0.53 2001/08/12 [#110 - Nicola Salmoria] ---------------------------------------- We have abandoned the "beta" numbering scheme, which was becoming pointless. The current version is 0.53 because 0.36 (the last "non-beta" release) + .16 (the number of "beta" releases since then) = 0.52. New games supported: -------------------- Aqua Jack [David Graves] Battle Shark [David Graves] Big Run [Luca Elia] Chase HQ [David Graves] Continental Circus [David Graves] Dirt Fox Double Axle [David Graves] Funky Jet [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Hasamu [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Kengo [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Magical Crystals [Luca Elia] Mahjong Doukyuusei [Luca Elia] Mahjong Doukyuusei Special [Luca Elia] Mahjong Yuugi [Takahiro Nogi] Mazinger Z [Luca Elia, Nicola Salmoria] Mighty Guy [Victor Trucco] Night Striker [David Graves] Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon [Luca Elia, Nicola Salmoria] Sand Scorpion [Luca Elia] Sokonuke Taisen Game [Luca Elia] Sotsugyo Shousho [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Special Criminal Investigation [David Graves] Super Real Mahjong Part 3 [Takahiro Nogi] Ultra Tank [Phil Stroffolino] World Grand Prix 2 [David Graves] New clones supported: --------------------- Astro Flash (= Transformer) Boulder Dash (Japan) Camel Try (US, alt sound) Chelnov (World) Don Doko Don (US) Gingateikoku No Gyakushu (bootleg, set 2) Great 1000 Miles Rally (USA) Klax (2 prototypes) Omega (= The End) Pit Fighter (bootleg) Point Blank (= Gun Bullet) Robocop (Japan) Robocop (World rev 4) Robocop 2 (World, Japan) Super Real Darwin (World) Swimmer (set 3) Thunder Fox (World) Twin Hawk (= Daisenpu) Twin Hawk (World) Up'n Down (encrypted) Removed: -------- - 'Speak & Rescue' bootleg (stratvxb): Identical to 'Speak & Rescue' with copyright notice removed [Nicola Salmoria]. These drivers have improved GRAPHICS: ------------------------------------- - Fixed background in 'Bioship Paladin' [Nicola Salmoria]. - Fixed colors in 'Berlin Wall" [Nicola Salmoria]. - Fixed colors in 'Major Title 2' [Nicola Salmoria]. - Fixed radar display in 'Aztarac' [Mathis Rosenhauer]. - Fixed some issues in Taito B system games [Nicola Salmoria]. - Fixed some protection related issues in 'Sunset Riders' [Nicola Salmoria]. - Real shadows in 'Cisco Heat' and 'F1 Grand Prix Star' [Luca Elia]. - Real shadows in some Konami games ('88 Games', 'Chequered Flag', 'X-Men', 'Asterix', 'Surprise Attack', 'Sunset Riders', etc.) [Nicola Salmoria]. - Real shadows in some SNK games ('Ikari Warriors', 'Victory Road', etc.) [David Haywood]. These drivers have improved SOUND: ---------------------------------- - Decrypted the sound CPU in "Gunforce', 'Blade Master', 'Lethal Thunder', 'Undercover Cops', 'Mystic Riders', 'Major Title 2', 'Hook', 'R-Type Leo', 'In the Hunt', and 'Perfect Soldiers' [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria]. - Fixed a EX550x bug that caused Taito F3 and Incredible Tech games to sound bad [Aaron Giles]. Source changes: -------------------- - Added support for the target data extracted from the laserdisc to 'MACH 3' [Fabrice Frances]. - Decrypted the original 'Popeye' [Nicola Salmoria]. - Fixed Free Play mode in "Galaga' [Scott Brasington]. - Fixed the protection in the original 'Robocop' [Bryan McPhail]. - Fixed the remaining issues in 'Slapstic' emulation [Aaron Giles]: * 'Pit Fighter' works to the end. * 'Rampart' works to the end. * 'Tetris' now uses the slapstic code. - The Windows port is now called "MAME" (instead of "MAMEW"). The DOS port is called "DMAME" [Nicola Salmoria]. - [Windows] CLI improvements [Paul Priest, Bernd Wiebelt]: * Config option for steadykey (default: OFF). * Parse debug.ini in debug builds. * mamew \anywhere\roms\pacman.zip works. * Improved -log option. * MAME will now parse argv[0].ini instead of mame.ini. i.e. if the mame executable is called "m37b17.exe" it will parse m37b17.ini instead of mame.ini. - [DOS] Support for C64/Atari/Sinclair joysticks connected via DB9 or Turbografix interface [Aley Keprt]. - Big changes to the palette system. 8-bit modes are no longer supported, only 16-bit ones are used. 8-bit support may be removed from the OS dependant code; the core will never ask for an 8-bit deep screen. 8-bit bitmaps could still be used though [Nicola Salmoria]. - IMPORTANT CHANGE FOR PORTERS: the OS dependant code is now required to guarantee, in 16-bit palettized mode, that Machine->pens[i] == i. The "pens" argument to osd_allocate_colors() will be NULL, actually it has been renamed "rgb_components" since direct RGB modes are the only ones that will pass that argument [Nicola Salmoria]. - MachineDriver.color_table_len can now be 0, meaning that the colortable is a 1:1 mapping from the palette. Note that you CANNOT use this feature if you use TRANSPARENCY_COLOR; but of course, if you need TRANSPARENCY_COLOR you'll not have a 1:1 colortable [Nicola Salmoria]. - New flags VIDEO_HAS_SHADOWS and VIDEO_HAS_HIGHLIGHTS that automatically extend the palette creating a darker(brighter copy for shadows handling. palette_set_shadow_factor() and palette_set_highlight_factor() allow to control the adjustment to apply (shadow can be > 1.0, making it an highlight, and highlight can be < 1.0 making it a shadow - the names are just conventional) [Nicola Salmoria]. - New function auto_malloc(); this is the same as malloc(), but the memory is automatically freed when the driver exits [Aaron Giles]. - New function palette_set_brightness(), allowing selective control of palette brightness independently of the palette RAM contents [Nicola Salmoria]. - New function tilemap_draw_roz() [Phil Stroffolino]. - osd_bitmap.line is now a void ** to prevent confusion [Nicola Salmoria]. - Palette compression has been removed. palette_recalc(), palette_transparent_pen and palette_used_colors[] are not available anymore. Drivers that relied on PALETTE_COLOR_TRANSPARENT for transparency effects must be rewritten to implement them differently. As a result of this, all games using the Taito TC0480SCP video chip, and all Taito F3 games, are broken in this release [Nicola Salmoria]. - Remove VIDEO_MODIFIES_PALETTE and the "modifiable" parameter from osd_allocate_colors() [Nicola Salmoria]. - tilemap_update() is gone. Everything is handled by tilemap_draw() [Nicola Salmoria].