diff --git a/common.mk b/common.mk
index 9d322f00..43615a92 100644
--- a/common.mk
+++ b/common.mk
@@ -157,6 +157,28 @@ run-binary-debug: $(output_dir) $(sim_debug)
 
 run-fast: run-asm-tests-fast run-bmark-tests-fast
 
+#########################################################################################
+# helper rules to run simulator with fast loadmem via hex files
+#########################################################################################
+$(binary_hex): $(output_dir) $(BINARY)
+	$(base_dir)/scripts/smartelf2hex.sh $(BINARY) > $(binary_hex)
+
+run-binary-hex: $(output_dir) $(sim) $(binary_hex)
+run-binary-hex: run-binary
+run-binary-hex: override LOADMEM_ADDR = 80000000
+run-binary-hex: override LOADMEM = $(binary_hex)
+run-binary-hex: override SIM_FLAGS += +loadmem=$(LOADMEM) +loadmem_addr=$(LOADMEM_ADDR)
+run-binary-debug-hex: $(output_dir) $(sim) $(binary_hex)
+run-binary-debug-hex: run-binary-debug
+run-binary-debug-hex: override LOADMEM_ADDR = 80000000
+run-binary-debug-hex: override LOADMEM = $(binary_hex)
+run-binary-debug-hex: override SIM_FLAGS += +loadmem=$(LOADMEM) +loadmem_addr=$(LOADMEM_ADDR)
+run-binary-fast-hex: $(output_dir) $(sim) $(binary_hex)
+run-binary-fast-hex: run-binary-fast
+run-binary-fast-hex: override LOADMEM_ADDR = 80000000
+run-binary-fast-hex: override LOADMEM = $(binary_hex)
+run-binary-fast-hex: override SIM_FLAGS += +loadmem=$(LOADMEM) +loadmem_addr=$(LOADMEM_ADDR)
+
 #########################################################################################
 # run assembly/benchmarks rules
 #########################################################################################
diff --git a/docs/Simulation/Software-RTL-Simulation.rst b/docs/Simulation/Software-RTL-Simulation.rst
index 93e4dcc6..28ae223e 100644
--- a/docs/Simulation/Software-RTL-Simulation.rst
+++ b/docs/Simulation/Software-RTL-Simulation.rst
@@ -150,6 +150,12 @@ The ``.hex`` file should be a text file with a hexadecimal number on each line.
 
 Each line uses little-endian order, so this file would produce the bytes "ef be ad de 01 23". ``LOADMEM_ADDR`` specifies which address in memory (in hexadecimal) to write the first byte to. The default is 0x81000000.
 
+A special target that facilitates automatically generating a hex file for an entire elf RISC-V exectuable and then running the simulator with the appropriate flags is also available.
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    make run-binary-hex BINARY=test.riscv
+
 Generating Waveforms
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/generators/utilities/src/main/resources/csrc/emulator.cc b/generators/utilities/src/main/resources/csrc/emulator.cc
index 0a3b46da..27a8aa4a 100644
--- a/generators/utilities/src/main/resources/csrc/emulator.cc
+++ b/generators/utilities/src/main/resources/csrc/emulator.cc
@@ -116,7 +116,6 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
   FILE * vcdfile = NULL;
   uint64_t start = 0;
 #endif
-  char ** htif_argv = NULL;
   int verilog_plusargs_legal = 1;
 
   opterr = 1;
@@ -252,10 +251,6 @@ done_processing:
     usage(argv[0]);
     return 1;
   }
-  int htif_argc = 1 + argc - optind;
-  htif_argv = (char **) malloc((htif_argc) * sizeof (char *));
-  htif_argv[0] = argv[0];
-  for (int i = 1; optind < argc;) htif_argv[i++] = argv[optind++];
 
   if (verbose)
     fprintf(stderr, "using random seed %u\n", random_seed);
@@ -278,8 +273,8 @@ done_processing:
 #endif
 
   jtag = new remote_bitbang_t(rbb_port);
-  dtm = new dtm_t(htif_argc, htif_argv);
-  tsi = new tsi_t(htif_argc, htif_argv);
+  dtm = new dtm_t(argc, argv);
+  tsi = new tsi_t(argc, argv);
 
   signal(SIGTERM, handle_sigterm);
 
@@ -364,6 +359,5 @@ done_processing:
   if (tsi) delete tsi;
   if (jtag) delete jtag;
   if (tile) delete tile;
-  if (htif_argv) free(htif_argv);
   return ret;
 }
diff --git a/scripts/smartelf2hex.sh b/scripts/smartelf2hex.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..782977ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/smartelf2hex.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# This script find the appropriate arguments to pass to elf2hex by inspecting the given RISC-V elf binary
+# First and only argument is the binary to be converted.
+# The output of this script should be redirected to a file (as with normal elf2hex).
+
+binary=$1
+segments=`readelf --segments --wide $binary`
+entry_hex=`echo -e "$segments" | grep "Entry point" | cut -f3 -d' ' | sed 's/0x//' | tr [:lower:] [:upper:]`
+entry_dec=`bc <<< "ibase=16;$entry_hex"`
+length_hex=`echo "$segments" | grep LOAD | tail -n 1 | tr -s [:space:] | cut -f4,6 -d' '`
+length_dec=`echo $length_hex | tr -d x | tr [:lower:] [:upper:] | tr ' ' + | sed 's/^/ibase=16;/' | sed "s/$/-$entry_hex/" | bc`
+power_2_length=`echo "x=l($length_dec)/l(2); scale=0; 2^((x+1)/1)" | bc -l`
+elf2hex 64 $power_2_length $binary $entry_dec
diff --git a/toolchains/esp-tools/riscv-isa-sim b/toolchains/esp-tools/riscv-isa-sim
index 13384cac..a1ff6b03 160000
--- a/toolchains/esp-tools/riscv-isa-sim
+++ b/toolchains/esp-tools/riscv-isa-sim
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 13384cac1e54828200067ff890f564a505a4ebb3
+Subproject commit a1ff6b03f7f630a06327798238256973568e3837
diff --git a/variables.mk b/variables.mk
index 61602507..d7eccb49 100644
--- a/variables.mk
+++ b/variables.mk
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ override SIM_FLAGS += +loadmem=$(LOADMEM) +loadmem_addr=$(LOADMEM_ADDR)
 endif
 VERBOSE_FLAGS ?= +verbose
 sim_out_name = $(output_dir)/$(subst $() $(),_,$(notdir $(basename $(BINARY))))
+binary_hex= $(sim_out_name).loadmem_hex
 
 #########################################################################################
 # build output directory for compilation