Infuse (Zeebo / BREW multiplatform emulator) development #5 - A1 development preview release

"A1 development preview" is here, you can find it on my website. Please read LICENSE and README.md file first as well as please do not forget, there is no asking for Zeebo game dumps - that is your responsibility! ;)
Infuse is a Qualcomm BREW subsystem reimplementation and Zeebo high-level emulator written from scratch by one person only (Tuxality), based purely on clean reverse engineering attempts. Currently it is using dynarmic ARM JIT core and runs three Zeebo commercial games in fully playable state which is Double Dragon, Crash Nitro Kart 3D and Zeebo Family Pack as well as some of the BREW samples.
First idea of emulating Zeebo was born in 2015 when I was gathering information about Zeebo / BREW inner-workings, however not much work was done in that time due to the IRL. Project really started as a BREW compatibility layer proof-of-concept in 2018 with a goal of getting Kingdom Hearts V Cast to run natively on Windows Mobile ARM based device, while such goal was not fully achieved and only some BREW samples worked it allowed me to gain some knowledge and move onto the next milestone that was achieved on 3rd November 2021. In such milestone after resurrecting project and completely rewriting Infuse proof-of-concept with ARM emulation built-in, I was able to run BREW samples in emulated environment which made Infuse fully-fledged high-level emulator rather than compatibility layer. Besides ARM emulation, I've also implemented pretty complex debugging tool that allowed to monitor execution and behavior of executed BREW applets. Sadly project was put on hold until the next milestone which was achieved on 2nd August 2023. Infuse was once again rewritten from scratch which allowed to get not only better multiplatform support, but also allowed to successfully boot two Zeebo games Crash Nitro Kart 3D and Zeebo Family Pack with glitches and no gamepad input. Infuse on 19th August 2023 got HID interface fixed which means that Zeebo gamepad input started to work properly and most importantly, new highly anticipated game Double Dragon was considered playable to some extent. Sadly there were many issues that needed to be resolved and no audio output was implemented yet until the next milestone that was achieved on 17th September 2023. Most notably I've implemented support for PCM / ADPCM, MIDI and MP3 media playback with resampling support, however it wasn't quite of quality yet as sound was kinda distorted and crunchy as well as there was no sound in Crash Nitro Kart 3D. Multiple functionalities were implemented such as BAR / MIF loader, fixes provided for some effects not being rendered in Crash Nitro Kart 3D as well as I've resurrected native port of Infuse which works the same way as in first proof-of-concept yet on newer ARM based devices such as Anbernic handhelds. Internally, on 19th November 2023 concept of the Infuse user interface was created which was used as a base for the new user interface in final Infuse version after refactoring. Since then a lot and I really mean a lot of work was done behind the scene to make the first release of Infuse that you can see today. Support for multiple platforms was improved too which ended up in having macOS (arm64), Windows (x86_64), GNU/Linux (x86_64), Steam Deck (x86_64) and Haiku OS (x86_64) ports. Many issues were fixed and not every one of them was an easy fix i.e. memory leaks, corruptions, fragmentation, leaking file descriptors, unknown crashes on some ports due to the undefined behavior and so on. Similarly, big improvement was made on the audio side which is now of acceptable quality with better resampling performance especially on low-end platforms. This and a lot more makes the current "A1 development preview" that should work for most people to enjoy hidden gem of Double Dragon for the Zeebo console. I hope you will have a lot of fun playing these games as Zeebo was a quite unique experience for me when it got released back in the day.
As mentioned above, you can find Infuse on my website:
tuxality.net/projects/infuse_z...
Last but not least, I would like to thank my girlfriend KogarashiDS for all the testing, ideas, general support and understanding during Infuse development, thank you!
- Tuxality

[@Tuxality]

For all people who have trouble with "BREW applets not found", I strongly suggest to read the README file carefully first. You need to put your games into brew directory that is created in following paths during first run depending on the selected port: Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Tuxality\Infuse macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Tuxality/Infuse GNU/Linux: ~/.Tuxality/Infuse Steam Deck: ~/.Tuxality/Infuse Haiku OS: ~/.Tuxality/Infuse After running emulator for the first time Infuse will create its own directory structure in path mentioned above and you will find there brew subdirectory with empty mod/mif directories in which you need to put your Zeebo stuff i.e. MODs, SIGs and MIFs respectively. Do *not* put your Zeebo stuff into brew directory that comes within emulator package, it is wrong and it will not work in such way.

[@SRC267]

Well done on the release. The preview video is really nicely done!

[@user-mz5gb8gg9q]

This is so incredible, Crash Nitro Kart 3D is running simply superb, I was even able to use my Dualsense and Switch Pro Controller by opening the emulator with Steam, you've done an incredible job so far, this is an incredible step towards the preservation of Zeebo and retro games in general, you don't know how grateful I am for that.

[@MoonSarito]

Hey, a question that came to mind, is it possible to load Zeebo saves into the emulator and vice versa? For example, I have 50 hours in Zenonia, could I use his save-file in Infuse? (when the game becomes compatible obviously)

[@Tuxality]

@@MoonSarito yes, saves are created by games itself with use of the BREW filesystem API and stored per-game in udata folder inside each game module directory so you can backup / copy content of that directory and share saves between Infuse and Zeebo. It should work in both ways i.e. from Infuse to Zeebo and vice versa, however as I no longer have my own Zeebo I did not test such functionality but I do not see the reason why it would not work. :)

[@MoonSarito]

@@Tuxality Cool, that's really good to know. Thank you very much for responding.

[@silasprocopio27]

Você vai fazer a alegria de muita gente com esse projeto , pode ter certeza. Sucesso sempre na sua vida.

[@CalebeGoncalvesRom]

Eu concordo mesmo o criador do emulador sendo gringo ele fez um trabalho bom

[@user-mz5gb8gg9q]

This is so incredible, Crash Nitro Kart 3D is running simply superb, I was even able to use my Dualsense and Switch Pro Controller by opening the emulator with Steam, you've done an incredible job so far, this is an incredible step towards the preservation of Zeebo and retro games in general, you don't know how grateful I am for that.

[@StopSkeletonsFromFighting]

1:00 shows footage of Double Dragon, but using the coolest character in the game, hell yeah!

[@ultrapyrusbrawler]

A truly beautiful sight. You should be proud of the work you've done. It's always a great day when obscure platforms like the Zeebo get a second chance at life through emulation; not to mention how this will help BREW emulation in general. Fantastic work!

[@WhiteMagicRaven]

if someone interested, there is Nuance a Nuon DVD emulator which is obscure and it gives new chances too =)

[@SRC267]

I hope this dev tries to emulate the Gizmondo emulator. Attempts have been made in the past, but have hit a road block. The Gizmondo was a very unknown handheld back in the days.

[@ultrapyrusbrawler]

@SRC267 Is the Gizmondo built off of BREW? If so, then it should be doable.

[@SRC267]

@@ultrapyrusbrawler I don't know the exact details, but if it is then that's helpful.

[@WhiteMagicRaven]

There is plenty unemulated 3d platforms: V.Flash, Zeebo, Nuon, Panasonic M2, Zune, Dell Axim x50v, Sony Ericsson, Gizmondo, Leapfrog Didj, Leapster GS. )))

[@MoonSarito]

I'm so excited, it's finally amazing to see that more people will be able to play Zeebo's Double Dragon on PC. As much as the Zeebo is a failure, it really is a console that really impacted me, it was a gift from my Father and it's a console that marked my childhood and made me meet people who I still keep in touch with to this day, I really hope that the The existence of the emulator makes more people interested in consoles. I'm really rooting for this project, it will be incredible if one day it achieves compatibility with all games.

[@TheJewkerStreams]

This rules! Can't wait to give this a go and show this off at some point to others on a stream

[@TheJewkerStreams]

On windows 11 when I try and launch it I get the message "WGL: The driver does not appear to support OpenGL" even though my drivers are up to date

[@Tuxality]

@@TheJewkerStreams what GPU are you using? To be honest I did not test it on Windows 11, only Windows 10 was tested.

[@TheJewkerStreams]

@@TuxalityNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. Yeah I don't blame you, Windows 11 is kind of a headache

[@Tuxality]

@@TheJewkerStreams do you also have integrated graphics enabled by any chance? Maybe that is causing the issue?

[@TheJewkerStreams]

@@Tuxality I believe it is

[@ilkeryoldas]

Nice! Thank you for your hard work.. I've been looking forward to this one

[@EduardoCostaMaranhao]

Muito Obrigado por seu empenho, nós Brasileiros (Fãs do Zeebo) somos muitos gratos a você pelo emulador Infuse. Eu comprei o Zeebo Tectoy na Pré venda, foi meu primeiro video game que comprei em lançamento. tenho um carinho enorme por esse console, e hoje poder joga-lo novamente via infuse é sensacional.

[@RafaelSantos-yn8wp]

I only have to thank you, you are a genius, those of you who can make this emulator are on another level of human intelligence, when I'm working I'll subscribe to Patreon

[@GELTONZ]

FINALLY! I was worried you had either given up or something bad had happened to you! Thankyou SO MUCH for your hard work!

[@davpreec]

Fantastic work buddy. Super easy to set up i had it running in no time :)

[@Tuxality]

Thank you for comment that is different to the ones requesting video tutorial for such simple task that could be achieved by just reading the manual. ;)

[@davpreec]

@@Tuxality No problem buddy. Yeah i agree i had a quick read of the read me file and was up and running strait away :) It is so simple to set up. Again fantastic work on this i just got chance to play Double Dragon Zeebo for the first time and it was awesome. I did a full playthrough of on my channel :) Thanks for all your hard work.

[@WILMUSTAINE90]

TUXALITY

[@Neutrico88]

Sr Wilson from Colônia Contra-Ataca and Derek from Stop Skeletons from Fighting Seeing This:

[@user-mz5gb8gg9q]

Someone needs to tag these guys.

[@EthanWaber]

This is freaking awesome, thank you so much for creating this wonderful software.

[@MarianaBianchiii]

A HUGE huge thank you, Mr. Tuxality. You are making history with this beautiful emulator

[@tudobem12]

thank u so much dude, what a flawless and fantastic work!!!!!

[@aryudsoh]

Thanks for all your work on this. Can't wait to try it!.

[@hiltonpires]

Congratulations for the project. PARABENS!!! EXCELENTE

[@Saulo_Lima]

Thank you very much for bringing this wonder to us, I'm looking forward to seeing the game "Rally Master Pro" working. 🎮🏁🚙 Greetings from Brazil.

[@RafaelCosta-tq8ef]

Congratulations for the project. I love it

[@HidomiFLCL]

Excellent work!

[@MarceloArruda-wm1vi]

Thank you very much for your initiative in creating the first Zeebo emulator, please don't give up, continue this wonderful work until all Zeebo games are playable, this will allow many people in the world to have access to these titles that were stuck on this platform, Thank you my friend for giving us this opportunity/ multissimo obrigado pela sua iniciativa em criar o primeiro emulador de zeebo, por favor não desista, continue esse trabalho maravilhoso até que todos os jogos do zeebo sejam jogáveis, isso permitira muitas pessoas do mundo terem acesso a esses títulos que ficaram presos nessa plataforma, Obrigado meu amigo por nos proporcionar essa oportunidade

[@APEXGuerilla]

Never knew about this Double Dragon game or this system 🤯

[@Arthur4lves]

Wow man, amazing job! Running Smoothly on Pop OS. Please Support Zenonia game next lol. Wow

[@contadeusuario7806]

Incredible work. Can't wait to see the ArkOS version so i can play this on the R36S

[@Decrypter1990]

Congratz Tuxality! tudo de bom pra você meu querido 😀👍

[@nazielkalil6778]

You're a Hero! Thanx for This!

[@hmp83]

Sensacional!!!

[@Wasabialt]

Amazing!

[@henriquediego7632]

Obg pela preservação deste console!👏🏻

[@krzbrew]

Good GOOD

[@AlexExpress84]

very interresting :)

[@alekxsander]

It's an interesting project and I'm rooting for its success! But for me neither the keyboard, mouse nor my PSX DirectInput model Joystick worked in Windows 10 and it causes the emulator to close immediately, but from another video I saw X-Input seems to work fine! Congratulations on the project and success!

[@MARCSLASH]

Thank you so much!

[@WhiteMagicRaven]

excellent work =)

[@novaeragamess]

Hi! First of all thanks for the amazing work. I saw that Armageddon Squadron game is incomplete. However i'm seen u working hard. I made the tutorial at my channel and please let me know when any update shows up. Thanks bro!

[@kurufuiori]

incredible, please don't stop with this project, zeebo has some good games, could you please recommend me where to get the double dragon rom for zeebo?

[@granglerarcade1950]

Got the fll rom set and video on my channel just have to send email.

[@clebinhoretrogames]

Perfect

[@Xxx_KittySlayer_xxX]

this is rad

[@WhenCornAttacks]

Looking forward to hopefully eventually playing RE4 zeebo edition on this. I had that port of the game on my iPod touch as a kid and would love to try it again but it's not available anymore

[@danielmclaughlin2190]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

[@ArnoldSchwarzeneggerPrime]

thank u man!

[@rashestoak7454]

please, when you do the Android port make sure to make the interface controller-compatible, so we can use the emulator in a android box

[@SRC267]

Tekken 2 for Zeebo, here i come. The better version.

[@Tuxality]

I do not want to burst your bubble, but Tekken 2 is not supported / most likely not working yet ... :)

[@SRC267]

@@Tuxality ah ok. The main thing is you have set the foundations down. So it's likely it will at some point. I can wait lol

[@Tuxality]

@@SRC267 haha sure, I can always move it higher on my todo list if that works for you, but no promises ... ;)

[@user-mz5gb8gg9q]

@@Tuxality While on the topic, will Infuse support co-op multiplayer?, I used to play Tekken 2 and A Game of Eggs with friends, it would be really cool to relive that.

[@SRC267]

@@Tuxality i suppose that would be nice. Tekken 2 is a great classic as are the others. Just tested DD and Crash, and it works great on my AMD PC. Going to try it on my Intel iGPU handheld, see how that goes. I tried to see if Street Fighter Alpha port worked, but obviously it didn't 😅

[@darkfalzx]

Amazing work! Thank you so much for making this! Any chance to let us, please, launch games through command line, even if we have to pass the applet ID to the emulator?

[@SosumiInc]

Came to see if there was an https link to download from. Stayed because of that phat bass line.

[@revoblam7975]

ANOTHER CONSOLE SAVED.

[@eduardoroberto7599]

can I make a request? In future updates, you could add a filter called XBRZ that leaves 2D games in high definition, it is an excellent image filter, will you leave the emulator in portable mode in the future?Thank you very much for making and making the emulator available.

[@eltrem_th]

lindooooooooooooooooooo demaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis

[@espartanoarcade]

Hello, congratulations, very good job, I have a question, is there a way to launch the games individually through a script or bat file? What would be the command line? Thank you very much

[@Inujake7]

This is awesome! I hope more games run soon like Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry and Assassin's Creed! Is there any way to get it running on Android? That would be amazing too!

[@pyro_lc4248]

Now, imagine if we can run Resident Evil 4: Zeebo Edition

[@mackano32]

Hello, thank you very much for what you are doing, I create content for the hyperspin frontend and I have a question: Is it possible to load an individual game without entering directly into the emulator to implement the games as they are emulable in the hyperspin wheel or launchbox? to know if they would be loaded by id, by some extension of the games content, or a specific command line, bat or whatever, well, greetings and thank you very much

[@rashestoak7454]

are you planning to make a Android 32-bit version ?

[@InaldoTavares]

😃

[@JOAOVICTOR-lw9ds]

Good evening tuxality, thanks for this emulator. I read the README but I was in doubt, where does the structure that INFUSE creates appear? thanks.

[@Tuxality]

Paths are listed in "First usage" section of the README file, you need to pick one that corresponds to your Infuse version. You can also check my pinned comment that contains information about paths in which Infuse creates directory structure during first run.

[@JOAOVICTOR-lw9ds]

@@Tuxality I was able to find the folder, thank you.

[@AxelDragani]

My dream is to play Rally Master Pro... I just watched an old trailer with footage from the symbian version... Any plans for a future PlayStore release?

[@evertaum2010]

I'm having trouble with steamdeck I don't know whete to put the mif mod with the games on steamdeck

[@LandoOrlando]

i have an issue, i tried changing my settings so i can have a better control and now the emulator is frozen, i cant select any game and i cant change my settings

[@Tuxality]

Most likely you have disabled your input by tinkering too much without reading the captions in the settings menu. Close emulator, delete "Infuse.config" file from your user directory and run emulator again with default settings.

[@S.A.B294]

I know you told us to follow the README files, but can you show us how the signature file appears? Because when I launched Infuse on my steam deck, I didn’t see no file created on brew

[@Tuxality]

Please see my pinned comment, on Steam Deck you need to put your games into ~/.Tuxality/Infuse path, you'll find brew directory there with empty mod/mif subdirectories. Signature file must match module name i.e. X.mod must be X.sig while signature itself can be just an empty file.

[@S.A.B294]

A video of this tutorial would be convenient no offense

[@Tuxality]

@@S.A.B294 yet many people who are able to read written text had no issues with setting up emulator. Sorry, but I will not do such for people who are just plain lazy and reluctant to carefully read the text. I've even pinned comment with the crucial information extracted from the README and even that seems to be not enough for some.

[@grilotvgg]

@@Tuxalityconcordo com vc! Bati a cabeça mais consegui, instalei até no Windows 7

[@grilotvgg]

@@Tuxalityconcordo com vc! Bati a cabeça mais consegui, instalei até no Windows 7

[@emersonribeiro9426]

emulador zeebo 🥰😍🤩😘😘🤩😍🥰😍🤩😘👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍ino 3sd ino ds no windows 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

[@ricardorodriguez5083]

Please make a video tutorial about initial setup

[@Tuxality]

Just read the README file provided with the emulator as it covers all needed information. It really does not hurt to read.

[@SRC267]

I did the setup blindfolded, surely you can do it with your eyes..

[@wisleygustavo4460]

nice than you Tuxality

[@leohistorias1462]

Where's Monica? I wanna play that game.

[@rashestoak7454]

please, make a libretro core

[@kmilloz]

Congratulations, but I couldn't get the windows keyboard to work... Is there a way to remap the buttons?

[@Tuxality]

I highly doubt that keyboard alternative mapping doesn't work for you on Windows, please check README file as it contains current mapping scheme for both keyboard and gamepads. As for the remapping there is currently no possibility to do such. Not sure why you would want to do that especially on gamepads which are the only input method that is officially supported. Keyboard alternative mapping is optional, provided as a workaround for those having possible issues with their gamepads or not having such and still wanting to play Zeebo games.

[@kmilloz]

@@Tuxality Sorry if I didn't think well, it's just that I'd like to put the D-pads on the arrows and not on the ASDW keys... and ZXCVDF shares... But anyway, I appreciate the work, I've always wanted to play Double Dragon and now I'm getting the opportunity. I'm eagerly awaiting the R36S version... thanks.

[@Tuxality]

@@kmilloz The reason behind using WASD keys instead of arrows is due to the Infuse being both Zeebo and plain BREW emulator. Arrows are used for BREW key events such as phone keypad and WASD is used for Zeebo HID events such as gamepads. Mapping that uses arrows for both events would cause many issues.

[@Peneck]

Thanks for the emulator! I have a problem... I install everything correctly, it recognizes the roms but I can't interact with the emulator, neither with the mouse nor with the keys, I only see the start screen and the available games. I can't navigate the emulator interface.

[@Tuxality]

Please read README file you'll find keyboard mapping described there. Please also note that menu is navigated through WASD / IJKL not key arrows and I strongly encourage to use XInput compatible gamepad for better experience. If you have disabled all your available input in settings close emulator, remove Infuse.config file from user directory and launch emulator again.

[@SRC267]

@@Tuxality Yep, i actually had to map keyboard keys to the touch control profile on my phone because i wanted to test it via Winlator app, but obviously i didn't get past the DD menu screen before crashing, and CBNK didn't boot, it just crashed. Winlator does have Xinput support, but i didn't connect my controller, soi wanted to test via touch.

[@darkfalzx]

Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I just get a "Brew Applets Not Found" screen, even though I placed my Zeebo files into the proper brew\mif and brew\mod folders, with a .sig file and everything.

[@Tuxality]

In such case you are doing it wrong, please read carefully the README file as everything is explained there including example of proper directory structure. Make sure that you put your MODs, MIFs and SIGs into proper mif/mod paths inside BREW user directory that is created automatically by Infuse during first startup which path varies between ports and not the brew directory that comes with the emulator as it will not work.

[@grilotvgg]

Eu fiz e não deu certo!

[@darkfalzx]

@@Tuxality I read and re-read the readme, and did exactly what it said. I don’s see what I could possibly have done wrong. Zeebo games come as mif/mod folders inside a zip file. Unzip those folders into the brew folder in the Infuse directory. It’s not rocket science - it just doesn’t work

[@Tuxality]

​@@darkfalzx yet it works for the others, weird huh? :) please check pinned comment and make sure that you are storing games in brew directory that is created by Infuse in local user data such as %LOCALAPPDATA%\Tuxality\Infuse if you are using Windows or ~/.Tuxality/Infuse if you are on GNU/Linux. Do not store mod/mif in brew directory that is packaged with emulator as explained earlier as it won't work.

[@SRC267]

@@Tuxality Can confirm it works for me. add the files into the mif and mods folders. Simple. Although a portable solution would be convenient.

[@Dragon28tt]

Donde consigo las roms ?

[@grilotvgg]

Fiz como dito, e não funcionou sempre dá abre e aplets not found

[@Tuxality]

Please read the README file, if you are on Windows copy your stuff into Infuse directory structure that is created in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Tuxality\Infuse for other ports this path will differ such as ~/.Tuxality/Infuse (GNU/Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/Tuxality/Infuse (macOS). Everything is explained in the README, why people are not able to read carefully is beyond my comprehension ...

[@grilotvgg]

@@Tuxality consegui, ancioso pelo Port de action hero, obrigado!

[@iamgamers2149]

For android please...!

[@MatiasCarvalho2003]

Vai tem emulador para Android ?

[@grilotvgg]

Vou fazer uma doação lá no Patreon, poderia por gentileza trabalhar em Um jogo De Ovos?

[@guxtavo14]

Haiku?!

[@realista25652]

Zenonia plx

[@DiguinhoTetudo-gp1lf]

lol

[@alanmartinez191]

Android please

[@29edevaldo]

thank you very much! I always wanted to play Zeebo's Drouble Dragon. Now I can play it thanks to your magnificent work