Summary

1. What is it ?

2. Why this emulator ?

3. Who've done it ?

4. So, what are the requirements ?

5. There are some glitches. Why that ?

6. What does it emulate ?

7. Will it run at the same speed than the Windows version ?

8. How do I compile it ?

9. Then, how do I run it ?

10. Where are language.dat and gens.cfg ?

11. What is the syntax of gens.cfg ?

12. How to configure inputs without the GTK interface ?

13. What is it ?

This is a Linux port (x86 processors) based on the Sega Genesis Emulator "Gens" version 2.12a

2. Why this emulator ?

Because it was a pity that Gens wasn't available on Linux platforms.

3. Who've done it ?

Stephane Dallongeville is the author of Gens (Windows version). Caz has made a BeOS port, using Allegro. But this port was command line oriented. And though Allegro is a great library, its GUI part is ... well ... rather ugly. Thus, I (Stephane Akhoun) wanted to use GTK+ for the GUI. But as mixing Allegro and GTK+ events loop was a bit of challenge (though possible) I decided to switch to SDL. Fortunately, it was very easy (only 2 function calls to change !). Finally, in the port process, my main work is the GTK+ GUI, and some work here and there. Caz ported the gens core : I wanted to thank him/her one more time for his/her pieces of advice.

Thanks also for Lester Barrows (aryarya) and El Pelos (wah wah 69) for their contribution, patches, joystick support, ... For all users that helped and help us in the porting process : thank you very much !

4. So, what are the requirements ?

You must have at least :

• SDL 1.2 (SDL 1.1.3 reported to work)

• GTK+ 2.4

• gcc >= 2.95

• nasm 0.98.38 (older version may work. Didn't try.)

5. There are some glitches. Why that ?

You are very welcome to :

• report bugs
• notify incomplete features and strange behaviour (ie that differs from the original version)

on Sourceforge site. For more specific stuff (ie : only stuff related to gens for unix), you can contact me at [email protected] Please, check on Sourceforge that your bug/request feature is not already taken in account ! Thanks by advance !

6. What does it emulate ?

It emulates Genesis, Sega CD (iso/mp3, not real CD) and 32X roms.

7. Will it run at the same speed than the Windows version ?

It will. 32X games run slowly at full definition (2xSAI, 44kHz, all improvements on). But maybe my PC is not powerful enough.

8. How do I compile it ?

First, uncompress the archive gens.tar.gz in an empty directory : 'tar xvzf gens.tar.gz' In all cases, make sure that you use GNU Make.

Then type : 'configure' 'make' 'make install'

You should also have a look at the INSTALL file, if you're not comfortable with this.

9. Then, how do I run it ?

After a successful compilation, you should have a file named 'gens' in your 'gens' directory. Just type './gens' and enjoy !

10. Where are language.dat and gens.cfg ?

In ~/.gens/

11. What is the syntax of gens.cfg ?

[section1] key=value ... ...

[section2] key=value ...

12. How to configure inputs without the GTK interface ?

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

Down : 4096 + 256which + 1 Up : 4096 + 256which + 2 Left : 4096 + 256which + 3 Right : 4096 + 256which + 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=4098 P1.Down=4097 P1.Left=4099 P1.Right=4100 P1.Start=4112 P1.A=4113 ...