In this slide, I introduced how Gameboy works and how to build a Gameboy emulator using Rust programming language. Also, I introduce how to migrate the Rust emulator to Webassembly, so that we can run the emulator using browser. Video of presentation of this slide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqcEg3IVziQ

1. Build Gameboy Emulator in Rust and
WebAssembly
Author: Yodalee
<lc85301@gmail.com>

2. Outline
1. Inside Gameboy
2. Gameboy Emulator in Rust
3. Migrate Rust to WebAssembly

3. Star Me on Github!
Source Code
https://github.com/yodalee/ruGameboy
Note: (Traditional Chinese)
https://yodalee.me/tags/gameboy/

4. Inside Gameboy

5. Gameboy
4MHz 8-bit Sharp LR35902
32KB Cartridge
8KB SRAM
8KB Video RAM
160x144 LCD screen

6. CPU Register
D15..D8 D7..D0
A F
B C
D E
H L
D15..D0
SP (stack pointer)
PC (program counter)
Flag Register
Z N H C 0 0 0 0
Z - Zero Flag
N - Subtract Flag
H - Half Carry Flag
C - Carry Flag
0 - Not used, always zero

7. CPU Instruction
4MHz CPU based on Intel 8080 and Z80.
245 instructions and another 256 extended (CB) instructions

8. Memory Layout
Start Size Description
0x0000 32 KB Cartridge ROM
0x8000 6 KB GPU Tile Content
0x9800 2 KB GPU Background Index
0xC000 8KB RAM
0xFE00 160 Bytes GPU Foreground Index

9. GPU Tile
1 tile = 8x8 = 64 pixels.
256
256
2 bits/pixel
1 tile = 16 bytes
Virtual Screen = 1024 Tiles

10. GPU Background
...
VRAM 0x8000-0xA000 (8K)
1. 0x8000-0x9000 or 0x8800-0x9800 => 4KB / 16B = 256 Tiles
2. 0x9800-0x9C00 or 0x9C00-A000 => 1KB = Tiles index
0x9800 - 0x9C00
Tile Index Table

11. From 0xFE00 to 0xFE9F = 160 bytes
4 bytes per Sprite => 40 Sprite
Sprite Size = 1 Tile = 8x8
GPU Sprite Foreground
Byte 0 Offset X
Byte 1 Offset Y
Byte 2 Tile Index
Byte 3 Flags: x flip, y flip, etc.
Note the width:
8 pixels

12. Line 0
Line 1
Line 2
Line 143
HBlank
VBlank
GPU Timing
160
144
Mode Cycle
Scanline Sprite 80
Scanline BG 172
HBlank 204
VBlank 4560 (10 lines)
Total 70224
4 MHz clock
70224 cycles ~= 0.0176s ~= 60 Hz

13. Gameboy Emulator in Rust

14. Emulator Architecture
GPU Cartridge RAM ….
Bus Register
VM
CPU
Display Buffer

15. Implement Register
F register All Register Interface
pub struct
FlagRegister {
pub zero: bool,
pub subtract: bool,
pub half_carry: bool,
pub carry: bool
}
pub struct Register {
pub a: u8,
pub b: u8,
pub c: u8,
pub d: u8,
pub e: u8,
pub f: FlagRegister,
pub h: u8,
pub l: u8,
}
impl Register {
fn get_hl() -> u16 {
(self.h as u16) << 8 | self.l as u16
}
fn set_hl(&mut self, value: u16) {
self.h = ((value >> 8) & 0xff) as u8;
self.l = (value & 0xff) as u8;
}
//...
}

16. Encode Instruction to Enum
Register X,Y Move Register X to Y Byte to Instruction
enum Target
{
A,
B,
C,
...
}
enum Instruction {
NOP
LDRR(Target, Target)
ADD(Target)
...
}
impl Instruction {
fn from_byte(u8) -> Instruction {
0x00 => Instruction::NOP,
0x01 => //…
0x02 => //…
//…
}
}

17. Implement CPU
CPU Step
pub struct Cpu {
regs: Register,
sp: u16,
pub pc: u16,
pub bus: Bus,
}
let byte = self.load(self.pc);
self.pc + 1;
let inst = Instruction::from_byte(byte);
match inst {
Instruction::JPHL => self.pc = self.regs.get_hl(),
Instruction::LDRR(source, target) => {
match (&source, &target) {
(&Target::C, &Target::B) => self.regs.b = self.regs.c,
//...

18. Implement Bus
Device Load/Store
pub trait Device {
fn load(&self, addr: u16) ->
Result<u8, ()>;
fn store(&mut self, addr: u16,
value: u8) -> Result<(), ()>;
}
impl Bus {
fn load(&self, addr: u16) -> Result<u8, ()> {
match addr {
CATRIDGE_START ..= CATRIDGE_END =>
self.cartridge.load(addr),
VRAM_START ..= VRAM_END =>
self.gpu.load(addr),
RAM_START ..= RAM_END =>
self.ram.load(addr),
//...

19. Implement Gpu
Sprite Gpu Render
struct Sprite {
tile_idx: u8,
x: isize,
y: isize,
// flag...
}
struct Gpu {
sprite: [Sprite:40]
vram: Vec<u8>,
oam: Vec<u8>,
//...
}
impl Device for Gpu {
//...
fn build_background(&mut self, buffer: &mut
Vec<u32>) {
for row in 0..HEIGHT {
for col in 0..WIDTH {
let tile_addr = row * 32 + col;
let tile_idx = self.vram[tile_addr];
let pixels = self.get_tile(tile_idx);
buffer.splice(start..end, pixels.iter()...);

20. VM
Screen built with minifb.
Loop:
1. run CPU until VBlank
2. Render Screen.
Let GPU fill display buffer Vec<u32>

21. Migrate Rust to WebAssembly

22. Rust x WebAssembly
https://rustwasm.github.io/book/
Tool needed:
1. rustup install
wasm32-unknown-unknown
2. wasm-pack
3. cargo-generate
4. npm

23. Migration Step
1. cargo generate --git https://github.com/rustwasm/wasm-pack-template
2. Expose Interface to Javascript
3. wasm-pack build
4. Import WebAssembly from Javascript
Done
https://github.com/yodalee/
wasm_gameboy

24. Expose Interface to Javascript
Magic Word
#[wasm_bindgen]

25. wasm_bindgen
// rust
#[wasm_bindgen]
pub struct Gameboy {
cartridge: Vec<u8>,
vm: Option<Vm>
}
// javascript
import Gameboy from "wasmgb"
Gameboy.new()

26. wasm_bindgen
// rust
#[wasm_bindgen]
impl Gameboy {
pub fn get_buffer(&self) -> *const u32 {
self.vm.buffer.as_ptr()
}
}
// javascript
import memory from "wasmgb_bg"
const buffer = gameboy.get_buffer();
const pixels = new
Uint32Array(memory.buffer, buffer,
width*height);

27. Import WebAssembly from Javascript
<body>
<input type="file" id="file-uploader"/>
<canvas id="gameboy-canvas"></canvas>
<pre id="gameboy-log"></pre>
<script src="./bootstrap.js"></script>
</body>

28. Import WebAssembly from Javascript
reader.onload = function() {
const cartridge = gameboy.get_cartridge();
var bytes = new Uint8Array(reader.result);
const m_cartridge = new Uint8Array(memory.buffer, cartridge, 0x8000);
// set cartridge
for (let idx = 0; idx < 0x8000; idx++) {
m_cartridge[idx] = bytes[idx];
}
gameboy.set_cartridge();

29. Import WebAssembly from Javascript
const renderLoop = () => {
drawPixels();
gameboy.step();
}
const drawPixels = () => {
const buffer = gameboy.get_buffer();
const pixels = new Uint32Array(memory.buffer, buffer, width * height);
for (let row = 0; row < height; row++) {
for (let col = 0; col < width; col++) {
if (pixels[row * width + col] == WHITE) { //...

30. Done

31. Conclusion

32. Future Work
Features to implement:
● Right now only Tetris can work (ﾟдﾟ；)
● Implement Sound
Problem to solve:
● How to emulate program in correct timing?
● How to debug efficiently?

33. Conclusion
1. We learn how to build emulator by building it.
2. A Rust program can be migrated to WebAssembly really quick.

34. Thanks for Listening