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§TetaNES

📖 Summary - ✨ Features - 🌆 Screenshots - 🚀 Getting Started - 🛠️ Roadmap - ⚠️ Known Issues - 💬 Contact

§Summary

TetaNES

photo credit for background: Zsolt Palatinus on unsplash

TetaNES is a cross-platform emulator for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) released in Japan in 1983 and North America in 1986, written in Rust using wgpu. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and in a web browser with Web Assembly.

It started as a personal curiosity that turned into a passion project. It is still being actively developed with new features and improvements constantly being added. It is a fairly accurate emulator that can play most NES titles.

TetaNES is also meant to showcase using Rust’s performance, memory safety, and fearless concurrency features in a large project. Features used in this project include complex enums, traits, generics, matching, iterators, channels, and threads.

TetaNES also compiles for the web! Try it out in your browser!

§Features

Runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and Web.
Standalone emulation core in tetanes-core.
NTSC, PAL and Dendy emulation.
Headless Mode when using tetanes-core.
Pixellate and NTSC filters.
Up to 4 players with gamepad support.
Zapper (Light Gun) support using the mouse.
iNES and NES 2.0 ROM header formats supported.
14 supported mappers covering ~85% of licensed games.
Game Genie Codes.
Configurable while running using egui.
- Increase/Decrease speed & Fast Forward
- Visual & Instant Rewind
- Save & Load States
- Battery-backed RAM saves
- Screenshots
- Gameplay recording and playback
- Audio recording

§Screenshots

Donkey Kong Super Mario Bros. The Legend of Zelda Metroid

§Getting Started

TetaNES runs on all major operating systems (Linux, macOS, Windows, and the web). Installable binaries will be available when 1.0.0 is released, but for the time being you can install with cargo which comes installed with Rust.

§Install

There are multiple options for installation, depending on your operating system, preference and existing tooling.

§Linux

§Ubuntu/Debian

A .deb package is provided under Assets on the latest Release. Once downloaded, you can install it and the required dependencies. e.g.

sudo apt install ./tetanes-0.10.0-1-amd64.deb

§Other Distros

An AppImage is provided under Assets on the latest Release. Simply download it and put it wherever you want.

A .tar.gz package is also provided under Assets on the latest Release. You can place the tetanes binary anywhere in your PATH.

The following dependencies are required to be installed:

ALSA Shared Library
GTK3

e.g.

apt install libasound2 libgtk-3-0 dnf install alsa-lib gtk3 pacman -Sy alsa-lib gtk3

§MacOS

§App Bundle

The easiest is to download the correct app bundle for your processor. The .dmg downloads can be found under the Assets section of the latest Release.

§Homebrew

TetaNES can also be installed through Homebrew.

brew install lukexor/formulae/tetanes

§Windows

A windows installer is provided under Assets on the latest Release.

§Cargo Install

You can also build and install with cargo which comes with rustup.

cargo install tetanes

This will install the latest released version of the TetaNES binary to your cargo bin directory located at either $HOME/.cargo/bin/ on a Unix-like platform or %USERPROFILE%\.cargo\bin on Windows.

§Usage

Usage: tetanes [OPTIONS] [PATH]

Arguments:
  [PATH]  The NES ROM to load or a directory containing `.nes` ROM files.
  [default: current directory]

Options:
      --rewind                     Enable rewinding
  -s, --silent                     Silence audio
  -f, --fullscreen                 Start fullscreen
  -4, --four-player <FOUR_PLAYER>  Set four player adapter. [default: 'disabled']
                                   [possible values: disabled, four-score, satellite]
  -z, --zapper                     Enable zapper gun
      --no-threaded                Disable multi-threaded
  -m, --ram-state <RAM_STATE>      Choose power-up RAM state. [default: "all-zeros"]
                                   [possible values: all-zeros, all-ones, random]
  -r, --region <REGION>            Choose default NES region. [default: "ntsc"]
                                   [possible values: ntsc, pal, dendy]
  -i, --save-slot <SAVE_SLOT>      Save slot. [default: 1]
      --no-load                    Don't load save state on start
      --no-save                    Don't auto save state or save on exit
  -x, --speed <SPEED>              Emulation speed. [default: 1.0]
  -g, --genie-code <GENIE_CODE>    Add Game Genie Code(s). e.g. `AATOZE`
                                   (Start Super Mario Bros. with 9 lives)
      --config <CONFIG>            Custom Config path
  -c, --clean                      "Default Config" (skip user config and previous
                                   save states)
  -d, --debug                      Start with debugger open
  -h, --help                       Print help
  -V, --version                    Print version

iNES and NES 2.0 formatted ROMS are supported, though some advanced NES 2.0 features may not be implemented.

§Supported Mappers

Support for the following mappers is currently implemented or in development:

#	Name	Example Games	# of Games¹	% of Games¹
000	NROM	Bomberman, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros.	~247	~10%
001	SxROM/MMC1B/C	Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Tetris	~680	~28%
002	UxROM	Castlevania, Contra, Mega Man	~270	~11%
003	CNROM	Arkanoid, Paperboy, Pipe Dream	~155	~6%
004	TxROM/MMC3/MMC6	Kirby’s Adventure, Super Mario Bros. 2/3	~599	~24%
005	ExROM/MMC5	Castlevania 3, Laser Invasion	~24	<0.01%
007	AxROM	Battletoads, Marble Madness	~75	~3%
009	PxROM/MMC2	Punch Out!!	1	<0.01%
024	VRC6a	Akumajou Densetsu	1	<0.01%
026	VRC6b	Madara, Esper Dream 2	2	<0.01%
034	BNROM/NINA-001	Deadly Towers, Impossible Mission II	3	<0.01%
066	GxROM/MxROM	Super Mario Bros. + Duck Hunt	~17	<0.01%
071	Camerica/Codemasters	Firehawk, Bee 52, MiG 29 - Soviet Fighter	~15	<0.01%
155	SxROM/MMC1A	Tatakae!! Ramen Man: Sakuretsu Choujin	2	<0.01%
			~2091 / 2447	~85.5%

Source Mirror

§Controls

Keybindings can be customized in the keybindings menu. Below are the defaults.

NES joypad:

Button	Keyboard (P1)	Keyboard (P2)	Controller
A	Z	N	East
B	X	M	South
A (Turbo)	A		North
B (Turbo)	S		West
Start	Q	8	Start
Select	W	9	Select
D-Pad	Arrow Keys	IJKL	D-Pad

Controller Layout:

SDL-compatible mappings are used: https://github.com/mdqinc/SDL_GameControllerDB?tab=readme-ov-file but can be overriden by setting SDL_GAMECONTROLLERCONFIG.

           Left Triggers                        Right Triggers
              _=====_                               _=====_
             / _____ \                             / _____ \
           +.-'_____'-.---------------------------.-'     '-.+
          /   |     |  '.                       .'            \
         / ___| /|\ |___ \                     /      (N)      \
        / |      |      | ;    _         _    ;                 ;  Action Pad
 D-Pad  | | <---   ---> | |  <:_|       |_:>  |  (W)       (E)  |  (South, East,
        | |___   |   ___| ;  Select    Start  ;                 ;   North, West)
        |\    | \|/ |    /  _              _   \      (S)      /|
        | \   |_____|  .','" "',        ,'" "', '.           .' |
        |  '-.______.-' / Left  \------/ Right \  '-._____.-'   |
        |              /\ Stick /      \ Stick /\               |
        |             /  '.___.'        '.___.'  \              |
        |            /                            \             |
         \          /                              \           /
          \________/                                \_________/

Emulator shortcuts:

Action	Keyboard	Controller
Pause	Escape	Guide Button
About TetaNES	F1
Configuration Menu	Ctrl-P or F2
Load/Open ROM	Ctrl-O or F3
Quit	Ctrl-Q
Reset	Ctrl-R
Power Cycle	Ctrl-H
Increase Speed by 25%	=	Right Shoulder
Decrease Speed by 25%	-	Left Shoulder
Increase Scale	Shift-=
Decrease Scale	Shift–
Increase UI Scale	Ctrl-=
Decrease UI Scale	Ctrl–
Fast-Forward 2x	Space (Hold)
Set Save State Slot (1-4)	Ctrl-(1-4)
Save State	Ctrl-S
Load State	Ctrl-L
Instant Rewind	R (Tap)
Visual Rewind	R (Hold)
Take Screenshot	F10
Toggle Gameplay Recording	Shift-V
Toggle Audio Recording	Shift-R
Toggle Audio	Ctrl-M
Toggle Pulse Channel 1	Shift-1
Toggle Pulse Channel 2	Shift-2
Toggle Triangle Channel	Shift-3
Toggle Noise Channel	Shift-4
Toggle DMC Channel	Shift-5
Toggle Fullscreen	Ctrl-Enter
Toggle NTSC Filter	Ctrl-N
Toggle CPU Debugger	Shift-D
Toggle PPU Debugger	Shift-P
Toggle APU Debugger	Shift-A

While the CPU Debugger is open:

Action	Keyboard
Step a single CPU instruction	C
Step over a function	O
Step out of a function	Shift-O
Step a single scanline	Shift-L
Step an entire frame	Shift-F

While the PPU Debugger is open:

Action	Keyboard
Move debug scanline up by 1	Ctrl-Up
Move debug scanline up by 10	Ctrl-Shift-Up
Move debug scanline down by 1	Ctrl-Down
Move debug scanline down by 10	Ctrl-Shift-Down

Other mappings can be found and modified in the Config -> Keybinds menu.

§Directories

TetaNES stores to files to support a number of features, and depending on the file type and varies based on operating system.

§Configuration Preferences

Linux: $HOME/.config
macOS: $HOME/Library/Application Support
Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\tetanes
Web: Does not currently support persisting configuration preferences.

§Screenshots

Linux, macOS, & Windows: $HOME/Pictures
Web: Does not currently support saving screenshots.

§Replay Recordings

Linux, macOS, & Windows: $HOME/Documents
Web: Does not currently support saving recordings.

§Audio Recordings

Linux, macOS, & Windows: $HOME/Music
Web: Does not currently support saving recordings.

§Battery-backed RAM, save states, and logs

Linux: $HOME/.local/share/tetanes
macOS: $HOME/Library/Application Support/tetanes
Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\tetanes
Web: Does not currently support save states.

§Powerup State

The original NES hardware had semi-random contents located in RAM upon power-up and several games made use of this to seed their Random Number Generators (RNGs). By default, TetaNES honors the original hardware and emulates randomized powerup RAM state. This shows up in several games such as Final Fantasy, River City Ransom, and Impossible Mission II, amongst others. Not emulating this would make these games seem deterministic when they weren’t intended to be.

If you would like TetaNES to provide fully deterministic emulated power-up state, you’ll need to change the ram_state setting in the configuration menu and trigger a power-cycle or use the -m/--ram_state flag from the command line.

§Building/Running

To build/run TetaNES, you’ll need a nightly version of the compiler and run cargo build or cargo build --release (if you want better framerates).

To run the web version, you’ll also need the wasm32-unknown-unknown target and trunk installed:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
trunk serve --release

Unit and integration tests can be run with cargo test. There are also several test roms that can be run to test various capabilities of the emulator. They are all located in the tetanes-core/tests_roms/ directory.

Run them in a similar way you would run a game. e.g.

cargo run --release tetanes-core/test_roms/cpu/nestest.nes

§Feature Flags

cycle-accurate - Enables cycle-accurate emulation. More CPU intensive, but supports a wider range of games requiring precise timing. Disabling may improve performance on lower-end machines. Enabled by default.
profiling - Enables puffin profiling.

§Troubleshooting

If you get an error running a ROM that’s using the supported Mapper list above, it could be a corrupted or incompatible ROM format. If you’re unsure which games use which mappers, see http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/. Trying other versions of the same game from different sources sometimes resolves the issue.

If you get some other error when trying to start a game that previously worked, try removing any saved states from the directories listed above to ensure it’s not an incompatible savestate file causing the issue.

If you encounter any shortcuts not working, ensure your operating system does not have a binding for it that is overriding it. macOS specifically has many things bound to Ctrl-*.

If an an issue is not already created, please use the github issue tracker to create it. A good guideline for what to include is:

The game experiencing the issue (e.g. Super Mario Bros 3). Please don’t include any download links or ROM attachments.
Operating system and version (e.g. Windows 7, macOS Mojave 10.14.6, etc)
What you were doing when the error happened
A description of the error and what happeneed
Any screenshots or console output
Any related errors or logs

When using the web version in the browser, also include:

Web browser and version (e.g. Chrome 77.0.3865)

§Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md.

§Known Issues

See the github issue tracker.

§Documentation

In addition to the wealth of information in the docs/ directory, I also referenced these websites extensively during development:

§License

TetaNES is licensed under a MIT or Apache-2.0 license. See the LICENSE-MIT or LICENSE-APACHE file in the root for a copy.

§Contribution

While this is primarily a personal project, I welcome any contributions or suggestions. Feel free to submit a pull request if you want to help out!

§Contact

For issue reporting, please use the github issue tracker. You can also contact me directly at https://lukeworks.tech/contact/.

§Credits

Implementation was inspiried by several amazing NES projects, without which I would not have been able to understand or digest all the information on the NES wiki.

I also couldn’t have gotten this far without the amazing people over on the NES Dev Forums:

blargg for all his amazing test roms
bisqwit for his test roms & integer NTSC video implementation
Disch
Quietust
rainwarrior
And many others who helped me understand the stickier bits of emulation

Also, a huge shout out to OneLoneCoder for his NES and olcPixelGameEngine series as those helped a ton in some recent refactorings.

Modules§

error
logging
nes
User Interface representing the the NES Control Deck
platform
sys
thread

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§TetaNES

§Summary

§Features

§Screenshots

§Getting Started

§Install

§Linux

§Ubuntu/Debian

§Other Distros

§MacOS

§App Bundle

§Homebrew

§Windows

§Cargo Install

§Usage

§Supported Mappers

§Controls

§Directories

§Configuration Preferences

§Screenshots

§Replay Recordings

§Audio Recordings

§Battery-backed RAM, save states, and logs

§Powerup State

§Building/Running

§Feature Flags

§Troubleshooting

§Roadmap

§Known Issues

§Documentation

§License

§Contribution

§Contact

§Credits

Modules§

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