GarageResearch

Hello, All! ColEm 4.6, a new version of my ColecoVision emulator, is now released for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem -- free version https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem.deluxe -- full version http://garageresearch.aptoide.com/ -- on Aptoide http://android.oms.apps.opera.com/en_us/catalog.php?vendor_id=199556 -- in Opera Store This release is based on the latest ColEm for Windows and Linux, published a week ago. The replay can now be paused at any time by pressing UP button. Then you can single-step through replay with LEFT and RIGHT buttons. Once satisfied, resume replay by pressing UP again, or return to normal gameplay by pressing any other button. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * ColEm Deluxe is currently on $1.99 sale at Google Play. * Released free ColEm 4.6 for Windows and Linux. * Added ability to browse through paused replay. * During replay, press UP button to pause or resume. * When replay paused, press LEFT and RIGHT to browse. * Press any other button to continue playing. * Made replay save states approximately every 170ms. Have fun!

ColEm Deluxe is once again on $1.99 sale: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem.deluxe The "deluxe" version lets you make multiple saves, adds advanced settings menu, and other things.

Hello, All! I have just released ColEm 4.6 for Windows and Linux, as well as portable source code for those who would like to port ColEm to other platforms: http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/-- homepage http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm46-Windows-bin.zip -- free Windows version http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm46-Ubuntu-x86-bin.tgz -- free Linux version http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm46-Source.zip -- portable source code The new release lets you pause replay at any time with the UP key and single-step through it with LEFT and RIGHT keys. Resume replay by pressing UP again, or go back to gameplay with any other key. If you do not know how to start the replay, press F8 and see what happens. Recent ColEm releases also added support for 2kB SRAM found in the Lord Of The Dungeon game, Super Game Module (SGM) emulation, 24c08 and 24c256 EEPROM emulation, and other modern features important to the homebrew community. See below for all the changes: ALL CHANGES: * Made replay save states approximately every 170ms. * Added ability to browse through paused replay. * During replay, press UP to pause or resume. * When replay paused, press LEFT and RIGHT to browse. * Press any other button to continue playing. * Now cancelling replay if any key or button is pressed. * Made WaitJoystick() exit when window closed. Have fun!

Hello, All! iNES 5.3, a new version of my free NES and Famicom emulator for Windows and Linux, is now available: http://fms.komkon.org/iNES/-- homepage http://fms.komkon.org/iNES/iNES53-Windows-bin.zip-- free Windows version http://fms.komkon.org/iNES/iNES53-Linux-x86-bin.tgz-- free Linux version This new version lets you pause replay at any time by pressing UP button, then browse through your own gameplay with LEFT and RIGHT buttons. Once satisfied, press UP again to resume replay, or any other button to keep playing from the chosen spot. If you do not know what the replay feature is, simply press F8 during gameplay and see. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * Made replay save states approximately every 170ms. * Added ability to browse through paused replay. * During replay, the UP button to pause. * Press LEFT and RIGHT to browse through paused replay. * Press UP to resume replay, any other key to continue. * Made WaitJoystick() exit when window closed. Enjoy!

Hello, All! iNES 5.2.2, a new version of my NES and Famicom emulator for Android, is now online and ready for you to try: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.ines This version further improves the "replay" feature. At any time during replay, you can press LEFT and RIGHT buttons to browse back and forth through your past gameplay. Press the UP button to resume replay, or any other button to continue gameplay. To make this functionality happen, I now save gameplay every 170ms or so, with the total replay time of about 10 seconds. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * Made replay save states approximately every 170ms. * Added ability to browse through paused replay. * During replay, press LEFT and RIGHT keys to browse. * Press UP to resume replay, any other key to continue. * Press any other button to continue playing. * Made WaitJoystick() exit when window closed. Have fun!

Hello, All! I have just published ColEm 4.5 for Android, based on the latest ColEm source code: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem -- free version https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem.deluxe -- full version http://garageresearch.aptoide.com/ -- on Aptoide http://android.oms.apps.opera.com/en_us/catalog.php?vendor_id=199556 -- in Opera Store The new release adds support for 2kB battery-backed SRAM, so that Lord Of The Dungeon game works. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * Released free ColEm 4.5 for Windows and Linux. * Added battery-backed SRAM emulation (Lord Of The Dungeon works). * Fixed saved state compatibility between 32bit and 64bit systems. Have fun!

Hello, All! ColEm 4.5, a new version of my portable ColecoVision emulator, is now available for Windows and Linux, as well as in source code form: http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/-- homepage http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm45-Windows-bin.zip-- free Windows version http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm45-Ubuntu-x86-bin.tgz-- free Linux version http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm45-Source.zip-- portable source code This version adds support for 2kB SRAM chip found in the Lord Of The Dungeon cartridge. I have also fixed saved state compatibility between 32bit and 64bit systems. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * Added battery-backed SRAM emulation (Lord Of The Dungeon works). * Added "Hardware | 2kB SRAM" menu option to ColEm-Windows. * Removed -noeeprom command line option, as useless. * Added -sram command line option. * Fixed saved state compatibility between 32bit and 64bit systems. Have fun!

ColEm Deluxe is currently on sale for $1.99: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem.deluxe If you wanted the full version, but did not like the price, now is your chance.

Hello, All! I have just released iNES 5.2.1 for Android, a new version of my Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Famicom emulator: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.ines For this release, I've rebuilt the app with the stricter compiler warnings and fixed issues reported by the compiler. Several ROM mappers, including MMC5 and multicart mappers, have been fixed. I have also fixed applying trainers embedded in .NES files. State files have grown a bit, but the new app will still accept older, shorter states. Finally, ShieldTV users will find that the first player always gets stock gamepad now. Both players can open in-game menus and quit the app. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * Recompiled sources with "-Wall" and fixed warnings. * Fixed applying trainer code embedded in .NES files. * Fixed mapper #5 (MMC5 used in Castlevania 3, etc). * Fixed mapper #37 (Super Mario Bros. + Tetris + Nintendo World Cup). * Fixed mapper #47 (Super Spike V'Ball + Nintendo World Cup). * Fixed saved state size on 64bit systems. * Made sure first player always gets stock gamepad on Nvidia ShieldTV. * Either player can open menu or exit emulation now. * State file size may have grown a bit, still compatible with older files. * Deprecated -DNEW_STATES option. Have fun!

So, Ikrananka's 24kB image and the older 32kB image match exactly, except for the last 8kB. I have added CRCs for both of them to ColEm. The other two images, provided by Bruce Tomlin, appear to be modified to run on BlueMSX or some such. I am not adding CRCs for them, since they are not the original ROM. If anyone has any objections to this approach, feel free to voice them here.

I have only added CRC for one version of the ROM right now (write to E000h..E7FFh, read from E800h..EFFFh). Going to add CRCs for other ROMs.

Found the information on that SRAM, added it to ColEm. Should (hopefully) work in the next release.

Got it to work at the end =)

Looks like Lord Of The Dungeon maps that SRAM to E000h but simply making that region writable does not fix it. If anyone has information on how SRAM works, feel free to post it here: this will save me some time.

CVAddict lists this prototype game as the first to have battery-backed save RAM. That is the most likely reason it does not work, since this is the first time I hear about battery-backed RAM in original ColecoVision cartridges. Going to take a look.

Well, as usual, in order to emulate this I need some information on the hardware, or at least one ROM file using it.

Hello, All! ColEm 4.4 for Android is now online, adding the same changes as the Windows/Linux version, released this week, and more: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem -- free version https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.colem.deluxe -- full version http://garageresearch.aptoide.com/ -- on Aptoide http://android.oms.apps.opera.com/en_us/catalog.php?vendor_id=199556 -- in Opera Store The new ColEm will recognize and run more MegaCarts, such as Buckrogers, Subroc, Zaxxon, and Dragon's Lair. I have also added EEPROM emulation, so both Black Onyx and Boxxle should work. For AndroidTV users with multiple input devices, I made sure that the first player always gets the stock gamepad, and both players can exit app and open in-app menus. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * Released free ColEm 4.4 for Windows and Linux. * Now accepting both AA55h and 55AAh MegaCarts. * SGM games Buckrogers, Subroc, Zaxxon, Dragon's Lair work. * Added ROM page switch specific for carts with EEPROM. * Added 24c08 EEPROM support (Black Onyx saves now). * Added 24c256 EEPROM support (Boxxle works). * Fixed restoring background screen color from .STA files. * Now saving EEPROM state into .SAV files. * Now saving SGM state into .STA files. * Made sure first player always gets stock gamepad on Nvidia ShieldTV. * Either player can open menu or exit emulation now. * Compiled ColEm with -Wall and eliminated warnings. * Replaced -DNO_WAVE_INTERPOLATION with -DWAVE_INTERPOLATION, off by default. * Removed old LoadSTA() and SaveSTA() code. * Finally deprecated -DNEW_STATES. Have fun!

ColEm 4.4, released today, includes emulation for both known EEPROM types.

No, it is not a virus.

Hello, All! I've published ColEm 4.4, the ColecoVision emulator for Windows and Linux, as well as the source code for porting ColEm to other platforms: http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/-- homepage http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm44-Windows-bin.zip-- free Windows version http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm44-Ubuntu-x86-bin.tgz -- free Linux version http://fms.komkon.org/ColEm/ColEm44-Source.zip -- sources This release adds support for more modern MegaCart cartridges, such as Buckrogers, Subroc, Zaxxon, and Dragon's Lair. The SGM emulation state is now saved to .STA files. I have also added support for 24c08 and 24c256 EEPROM chips, so both Black Onyx and Boxxle fully work now, saving EEPROM contents to .SAV files. ColEm will determine the need for EEPROM automatically, by ROM's CRC, or you can force EEPROM emulation with -24c08 and -24c256 options in Linux. The Windows version offers menu items for switching EEPROM type, as well as links to AtariAge ColecoVision forum, Coleco software publishers, and other sites. Finally, I have fixed a bug restoring background screen color from .STA files. See below for all the changes. ALL CHANGES: * Added ROM page switch specific for carts with EEPROM. * Added 24c08 EEPROM support (Black Onyx saves now). * Added 24c256 EEPROM support (Boxxle works). * Now saving EEPROM state into .SAV files. * Now saving SGM state into .STA files. * Now accepting both AA55h and 55AAh MegaCarts. * SGM games Buckrogers, Subroc, Zaxxon, Dragon's Lair work. * Fixed restoring background screen color from .STA files. * Added EEPROM menu selections to ColEm-Windows. * Added links to CV Addict and AtariAge forums to ColEm-Windows. * Added -24c08, -24c256, and -noeeprom command line options. * Compiled ColEm-Unix with -Wall and eliminated warnings. * Replaced -DNO_WAVE_INTERPOLATION with -DWAVE_INTERPOLATION, off by default. * Removed old LoadSTA() and SaveSTA() code. * Finally deprecated -DNEW_STATES. Have fun! PS: I will use this thread to post ColEm release news and answer questions about ColEm. If you have a question or suggestion, please, feel free to ask it here.

No, TV cannot magically erase SD cards. There is a lot of hardware between TV and EEPROM cells in the card. A supposed electric surge can't magically traverse all that hardware and reprogram a cell without burning something else on the way. So, I would blame it on powering system down while it was writing to the card, OR faulty card, OR power voltage fluctuations affecting a write operation.

iNES for Android is currently on $2.99 sale, for whoever is interested: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fms.ines Will most likely stay this way for the next few days.

Since I am currently detecting EEPROM-equipped games by CRC, you may either want to send the final upcoming ROMs to me for addition (no, they do not go further) or come up with some way to detect these ROMs in organized manner. For example, MegaCarts (0xFFCx ROM switch) can be detected by the cartridge signature (0xAA 0x55 or 0x55 0xAA) present in the last 16kB ROM page. Something similar should work for EEPROM-equipped games.

Ah, I have found what it is. EEPROM-based games use an alternative ROM page switch. They are not MegaCarts (0xFFC0+page#) and not SGM multipage ROMs (page# written to 0xFFFF). EEPROM games use 0xFF80/0xFF90/0xFFA0/0xFFB0 to switch 4x16kB pages. Fixed. Works.

A screenshot of the manual, found in the game review, says it is "551177". Tried that, it reset EEPROM, but still no playable levels. I am clealry doing something very wrong =)