diff --git a/site/content/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2.md b/site/content/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2481c79 --- /dev/null +++ b/site/content/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2.md @@ -0,0 +1,303 @@ ++++ +date = "2018-09-10T12:21:53-05:00" +title = "Citra Progress Report - 2018 Q2" +tags = [ "progress-report" ] +author = "anodium" +coauthor = "CaptV0rt3x" +forum = 49673 ++++ + +Hello everyone to the summer (or winter, for those on the southern half of this +Earth) edition of Citra's progress reports. Although not very many large changes +have been made, many fixes have focused on accuracy improvements and implementing +some of the sorely needed user experience features. + +Before we go further into this, our [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/citraemu/posts) +poll results are out. +We asked our patrons, which feature they would like to see us work on next and +they delivered. Here are the results and as you will see, some of these have +been considered and already implemented. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/patreon.png" + title="Patreon Poll Results" >}} + +To get access to such exclusives in the future and to support this project, +consider becoming a patron. Now, enough appetizing, have your entrée: + +## [Add pause, speed limit hotkeys](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3594) by [valentinvanelslande](https://github.com/valentinvanelslande) + +Let's start with a simple but sweet one — you can now assign hotkeys to +pausing, unpausing, and toggling speed limiting. By default, you can pause with +F4 and toggle speed limiting with Ctrl+Z. +But, of course, you can bind these actions to other keys in Citra's `qt-config.ini`. +The property for pausing is `Shortcuts\Main%20Window\Continue\Pause\KeySeq` and +for speed toggling it is `Shortcuts\Main%20Window\Toggle%20Speed%20Limit\KeySeq`. + +## [Add support for multiple game directories](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3617) by [BreadFish64](https://github.com/BreadFish64) + +You can now configure Citra to search multiple directories for games and apps! +This allow you to keep titles across different folders, and if you have any +launchable titles installed into Citra's virtual SD card or NAND, they'll also +show up in their own section so you can boot them from the game list. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/multiple_gamedirs.png" + title="Multiple Game Directories" >}} + +## [Add support for stereoscopic 3D](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3632) by [N00byKing](https://github.com/N00byKing) + +If you are one of the lucky few with a 3D TV or monitor attached to your +computer, stereoscopic 3D support has just been added to Citra! You can enable +it by heading to Emulation → Configure... → Graphics → Layout, +ticking the Enable Stereoscopic 3D checkbox, and changing the +screen layout to Side by Side. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/3d-sxs.png" + title="Although you can't see this in 3D, try crossing your eyes or using a mirror!" >}} + +## [Software Keyboard Implementation](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3850) by [zhaowenlan1779](https://github.com/zhaowenlan1779) and [jroweboy](https://github.com/jroweboy) + +For the longest time, many games were unplayable or needed workarounds on Citra +due to them needing the software keyboard applet. The reason being that whenever +they would try to open it, Citra didn't implement it, and so would simply tell +the game that the user entered "Citra" and tapped OK, without actually prompting. +But now, thanks to zhaowenlan1779 and jroweboy, it now has fully functional +software keyboard emulation! + +Whenever a game requests it, Citra will pause the game and pull up a text box that +you can fill in like any other prompt. + +{{< gifv src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/swkbd.mp4" + title="Now you can change your name to anything!" >}} + +## Open Source System Archives ([#3977](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3977), [#3881](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3881)) by [B3n30](https://github.com/B3n30) + +Many Nintendo 3DS games require the use of system archives, which contain things +like fonts, a bad word list, and assets for Miis. Because these are copyrighted, +Citra could not include them, and users had to dump a copy from their consoles, +which was a generally tedious and error-prone process. + +Now, [B3n30](https://github.com/B3n30) has created open source alternative fonts +and a bad word list that can be used in games instead of the official archives. +And, because these are open source, they are now included with Citra. If a game +requires either archive, and you haven't dumped them yet, it'll automatically give +the game the alternative archives. This is a step forward to Citra becoming +a full-fledged HLE 3DS emulator. + +## [Implement shadow map](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3778) by [wwylele](https://github.com/wwylele) + +Shadow mapping is a way to quickly apply shadows to 3D scenes. It first renders +the scene without any lighting, texture, or colour information, with a virtual +camera from where the light source begins. Then, from that rendering the depth +map is extracted. That is then applied as a texture to the darkened scene, making +areas of it directly visible from the light source appear more brightly lit. + +The PICA200 (the GPU inside the 3DS) and OpenGL both implement this in different +ways, particularly in two important areas: + + * The first is that PICA200 supports a variant called "soft shadows", where the +depth map is blurred before being applied to the scene. This results in shadows +that seem less jagged and sharp, making the light source feel more diffuse and +evenly spread out throughout the scene. OpenGL doesn't support this at all. + + * The second is that the PICA200 stores depth maps intended for shadow mapping as +plain textures in the RGBA8 format. A lot of games exploit this in order to quickly +convert other types of textures from an internal format to RGBA8. But, OpenGL +stores these maps in a format internal to that graphics card, like any other map. +(RGBA8 or 8bit RGBA is a texture format, which is the combination of an RGB +(red green blue) color model with an extra 4th alpha channel.) + +The first point isn't as significant, since the softness can be ignored on OpenGL, +resulting in a very fast (but inaccurate) shadow mapping. Because games rarely +use soft shadows, this can be ignored relatively safely. + +The second point though, because games use it very often, it has to be implemented +accurately. The naïve way would be to simply convert internal textures to RGBA8 +manually, but this would slow rendering down to a crawl. The smart way would be +to try and trick the graphics card driver into performing a similar conversion, +but such an attempt exposed a lot of issues, leading to instability. + +After some very hard work by [wwylele](https://github.com/wwylele), both problems +were solved with a single solution. OpenGL supports an extension called +Image Load/Store, which allows shaders to read and write to any texture +directly. Using this, he created a shader that could accurately implement both +soft shadows, and convert the depth map from its internal format to RGBA8 very +quickly. + +{{< sidebyside "image" "/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/" + "shadow_map_before.png=Before Shadow Mapping" + "shadow_map_after.png=After Shadow Mapping" >}} + +Unfortunately, because Image Load/Store is an optional extension, not every +OpenGL 3.3 graphics card will support it. In these cases, Citra will simply ignore +shadow maps, making the rendering inaccurate but usable. Image Load/Store became +a mandatory part of OpenGL in version 4.2, so every graphics card that complies +with OpenGL 4.2 is guaranteed to work correctly. +**Citra only requires a minimum +compliance to OpenGL 3.3, but OpenGL 4.2 compliance may lead to more accurate +rendering.** + +## [Implement cubeb audio backend](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3776) by [darkf](https://github.com/darkf) + +[`cubeb`](https://github.com/kinetiknz/cubeb/) is an audio library (developed by +the Mozilla Foundation) that's cross-platform, and most importantly ***fast***. +Reports from [Dolphin's blog](https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2017/06/03/dolphin-progress-report-may-2017/#50-3937-add-cubeb-audio-backend-by-ligfx) +showed that it ran at a *third* of the latency of their OpenAL backend. And now, +thanks to the work done by [darkf](https://github.com/darkf) and some fixes +from [MerryMage](https://github.com/MerryMage), Citra can now benefit from that +same low latency audio that Dolphin and Mozilla Firefox have. This will lead to +significantly less distortion and stuttering in your games. Just remember to +enable it in the configuration menu by setting `Output Engine` as `cubeb`. + +## [Volume Slider](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3831) by [Fearlesstobi](https://github.com/fearlesstobi) + +You can now configure the volume level of Citra directly from the configuration +window. This allows you to set an individual volume level for Citra without +having to manually set it in your operating system settings. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/volume_slider.png" + title="Volume Slider" >}} + +## [Discord Rich Presence](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3883) by [CaptV0rt3x](https://github.com/CaptV0rt3x) + +Rich Presence allows you to leverage the totally boring "Now Playing" section +in a Discord user's profile. This feature lets users show off when they are +playing their favorite games on Citra. This has been a common feature request +from many users, and since many other emulators have already implemented this, +it made sense to implement it here as well. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/rpc.png" + title="Discord Rich Presence" >}} + +Discord Rich Presence works by creating a local connection with Citra and your +Discord App. It ***does not*** connect to (or) send any data to Discord servers. +This option is user configurable, so you can choose to show or not to show rich +presence in your discord status. Just head out to Emulation +→ Configure... → Web → Discord +Presence and check / uncheck "Show current game in your Discord +status". + +## [Set Default values for settings](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3924) by [zhaowenlan1779](https://github.com/zhaowenlan1779) + +The majority of support requests we get are mostly due to users accidentally +enabling or disabling some settings. But now with this feature, we have +default values for all our settings. This ensures that in case of any new +settings changes, majority of the users (who haven't customized those settings) +will now have the new default value automatically. + +## [Add support for encrypted games](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/4020) by [wwylele](https://github.com/wwylele) + +You can now directly use your encrypted game dumps in Citra, without having to +decrypt them. This requires that the user provide their keys via a text file +in `sysdata/aes_keys.txt`. + +Currently all known encryption methods are implemented except for the Seed +crypto. Seed crypto is used in newer eshop games, which essentially uses an +additional title-unique key that is stored outside of the ROM. + +## [Scripting support](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/4016) by [EverOddish](https://github.com/EverOddish) + +Scripting is an extremely useful feature which allows us to do things like +debugging emulator internals, reverse engineering 3DS game internals, +Tool-Assisted-Speedrunning (TAS), and the ability to manipulate memory in +games. A cheat-like interface could be implemented through this (though, not +specifically Gameshark / AR codes). + +Users can make their own scripts or use publicly available scripts to gain +power over things like game screen display, inputs, and memory. Scripts can +also be used to read or modify the internal game state. EverOddish wrote some +scripts that can read internal stats of the Pokémon and automatically +update image files for your current party. This feature is very useful for +streamers who might want to display game information on their streams. + +## Movie - game input recording and playback ([#2882](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/2882), [#3922](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/3922)) by [danzel](https://github.com/danzel) and [zhaowenlan1779](https://github.com/zhaowenlan1779) + +This feature, not to be confused with video/audio recording, implements a way +to record game inputs and play them back. Every time the hardware reads an +input device (buttons, touch screen, accelerometer, gyroscope, c-stick) the +emulator copies (when recording) or replaces (when playing) the values. Once +playback has finished, we release control of inputs so that the user can take +control. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/movie.png" + title="UI options to record" >}} + +For this, danzel heavily took inspiration from dolphin's system and zhaowenlan1779 +wrote the UI for this feature. This method results in `.ctm` (Citra TAS movie) +files which are playble in Citra. To play a game's `.ctm` file you would need +to have the game and also manually set Citra's system time to the same starting +value as in the `.ctm`. This feature makes debugging bugs in games much easier, +as it doesn't require us to go through the whole process again. + +## [Add system time configuration](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/4043) by [B3N30](https://github.com/b3n30) + +Whenever a game requested time information, Citra always used your PC's system +time. This method had a couple of issues - for example, if you were playing a game +at 200% speed for 2 hours. As its running at twice the max speed, playing for +2 hours in real-time should reflect 4 hours simulated time. But, due to Citra +sending your PC's time to games, it wasn't happening. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/system-clock.png" + title="System Time setting (edited to show both options)" >}} + +Also, players might want to set Citra's time to a specific value to ensure +consistency with TAS or with RNG(random number generator) or for getting +time specific game events. Earlier you had to modify your PC's system time +to achieve this but thanks to B3N30, you can now just set it in Citra's +configuration window. + +## [Joystick Hot-plugging](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/4141) by [B3N30](https://github.com/b3n30) + +For a long time, Citra didn't support controller hot plugging. This meant that +if by chance your controller disconnected Citra would fail to detect it after +re-connection, unless you restarted the emulator. This caused a lot of +frustration among users who preferred playing with controllers. + +Hot plugging (also called hot swapping) is the ability to add and remove +devices to a computer system while the computer is running and have the +operating system automatically recognize the change. + +Thanks to the efforts of B3N30 and [jroweboy](https://github.com/jroweboy) +(who researched SDL controller configuration), Citra now doesn't fail to detect +your controllers in case of a disconnection. However, due to heavy rework of +the existing input configuration code, this requires users to reconfigure their +controllers after updating Citra. + +## UDP client to provide motion & touch controls ([#4049](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/4049), [#4059](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/pull/4059)) by [jroweboy](https://github.com/jroweboy) and [zhaowenlan1779](https://github.com/zhaowenlan1779) + +Citra's previous motion controls were a bit uncomfortable to use. You had to +use your mouse's right-click and drag to tilt the screen, but it was often +hard to figure out where to move the cursor to get the kind of tilt we want. + +Using a real device for motion controls is simply much more intuitive and will +be an all around better experience for users. As such, jroweboy set out to +implement cemuhook motion/touch protocol which adds the ability for users to +connect several different devices to citra to send direct motion and touch +data to citra. + +{{< figure src="/images/entry/citra-progress-report-2018-q2/cemuhookudp.png" + title="Motion/Touch Configuration Window" >}} + +[Cemuhook](https://cemuhook.sshnuke.net/) is a very popular plugin developed by [rajkosto](https://github.com/rajkosto) +for Cemu - the Wii U emulator. This protocol was chosen simply because of the +fact that there aren't many alternatives and this already has good device +support. Moreover, as it uses UDP, it works on just about anything with a +network stack and allows the server to even be a remote network device (useful +for Android motion support). zhaowenlan1779 wrote the UI for this feature, +to make it easily accessible and configurable by all users. + +## Et. al. + +Apart from the above mentioned ones, we have also had a lot of minor optimizations +and bug fixes ported from yuzu. We've made changes to our authentication system +to use JWT (JSON web tokens), added a background color selector, made GDB stub +improvements, and many more. + +Thank you to [everyone](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra/graphs/contributors?from=2018-05-20&to=2018-08-31&type=c) +for pouring your blood and sweat into this project. Citra needs contributors +like you to stay alive and become the best it can be. + +  +

+Please consider supporting us on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/citraemu)!
+If you would like to contribute to this project, checkout our [GitHub](https://github.com/citra-emu/citra)! +

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