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News from April 1999 | |
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Friday, April 30th, 1999
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New Zaxxon Sample and More:
There's a new Zaxxon sample available on the MAME home page. This
follows up new sound samples of Space Odyssey and Star Trek released
in the past few days by Jim Hernandez. I'm going to be reviewing these
samples as well as the ones on Dirth's site to see which ones I should
have available here. Until then, download these new sets from the
MAME home page at the above link.
RomCenter v1.30 Released:
This is another ROM manager program. This version includes the following
new features:
- 'No good dump known' roms are now shown with three special flags.
- They are correctly handled during merging and repairing process.
- You can now run games directly from RomCenter
- Some bug corrected
Other sites have this file available but it's a bad ZIP file.
Download it from the author's site using the above link.
New KBMAME neogeo.drv File:
Forgot to mention yesterday that to utilize the new Neo-Geo sound
dumps you'll have to use KBMAME and the latest neogeo.drv file which
is available on the M.A.M.E section next to KBMAME. Thanks to
Brywalker for this file.
|
Thursday, April 29th, 1999
|
Improved MAME Sound Samples:
Try out these improved sound samples curtesy of Dirth from
Dirth's World.
Let me know if you think they sound better. If so, I'll replace my
sets with these.
Neocharity Releases Neo-Geo Sound Fixes:
Apollo69 has dumbed the last two Neo-Geo sound ROMs that needed fixing
(Sonic Wings 3 and Real Bout Fatal Fury 1). You can download them from
Neocharity at the above link.
bleem! Arrives!?
Like many of you, I received my bleem! CD "key" yesterday (I
just caught the DHL driver as I was driving away from my old home for
the last time). I didn't get a chance to load it till today and found
that it only contains DirectX 6.1 and a software "key". I know that
bleem! LLC is working frantically building the final software that will
read this CD "key". Please be patient for the next few days while this
is being worked out. Also, all blame should be focused on Sony for
trying to stop shipment of bleem! and forcing the shipping delay and
product availability.
MAME32 Beta 11 Released:
MAME32 v0.35 Beta 11 was released in my absence. You can download it
from the M.A.M.E. section.
Counter Stopped:
When my computer fired back up and I checked the site, I saw that the
counter was broken :( I estimated what the counter would be based on
my last backup, but if anyone knows what it was just before it died
I'd appreciate it. Also, if anyone knows exactly when it died, that
would also help.
Did Tim Die?
Nope. The move took my computer down for a day while I had to tend to
the little things like the stove, fridge, microwave, and other things
that are just about required to live. However, the computer is now
back up in it's new location and updates will return to their normal
frequency.
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Tuesday, April 27th, 1999
|
ClrMame v1.35 Released:
Many people use this utility with great success. I prefer to do it
manually because I fear the program destroying my files. You can
download it from the author's site at the above link.
|
Monday, April 26th, 1999
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MAME FAQ on the Official MAME Page:
After being created and hosted by Shane Monroe from Insert Coin, then
being hosted by Dave's Video Game Classics, it now finds a home at the
official MAME page. This is a great resource for new MAME users and
should be read before trying to contact the authors or site ops. =)
New MAME Sound Samples:
Check out the M.A.M.E. section for new sound samples for MAME. New ones
include Astro Blaster, Eliminator, Space Fury, and Zektor. Be warned,
however, these samples are as big as 5.2MB.
bleem! Ships!?:
I've heard that bleem! will be shipped today and tomorrow. No guarantees,
but you should have bleem by the mid to end of this week. Can't wait.
Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum:
Here's a excellent site with MANY great pics of air sickness bags. Its
got to be the largest site of its kind on the net (it even has a domain).
Some people have the strangest hobbies and interests.
MacMAME v0.35 Beta 11 Released:
MacMAME v0.35 beta 11 has been released to be in sync with the most
recent MAME source. It also includes changes to the InputSprocket
code, internal code cleanup and miscellaneous bug fixes, and various
fixes to the 3D code (it should be more stable now). Download it from
the M.A.M.E. section.
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Sunday, April 25th, 1999
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Updates Anyone?:
Where are the updates? Well, I'm moving which makes it very difficult
to use the computer (or even find it). Then there's the little
problem of no phone line till Tuesday and no ISDN line till like the
10th of next month :-( Oh, well, I'll just have to "slum it" with a
56k dial-up until then.
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Friday, April 23rd, 1999
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Ultimate Patchers Cheats v8.1b Released:
The Ultimate Patchers have released their cheats file v8.1b for MAME.
Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
New MAME History File:
Another history file update for MAME, download from the M.A.M.E section
next to the latest MAME beta.
ArcadeOS & cabMAME Updated:
Brian Lewis has updated his ArcadeOS DOS front-end to version 2.07 and
cabMAME to the beta 11 source. cabMAME adds special video modes if
you are using MAME on an arcade monitor. Download ArcadeOS from the
Front-End section and cabMAME from the M.A.M.E. section.
AMAME/PMAME Beta 11 Asm Versions Released:
The assembly versions of Rodimus Prime's AMAME and PMAME have been
released. Remember, use AMAME if you have a PII or AMD processor and
PMAME if you have a plain Pentium. Download them from the M.A.M.E. section.
|
Thursday, April 22nd, 1999
|
NeoRage-X Released:
Some may enjoy this new release of NeoRage. It's a windows version
that supports sound. I tried it and it works, but MAME seems to run
smoother and the sound is better in MAME too. But, you may experience
different results. Download it from the above link.
PSX Emulator on CNN Front Page:
CNN has even reported the news about the latest round of the Connectix
vs. Sony case. Check out the above link for the complete article.
Thanks to Marco for the link.
Auto-Fire MAME & Source:
Auto-Fire MAME (AFMAME) has been updated to the beta 11 source. Also,
because it's a rule here, the source is also available. Download both
from the M.A.M.E. section. Thanks to Bubble for the file.
AMAME/PMAME Updated to Beta 11:
AMAME and PMAME (C core versions) have been updated to v0.35 beta 11
source. Download them from the M.A.M.E. section. Thanks to
Retrogames
for the files.
Converted MAME Samples On-Line:
MAME v0.35 beta 11 requires all sound samples to be converted to wav
format. They've all been converted and are available on the M.A.M.E.
section. Thanks to
Ace's Arcade & M.A.M.E. Page
for helping converting these files.
Problems Reaching Arcade@Home:
My IP address changed and until all the DNS servers get updated, you
may have problems reaching Arcade@Home. I didn't know about this till
after it happened, so I couldn't warn you. Spread the word that you
can reach Arcade@Home at http://207.153.240.8
If you are having connection problems. It should be resolved for most
of you within an hour or two.
Connectix Ordered to Stop Shipments of CVGS:
Connectix's site now confirms that Sony has won a temporary shipment
suspension of their Virtual Game Station (PSX emulator). Read the
above link for all the details.
Unofficial MAME32 v0.35 Beta 11:
The unofficial MAME32 v0.35 beta 11 has been released. Download it
from the M.A.M.E. section. Thanks to CJC for the file.
|
Wendesday, April 21st, 1999
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MAME v0.35 Beta 11 Released!
MAME v0.35 beta 11 binary is ready for your downloading pleasure (the
binary was compiled by me). It includes 54 new games and many changes
including:
New games supported:
- Prehistoric Isle in 1930 [Bryan McPhail, Carlos A. Lozano]
- Double Dribble [Manuel Abadia]
- Terra Force [Carlos A. Lozano, Phil Stroffolino]
- Armed Formation [Carlos A. Lozano, Phil Stroffolino]
- Wiping [Allard van der Bas]
- Cabal [Carlos A. Lozano, Phil Stroffolino]
- Wonder Momo [Nicola Salmoria, Ernesto Corvi]
- Insector X [Nicola Salmoria]
- Sichuan II (it's 100% emulated, but one ROM is missing so it doesn't work correctly) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Goindol [Jarek Parchanski]
- Vindicators part II [Aaron Giles]
- Ufo Robo Dangar [Carlos A. Lozano]
New clones supported:
- D-Day (Olympia) [Zsolt Vasvari]
- Zaxxon (set 2) [Marco Cassili]
- Eagle (set 2) [Marco Cassili]
- Do! Run Run (set 2) [Marco Cassili]
- Do! Run Run (Do's Castle hardware) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Intrepid (set 2) [Thierry Lescot]
- Super Mouse (set 2) [Thierry Lescot]
- My Hero (Japan) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Green Beret (bootleg) [Mirko Buffoni]
- Punk Shot (4 players) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Block Out (set 2) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Aero Fighters (Turbo Force hardware set 2) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Spiders (set 1) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Last Duel (US set 2) [Byan McPhail]
- Led Storm [Byan McPhail]
- Bubble Bobble (US) [Brad Oliver]
- Rastan (US) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Stratovox (bootleg) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Pac Gal [Victor Trucco]
- Star Wars (revision 2) [Brad Oliver]
- Indiana Jones (set 2) [Aaron Giles]
- Blasteroids (version 4) [Aaron Giles]
- Escape From the Planet of Robot Monsters (set 2) [Aaron Giles]
- Majestic Twelve [Marco Cassili]
- Cosmo Police Galivan (set 2) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Naughty Boy (Jaleco and bootleg) [Brad Oliver]
These drivers have improved GRAPHICS:
- Several fixes and improvements to D-Day. [Zsolt Vasvari]
- Fixed foreground transparency in Pac-Land round 19. [Nicola Salmoria]
- Better backdrop for Battle Zone (bzone.png). [Nathan Sturm]
- Fixed background in Street Fighter 1. [Olivier Galibert]
- Fixed sprite glitches in Jail Break and Iron Horse. [Nicola Salmoria]
- Fixed sprites colors in Galivan. [Nicola Salmoria]
These drivers have new or improved SOUND:
- Support for Eliminator 2/4 player samples and additional sounds for Zektor. [Jim Hernandez]
- Fixed tune in Phoenix. [Richard Davies]
- Added ADPCM samples to Mad Gear. [Bryan McPhail]
Changes to the main program:
- Added support for .wav samples. The custom .sam samples are no longer supported (you can use the sam2wav converter to convert them). [Aaron Giles]
- [DOS] Rough triple buffering support in VESA modes. You can turn it on with the -triplebuffer switch. It is not guaranteed to work well, but if it does, it offers results similar to -waitvsync but without the performance drop. Do NOT use it together with -vsync or -waitvsync. [Nicola Salmoria]
- A missing ROM for which no good dump is known to exist is no longer a fatal error - you can start the emulation even if the file is missing. Its space will be filled with random data. Of course the game will probably malfunction. The output of -verifyroms is slightly changed, it says "NO GOOD DUMP KNOWN" now and doesn't print 00000000 checksums. [Nicola Salmoria]
Source:
- Major overhaul to the Atari games, and fixes to the 68000 and 6502 cores to get them going properly. [Aaron Giles]
Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
MAME v0.35 Beta 11 Almost Ready:
MAME v0.35 beta 11 is being compiled and uploaded right now. I'll be
posting it shortly, stay tuned!
Sony has Won a Temporary Injunction Against Connectix:
This isn't good. It seems that Sony has won another round of it's
battle against Connectix's Virtual Game Station (Mac-based PSX emulator).
Connectix may have to cease distribution temporarily. What's next?
bleem!? I hope they ship bleem! today and tomorrow before the judge
in the bleem! vs. Sony case finds out. Follow the above link to read
all of the details.
bleem! to Ship on Thursday!
The bleem! CDs are being packaged and will be shipped on Thursday! They're
packaging on a first come first serve basis, so if you purchased it
late, it's possible that it won't ship till Friday. It seems that
there were more problems getting bleem! out the door and they'll
discuss this once the shipment is complete.
|
Tuesday, April 20th, 1999
|
The 50 Most Influential People In The Emu Community:
Here's a list of the 50 most influential people in emulation. It's
still being built, but there are already some interesting things to
note. Atila, myself, and JoseQ are not even on the list! And what
about Nicola Salmoria? Nowhere! And The Fox from EmuUnlim.com is #5?
What's up with that! That's what you get from
Exposure 2000 =)
Arcade@Home: 99th Largest Site on the Net:
Wow, check this out. This list ranks sites based on proxy server hits
so EVERY site is included. Arcade@Home is just behind MTV, The X-Files
and Electronic Arts, but just ahead of WCW.com. This list includes the
BIG sites like AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo, AltaVista, and Excite. Amazing.
Pictures of Claire Elizabeth:
Well, here they are. Pictures of my baby girl: Claire Elizabeth
Yeah, I know, her eyes were closed in all these pictures =)
|
Monday, April 19th, 1999
|
New MAME History File:
This new MAME history file includes history on new games like: Exidy
shooters, Atari System 1, Atari System 2, and several more. Download
it from the M.A.M.E. section next to the MAME app.
Dave's Video Game Classics Back Up!
Seems that Dave's Video Game Classics is back up! There's a new URL
so make sure you note it. Use the above link. Good luck Dave!
|
Sunday, April 18th, 1999
|
Raine v0.20 Released:
Raine v0.20 has been released with support for 16 new games. Check out
all the new supported games and the new features on Raine's site at the
above link.
Typo Yesterday:
Oops, left out just one word in yesterday's posting about the Star Wars
room. It changes the meaning dramatically. Scroll down and read it
again. I'm not that big of a geek =)
Dave's Video Game Classics Back Up Maybe Today:
As Dave said this morning:
Things are looking great! The response has been tremendous to say the least. I would like to thank everyone who has
been gracious enough to offer to host this page. The amount of e-mails offering to host us has easily exceeded 100! If
all goes well, we should be back up and running later this afternoon, with a temporary new URL. Keep checking back
as the new page location will be announced here.
Hope to see you back up soon Dave!
ClrMame V1.34 Released:
This version includes the following new features:
- new -listinfo parser (necessary for the upcoming mame releases)
- clrmame corrects wrong mame-information (e.g. the rodland problem)
Remember, this program screws with your ROM files, so you may want
to run it on a backup set of ROMs. It's available from the author's
site at the above link.
|
Saturday, April 17th, 1999
|
What a Slow Day:
Well, I was waiting for a slow day to post these pictures. If anyone
thinks they are a Star Wars fan, they should first check out the room
dedicated to Star Wars at my brother's house. =)
All 4 walls are covered floor to ceiling with Star Wars stuff. Many
are setup in scenes. Then there's the glass cabinet with almost 300
mint figures. Did you notice the color of the ceiling? (it's Imperial
Blue) Try and top that! =)
Squashed Bug Zoo:
Here's an interesting site. Make sure you send in your contributions!
There's got to be a road kill zoo as well, maybe someone could send me
the link. =)
|
Friday, April 16th, 1999
|
Flyer and Poster Archive Updated:
The Flyer and Poster Archive has been updated to version 2.4. This
release includes 22 new pictures and 9 replaced ones for a total of 570.
Download it from their site at the above link.
Dave's Looking for a New Host:
Seems that Dave is looking for a new host for Dave's Video Game Classics.
Click on the above link to read his message. Thanks to JJDEMU for the
news.
Dave's Looking for a New Host:
Seems that Dave is looking for a new host for Dave's Video Game Classics.
Click on the above link to read his message.
New bleem! Demo (Build 21372W):
There's a new bleem! demo that's faster and plays more games. Newly
supported games include Castlevalia, Tomb Raider 2, and Street Fighter
Collection. Also, it's even further optimized so the play is even
faster. Download it from the bleem! section.
Dave's Classics to Return:
It seems that Dave's Video Game Classics WILL return. He posted
a message that reads:
Maybe this is appropriate this message is posted on tax day, who knows. :P Anyway, for those of you who are
wondering if the page is dead because it doesn't resolve, this is not the case. There have been network tweaks
going on with the folks at UGO, so the DNS has been having problems for the last day or so, and at the time of
this message posting (About 4:30pm PDT -7 hr GMT), it still is. Expect the site to resolve again hopefully later
tonight, or early tommorow morning. Also, you will see a new message regarding the status of the page, for
those of you who are still interesting in knowing whats going on. From what I have been told, the new status
message will either be up later tonight, or most likely tommorow morning. For those wondering if the page will
ever come back, rest assured that the page will return, in some form or another. I gave serious consideration to
just saying forget this entire thing and quitting. However, because of all the encouraging e-mails I have received,
it really made me understand how much the page is appreciated and why the page was created in the first
place. To bring back all these old, blocky graphic video games that everyone from the last 10-20 years or so
enjoyed so much. Please makes sure you bookmark, or add this page to your favorites list. When there is any
news as to what is or will happen with the page, it will most likely be posted here first.
-Dave
Good luck Dave! Thanks to John B. for the news.
|
Thursday, April 15th, 1999
|
Fake Picture of the Sony PSX2:
It seems that the picture of the PSX2 is a fake. It's a good one, but
a fake none the less.
ClrMame V1.33 Released:
This version includes the following new features:
- Fixed bug: Weird bug while scanning the backupfolder for missing roms/samples. Big thanks go out to: Si Owen and Chad Hurwitz for finding this bug and helping me to fix it!
- Correct handling of merge-modes when restoring roms/samples from the backupfolder
- You can minimize the windows while scanning
- You can disable the nerving 'Mame Executable found in...' messagebox. Take a look in the systemmenu (click on the yellow smilie)
- Fastscan isn't enabled if you have stopped a previous scan
Remember, this program screws with your ROM files, so use at your
own risk. It's available from the author's site at the above link.
bleem! to Ship This Week:
Confirmation that bleem! will ship this week. From #bleem:
"Yes it will ship! Sometime this week." #bleem is the official
bleem! IRC channel run by the bleem! staff.
Picture of the Sony PSX2:
Here's a picture of the new PSX2. Don't know if it's for real, but it
seems authentic. Check it out for yourself.
|
Wednesday, April 14th, 1999
|
UltraHLP v2.4 Released:
UltraHLP v2.4 adds the following new features to UltraHLE:
- Better two player support (more controller configurations e.g.: two joysticks) !!!!!!
- Death Zone regulator (joystick calibration)
- Supports up to 16 buttons
- Full customization of all keys and buttons (all 16) !!!
- Free setting of keyboard sensitivity
- Joystick check tool (which button on your pad is which in UltraHLE)
- Mouse support (using the new debug command "mouse")
- Free camera moving using the numpad
- Fixed some bugs, like "Mario can´t jump high"-bug
- Increased speed (depends on your system)
- Works with nearly every version (frantic,etc.)
- FULL Debug screen (complete list of all debug commands)
- Free resolution changing
Download it from the N64 - UltraHLE section.
HotRod Arcade PC:
From the makers of the HotRod Joystick comes a pre-built arcade cabinet.
This cabinet features an interchangable, hot swapable control panel,
miniture design for fitting into small spaces, 19" Wells-Gardner arcade
monitor with SVGA interface, all real arcade parts, lighted marquee and
much more! Check it out at the above link.
Thanks for Everything:
Thanks for all your wonderful e-mails congratulating us on the new
addition to our family. I printed them out and my wife read
through them all (there were well over 100). Also, thanks go out to
Emulators Unlimited and
Retrogames
for making baby announcements on their sites.
Hasbro Licenses 11 Namco Titles:
Hasbro Interactive secured a licensing agreement with Namco Ltd.
today that will allow the company to develop, publish and distribute
interactive games based on 11 Namco properties. These preoperties
include Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and multiple hardware
platform rights to Galaga, Galaxian and Pole Position, among others.
Hasbro Interactive's first games based on the Namco properties will
be available in the fall of 2000, coinciding with Pac-Man's 20th
anniversary.
Hasbro Interactive will debut a full line of action games at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo in May. Among the planned fall
releases are all-new, 3D versions of Pong, Tetris and Missile
Command.
Thanks to Game Over Online Magazine for the news.
MacMAME v0.35 Beta 10 Released:
MacMAME v0.35 beta 10 includes the following new features:
- In sync with DOS 0.35 beta 10. [Brad Oliver]
- The PowerPC CPU cores continue their march towards bug-free nirvana. [Aaron Giles]
- MacMAME now supports stretched and blurred blitting using 3D hardware. To be specific, you can choose between
Glide, OpenGL and RAVE for all your 3D needs. Please read the file "3D Hardware and MacMAME" in the
Documentation folder for a list of bugs and more info. [Brad Oliver, Andreas Varga]
- Some goofiness while pausing/unpausing is now fixed. [John Butler]
- The debugger has been sped up a great deal. [John Butler, Ernesto Corvi]
- The "Stereo" checkbox in the front-end works now. [John Butler]
- You can now use InputSprocket to control mice and trackballs, but this is optional. Be careful if you do - if a dialog
pops up while the mouse is under the control of InputSprocket, you will be mouseless. [Brad Oliver]
Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
XMAME v0.35 Beta 10.2 Released:
Another day, another version of XMAME... This version includes the
following new fixes:
- Fixed a bug in the config parsing code which caused core dumps at
start on most non x86 platforms.
- Changed the way the makefile handles the generated c-files for the
m68000 c-core. Now it also works with compilers which don't like
object files with an unusual suffix (.og instead of .o).
Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
|
Tuesday, April 13th, 1999
|
New Arcade Fanatic: Claire Elizabeth:
Wy wife had a baby girl yesterday at 12:52pm. 19 inches, 6 lbs., 9 oz.
(I guessed the weight exactly correct for both of our children: ph34r
m3). Both mommy and the baby are doing great. We'll all be home
tomorrow where things can return to normal with Arcade@Home. Thanks to
everyone who send be wishes e-mails. My wife and I appreciated them.
I'll be posting a picure in a few days.
MAME32 v0.35 Beta 10 Released:
MAME32 v0.35 beta 10 (Windows 9x/NT version of MAME) has been released.
This brings it up to date with the DOS version. Download it from the
M.A.M.E. section.
KBMAME v9 Released:
KBMAME v9 (the Neo-Geo only version of MAME with additional features)
has been released. This version includes the following new features:
- Added programmable combos (see combo.txt for details)
- Added -nosfix to remove foreground graphics layer
- Added RASTER option to dynamic driver
- Added autofire delay option in dip switch menu (for games lke Mslug)
- Save states more stable now
- Misc. code tweaks and bugfixes
You can download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
Battle Zone Background Art Updated:
MAME's Battle Zone background art has been updated. It's not much
cleaner and gives a larger playing area. Download it from the M.A.M.E.
section.
XMAME v0.35 Beta 10.1 Released:
XMAME (the X11/Unix version of MAME) was released a few days ago (while
I was busy doing other things =) You can download it from the M.A.M.E.
section.
|
Sunday, April 11th, 1999
|
Going to the Hospital:
My wife's water just broke. I'm going to the hospital and won't be
able to make any updates for a few days. For emulation news and
downloads, please visit:
Retrogames &
Emulation Sphere.
Wish us luck! =)
|
Saturday, April 10th, 1999
|
UltraHLE on a Voodoo3 Card:
It seems that you CAN run UltraHLE on your Voodoo3 card by using the
Banshee's glide2x.dll instead of the Voodoo3 version. You can download
the Banshee reference drivers from 3dfx's site at the above link.
Thanks to Dave Moorhead for the information.
New Episode of Back In Time:
This episode of Back In Time includes an interview with Dana Henry,
Director of Public Relations for Hasbro Interactive. The interview
covers a number of subjects with a focus on classic gamers, arcade
emulation and the IDSA. There are also a couple of exclusive
announcements on future products, one of which includes an emulator to
be released this summer. The entire episode is just over an hour, so
find a comfortable chair.
cabMAME v0.35 Beta 10 Released:
cabMAME is a great version of MAME modified by Brian Lewis that supports:
- 13 Arcade Monitor video modes
- 7 NTSC video modes
- SVGA support a 'centerx' option which let's you center the additional modes
- 'waitinterlace' option for interlaced modes lets you play all of MAME's games on a real arcade monitor
Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
|
Friday, April 9th, 1999
|
Apollo69 Releases Breaker's Revenge:
Apollo69 purchased and dumped Breaker's Revenge for his birthday
present to us. What a guy! The KBMAME driver
for this game is also available. Download the game from the Apollo69's
site at the above link.
UltraHLE Not Compatible With Voodoo3:
Looks like 3dfx really screwed things up. Your brand new Voodoo3 cards
won't work correctly with UltraHLE! The only way to get it to work
correctly is to use a Glide wrapper, which 3dfx is trying to snuff out
of existence! 3dfx better fix their drivers quickly or Glide wrappers
may become required for backward compatibility reasons. BTW, it's not
against the Glide SDK to create a wrapper that's intended to be run on
a 3dfx product. Looks like they created a loophole for Glide wrappers
to me =)
bleem!: 1 Sony: 0
Seems that bleem! (a company with three employees and no income till a
few weeks ago) has won the first round of litigation against the
financial giant Sony. You just gotta love it when the little guy wins!
Looks like I'll be getting bleem! in a few days after all. Read the
above link for the complete story.
Flyer & Poster Archive Updated:
The Flyer and Poster Archive has been upgraded to version 2.3. This
version includes 18 new flyers and 6 replaced ones. Download it from
their page at the above link.
Ultimate Patchers Cheats v8.0b:
The Ultimate Patchers have released their MAME cheats file version
8.0b. This version includes new cheats for MAME v0.35 beta 10.
Download it from the M.A.M.E. section. Thanks to Adrox for the news.
Another Sony Vs. bleem! Article:
Another article about Sony trying to block the distribution of bleem! Read
the article at the above link. Thanks to
Retrogames
for the news.
Arcade@Home, Official bleem! Distribution Site:
Arcade@Home is now an official bleem! distribution site. You can be
assured that any copy of bleem! downloaded from Arcade@Home is an
official release and free of any viruses. You can also download bleem!
from their site
using Arcade@Home's server.
3dfx Taking Down Sites:
3dfx is closing down sites that carry glide wrappers. The only wrapper
that supposedly doesn't use 3dfx's SDK is Clide. However, 3dfx may go
after that wrapper for other reasons. You can read all the details at
the above link. Thanks to
Retrogames
for the news.
New 3dfx Voodoo3 Commercial:
Here's an ultra funny 3dfx Voodoo3 commercial called "All White Meat
Chicken". Make sure you download the entire commercial before playing
it. Very funny. Seems that big marketing company (same one who
created the once funny Budweiser "frogs" commercials) knows what they
are doing.
Stop Practicing, It's Showtime!
If you want to be the parent of the first Y2K baby, today's the day
for conception. Please don't e-mail on how it's not 9 months from
January 1st. Pregnancy is 40 weeks from the last cycle or 38 weeks
from conception. Trust me, I know. So stop arguing with me and get
down to business.
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Thursday, April 8th, 1999
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Temporary Restraining Order Against bleem!
Seems that Sony is trying to block bleem! from being shipped on the
10th by imposing a temporary restraining order against bleem! They did
the same thing against Connectix for their Virtual Game Station. They
are scheduled to appear in court on Friday for an initial hearing.
Read all the details at the above link. Thanks to PowerB0Y on IRC for
for the news.
AMAME & PMAME Updated:
Rodimus Prime has updated his AMAME and PMAME compiles to the MAME
v0.35 beta 10 source. Both the C and the assembly cores are available.
Please note that AMAME should be used for PII, PIII & AMD CPUs while
PMAME should only be used for Pentium CPUs (non-PII/PIII). Download
these from the M.A.M.E. section.
New MAME History File:
The history file included with beta 10 doesn't work. An updated
history file is available on the M.A.M.E. section next to the beta 10
binary download.
ArcadeOS v2.06 Released:
ArcadeOS (the best DOS front-end for MAME) has been updated to v2.06.
This version includes the following new features:
- Now supports use of alternative screen shots
Based on the Arcade@Home idea, you specify an extra
altss entry in MAME.CFG (i.e. altss=flyers) to indicate
the directory of the alternative screen shots.
Alternative screen shots can be selected to display
in none/one or more of the following situations:-
- When scrolling through the list
- When running a game
- When displaying game info
- Vector games can now automatically be copied to a custom list
- Added 4 more custom lists per emulator
- Updated for cabMAME's new -arcade option to select arcade monitor modes
- Updated for the removal of cabMAME's 'half' option
- Updated for cabMAME's new 'waitinterlace' option
- Updated for cabMAME's additional video modes
Download it from the Front-Ends section.
MAME v0.35 Beta 10 Released!
This version adds 9 new games to bring the total to 1263 emulated games.
New games include:
- Shooting Master (not working due to protection) [Nicola Salmoria]
- Senjyo [Mirko Buffoni]
- Star Cruiser (preliminary) [Frank Palazzolo]
- RodLand (Japan) [Luca Elia]
- Earth Defense Force [Luca Elia]
- Avenging Spirit [Luca Elia]
- Disco No.1 [Zsolt Vasvari]
Also, a new "kbmame" multi-button key equivalents for the NeoGeo games.
(They are only available if cheats are enabled). This binary was
compiled by me. Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
Fear Microsoft:
If it wasn't bad enough that Microsoft is thinking of charging for
Windows 98 bug fixes, it also seems they are monitoring us from
satellites. What kind of privacy is that? To throw my privacy out the
window, here are satellite photos of every place I've lived:
Well, maybe this site is fun to play with.
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Wednesday, April 7th, 1999
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Glide Underground Contacted by 3dfx Lawyers:
It seems that the Glide Underground has been contacted by 3dfx and has
taken some of their files off-line. 3dfx claims that their Glide 2.x
SDK was used to develop these Glide emulators. Their lawyers claim
you can't use the Glide SDK to develop emulators for third party
graphics hardware. Could this be the reason for Dave's site being
shut down? I knew there was a reason I didn't add Glide wrappers to
my site. Thanks to
Zophar's Domain
for the news.
Ignore Last Statement About Dave's:
It would seem that the statement about Dave's site going down for
maintenance was from Monday, so it would appear that Sony is acting up
again. If anyone from Sony is reading this, you should realize that
PC/Mac emulation of the Playstation only increases your userbase. I
for one don't own a PSX, however, I've purchased a PSX emulator and
will be purchasing PSX software when it arrives. The likelyhood of someone
using a pirated copy of PSX software is the same on the PSX hardware as
it is on an emulator.
Dave's Video Game Classics Down for Maintenance?
I've been informed by Gren Kuts that Dave's site reported the following
just before it went down:
Server downtime:
I have been informed from my ISP that the server will be unavailable
from 5:30AM to 8:30AM (EDT) [-4 hours GMT] as they perform
maintenance. So if you can't connect here during these time periods,
don't get alarmed assuming something happened like last week. ;-)
Lets hope that this extended downtime just means that they are
having problems doing this maintenance and nothing else. Please note
that I didn't see this first hand.
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Tuesday, April 6th, 1999
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Dave's Video Game Classics Down Again:
It seems that Daves is down again. No word yet as to why this time.
Quiet Emulation Day:
It's a real quiet day today... Maybe this means that MAME release
candidate 1 is soon to be released? Anyway, for those of you who are
sending me e-mail about joining a banner program DON'T! Does it
look like I need another banner program? =) Also, I'll be reporting
you to your ISP for spamming me from this point forward. You've been
warned. I may sound bitter, but I've been getting about 5 or 6 per day.
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Monday, April 5th, 1999
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Ultimate Patchers Cheats v7.6e:
The Ultimate Patchers have released their MAME cheats file version
7.6e. Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
New Release of bleem!:
There's a new version of the bleem! demo that's been released. This
version now works with Windows 95 with the USB suppliment. Nothing
else has changed. This is build 21153W. Download it from the PSX -
bleem! section.
Get the Weenies:
Seems that a fire in an iMac plant has halted iMac production.
I'm sure there's a good joke to insert here =) Read all the
information at the above link. Thanks to VVarrior for the news.
UltraHLE INI v1.0.14 Released!
UltraHLE INI v1.0.14 has been released. This version includes the
following new features:
- Snowboard Kids (JAP version) is now playable (Serg(cm))
- Cruis'n USA (EUR version) is now playable: you must select US or EUR (Cyclone!)
- Ganbake Goemon is now almost playable (-MAX-)
- Space Dynamites is almost playable: missing player graphics (-MAX-)
- Blades of Steel '99 is almost playable: graphics are messed up (-MAX-)
- Tomagotchi intro now works (-MAX-)
- San Francisco Rush hold down 'A' then hit 'S' and the intro goes further. (-MAX-)
- Starfox 64 speedup (sector4)
- Updated Ultraini.txt file includes great new tips (-MAX-)
- Rush 2's patch corrected: missing "word" tag (Graywords)
- Added memory ranges to several games (BoyJohnny & Ultra_Man)
- Added a new resolution of 1152x864: must have desktop resolution set the same (DrDrax)
- Snowboard Kids cheats added (gatrhaze & Skates)
- GoldenEye 007 cheats added (Ultra_Man & BoyJohnny)
- Wave Race 64 cheats added (GAtorhaZE)
- Super Mario 64 cheats added (DrDrax & Såsen)
- Zelda cheat added (Upright Man)
- Mario Kart 64 cheat added (Pirotic-X)
- Added comments to a few new games (|-MAK-|, BoyJohnny, AlgyPug, RedahBening & MartinF)
Download it from the N64 - UltraHLE section.
UltraFrantic Includes Help File:
UltraFrantic (UltraHLE with the debugger turned on) now includes a
great help file to assist in figuring out how to use it. Download it
from the N64 - UltraHLE section.
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Sunday, April 4th, 1999
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UltraFrantic Now Available!
UltraFrantic (UltraHLE with the debugger turned on, is now available at
Arcade@Home. This version was released shortly after UltraHLE, but
was considered taboo. However, it appears that it's no longer an issue
to distribute this modified version of UltraHLE so it's available here.
Visit the N64 - UltraHLE section to download it.
Not What I Was Hoping For:
Well, the new UltraHLE site on Emulators Unlimited isn't as good as I
hoped for. But, maybe they're still working on it. Lets hope so.
ClrMame v1.32 Released:
ClrMame, the MAME directory cleaner, has been upgraded to v1.32. New
features include:
- Finally: ClrMame handles the nerving double-roms. Now two missing modes are available:
- Normal: if a rom isn't found, ClrMame tries the second (or third...) name.
- Advanced: The old missing mode. This mode doesn't match different names.
- ClrMame also scans your backupfolder for missing roms/samples and automatically copies these files back to your set
- faster save-logfile-routine
- display clone info in output
- fixed: not all parent folders are marked as 'parent', this leads to some major problems (e.g. invdelux wasn't handled correctly)
- fixed: wrong messagebox text if clrmame can't find the clrmame folder
- fixed: ClrMame doesn't stop if you press 'stop' while receiving data
I don't host the file locally, but it's available at their site using
the above link.
New KBMAME Driver Released:
A new KBMAME driver was released that adds support for Battle FlipShot
and the new sound dumps for Operation Ragnagard. Download it from
the M.A.M.E. section next to the KBMAME link. Thanks to brywalker
for the file.
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Saturday, April 3rd, 1999
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Mailing List Winner Selected:
The mailing list winner for March was Dave Smith from England. He
wanted me to donate his $20 prize to a charity of my choice. Therefore,
this month's prize goes to
Hospice of Northwest Ohio
in care of Dave Smith. Thanks go out to Dave for his generosity.
NeoMAME with Battle FlipShot Support:
To play the newly dumped game, you'll need to use the newest NeoMAME.
I'm sure that the KBMAME driver will be released shortly as well. In
the mean time, download NeoMAME from the M.A.M.E. section.
Ragnagard Sound Fix and Battle FlipShot:
Neocharity has released the long awaited sound fix for Operation
Ragnagard and a new game dump Battle FlipShot! Visit their page at the
above link to download these files.
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Friday, April 2nd, 1999
|
Dave & UGO Being Sued by Sony!
It seems that Sony is the company who shut down Dave's Video Game
Classics this time. It's alleged that his site contained a Sony
Playstation BIOS. The two fully functional Playstation emulators
(Connectix's Virtual Game Station and bleem!) don't even use the
Playstation BIOS but instead have their own version written in-house.
Check out the above link for all the details. Thanks to James M. for
the news.
Dave's Video Game Classics is Back!
Dave's Video Game Classics is back up! No word on what is happening,
but visit his site and show your support (you know how).
No Updates Today?
Sorry, I had a lot going on today. But, nothing really was happening
today anyway. Someone posted the above link on IRC. This has got to
be the king of all April Fool's jokes! Check out the animations, I
thought I was going to die laughing.
4,000,000 Visitors and a Broken Counter:
Well, Arcade@Home passed the 4,000,000 visitor mark and it killed the
counter! You do know that there wasn't a prize for number 4 million,
right? I fixed it and it's back up and running. Thanks to all of you
who have visited in the last year.
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Thursday, April 1st, 1999
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KBMAME Updated:
KBMAME (the enhanced Neo-Geo only version of MAME) has been upgraded
to version 8 (MAME v0.35 beta 9 core). This version includes the
following new features:
- Autofire (see dip switch menu)
- Added Dirk Steven's Eagle routines (-eagle)
- Alternate loader speeds up rom loading (-altloader)
- Hold down F12 for frame-by-frame snapshots
- Up to 1000 saved states per game (Shift-F6 and Shift-F7 to change slots)
- Smaller save states
- Configurable save state directory (default is STA)
- 16-bit color for all games now disabled (new -force16 parameter)
Download it from the M.A.M.E. section.
Flyer & Poster Archive Updated:
The Flyer and Poster Archive has been upgraded to version 2.2. Download
it from their page at the above link.
ClrMame v1.31 Released:
The MAME directory cleaner has been updated to version 1.31. There
were some bugs with v1.30 that this version fixes. Download it from
their page at the above link.
Mailing List and Big Prizes:
I'll be selecting this month's $20 mailing list winner later today.
Check your e-mail box to claim your prize. Also, I'm working out the
details on giving away some HUGE prizes over the next few months. As
with previous contests, it's a random drawing from the mailing list
subscribers. Subscribe now and avoid the rush =)
Should Hit the 4 Million Mark Soon:
In the next day or two, Arcade@Home will hit the 4 million visitor
mark! Yeah I know, this news is becoming all too frequent. =) Let me
know if you're number 4,000,000.
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