1. New Features
2. Installation
3. Controls
4. Disk Writing
5. Multi-Volume Disk Images
6. Virtual Keyboard
7. Optimization
8. Troubleshooting
9. Compiling
10. Version history
11. Credits
12. Thanks

Version 3.3.25 (August 23, 2007)

• This update adds the ability to write changes to (uncompressed) disk images (see Disk Writing for details and warnings)

Unzip fmsxpsp.zip into /PSP/GAME/ folder on the memory stick. This should create the following directory tree:

Please note that system ROM's must reside in the same folder as EBOOT.PBP file. Game ROM's and disk images (DSK files) may reside anywhere (the ROMS subdirectory is recommended, but not necessary).

fMSX PSP supports cartridge and disk loading from ZIP files. System ROM's may reside in a SYSTEM.ZIP file in the same folder as EBOOT.PBP. PAINTER.ROM, or MSXDOS2.ROM may also be zipped, but must reside in separate ZIP files (FMPAC.ZIP, MSXDOS2.ZIP, etc..). fMSX PSP will attempt to load the three automatically if free cartridge slots are available. All other game ROM files must reside in separate ZIP files.

fMSX PSP currently "ships" with the following default key mappings:

During emulation:

• Analog stick - Joystick up/down/left/right
• Directional pad - Keyboard up/down/left/right
• □ (square) - Joystick button A
• ✕ (cross) - Joystick button B
• ○ (circle) - Spacebar
• R - Displays the virtual keyboard, for as long as the button is held
• L + R - Return to emulator menu
• SELECT + L - Selects previous disk volume (for multi-volume disk sets)
• SELECT + R - Selects next disk volume (for multi-volume disk sets)
• START - F1

Keyboard mappings can be modified for each game. By default, button configuration changes are not retained after a mapping is modified. To save changes, press Ο (circle) after desired mapping is configured. To set the mapping as the default mapping, press ○ (square) - to load the default mapping press △ (triangle).

Versions of fMSX prior to 3.3 mapped MSX disk sectors to the file containing the disk image, and reads/writes to the MSX disk were implemented as reads/writes to the image on the storage device (in this case, the memory stick).

Version 3.3 of fMSX includes a much more faithful emulation of the floppy disk controller, which no longer involves direct writing to the storage device - the disk image is loaded into memory instead. Versions 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 of fMSX stopped automatically writing the changes to disk - starting with 3.3.25, disk changes need to be explicitly committed to memory stick. This can either be done by loading a new disk in the same slot via the System tab (not the Game tab), or by ejecting the disk. Either way, you will be asked if you want to commit the changes to the image before ejecting or loading another image.

NOTE This only applies to uncompressed disk images - ZIP compressed files cannot be updated.

WARNING Before committing changes to storage, make sure the MSX floppy drive is not in use - otherwise, you may damage the disk image.

fMSX PSP can load multi-volume games (like Snatcher) from a single ZIP file. To load such a game, store all files in the same ZIP. It is important that the archived files are numbered 1-0, with '0' representing the 10th volume (archiving sequence is not important) - fMSX PSP will attempt to load the first disk in the sequence. Here's an example:

To switch disks mid-game, map any of the buttons to the 'Special: Previous volume' or 'Special: Next volume' actions in the control menu. When a 'volume switch' button is pressed, and the next disk image in the sequence is found, an icon will appear with the number of the volume loaded.

Note that multi-volume files do not have to be ZIP-compressed for the 'volume switch' feature to work - volume switching will also work for uncompressed DSK files, as long as they're named as described above.

NOTE Changes to the disk image will not be saved when using this feature.

When the virtual keyboard is on:

• Directional pad - select virtual button
• □ (square) - press a virtual button
• ○ (circle) - 'stick' a sticky virtual button
• △ (triangle) - unstick all stuck virtual buttons

Certain virtual buttons (specifically, SHIFT, CTRL and GRAPH) are "sticky" - the virtual button remains held down when ○ (circle) is tapped. Tapping ○ (circle) again releases the virtual button. This allows SHIFT, CTRL and GRAPH all to be held down at the same time, while the user presses another virtual button. To unstick all sticky buttons, press △ (triangle).

For all MSX1 games and most MSX2 games, 300 MHz clockspeed achieves near-flawless rendering. Some larger games (like Metal Gear 2) are slower when VSync is enabled - those work better without VSync, or at 333 MHz. Note that anything above 222 MHz will deplete your PSP battery faster.

State loading errors

1. fMSX save state format has changed
2. Currently set RAM/VRAM sizes do not match with RAM/VRAM settings set when the state was saved. This can be rectified by resetting RAM/VRAM sizes and loading again
3. System model (MSX1/2/2+) currently set does not match the system model set when the state was saved. Reset the setting and try again
4. System ROM's currently in use do not match to those used when the state was saved. Replace the system ROM's and try again
5. Any combination of the above

Source code for fMSX PSP is available via a Subversion (SVN) repository. To check out a particular version, run

svn co http://svn.akop.org/psp/tags/fms/date

where date is the date of a particular version's release, in DD.MM.YYYY format (20.04.2007, for example). Note that for this to work, you need to have Subversion installed.

Version 3.3.2 (July 24, 2007)

• 60% increase in rendering speed--MSX2 titles (including Metal Gear 2) run at 100% speed at 222MHz
• Fixed buffer overflow error affecting units without a battery (thanks to Alpha Beta for tracking it down)

Version 3.3.1 (June 17, 2007)

• Virtual keyboard improvements. The virtual keyboard now requires an external file - 'msx.lyt' in the emulator directory—the file contains keyboard layout information
• fMSX updated to version 3.3. Note that pre-3.3 version save states will no longer load
• Lots of minor bug fixes

Version 3.2.1 (June 4, 2007)

• Added menu navigation options - select from US PSP navigation (✕ [cross] confirms, ○ [circle] cancels) or Japanese PSP navigation (○ [cross] confirms, ✕ [circle] cancels—also used by most homebrew emulators)
• Added RAM/VRAM adjustment options
• Added HBlank/VBlank period selection (PAL/NTSC)
• Added MSX model selection (MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+)
• Improved accuracy of frames-per-second counter
• User interface improvements
• fMSX updated to version 3.2
• Rendering speed increase, switched to 15bit color
• Various bug fixes

Version 3.1.3 (May 5, 2007)

• Support for multi-volume disk images - multiple disk images per ZIP file and in-game volume switching (see section below)
• Improved virtual keyboard navigation, speed increase
• System ROM's can now be stored in a single ZIP file (see Installation section)
• Integrated zipped ROM and DSK file support (fast loading from ZIP files)
• Added PSG/SCC/MSXMUSIC sound emulation engine by Mitsutaka Okazaki and MSXAUDIO engine by Tatsuyuki Satoh. The old engine is still available, as it is noticeably faster. MSXMUSIC and MSXAUDIO are disabled by default (recompile if you really need them), as they adversely affect emulation speed
• ~18% gain in rendering speed
• FPS counter
• PAL frequency (50Hz) timing
• Various small improvements and bugfixes

Version 3.1.2 (Apr. 24, 2007)

• Added support for cartridge type selection in the System menu. This adds support for games like Zanac Ex, which are not detected correctly
• Preliminary ZIP file support. Emulator will load ROM or DSK files from a ZIP file, provided there's only a single compressed file per ZIP. System ROM's must still be uncompressed (or GZIP compressed)
• GZip file support - emulator can load cartridges and disk images from gzip compressed files. Save states are also much smaller in size
• GUI changes, wording changes

Version 3.1.1 (Apr. 20, 2007; initial release)

• Three available rendering modes: normal size, 4:3 scaled, 16:9 scaled
• State loading/saving, with a thumbnail icon for each state (up to 10 states per game)
• Controls configurable for a particular game
• Frame limiter, frame skipping, vertical sync, PSP clock frequency adjustment
• Support for two cart slots and two disk drives
• On-screen virtual keyboard

• Marat Fayzullin - fMSX
• Simon Tatham - fixed.fd font on which the emulator's font is based
• Gilles Vollant - Minizip library
• Vincent van Dam - fMSX SDL (code dealing with sound emulation)
• Mitsutaka Okazaki - PSG/SCC/MSXMUSIC sound emulation engine
• Tatsuyuki Satoh - MSXAUDIO sound emulation engine
• Ruka - PNG saving/loading code

fMSX PSP would not be possible without prior work of many other PSP hackers. I have benefitted from the source code of the following PSP programs:

• fMSX SDL by Vincent van Dam
• PSPMSX by zx81
• NesterJ by Ruka
• Snes9XTYL by YoyoFR, Thunder, Laxer
• [CPS1|CPS2|MVS]PSP by NJ
• PSPSDK examples

Some personal thanks are due to the authors of SNES9XTYL, DGEN for PSP and [CPSx|MVS]PSP emulators - the hard work evident in the polished interfaces of the emulators is inspiring, if nothing else. fMSX PSP was an attempt to bring a similar interface to MSX emulation (whether it's achieved that or not is anyone's guess :)

Special thanks are also due to jburton of dcemu.co.uk forums for all his helpful feedback.