Stella 6.0 released

[fluxit]

General Stella question: I don't really understand how exactly "keymap" stores the key mapping. How does Stella parse it?

[+SpiceWare]

I did a clean install of my Mac Pro back in November. Haven't attempted to build Stella until now when we were working on CDFJ, a new variant of CDF which adds a second Jump Data Stream for WoW (freed up ~450 bytes for John by simplifying some things).

 

Initially I had an issue with SDL, which I fixed by installing it at:

 

/Library/SDL2.framework

 

Now I'm getting this error:

 

/clang:-1: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

 

I added -v to Other Linker Flags but still see the same ambiguous error w/out any invocation info.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

[+stephena]

The warning can be ignored for now; I haven't gotten to it yet.

 

There was a commit a little while ago that added a missing file to the Xcode project. Maybe you need to check out again to get the latest update?? My Windows/OSX development machine has been down for about 2 weeks, so I haven't been able to look into these issues.

[+SpiceWare]

Based on timestamps, I'd fetched the source yesterday afternoon at 3:30 using:

 

git clone https://github.com/stella-emu/stella.git

---

 

I just deleted the folder and fetched it again. It builds now with a new warning, so something's changed since yesterday afternoon.

 

Just looked at github and DirtyHairy made the fix to the XCode project about 18 hours ago (so around 4:30).

 

Looking at the Debugger I suspect it's for the new States tab which contains fields split off from the CartridgeXXX tab.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[DirtyHairy]

Just looked at github and DirtyHairy made the fix to the XCode project about 18 hours ago (so around 4:30).

 

 

Yup, that's the one

[+Random Terrain]

Got a new Windows 10 computer, so now I'm able to use the latest version of Stella.

[Keatah]

How big is your rom launcher? On one of our 4k monitors it's like 3 or 4 inches across. I think stella needs more scaling options.

[+stephena]

There is already an issue created for this, since I also use a 4k monitor: https://github.com/stella-emu/stella/issues/271

 

As noted, I hope to have this fixed for 6.1.

[Shannon]

Greetings... This question is based on a post by Stephana over in the Champgames Galaga thread about the 6.1 beta core being available on the retroarch build servers.

I was able to get someone to compile that build for the PSC ( Playstation Classic Mini ) and when trying it.  With the default settings the screen display is "skewed".  It almost looks like the pitch ( for copying to destination systems buffer ) is off.  However if I activate any of the "TV Effects" the screen looks correct.  I was wondering if anyone has any insight as to why this would be the case and what a potential solution would be.

Please note I do not know if this is a retroarch specific issue because I have not tried it on a PC ( was such a headache to get going last time I did ).

 

Oh and does anyone happen to know if there is some video examples ( maybe youtube ) of some of the sound differences vs the real 2600 that have been fixed ( Ms. Pacman, E.T. )

Thank you!
 

Edited June 22, 2019 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Just a quick note.  I may have found a game that does not work with the latest Stella v6 Beta 2.  I was testing Space Invaders Deluxe 2004 and the graphics and character movement is all glitchy.  When I switched back to an older version the game was just fine.  Please note this is on the retroarch version I am currently tinkering with.

 

I've yet to try it with the official windows release to see if the same quirk exists.

 

Edit Update:

 

I tried the game with Stella v6 Beta 1 on windows and it seems to be fine.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2019 by Shannon

[+stephena]

This ROM seems to misbehave when the 'PS' register is randomized (in Developer options).  In particular, the ROM assumes that the system starts with the 'D' flag pulled low.  You can simulate this behaviour by going into the debugger and toggling 'D' to high, then exiting.

 

Note that this has nothing to do with RetroArch, or any particular system for that matter.  It's strictly an issue of the defaults for what should be randomized at startup.  If you like, follow this up by reporting an issue on Stella Github issue list.  Maybe the defaults are too strict??

[Shannon]

Interesting.. I see I have to put Stella into developer mode for the problem to appear.  It seems that the retroarch build I'm using has developer mode activated possibly?  There is no way to access it in the options menu available to me in the retroarch interface.

[Shannon]

ok.  I figured out what was happening.  The game is fine on a fresh boot of Stella and when loading the game first.  If I load other games before I load the Space Invaders Deluxe then it messes up due to the aforementioned issues.

 

 

[+stephena]

OK, but this still means the defaults still potentially have to be adjusted.  Try beta1 for Windows again and toggle the flag I mentioned above; it will likely trigger the issue.  We will have to discuss whether the PS flag should be zero'ed or randomized by default.

[Albert]

@stephena, I have a question about Stella.  Most of the time in macOS when I double-click a game binary in my stella/roms folder (the binaries are associated with Stella), Stella launches but does not start up the game.  Every now and then it'll work, but 80% of the time it does not.  Do you know why this might be?

 

Thanks,

 

 ..Al

[+stephena]

Don't know; will have to look into it.  Please create an issue on Stella Github so others can see it.  @DirtyHairy works more with the OSX port, so it is useful for him to see this too.

[Albert]

5 minutes ago, stephena said:

Don't know; will have to look into it.  Please create an issue on Stella Github so others can see it.  @DirtyHairy works more with the OSX port, so it is useful for him to see this too.

Done!

[alex_79]

6 hours ago, Shannon said:

... I was testing Space Invaders Deluxe 2004 and the graphics and character movement is all glitchy...

 

 

I found several revisions of this hack. Which one are you testing?

 

E.g. the rom in this page glitches if the decimal flag is set at power-on, but this bug has been corrected in subsequent revisions: In the first post of this thread there's a link to the latest version, which correctly initialize the decimal flag.

 

If you burn the rom on a real cartridge (or flash the harmony cart in single game mode, so that the system is not initialized by the harmony menu), the glitch can occur on real hardware as well. (see here for another example)

[Shannon]

I believe I downloaded it from the Atari Age Hack page.  I'll try the other link provided and see how that one works.

 

Thanks

 

[iesposta]

I tried that Space Invaders Deluxe 2005 (latest version) with the Retroarch iOS Stella 6.1 Beta 2. 

Sometimes the invaders have shots coming down but my player has none going up. 

Another time my player shoots up, but the shots coming down are not visible. 

I selected game options 1 & 2. 

 

I’m more thankful that Stella in Retroarch has been updated to Version 6.0.1. That 3.9.3 hung around way too long. 

Edited June 26, 2019 by iesposta

[alex_79]

6 hours ago, iesposta said:

I tried that Space Invaders Deluxe 2005 (latest version) with the Retroarch iOS Stella 6.1 Beta 2. 

Sometimes the invaders have shots coming down but my player has none going up. 

Another time my player shoots up, but the shots coming down are not visible.

Seems like your setup is displaying at 30Hz, skipping every other frame.
And since the game flickers the player and enemies shots on alternating frames, you're only seeing either one or the other.

 

[+stephena]

Looks like phosphor mode is not active.  For the Retroarch port, we may have to force phosphor on all the time, unless there is some way to toggle it from the app itself.

[iesposta]

3 hours ago, stephena said:

Looks like phosphor mode is not active.  For the Retroarch port, we may have to force phosphor on all the time, unless there is some way to toggle it from the app itself.

It is set to Auto. I had turned it to Off when I noticed the bullets were incorrect. 

Changing Phosphor mode to On corrects the bullets. 

(I would usually set it to Off  in previous versions as it shows what the program is doing with its limited objects.)

Is version 6 automatically skipping frames?

[+stephena]

I need to do more research here, since libretro is not using all the functionality of the Stella core right now (it doesn't use SDL, the UI, debugger, etc).  So it's possible that how it's drawing the image differs from other Stella ports, and that is what you guys are seeing.

 

Regarding frameskip, Stella doesn't support that, and never has.  Unless of course (as mentioned) libretro is doing something different with the code.

[DirtyHairy]

This definitely sounds like individual frames are not displayed. There is no frame skipping in Stella at the emulation level (I don't think that there is even a meaningful way to do this); the only situation where Stella may skip frames is if the video hardware cannot keep up with the emulated frame rate (for example, running a NTSC game on a 50Hz display). However, if this type of skipping happens, frames don't even enter the phosphor processing either, so the fact that turning on phosphor "fixes" the issue suggests that the skipping must happen outside of the Stella core. Sorry, this lies out of the scope of Stella.