J2Vita 0.9.2

A much faster Java engine, a new game list with folders and a lot of small things that make it nicer to use.

Install j2vita.vpk over 0.9.1 with VitaShell. Your games, saves and settings stay.

Faster

• Java now runs on phoneME's own ARM interpreter, built ahead of time (no JIT). Games run about 1.8x faster than in 0.9.1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 goes from 15 to 25 FPS with enemies on screen.
• Gameloft games draw their sprites a lot faster. Modern Combat 4 went from 9 to 16 FPS, which is the frame rate the game itself is made for.
• J2Vita starts much faster: with 264 games the list and all its icons are ready about 3 seconds after launch, it used to take over a minute.
• The game folder is no longer scanned while you play.

Game list

• New tile grid with smooth scrolling. You can drag it with your finger too.
• The title bar says J2Vita.
• Folders: create, rename and delete them from Options (Triangle) and move games between them. Subfolders inside games/ are read as well.
• Moving .jar files around (from J2Vita, VitaShell or FTP) keeps each game's saves and only takes a moment, even for hundreds of games.
• Games copied while J2Vita is open show up on their own. Files that are still being copied wait until they are complete.
• .zip files with JARs inside are unpacked for you.
• Icons are cached, so scrolling through big folders stays smooth.
• A game whose .jar was removed is hidden, and its saves come back if the .jar does.

In game

• Resolution is Auto by default: J2Vita watches the size a game draws at and switches to it, so games made for bigger screens (480x800, 352x416 and others) are no longer cut off. Portrait games taller than the Vita screen are turned on their side by themselves. You can still pick a fixed size.
• The options menu is grouped in submenus (Display, Controls, On-screen keypad) and lets the game show through.
• Adjust screen: drag, pinch and twist to move, zoom and rotate the picture, the on-screen keypad and the button HUD.
• Button HUD: a slim bar that shows which phone key each Vita button sends, rear touchpad included (and the screen borders in Buttons mode).
• On-screen keypad: size and opacity settings, and an Always mode for playing with touch.
• The two halves of the rear touchpad are extra buttons, on by default (1 and 3 unless the game needs other keys). Set them to None in Controls to turn them off.
• Touch screen in Buttons mode turns the screen borders around the picture into two more buttons.
• Auto-detect keys: on the first start J2Vita looks at the game's code and sets up the soft keys, 2/4/6/8 and the four extra buttons (Square, Triangle and both rear touchpad halves) with the keys the game uses most.
• Cross sends Fire by default.
• New performance overlay in the theme colors. It shows the frame rate the game is limited to (for example 14/16 FPS) and whether the game itself or the CPU is what holds it back.
• The button HUD and the performance overlay follow the theme.
• New LiveArea startup image.

Fixed

• Black screen forever at startup on some consoles, since 0.9.1.
• Some Nokia E61/E71 builds started at 240x320 instead of 320x240.
• Updating or moving a game kept in a folder with spaces in its name failed.
• Starting a game whose .jar had just been deleted showed an error and left a broken entry.
• A file handle leaked on every install.
• The game list no longer jumps around when it refreshes in the background.
• Going back from the MIDlet list of a game with several MIDlets opened the old PSPKVM screen.

Known issues

• TimeRider II music sounds different from Android emulators.
• No networking or Bluetooth yet.

The source for this build is the v0.9.2 tag (GPL v2).

J2Vita 0.9.1

3D games, faster 2D games and a bunch of fixes.

Install j2vita.vpk over 0.9.0 with VitaShell. Your games, saves and settings stay.

New

• 3D support: MascotCapsule Micro3D v3 and M3G (JSR-184). Resident Evil: The Missions and Resident Evil: Degeneration are playable.
• Games are picked up on their own. Drop a .jar into ux0:data/j2vita/games/ and it shows up in the list. Overwrite it to update the game.
• Type names and text with the Vita keyboard: hold SELECT for the keypad and pick Text.
• AMR sound effects now play.
• New 480x320 and 320x480 screen sizes.

Faster

• Java code runs about 1.7x faster. Busy games like Spider-Man: Ultimate Power hold their frame rate much better.

Fixed

• Heroic Epic and Heroic Epic 2 start and play.
• Rollercoaster Revolution gets past the loading bar.
• Games that ask for motion sensors no longer stop.
• Float math (Float.intBitsToFloat, Math.sin and friends) returned garbage.
• Characters in MascotCapsule games slid around instead of walking.

Known issues

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 still slows down with a lot of enemies on screen.
• TimeRider II music sounds different from Android emulators.
• No networking or Bluetooth yet.

The source for this build is the v0.9.1 tag (GPL v2).

J2Vita 0.9.0

First public release.

Install j2vita.vpk with VitaShell, copy your .jar games to ux0:data/j2vita/games/ and press Square in J2Vita to install them. No games are included.

• Game list and menus in a classic phone style, with four themes (White by default)
• Per-game screen, filter, rotation, resolution and control settings, plus global defaults
• On-screen keypad (hold SELECT) for cheat codes
• Performance overlay to check whether a game runs at full speed

The source for this build is the v0.9.0 tag (GPL v2).