New Releases Thread, Updates and notes on emus and skins...

[Shannon]

Well I finally got around to adding the newer and better pallette into A7800x, although I've still yet to compile it..

 

+ YAP (Yet Another Palette) to add. This one is supposedly even more accurate.

[Shannon]

Well..... Add Snes9Xbox to the ever growing list of emu's I've converted over to the new interface (Madmab Edition'ed!).

 

To do for Snes9Xbox

* Software filters should work now (I think I got it right). But to be hones I don't know crap about how these things work.

 

* Fully updated to new Dual Preview, Streaming Media, Movie Previews interface!

* Background Music now stops when you start a game..

* Default skin name is "Dynamic SNES9XBOX pm3 by Gilou9999"

+ PAL compatibility.. (if it exists)

+ Anything else I happen to think of...

[Shannon]

Some changes to Mednafen (mostly PCE)

 

To do for Mednafen

+ Fixed an issue where the screen was not displaying correctly in Mednafen_PCE when in debug mode.

+ Apparently mp3CDDA and CDDA volume were sharing the volume variable for Mp3music. Created seperate volume variables for each. Mp3CDDA and CDDA volume are saved with each game so you can customize this for CD games.

 

These volume control changes will pretty much affect other emulators that use them as I recompile them under the new code (aka NeoGenesis, etc).

[Shannon]

Big addition to the Atarixlbox. Well, at least as far as I'm concerned... Check it out!!

 

Currently don't have any "Pro" images to test yet.

 

To do for Atarixlbox

- Add VAPI support (yeah right!)

+ VAPI & PRO image support. Super special thanks to Atarimac (author of Atari800MacX) for reverse engineering this puppy! So it turns out there is a use for the Mac!! . Be sure to set "Patch SIO routine in OS" to "No". Oh and fast forward is your friend.

 

Current possible exceptions...

 

Spy vs Spy - stops at orange screen

 

Unsure about...

 

Alternate Reality: The City <- do you get poisoned at the beginning if the copycheck fails?

Attack at EP CYG 4 - Ship doesn't seem to fire

Jenny of the prairie - stops at title screen

Promoteur - Error 144 at line 250

 

Currently do not work (according to Atarimac and confirmed by me).

 

Ankh

Ballblazer Activision (UK)

Mercenary - Escape from Targ _ Novagen Software

Mr. Do!

Music Studio (The)

Rescue on Fractalus! _ Activision (UK)

Targets - A Number Game

Edited July 26, 2009 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Added the following updates as well as fixes to MednafenX beta preview which was released to the usual places last week btw...

 

General To Do

 

- Improve how the cheatcode database allocates RAM

 

To do for Atarixlbox

 

+ Limit mouse speed in computer options to 1-9

 

To do for Mednafen

 

+ Fixed issue where games that had more than 48 CRCs in the cheat code database would cause a crash when game is selected while searching for cheat codes.

 

+ Fixed issue with the "Music Control Menu" where the "Go to next/previous song" options were not working.

 

+ Fixed issue where cycling thru screenshots when non-available would create an infinite loop.

+ Fixed issue where "View playlist" did not show the first two songs.

 

+ Fixed issue where "pause" would still display even after changing songs while viewing the playlist in "clear screen" mode.

 

To do for OdysseyX

Looks like x-port (or someone) was working on updating Odyssey to the latest core code (1.18). I'm not sure how "complete" this conversion was. But this much I do know..

 

+ Updated to latest code (dual previews, synopsis viewing, etc)

+ load and save state work now. They did not in the previous "official" release.

+ Rewind is active as well.

 

- Record/Playback doesn't really work. The savestate is not saving whatever is responsible for generating random numbers.

 

+ The "official" release never did work with .zip files. I fixed that.

+ I don't think it ever had an "onscreen keyboard", now it does.

 

+ Game volume is now saved with each game. That way the user can better balance the sound in games that use the voice module.

 

 

Here is a list of the "changes" in the core. Maybe it can be verified if these "fixes" actually work. I'm not super familar with the O2. Although I did have one back in the day. Big KC munchkin fan here..

- quad display fix: changed the way quad chars are drawn, fixes problems in KTAA as well as score display in Black Hole and Red Baron (Soeren Gust)

 

- support for Soerens MegaCART bank switching (No clue what games use this)

 

- removed the limit that KTAA was the only 3K enabled rom (every rom divideable by 3K is allowed now)

 

- new feature to save the highscore in games (F6 to set in game)

(Seems like this would be a cool feature to enable)

 

- fixed the "double size sprites are shifted only 1 instead of 2 pixels" bug (no clue what games this fixes)

 

- ATLANTIS, FROGGER, COMANDO NOTURNO and CATCH THE BALL now work without graphic bugs. This correction is based on a specific patch for each game.

 

- Fixed a slowdown in Pick Axe Pete

 

- Different palette used for Videpac Plus games

 

- Added support for 12kb and 16kb games. Trans American Rally+ works now.

 

- Added fixes to the VP+ gfx emulation made by Soeren Gust. Flashpoint works properly now.

 

- Fixed a bug in the emulation of the DAA instruction, which caused bugs in the score of several games (Le Tresor Englouti, Cosmic Conflict, etc.).

 

- Fixed instruction timings (no clue what games this affects)

 

To do for Winuaex

+ If the file selected is (or contains) a file with the extension .whd the emulator will mount that file to DH1: and set DH0: to point to D:\\_whdload.hdf. So two things... make sure your WHD files have a .whd extension. Make sure the _whdload.hdf file is in the emulator directory (unzipped).

(watch Killer Gorilla's website for some Winuaex WHD goodies).

+ Modified the "Clip Excess Video Borders" code

+ Converted winuaex over to the latest dual skin/movie preview stuff, although mp3 music is still currently disabled.

+ Set JIT to always default to 0. For now I'm still letting people manually change it if they wish. For those AmigaSys fans out there.

+ Tweaked the autoborder option. So far in the several games I tested it seems to do better than the original way. Although it isn't always 100% right.

+ Changed the code so that drive DF0: would ALWAYS be enabled. I figured no biggy cause for the most part it makes sense to always have DF0: enabled anyways. This fixes the DF0:??? error.

[Shannon]

Made some changes to the interface portion of the code due to issues I discovered while working with Winuaex..

 

Interface Changes

*Had to redo all the ZIP code because of conflicts with Winuaex. This mostly affected Winuaex but also had the potential to interfere with any emulators that had "NO_EXTRA_ZIP" set.

 

Fixes to the keyboard/keypad including. These affect emu's that use a keyboard/keypad (Winuaex, AdamX, Atarixlbox)

* Keyboard/keypad no longer corrupts portions of the screen when being moved.

* Keyboard/keypad can be moved diagonally in ALL directions now

* Keyboard/keypad transparency now works properly when "Pause game while using Keyboard/Pad" is set to ON.

Edited August 12, 2009 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Added the following changes to Atarixlbox. Gonna probably try and recruit a few testers for this one...

 

To do for Atarixlbox

 

For all you palette freaks added the following option.

 

* User can pick a custom palette to load if they wish.

* User can tweak the palette settings including hue, saturation, contrast, brightness, sharpness, saturation_ramp.

* NTSC filter activated!! True artifact mode. Check it out! (AE, Drol, Lode Runner [disk], etc)

* All settings saved with each game of course!

Edited August 12, 2009 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Forgot to add this to the "To do for Atarixlbox" it's still technically a WIP but I don't think I'm gonna be able to tweak it any more than it already is.

 

* Modified rewind state saving so it is a little more "useable" on non 5200 games. This prevents rewind from working on games that use the RAM under the OS or Basic but I figured it was a small price to pay. Besides most games that do that run in 130XE mode and that is just a killer on rewind functionlity!

Edited August 12, 2009 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Well. Here it is. What started out as a few scribbled notes turned into three YouTube videos showing both old, and new features of the next release of Atarixlbox... Whenever that may be... I kinda threw them together quickly (didn't want to waste too much time that could be used goofing off, uh err I mean programming). So no complaints about the poor sound/video editing.

 

Check 'em out!!

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Be prepared to waste 28 minutes of your life.

[Shannon]

Just a minor belated update due to my attention being in other directions like Guitar Hero 5, Rock Band Beatles, Metroid: Prime with wii play control, and a quick rerun through Gears of Wars in insane mode to pick up all the cog tags... But here it is...

 

General To Do

 

- Improve how the cheatcode database allocates RAM

- Ability to view synopsis from within game.

- Assign buttons to go to next/previous files? (like when viewing documentation)

- Once the user opens a document - make the emulator remember this document as long as the game session is running.

- Left/right triggers to scroll up-n-down?

 

- Create some file to keep track of last settings for each file viewed. Either a seperate one for each file or some type of .ini file in each directory. Seperate file would be easier, but .ini file may be more "readable".

 

Interface Changes

* TXT file viewer should dump you into the media directory correctly.

* Unmapped controls that allow you to move the screen around since word wrap should work correctly now.

* Change Fixed Width font controls are mapped to the right analog stick (left/right) like the help screen says it should be. laugh.gif

* Set font size keeps seperate settings for Fixed Width fonts and proportional fonts since they produce different results.

* Fixed neverending loop caused by reading old... Uh I mean cheat databases where there are too many CRC's on a line.

* Hopefully addressed weird issues with "Force Reload D:\\*.ini Settings".

 

* Music no longer starts playing after viewing text file in game.

* Number of lines displayed in the text file viewer now properly match user set text screen size.

* Number of lines displayed updates properly if user modifies text screen size within text file viewer

* Text file viewer functions turn off FixedWidth before displaying any menu.

 

+ Fixed issue with the "Music Control Menu" where the "Go to next/previous song" options were not working.

+ Fixed issue where cycling thru screenshots when non-available would create an infinite loop.

+ Fixed issue where "View playlist" did not show the first two songs.

+ Fixed issue where "pause" would still display even after changing songs while viewing the playlist in "clear screen" mode.

[Shannon]

Updated with the latest "Interface changes". The "Media browser" is pretty much complete..

 

Interface Changes

* Ability to display documentation (text or graphic) and commercials.

* Assign buttons to go to next/previous files? (like when viewing documentation) See below graphic/text file viewer controls.

* Once the user opens a document - make the emulator remember this document as long as the game session is running.

* View settings for each file/document viewed are now stored in a "bookmark" file so next time you view a file your settings are restored.

* "View Text File" changed to "Browse Manuals/Videos"

 

* In screenshot viewer. If the image is smaller than your text file screensize settings it will work as follows.

 

a) If the image is taller than it is wide it will continue expanding the image ( based on aspect ratio) until the width fits within the width of your text file screensize width. (Most normal manuals)

 

b) If the image is wider than it is tall it will continue expanding the image ( based on aspect ratio) until the height fits within the height of your text file screensize height. (For example NES manuals).

 

This seems to effectively stretch the image in the best manner possible for scanned manual reading.

 

 

Controls for text browser

 

A -> Start Search

B -> Exit

X -> Continue Last Search

Y -> Simulate width font

 

White -> Previous file

Black -> Next file

 

Start -> Help screen

 

Dpad -> Up/down, Left-> Up Page, Right-> Down Page

Left Analog button -> Set font size

Left Analog Up -> Top of file

Left Analog Down -> End of file

Right Analog button -> Set text screen size

Right Analog left/right -> decrease/increase fixed-width font size

 

Left/Right triggers - Move up/down text file.

 

 

Controls for screenshot browser

 

B -> Exit

Y -> Delete file (Utilities-> browse screenshots only)

 

White -> Previous file

Black -> Next file

 

Back -> Reset image to default settings/view.

 

Dpad -> Up/Down/Left/Right -> Move image 1/4th the total size of the image.

Left Analog button -> Music Control Menu

Left Analog up/down -> Move screen up/down.

Right Analog left/right -> decrease/increase screen size.

 

* Skin can now have a "Startup Movie" on loading menu. Please use with discretion (no long movies)

* "Startup Movie" can be displayed full screen or in a window. If fullscreen is used the loading menu will not be displayed.

* Transparency for "Startup Movie" can be set as well.

* Moved the network initialization code to run before the loading menu. This moves the delay caused by network init to before the display of the loading menu, not after.

 

* Skin author can now designate two locations where Boxart or Cartart will display based on width vs height.

 

* Files when selecting within a zip are sorted.[/color]

 

General To Do

- Add a seperate timer for alternating Box/Cart art.

 

- "Auto Game Configurations (aka Configuration defaults)

 

In the "General settings" menu there will be a new option.

 

"Automatically Use Default Game Configuration - Yes/No"

 

If the user sets it to "Yes" it will bring up the game configuration screen and let the user define the default (if no default.stg and default.key file exists).

 

In the "Configuration" menu there will be a new option... "Set default game configuration"

 

The user can go in anytime thru the "Configuration" menu to change these "defaults" to something else if they wish.

 

Once set to "Automatically use Default Game Configuration" the user will not see the game configuration screen again unless they... a) press X when selecting a game. Change "Use Default Game Configuration" back to "No".

 

Keep in mind when it is set to "Yes" the game will use your "Default game settings" and not the normal x-port behavior. If set to "No" the emulator will behave like it usually does. Each emu is typically different. But all, at the very least carry the controller settings over.

 

This feature will only be added to emulators in which it is feasible to use.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Been rather busy as of late. Code, coding, and coding. Lotsa stuff coming up for Amiga and Intellivision fans. Waal created a bunch of configs for a ton of Amiga games and "Carnage by Bob" created practically a full RessXtra set for BlissX!!

 

I'm just dumping this here for now. I'll update the main message and clean this up later.

 

+ Add a seperate timer for alternating Box/Cart art. - Done.

+ "Auto Game Configurations (aka Configuration defaults) - Done.

+ Ability to view synopsis from within game. - Done.

 

To do for Atarixlbox

+ Add some type of pallette selection option - Done.

 

To do for A7800x

+ YAP (Yet Another Palette) to add. This one is supposedly even more accurate. Done

 

To do for BlissX (big thanks to "Carnage By Bob" for putting together a RessurectionXtra set, as well as configs for the games)

Anyone who is familar with the Intellivision controllers can appreciate how much work that is.

 

+ Given the full "Madmab Edition" treatment.

+ The INTVT Controller 1 disc was hard coded to the left analog stick. I removed this. They can be mapped thru the controller settings screen.

+ Added ability to map controller one to controller two's buttons (and vice versa). Since the INTV doesn't like keypad and discs presses at the same time. This allows for dual stick action in games like "Nightstalker" and "Discs Of Tron".

+ ECS keyboard can be mapped to the controller now, thus making ECS games playable (Mind Strike). True keyboard and onscreen keyboard support pending.

+ Added overlay support! Also created a new overlay system. The file "overlay.ini" contains configuration information for each overlay, including the color of the transparent button. Default + game overlays provided by "Carnage By Bob", thank you!

+ Overlay can be accessed by both controllers. So that player two can use it as well (useful for games like "Body Slam - Super Pro Wrestling").

+ Fixed issue with screen blurring when overlay (keypad) is activated. This is apparently an issue with the onscreen keyboard as well. I'm surprised I did not notice this earlier.

+ Added the following homebrew games to the Bliss internal database. The following games are now playable. Astrosmash competition, King Of The Mountain (fixed), League Of Light (proto), Lock 'n' Chase (fixed), Robot Rubble (how do you start this?), Same game & Robot, Space Patrol (Teaser), Stonix, Super Masters, Tag-Along Todd

 

To do for MednafenX_NES

+ Add some type of pallette selection option - Done.

 

General ToDo

+ Hoperfully cleaned up all instances where the current "game select" directory would get trashed.

+ Transparency control for keypad and keyboard should now function properly

+ Tightened up the Synopsis parsing code (sorry RessX )

+ Added a seperate "Volume Control Menu". It can be accessed by pressing "Y" in the "In Game Options" menu, or from the "Game Configuration" menu. It lets the user set the volume for in game sound, mp3_cdda, cdda, movie and mp3 music player from 0-100.

 

- Fix screen blurring issue with onscreen keyboard.

 

Auto Config added for... NeoGenesis, WinstonX, BlissX

 

To do for Winuaex (big thanks to "Waal")

----------------------------------------------

+ Auto config database added for around 2068 Amiga disk based games. Say "Thank You Waal"..

+ Auto config DB entries added for (target 958) Amiga whd based games. Say "Thank you again Waal"..

+ Preset controller settings added. Currently there are 4. "Standard Joystick", "Standard Mouse", "Pinball", "Keyboard". Say "We are not worthy Waal!!"

+ Preset controller settings can be saved under any name so you can share your game specific settings with other uses.

+ Preset controller settings can be "tied" to a game so that if you change the master "ini" file all games "tied" to it will use it. Or you can just individually set them for a game.

+ "in game" menu options "Insert Disk for Drives 1-4, and Swap Disks" are in one menu. The "create HD/SD/HDF image options" are in a seperate menu as well. To help reduce clutter.

+ Fixed an issue where if the configuration had drives loaded with an .adf file "across the network" the would not remount properly.

 

+ Text file viewer now uses a fixed font. Just make sure the file "MonoSpatial.ttf" is in the emulators directory.

+ Skin authors please not. Configuration files (except for settings.ini) are now stored in the "configurations" directory within the skin directory.

+ When mapping buttons to the emu you can now press "Start" to set a mapping to "Nothing".

 

 

----------------------------------------------------

Emu's Converted to Madmab Edition

 

AdamX

ArnoldX

Atarixlbox

A7800x

BlissX

BlueMSXbox

ChipX

KegsX

Mednafen_Nes

Mednafen_Lynx

Mednafen_TG16

MekaX

NeoGenesis

NeoPopX

OdysseyX

PCSXbox

SoftVMUX

SuperVisionX?

Vice64

VirtualBoyX?

WinstonX

Winuaex (no mp3 music)

Wonderswan

XboyAdvance

Z26

Zsnes9Xbox

 

Classic99X

DidntXSpectrum

DOSXBox

KegsX

PokemonMiniX

Vice20x

VicePETx

X68000x

Edited February 16, 2010 by Shannon

[gilou9999]

fantastic shanon (madmab)

we finally reach the goal of having a true retro gaming museum (like "sega genesis ultimate collection" for ps3/360 but it has only 40 games, when we have all the games for all the systems, synopsis, boxarts, videos, game adds , manuals, etc...)!!

we are completing the intro video with my girl now, using the after effect "cc cylinder"

you can view the effect here:

 

http://tutoriaux.mattrunks.com/tutoriaux/cylindres-3d-avec-vos-videos-et-photos-sous-after-effects

 

the intro video will be usefull for the "memory eaters emus" like winuaeX, winstonX, neogenesis, X68000X, and dosxbox i think;

and i noticed you can replace the "load_game_splash=gameload.jpg" with "load_game_splash=gameselect.jpg" and delete the gameload.jpg for the "memory eaters" emus, it will save you ~200 kb of graphics for them; plus more when i 'll finish the intro movie

 

p.s.: xbox scene is down, i have difficulty to connect these days

p.s.2: i know i asked before, but...

how must i name the video intro? intro.xmv?

and where must i put it? in the skin root?

thanks in advance madmab

p.s.3: i hope you will join sometimes in the irc chat, i spoke a lot with wimpyRBX, this man is awesome! with his scrappers knowledge, he has done the psx synopsis in ~2 hours! and he has screpped the nes tips and tricks database from gamefaqs and is able to do lot of incredible fast work

 

see ya later mate

[Shannon]

You can name the movie whatever you want. Just as long as it has an ".xmv" extension. Put it in the skins directory. Just pick it in the skin editor menu like any other file.

 

Or in the [GENERAL] section of the skin.ini put..

 

load_emu_movie=

 

I've been in the irc channel the last couple nights. In fact I'm in there now. I noticed where you joined, but then timed out..

 

Yeah I don't know what the deal with xbox-scene has been lately. It's been kinda crappy, and those "your system is infected" pop-ups were getting rather annoying as well..

Edited January 27, 2010 by Shannon

[mtx]

March can't get here soon enough! I can hardly wait to take advantage of these new features for my skins!

[Shannon]

Yeah if things go well there may be a string of releases around that time...

[Shannon]

Just fixed something in BlissX that was broken...

 

Here is a hint..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlq8FuiDQmc

Edited January 29, 2010 by Shannon