninitialized input device 169
Major opcode: 148
Minor opcode: 3
Resource id: 0x0
Failed to open device
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

On the normal one everything is fine.

[BigSilly]

I'm not sure if this has been said, already... Didn't want to go through the entire thread and the CVS version crashes constantly. Anyway, the GUI sinda keeps forgetting some of the options I set. This involves the sound stuff (improved engines) and the SegaCD Perfect Synchro option in Gens up to 2.12b:

Sometimes some of those options appear turned on although they are off, sometimes it's the other way round. The only way to make sure is watching the GUI messages.

Anyway, the packages work splendidly.

EDIT: Well, looks like there are still issues. Silpheed locks up sometimes even though Perfect Synchro is activated. This didn't happen with 2.12rc3.

I'm finding it forgets settings too. Usually I set it to full screen and perfect synch etc, and as soon as I select another game it seems to revert back to defaults, though the tick boxes remain checked.

Other than that, I'm finding it excellent as a Megadrive emulator, and I'm thrilled that someone is maintaining it and showing the Linux emu scene some love!

[F-3582]

I'm finding it forgets settings too. Usually I set it to full screen and perfect synch etc, and as soon as I select another game it seems to revert back to defaults, though the tick boxes remain checked.

Other than that, I'm finding it excellent as a Megadrive emulator, and I'm thrilled that someone is maintaining it and showing the Linux emu scene some love!
Exactly. I don't know which one to trust - the GUI or the emu OSD messages telling me that I just activated Perfect Synchro although I just unchecked that box ;) Which one is right? Apparently the GUI doesn't check back the gens.cfg which is used by the emulator.

[Dirkomatic]

I appreciate the work in getting this package together!

I've encountered a small snag, though...

I use wah!cade as my front end. When I use gens with wah!cade, Alt+F4 registers as two different keystrokes and I can't exit.

Is there a way to configure gens to exit with another key-stroke? Any other ideas?

[Dirkomatic]

In case anyone else is interested, I found some "undocumented" command line options, one of which makes gens behave like I'm used to with other emulators. Here's a link: http://brian.gentoo-clan.org/2006/08/30/gens-command-line-parameters/

Basically, use the --quickexit option to make the Esc key exit gens.

[EnemyUnknown]

it works nice on my amd64
nice work dude

[i23098]

Any amd64 packages readly available for download?

[BigSilly]

Still using this and it's a great Megadrive emu. My thanks to all involved!

There's only a couple of nitpicky problems with this Gens now (such as the aforementioned GUI probs). Is this emu still being worked on, or is Gens for Linux now considered a finished product?

Cheers.

[DancemasterGlenn]

Hi everyone, this is my first post on these forums. I wanted to say that I was thrilled to find that Gens is starting to be worked on again! I've been keeping an eye on this thread for a few months now, and it has been great seeing all the work that has been done. I'm chiming in now, first of all, to say I'm loving the program, and I hope the inactivity of the board does not signify that the work on this project has once again subsided. You've taken a great emulator and made it even better!

That said, I would also point out that I have also experienced some minor problems with configuration not necessarily reflecting what I've checked in the GUI (like some other people, it seems). Another personal woe I was hoping could be taken care of... I recently purchased a widescreen monitor, which is great for movies and new games, but when it comes to emulation I much prefer that the normal aspect ratio be kept (or at least, to simply stretch the video to my vertical max, rather than this large horizontal max). Any chance a "maintain aspect ratio" option could be included in the GUI? It would be much appreciated.

Sorry about the long post, and I'm really looking forward to this project getting even better. Thanks!

[Faris]

i know this will sound silly but
how to make it run in the fullscreen mode and then get back to the normal window size
alt+enter is not working
i have to restart my pc
(because i don't know how to end any application that runs in a fullscreen mode ) ===>:confused:

[acoustibop]

Most likely reason is there's a problem with your videocard driver, Faris.

Try pressing Control+c - this should stop emulation - before toggling back to windowed view.

[dahlek]

Gens seems great, but I'm wondering why Generator isn't in the repos? Dgen is included but it's really not a good emu - even the guy who made it agrees :)

Here is the page for the updated generator:

http://www.ghostwhitecrab.com/generator/

It doesn't support SegaCD or 32X, but it is a very good Genesis emu and is still maintained and updated (unlike Dgen). It's fast too, even on ancient hardware, and has more modern features such as XV support (hardware 2D acel), the ability to play compressed ROMs, a GUI (simple, but functional), and so on.

Perhaps the Ubuntu team can remove and put Dgen to rest and add Generator? Most Genesis games, probably by a factor of 100 to one, are Genesis games, not 32X or SegaCD games in any case. It would be handy for noobs if they could fire up Adept or Synaptic, install Generator, and start playing their games.

Surely something with such bland/common dependencies, gtk and sdl, could easily and quickly be added to the official repos? Compiling it is probably out of reach of most noobs and even annoys me a little :)

[disturbedite]

i didn't know much of anything about generator other than it exists. but it looks pretty good/promising. too bad it doesn't support 7-zipped roms yet tho....

[megamaced]

Gens seems great, but I'm wondering why Generator isn't in the repos?

Generator isn't too bad and I have made a Ubuntu package of it here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=451647

However I do prefer Gens because of the added functionality and GTK+2 support

[disturbedite]

However I do prefer Gens because of the added functionality and GTK+2 support
heh, and i'm on kubuntu/kde...

[dahlek]

Thanks for the package, megamaced. That will save some time for my next install or PC. Any chance that Ubuntu can put one of these nice working emus into the official repos?

Seems Ubuntu ought to have at least one good emu for each major console. Dgen really doesn't cut it.

[SaLv1a]

I've been using Gens on Windows for a long time and I'm glad its on Ubuntu now since I just made the switch.

This version runs great without slowing down or anything but I can't seem to find where to change the resolution.

On Windows I would max it out so that it would be nice and sharp. Over here it looks horrible. Is there a command for this?

[disturbedite]

This version runs great without slowing down or anything but I can't seem to find where to change the resolution.
its right there under Graphic --> OpenGL Resolution.

oh and turn on stretch in the graphic menu too.

[SaLv1a]

Mine doesn't have OpenGL Resolution.

The only options I have in Graphic are...'

Fullscreen
Vsync
Stretch
Color Adjust
Render (no rez option)
Sprite Limit
Frame Skip
Screenshot


I'm running 2.12 rc3

[disturbedite]

then i don't think you're using the latest build. i wouldn't rely so much on the version number given in the about dialog, it seems to go backward and forward with different builds. ;) i'm sure mine is the latest & it says 2.13 alpha, but as i said, i take that with a grain of salt...

[BigSilly]

Yep, that's not the one we're using. I've attached the best version of Gens, but it's available at the beginning of this thread.

[disturbedite]

this is the one i'm using, its updated for feisty even tho i'm on gutsy:

[Extreme Coder]

Even though I moved to Mandriva, I still lurk here sometimes :P

Anyway, I tried the Mandriva package you have on the first page, and it's working great. Thanks a lot!

[cfehunter]

I have to say that it works great.

Only bug i can find is that if i hit alt + enter and go to full screen, the program freezes and dosnt do anything until i go back to a window. Other than that thanks for making it and getting rid of one of my reasons to keep windows installed :)

[BigSilly]

I agree, it's an excellent emulator, and certainly the best Megadrive Emu on Linux imo. Can't wait for a new release!

[elpresidente]

Thanks for packaging this. Everything looks good so far. I have just one little problem. I use a Logitech usb gamepad and the only button that works in-game is the start button. Gens allows me to configure the joypad (It detects UP, DOWN, etc) but when I get in game, only the Start button works. Very strange. The gamepad works fine in FCEU. Now I have tried to use Joy2key to work around this problem but Joy2key complains that a joypad is not connected. Very strange. Any suggestions?

[acoustibop]

A number of programs have this problem with controllers: it's because they look for the controller in /dev rather than /dev/input. Sometimes it's possible to change this in the program's configuration, but the easiest solution is just to put a symlink to your controller in /dev.

What Logitech controller are you using? The only problem I have with my Rumblepad 2 is that each directional control configures as one of two controls rather than one of four; the best way to get round this seems to be to edit the configuration file manually: note the number for Up and increment it by 1 for each successive directional control. That is, Up is 4097, so Down becomes 4098, Left 4099 and Right 4100 for my controller.

[F-3582]

this is the one i'm using, its updated for feisty even tho i'm on gutsy:
This one keeps crashing for me everytime I try to change some OpenGL-related things, like resolution, color depth or full-screen mode...

[cfehunter]

i fixed my problem with fullscreen now. it was just that i had enter set to start, and it paused it when i went to full screen and that caused it to crash for some strange reason.

Does anybody know how to make the emulator use 2XSAI in full screen mode? I've been trying to get it to work but without a floating menu in fullscreen it's proving to be a problem.

[s_spiff]

Disclamer : Newb to emulators and the such.

Anyone has a x64 deb for this? and also, how do i go about using this? where can I get the games?

[disturbedite]

don't ask where to get the games.

[i23098]

don't ask where to get the games.

where to get the x64 deb? ;)

[disturbedite]

if there isn't a link to a 64bit deb package in this thread then maybe one doesn't exist. i'd google it.

[macness]

Can you use version 2.14 source to build a deb package? I'm really wanting to test this out!

Oh and I'm running Gutsy Beta.

[mthei]

Version 2.14 is available on GetDeb.net. It works well, but there are no icons in the program's menus, and it feels very sluggish, so I'm sticking with the ones up here for now. Still, it feels as if Gens has come a long way since I used it on Windows before I switched to Kega Fusion. These are excellent emulators, thanks for these.

[BigSilly]

I tried that version, but it wasn't half as good as the one from this very forum.

[hernyman]

Just tried it in Gutsy RC, works fine.

[wryun]

I'm still planning on spending some time on this to reduce the crashes and add a couple more features, just been busy/lazy. Crashes are due to only having one window now vs. previous builds with separate menu, because I bodged it in without properly understanding the code :)

Joystick problems - noted, I'll have a look. I think this section needs a complete rewrite.

GUI sync problems - yes, noticed them myself, haven't tracked them down yet.

If you are having crashes after upgrading, please remove your .gens directory and try again (the config files changed in a dodgy way to avoid a particular problem - again, this will hopefully be rewritten).

2.14 version - this doesn't exist. Some versions are mistakenly labelled 2.14 because they're taken from a 2.14 source dump which included all the cross-platform versions, but the only changes between 2.12 and 2.14 were to the Windows version and don't seem at all useful for Linux. I'll probably bump the CVS up to 2.15alpha or something to avoid confusion though. Or is there a better suggestion?

[hagiviz]

sir good day...i'm new in this ubunto thing... iwant to learn more about it...... i wonder how do you do the installation thing? how do i open to acces the term called "terminal" to put the text command line for installation... i downlaoaded the packages but when i install it it wont work..... plz help.

[DancemasterGlenn]

Good to hear an update, wryun. Any thoughts on adding the "maintain aspect ratio" option? A separate resolution for windowed and fullscreen would also be welcomed, unless it's there and I'm just not seeing it...

[disturbedite]

sir good day...i'm new in this ubunto thing... iwant to learn more about it...... i wonder how do you do the installation thing? how do i open to acces the term called "terminal" to put the text command line for installation... i downlaoaded the packages but when i install it it wont work..... plz help.
it would have been better to ask that in the "Absolute Beginner Talk" section.

[wryun]

Good to hear an update, wryun. Any thoughts on adding the "maintain aspect ratio" option?

The aspect ratio thing is something you should be able to control in your drivers - there should be some way to tell your monitor/video card not to stretch the output to widescreen for 4:3 resolutions. Don't have one of these myself, unfortunately, so I couldn't say how.

[DancemasterGlenn]

Hm. Psx (the emulator) and ZSNES both have options to correct aspect ratio, so I've never needed to dig through my drivers to accomplish this. That's the only reason I mentioned it, but I don't know how either emulator accomplishes this. But yes, if you don't have a widescreen monitor yourself, I suppose a feature like that will probably not be very high on your list.

The separate resolutions for windowed/fullscreen would still be most welcome, if that is on your to-do list. Thanks again, I'm really enjoying this emulator.

[megamaced]

I'll probably bump the CVS up to 2.15alpha or something to avoid confusion though. Or is there a better suggestion?

I agree with the version bump as that would solve all the confusion :cool:

I'll keep an eye on the CVS tree and make new packages as and when needed. I plan to build a Gutsy package for the current CVS build quite soon.

[disturbedite]

I agree with the version bump as that would solve all the confusion :cool:

I'll keep an eye on the CVS tree and make new packages as and when needed. I plan to build a Gutsy package for the current CVS build quite soon.
i agree too with the version bump, perfect way to differentiate it.

thanks megamaced!

[revolve]

i'm having a problem with this. The package installed fine and the program starts, but whenever I try to do anything(Start a game, change resolution, etc) it crashes. I've deleted the .gens folder and still it crashes on me.

Here's what it says if I try to start it with terminal:

The program 'gens' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'GLXBadRenderRequest'.
(Details: serial 23 error_code 160 request_code 149 minor_code 1)
(Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported asynchronously;
that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error() function.)
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

[Dirkomatic]

I love gens, but I've run across a problem and I can't seem to figure out the answer. I'm trying to map the space bar to my C button... when I do that it doesn't work and I just get a -1 in the gens.cfg if I try to save it.

Any suggestions?

[Super Jamie]

Hi, thanks for making this package. Works great for me!

Gutsy installed since Beta, nvidia-new driver in Twinview mode, using windowed OpenGL mode, SB Live 24-bit using ALSA.
I have a usb gamepad (acutally a USB-to-PS2 converter) which is regognised by jscalibrate, which is also working fine.
Haven't found any problems at all.

[Frak]

Have you uploaded this to the REVU? The MOTU would be very happy to have a community uploader. You could also create a launchpad personal repository.

[DoktorSeven]

Still freezes in the middle of games for me, no errors or any messages from console when frozen. Has to be killed with kill -9. This is on Gutsy (but happened when I had it installed on previous versions) under fluxbox with nvidia card (properly configured).

No other games have issues, and a compiled gens-rc3.5 (from an old thread on the Gentoo forum) works just fine.

[BigSilly]

Any chance of packaging this for Gutsy? I can't be doing without me Gens! :)

I tried this current version, but it causes problems on Gutsy, with the mouse pointer slowing down and the dialogue boxes not responding. I thought I'd try it since the package manager said all dependencies were satisfied, but it's not working like it did on Feisty.

Thanks in advance.

[chronusdark]

i too would like to figure out how to get this to run in gutsy
when i launch i get no errors in the terminal but if i open a rom i get "Error Opening Rom" message and if i run with compiz on it locks my machine up

[DancemasterGlenn]

Really? I just upgraded to gusty (kept my old packages) and Gens is still running fine for me...

[acoustibop]

@BigSilly & chronusdark: like DoktorSeven, try some of the earlier packages (there may be some floating around in this thread): I could never get the latest one to run on Feisty, either. Haven't had time to check it out on Gutsy yet, but when I do, if the newest doesn't work, I'll try older ones.

[megamaced]

Any chance of packaging this for Gutsy? I can't be doing without me Gens! :)


You bet! I'll get a package done in the next few days

[BigSilly]

You bet! I'll get a package done in the next few days

That's brilliant! Thanks very much. I'll keep an eye on this forum.

Cheers for your hard work. 8-)

[chronusdark]

a little off topic but does anyone know of an genesis emu that has been updated within the last 2 years

[F-3582]

Technically yes. It's called Kega Fusion and has been updated 21 months ago which is technically within the past two years ;) Unfortunately this one is not for Linux.

Oh, and there's HazeMD which is a derivative off MAME. It's been updated quite frequently for a while aiming to bring near-perfect Genesis emulation. However, it likes its ROMs stored the MAME way which might mean some work on your side, I suppose. Unless you get ClrMAMEPro to do the dirty job of renaming and byte-swapping for you. And running on Linux, of course ;)

[chronusdark]

Oh, and there's HazeMD which is a derivative off MAME. It's been updated quite frequently for a while aiming to bring near-perfect Genesis emulation. However, it likes its ROMs stored the MAME way which might mean some work on your side, I suppose. Unless you get ClrMAMEPro to do the dirty job of renaming and byte-swapping for you. And running on Linux, of course ;)

ick i hate renaming roms I just finished sorting and renaming i dont think my wife could take a round 2 (it drives her nuts when i organize mp3/roms)

[F-3582]

As I said, just run ClrMamePro through WINE and let it do it for you.

[BigSilly]

Just wanted to post up again to say thanks to all those involved in bringing this emulator to Linux. I've now got the current packages working just fine on both Gutsy and Mandriva 2008. Like a plonker I'd just not disabled the 3D desktop effects. Now I've done that, all works wonderfully on both Linux's.

Top emu, and thanks for all your hard work.

[adam0509]

It's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to get a STABLE package for Hardy Heron !!!


Please !!!

[Frak]

It's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to get a STABLE package for Hardy Heron !!!


Please !!!
I don't see the need. There isn't enough people using Hardy, it would be a waste of time and effort. Plus, the Gutsy Package should run FINE under Hardy.

[DancemasterGlenn]

I don't see the need. There isn't enough people using Hardy, it would be a waste of time and effort. Plus, the Gutsy Package should run FINE under Hardy.

What Gutsy package?

[Rafadagaffer]

Ill download and test this later on. got a bunch of Sonic roms I can play :)

[megamaced]

Finally got around to compiling Gens CVS 20070625 with the Gutsy libraries. As for an altogether new CVS package, well you will have to harass Wryun for that!

http://www.zshare.net/download/477181507f7e3b/

[DancemasterGlenn]

New package works great, my old one worked fine when I upgraded from Dapper, but I figured I might as well use this one.

Wryun, consider yourself harassed!

[BigSilly]

Thanks for this megamaced. Excellent stuff, and have installed it immediately. Performs better than the Feisty version did on Gutsy for me, so well worth an install.

Now we really must petition Wryun....

[Mellowdrone]

I'll grant I haven't read the entire thread, so no worries, but upon reading the initial question I thought I'd throw in my two cents. The emulator works well - tried it with Sonic 1, 2, and 3, and each game works as expected. In windowed mode, like some of the others have posted, the colors do come off flat interestingly, but windowed mode is about all I ever play due to personal preference.

My controller does have some issues - the Xbox 360 Wired Controller - as pressing one button in the joypad configuration results in two or three button presses. Other programs using the joypad work fine. I can play with the keyboard, though! So that works, too.

Anyway, thought I'd add what I could.

[disturbedite]

My controller does have some issues - the Xbox 360 Wired Controller - as pressing one button in the joypad configuration results in two or three button presses.
same here with my original xbox controller s (wired). i could be wrong, but i believe the reason for this is cuz the controller is too sensitive. i wouldn't know how to adjust its sensitivity tho if it is even possible...

[matemargo]

Finally got around to compiling Gens CVS 20070625 with the Gutsy libraries. As for an altogether new CVS package, well you will have to harass Wryun for that!

http://www.zshare.net/download/477181507f7e3b/

After installing the package I get this error:


Segmentation fault (core dumped)


Any ideas?

[ooshlablu]

The emulator looks fine but the sound keeps slowing down like the computer can't handle it :? I have an Audigy 4 on a Pentium 4 3.06GHz so I don't think the computer is to blame... And I really wanted to play those good ol' sonic games... :(

hey, i had the same problem for a while, but it seems that enabling opengl does the trick.
if u don't have opengl desktop enabled or opengl period, make sure the option is disabled

[ooshlablu]

same here with my original xbox controller s (wired). i could be wrong, but i believe the reason for this is cuz the controller is too sensitive. i wouldn't know how to adjust its sensitivity tho if it is even possible...

i use the xbox360 controller and had the same problem with sensitivity

the old version (gens 2.12b/a) has not that great controller support. compiling the new cvs version will solve ur problem

[darqfiber]

gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[1].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[2].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[3].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: (near initialization for ‘S68K_Fetch[0].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: In function ‘M68K_Set_32X_Rom_Bank’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:365: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: In function ‘M68K_Set_Prg_Ram’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:390: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size
make[4]: *** [gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o] Error 1
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/gens'
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
make: *** [build-stamp] Error 2
debuild: fatal error at line 1247:
debian/rules build failed
@raven:~/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b$

Anyone know how to build either version of the source on amd64 gutsy ? I tried the instructions in this thread but I get coming out with some error. Maybe some nice person on here has x64 debs they could send to me?

Thanks

-DF

[Frak]

gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:27: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[1].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:28: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[2].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:29: error: (near initialization for ‘M68K_Fetch[3].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: initializer element is not constant
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:63: error: (near initialization for ‘S68K_Fetch[0].offset’)
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: In function ‘M68K_Set_32X_Rom_Bank’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:365: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c: In function ‘M68K_Set_Prg_Ram’:
gens_core/cpu/68k/cpu_68k.c:390: warning: cast from pointer to integer of different size
make[4]: *** [gens_core/cpu/68k/gens-cpu_68k.o] Error 1
make[4]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src/gens'
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b/src'
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b'
make: *** [build-stamp] Error 2
debuild: fatal error at line 1247:
debian/rules build failed
@raven:~/Desktop/gens_2.12b_src/gens-2.12b$

Anyone know how to build either version of the source on amd64 gutsy ? I tried the instructions in this thread but I get coming out with some error. Maybe some nice person on here has x64 debs they could send to me?

Thanks

-DF
That is code for the Motorola 68k chipset. I wonder why it is trying to build that?

[Jengu]

I'm also getting the core dump error, any ideas? I tried disabling compiz because I guess that was the problem, but it didn't help. I also tried with and without my joypad plugged in.

[Hatta0]

I've compiled the source on debian sid, it built and installed fine. But when I try to run it flashes the gui for a second then seg faults. It's not an opengl problem on my part, everything else opengl runs flawlessly. None of the .debs work either.

I don't even get any helpful error messages:

hatta@iblis:/usr/src/gens-2.13-cvs20070625$ gens
Segmentation fault
hatta@iblis:/usr/src/gens-2.13-cvs20070625$

[acoustibop]

Try the 2.12b .deb - it's linked in this thread somewhere, Hatta0.

The 2.13 ones did the same for me in Feisty and Gutsy.

[KnuX]

It would be great if someone can tell us how to compile the CVS version on x64 system... I'm using Debian Sid x64 and I have exactly the same error as above :(

[Felarin]

Has anyone compiled a package with netplay so far or has the source file for the netplay plugin so that i can create a package and release it?

[scunc_dvl]

Before I try a forced-install on my amd64 system, does anyone know the dependancies? (i.e. packages I need to install).

In getting some 32-bit stuff running, I've had to manually install 32-bit libs in the past.. But somehow I don't think this is necessary, if someone else just "did" it. :P (I'm currently using Gutsy)

[megamaced]

The dependencies for Gens on Gutsy are:

libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.13.2), libc6 (>= 2.6-1), libcairo2 (>= 1.4.0),
libfontconfig1 (>= 2.4.0), libgl1-mesa-glx | libgl1, libglib2.0-0 (>=
2.14.0), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.18.2),
libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1), libx11-6, libxcomposite1 (>= 1:0.3-1),
libxcursor1 (> 1.1.2), libxdamage1 (>= 1:1.1), libxext6, libxfixes3 (>=
1:4.0.1), libxi6, libxinerama1, libxrandr2 (>= 2:1.2.0), libxrender1,
zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-1)

Most of the packages should be installed by default in Ubuntu.

As for Gens on x64, I really don't know. I don't run a x64 OS so I've never really looked into compiling and installing Gens on that platform.

[Frak]

The dependencies for Gens on Gutsy are:

libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.13.2), libc6 (>= 2.6-1), libcairo2 (>= 1.4.0),
libfontconfig1 (>= 2.4.0), libgl1-mesa-glx | libgl1, libglib2.0-0 (>=
2.14.0), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.12.0), libpango1.0-0 (>= 1.18.2),
libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1), libx11-6, libxcomposite1 (>= 1:0.3-1),
libxcursor1 (> 1.1.2), libxdamage1 (>= 1:1.1), libxext6, libxfixes3 (>=
1:4.0.1), libxi6, libxinerama1, libxrandr2 (>= 2:1.2.0), libxrender1,
zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.3.3.dfsg-1)

Most of the packages should be installed by default in Ubuntu.

As for Gens on x64, I really don't know. I don't run a x64 OS so I've never really looked into compiling and installing Gens on that platform.
All you need to do is provide the source debian packages and people can build the .deb themselves.

[megamaced]

All you need to do is provide the source debian packages and people can build the .deb themselves.

I do! Check the first post in this thread for the links! :)

[Frak]

I do! Check the first post in this thread for the links! :)
Then all you need to do is describe how to install build-depends for apt, then run dpkg-buildpackage in the directory.

[megamaced]

I think the problem is that Gens won't compile on x64. I am not a programmer so I don't know why this is!

[Frak]

I think the problem is that Gens won't compile on x64. I am not a programmer so I don't know why this is!
Since it is an emulator, I could possibly see why this is. It most likely needs to be ported, since 64-bit instruction sets are different from 32-bit. (x86_64 bit processors don't run the SSE1 instruction set in 64-bit mode)

[disturbedite]

That is code for the Motorola 68k chipset. I wonder why it is trying to build that?
cuz the MD/Genesis used a motorola 68k (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68k#Main_uses).

[el_itur]

The gutsy version segfaults here, sorry if they reported it already, I can't read the whole thread
[edit]
I was talking about the unstable

the stable version works but won't load anything i throw at it :(