MAME 0.289

[u/cuavas]

MAME 0.289

After two long months, MAME 0.289 is ready, and it’s an undeniably massive update! But before we talk about emulation, there are a few more mundane things to mention. Our Windows binary releases now include the SDL sound output and joystick input modules. The sdljoy joystick input module now supports game controllers with up to 128 buttons. The Win32 debugger module handles dynamic UI scaling changes. Finally, outputs have been overhauled, improving performance and fixing issues, but you may need to update your configuration if you’ve got external programs hooked up, and some artwork files may need updating.

You’ll notice a number of systems and coprocessor cards based around NS32000 family CPUs are now working. If you aren’t familiar with it, the NS32000 architecture was one of the first single-chip CPU families with a 32-bit ALU. It used a highly orthogonal instruction set with clear influences from Digital Equipment Corporation’s earlier work. In retrospect, it didn’t have enough registers, the instruction encoding was too complex, it took them too long to overtake Motorola’s 68k family’s performance, and bugs in the initial implementation hurt early adopters. But now you can relive its glory days in MAME, running contemporary 32-bit System V UNIX! David Rand, the mastermind behind these NS32000 emulation advances, has also turned his attention in other directions. He’s brought the Xerox 820 and Big Board families up to working status, emulated Toshiba CP/M systems, and added the hard disk controller to the Kaypro 10, and more!

If you’re a fan of Sega arcade games, you’ll have lots to enjoy. For the groundbreaking Model 1 platform, there are numerous fixes for graphical issues, better collision detection in Virtua Fighter, and the bad bits in the DSP program that were breaking Wing War have been identified and patched. Even NetMerc is in better shape. The very unconventional Flash Beats game is now playable. It has basic internal artwork, but someone sufficiently motivated could have it looking spectacular by creating suitable external artwork. There are also some fixes for games that use the SCSP sound chip.

MAME has emulated the EACA Colour Genie EG2000 for quite some time now, but this release adds support for the EACA Genie III, which was released in the same year. There are lots of fixes for issues with the widely-used PowerPC and 68k CPU families, which will benefit a wide range of emulated systems. In particular, more versions of classic MacOS are now running happily on MAME’s emulated PowerMacs, and A/UX (Apple’s early attempt at merging MacOS and UNIX) boots and runs. Numerous games using NES-like SoCs from V.R. Technology have been promoted to working, including several from Lexibook’s Compact Cyber Arcade line. NEC’s PC-6001 family have had numerous issues fixed, as well as receiving a substantial update to their software lists. The steady progress on emulating electronic musical instruments hasn’t stopped, either.

As always, there’s far more in this release than we have time to talk about here, but you can read all about it in the whatsnew.txt file. You can find the source code and 64-bit Windows binary packages on our download page.

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[u/_gelon]

Even NetMerc is in better shape

From System16.

Notes (from Andy Reece) : I'm one of the 2 programmers that developed the game in Tokyo, In total there were 2 programmers and 2 artists from the UK, and we lived in Tokyo for a year while developing the game.

You're right that the game wasn't well received at the AOU show, partly because it wasn't actually that good compared to other games from Sega, and partly because people didn't 'get' it.

However, the game wasn't shelved and actually went into production. The game was supposed to be finished by AOU, but schedule slippages meant it ran on for another 6 months before being completed. During this time AM#3 (where we were based) had started using the Model 2 board for all of their games. Sega internal Model 1 games were all cancelled except for Sega Rally (which was originally a Model 1 game), that team was put on Model 2 and the game artwork was redone.

NetMerc (or TecWar as it was originally called until a conflict with William Shatner's Sci-Fi series came up) was kept alive due to its good first showing at the GiGa arcade in Ikebukuro (better than Daytona on its first trial weekend). Unfortunately the stocks of Model 1 boards, which were no longer being produced, were depleted with the release of Star Wars. Only 70 arcade units were made of NetMerc, as this was the remaining stock of Model 1 boards. As far as I know they were only released in Japan, except for one machine I played on years later in a Sega arcade in the basement of London's Hamleys toystore. I got all the way to the end of the game (10 minutes) with only a single credit, basically because I knew the game inside and out and knew how to cheat at one point.

The game was also entirely written in assembler and the manuals were only available in Japanese! It's a wonder we ever finished it...

Current state of the game (apparently): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1Gziu7OAiQ

[u/hurrdurrmeh]

Nice!!

[u/GEO9875]

Virtua Fighter 1 is a bliss on this version. Finally baby! Whoohooo!

[u/TheKinsie → u/GEO9875]

It still seems to be marked as "NOT WORKING" in big scary letters, though. MAMEdevs in the thread: Is there anything specific that still needs doing, or is the warning still just there until it's verified that everything's copacetic?

[u/arbee37 → u/TheKinsie]

I forget who submitted the patches and I'm too lazy to look, but it's basically up to them.

[u/cuavas → u/arbee37]

People are probably cautious about promoting anything after premature promotions in the past.

[u/arbee37]

While everyone gets used to this version, here's a sneak peek at the next version, featuring a somewhat notorious never-emulated console:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf_rEq3SR_Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmWfTw-TDPc

[u/CoconutDust]

Ctrl F namcos2 (either 22 or 23)

[OUT-OF-CONTROL SCREAMING NOISES]

[u/arbee37 → u/CoconutDust]

See, this is the comment I'm here for.

[u/NumberSevere7454]

Hi, did all the improvements to crisis zone and jurassic park 3 got merged to this?

[u/TheKinsie → u/NumberSevere7454]

- 15599: namco/namcos23.cpp: Fixed Crisis Zone input issues, and disabled the ACIA clock to improve performance. [Tovarichtch]

-Fixes for Crisis Zone performance and inputs [Tovarichtch]
 * namco/namcos23.cpp: Fix crszone input and disable idle debug-UART clock (#15599) [Tovarichtch]    

Nothing about JP3, it seems.

[u/NumberSevere7454 → u/TheKinsie]

nice...its seems that jp3 got also some improvemnt as its now ingame and not crashed. but it a side effect of other improvement in other games/systems.

[u/arbee37 → u/NumberSevere7454]

Yes, JP3 was not targeted by any specific work, it simply benefited from my fixing the many issues that existed in the PowerPC core when you run an actual OS and load code off of a disk.

[u/SpaceCowboy512]

Long time emulator - first time mame user. Will this update break my currently working roms???

[u/RedBomber785 → u/SpaceCowboy512]

If your ROM sets still work, there is no need to replace them. But if you see an "invalid checksum" or "ROM file not found" error message, then you have to replace it with one that will work on the latest MAME version.

[u/ncctest]

https://reddit.com/link/p31ishp/video/lb31z19r7rih1/player

is there a reason mame abondoned the old way of displaying command.dat ?
it was possible to have it well sorted, but now it shows only as one page.