A simple chip8 emulator using SDL2.
``` chip8emu_rs 0.1.0 Adrian Stein adrian.stein@tum.de Chip8 emulator
USAGE:
chip8emu_rs.exe [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]
FLAGS: -m, --mute Mutes emulator audio -h, --help Prints help information -v, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
-c, --clock
ARGS:
Quit the emulator by pressing
Input mapping: Emulator Chip8 +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+ |1|2|3|4| |1|2|3|C| |Q|W|E|R| |4|5|6|D| |A|S|D|F| |7|8|9|E| |Z|X|C|V| |A|0|B|F| +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+
(The US Layout is a reference. The physical keys are used, not the values they are assigned to) ```
The chip8 uses a hexadecimal keypad. The emulator assigns the left half of the keyboard as input for the emulator. The emulator uses scancodes, so only the physical key-layout matters (The US Layout is used as a reference).
``` Emulator Chip8 +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+ |1|2|3|4| |1|2|3|C| |Q|W|E|R| |4|5|6|D| |A|S|D|F| |7|8|9|E| |Z|X|C|V| |A|0|B|F| +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+
Special Keys:
Install SDL2 in order to install/build projects using the sdl2 crate (Use the setup instructions provided by the sdl2 crate).
cargo install chip8emu_rs
git clone https://github.com/DasStone/chip8emu_rs.git
cd chip8emu_rs
cargo build --release
./target/release/chip8emu_rs --help
Just provide a game file for the emulator:
chip8emu_rs game.ch8
Most roms you find will either end with ch8 or c8. The emulator does not actually care what the file ending is, it will just try to fit whatever file you provide into the emulated ram and then try running it.
I can highly recommend writing an emulator yourself. The Chip8 seems to be a good system for people getting into emulation, due to its simplicity. The following resources might help you.
Chip8 technical details:
Chip8 test-rom:
You will be able to find more resources (test-roms, games, documentation, etc.) by simply searching online (GitHub, Wikipedia, blogs, etc.).
panic if an instruction tries to access illegal parts of the emulator (e.g., an out of bounds memory address). This is in general a non-issue when playing games (due to them usually being correct). However, I would like to implement a custom error message when this happens to help developers trying to create chip8 games using this emulator.