Requesting FCEUX style debugger for SNES. I will pay $$$

The closest debugger that I like for the snes, is Geigers snes9x debugger. I spoke with him last year, to see if he could update his work, particularly within the hex editor window. But he was really busy on other projects, and haven't heard from him since. I work entirely through hex editing, I've been doing it for 10 years. The code data logger for FCEUX, allows you to see the current ROM within the hex viewer, and see what has been logged, and what is currently being logged in real time. The ASM is highlighted gold, while the data is highlighted blue. Also within the hex viewer, you are allowed to do a search for any matching hex values you write down within the search box, and when you click find, it will take you to every match the finder finds within the entire rom. It may sound minuscule to many here, but to me this is extremely beneficial, and all the issues ive mentioned, are what Geigers debugger lacks, that is keeping me from jumping into snes development. I have a project in mind, but my ideas just won't cut it on the NES


Anyway, shot in the dark here, id be willing to pay cash, to anyone willing to either update Geigers debugger with the features of like, or be willing to do a new emu/debugger, that works just like FCEUX's does. Please don't flame me over this, or I had the knowledge on how to write programs, believe me I would try on my own, thats why I'm offering money for anyone willing to do what I'm requesting. Other hackers would greatly benefit from this as well. If no one is interested just simply don't respond, please don't flame me on my asm skills being only in hex, its what I've grown confortable with over 10 years, and my projects I've released show that. Thank you for reading. -infidelity

I would ask first, have you tried many other emulators? I've done most of my actual learning on Bizhawk, and while it has had some issues along the way it seems to be a very valuable tool for SNES. It has a Hex Editor where you can examine all of WRAM/CARTROM/VRAM/OAM/CGRAM/APURAM (though I haven't figured out where you're supposed to see SRAM) as the game is running, freeze the values in addresses or poke new ones in. There's a nice "RAM Search" tool as well which lets you search for a specific value anywhere in the same set of WRAM/CARTROM/etc. regions, or say search for values greater or less than their previous value for example, which lets you track down variables quite well. For examining the ASM directly during execution it has a Trace Logger, so you can watch your code run. It's also got a "Graphics Debugger" which, while it doesn't feel completely polished yet, lets you view each BG layer individually and the raw contents of VRAM. And if all you want to look at is the ROM you're writing you can generate listing files during assembly, or run it through a disassembler (which while crude can still be useful), or just plain look at it in a hex editor...

So... What I mean to say is, I'm not sure exactly what functionality it is that you're looking for, that isn't in an emulator such as Bizhawk. I haven't really used FCEUX much, so I might be missing something.

(P.S. In my opinion being able to work in nothing but raw hex values is an asset, and it's very close to what I do myself...)

((P.P.S. I can only recommend Bizhawk if you have a computer that can handle it. It is not a very "processor-friendly" emulator.))

(((P.P.P.S. Building an entire new SNES emulator sounds like a monolithic task. If you tried to pay someone by the hour to do it I'm certain you'd either violate minimum wage laws or go bankrupt)))

kay I'm done now I'm sorry for probably being an idiot and missing the point

I'll take a look at bizhawk, never heard of it. I'd definitely pay cash if Geigers was updated with the features id like. Thank you for the info!

Let me (us?) know if you figure out how to get Bizhawk's debugger (in NES, SNES, or Genesis mode) spit out actual code. I spent some time on #nesdev earlier this evening bitching about it. PPU details, register details, etc.? All there. Showing actual disassembled code? Stepping through something? Nope and greyed out respectively.

I haven't tried it, but isn't here a NO$SNES emulator/debugger? By the way the NO$ series is one of the only emu that is actually sharware, unlike what it's name could fool you into thinking. My understanding is that the author said "he had no cash" not that "he asks no cash".

I have a SNES9x debug version that dates from 2005, although it's by far not as good as FCEUX, it did the job the only time I tried to do any SNES development.

I never did emu development so I cannot help... other than participate finentially because I'd love such a thing than "Super FCEUX" to exist, even if it was a relatively inacurate emulator.

Fair enough. I've only had a couple problems where I wished I could step through one instruction at a time, for most of my purposes going one frame at a time is enough, but I'm going to try not to ramble on the subject again because I'm sure I just learned to do things the hard way and don't know what I'm missing here. I do agree it would be nice if the trace logger at least had the option of displaying the literal opcode, though I've never found a situation where I couldn't immediately infer which kind of "LDA" was being used just by the address it targeted, which is printed out every time. If you're only used to hex I guess it would be a bit of a learning curve, but it might be a bit unrealistic to expect this underground non-Nintendo-sanctioned volunteer development scene to be terribly user-friendly. I know that's why you offered to pay and I'm not judging, I just know I couldn't afford to employ someone for that long.

Please don't let me discourage you or anyone else from trying to make things better. Just tryin' to help.

You know I always wondered about that. NO$ is another person I owe quite a lot to. Without NO$GMB I may never have played Pokemon...

While trying to do a SNES rom hack, I really wished no$sns would have a save state feature. I thought about hacking one manually, then hit a brickwall looking for the corresponding code from the running program in the binary. It's as if the code is moved all over the place or decompressed at runtime or something. There were some other details I can't remember. Hacking a Windows binary looks to have some overhead besides the actual user-written program. And Martin writes all of his emulators from scratch in asm.

.

Did you ever see that Simpsons episode with Marge talking to the lawyer?

Layer: "Now I'll just need that payment upfront ..."
Marge: "But your card said, 'No money down!'"
Lawyer: "They forgot the comma ::scribbles on card::, 'No, money down!'"

I just presumed nocash also forgot the comma ;)

Oh Mr Hutz, lol! Great episode! However I think I'm removing my offer, after discovering last night the newly released bsnes+. Its extremely close to what I need to work with in rom hacking.

Actually, that's not true. All no$emu's & no$debugger's are freeware.

The name "nocash" is a bit about everything: Developing on inexpensive hardware and supporting other people with inexpensive hardware, providing cheap DIY solutions for running code on real hardware without needing flashcarts. As well as about not having much money, and not being particulary interested in getting money. Or well, I am working fulltime on making emulators & debuggers, so I would be really glad about some donations, even though monetary stuff is just scaring me (hence the name).

You appear to take Bitcoin and Western Union. I'm in the US and want to thank you for making basic SNES debugging possible on low-end laptops, but I'm not yet registered on a BTC exchange, and WesternUnion.com quoted me a 5 USD fee to Germany. Perhaps you could include a link to some page listing reliable, hassle-free BTC exchanges. Is igot any good?

I don't suppose paypal is an option? I'm not a big paypal fan or anything but I've never used any of the options you mentioned before, and their fees should be less than $5 USD unless you're sending a huge amount of money or something... Though I've only tried it between a few different countries.

Transferring money through the internet is one of those things that has no business being difficult in 2015, ugh...

What. Why. What in the f*ck is wrong with Paypal? Everywhere I turn they're just banning people's accounts over the most absolutely ridiculous BS. I cannot even imagine what the problem is here. We're talking about personal private donations being made to a person unrelated to any specific purchase of goods or services. These are gifts, not business transactions. There is NO LEGAL GROUNDS WHATSOEVER for them to object to that in ANY way.

I also hear that when they ban a person or otherwise shut down an account, they seize all assets within said account. Which I don't doubt at all.

Anyways. Uh. Let me know if you find a suitable alternative....

In Finland, fundraising without a special permission is illegal. That's probably why we can't have nice things (like Kickstarter). Nocash is not from Finland, but I just wanted to point out that there are differences in legislation when it comes to that type of stuff.

Do Finnish people routinely leave Finland to start their businesses for this reason?

I know this argument would be pointless in a court of law, but what exactly counts as "fundraising"? If you ask someone if you can borrow a quarter, is that fundraising? What if people give you money unsolicited? I don't think "making a means to recieve money available" really counts as "fundraising"...

Just sayin'. Can't have Kickstarter though, damn. I wonder if Patreon is out as well? That one seems to be getting popular lately and I kind of like the concept. It might be safer just on the grounds that you pay for an ongoing service rather than a promised hypothetical future thing. Probably not...

I'm not sure about that.

Here's a short blog post that sums up the situation pretty well, in case anybody is interested: http://www.arcticstartup.com/2012/10/23 ... ng-finland

EDIT: 404ed

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