WTF? No MAME 0.84u4! Yep, due to the many changes to CFG files in 84u4, that release was made private. Looks like the major hiccups have been ironed out to the point where MAME 0.84u5 can be made public. I woke up this morning and looked out at the day and thought - "what a nice day for MAME release". So it is, and so it was. Get over to Haze's site for MAME 0.84u5. Both diff files are available - 84u4 and 84u5 incrementals. You just might notice a change or two with these releases :-)
All Your CFG's Are Belong To Us! Aaron's WIP revealed his cunning plan: While I'm at it, the .CFG files are moving to XML format. In other words, as of 84u4/84u5, all your CFG files have become obsolete in favour of the new XML format. Tag city, here we come! That's right guys, all those carefully, lovingly configured CFG's have to be done all over. This includes default.cfg, even it must bite the dust - bwahahaa!
Heed the warnings. In addition to the CFG changes this release features several eyeopeners. Cast your eyes over the whatsnew.txt for the definitive list of additions and changes. Firstly controller.ini support is temporarily disabled. Secondly, because of the extension to 32-bits, all existing INP files are invalid. MAME now writes 4 bytes per INP entry instead of 2. Keep an old exe so you can playback your previously recorded INP's.
The previous input and input port system has been majorly changed and made more generic. The OSD input API set has been reduced to 3 functions - osd_get_code_list, osd_get_code_value and osd_customize_inputport_list. The distinction between keyboard and joystick functions has been removed.
Several sound improvements in 84u5 thanks to the developers of the MAME32Plus and MAME32FX ports of standard MAME. Many other changes and improvements too numerous to mention here.
A new CHD has been added as of 84u5, namely Beatmania 6th MIX (ver JA-A). The CHD is appropriately named a21jaa11.chd. This marks the 50th official CHD game in MAME (in 41 CHD files). Also the cumulated sum of uncompressed CHD data tips the 100 GB mark - holy cow!
I've updated the Infos: CHD, Baddumps, Nodumps, BIOS's. The Baddump + Nodump total is 157 + 186 = 343, baddumps up by 5 and nodumps up by 1 from MAME 0.84u3. See Tim's Emulation Page.
It is CHD week. The latest one to appear is rush2049. As before, it hasn't been added to MAME yet and it is not known when/if it will be added to MAME in the future. Rush2049 is an arcade game by Atari Games Midway, a futuristic driving game made in 1999. The CHD rush2049.chd is bursting with a hefty 938130228 bytes of data. If you think the life of the rom collector is hard now, wait until DDR gets released in a couple of years. Check out Tim's Emulation Page for more CHD details.
I had a dream last night. I was examining byte patterns in the MAME's recent CHD's and found the following: You have decoded the secret message and unveiled MAME's evil plot ... To ownz all hard drives by the year 2007 ... All your disks are belong to us! Make your time ... Hahaha! Frightening stuff I tell you :-)
IN GIMPS news, M22827527 put in a dismal Lucas-Lehmer prime performance, it just didn't want it enough. Primenet has tossed me M24165797 for a full test. I've updated Tim's GIMPS Page with my progress.
There is a new CHD that has become available. It hasn't been added to MAME yet and it is not known when/if it will be added to MAME in the future. It is the first of the Vegas CHD's and the game is NBAonNBC. The associated hard disk image CHD file is nbaonnbc.chd and it weighs in at 596600037 bytes. Check out Tim's Emulation Page for more CHD details.
A friday treat just in time for a great weekend - Haze is hosting this little goodie on his site - MAME 0.84u3.
This release features several Seibu SPI fixes by Ville Linde - good to see him back on my favourite drivers :-) Aaron Giles has added the ability to tweak the refresh rate when running MAME with cheats enabled. Three of the new non-working games contain over 100MB of roms - so the update is a bit hard on the hard drive of the completists out there. Cast your eyes over the whatsnew.txt for the definitive list of additions and changes.
I've updated the Infos: CHD, Baddumps, Nodumps, BIOS's. The Baddump + Nodump total is 152 + 185 = 337, baddumps up by 5 from MAME 0.84u2. See Tim's Emulation Page.
M24827459 gets the thumbs down from GIMPS. Primenet server has issued M22827527 for a Lucas-Lehmer only test - someone must have snuck in some factoring tests on this one before it got to me. I've updated Tim's GIMPS Page with my progress.
Another week, another u release. Enjoy it while you can. Haze is hosting the release on his site - MAME 0.84u2.
Aaron has fixed the bug that prevented changes to the default controls from being remembered and cleaned up some miscellaneous port issues. I notice that Haze managed to sneak some changes in as well, adding Popper, a Hard Head bootleg. Read the whatsnew.txt for other changes.
A new CHD has made it into MAME. Hyperdrive (hyprdriv.chd), the remaining unMAME'ed Seattle game showed up at Aaron's doorstep and MAME 0.84u2 now supports it. There are now 49 CHD's in MAME made up of 40 CHD files. I am now keeping a history page for the CHD's so people can compare current version CHD Info to previous versions.
I've updated the Infos: CHD, Baddumps, Nodumps, BIOS's. The Baddump + Nodump total is 147 + 185 = 332, no change from MAME 0.84u1. See Tim's Emulation Page.
Hot on the heals of 0.84 comes the first u release of the 84 cycle. All drivers have been touched obsoleting the old input input ports. Haze is generously hosting the releases on his site - MAME 0.84u1.
I've updated the Infos: CHD, Baddumps, Nodumps, BIOS's. The Baddump + Nodump total is 147 + 185 = 332, no change from MAME 0.84. See Tim's Emulation Page.
Oh! Yes! MAME 0.84 has arrived in a blaze of glory. Eagerly awaited by all, especially those used to Haze's weekly u releases and have been waiting for their MAME fix since Haze went on holidays. Aaron has stepped up to do the releases and what a mighty update it is too. Go to the Official MAME Site and score your copy of MAME 0.84 source and binaries. Don't forget to read the whatsnew.txt for the new features and changes - there are a lot of them.
A full MAME set has now grown to 5014 sets - a new MAME milestone. Looks like vaportrp did indeed make the cut and support has been included for it in 84, so there are now 48 CHD's in MAME (clones included) made up of 39 CHD files.
A big change is that the -listinfo option has been removed in favour of the xml2info utility. This utility has been in MAME for a while but hasn't been able to produce the same output as listinfo until Logiqx fixed it. The equivalent functionality to 'mame -listinfo' is now 'mame -listxml | xml2info', i.e. pipe the xml output from the first command into the xml2info.exe program. This new feature broke my chdinfo program :-) It's fixed now.
I've updated the Infos: CHD, Baddumps, Nodumps, BIOS's. The Baddump + Nodump total is 147 + 185 = 332, baddumps up 2 and nodumps up 6. See Tim's Emulation Page.
A second pack of 30 needed sooners have appeared in alt.binaries.emulators.mame. Aaron has updated his site with news that he is taking over the interim releases of MAME. He has been very busy but is still managing to make progress on many fronts.
M22312613 is hereby declared composite according to GIMPS. So ever onward and forward, to the next candidate in M24827459. I've updated Tim's GIMPS Page with my progress.