Creating an NES Emulator From Scratch Part 0: The Start of an Adventure!

My next project is quite an ambitious one. My goal is to build an NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) emulator in either Java or C++ from scratch.

The reason for this is three-fold. Firstly I've been interested in retro games and emulators for a long time now. Secondly, for my first term of first year university I'm taking a C++ course and previous experience is recommended. I'm quite comfortable with programming in Java and I have some experience with C++ but I think learning through a project will provide a significant boost to my knowledge. Finally, a side project like this is very valuable to tell employers when applying for a job, and writing an emulator demonstrates understanding of both software (the programming of the emulator) and hardware (the details of the machine you are trying to emulate).

There is a fourth reason as well, though not as selfish of one. I want to try and inspire and teach anyone that wants to do this project as well, in a very comprehensive way. We can learn about this together, in essence.

I'm going to start by saying that I can't guarantee much. I have no idea how far I'll get on this before I run out of time due to school, or before I drop the project due to other reasons.
I also can't guarantee this emulator will be a polished and playable application. My main goal is to make something that works and if I have the time afterwards, improve on it.
In addition, I will not guarantee that as of any revision of any post that the information contained within is correct. Because I am writing as I am learning this, I may have misunderstood the content. If you spot mistake please comment! Otherwise at some point I'll end up figuring it out. Probably.

I will be starting my research soon. I'll post my findings and my sources on this blog. Once I start real programming I'll post it on my GitHub page as well.

I think this will be an exciting adventure!

Nerf Mod Complete!

After a break to go places and do things that needed to be done, I finished the Neft build. I hot glued the wires, boards and switches, and added a battery holder for 9v at the bottom of the gun.

It still fires like it should, not interfering with any wires. I've documented this whole process and will be releasing an Instructable tutorial in the near future!

Check back soon for my next project. Maybe I'll do the quadbot project now!

BTW I had some pictures but since rooting my phone and installing CyanogenMod I cant post them using the Blogger app... So I'll edit those up soon.

Quick Break

Sorry everyone, I meant to finish my build of the Nerf gun but its been a busy week so it will be a few more days.

Almost finished Nerf Mod

So after a bit of a break, I continued with my Nerf build.

Today I drilled the holes for the power LED and Switch, and soldered wires on to both of those.

I had to start thinking about how I was going to connect all the wires together. I don't have perf board so I cant solder them that way, and I really don't want to just leave components and wires directly soldered to eachother unless I really have to.

So I had to figure out another solution.

I dug through my box of circuit boards until I found 2 pretty small through-hole ones. I desoldered all the components, leaving me with empty boards. I'm going to solder my components on to these, using the premade traces to my advantage. It worked out well!

Everything is all set to solder! But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Link to Pacman 3000!

Edit: Media Hogs Studios has closed. Thank you all. I'm still deciding what the future holds for Pacman 3000. Stay tuned.

Again, still recovering so no progress on any of the builds, though I am going to plug a video game that I made in grade 9 for a business trade show project. It's called Pacman 3000, and you play as Pacman, running around a fully 3D world trying to eat coins while avoiding ghosts. Try it out!

Since grade 9 I've added a high score system, and plan to add more features and maps, as well.

Without further ado, here is the game!
http://mediahogsstudios.com/games/pacman3000/


With the exception of that page, the website on the whole is rather unfinished. I haven't had time to work on it much.


Also hello HackTheNorth people :)

Quick Update

So my Wisdom Teeth surgury went very well, I could even say it was a good experience! They had me on IV sedation which basically made me feel really sleepy and relaxed through the whole thing. What felt like 5 minutes was actually an hour and a half, and eight needles! I'm still swollen and my teeth hurt a bit but not as much as I originally expected.

In the mean time I've been working on small projects. I built and painted two plastic models, and today I built the hovercraft kit you see in the picture. I've had it for a long time and never got around to building it.

The assembly was obviously easy, but when I turned it on, the thing barely moved, with the back end scraping on the ground. The 4 fresh AAA batteries I had installed just didnt provide enough power.
Solution? Stick a 9V in there. Man did it fly, even over carpet which suprised me for a kit of this type.

As you could imagine though, the motor with the AAA's demanded a lot of current, and with the 9V, it sucks it like no tomorrow. Between the low resistance of the motor and the gradually increasing heat of all components, I'd say you could run this thing for 10, maybe 15 minutes before it would not have enough power. And 9V batterys are expensive!

That's all for today. Ill get back into my other projects soon.

Posting Break

Im getting my Wisdom Teeth removed today.... And I'm not sure sure what state I will be in and probably won't be able to do much work on any projects for a day or two. So stay tuned :D