Stella 4.2 released

[Keatah]

I think the Rom Selector screen should make zip archives look like this:

 

..and not like this:

 

..when using zip files which use pathnames like this:

 

There is too much emphasis on the pathname and not enough on the rom filename. With nested directories the rom names are cut off and mostly indiscernible from one another.

 

Also, while the search box works (slowly with this amount of files in a zip archive), just typing "outside" of the search box does not locate a rom. It gets fixated on the directory pathname first - going strictly left-to-right. I mean its working and stuff, but it doesn't snap to nested roms, not unless you quickly type the whole path.

 

The directory tree displayed in stella, when roms are stored in directories on disk (not zipped), of course works correctly and as expected. If we could get rid of stella displaying full pathnames, zip archives would work so much better.

 

What do you think?

[+stephena]

I will address the ZIP file handling/viewing after I fix the joystick mapping issue. I have not ignored the messages, but the currently broken joystick handling is much more important.

[+stephena]

I'm currently working on a fix for the 'joystick resets mapping at startup' bug. But I need beta testers. I can provide Windows and OSX test builds, but I need help with the testing. If you want this fixed soon, then please contact me in this thread or by PM.

[Keatah]

Agree that direct playability and operational features need to be tweaked first.

 

I'm happy to try out any specific scenarios or tests if you need them.

[+stephena]

I think I've fixed the joystick issue. A beta Windows and OSX build is provided below; please test and let me know.

 

Beta1 has been removed.

[+stephena]

OK, second try; I think this fixes the final issue:

 

[Links removed: Download Stella 4.5 directly]

[+stephena]

I haven't gotten any feedback in this thread about joystick functionality, so if anyone is reading this, please test the latest builds and let me know how it works. I've heard from a few people (in PM) that it works, but I want to be 100% sure before I do the next release, which I want to do sometime in the next week or so.

[+stephena]

WRT the ZIP file functionality in the ROM launcher, it currently only allows to go one level deep. So the only way to go one level deep and show all levels is to compress the path and name into one string for further (sub)-directories. The ideal solution is obviously what you suggest, in that it should work just as if the file wasn't zipped, and descend into directories one at a time. I will look into this for the next release.

 

As for the slowness (and general functionality) of the search box, it needs to be improved on many levels. I'd like to add regular expressions to it, have it match on directories too, etc. This may be a bit further out, as I have other things I need to work on before then.

[Nerf Herder73]

I haven't gotten any feedback in this thread about joystick functionality, so if anyone is reading this, please test the latest builds and let me know how it works. I've heard from a few people (in PM) that it works, but I want to be 100% sure before I do the next release, which I want to do sometime in the next week or so.

 

 

The 4.5 beta controls seem to be fine on OS X. I did not notice any time where the controls reset.

[Keatah]

As for the slowness (and general functionality) of the search box, it needs to be improved on many levels. I'd like to add regular expressions to it, have it match on directories too, etc. This may be a bit further out, as I have other things I need to work on before then.

In retrospect, the slowness isn't a big deal. What could be nice is searching across all directories at once! Of course this would need to be a toggle-able between all-directories or present-directory. Perhaps by a special user-definable character or checkbox in the menu options. Brilliant!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Happy New Year to you too, Stephen!

[+stephena]

Stella 4.5 is now released, which addresses some of the issues listed in this thread. Please move all discussion there.

 

Also, all beta release links above have been disabled.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Sorry for posting in the old thread, I just upgraded to 4.2 from 4.0 in OS X. Meant to ask about this earlier... In 4.0 and 4.2 (and maybe more?) every time I start a ROM Stella takes a couple seconds to load and emits a random annoying tone. I'm assuming this has to do with creating a random state upon startup. Is there any way to disable the sound it makes?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Have you tried 4.5?

[Wickeycolumbus]

Have you tried 4.5?

 

Unfortunately my computer will not run it.

 

Edit: it still does this with sound disabled.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Wickeycolumbus

[iesposta]

Version 4.2 and 4.5 both squeal on my iMac also.

Sometimes double-clicking a bin will run it, sometimes it launches the Menu.

[Keatah]

I had a few CTD's on 4.5 (or black screen lockups) when exiting either by "ESC" and then clicking [QUIT], or by doing <ctrl-q>.

[+thegoldenband]

Sorry for posting in the old thread, I just upgraded to 4.2 from 4.0 in OS X. Meant to ask about this earlier... In 4.0 and 4.2 (and maybe more?) every time I start a ROM Stella takes a couple seconds to load and emits a random annoying tone. I'm assuming this has to do with creating a random state upon startup. Is there any way to disable the sound it makes?

 

I'm not seeing the delay, but I am getting the random tone (Stella 4.2, MacBook Pro, Snow Leopard 10.6.. It sounds like it's not clearing the audio buffer from whatever ROM was loaded previously -- the waveform and pitch sound like they're continuing for ~0.5s wherever the last game left off.

[+stephena]

I think I've fixed the sound corruption issue upon app startup; the fix will be included in the 4.6 release, due by the end of the month.

[+stephena]

Stella 4.6 is now released, which (hopefully) fixes the sound corruption issue mentioned above. Please move all discussion to that thread.