Does this forum also cater to those wishing to learn how to write emulators?

[zesterer]

Hello,

I've recently got interested in emulation and emulators, and... well. The title says it all. I'd love to learn how to write emulators properly. I've recently just created a Chip-8 instruction set emulator of my own, so I'm not totally naive or unrealistic about what I can and can't feasibly do. I'd just like a little information now on what project I should move on to next. I've taken a look at writing a GameBoy Color emulator, but it looks like a bit too much of a jump up from Chip-8. So with that in mind, I'd like to ask: Which system is a good step up from Chip-8? Something simple but not too simple.

Thanks,

~ Z

[ulaoulao]

No but we can point you in the right direction. Reddit just had a topic on this and it is a perfect way to get your feet wet. This guy really did a good job with the write up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/3193mh/i_made_an_nes_emulator_heres_what_i_learned_about/

Writing an emulator has steps of knowledge, like 100 of them. In order for anyone to help you, we'd need to know where you are. You can start with packages like the HIGAN libraries and include them or start from ground up. Give the page a look see, if any of that makes sense you are at least at step 20. If it does not, you better get crackin' on some basic assembly and how CPUs work.

[zesterer]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm a few paragraphs into the reddit post, and everything's making sense so far, so I guess that's good.I will definitely take a look at HIGAN.

Do you know of any dedicated emulator development forums? If this is a purely a user-orientated forum, it's probably best not to ask all my questions (of which I will no doubt have many) here.

Thanks,

[ulaoulao]

You wont really see much of that, most talk is on IRC and what not. Though the higan forums talk about this some, you don't want to be the new guy. They will trash you at first go, like going for a dip in a shark tank. Best advice is find a friend, maybe email the author of that reddit post. There are also devs on this board but far and few.

[zesterer]

Ok, thanks. Would you be able to tell me which IRC networks / channels I can find a few emulator developers on please? Thanks.

[ulaoulao]

I'm out of touch there but dolphin has one you could find out more on there.