Final Visual Verification and Continuation of the Strategic Plan

Summary

Creation of verification tools and scripts to continue with the strategic plan of Step 0311. This step focuses on visually verifying that the tiles are rendered correctly after the addressing correction (Step 0314), analyzing the low FPS problem (8.0 FPS), and verifying GB/GBC compatibility and controls.

Automated PowerShell scripts were created to facilitate verifications and template documents were created to document the results. These resources will allow us to systematically advance the strategic plan.

Hardware Concept

The Game Boy works at4.194304MHz(4,194,304 cycles per second). A frame lasts approximately70,224 clock cyclesto maintain59.7FPS(typically rounded to 60 FPS on emulators).

The main loop of an emulator must execute all the instructions necessary to complete a frame before synchronizing with real time using an FPS limiter (such aspygame.time.Clock.tick(60)).

If the FPS is low (ex: 8.0 FPS instead of 60 FPS), it may be due to:

• Defective FPS limiter: The limiter may not be working correctly
• Log Overhead: Too many logs can slow down the emulator
• Slow rendering: Python rendering may be too slow
• Infinite loops or locks: There may be locks in the code

Fountain:Pan Docs - System Clock, Timing, Frame Rate, LCD Timing

Implementation

Verification Scripts Created

• tools/visual_verification_fps_step_0315.ps1:
  • Run the emulator for a set time (30 seconds by default)
  • Capture logs inlogs/fps_analysis_step_0315.log
  • Analyze logs to identify FPS problems
  • Provides log samples without cluttering the context
• tools/compatibility_verification_gb_gbc_step_0315.ps1:
  • Automatically tests multiple GB and GBC ROMs
  • Check loading, rendering and errors
  • Generate compatibility summary
• tools/verification_controls_step_0315.ps1:
  • Documents key mapping according tosrc/gpu/renderer.py
  • Provides instructions for manual verification
  • Verify that the mapping code exists

Verification Documents Created

• VERIFICATION_RENDERIZED_STEP_0312.md(updated):
  • Improved template for visual verification after Step 0314
  • Includes reference to the verification script
• ANALYSIS_FPS_LOW_STEP_0315.md:
  • Template for documenting low SPF analysis
  • Includes hypotheses to be verified and methodology
• COMPATIBILITY_GB_GBC_STEP_0315.md:
  • Template for documenting compatibility results
  • Includes sections for GB and GBC ROMs
• VERIFICATION_CONTROLES_STEP_0315.md:
  • Template to document verification of controls
  • Includes key mapping and verification checklist
• STATUS_STRATEGIC_PLAN_STEP_0315.md:
  • Strategic plan progress evaluation
  • Status of each phase and success criteria
  • Recommended next steps

Design Decisions

• PowerShell Scripts: PowerShell was chosen because it is native to Windows and allows controlled execution with timeout
• Log redirection: The logs are redirected to files to avoid cluttering the context, following the project rules
• Analysis by samples: Scripts parse only log samples (first/last lines) instead of reading entire files
• Template documents: Template documents were created to facilitate documentation of results

Affected Files

• tools/visual_verification_fps_step_0315.ps1- Visual verification and FPS analysis script (new)
• tools/compatibility_verification_gb_gbc_step_0315.ps1- GB/GBC compatibility check script (new)
• tools/verification_controls_step_0315.ps1- Control verification script (new)
• VERIFICATION_RENDERIZED_STEP_0312.md- Updated with reference to Step 0315
• ANALYSIS_FPS_LOW_STEP_0315.md- FPS analysis document (new)
• COMPATIBILITY_GB_GBC_STEP_0315.md- Compatibility document (new)
• VERIFICATION_CONTROLES_STEP_0315.md- Control verification document (new)
• STATUS_STRATEGIC_PLAN_STEP_0315.md- Plan status document (new)
• docs/bitacora/entries/2025-12-27__0315__visual-verification-final-continuation-plan.html- HTML log entry (new)

Tests and Verification

This step creates verification tools, but the actual verifications must be run manually:

• Visual verification: Pending executiontools/visual_verification_fps_step_0315.ps1and observe the emulator window
• FPS analysis: Pending execution of the script and analysis of the generated logs
• GB/GBC Compatibility: Pending executiontools/compatibility_verification_gb_gbc_step_0315.ps1
• Controls: Pending to run the emulator and test each button manually

Note: The scripts are ready to run, but the results must be documented in the corresponding verification documents.

Sources consulted

• Bread Docs:System Clock, Timing, Frame Rate, LCD Timing
• Strategic Plan Step 0311:DIAGNOSIS_CURRENT_STATUS_STEP_0311.md
• Source code:src/viboy.py, src/gpu/renderer.py, src/io/joypad.py

Educational Integrity

Next Steps

• [ ] Executetools/visual_verification_fps_step_0315.ps1and completeVERIFICATION_RENDERIZED_STEP_0312.md
• [ ] Analyze FPS logs and completeANALYSIS_FPS_LOW_STEP_0315.md
• [ ] Apply FPS optimizations based on analysis (if necessary)
• [ ] Executetools/compatibility_verification_gb_gbc_step_0315.ps1and completeCOMPATIBILITY_GB_GBC_STEP_0315.md
• [ ] Run emulator and test controls, completeVERIFICATION_CONTROLES_STEP_0315.md
• [ ] Evaluate progress of the strategic plan usingSTATUS_STRATEGIC_PLAN_STEP_0315.md
• [ ] Continue with Step 0316 according to the results of the verifications