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SSF Emulator Gets Preview Version R36

A new version of Saturn emulator SSF was released last week, making minor fixes to get a couple games running and improve audio recording. It comes after a more major update in July.

Thunder Force V running on SSF version R36.

The latest preview version of SSF, including many previous ones, is available at its developer Shima’s  GitHub , where the latest version is called PreviewVer_R36. All of SSF’s updates dating back to January 2021 can be downloaded from there. Shima calls each of this year’s updates “preview” versions, which are essentially betas. It doesn’t appear that a version he’s comfortable calling a full release has come out in years.

Shima announced the new version Aug. 29 on  social media , then posted in his native Japanese about the various changes in R36. Here are those posts machine translated — with some human editing — into English:

  • “Fixed CD block processing. Battle Monsters now runs.”
  • “I’ve ensured it does not hang even without an audio device. I’ve accelerated the recording process. I’ve added an option to select 24-bit for the recording format.”
  • “CreateObject.exe has been fixed. Games like Thunder Force V now run properly.”
  • “SCU-DSP object cache has been enabled. However, there are still bugs. Consider yourself lucky if it works.”

SHIRO!  last reported  on SSF in April when version R34 released. Since then, version R35 came out July 19, and that seemed to be a more significant update than R36, judging by how much the developer had to say about it. Not only were more fixes made to various processors’ emulation to get games like Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story 1 and Street Racer Extra working properly, but new features were also added like more audio options and keyboard shortcuts.

At the time, Shima posted this on social media about R35’s changes and features:

Battle Monsters running on SSF version R36.
  • “Fixed V-blank interrupt handling for slave SH2. CPU now functions in Groove On Fight. Fixed VDP1 clipping processing. Display for Stellar Assault SS and [Mobile Suit Gundam Gaiden 1:] Senritsu no Blue is now normal.”
  • “Fixed Gouraud shading processing for VDP1. Transparent polygons such as windows in Burning Rangers now render correctly. Fixed rotation surface rendering processing for VDP2. Street Racer Extra now displays correctly.”
  • “Fixed SCU Timer 1 processing. The title screen and other elements in DonPachi now display correctly. Fixed SCU-DSP processing. Magical Hoppers [editor’s note: its Western name is Pandamonium] now functions properly.”
  • “SCSP-DSP processing has been fixed. Zoop now functions properly. CD block processing has been fixed. The lower volume of Clockwork Knight Fukubukuro now functions properly.”
  • “Additional features include an option in VDP2’s VDP2RAMWriteTiming to specify whether the update timing occurs before or after the scan line. This is effective for cheating animations like those in Suchie-Pai Adventure Doki Doki Nightmare. It also may be effective for movie tearing.”
  • “Additional features include an option to configure the EFSDL registers (volume) for slots 16 and 17 via CDDA forced stereo conversion. Some software only sets the volume for one channel. This option forces configuration in such cases to enable stereo conversion.”
  • “Additional features include adding CDDA forced stereo conversion, CD image selection and an options screen to the function keys. CDDA forced stereo conversion: Shift+C key. CD image selection: Shift+F1 key. Options screen: Shift+F2 key. CD image selection and option changes are now possible even while Borderless is active.”
  • “Additional features: Added the NewPCMGenerate option. This provides a new sound generation timing.”
  • “Additionally, I’ve changed the SMPC’s SMEM settings to save to the Backup folder instead of SSF.ini.
    Previously, deleting SSF.ini would also erase the system’s language settings and other configurations, but starting with R35, settings will remain intact unless you delete the SMEM.ini file in the Backup folder.”
  • “Currently, the following operations appear unstable: BusWait, SH2WriteBuffer and dual SH2 operations. On the actual hardware, significant waits seem to occur depending on timing, but I haven’t been able to reproduce this. It might be due to a different cause… For now, if behavior seems unstable, try turning SH2WriteBuffer OFF. Next, turn SH2Cache OFF, then BusWait OFF.”
  • “Object Cache Generation: After modifying the code generation program, games like Thunder Force V stopped working properly. I don’t think it’s used that much anyway… I’ll fix it in R36. In R35, the object cache is basically disabled.”

Groove On Fight running on SSF version R36 with working enemy AI.

SSF didn’t get an update in most of 2022 and all of 2023 before Shima uploaded a new version, R29, to his Github in January 2024. Several more updates followed through June that year before the development went quiet until April this year with version R34.

One of the oldest Saturn emulators, SSF celebrated its 25th anniversary last December. Its  first publicly available version  came out in 1999.

Despite its long development time, a lot of settings need to be tweaked to get various games running correctly, it seems.

Each version of SSF since R18 has included a Document folder with some HTML files that discuss the emulator’s completion and give troubleshooting tips, albeit in Japanese. In R34’s setting.html, there’s a much more substantial list of settings to change to make various games work than the one found in previous versions of SSF. The settings are found under Option and then the several Program tabs.

“The following is a list of settings required for each software,” Shima says in setting.html by way of machine translation. “These are items to be changed from the default settings.”

The list of games in version R36 and the settings he recommends changing for each one are as follows:

  • Daytona USA Circuit Edition: VDP1DrawThread ON, VDP1DrawSync
  • Fighters Mega Mix: SH2DMARealTransfer ON
  • Deep Fear: SH2DMARealTransfer ON
  • Biohazard (Resident Evil): SH2WriteBuffer OFF, SH2DMARealTransfer
  • DonPachi: SoundThread OFF
  • Dark Savior: SH2WriteBuffer OFF
  • Pro Mahjong Extreme S: SH2WriteBuffer OFF
  • Gal Jan: SH2DMARealTransfer ON
  • Lunar Silver Star Story (Movie): SH2WriteBuffer OFF
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion 2nd Impression (Movie): VDP2RAMWriteTimingRenewalAfterScanline ON
  • Machi: SH2DMARealTransfer ON
  • Waku Waku 7: SoundThread OFF, SH2WriteBuffer OFF
  • Gyuwambler Jiko Chshinha Tokyo Mahjongland: SH2WriteBuffer OFF
  • Thunderhawk II (Thunderstrike II): SH2DMARealTransfer ON
  • Kaitou Saint Tail: SH2DMARealTransfer ON
  • Assault Rigs: SH2WriteBuffer OFF
  • Bug: VDP1DrawThread ON, VDP1DrawSync
  • Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon: SoundThread OFF
  • Baroque (Movie): SH2WriteBuffer OFF
  • Idol Janshi Suchie-Pai Mecha Genteiban Disc 3: VDP2RAMWriteTimingRenewalAfterScanline ON
  • Suchi Pie Adventure Doki Doki Nightmare: VDP2RAMWriteTimingRenewalAfterScanline ON
  • Blood Factory (Loaded): VDP1DrawThread ON, VDP1DrawSync ON, SH2WriteBuffer OFF, SCUDMARealTransfer
  • The King of Fighters ’96: Select 1MBytesRAMCartridge
  • Sega Rally Championship Plus: VDP1DrawThread ON, VDP1DrawSync
  • Taito Chase H.Q. Plus S.C.I.: Turn on CDTrack/Index
  • PriCla Daisakusen (Princess Clara’s Big Adventure): Turn on CDTrack/Index
  • Capcom Generation Vol. 2 Shuu Makai to Kishi: SH2WriteBuffer OFF
Danthrax
 

Danthrax is a contributor to the SHIRO! Media Group, writing stories for the website when Saturn news breaks. While he was a Sega Genesis kid in the '90s, he didn't get a Saturn until 2018. It didn't take him long to fall in love with the console's library as well as the fan translation and homebrew scene. He contributed heavily to the Bulk Slash and Stellar Assault SS fan localizations, and he's helped as an editor on several other Saturn and Dreamcast fan projects such as Cotton 2, Rainbow Cotton and Sakura Wars Columns 2.
 
 
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