New working software list additions (x68k_flop.xml)
--------------------------------------------
Last Force - The Virtual Battle in 1930's (1993)(Hong Kong Project) [Shentok on archive.org]
Xadlak Plus (1996)(Sprite) [danielham on archive.org]
Started fixing #include guards that don't match the file path. There
are still plenty more in src/devices, but it's a start. When there are
none left in src/devices and src/mame, a CI task can be added to catch
them.
New working software list additions (x68k_flop.xml)
-----------------------------------
Be Rain [Shentok]
Akazukin Cha Cha no Chotto dake yo - Otameshi Plus Alpha ver 0.53 [Shentok]
Prote Pruste [Tahiti Cartago]
New working software list additions
-----------------------------------
Armored Trooper Votoms - Dead Ash [krugman]
Die Bahnwelt [krugman]
First Crisis - Ma-Jin no Toubou (v1.00) [krugman]
Knight Arms - The Hyblid Framer [krugman]
Star Cruiser [krugman]
Gaudi - Barcelona no Kaze [krugman]
Hanafuda Hourouki [krugman]
New not working software list additions
---------------------------------------
Continental [krugman]
Laplace no Ma [krugman]
Video Game Anthology Vol. 2 - Atomic Runner Chelnov [krugman]
Software list items promoted to working
---------------------------------------
Die Bahnwelt (cracked) [crazyc]
Replaced software list items
----------------------------
Pretty Doll [krugman]
One of the first Sonic fan games, made by Kiyoshi Sakai of Umihara Kawase fame.
New working software list items
---------------------------
x68k_flop: Mi ni Ikuzo! Hedgehog
-----------------------------------
x68k_flop: Last Tempest (older)
ibm5150.xml: Replaced disk 1 of sq2 with a fresh mfm conversion, the previous one was twice as large as necessary (40 track disk dumped as 80 track). [Justin Kerk]
* megadriv.xml, pce.xml, pcecd.xml, x68k_flop.xml: Added cotroller
support usage notes for a few games.
* pcecd.xml: Noted the required CD-ROM system cards in usage notes,
fixed capitalisation and removed unnecessary markup in descriptions.
* megadriv.xml: Added compatibility tag for gforce2a (broken graphics on
PAL consoles).
CSK Research Institute games on FM Towns don't follow the same sequence
as other games when reading inputs. They depend on the data lines not
being updated for some time after /Ack goes high, and can miss
transitions if the timing is too tight (ironic that 16MHz '386 software
has these issues when the 7MHz 6502 in the PC Engine gets by fine).
This fudges the timings to work with the these buggy games without
breaking the other use cases.
Also for some reason, these games expect an XE-1AP in MD mode with a
Sega controller adapter - they won't work wth an XE-1AP in Personal
Computer mode, and they won't work with the XE-1AJ or its NEC-branded
relative. In MAME you can flip the Interface setting to MD in the
Machine Configuration options without needing to use an adapter device.
* Renamed existing dumps to "cracked".
* Changed some part_ids to reflect the actual disk labels.
* Added usage notes for Death Bringer.
New working software list additions (x68k_flop.xml)
-----------------------------------
Casablanca ni Ai o - Satsujin-sha wa Jikuu o Koete [krugman]
Death Bringer [krugman]
Dome [krugman]
Emerald Dragon [krugman]
Genocide 2 - Master of the Dark Communion [krugman]
Signatory - Chouinsha [krugman]
The Hot File Express (1991-12-24) [krugman]
The Hot File Express (1993-10-28) [krugman]
Tritorn Final [krugman]
Warning Type 68 [krugman]
New not working software list additions (x68k_flop.xml)
---------------------------------------
38 Man Kilo no Kokuu [krugman]
Soft de Hard na Monogatari II [krugman]
* Cleaned up spaces in software list comments.
* megadriv.xml: Improperly indented sharedfeat tag.
* gbcolor.xml: Converted "GBC only" comments into sharedfeat tags.
* a5200.hsi: Fixed a few dispossessed tags.
* Various softlists: Fixed improperly entabulated tags.
* Various softlists: More entabulation fixes.
Also renamed the existing entries to reflect the fact that they are cracked versions.
New working software list additions
-----------------------------------
Detana!! TwinBee [r09]
Video Game Anthology vol. 11 - Pac-Land [cyo.the.vile]
* QA x68k part 1
* pandas automated injection
* Refactor up to E
* Refactored the rest of the notes
* Standardize "this format is multi-disk", standardize drive -> DF#
The free-for-all on labels in software lists is not working. There's no
consistency, labels are getting excessively long, people are starting to
use non-ASCII characters in labels making it harder for others to type
them when manipulating files on the command line, and there's too much
markup being put in labels.
The length limit is 127 characters, same as for labels in MAME itself.
This should be long enough to be descriptive. Remember that the Win32
path limit is 260 characters, and many applications and frameworks have
issues with longer paths, including Windows Explorer and the .NET
framework. Labels are used as filenames, so concessions need to be
made for this.
I have not abbreviated excessively long labels myself - they're
currently causing 135 validity errors. Someone else can fix them.
Printable ASCII characters are allowed, with a few exceptions. The
exceptions are limited to characters most likely to cause issues for
interactive shells and scripts:
* ! - csh event substitution (very difficult to escape properly)
* $ - sh varibale expansion
* % - csh job control, cmd variable expansion
* / - UNIX directory separator
* : - sh path separator, Windows drive qualifier
* \ - sh escape, Windows directory separator
Most of the labels that had to be edited were using ! for markup, or
using ! and % for titles in labels. Strangely, titles in labels are
often forced to lower case, despite this never being enforced for
software lists. There are also various other edits to titles used for
labels, such as moving articles to the end (with or without a comma),
or replacing spaces with underscores. As I already said, there's no
consistency at all.
There is far too much markup in labels. They're even being used for
notes in some cases (e.g. at least one case where a dumper's name is in
the label). The XML schema supports metadata - use it. For example,
you can use part_id for an unrestricted display name for a software
part. You can also use XML comments for notes.
And while on the topic of metadata, vgmplay.xml is putting the same
thing in the part_id as well as the label. The part_id should have
the actual title, not the title mangled to make it more suitable for
use as a filename. Addressing this would be a lot of work, given how
large the file is.
For now, empty data areas in software lists cause a verbose message
rather than a validation warning. There are thousands of software
lists using empty data areas to indicate the size/width of cartridge
RAM/EEPROM/etc.
Get rid of a couple of copies of the CC0 text. Add header comment to
CC0 files to remind people editing them what the terms are. Also add
some missing XML headers. The header comments in layouts won't bloat
the binary - they get stripped out before compressing, same as any other
comments.
