Emulation News 242: Updates for 12-24-11

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope all of you are enjoying the day before Christmas! Lets get to the news shall we?

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Emulation News 180: Updates for 10-20-11

So here we are with today's news!

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Emulation News 084: Updates for 6-23-11

Here are the updates for the 23rd.

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Emulation News 068: Updates for 6-7-11

Here are the news for today!

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Emulation News 062: Updates for 6-1-11

Welcome to the new month! Here are the new updates for today!

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Emulation News 052: Updates for 5-17-11

Here are the news for today. Enjoy!

QMC2 v0.2.b20

"- fix: ROMAlyzer / checksum wizard: correctly handle ROM files when their names contain special characters (i.e. ´&´)
- fix: corrected the handling of repeated log messages (the repetition counter was correctly logged, but the actual new message was eaten)
- fix: remove Phonon effects asynchronously (aka QObject::deleteLater()) -- note that this finally also fixes the long-standing post-mortem crash on Mac OS X
- fix: file and directory edit widgets did only commit any data changes when they were ´edited´, but not when their data changed ´spontaneously´ -- see bug tracker ID #17
- fix: MESS targets: avoid crash when exiting while a device setup is open
- fix: emulator configuration: correctly position the text cursor for ´int´ and ´float´ option types as well
- fix: corrected hiding of category-/version-columns in the category-/version-views
- fix: embedder: under certain window-managers (i.e. KDE4 >= 4.6) the snapshot-viewer wasn´t correctly updated -- fixed by adding an explicit paintEvent() method which just repaints the background brush
- fix: Win32: emulator control panel: hide LED0-, LED1- and status-columns, because notifiers aren´t supported on Windows (yet)
- imp: SDLMAME/MAME/MAMEUIFX32 templates updated to 0.142u3 (new option menu for MAME, removed option uimodekey for MAME)
- imp: SDLMESS/MESS templates updated to 0.142u3
- imp: ghost image enhanced, including a derived ´no video´ pendant
- imp: improved log output when the validation of the emulator executable fails
- imp: MESS targets: added new / alternate emulator type identification string (´M.E.S.S.´ vs. ´MESS´) as used since 0.142 SVN -- see bug tracker ID #16
- imp: MESS targets: the device configurator now also saves / restores the last selected setup (if any) and includes a context menu for the device instance map
- imp: added an option to let the user decide if the ROM status icons are to be shown or not (see in game/machine-list tab of the main setup dialog)
- imp: avoid potential blocking when synchronously calling external programs
- imp: updated template format to v0.2.4 which adds support for a new ´combo´ option-type (editable combo-box with pre-defined choices the user can select from) and a new ´visible´ attribute to hide certain options (esp. to hide the ramsize option for MAME, where it´s not used, but the emulator still reports it as a valid option)
- imp: setup dialog: added the ability to reset a customized application- or log-font as well as to reset the style-sheet (note that the system´s default font will be gathered during startup, so if its value changes at run-time you will have to restart QMC2 for correct behavior)
- new: added command line option -qmc2_config_path to allow for overwriting the path where QMC2 stores its setup, caches etc. -- it´s in the user´s responsibility to copy/move the data to the desired directory (otherwise QMC2 will start over, which may be wanted behavior, though)
- new: support for game/machine attached YouTube videos (Phonon-based video player)
- new: added three tool-functions to allow for forced removal of any game/machine-list related cache data stored on disk
- new: added support to provide lists of available BIOS sets (MAME & MESS) and RAM size options (MESS-only) in the game/machine-specific emulator configuration widgets
- wip: completing the support for software lists -- basically working, but some planned functionality is still missing, and there are open questions regarding the official way to scan the hash XML data
- doc: added Q2.14, Q2.15, Q2.16 and Q2.17 to the FAQ"

Source

Jpcsp SVN r2136

"r2133
Added draft version for sceUtilitiyNpSigninXXX().
Fixed sceUtilityGetNetParamLatestID().
r2134
Further network improvements.
Implemented sceNetInetListen, sceNetInetAccept (server sockets), sceNetInetInetPton.
Fixed sceNetInetRecvfrom, sceNetInetInetNtop, improved sceNetInetSelect.
r2135
Improved sceNetApctlTerm so that a sceNetApctlInit is possible again (e.g. disconnect/reconnect).
r2136
Updated Linux start scripts.

Reversed and added MSG flags to sceNetInet.

Improved SAVEDATA MODE_SIZES in sceUtility and added small new finding to SceUtilitySavedataParam.

Implemented MD5 and SHA-1 utilities in UtilsForUser.

Improved viewport resizing (currently disabled) in VideoEngine.

Fixed a bug in sceFont.

Added new crucial finding to ThreadManForUser that can affect hleKernelExitThread is some games."

Source

OpenEmulator SVN r637

"r634
Added OpenGL paper canvas page separator, updated device count in emulation
window, fixed PAAudio when playing a sound twice, fixed OpenGL paper canvas
borders, implemented OpenGL paper canvas pixel density
r635
Work in progress: viewframe update
r636
Implemented CanvasView paper scrolling, defined paper vertical clip region
r637
Improved OpenGLCanvas configuration logic, implemented paper canvas postImage,
implemented OEImage overlay and clipping, implemented paper canvas update when
paper size changes, fixed paper canvas size getting stuck"


Source


Dolphin SVn r7547

"r7547
Fix IOCTL_ES_GETVIEWCNT (uninitialized data)
GH5 Loads again
use the existing function instead of checking titleid each time a NANDLoader is needed"

Source

Dolphin texcache-rewrite SVN r7549

"r7549
texcache-rewrite: Virtual EFB copies for OpenGL.

We still need a depalettizing shader for OpenGL."

Source


Project64k v0.22

"Project64k 0.22 HYBRID is the first stable release of my emulator that is pretty much perfect. Still some issues to look into but for most part it is best modified version of pj64 for netplay.

New Shortcuts

- Ctrl C for cheats
- Ctrl N for Netplay
- Ctrl S for Settings
- Ctrl R for Rom folder
- Ctrl L for Refresh rom list
- Ctrl Q for Force quit


New Features

-Menu made easier to understand
-More user friendly
-Help menu added (with tutorial)


Fixed

-Multi-Language support fixed (Now supports most languages again)

-Emulator crash glitch

-Limit FPS removed (causes problems)

-Full screen taken out (Causes DS)

-Kailleraclient minor fixes"

Source

VirtualBox v4.0.8

"Mac OS X hosts: fixed incompatibility with recent Mac OS X versions in 64-bit mode (bug #8474)
Mac OS X hosts: fixed incompatibility with hosts with more than 16 cores (bug #8389)
Mac OS X hosts: fixed painting corruptions on a second monitor in 64-bit mode (bug #7606)
GUI: restored functionality to set an empty host key to disallow any host key combination (4.0.6 regression; bug #8793)
VBoxManage: added controlvm screenshotpng subcommand for saving the screenshot of a running VM in PNG format
VBoxHeadless: fixed potential crash during shutdown (Windows hosts only)
NAT: built-in services use the correct Ethernet addresses in Ethernet header and in ARP requests
Host-only networking: fixed adapter reference counting
E1000: fixed rare guest crashes with Linux SMP guests (bug #8755)
SATA: fixed guest disk corruption under rare circumstances (only relevant for guests with more than 2GB RAM; bug #8826)
Storage: fixed data corruption after a snapshot was taken with asynchronous I/O enabled (bug #8498)
Floppy: several improvement
HPET: another fix for time jumps (bug #8707)
USB: removed assumption that string descriptors are null-terminated (Windows hosts only)
3D support: fixed a potential crash when resizing the guest window
3D support: fixed GNOME 3 rendering under Ubuntu 11.04 and Fedora 15
Snapshots: fixed another bug which could lose entries in the media registry when restoring a snapshot (bug #8363)
Shared Folders: don't stop mounting the other valid folders if one host folder is inaccessible (4.0.6 regression)
Linux Additions: check whether gcc and make are installed before building kernel modules (bug #8795)
Solaris Additions: added support for X.Org Server 1.10
Guest Additions: fixed inappropriate Guest Additions update notification when using vendor-specific version suffixes (bug #8844)"

Source

PCSX2 SVN r4656

"r4656
GUI: BUGFIX: (Save)State in GS window title can get out of sync with actual current slot (after loading/saving state via the menu).

Details:
- It seems that due to legacy reasons, Lilypad is setting the current state at the GS window title, as a hack which is enabled by default (at Lilypad's main GUI tab). However, it's buggy because it only changes the display when (shift/)F2 is pressed, while the current slot actually also changes when loading/saving state via the PCSX2 main menu, so it can get out of sync (possibly with unpleasant results, especially when saving). Now it's disabled by default at Lilypad, and if enabled, displayed as "State(Lilypad)".

- PCSX2 itself now properly handles the current State slot at the GS title window.

Note: ZeroGS still changes its title independently (not via the "standard" PCSX2 mechanism) so Lilypad's title hack might still be useful for it. However, it's still buggy and can get still out of sync.

TODO: Remove this option completely from Lilypad because it's buggy? ZeroGS can still use it, but I think it can cause more harm than good. What do you think?"

Source

Mupen64Plus 20110517

"- updated video plugin for new Mupen64plus 2.0 API
- updated Console-UI front-end for new Mupen64plus 2.0
- updated RSP plugin for new Mupen64plus 2.0 API
- updated input plugin for new Mupen64plus 2.0 API
- updated core for new Mupen64plus 2.0 API versioning
- updated audio plugin for new Mupen64plus 2.0 API"

Source

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Emulation News 042: Updates for 5-5-11

Happy Cinco de Mayo! It's time for some updates! Be sure to check them out as there are many revisions available.

Test7 v20110503

"Test7 is a multi emulator frontend.
Instead of a list of game names, it displays a tiled view of thumbnails (one for each game).

It's based on the library "Slick" (http://slick.cokeandcode.com)
and use the Apache Batik SVG Toolkit (http://xmlgraphics.apache.org/batik/).

The config file is in JSON format (http://www.json.org)

To start the front-end (requires Java version 6 at least):
java -jar test7.jar

At launch, Test7 unzips the necessary natives libraries in the current directory.
Linux:
You must include this directory in the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

Windows:
The current directory is normaly automatically added to the PATH.

If it doesn't exist, Test7 creates a template config file test7.json

The config files is divided in three parts:
- display
- emulators
- games

Summary of the display configuration:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
- screenWidth and screenHeight : sizes in pixels of the screen.
- fullscreen : true/false.
- keyDelay (optional 500ms by default): time in ms for key repetition.
- nbColumns and nbRows : number of thumbnails displayed on a page.
- percentRowSpacing and percentColumnSpacing (optional 1% by default): blank space between rows and columns
in percent of the screen size.
- pageScrollTime (optional 300ms by default): time in ms of the page-scrolling effect.
- cursorMoveTime (optional 100ms by default): time in ms for the cursor to move from one thumbnail to another.
- rotate (optional no rotation by default): rotate the display. -1 = -90°; 1 = +90°; 0 = no rotation.
- multiThread (optional true by default): true/false; By default Test7 load the thumbnails in a separate thread.
So you can start your navigation through the games while the thumbnails are loaded.
But it seems there's a bug which sometimes freezes the application (occures in fullscreen with Vista)
- svgMaskFilename (optional test7/mask.svg by default) : filename of the svg file used as a mask on each thumbnail.

Emulators:
""""""""""
- id : reference used in the game part.
- command : command used to start the emulator (with options if needed).
Exemple: "c:/temp/znes/zsnesw.exe -m" to start the ZNES emulator in command line mode.
- romsDirectory : directory containing the roms of this emulator.
- picturesDirectory : directory containing the pictures used to create the thumbnails.

Games:
""""""
- file : name of the file. Exemple : "superGame.zip"
The directory is the one associated with the emulator (see above).
- name : displayed name of the game.
- picture (optional): By default Test7 uses the filename of the game with one these suffixes : "bmp,jpg,jpeg,png,gif"
to construct the filename of the game.
Exemple: "superGame.zip" becomes "superGame.png"
This parameter permit to use a totally different filename for the picture.
The directory is the one associated with the emulator (see above).
- emulatorOption (optional): add some options to the command line of the emulator.
- emulatorId : Identifiant of the emulator used to launch this game.

Exemple of a configuration:
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""
{
"screenWidth":1680,
"screenHeight":1050,
"fullScreen":true,
"nbColumns":6,
"nbRows":4,
"emulators": [
{"id":"znes", "command":"c:/temp/znes/zsnesw.exe -m", "romsDirectory":"c:/temp/znes", "picturesDirectory":"c:/temp/znes"},
{"id":"mame", "command":"c:/temp/mame/mame.exe", "romsDirectory":"c:/temp/mame/roms", "picturesDirectory":"c:/temp/mame/snap"}
],
"games": [
{"name":"Super Ghost'n Trolls ", "file":"Super Ghost'n Trolls (Europe).zip", "emulatorId":"znes"},
{"name":"Super Subway", "file":"Super Subway (Europe) (En,Fr,De).zip", "emulatorId":"znes"},
{"name":"Year of Kung-Fu", "file":"yearkf.zip", "emulatorId":"mame"}
]
}

Usage:
""""""
Use arrow keys or joystick to move the cursor.
Use space or a joystick button to select a game. A full-size picture of the selected game is displayed.
Confirm your choice with space or a button again or use arrow key or joystick to cancel.
Type 'Q' to quit Test7."

Source

MESS SVN r11431

"r11431
fix for WINUI compile (no whatsnew)"

Source


OpenEmulator SVN r633

"r633
Finished OpenGL paper canvas, fixed video update when shaders are off, fixed resize flickering when using didVSync for drawing
r632
Fixed bezel drawing, fixed window resizing methods, fixed display canvas updates so persistency is correctly updated after a new frame, started implementation of OpenGL paper canvas, added paper canvas to CanvasWindowController and CanvasWindow Yesterday
r631
Fixed bezel drawing, fixed window resizing methods, fixed display canvas updates so persistency is correctly updated after a new frame, started implementation of OpenGL paper canvas, added paper canvas to CanvasWindowController and CanvasWindow Yesterday
r630
Refactored canvas API, fixed bezel 180 degree rotation, fixed persistance, fixed OpenGLCanvas update parameters and canvas API
r629
Fixed OpenGL context loss when closing a canvas
r628
Fixed GUI-Emulation-Canvas thread synchronization
r627
Improved the default emulation fallback, the template chooser is now displayed, fixed audio playback play position, fixed canvas window orderOut, fixed frame size initialization
r626
Fixed OpenGL thread sync/system events in canvas and emulation windows"

Source

Jpcsp SVN r2110

"r2109
Improved support for DebuggerMemory: it was sometimes missing breakpoints on memory reads/writes. This should now be fixed.
r2110
sceMpeg: trying to fix the ending of the Mpeg movie when the audio ends before the video."

Source

DaedalusX64 SVN r698

"r695
[=>] Merged from Dev branch:

Rev 233 - Salvy
[+] Added cheat menu (WIP, only disable and enable cheats option work atm)
Rev 234 - Salvy
[+] More WIP towards the GUI for cheats (everything is half or barely working atm)
[+] Added cheat codes for SSV
Rev 235 - Salvy
Disable temporally a couple of flags to enable or disable cheats (they don't work yet, due the UI part not working properly)
Rev 236 - Salvy
[!] Fixed bug that caused cheats to be displayed after loading a game with no cheats
[!] Fixed enable cheats option not working
[+] Implemented activation of cheat codes
[+] Show a msg if user opens the cheat menu with no cheats etc
[!] Fixed left and right pad not working in cheat menu
r696
[=>] Merged from Dev branch:

Rev 237 - Salvy
[+] Implemented cheat list generator for GUI (yay)
[~] Removed several hacks etc I had for it (when I was attempting to get it working)
[!] Fixed bug that caused last cheat entry to always be enabled
Note - frontend for cheats work perfectly now
Rev 238 - Salvy
[+] check if country id of cheat codes match to the selected ROM, if not they'll be skipped
Rev 239 - Salvy
[+] Compensate empty entries of cheat codes in UI
Rev 240 - Corn
r697
[=>] Merged from Dev branch:

Rev 241 - Salvy
[+] Restore value if XXX cheatcode is no longer active, makes it possible to disable cheats instantly (hackish as hell atm though)
[~] Minor clean up in cheat UI
Rev 242 - Salvy
[!] Fixed was enable flag and made it safe (fixes certain cheats to be disabled by error)
Rev 243 - Salvy
[!] Fixed bug that caused certain cheats not be disabled correctly (Corn)
[+] Store original value before writing cheat codes to memory (allows us to undo cheats when disabled, thnx Corn and Kreationz for suggestions)
Rev 244 - Corn
r698
Note : This the last merge to B3 Update, Dev rev 249 is Beta 3 Update

[=>] Merged from Dev branch:

Rev 245 - Salvy
[!] Simplified cheat store/restore routine (now isn't hacky anymore \o/)
[!] Make sure to store even cheats that write multiple times (Thnx Corn for suggesting)
Rev 246 - Salvy
[!] Tagging as Beta 3 Update
[+] Added more cheats to the database
[-] Removed debug code from Cheat routines
[!] Killed a warning in R4300.cpp
Rev 247 - Salvy
[!] Bump up OSHLE version number
[!] Fixed assert in OSHLE
Rev 248 - Salvy
[~] Added more info for a cheat
Rev 249 - Salvy"

Source

PCSX2 SVN r4622

"r4622
microVU: Fix for Red Faction 2"

Source

Altirra 1.9 Test 37

"- Debugger: Added .sdx_loadsyms command."

Source

Spud v0.210

"ADDED: Spud can now query WoS Infoseek and download game and associated files.
ADDED: Spud can now SAVE snapshots in all supported formats.
ADDED: Soft reset menu option.
ADDED: ULAplus palette editor.
ADDED: PC logging.
ADDED: PC logging for one frame.
ADDED: Ability to control emulation speed (10% - 1000%).
ADDED: Colour palette options available.
ADDED: Tape wobble.
ADDED: Tape autoload.
ADDED: Standalone register view dialog box.
ADDED: Debugger. Breakpoints (No conditional yet).
ADDED: Debugger. Various Single Step options.
ADDED: Debugger. Various RUN options.

FIXED: Due to DirectSound, Spud would crash when loading a game after have changed rendering method.
FIXED: Border drawing routines were being called more often than required.
FIXED: More obscure bugs in the Z80 core.
FIXED Lots of little bugs than I can't remember."

Source

StepMania SSC v1.2.5

"20110329
--------
* [ScreenEdit] Changed sample playback button to L. [AJ]
* [ScreenGameplay] Announcers say combo messages again. [AJ]

20110402
--------
* Fix a crash (issue 247) when exiting Practice mode from dance-solo, dance-threepanel, and popn-nine (all of which can only have one player). If you find any other modes this crashes on, let us know. [AJ]

20110405
--------
* [ScreenEdit] Allow modifying the #DISPLAYBPM traits in the editor. Look in Edit Song Info to find it. [Wolfman2000]

20110413
--------
* [ScreenSelectMusic] Made score frame into an AutoActor, changed the filename from "score frame p1" to "ScoreFrame P1" for consistency with other elements. [AJ]

20110416
--------
* [PlayerOptions] Added UsingReverse() Lua binding (automatically tests GetReverse() == 1) [AJ]
* [PlayerState] Added GetCurrentPlayerOptions() Lua binding [AJ]

20110420
--------
* [CourseContentsList] Fix a crash. [AJ]

20110421
--------
* [ScreenSelectMusic] Changed "Percent Frame p1" to "PercentFrame P1" for consistency. [AJ]
* [LifeMeterBattery] Convert Frame to an AutoActor. [AJ]
* [ScreenEvaluation] Added RollingNumbersClass metric, allowing for the ability to change which RollingNumbers class is loaded. [AJ]
* [ScreenGameplay] Added SongNumberFormat metric. [AJ]

20110422
--------
* [Banner] Added ScrollSpeedDivisor metric; controls the scroll speed of Random/Roulette banners. [AJ]
* [FadingBanner] Added BannerRoulette, BannerRandom, and Banner(Custom Item Name) commands. [AJ]

20110423
--------
* [CourseLoaderCRS] Fixed loading of Player's Best/Most Played courses, probably others too. [AJ]
* [ScreenGameplaySyncMachine] Fixed a crash when entering ScreenGameplaySyncMachine as Player 2. (Fixes issue 127) [AJ]
* [ScreenOptionsEditCourse] Fixed a crash when going to the first row. (Fixes issue 235) [AJ]
* [SongManager] Added GetCourseGroupNames Lua binding. [AJ]

20110428
--------
* [BeginnerHelper] Various changes: [AJ]
* Changed Player_#X/Y metrics to Player#X/Y metrics for consistency.
* Converted the background to an AutoActor.
* [BPMDisplay] Added SetFromSong Lua binding. [AJ]

20110430
--------
* [ScreenOptions] Renamed "ScreenOptions LineHighlight" to "ScreenOptions LineHighlight P#", making it load per-player. [AJ]
* [OptionRow] Added Text param to RefreshMessageCommand. [AJ]
* [ScreenOptions] Added SelectMultipleMessageCommand, ChangeValueMessageCommand. [AJ]
* [UnlockEntry] Added GetCourse, GetCode Lua bindings. [AJ]
* [UnlockManager] Added UnlockRequirement_NumUnlocked enum. [AJ]
* [Song] Added Origin (#ORIGIN tag in .ssc) [AJ]
* [UnlockManager] Added GetPoints(UnlockRequirement), GetPointsForProfile(Profile,UnlockRequirement) Lua bindings. [AJ]
* [Course] Added #SCRIPTER tag and GetScripter Lua binding. [AJ]"

Source

Vba-ReRecording v24 (r367)

"r367
Fixed the problem that fast-forward didn't work introduced on rev362.

Notes:
* The timing of GBx games in this version is different from that in the 23.x series.
* There are known emulation bugs in some games.
* Savestates are incompatible with, but cannot be distinguished fom those made with previous versions. Avoid confusion on your own."

Source

Cinoth Ciano's iDeaS Plugin

"Welcome in my home page. Im developer and I like the emu as iDeaS. Im working on Microphone and on WiFi Plugins.
Below you can find the Microphone Plugin is the first release but it works well. Sometimes you need enable it by the checkbox in the properties page, example when you load a savestate.

Finally Lino release me the Audio's Plugin source, here's my first version."

Source

Dolphin texcache-rewrite SVN r7509

"r7509
texcache-rewrite: DX9 support.

Please test DX9 and give feedback about the performance. For me, it's faster in most cases, but slower in some situations involving paletted textures. Every time the palette changes, it has to re-decode the texture to graphics memory. The DX11 backend has a shader in place to handle palettes on the GPU, but the other backends still de-palettize on the CPU.

EFB RAM copies are...still somewhat broken. You'll see if you try it.

Still to come: fix EFB RAM copies; virtual EFB copies for OGL and DX9."

Source

VisualBoyAdvance-M SVN r1014

"r1014
should fix GS codes that don't work on games which use lcd interrupts instead of vblank

thanks unmacaque"

Source

DOSBox SVN r3707

"r3707
less is more"

Source


Dolphin SVN r7511

"r7510
UpdateAudioDMA() fix/revert -> fixes Rayman 3/Smugglers Run with LLE, + small optimization for lleint/llejit32
r7511
Trying to fix mixer problem when AIsrc is @48kHz, should fix games like All Star Baseball 2004/
XGRA Extreme-G Racing Association/Conduit 2... Enabled 48kHz output for LLE (before it was just 32kHz). I hope it works, if there are serious problems, it will be reverted."

Source

Ootake v2.52

"- The volume setting processing of the wave memory sound chip was brought
close to the movement of a real machine. In "Hanii in the Sky", when the
game was paused, the problem that the noise rings was solved.
- "Caputure" menu was added. Input-Recording function, Screenshot function
and WAV-Sound Output function was moved from "File" menu to this menu. I
think "AVI-Movie Output function" will be added here in the near future.
- The speed and timing were brought close to the movement of a real machine.
In the opening demo of "Wrestle Angels", the problem that the screen
disappeared (generated by a recent version) was solved. In the Quest
mode of "Fainal Lap Twin", when the hero enters the house in continent,
the problem that the screen has fallen into disorder by one frame was
solved.
- Additionally, a detailed part has been improved and corrected.
+ In East Japan, many people died by the earthquake and the tsunami. May
they rest in peace. We Japanese have expressed gratitude for help of the
all over the world. We revive without fail. Thanks.
+ I began Twitter. (Japanese language)
http://twitter.com/kitao_n

* The happiness of the game is the world human race commonness. It longs for
peace.
* I think that it cannot do improvement & correction of the above-mentioned
if there are many neither operation report nor defect report. Thank you
really for you who reported."

Source

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