DECEMBER 31, 1998
- Nintendo
-
¤ A/NES v0.99.98b released! (AmigaOS) - Download
- Optimized CPU-emulation
- Sound is somewhat improved
- Primitive frequency-sweep support
- Timings can now be altered by the user (Lines,VBL-time,hblank etc.)
- Improved VS.Unisystem support
- Tons of small fixes/changes
DECEMBER 30, 1998
- Nintendo
-
¤ NES Screen Arranger v0.1b released! (MS-DOS) - Download
"NSA is a development tool for NES programmers. It lets you
load a .CHR file and an accompanying NES palette, arrange the tiles on the
screen, and select the appropriate 4-color palette for each 2x2 tile grid.
Great for making title screens and other fullscreen artwork, where you need
to piece together a great amount of tiles and view the graphics in all their
4-bit glory."
¤ RockNES v0.60b released! (MS-DOS) - Download
- Added option "-revmirr" for a reverse mirroring (Mapper 4 only). This will fix
some games (like TopGun2), but too bad with others
- Fixed a bug in the IRQ code. Now, SMB3 works :)
- Partial NES sound emulation output (4 channels)
- Better memory mapping system
- Better mapper support
- Better graphics engine, many bugs out (sprite/background)
- All scanlines are rendered to prevent errors (displaying 8-231)
- New latch control system (for some mappers)
- Full support for Mappers #9 and #10 (working perfectly)
- Added partial Mapper #64 support (Tengen - Shinobi and others)
- Added Mappers #65 (untested) and #66 (not working)
- Mapper #4 fix (you can see the SMB3 intro)
- Fixed some bugs in the Mapper #18 (not good however)
- Some Mapper #68 fix, but very buggy
- Very preliminary Mapper #25 support (Gradius 2)
- New frame rate control
- Fixed problems with NES VBlank
- Some bugs fixed across 6502 functions (Read/Write/Loop)
- Fixed problems parsing command line arguments
- Added a nice font
¤ Shadowgate Text Dumper v1.0 released! (MS-DOS) - Download
"This lets you view the text strings in "Shadowgate", a game
which uses an efficient way of compressing data. Mainly released so that
people can learn from the sourcecode."
DECEMBER 29, 1998
- Atari 2600
-
¤ z26 v1.23 released! (MS-DOS) - Download
- Yet another new frame synchronizer. This one works better on
Windows 98. Some other minor adjustments as well.
- TRS-80
-
¤ WinTRS-80 v1.52 released! (Win9x) - Download
- Fixed bug in SLA instructions in Z80 emulation.
DECEMBER 28, 1998
- Others' Coverage
-
¤ Corrections of EMU News Service's news coverage...
I'd like to make a few comments about EMU News
Service's coverage yesterday and today. There are two major mistakes in
yesterday's coverage, and I think that I should politely point them out
here. EMU News is an excellent source of news, but Jim Pragit is not
infallable (and neither are we). I should note, however, that
uNESsential v0.15 has not been released; that actual version number
is 0.14. Also, the Atari800 v0.9.8g source code was released long
ago; December 6 according to our records.
- Master System
-
¤ BrSMS v1.13 coming in a week! (MS-DOS)
- Nintendo
-
¤ uNESsential v0.14 released! (MS-DOS) - Download
I should mention that _Bnu, the new member of
the project, was a former staff member of Archaic Ruins.
- _Bnu of AR/ZD/Emucamp/N'tendo fame has joined the project.
- File requester implemented.
- Gui is more informative.
- Debugger somewhat wrecked. (No opcode displaying)
- Amount of stupidity in CPU core reduced. Faster and smaller.
- Opcodes LSR and STA(?) fixed unintentionally.
- Opcodes ROL and ROR fixed. Stupid error.
- Opcodes ADC and SBC fixed.
- Better timing.
- Something wrecked in the process of reducing stupidity. (Dunno what)
DECEMBER 27, 1998
- Site Updates
-
¤ Just a little work for me, Luke owes me a vacation!
¤ Whatever. =)
- Bulletin
-
¤ Technical Difficulties
I'm not totally sure, but I think that Roni and
I are having tech difficulties with our e-mail. He can get to me, but my
mail does not reach him. While a solution is worked out for this problem,
please be patient if you have submitted a staff application, and I
apologize for the delay. Doncha just love bugs? =)
DECEMBER 26, 1998
ZSNES v0.800a
- Archaic Ruins
-
¤ Various Super Nintendo pages revamped!
- Atari ST
-
¤ TOSBOX v1.07 released! (MS-DOS) - Download
- It is possible to read data from old ST-formatted floppies.
- New 1280x1024 video modes (2, 4, 16 colors) are supported.
- There is a new integrated screen saver.
- Setup for the first-time user is simplified so that in most cases it
is not necessary to edit the initialization file.
- CPU emulation has been expanded and enhanced: the BCD instructions
were added, and some bugs in the handling of the X flag were fixed.
- Support for the hardware video address counter was improved.
- Omikron BASIC compiled programs now run without modification.
- A new ST-domain desk accessory, TB.ACC, is included to help with a
number of fundamental tasks.
- Printer support now includes "use prn", which assigns the virtual
parallel port to the system default printer. This has several benefits
(see technical notes below).
- Bulletin
-
¤¤ Roni's words now stuck here instead :)
OK, now that Luke seems to be back, some more
things need to be added to my help request. Firstly, I am now going to compare
the mails I get with him so we can make a team decision on this. Secondly, I'm
glad we now have part of a team here. To everyone who sent me mail: Please
wait for information a little longer, it may take a bit for this all to fall into
place around here and for us to see what is needed and not needed. I will reply
when I believe there have been satisfactory decisions made on staff members.
Thank you and welcome back, Luke!! --Roni
Well, it's nice to be welcomed back with
open arms. =) Well, Roni, I got your e-mail but since my last one to you
didn't get through I thought I should put this note here (it's the obvious
place). If you don't get my reply again, try contacting me by ICQ or think
of another way that we could communicate. I tend to have a problem
contacting AOL users by e-mail consistently; I don't know why.
Thanks! (Everyone else can ignore this; sorry for the inconveinence)
- Gameboy
-
¤ DBOY v0.36 released! (MS-DOS) - Download
- Press Release
-
¤ RockNES v0.60 to be released before Friday!
"RockNES v0.60 to be released before 1999
What's done for the next version (Probably 0.60)
- New IRQ code;
- Very preliminary mapper #25 support (Gradius II);
- Sound emulation (3 channels for now);
- Better gfx engine support;
- Better mapper support (using pointers, +speed?);
- New mirroring system (Double Dragon 3 works good);
- Fixed some bugs in the 6502 functions (read/write);
- Full Mappers #9 (Punch-Out!!) and #10 (Fire Emblem) support!!!
- Added Mapper #64 support (Shinobi and others).
- Mapper #25 (very preliminary).
Working
- General code checking;
- Better speed with sound emulation.
¤ RuMSX v0.15 to be released before Friday!
"RuMSX V0.15 is about to be released (still in 1998)...
Stay tuned!"
- Super Nintendo
-
¤ ZSNES v0.800a released! (MS-DOS) - Download
The ZSNES team has released an assembler-only
version of ZSNES v0.800c that is faster and have lower memory requirements,
but it also doesn't have DSP-1 or IPX support.
- TRS-80
-
¤ WinTRS-80 v1.51 released! (Win9x) - Download
- Fixed bug in inverted characters in Model 4 mode
- Elimination of .INI files - all data is now retained in the System registry
- Tried to make sound work a little better - Still flaky
- COLOR!! - Allow setting of foreground and background colors
- Save screen position/size for each model
DECEMBER 25, 1998
Merry Christmas!
- CHIP-8
-
¤ CHIP-8 Emulator v2.2.0 released! (MS-DOS) - Download
- CHIP8.EXE recompiled for 80386-DX PCs and above.
- CHIP8 documentations rewritten using Word format (CHIP8.DOC)
- CHIP8 french documentations dropped. Took too many bytes ;-)
- No more annoying copyright message under emulation...
- Snapshots can now have multiple names.
- Snapshots now contain current setup of game emulated.
- Snapshots are now available in SCHIP mode.
- UNCHIP supports these new snapshots.
- BINHEX produces more readable files.
- HEXBIN has been updated, as requested by BINHEX.
- Added support for ETI-660 programs.
- Audio tape speed is now correct (100 bytes per second).
- VGA graphics are now drawn via direct VRAM access, which is MUCH faster. Some games run much better (ANT...).
- SET_CHIP is replaced by SETUP, which is more user-friendly.
- Debug informations are now displayed if a crash occurs.
- Text mode turned to 50 lines, which increases the speed of the sprite drawing routines.
- Sound and delay timers are now time exact, synchronised on the internal PC timer (8253/8254), with 1 millisecond resolution.
- Sources are now in CHIPPER syntax for better utilisation.
- A CHIP8 and SCHIP games library is now available for the HP48 (G/Gx series): SCHIP48.GX.
- Commodore 64
-
¤ CCS64 v2.0 Beta released! (MS-DOS/Win9x) - Download MS-DOS, Win9x
- Monitor breakpoints now works better (removed BRK bug...)
- New default color scheme, digitized from my old C64 from 1983.
- Menu now has separate memory of last selected files and indexes
- Genesis
-
¤ Megasis v0.2 released! (Win9x) - Download
- Fixed a 68000 CPU bug
- Implemented Raster Scroll effects
- Implemented H-interrupt process
- Added load/save SRAM data
- Implemented Z80 CPU
- Implemented PCM
- Implemented FM timer
- Old Stuff
-
¤ Various stuff we missed added!
- Nintendo 64
-
¤ TrueReality v12/25/98 released! (MacOS) - Download
"An updated version is now available, with speed and compatibility improvements."
- Super Nintendo
-
¤ SNES '9x v1.16a Build #28 released! (Win9x) - Download
"Currently it doesn't have so many new features. But that will change in the comming weeks."
DECEMBER 24, 1998
ZSNES v0.800 released!
- Atari ST
-
¤ NoSTalgia v0.6 released! (MacOS) - Download
- Mode VDI 640*400*16 colors
- Added CPU cycles counting
- Correction bug TimerD
- Navigation Service Support (Système 8.5)
- Appearance Manager Support (Système 8.0)
- More precise mouse
- New Hard disk driver
- Configurable Joystick
- Bugs corrections
- Bulletin
- ¤ This note added!
If Roni doesn't mind, I think I may play around with the
bulletin system a bit; it's sorta awkward. =) Well, for those that haven't
noticed, I've been gone for the past two months. My Internet connection has
cycled being up and down and it got to the point that it was never up long
enough to justify working on Archaic Ruins. Now that it is stable again, I
wish to return to my duties! That's where it really gets funny, because I
sent Roni a letter about the same time he posted yesterday's bulletin. Well,
that is cool with me. =) I would like to apologize to Roni for not being
here. I literally could not; please believe that. In the meantime, I
am also welcoming a new staff member to AR to do general maintainence. I
would also like to thank Roni--I understand that he probably feels like the
last man standing, and I understand that feeling. I will try to rectify that
in any way I can!
I would, however, appreciate it if
those who want to be on the Archaic Ruins staff would carbon-copy those
requests to me (doclight@bitsmart.com).
And I will also be here doing maintainence again.
- Old Stuff
-
¤ Various stuff we missed added!
- Super Nintendo
-
¤ NLKE v0.03b released! (MS-DOS) - Download
- Some errors in the tile-to-tile mode have been fixed, and also the compatibility has been increased by rewriting some parts of the code.
- Audio code has been rewritten for a better legibility while some errors were fixed, resulting in a better sound in some games.
- Solved a problem with mode 0, it was drawing only the first line of each tile in BG3.
- Fixed a little problem with the I flag (king of the monsters).
- Changed mode 21 mapping slightly, this should allow bs-zelda starting.
- Solved a problem with mode 21, it was being allocated more memory than neccesary (in fact, the double).
- Register $2115 now it's being initialized to 0x80 (15puzzle).
- Now HDMA doesn't allow a channel that has been activated during an vblank to be activated again before next (demo 2.68 Mhz).
- Solved a problem while bank switching in transfers over register $2180 (dq5, captain tsubasa...).
- Fixed an error in SRAM memory protecting when actually there is not SRAM present (bruce lee).
- Correctly implemented RAM/ROM zone in spc memory (super punchout, grandhistoria, sponi).
- Interrupts were being executed 1 line after than they should (energy breaker).
- Improved the autodetection of the memory mode checking the checksum and the reset vector (brunswick bowling).
- Solved a problem with the reading of VRAM through DMA (dkc3).
- Implemented the NMI in emulation mode (demo profight).
- Fixed an error in the TXS operation in emulation mode.
- Corrected the autodetection of DSP1.
- Partially implemented DSP1 emulation (thanks to zsnes authors).
- Included support for 32 Mbit ROMs in mode 20 (tokimeki memorial, jikkyo pro wrestling 96 - max volt).
- Included a database with the memory mode for some ROMs that are conflictive due to corrupted headers.
- Included the parameters -M20 and -M21, used to force mode 20 or mode 21.
- Included the parameter -I, used to force interleaving.
- Solved some problems with mode 7 ext (f1 grand prix).
- Included the IRQ in emulation mode (demo c64e).
- Fixed a problem that was causing loop overflow and locking in some games (topgear2, kawasaki).
- Compiling done with SEAL 1.05, now includes compatibility with the ensoniq PCI soundcards.
- Included native support for .zip files (thanks to the authors of the related routines included in the mame source :-)
- Included support for .ips patches, for using it is needed the param -ips.
- Included support for mode 25 (tales of phantasia and seiken3 - thanks to the authors of zsnes). Included the parameter -M25.
- Included support for multiple paths in the .cfg file.
- Solved a problem that was causing the mouse not to work sometimes while the GUI was running.
- Now it's allowed to specify files as drive:file, before it was causing problems with multifiles.
- Included a gray degradation of the output image while the GUI is active.
- Included the option -envx, it's needed in some ROMs.
- Found and fixed a lot of bugs in the 65816, the SPC700, DSP, PPU, HDMA... too numerous to be mentioned here (yes, we've done it again :-))))
¤ SNES '9x v1.16a released! (Linux/MacOS/MS-DOS) - Download Linux, MacOS, MS-DOS
- Fixed a case where the -forcelorom option didn't work - the case was required for Formation Soccer which claims in its ROM header to use the same memory map as Super FX ROM, it doesn't. [MS-DOS only]
- Pulled apart a real SNES using a crowbar (great fun), just to look at what speed the SPC700 is actually clocked at for more acturate relative emulation speed.
- Implemented SPC700 cycle counting in the hope the improved timing would fix Tales'; no such luck but at least the -ratio option is obsolete now. [MS-DOS only]
- Implemented executing SPC700 instructions during DMA, fixes BS Zelda, Goal and Smurfs 2 lock up at start and music pausing briefly when ROMs do lots of DMA, usually between game screens.
- Scrapped the i386 asm SPC700 code - it was the cause of the music not restarting after a battle in Chrono Trigger and FF3
- Fixed RGB subtraction bug on displays with only 5 bits for green, e.g. RGB555 displays. The GREEN_HI_BIT variable was always set to a value for 6 bit green displays.
- Added the SA-1 memory map, still a long way to go before any SA-1 game will run. [MS-DOS only]
- Minor optimization to sound code [MS-DOS only]
¤ ZSNES v0.800 released! (MS-DOS) - Download
- Fixed up sound speeds. Timers were computed incorrectly.
- Fixed a sprite priority bug
- Fixed up a bug that prevented the gui to be disabled
- Fixed up SPC capture
- Fixed a bug when VIRQ is set on the same scanline as NMI
- Implemented an automatic .IPS patcher. Just rename your .IPS file to the rom filename with the .IPS extension and ZSNES will patch the rom realtime without modifying the rom file's contents. Thanks to Neill Corlett for most of the .IPS info!
- Snapshot capture/skip 2 frames option now returns back to the proper menu item
- Fixed a calibration bug with 6/8button joysticks
- Fixed up display in 640x480x8 new gfx engine
- Fixed up hi resolution displays in all 640x480x8b modes
- Fixed up a bug where Mode 7 becomes corrupt after selecting Save CFG from the GUI
- Fixed a memory map bug in lorom DSP1 games
- Fixed a potential DSP1 crashing bug where a negative value is being square rooted
- Hopefully fixed the modem bug when using an IRQ that is bigger than 7
- Fixed up an ADSR bug for games that changes ADSR mid-sample
- Fixed up echo emulation (possibly slowed down emulation)
- Fixed up a sprite caching bug
- Fixed up a DSP1 byte check stall bug
- Implemented a commandline to disable spc700 speed hacks (-7) Might help with some compatibility
- Implemented SA-1 support (most functions emulated)! Unfortunately, it's still buggy. Thanks to the snes9x team for providing info!
- Fixed a bug when selecting drive A/B while a disk is not in the drive caused a long check sequence
- Implemented Keyboard support to most of Option, Sound, and GUI Option configurations in the GUI
- Changed sound init code a bit. Hopefully improves sound card compatibility, but might also ruin it.
- Implemented off by 1 line fix (-9). This may help compatibility and fix some minor graphic glitches, but may also ruin some too.
DECEMBER 23, 1998
- ¤ Today's News bulletin added!
**PLEASE READ** Regarding the future of Archaic Ruins.
DECEMBER 14, 1998
- ¤ Today's News bulletin added!
- GameBoy
- ¤ DBoy v0.31 released! (MS-DOS)
I don't know nothing about it and don't care,
I have a Color Game Boy and see no reason to emulate one. (Has it even been out for a month yet?
Who wants to play gameboy on a large PC monitor anyway? Then you can see how bad it really looks! :)
Anyway, this emulator does have Color GameBoy support and it's all in Japanese so
I can't tell you a thing about it except the command line for Color GameBoy is -cgb.
Have fun!
- Utilities
- ¤ Tile Layer v0.50b released! (MS-DOS)
Yes! Can this program get any better than it
is already?
- added 1BPP / SNES / Virtual Boy / SMS support!
- importable palette (tlayer.pal) is now in R,G,B format
- palette can be saved (by pressing F2)
- removed the grids; they made it hard to see exactly how
the tiles pieced together
- clipboard expanded to 17x8 tiles
DECEMBER 13, 1998
- ¤ Today's News bulletin added!
DECEMBER 8, 1998
- ¤ Today's News bulletin added!
- Arcade
- ¤ DTMNT v0.55 Beta released! (MS-DOS)
- Scanlines (-scan,-scan16,-noscan),
- better colors, untested BETA, slower, sorry.
- It's about 150% SLOWER so don't even bother on a Pentium I
(because of all the colors shifting around)
- Probably has loads of bugs
- It's a little bit unfinished - colors sometimes mess up
- ¤ SloMo v0.24 Beta 4 released! (Win9x)
- Added high score save support for Centipede
- Added Eyes support
- Added a character viewer
- Master System
- ¤ BrSMS v1.12 released! (MS-DOS)
- Game Gear emulation
- SG1000 emulation ("Girl's Garden", "Hang On 2")
- fixed bug in bit 7 of VDP[0] (this make "Gauntlet" better but not 100%)
- "-custom " removed (now BrSMS autodetect which custom CPU it should use)
- added "-noguess" (disable autodetection and custom CPUs)
- added "-listrom" (list all games with custom CPUs available)
- added "-3d" (enable 3D glasses emulation)
- added "-sms" and "-gg" (forces SMS or GG emulation, ignoring extension)
- replaced "-mmx" with "-nommx" (now the MMX is always enabled when detected)
- now the default language is english instead of japanese
- Super Nintendo
- ¤ SNES9x v1.1.5 released! (MacOS)
"This version has improved sound, better SuperFX/DSP support, and several bug
fixes; many games that have been glitchy since version 0.9.5 (such as Donkey
Kong Country and Metroid 3) have finally been fixed. The updated source code
has been released as well."
- John Stiles
Snes9x Author (Macintosh Port)
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