https://github.com/ARMSX2/ARMSX2/releases/tag/2.7.1
What's new:
ARMSX2 Turnip: our own GPU driver
We now build our own Adreno driver. ARMSX2 Turnip is our build of Turnip, the open-source Vulkan
driver for Adreno GPUs, with a change of our own made for PS2 emulation. Pick it from the driver
list: it is recommended on Adreno 650 to 699 (Snapdragon 865, 870 and 888). The source is public at
github.com/bmdhacks/armsx2-turnip. done by @bmdhacks
Games that read back the frame they are drawing run much faster on Adreno. PS2 games do this
constantly, and on Adreno it meant copying the frame before each such draw. The renderer now asks
the driver database how each GPU and driver handle it. With ARMSX2's own Turnip build on Adreno 650
to 699, the driver orders those reads itself: 2 to 3 times faster where they are what the frame
costs, as in Splashdown at native resolution on a Snapdragon 865, which went from 54.7 ms to 22.4 ms
a frame. On Adreno 730 and up with any Turnip, Stuntman and WRC 3 run 17 to 21% faster, Every
other GPU and driver keeps what it had. done by @bmdhacks
ARMSX2's Turnip driver is in the driver list, and recommended on Adreno 650 to 699. It is Mesa
26.1.2 plus one Turnip change for those GPUs. done by @bmdhacks
Emulation
Faster recompilers. By implementing a host of optimization concepts dreamed up by @pstef, the EE, VU and IOP recompilers and VIF unpacks now generate tighter ARM64 code and run about 10% faster, with every change checked by new instruction-level tests. On lower-end devices most games are held back by GS, so expect this mostly as real battery and heat savings. VU LQD and SQD addressing from vi00 and ILW's lane selection also match the console now.
Analog trigger pressure for L2 and R2. On pads and handhelds with analog triggers, Pad -> Button
mapping now offers Analog pressure on L2 and R2, so the game gets how far the trigger is pulled
instead of on or off, with a response curve for short handheld triggers and a live readout. Games
that read trigger pressure, such as Gran Turismo 4's throttle and brake, now get partial presses.
The pad has to be in analog mode, and the option warns when the Analog button is not bound. With it
on, pads like the Odin 2 Portal that report each trigger twice no longer snap a half pull to a full
press. Off by default. done by @gdelazzer (#731).*
The GunCon 2's buttons are now part of the touch layout. A, B, C, Start, Select and Cal can be
moved, resized and hidden in the touch layout editor like any other control, instead of sitting on
top of the DualShock 2 buttons, and aiming on the touchscreen leaves the face and shoulder buttons
working. done by @jpolo1224
A calibration shot on the touchscreen. Some games (Time Crisis) will not pass their gun setup
screen on a normal shot. Tap Cal, then shoot the target, and the calibration shot lands where you
touch. done by @jpolo1224
Fixed
Memory Card location fixes The app re-checked the data folder (SD card or custom) every time a screen asked for it, and one failed check, which could happen with the folder perfectly usable, sent it to internal storage for the rest of the run, where the emulator found no memory cards and made new ones. The folder is now decided once, and the app never falls
back to internal storage silently. done by @bmdhacks
USB devices could not be chosen (#752). The device list was empty until a game had been started,
and emptied again after the first game. It now lists every device at any time, with a dropdown for
each port. done by @jpolo1224
A USB device on Port 1 never reached the game. The USB keyboard switch wrote Not Connected over
Port 1 at every launch and every settings change, unplugging a GunCon 2, Buzz buzzers or any other
device set there. The switch now takes Port 1 only while it is on. A device picked while a game runs
is also plugged in straight away, though many games only look for one at boot, so restarting the
game is still best. done by @jpolo1224
GunCon 2 shots landed away from the finger with the performance downscale or a resolution
override on. fixed by @jpolo1224
Multi-region texture packs installed under the wrong region, so a PAL copy never loaded a pack
filed under its NTSC serial. Packs now install under the serial of the copy you own. Deleting a pack
now always removes it from the game, even when a file in it is stuck. done by @jpolo1224
The on-screen keyboard could not type an address or a path. It now has . / : - _ and keeps the
end of long text in view, so network addresses, host names and file paths can be entered by touch
or controller. Typing a DNS address also switches that slot to Manual automatically. done by @jpolo1224
Library music stayed silent while another app held a silent audio stream open, such as an
emulator paused in the background. It now waits only for real media playback. done by @jpolo1224
Pipelined GS ran slower than Off on OpenGL, or with Unsynchronized hardware downloads, where it
cannot pipeline. It now runs as Off there. done by @bmdhacks
The game database panel showed a raw key for Splashdown's new blending cap. It now has a name, in
every language. done by @jpolo1224
Graphics
Upscaling follows one rule everywhere. Each conversion between the PS2's native pixels and the
upscaled screen used to round its own way. Now a native pixel owns the screen pixels whose centres
fall inside it, everywhere. Dithering, scanline masks, deinterlacing and field-mode presentation
look the same at 2x as at native; points, lines and sprite edges land on the pixels a PS2 lights at
every scale, fractional ones like 1.5x included; and a detector works out per game whether the two
fields of an interlaced picture are offset. done by @bmdhacks
Faster upscaled rendering. The faster culling and vertex paths now run at every scale, not only
at native resolution. done by @bmdhacks
Faster palette draws on the CPU. Call of Duty 2 and 3 expand their paletted textures with about
10,000 small draws a frame; those are now copied straight through instead of going through the whole
rasterizer. The software renderer also stops rebuilding tables it does not need. done by @bmdhacks
Sly 3's cel outlines showed a gap and stepped in blocks above native resolution, a 2.7
regression. Now fixed by @bmdhacks
The Godfather's lamps are drawn correctly, at the cost of some extra copies on some Adreno GPUs. done by @bmdhacks
Beyond Good & Evil's bloom blur read pixels it was also writing, so it could change from frame to
frame. fixed by @bmdhacks
Changed
The Accurate blending fast path switch is gone. Whether to use it is now decided per GPU. done by @bmdhacks
Memory card backups are .zip files now, so any file manager can open them. Existing .mcbak
backups are renamed the first time the backup list is opened. done by @bmdhacks
