1. ZSNES v1.51 Documentation
================================
N a v i g a t i o n
================================
* Index [Index.txt]
* Readme [Readme.txt]
* GUI [GUI.txt]
* Netplay [Netplay.txt]
* Advanced Usage [Advanced.txt]
* Games [Games.txt]
* FAQ [FAQ.txt]
1. Universal
2. Win Port
3. SDL Port
4. DOS Port
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* Getting Support [Support.txt]
* History [History.txt]
* About [About.txt]
* License [License.txt]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* NSRT Guide: [http://zsnes-docs.sf.net/nsrt]
* ZSNES Home Page: [ZSNES.com]
================================================================================
~ F. A. Q. (Frequently Asked Questions)
================================================================================
The FAQ page was first included in version 0.390 of ZSNES, released on
April 11, 1998.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Question Index
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
- - - - - - - - - - -
UNIVERSAL QUESTIONS
- - - - - - - - - - -
General
Where do I download games / ROMs?
What is the "save directory"?
Why are my games not saving?
Are the ZSNES data files compatible among the various ZSNES ports
(Win/DOS/SDL)?
Is there Toaster Support?

2. Games
Why don't my games work after applying IPS patches to them?
Does ZSNES support Snes9x, GoodSNES, and NSRT ROMs? Or only ZSNES ones?
Video
Why do my scanlines look awful?
Why am I missing some video filter options?
Sound
Why does ZSNES produce a lot of static?
Why am I missing some sound options?
Input
Why can't I press more than 2 keys at a time?
Why is one direction of the d-pad always held down, even when I'm not
pressing any keys?
How do I use both my keyboard and joystick for the 1st or 2nd player?
Why can't I set the keys/buttons for Player 2?
Why won't ZSNES accept input when I'm configuring the keys for my
gamepad?
This game tells me that it is not compatible with the MultiTap
(or an external device attached). What should I do?
Speed
Why is ZSNES slow?
Why does the game slow down even though I'm using auto frame rate and
the FPS is pretty high?
My games are running too quickly! How do I slow them down?
Miscellaneous
Does ZSNES support loading ROMs which are compressed?
Why doesn't ZSNES support the 7z, RAR, or ZIP deflate64 compression
formats?
Does ZSNES support multiple ROMs in a single ZIP or JMA file?
Can you make a Mac/PocketPC/PS2/whatever port?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
WIN-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
- - - - - - - - - - - -
General
Why does ZSNESw crash and give me an error with dinput.dll?
I just switched from the DOS port to the Windows port of ZSNES;
why don't my savestates work? Are they incompatible?
Video
Why am I seeing double, with strange colors?
Why is the video choppy with an FPS of 60 and VSync on?
Sound
How come I don't get any sound?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
SDL-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
- - - - - - - - - - - -
General
Can I run ZSNES without X?
I got ZSNES from my distro and I found a bug. To whom should I report it?
Should I use SVN?
I'm getting an error about gzdirect() missing when I try to compile
ZSNES. What's up?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
DOS-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Video
How do you enable transparencies?
Why is there a layer of fog blocking my view?
Why am I getting error messages regarding VESA 2 drivers?

3. Sound
Why is there no sound?
Are there any plans to improve detection for non-SoundBlaster cards
(or supporting non-SB cards)?
I get a sound initialization error using my SB Live! (or any other
PCI card). How do I fix it?
Input
Why doesn't my Sidewinder pad work?
How do I get my daisy-chained Sidewinder to work?
Why doesn't my Gamepad Pro work?
Why doesn't my joystick work anymore?
Why does JB5/JB6 keep getting pressed whenever I try to change a key?
Freezing/Crashing Issues
Why does ZSNES freeze when I run it under pure DOS?
Why does ZSNES crash when I load a ROM?
Why does ZSNES freeze when I try to enter the GUI?
ZSNES gives me an "out of memory" error and I only have 16MB of RAM.
How do I fix this?
Miscellaneous
I'm using DJGPP 2.03 and I get an error about missing stdint.h.
What's wrong?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. UNIVERSAL QUESTIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
................................
General
................................
Q: Where do I download games / ROMs?
A: Due to the questionable legality of ROM images of commercial games (see
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rom_images#Legal_status_of_ROMs]), the ZSNES
Team *cannot* and *will not* provide you with any games / ROMs. We must do
this in order to keep ZSNES, as an emulator, legal. Please see the disclaimer
[Readme.txt].
Q: What is the "save directory"?
A: Please read more about the types of files ZSNES generates and where they are
created in the Files section of [Readme.txt].
By default, in the Win and DOS ports of ZSNES, these files will go into their
corresponding ROM directory (e.g. If your Chrono Trigger ROM is in
"C:SNES GamesRPG", its files will go into that folder; if your Harvest Moon
ROM is in "C:SNES GamesSimulation", its files will go into that folder).
In the SDL port of ZSNES, however, saves will go into "~/.zsnes" by default.
ZSNES SDL under Mac OS X will place them in
"~/Library/Application Support/ZSNES" instead.
If you dislike the default settings, you can configure a single, universal
save path by either going to the Config->Paths menu in the GUI or by editing
the ZSNES configuration file [Advanced.txt].
Q: Why are my games not saving?
A: If your ROM images are stored on a CD-ROM, you need to define a save
directory that points to your hard drive. In order to do this, either go to
Config-->Paths and enter a directory, or edit the ZSNES configuration file by
typing in a directory after "SaveDirectory=". Make sure that this directory
is not marked read-only.
If this still does not solve your problem, enable SRAM Check + Save under the
Config-->Saves menu.

4. Q: Are the ZSNES data files compatible among the various ZSNES ports
(Win/DOS/SDL)?
A: Yes. Unlike certain PC applications and games, ZSNES's various save files
and formats are completely port-independent; you can share any of your files
with any user using any port of ZSNES (although some things may be
version-dependent). Note, however, that ZSNES's configuration file
[Advanced.txt] contains port-specific options which don't exist in other
ports, so while they can be transfered between ports, some things won't work
as expected. Note that when transfering various files, make sure they're
named properly and in the proper location (see the Files section [Readme.txt]
for details).
Q: Is there Toaster Support?
A: While we'd love for ZSNES to lace our shoes, feed us, breathe for us, and
amass wealth for us, we can't add every crazy feature that comes up.
Even though ZSNES does have many, many features that are not necessarily
SNES related, they normally don't go beyond features that you'd expect from
an advanced gaming system.
Regarding toaster support itself, rumor has it ZSNES does bread toasting
if you happen to be using it after midnight while paying your respects
to the master of all controls and considering monetary options.
................................
Games
................................
Q: Why don't my games work after applying IPS patches to them?
A: If your patched game crashes early or just displays a black screen, you
probably need to either add or remove the 512 byte offset from the patch.
Use the program IPSEDIT to do this, which is bundled along with NSRT.
Alternatively, you could either add or remove a header from your ROM before
patching. Again, NSRT is capable of doing this. [http://nsrt.edgeemu.com]
Q: Does ZSNES support Snes9x, GoodSNES, and NSRT ROMs? Or only ZSNES ones?
A: ZSNES, Snes9x, GoodSNES, and NSRT ROMs do not exist. All these programs work
with SNES ROMs. As ZSNES is an SNES emulator, it will work with all SNES ROMs
(except where ZSNES has a bug or the ROM is in an unsupported interleave
format).
................................
Video
................................
Q: Why do my scanlines look awful?
A: Scanlines can be negatively affected by the method of vertical scaling that
your video card uses, depending on the video mode you have selected for
ZSNES. This can sometimes result in scanlines that are not of uniform
darkness. The effect of this video scaling is most noticeable with Full
scanlines, with 50% and 25% scanlines being less noticeable. To display the
scanlines effect properly, you should use resolutions based on a multiple of
256x224 in windowed modes (e.g. 512x448) and 320x240 for fullscreen modes
(e.g. 640x480).
Q: Why am I missing some video filter options?
A: Please make sure you have MMX Support enabled in the Options dialog. Refer to
the Video Config description in [GUI.txt] to see what video options require
MMX support.
................................
Sound
................................

5. Q: Why does ZSNES produce a lot of static?
A: There could be many reasons why you are hearing static. If you are using the
Windows port and you have an ISA sound card, this could be your problem. If
you are using the DOS port, and you have a PCI sound card, this could also be
your problem. If your sound card is using SoundBlaster emulation, you
probably need to use 8-bit sound, but this can make sound output worse. You
can also try doing the following things to improve your sound: Reduce your
sampling rate or disable lowpass filtering and stereo sound; Win port users
can also enable the Primary Sound Buffer.
Q: Why am I missing some sound options?
A: Please make sure you have MMX Support enabled in the Options dialog. Refer to
the Sound Config description in [GUI.txt] to see what sound options require
MMX support.
................................
Input
................................
Q: Why can't I press more than two keys at a time?
A: Many PC ("Personal Computer") keyboards limit the number of key signals that
can be transmitted simultaneously. For example, certain combinations of three
or more alphanumeric keys may not work. Conversely, there may be some
combinations of three or more keys that *do* work. You would just have to
test by trial-and-error to find out, since these combinations can vary
between keyboards. Joysticks and gamepads generally don't have this
limitation.
If you must use a keyboard, you can set multiple game keys to a single
keyboard key. Alternatively, you could set some keys to the right and left
Ctrl and Shift keys, since most keyboards do not restrict signals from
these keys.
Q: Why is one direction of the d-pad always held down, even when I'm not
pressing any keys?
A: ZSNES auto-calibrates any connected gamepads/joysticks when it first starts.
Thus, if one of the buttons or directions is accidentally held down while
ZSNES is starting, ZSNES will think this is "normal" or "zero" input, even
when you let go of the button. To fix the problem, simply close ZSNES, make
sure no buttons are pressed and all axis are centered on your
gamepad/joystick, and restart ZSNES. It will then auto-calibrate to the
correct "zero" settings.
Q: How do I use both my keyboard and joystick for the 1st or 2nd player?
A: First, configure the Player 1 pad (Config-->Input--> #1) for your normal
set-up (for example, a keyboard). Next, configure the Player 3 pad
(Config-->Input--> #3) to use your alternative set-up (for example, a
joystick or gamepad). When you want to switch between your regular and
alternative set-up, go to the Config-->Options menu and check
USE PL3/4 AS PL1/2. Now the Player 3 controls act as the Player 1 pad, and
Player 4's controls act as the Player 2 pad. To return to the normal
controls, simply uncheck this option. Follow the same procedure to create a
similar set-up for Players 2 and 4.
Note: Enabling the option USE PL3/4 AS PL1/2 disables MultiTap emulation.
Q: Why can't I set the keys/buttons for Player 2?
A: You need to set the Current Device before ZSNES will allow you to set the
individual keys for Player 2 (or Players 3, 4, or 5). If NONE is shown after
CURRENT:, the input cannot be changed (or used, for that matter). See the
Input section of the GUI page [GUI.txt] for further instructions.
Q: Why won't ZSNES accept input when I'm configuring the keys for my gamepad?
A: Exit ZSNES and calibrate your input device. Then restart ZSNES and see if it
works.

6. Q: This game tells me that it is not compatible with the MultiTap (or an
external device attached). What should I do?
A: Set the input devices of player 3, 4, and 5 to "None". You may also need to
go to Config-->Options, and enable "Use Player 3/4 as Player 1/2".
Additionally, you could add an NSRT header to your ROM if you desire.
................................
Speed
................................
Q: Why is ZSNES slow?
A: First and foremost, does your computer meet the minimum system requirements
to run ZSNES? If not, there is little you can do to improve performance. That
being said, you can still try a number of things.
* Make sure that any major program(s) is/are closed (such as Winamp).
* Try the default settings of ZSNES before you do anything else. You can
reset ZSNES to the default settings by deleting all three of its
configuration files.
* Ensure that MMX Support is enabled in the Options dialog; this mode
should provide a noticeable speed increase for computers that can use it.
* Certain system configurations and video cards work better with certain
video modes. Try switching between different video modes until you find
one that has good/better performance. Things to remember when doing this
are that lower resolutions are faster than higher resolutions, full
screen modes are faster than windowed modes, and 'R' modes are faster
than 'S' modes (because no scaling is necessary).
* Make sure you are using Auto Frame Skipping. If you already are, try
increasing the Max Frame Skip.
* Do not use VSync; if you must use VSync, try also enabling Triple
Buffering.
* Disable all video filters.
* Compile ZSNES yourself with optimizations for your CPU's architecture.
* If you still need more speed, disable sound. If that's not enough,
disable SPC emulation (you must restart ZSNES for this option to take
effect). Some games will not work without SPC emulation.
If you have an old computer, such as one with a 486/100 processor, you will
probably be better off using older DOS versions of ZSNES, as the minimum
system requirements have increased slightly with subsequent releases. To
achieve greater speed, you may want to avoid using VESA video modes (although
this will disable transparencies). Experiment with the different video modes
and try the recommendations above to see which configuration provides the
best speed for you.
Q: Why does the game slow down even though I'm using auto frame rate and the FPS
is pretty high?
A: If you have ever played a real SNES, you may notice that some games slow down
even on it. To the extent that ZSNES accurately emulates an SNES, a game will
slow down in ZSNES in the same places it would slown down on a real SNES.
Q: My games are running too quickly! How do I slow them down?
A: You may have disabled auto frame skipping. Re-enable it in the
Config-->Speed menu.
If you don't want to use auto frame skipping, and you want to play in
windowed mode, you might want to set your monitor's refresh rate to 60hz
and enable VSync in ZSNES.
If you want to use fullscreen mode without using auto frame skipping,
you can enable the KitchenSync by using either the -ks (for NTSC/PAL)
or -kp (for PAL) command-line parameter (Windows port only) [Advanced.txt].
Also be sure to enable triple buffering.

7. ................................
Miscellaneous
................................
Q: Does ZSNES support loading ROMs which are compressed?
A: Yes, but it depends on what compression format is used. ZSNES can currently
load ROMs that are compressed in the ZIP (method 0 - store and method 8 -
deflate), GZip, and JMA compression formats.
Many tools are available to create ZIP files. If you want a fast, commandline
based ZIP program that is available on many platforms, get Info-ZIP. Info-ZIP
also has a Windows front end called WiZ available if you prefer a GUI.
For creating GZip files, there are not too many choices. A fast, commandline
based compressor for the GZip format, available for several platforms, may be
downloaded at the GZip site [http://www.gzip.org]. If you use Windows, there
is a program with a GUI called 7-Zip [http://www.7-zip.org] that has support
for ZIP, GZip, and others. ZIP and GZip files created by 7-Zip are smaller
than those created with other programs, but 7-Zip takes a longer time
creating them. For users of Unix based operating systems who would like a GUI
front end for both ZIP and GZip, get Ark
[http://docs.kde.org/en/3.2/kdeutils/ark/], which is part of the KDE project.
To create JMA files, a format invented by Nach and the rest of the NSRT team
which offers the best compression ratio for SNES ROMs, you must use NSRT
[http://nsrt.edgeemu.com]. NSRT is also capable of compressing SNES ROMs into
ZIP and GZip formats.
Q: Why doesn't ZSNES support the 7z, RAR, or ZIP deflate64 compression formats?
A: ZSNES only supports formats which have an open-source, portable, and
easy-to-use library. The 7z and RAR formats do not yet have libraries that
fill those criteria. If you want the best compression ratio for your SNES
ROMs, you should use JMA. Currently, the only publicly available program that
can compress and decompress with JMA is NSRT [http://nsrt.edgeemu.com]. ZIP
deflate64 lacks a decompression library which ZSNES can use, but rumor has it
that Nach is working on one.
Q: Does ZSNES support multiple ROMs in a single ZIP or JMA file?
A: ZSNES currently does not support more than one ROM in a ZIP or JMA file,
although such support will probably be implemented in the future.
Q: Can you make a Mac/PocketPC/PS2/whatever port?
A: Since ZSNES is written in assembly, ports to any systems that are not 100%
x86 compatible are impossible. Try Snes9x [http://www.snes9x.com] for
portability.
Apple Computer, Inc. recently switched the Macintosh computers to use Intel
processors [http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html], and
as such ZSNES has already been modified to run on said computers. Just
compile the SDL port with an up-to-date NASM and zlib and everything normally
required.
Another third party developer recently ported ZSNES to the Microsoft Xbox as
well, and released it under the name "ZsneXbox". Unfortunately, we can not
provide a download link as this port is being illegally distributed as a
compiled XBE file. As a result, any link or support requests regarding this
port will be promptly ignored.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. WIN-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8. ................................
General
................................
Q: Why does ZSNESw crash and give me an error with dinput.dll?
A: If you get this error, download and install the latest version of DirectX.
You might also try running the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. You can do this by
clicking the Start button, then selecting "Run...". Type "dxdiag" after
"Open:", and click "OK". There are lots of options you can play with, so
please read everything before you start messing around. Specifically, go to
the "Display" tab, and under the "DirectX Features" section, click the
"Disable" button beside each feature. After they are all disabled, re-enable
them. Exit dxdiag, and try ZSNES again.
If none of that worked, try re-installing DirectX.
Q: I just switched from the DOS port to the Windows port of ZSNES; why don't my
savestates work? Are they incompatible?
A: The saves and savestates will work just as well with any port of ZSNES. You
simply need to rename all files that have .srm and .zst (and .zs1, .zs2,
etc.) extensions to match the filenames of your ROMs (or the jma/zip archives
that contain them).
For example, if you have "Super Mario World.zip" and "Super Mario RPG.zip",
both games will have saves that are labeled "SUPERM~1.SRM", "SUPERM~1.ZS2",
etc., and they will be differentiated only by the number after the "~" in the
filename.
If you need to find out which "~" number a game uses, open a DOS prompt
(a.k.a. Command Prompt), change to the ROM directory, and enter "dir /on /p"
(On some newer systems like Win2k you need to add the "/x" switch for the DOS
filenames to be displayed). Unfortunately, this method may not be accurate if
you have moved your ROMs to a different folder or another computer; you may
need to guess and hope for the best, trying to swap filenames a few different
ways between the saves before it works for all your games. If it comes down
to guessing, we recommend that you backup your save files before renaming
them.
Don't forget to put the files into your Save directory. A question concerning
the Save directory is under Universal Questions -> General [FAQ.txt].
................................
Video
................................
Q: Why am I seeing double, with strange colors?
A: Any change of resolution within ZSNES should correct the problem. Fullscreen
modes are recommended because they are faster than windowed modes.
If you still experience problems, see if these suggestions help (each should
be done/tried separately):
- The issue can be completely resolved with up-to-date video card drivers.
Keeping your device drivers fully updated will provide other benefits
unrelated to ZSNES.
- Set the resolution for ZSNES to the same one used by the Windows desktop.
- Try enabling 16-bit color depth in Windows.
Q: Why is the video choppy with an FPS of 60 and VSync on?
A: If you have VSync on, your monitor needs to be set to a refresh rate that is
a multiple of the framerate of the game. NTSC games natively run at ~60 FPS.
PAL games natively run at 50 FPS. Thus your monitor would need to be either
60Hz or 120Hz for NTSC games, or 50Hz/100Hz for PAL games. If you run ZSNES
with the -6 switch, with a sub-argument of '60', ZSNES will try to switch
your monitor to 60Hz refresh rate. You can use the -ks switch to make ZSNES

9. try to switch your monitor to 120Hz refresh rate. These two switches only
work in fullscreen modes and are for the Windows port only.
Please reference [Advanced.txt] for details on command-line switches.
You can also try enabling Triple Buffering (using the -3 switch or the GUI
option), however this currently only works in Full Screen modes. One last
thing you can try is to turn off auto frame-skipping, and set manual frame
rate to "0".
................................
Sound
................................
Q: How come I don't get any sound?
A: Either you accidentally disabled sound, you don't have a sound card, the
sound drivers aren't properly installed in your system, or your sound card is
not compatible with DirectSound (part of Microsoft's DirectX API
[Support.txt]). Also make sure that 'Disable SPC Emulation' is NOT checked.
See [GUI.txt] for more information about sound settings in ZSNES.
Try (re-)installing the latest version of DirectX, and make sure you have the
latest drivers for your sound card (WHQL Certified, if possible).
Please also note that ISA sound cards tend not to work with Windows, while
they do with DOS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. SDL-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
................................
General
................................
Q: Can I run ZSNES without X?
A: Yes, but you'll need to have SDL compiled to use SVGAlib.
Q: I got ZSNES from my distro and I found a bug. To whom should I report it?
A: Compile ZSNES yourself and see if the bug still exists. If it does,
please tell us, otherwise be happy that ZSNES works now, and give your
distro a heads-up if you feel motivated enough.
Q: Should I use SVN?
A: SVN ("Subversion") is the best way to get the most up-to-date ZSNES source.
It is best to double-check with SVN if you have a problem, since we might
have already fixed it. If you find a new problem in SVN, please tell us, but
be warned that we won't take it too seriously if it involves something that's
currently being worked on.
To check out and install ZSNES from SVN, refer to this thread on the ZSNES
board [http://board.zsnes.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7371].
Q: I'm getting an error about gzdirect() missing when I try to compile ZSNES.
What's up?
A: Make sure you're using zlib 1.2.3 or higher. Some distributions say you have
zlib 1.2.3 but in reality give you an older version. If your distribution is
being problematic, compile zlib yourself. Grab the latest version of zlib at
the official website. [http://www.zlib.net]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. DOS-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10. ................................
Video
................................
Q: How do you enable transparencies?
A: First, try setting the video mode to a 16-bit color mode in the GUI. (If
320x240x16b doesn't work, then try 640x480x16b). If it gives you an error
that says that your video card isn't compatible with VESA 2.0, you might want
to get Scitech Display Doctor. It provides certain cards with VESA 2.0
support. Running with transparencies on is definitely slower because of the
extra math equations, memory, and video space involved.
Q: Why is there a layer of fog blocking my view?
A: You need to either enable transparencies (see above), or you can disable
certain backgrounds by pressing the 1, 2, 3, or 4 keys. If you get lost while
pressing those keys, press 6 to re-enable all of the backgrounds.
Q: Why am I getting error messages regarding VESA 2 drivers?
A: Here is a list of the various error codes that you may be coming across,
along with descriptions of what they mean:
* VBE not detected - ZSNES failed to detect any VBE interrupts (Your video
card doesn't support VESA).
* VESA not detected - ZSNES failed to detect any VESA extensions (Your
video card doesn't support VESA).
* VESA 2.0 or greater required - Your video card supports VESA, but it has
an older version. You may want to use SciTech Display Doctor
[http://www.scitechsoft.com/sdd.html] to upgrade your VESA driver.
* VESA 2 mode does not work on your video card/driver - Meaning that the
resolution you requested does not exist in the supported resolutions of
your video card. Choose a different resolution or upgrade with SDD,
which can sometimes help increase the number of resolutions supported.
* Unable to initialize video mode - A VESA 2.0 driver is found, but the
video mode failed to start. There could possibly be an error on the
video card setting, or it may be a defective piece of hardware.
* Linear frame buffer not detected - Meaning that your video card does not
support linear frame buffering, which is required for the ZSNES VESA 2
routines.
................................
Sound
................................
Q: Why is there no sound?
A: There could be several situations:
- You haven't enabled sound. You can enable it through the GUI or through
zsnes.cfg. Also make sure that 'Disable SPC Emulation' is NOT checked.
- You need to make sure that the SET BLASTER variable is set properly. To do
this, type SET in DOS and look for a string starting with "BLASTER=". If
such a string exists, then this is not your problem.
- You don't have a SB2.0 compatible sound card. If this is your case, there
is nothing you can do at the moment. ZSNES uses auto-initialization mode
for sound which requires SB2.0+.
- Your SB IRQ conflicts with another device. If this is the case, you might
want to check your sound card settings through Control Panel -> System.
- ZSNES doesn't like your sound card.
- You can try using VDMSound [http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/].
Q: Are there any plans to improve detection for non-SoundBlaster cards (or
supporting non-SB cards)?
A: There is little effort put into major changes to the DOS code, since so few
people use that port these days. However, we will gladly accept anyone's help
in improving the DOS sound code.

11. Q: I get a sound initialization error using my SB Live! (or any other PCI card).
How do I fix it?
A: Here is a solution: (Thanks CyberGodz for the post on the forums!)
SB Live! uses what is known as a NMI, or Non Maskable Interrupt, to emulate
SB 16 sound. Don't ask us exactly what it does (it's a type of IRQ) but that
is pretty much all it is good for.
The problem is that many sound cards either lack NMI support or don't have it
enabled (No NMI = No DOS support).
To try and solve this problem, do the following:
- Check your BIOS. If there is an option for RAM parity checking, enable
it; it usually turns on NMI support. If there is something that says
"NMI", turn it on.
- If you don't find anything in your BIOS, then go to your motherboard's
website and download the latest BIOS flash. Install it and try your DOS
sound (You may still have to enable the stuff in the BIOS afterwards).
- Failing the first two things, you could either get a new motherboard or
get another compatible sound card alongside the SB Live!. Just attach a
cable from the line out of the SB 16 to the line in of the SB Live!.
Enable line in on the mixer of your SB Live! and it should route the
sound through the old sound card (Don't use the SPDIF to connect the
cards if you have one; wave sound doesn't pass through SPDIF--only MIDI).
................................
Input
................................
Q: Why doesn't my Sidewinder pad work?
A: First, for non-USB Sidewinders, you should disable the Sidewinder profiler
from the Win9x icon tray, run ZSNES, set Input #1 as SidewinderPad1, then
press the mode button a few times. If that doesn't work, try the following:
- Try checking or unchecking the Sidewinder Fix option under
Config Menu -> Options and repeat the above steps.
- Fully disable the Win9x Sidewinder drivers by going to Control Panel/Game
Controllers. Then remove the Sidewinder (Thanks Scarlet-Slider for this
info!).
- Run ZSNES under pure DOS.
- Again, try checking or unchecking the Sidewinder Fix in the options menu of
the GUI and repeat the above 2 steps.
- Make sure your Sidewinder is plugged in and is not broken.
For USB joysticks, you can either set ZSNES as a 6-button joystick or
simulate keyboard keys through the Sidewinder profiler by setting Input #1 as
a keyboard with those defined keys.
Q: How do I get my daisy-chained Sidewinder to work?
A: First, run ZSNES. Temporarily disconnect the second Sidewinder pad from the
first one, get the first one to work, then re-connect the second Sidewinder
pad.
Q: Why doesn't my Gamepad Pro work?
A: For the non-USB version, be sure to have your Gamepad Pro set on 'GrIP' mode.
Then set the input device as Gamepad Pro P0. For the USB version, you can use
a keyboard emulator, which should be included with the software that came
with your joystick.
Q: Why doesn't my joystick work anymore?
A: You might have accidentally clicked the 'Use Joystick Port 209H' check box.
Just uncheck it.

12. Q: Why does JB5/JB6 keep getting pressed whenever I try to change a key?
A: Try changing your joystick type from 6-button to 4-button.
................................
Freezing/Crashing Issues
................................
Q: Why does ZSNES freeze when I run it under pure DOS?
A: Try loading your mouse driver or run ZSNES using the -j switch. For the most
compatible result, use the Microsoft Mouse driver if possible.
Q: Why does ZSNES crash when I load a ROM?
A: It could be that ZSNES doesn't recognize your sound configuration. To fix it,
disable sound or try changing your sound configuration. Also see this
question: (Universal-->Freezing/Crashing Issues) "Why does ZSNES crash
as soon as I load a ROM?"
Q: Why does ZSNES freeze when I try to enter the GUI?
A: Run ZSNES using the commandline -j.
Q: ZSNES gives me an "out of memory" error and I only have 16MB of RAM. How do I
fix this?
A: If you are running the DOS port of ZSNES from within Windows, try restarting
the computer in DOS mode; more RAM should then presumably be available for
ZSNES to use. To get it running under Win9x, first create a shortcut to the
DOS prompt on the desktop (the filename 'target' can be "C:command.com").
Next, right-click on the icon and go to Properties. Then, select the Memory
tab and look below for Protected Mode (DPMI) settings and set a high value
(like 20000). Last, double-click on that icon and load ZSNES as usual.
................................
Miscellaneous
................................
Q: I'm using DJGPP 2.03 and I get an error about missing stdint.h. What's wrong?
A: You're probably missing this file. Download the latest version of this file
and put it in DJGPP's include directory.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Copyright (C) ZSNES Team & ZSNES Documentation Team [License.txt]