Which emulator to use best for debugging and tracing?

[SerErris]

Hi I used WinApe for debugging and tracing in the past. It has its own flaws in that regards but did a pretty decent job with the internal debugger.


The problem with WinApe is by now, that is out of development, at least the latest version is from 2016. And that is a beta version.

I tried two others for the same purpose but could not get my head around it.

JAVACPC - crashes to often on me (the emulator itself, not the Amstrad in it). Also it has a very long start time all of a sudden. It takes roughly a minute to start the emulation actually. Not sure what it does in the meantime.
Also there is only minimal documentation available. The help pages inside of it, do not work etc. 
I like the setup overall much better, including multiple debugger windows etc.
Any documentation available at all?

Then there is also
RetroVirtualMachine, however it lacks configuration capabilities, I cannot configure ROMs or anything else in the VM. I can just choose the machine type, but cannot add disk drive to a CPC for instance.

The Debugger looks pretty good, though, but unfortunately without configuration capabilities It is hard to use. Also to my liking it has to few configurable points. It is great for plaback of any software but for versatility it is not the best.

Assembler, does it have any?

Looking at some others I could not even find the documentation nor does it state if it has a build in assembler/debuger at all.

So if I would be on the hunt for the best emu to actually work on code/disassembly/tracing (not accuracy of emulation), then what would be your choice?

[Prodatron]

Compared to the best emulators for other Z80 systems (e.g. OpenMSX for the MSX or Ep128emu for the Enterprise) for me it is still a reality, that WinApe has the best and most comfortable debugger.

As the assembler is included you always have the labels in the disassembler without the need to import label tables. It supports even more exotic stuff like data and I/O breakpoints. You can edit CPU registers and states (something which I miss in other debuggers) and have the window arranged in a very good way. Assembling directly into the emulators memory of course is another great advantage compared to emus with no integrated assembler, which saves the task for copying stuff to disc images etc.

Richard sometimes has his breaks, maybe he will be back somewhen. But currently I don't see a disadvantage, that he is currently not working on WinApe.
I am always open for alternatives, and it will be interesting, if someone can point to a CPC emu with better debugging features.

[trocoloco]

give it a try to ACE-DL it was recently released and it is pretty nice already with lots of neat features

http://www.roudoudou.com/ACE-DL/

[redbox]

I've had a bit of a go with CPC Analyzer and the tracing features are excellent. You can very quickly identify main loops and functions and label them.

[roudoudou]

give it a try to ACE-DL it was recently released and it is pretty nice already with lots of neat features

http://www.roudoudou.com/ACE-DL/

that was a first shot, new enhancements for trace/dump when used with rasm will be available in a few days/weeks (step out of a function for example is very usefull when tracing and fast label search/goto)

if there is something missing in your opinion to your favorite emulator, do not hesitate to propose a feature, I think we've waited too long

[roudoudou]

I've had a bit of a go with CPC Analyzer and the tracing features are excellent. You can very quickly identify main loops and functions and label them.

the work in cpc analyzer is very fresh and useful, it's good to see some new debuging features

[trocoloco]

if there is something missing in your opinion to your favorite emulator, do not hesitate to propose a feature, I think we've waited too long

So far it is very promising and catchy to the eyes. I really like the colour loop arrows when debugging and the graphics explorer , but for some reason is stuck at the top of the screen and I can't move it around (maybe is my monitor config?) It would be cool if it could be moved to a second screen for example.
Do you plan to add rasm as a built-in assembler or is has to be launched from outside the emulator? Routine folding for debuggin (when possible) Another good feature would be a windows of the style of winape for a paste-in  for basic listings, tape emulation ...

Keep up the good work!

[roudoudou]

if there is something missing in your opinion to your favorite emulator, do not hesitate to propose a feature, I think we've waited too long

So far it is very promising and catchy to the eyes. I really like the colour loop arrows when debugging and the graphics explorer , but for some reason is stuck at the top of the screen and I can't move it around (maybe is my monitor config?) It would be cool if it could be moved to a second screen for example.
Do you plan to add rasm as a built-in assembler or is has to be launched from outside the emulator? Routine folding for debuggin (when possible) Another good feature would be a windows of the style of winape for a paste-in  for basic listings, tape emulation ...

Keep up the good work!

thanks for the feedback

i got a lot a multi-OS problem with windows positions and also with configuration file on the first emulator launch. it will be fixed in next release (default positions inside the screen )

about rasm i worked also on symbol export (no need to be built-in, then you can use the assembler you want) it will be cool to use

the paste-in listing in on the todolist but for Basic sources, you will be able to import ASCII file in the "ManageDSK" module then it's faster than an autotype!

tape emulation is very deep in the todo list (everything is in floppy, and no one really wants to load tapes so... not yet)

ps: i did not understand what you mean with "routine folding"

[trocoloco]

I didn't express myself clearly. What i meant was if it could be possible possible to fold and unfold loops loops and routines on the debugger

[roudoudou]

I didn't express myself clearly. What i meant was if it could be possible possible to fold and unfold loops loops and routines on the debugger

folding loops is a high level language feature (and above all, an editor feature for structured language)

what do you mean by "loop", i mean specifically ? may i fold every conditionnal jump? + which instruction of the loop to display, how many time to keep the folding? it seems way complex that "folding a loop"

[trocoloco]

what do you mean by "loop", i mean specifically ? may i fold every conditionnal jump? + which instruction of the loop to display, how many time to keep the folding? it seems way complex that "folding a loop"

I was thinking of conditional loops in a routine, but nevermind, complex and not worth for the what it can really be of help