seven years, plus lots of info [Ashura, mek1, wushu, Starscream the 2nd, cpt. Misumaru Tenchi,
SuperDeadite, Anna Wu, Fabio Priuli]
Disks do not work in current MESS (and DIM format has not been converted yet to modern), but I was tired to
sit on these with risk to lose backup...
Huge thanks go to the Tokugawa Boards guys who helped tracking some disks which were very hard to find
-mc1502: FDC xtal freq is 16 MHz
-pc, ec1841: unbreak DBG_LOG macro
-asst128: another PC XT clone
-ec1841: add softlist, set 'v2' as default BIOS to avoid resets
fixed shortnames and descriptions where needed, improved parent/clone relationships, made better use of
part_id features in multidisk sets. Also, re-ordered sets in ZX softlist. [Anonymous, Fabio Priuli]
out of whatsnew: I have temporarily marked as unsupported the Atari ST disks since the majority does not seem
to load and/or being playable. per-game tests will be done soon, so to give the correct status to each entry.
for the record (and to acknowledge credits where it's due), most work came from the same external contributor
who cleaned up our a2600 list in the past, with some intervention by myself here and there...
based on nointro pictures [LoganB]
(MESS) svmu.c: changed input mappings to be more standard [LoganB]
also, LoganB has updated the support status of snes_strom.xml saving me the time to test
them again :)
improved FFE mappers (I'd be more interested into actually emulating the copier but this is
all we got at the moment...) . nw.
Also, backing up some wip code for other pcbs that still does not produce any useful result.
state [Fabio Priuli]
(MESS) nes.c: improved Taito LROG017 emulation (mapper 77), promoting Napoleon Senki to working
state [Fabio Priuli]
(MESS) nes.c: added emulation of the Sachen SA-9602B pcb used by Mei Shao Nv Meng Gong Chang,
a chinese port of Princess Maker by Sachen, based on the great work done by Cah4e3 in FCEUMM
[Fabio Priuli]
out of whatsnew: this change also moves the summary of known issues in the appropriate source files
(some pirate and multigame cart issues have to be rechecked, due to the amount of changes done since
they were last checked, so I will add them back after a few test)
- converted carts, mappers and pcbs to use slot devices
- fixed starting of Famicom, Famicom Twin and Dr. PCJr
- fixed handling of "no disk" in FDS so that the system displays Mario and Luigi
jumping around as expected
- added AY8910 sound to Sunsoft-5B (Gimmick JPN sfx)
- added YM2413 to VRC-7 (Lagrange Point OST)
- added support for recorded samples to Jaleco sport titles and to Bandai Family Trainer
Aerobics Studio, thanks to notes by hap and egoh, and recordings by Pongbashi
(samples are needed because these games use a currently undumpable speech chip)
- added support for NES-EVENT pcb used by Nintendo World Championship 1990,
including dipswitches
- added support for Galoob Game Genie real usage (in addition to the codes which
Puggsy added to his cheat collections): when you load ggenie, a second cartslot
becomes available to load another game attached to the cheat device (e.g. with
"mess.exe nes -cart ggenie -cart2 smb") and you can enter the cheat codes as in a
real NES
- added support for Nantettatte!! Baseball lock-on mechanism, based on the tests
performed by naruko on his carts: when you load nantbb, a second cartslot
becomes available to load one of the two update minicarts (91 Hen or OB Hen)
- improved emulation of Namcot 163, 175 and 340 boards, based on the tests
performed by naruko, lidnariq and bootgod on the real hardware
- moved Nantettatte!! Baseball minicarts to a separate list (nes_ntbrom.xml) because
they cannot be loaded in the NES directly, but only through the nantbb subslot
- emulated bus conflict (CPU/PRG) in PCBs documented as having it
- partial emulation of open bus, enough to make working the games using it as a sort
of protection
- fixed crash when loading files using FFE mappers
- fixed mirroring in some boards (Sunsoft DCS and UNL-CC-21) and in some games
(e.g. Paris Dakar Rally Special and Escape from Atlantis)
- fixed a few bugs in Tengen 800032 emulation (mapper 64), promoting Klax, Xybots
and Road Runner to work state
- fixed Tengen 800037 emulation (mapper 158), promoting US Alien Syndrome to work
state
- added working emulation of many bootleg pcbs used for pirate conversions from FDS
(Ai Senshi Nicol, Doki Doki Panic, Fuuun Shaolin Kyo, Green Beret, Monty no Doki
Doki Daidassou, Tobidase Daisakusen, Super Mario Bros Malee 2 / Genius Merio Bros...)
- improved emulation of many pirate pcb (BMC-GOLDENCARD-6IN1, KS7013B,
KS7012, BMC-GHOSTBUSTERS63IN1, UNL-MALISB, MAXI15 and more...)
- improved RacerMate Challenge II emulation, but the game is still not working due to
unemulated bicycle controller
- added CPU-based IRQ mode in Tengen 800032 emulation (mapper 64), fixing
Skulls & Crossbones gfx (but the game is still not working)
- fixed many small inaccuracies in the old code, spot during the conversion
- added support for most other known pcbs, even if in most cases emulation is only
sketchy
- reduced the need of fake alt pbcs for boards which only differed by mirroring handling
(these are now recognized through the "mirroring" feature)
- removed fake wram which was added to a lot of partially documented pcbs and
re-added it only where actually present, so to more accurately document what was
really in the carts
Out of whatsnew: There's still a lot to do (e.g. to clean up the implementation of the pirate pcbs)
but I hope that submitting this now I can get some wider testing help so to catch and fix regressions
before next release :)
