Stella 3.9.2 released

[+stephena]

OK, this is a quick bugfix release for version 3.9.1. Changelog is as follows:

 

* Improved parsing of the DASM lst file for the debugger disassembly; it sometimes missed constant declarations.

* Changed 'usemouse' argument from a true/false option to accept 'always', 'analog' and 'never'. This allows to use the mouse as a controller under more specific circumstances. The default is 'analog', which means the mouse is only used to emulate analog-like
devices (paddles, trackball, etc).

* Added ability to use bold fonts within the debugger window, which can be set with the 'dbg.fontstyle' commandline argument as well as in the debugger UI Settings dialog. This is useful for those that find the current font too narrow.

* Renamed 'debuggerres' argument to 'dbg.res'. All future debugger-specific options will start with 'dbg.'.

* The TIA 'zoom' area in the debugger now supports scrolling the mouse wheel (currently up/down only, as I don't have a sideways scrolling mouse to test with).

 

As usual, Stella can be download here, and please consider a donation here. Now, back to work on the stuff mentioned in the 3.9.1 release thread.

[israelg]

!!!

[+Random Terrain]

Thanks. Now I can read the debugger text.

[JL]

Thanks stephena! You are serious the best emu developer.

 

Question; does anyone have a way to rename the snapshots found on stella.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

to match the file names in the Stella Internal Database ? This has been driving me crazy for years but yet I never asked until now

Edited September 2, 2013 by JL

[+stephena]

The names already match the internal database. In fact, that's where the names came from! If you go to 'Audit ROMs', you can also have Stella rename your ROMs to match the internal ROM names too.

[JL]

The names already match the internal database. In fact, that's where the names came from! If you go to 'Audit ROMs', you can also have Stella rename your ROMs to match the internal ROM names too.

D'OH!!!

 

Found my issue.

 

I had an old Stello.pro file still in my Stella root from the old days .... removed and all is fine. Man for 2 years I missed that.....

[+SpiceWare]

Is there a way to save a snapshot from the debugger prompt? I don't see anything in the docs.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

savestate n/loadstate n

[+SpiceWare]

To save images, not emulation state. Snapshot is the term used throughout Stella for dumping the display to a PNG, but it doesn't work as a command in the debugger's prompt.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Looks like you really found something missing in Stella.

 

Unbelievable!

[+stephena]

Is there a way to save a snapshot from the debugger prompt? I don't see anything in the docs.

 

Not currently, but it's easy enough to add for the next release.

[PFL]

This is probably a silly question but is there a global option to turn on the phosphor effect rather than just on a ROM by ROM basis?

[+stephena]

Is there a way to save a snapshot from the debugger prompt? I don't see anything in the docs.

 

This is now in SVN. If you're willing to checkout and compile, you can have it before the next release The new command is called 'savesnap', which is also accessible from the TIA out RMB context menu. Note that it currently works exactly the same as taking a snapshot in emulation mode. More specifically, it doesn't currently take the 'partially-greyed' TIA image into account (ie, it saves the image from the underlying data, not necessarily what you see in the debugger window). Fixing this would require more work.

[+SpiceWare]

Awesome! I'm in the middle of redoing a kernel routine, will get the new Stella source when I'm done.

[+stephena]

This is probably a silly question but is there a global option to turn on the phosphor effect rather than just on a ROM by ROM basis?

 

There's currently no way to do this. TBH, the 'phosphor effect' is a hack that will hopefully disappear post Stella 4.0, when I get to improving the TV effects. The whole concept of having to use phosphor mode for certain ROMs is flawed, IMO. When you play a game on a real console and TV, there's no distinction between ROMs that use 30Hz mode and ones that use 60Hz. IOW, the TV itself works in a set fashion, and so should Stella.

 

I'll consider adding the option to override per-ROM settings for phosphor in the next release. There's already a 'Power-on options' dialog where this can go, which is accessible from a RMB click in the ROM launcher.

[+SpiceWare]

that was unexpected - it captured the entire debugger window.

 

[+stephena]

Obviously that wasn't the intent; it doesn't happen on my system. I guess more testing is in order ...

 

EDIT: Confirmed on the entire debugger window being included in the snapshot. The reason is, when you have "Disable image filtering (1x mode)" enabled in Snapshot Settings, it uses the base TIA image for generating the PNG file. But when this option is disabled, it grabs the framebuffer as it exists at that point in time. And since you're in the debugger, that's what the framebuffer contains, and that's what's captured. This works for snapshots in emulation mode, since when you're in that mode, what you see is what you want to capture.

 

For now, enable the above mentioned setting. Then the image will be saved directly from the TIA base image. I need to extend this so it captures what you see in the debugger only. So it looks like the extra work I mentioned in a previous message will need to be done after all ...

[+Nathan Strum]

Looks like you really found something missing in Stella.

 

Unbelievable!

 

I requested that one ages ago.

 

Edit: Apparently, even longer ago.

Edited September 13, 2013 by Nathan Strum

[+stephena]

I no longer have access to what used to be called the 'Tracker' on this website. It contained quite a few bug reports and feature enhancements. And of course I may simply have forgotten to add it to the list. I'm sure that I've forgotten many things over the years. That's what happens when you're involved with a project for 12+ years, and you're getting older (memory loss and all that).

 

Anyway, I should be gently reminded about these things every now and then.

 

BTW, does anyone see any benefit to saving the debugger image exactly as it's show (possibly greyed-out, with beam indicator, etc), or would it be sufficient to just save the underlying TIA image??

[Keatah]

This is probably a silly question but is there a global option to turn on the phosphor effect rather than just on a ROM by ROM basis?

 

No question about emulation is silly. Between all the existing emulators already made, there are thousands of options to remember!

 

I made a Windows Desktop shortcut/icon with the following:

"C:\Program Files\1_classic_system_emulation\2600\Stella.exe" -pp yes

This command line argument turns on phosphor effect for all games.

 

To do it globally from within the emulator menu? No.

[+stephena]

Yes, I forgot about that. You know you're getting old when you forget the functionality that you personally added

 

I'll look into getting this added to the UI, in the 'Power-on options' area. Basically, the pp argument should have 3 values (on, off, and auto). The auto will use whatever the ROM properties specify, while the on/off will override the ROM properties appropriately.

[PFL]

Thanks guys for the help and interest.

 

I'll create a shortcut to use just now.

[+stephena]

WRT taking a snapshot within the debugger, I'm going to go with saving exactly what you see in the debugger. That means 1x mode, no TV effects, etc, and including any greying/beam indicator present. To do otherwise would be confusing, since when you right-click and say 'save snapshot', you expect it to save what you actually see. I'll get to this over the weekend; after thinking about it a little, it shouldn't be too hard to do.

[alex_79]

I found a couple of very small bugs:

- Currently, when the phosphor effect is enabled, it is applied to the debugger screen view which is a bit confusing when following the beam indicator, as graphic elements from the previous frame are shown. Strangely the effect is not applied to the "zoom" view. I read that in future releases the phosphor effect will probably be removed in favour of more accurate TV effects so probably there's not need to bother fixing this.

- In the launcher, when dealing with symbolic links in Linux, the name of the destination file/directory is shown instead of the link itself.

As always thank you for all the hard work you put in Stella!

Edited November 15, 2013 by alex_79