Documentation
What is MorphGear?
MorphGear is a modular game system for Windows 98/2000/XP and Windows CE. Native games or emulators can be plugged into the MorphGear system to expand your gaming content. These plugins are known as MorphModules. Current MorphModules allow you to play GameBoy, NES, SNES, SEGA Master System, SEGA GameGear, SEGA Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16 games on your PocketPC or Windows Desktop. Supported processors include SH3, MIPS, ARM, and x86. Features include full color support for color games, screen scaling, video acceleration, input mapping, sound, and multiple configuration options.Emulators are difficult to create because they must effectively do all of the work that the original machine's microchips and hardware did. Only through the co-operation of multiple developers has MorphGear been able to add so many systems to its repertoire. MorphGear emulates game consoles through the use of different plug-in modules. But, in order to play games designed for these systems, you will need a copy of the original cartridge's contents, also known as a ROM (Read-only Memory).
What is a ROM and where can I find one?
As mentioned above, a ROM is a copy of the original game cartridge's contents, and if you want to play a particular game, you need that particular ROM. For more information about ROM images, see the Wikipedia.There are several ways to obtain ROM images for use with MorphGear. Please note that only ROM files designed for machines emulated by MorphGear will work.
- Making a backup copy: If you have any existing cartridges that you wish to use with MorphGear, it is possible to purchase hardware which would allow you to capture the contents of the game cartridge and save them to your PC's hard drive. If you wish to know more or purchase such equipment, type in "backup GameBoy cartridges" or "backup NES cartridges" into a search engine, such as Google.
- Download ROM images of public domain games: There are many programmers who write and release freeware games and demos which will work with MorphGear. Visit Zophar's Domain for more information.
- Download ROM images of commercial games: There are plenty of sites which specialize in providing commercial game ROM files for use with emulators. It is possible to find any game for any system with just a little patience by using a search engine and searching for "ROMs". Please note that it is illegal to download and use a ROM for a game which you do not own and have not purchased. Visit Classic Gaming for more information.
Installing MorphGear
Installation is simple. Once you have downloaded the setup file for MorphGear, you can double-click the file to start the installation, and then follow the onscreen instructions. Be sure you have your Pocket PC docked and connected with ActiveSync.After installation, you can use normal ActiveSync procedures to copy ROM files from your desktop PC to your Pocket PC. If using the standard open file dialog, these files must be placed in a "My Documents" folder, or a maximum of one folder level below, in order to show up inside of MorphGear. If you wish to place the files on a storage card, you will need to create a "My Documents" folder on the storage card.
Getting Started
After you have installed MorphGear and copied over a ROM file, you are ready to start using MorphGear. Click the MorphGear icon in the Games folder of the Start Menu. Once you have done this, the following screen should appear:
The bar running across the top of the screen is called the toolbar. From here, you can control the execution of MorphGear. Below is a picture detailing the icons of the toolbar:
Load ROM: Fairly self-explanatory, this button allows you to load any ROM that you have saved on your device.
Play ROM: Use this to resume play after you have paused the game.
Pause ROM: This button pauses the emulation of the console.
Reset ROM: Resets emulation. Equivalent to pressing the reset button on the original console. Save current state: This allows you to save your current position in the game you are currently playing. This feature works independently of the original cartridge, i.e. you can save your progress in a game, even if the original game developers didn't intend for you to be able to!
Load previous state: This allows you to load a previously saved state.
Options: This button brings down a list of different modules for which you can change certain options and settings. (See later section).
About MorphGear: This brings up information about MorphGear (Version, Author, etc.).
Loading a ROM
To load a ROM, click the button (the load ROM icon) on the far left of the toolbar. This will bring up the following dialog:
ROMs can be in a number of file formats such as .SMC, .SWC, .PCE, or .ZIP. ZIP files are compressed files which can contain any of the above mentioned files. They can be used to save storage space on your device or card. Use a utility like WinZip to compress your ROMs. Each ROM must be zipped individually. To load a ROM, simply tap it.
Playing a ROM
Once you have loaded a ROM, MorphGear will automatically determine the correct module for it and begin the emulation. To play the game, either use the hardware buttons and game pad on your Pocket PC, or use the virtual pad displayed when in full screen mode. To play the game in full screen mode, simply tap the center of the game window during play. This switches MorphGear into full screen mode. If you wish to return to the previous mode (to use the toolbar to save a game, etc.), simply tap again in the center of the screen. To reconfigure the default buttons, go to the settings dialog for the module you wish to reconfigure controls for.
Saving a Game
As mentioned previously, it is possible to save and load your position in a game using the buttons on the toolbar, regardless of whether or not the game originally allowed you to. Please note that some game cartridges were equipped with a battery backup to also allow you to save your game, and this feature is also fully supported by MorphGear. However, it is therefore easy to confuse a game saved by the cartridge with a game saved by MorphGear. The best way to remember it is to realize that MorphGear's saves are always done with the toolbar buttons, while the cartridge's saves are done in-game.Settings Menu
When the options button on the toolbar is clicked, a drop down menu is displayed. From here you can configure different aspects of the program.
Global Settings
The Global Settings option lets you change certain options that will apply regardless of the currently emulated system type. There are various kinds of controls on the settings form, from checkboxes, to text fields, to drop-downs. It is assumed the reader is familiar with manipulating these controls to alter settings. Some fields do have special buttons that appear only when you select them. You can press the [...] button to perform a special action for the field, or the [x] button to reset the setting.Display
Frame Rate Statistics: When enabled, displays the current frame rate in 60/60 (60) format, where the first number is the number of frames being emulated, the second number is the maximum number of frames, and the third number is the number of frames being drawn per second.Disable Full Screen: Disable full-screen mode. Used if you don't want to be able to tap the screen to enter full screen mode.
Rotate Left at 100%: When the screen resolution for a module is set at 100%, this setting will rotate the screen counter-clockwise.
Sound
Enable Sound: Toggle sound for faster performance on slower machines. Sound must be enabled both here and in the module you want to hear sound in for there to be any audio playback.Volume: Change the volume settings by selecting the level from the drop-down.
Input
Enable Virtual Pad: Display the onscreen virtual game pad when in full screen mode.Tweak
Custom File Dialog: The open file dialog that ships with the Pocket PC only allows you to open files stored in the My Documents folder or one level below. MorphGear includes a custom file dialog that allows you to select a file from anywhere on your system.Auto Pause: Pauses automatically when switching applications or performing other operations.
Save Game Path: The location that all saved game files are stored in. Defaults to My DocumentsSaved Game Files.
Appearance
Background Color: Changes the color of the background when not using a background image.Background Image: Changes the background image used in the main game screen.
Emulation Modules
The individual menu options for the emulation modules (GameBoy, SNES, TurboGrafx-16, etc.) allow the user to change settings specifically for that module. For the most part, each setting is supported by all modules, but some have specific features that others do not. These common settings are as follows:Display
Screen Size: Scales the game screen image by the percentage chosen from the drop down menu. Auto Scale proportionately resizes the game screen to match the size of the window. Window Size resizes the game screen to exactly fit within the window regardless of the proportion. Proportionate scaling results in faster play.Image Smoothing: When this is enabled, the game screen is blended to make a cleaner picture when scaled. This option significantly affects performance. Image Smoothing is disabled when screen size is at 100%.
Sound
Enable Sound: Toggles sound on or off for the module. To hear audio, sound must also be enabled at the Global Settings level.Emulate Sound: Some modules allow you to turn sound emulation on or off. In order to hear audio, the emulate option must be turned on and enable sound must be turned on. Some games require sound emulation to be enabled to even function, but you still may want sound disabled, hence the two different settings. This option typically takes affect only before a game is loaded, so you must reset a game if it is already in progress. Additionally, when a game is saved with the save state feature of MorphGear and you later load the save state to resume play, it will always have the emulate setting of when it was saved.
Quality: Changes the audio sampling rate. The higher the rate, the better the audio, but sometimes at a penalty to performance.
Enable Noise: This is to toggle the noise channel, which is often used to simulate a drum sound. Unfortunately, it doesn't always sound very good and to some sounds more like static, so there is an option to disable it.
Active Channels: Typically you will leave these boxes at their default settings, but this gives you control to turn off a particular element of the music if it is bothersome.
Speed
Performance for each individual module can also be tweaked using the following settings.Frame Skip: Adjusts how many frames are allowed to be skipped during the execution of the game, with the more frames skipped typically (but not always) increasing the speed of the emulator. When Auto Sync is disabled, the number specified is always skipped, whether necessary or not.
Auto Sync: Checking the Auto Sync box allows MorphGear to automatically skip up to the number of selected frames, but only if required. It also throttles the frame rate to prevent it from drawing faster than sixty frames per second.
Input
Users can configure the button mapping for their device by selecting the button they wish to change, tapping the [...] button onscreen, and then following the instructions in the dialog box that appears.Skin
MorphGear can display a user defined, virtual game pad. This is especially useful for devices that don't allow multiple button presses at the same time (like the original iPAQ). MorphGear comes with a predefined skin, but it is possible to create your own following the standard below.Skins are stored in the \Program Files\Games\MorphGear\Skins
folder and consist of a bitmap file and a text descriptor file. The bitmap
must be saved as a 24-bit BMP. The recommended size is 240x204 for PocketPC
devices and 640x204 for HPC. The top half of the image (the first 104
pixels) is the graphic that will be displayed to the user. The bottom half
contains a solid color map that corresponds to where the game pad buttons
are on the top half. Below is an example of such a BMP file.
The text descriptor file maps the colored areas to the actual buttons for
the emulator. The first line of text must contain
MorphGear.Skin.1 so that MorphGear knows it's dealing with a skin
file. The second mandatory line defines the name of the bitmap. The third
mandatory line refers to which emulators the emulation module can be used
for, and this corresponds to one of the following values:
GB, GBA, NES, SMS, TG16, All. If you want to
use the same gamepad for multiple emulators (but not all), a separate text
file is required for each, though the bitmap image can be shared. The next
two optional lines refer to the skin name and the author name to be
displayed in the skin browser.
The rest of the file defines the relationship between the solid color areas in the bottom half of the image file (specified in HEX), and the emulator game pad buttons. Game pad buttons can be combined using the + operator. The following button assignments are recognized by MorphGear:
| n,s,e,w,ne,se,nw,sw | Directions of the game pad |
| a,b,l,r,start,select | Game pad buttons |
The following is an example of a txt file for a custom skin:
MorphGear.Skin.1 Bitmap=VirtualPad.bmp Type=All Name=MorphGear Default Author=Aaron Oneal
0x0000ff=n 0xff0000=s 0xffff00=w 0x00ff00=e 0x550000=nw 0x005500=ne 0x008800=sw 0x000088=se 0xff9900=b 0x005934=a 0xfd40ff=b+a 0x475911=start 0x99bf26=select
Console
Displays technical information about the emulator, status messages, and possible errors. This is displayed automatically if a game fails to load, but it is also available from the options menu.Thank you for using MorphGear!