libretro/emulators/veesem.yml

emulator: veesem
type: standalone
core_classification: other
source: "https://github.com/sp1187/veesem"
upstream: "https://github.com/sp1187/veesem"
profiled_date: "2026-08-08"
source_commit: "42fb8f07e7418f16ccfb7364127aef2217dda641"
core_version: "0.2"
display_name: "VTech - V.Smile (veesem)"
cores:
  - veesem
systems:
  - vtech-vsmile
mode: standalone

notes: |
  V.Smile emulator written from scratch on top of a SunPlus SPG200 (unSP)
  implementation, distributed as source only. No distribution packages it;
  ES-DE offers it for its vsmile system beside MAME and the MAME libretro
  core, and finds it by the binary name or the com.github.sp1187.veesem
  flatpak.

  The system ROM has no fixed name and no search path. -sysrom takes a path
  (main.cc:64-70) which is opened directly (ui.cc:191), and the open is the
  only check the tree performs: the read asks for sizeof *sysrom, the
  1024*1024-word buffer of vsmile.h:17, so a shorter file keeps the zeros the
  buffer was value-initialised with and anything past 2 MiB is never reached.
  No size test, no hash, no signature anywhere. Every word is passed through
  SDL_SwapLE16 after the read (ui.cc:196-197), so the image is consumed as
  little-endian 16-bit words.

  Without -sysrom the buffer is synthesised instead: zero-filled, with 0x31
  written into the odd word of each pair over 0xFFFC0-0xFFFDB, called a
  "game-compatible dummy system ROM" in the code (ui.cc:198-204) and a "dummy
  ROM without boot animation" in the README.

  Nothing boots from the system ROM. Extmem::Reset leaves address_decode at 0
  (extmem.cc:7-10), routing every external address to ROMCSB, and bank 0 stays
  the cartridge under all three decode modes (extmem.cc:20-52). The CPU takes
  its reset vector from 0xfff7 (cpu.cc:91), FIQ from 0xfff6, IRQs from
  0xfff8+n and BREAK from 0xfff5 (cpu.cc:116,125,228), all inside bank 0, so
  the vectors always come from the cartridge. The system ROM sits on CSB3
  (vsmile.cc:198-200), reachable at 0x300000-0x3FFFFF only once cartridge code
  selects decode mode 2 or 3.

  Region is a jumper, not a file. The low nibble of Port C carries the region
  code and bit 4 the VTech logo jumper (vsmile.cc:148-152), defaulting to 0xe
  with the logo on (main.cc:44-45) and settable with -region and -novtech. One
  system ROM image serves every region; the table at vsmile.cc:3-25 maps the
  sixteen jumper values to the intro each revision produces, and names
  revisions 1.00, 1.02 and 1.03.

files:
  - name: vsmile_v103.bin
    description: "V.Smile system ROM, revision 1.03"
    required: false
    hle_fallback: true
    size: 2097152
    source_ref: "src/main.cc:64-70 (-sysrom), src/ui/ui.cc:189-197 (load), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.h:17 (buffer), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.cc:198-200 (CSB3), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.cc:5,13 (jumper values for 1.03)"
    note: >
      Jumper 0x2 gives Italian and 0xa UK English without subtitle on this
      revision, the two values 1.02 assigns the other way round.

  - name: vsmile_v102.bin
    description: "V.Smile system ROM, revision 1.02"
    required: false
    hle_fallback: true
    size: 2097152
    source_ref: "src/main.cc:64-70 (-sysrom), src/ui/ui.cc:189-197 (load), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.h:17 (buffer), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.cc:198-200 (CSB3), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.cc:4-9,13,17-18 (jumper values for 1.02+)"
    note: >
      The revision the "1.02+" entries describe: 0x0 and 0x1 suppress the
      V.Smile screen, 0x3 to 0x5 select US English variants and 0xe and 0xf
      carry the "Learning System" subtitle.

  - name: vsmile_v100.bin
    description: "V.Smile system ROM, revision 1.00"
    required: false
    hle_fallback: true
    size: 2097152
    source_ref: "src/main.cc:64-70 (-sysrom), src/ui/ui.cc:189-197 (load), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.h:17 (buffer), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.cc:198-200 (CSB3), src/core/vsmile/vsmile.cc:13,20-24 (jumper values and behaviour for 1.00)"
    note: >
      Its standard English subtitle is "TV Learning System", and with no
      cartridge and a region code below 0x6 it shows a blinking blue VTech
      logo in white.

analysis:
  user_supplied_paths:
    note: "Named on the command line, with no fixed filename"
    entries:
      - what: "cartridge ROM, the positional argument"
        source_ref: "src/main.cc:119-126, src/ui/ui.cc:180-187"
        note: >
          Read into a 4M-word buffer and mapped over ROMCSB, CSB1 and CSB2
          (vsmile.cc:168-190). The dual-ROM cartridges pair a 4 MiB ROM on the
          first two banks with a 2 MiB ROM on CSB2, which the code reads from
          the same dump at word 0x200000.
      - what: "system ROM, -sysrom"
        source_ref: "src/main.cc:64-70, src/ui/ui.cc:189-197"

  generated_files:
    - what: "Art Studio CSB2 NVRAM, -art-nvram FILE"
      source_ref: "src/main.cc:71-77 (flag), src/ui/ui.cc:206-221 (read), src/ui/ui.cc:153-170 (write)"
      note: >
        Save data rather than a dump to obtain. The 128K-word buffer is
        allocated before the stream is tested (ui.cc:210-211), so an absent or
        unreadable file leaves a blank NVRAM, and -art on its own selects the
        same cartridge type with no file at all (ui.cc:218-220). It backs the
        drawing area of V.Smile Art Studio (vsmile.cc:180-196) and is flushed
        to the same path when the machine is unloaded.

  settings_storage:
    source_ref: "src/ui/ui.cc:126"
    note: >
      io.IniFilename is nullptr, so Dear ImGui reads and writes no imgui.ini.
      Every setting comes from the command line or the UI, and no other path
      in the tree is opened.