0.53 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. These drivers have improved GRAPHICS: ------------------------------------- - Fixed background in Bioship Paladin. [Nicola Salmoria] - Fixed some issues in Taito B system games. [Nicola Salmoria] - 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] - Real shadows in Cisco Heat and F1 Grand Prix Star. [Luca Elia] - Fixed some protection related issues in Sunset Riders. [Nicola Salmoria] - Fixed colors in Major Title 2. [Nicola Salmoria] - Fixed colors in Berlin Wall. [Nicola Salmoria] - Fixed radar display in Aztarac. [Mathis Rosenhauer] 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] Other drivers changes: ---------------------- - Fixed the remaining issues in Slapstic emulation. - Pit Fighter works to the end - Rampart works to the end - Tetris now uses the slapstic code [Aaron Giles] - Fixed the protection in the original Robocop. [Bryan McPhail] - Decrypted the original Popeye. [Nicola Salmoria] - Fixed Free Play mode in Galaga. [Scott Brasington] - Added support for the target data extracted from the laserdisc to MACH 3. [Fabrice Frances] Changes to the main program: ---------------------------- - The Windows port is now called "MAME" (instead of "MAMEW"). The DOS port is called "DMAME". - [Windows] CLI improvements: * 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 [Paul Priest, Bernd Wiebelt] - [DOS] Support for C64/Atari/Sinclair joysticks connected via DB9 or Turbografix interface. [Aley Keprt] Source: ------- - 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. - 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. - tilemap_update() is gone. Everything is handled by tilemap_draw(). - 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. - Remove VIDEO_MODIFIES_PALETTE and the "modifiable" parameter from osd_allocate_colors(). - 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 palette_set_brightness(), allowing selective control of palette brightness independently of the palette RAM contents. [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. - New function tilemap_draw_roz(). [Phil Stroffolino] - New function auto_malloc(); this is the same as malloc(), but the memory is automatically freed when the driver exits. [Aaron Giles] - osd_bitmap.line is now a void ** to prevent confusion. New games supported: -------------------- Mazinger Z [Luca Elia, Nicola Salmoria] Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon [Luca Elia, Nicola Salmoria] Sokonuke Taisen Game [Luca Elia] Mahjong Doukyuusei [Luca Elia] Mahjong Doukyuusei Special [Luca Elia] Big Run [Luca Elia] Magical Crystals [Luca Elia] Sand Scorpion [Luca Elia] Continental Circus [David Graves] Chase HQ [David Graves] Battle Shark [David Graves] Special Criminal Investigation [David Graves] Night Striker [David Graves] Aqua Jack [David Graves] Double Axle [David Graves] World Grand Prix 2 [David Graves] Super Real Mahjong Part 3 [Takahiro Nogi] Mahjong Yuugi [Takahiro Nogi] Funky Jet [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Sotsugyo Shousho [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Hasamu [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Kengo [Bryan McPhail, Nicola Salmoria] Dirt Fox Mighty Guy [Victor Trucco] Ultra Tank [Phil Stroffolino] New clones supported: --------------------- Astro Flash (= Transformer) Twin Hawk (= Daisenpu) Omega (= The End) Gingateikoku No Gyakushu (bootleg, set 2) Point Blank (= Gun Bullet) Robocop 2 (World, Japan) Don Doko Don (US) Thunder Fox (World) Camel Try (US, alt sound) Robocop (World rev 4) Chelnov (World) Twin Hawk (World) Swimmer (set 3) Boulder Dash (Japan) Robocop (Japan) Great 1000 Miles Rally (USA) Super Real Darwin (World) Pit Fighter (bootleg) Klax (2 prototypes) Up'n Down (encrypted) Removed: -------- Speak & Rescue bootleg (identical to Speak & Rescue with copyright notice removed)