 __   _   _____   _____   _____   _____         _____   _____   _            _____   _____  
|  \ | | | ____| /  _  \ /  ___| |  _  \     / /  ___/ |  _  \ | |          |  _  \ /  ___| 
|   \| | | |__   | | | | | |     | | | |    /  | |___  | | | | | |          | | | | | |     
| |\   | |  __|  | | | | | |     | | | |   /   \___  \ | | | | | |          | | | | | |     
| | \  | | |___  | |_| | | |___  | |_| |  /     ___| | | |_| | | |___       | |_| | | |___  
|_|  \_| |_____| \_____/ \_____| |_____/ /     /_____/ |_____/ |_____|      |_____/ \_____| 

Soon to be Dreamneo cd 
<============================================================================================>

INFORMATION AND HISTORY
-----------------------

I started porting the NEOCD/SDL to the Dreamcast on Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004.  The Original NeoCD(DOS Version) is by Martinez Fabrice, and The NEOGEO CD SDL port was done by Fosters (SDL portions written by Fosters(2001,2003). There is no SFX yet in this beta but it does support stereo CDDA sound.  

<============================================================================================>

Some importain fixes to this update it's a touch faster again so enjoy these were needed so you could fully enjoy it.


V8.1
- 
- bug fix for code error forgot to add this in v8.0 (samurai spirits rpg)
- Region selector fix now works in this version
- Added compiler flags for speed not space
- Sfx added back in code to slow to use ( disabled but z80  is being called).
- touch faster little bit less slow down on metal slug1
- Region selector is turned on by holding in the start button now when you swap a cd in keep it held in then it will show up to change regions. Last time it was broken.

Read doc files and my site for all other changes and credit to people that work on and help this project



v8.0
Thanks to Speud a very talented coder.


List of improvements in this version are.

- PVR rending no longer using SDL for video. 
- PVR filtering  grafix smoothing.
- No Frameskip needed code removed.
- UP to 10fps faster.
- All clipping problems sides of screen fixed.
- VGA support should be center now. 
- Code reduction optmizing. 
- Many games have hit fullspeed now
- Not all games are fullspeed 
- No SFX
- Seems to be some CDDA improvement now with some game tracks
- cdaudio(kos) used By Troy Davis (GPF)






<============================================================================================>

CREDITS 
-------

Fabrice Martinez - The original NeoCD emulator 
Fosters - SDL port 
Caz - For the BeOS NeoCD/SDL build 
Karl Stenerud - The Musashi M680x0 emulator 
Neil Bradley (neil@synthcom.com) - Multi-Z80 CPU emulator 
Tatsuyuki Satoh - YM2610 Mame core 
Derek Liauw Kie Fa. - 2xSaI engine 
Sam Lantinga (et al) - Simple DirectMedia Layer 
Quzar- Region selector, frameskip, frame limiting, auto loading, many bugfixes and optimizations.
Mekanizer - proper vmu display
SPEUD  PVR RENDING converting from SDL to kos. 

fackue   for this wonderfull tool  
mults 2 shifts (Kamjin) optmizing examples      

NeoCD/SDL DC Selfboot 0.2
http://consolevision.com/members/fackue/tools/ngcdselfboot_02.zip
This will scan the selected directory for you and let you know if you're missing any files, or if you have the wrong BIOS image. 

You can then create a DiscJuggler image if the check went OK. 



Dreamcast Port:
Ian Michael , Fosters ( pc author sdl author and support),Troy davis (GPF) , BlackAura (translated x86 asm functions).

Splash Screen art created by & vmu icon: Wack0 

If I have omitted anyones name in the credits, please let me know, as it was not intentional.

<============================================================================================>
Problems
-----------
-Slow down  
Metal slug 1 and 2 have bad slow down but run fullspeed now between the slow down.

Update news
-----------
Well as you may have been reading. Team work paided off again for the next big step in this project, Speud took up, the challange and Converted the SDL rendering to PVR rending. I did my best to help out here and there I tryed to explain sdl function. 

Fosters Showed us some functions we were missing, what they really did which lead to the rending not having the blurr effect was very productive few days. I tryed to get DMA working and it had garbage at first but I searched this forum and found some usefull info from, black aura which i tryed and DMA is now fixed as well. So the progress, is this full pvr rending with DMA, Filtering, and ive now using a very optmized SDL. only 200k for it. It still had control and audio functions and video but it's really very much optimized using compiler settings for space not speed so from 956k to 200k. Linking this brought the bin size down by almost 300k and gained some speed as well. Then we had a controler problem with scrolling games. I have just fixed this the way input was initing, it was happing before video was, since it's not SDL any more this was effecting it, i changed this, and full controls work again and even nicer then before i was able to now take off some calls to the input and it gained some speed. 

Frameskip is taken off and it has a value of 60 Which should mean zero or it will attempt to run at 60fps fullspeed. 



Speed has gone up with all this progress to over 10fps more on most games this is amazing improvement. 

We must thank Speud for being so helpfull and working for days in pm with me back and forth he did a great job. |You should if you have not check out the best vmu app the world has ever seen VMU TOOL 



Release of this new version will be V8.0 and it really is a mega step up lot of people will be amazed at how fast and smooth this is now. 


When i have the Filters selectable, and written, up the progress reports, and credits sheet, i will release it as it's the best version by a country mile right now makes v7.1 look very slow. 





History
--------------------------
V7.1  
------
Sprite layer fix for many games. gfx priority fix courtesy of (lantus) Thanks!
and to fosters for sharing it with me.

-- speed up by 1fps to 4 fps New compiler settings.
-- View point now correct for example

--Enjoy


V7


Added Updates From Pc version of the source base Fosters NEOCD/SDL v0.3.0 
Added new functions written for the dc version as well. 

V7 has this improvements 

- Bios grafix now, are not scrambled, Press ( Start,a,b,x,y together to enter bios)  This lets you format the memory card.
- Auto saving, No user input needed, look at the, VMU to know when it's saving. 
- Auto game loading now, waits till you open the lid, before  checking for a game  Saves the dreamcast work.
- New Progress status tells you what to do and when Should stop any user error's 
-Control fix now the select button works bringing in game pause and being able to look at and quit back to the menu from art gallerys.
- Now supporting proper 2 players in all games.
- new splash screen 
- Comes with a preformated memory card to use with speuds VMU TOOL has saves built in for metal slug 1 and other games.
- Some optmizing to the render Changed some Multis to shifts.



(Q).What does this mean bios grafix not scrambled 

(A).Now by pressing the key combo you can view the Neogeo cd machines, bios And tinker with the, Memory card function it seems to work but you cant, once done this return 
or load a game from the bios it's more a novelty at this point. 

(Q).What does Auto saving mean? 

(A). It means no more pressing left trigger, to save. The emulator detect's when the memory card, is being written to. So now, saving is pretty much like the real neogeo machine, and needs no user input, other then . when the game, asks for you to save at points. This does bring a short delay as, it will save to the vmu when the emulator . detects it needs to write to the card. When this happens the VMU will say saving "wait a moment" Warning only use a vmu With At lest 20 blocks free, and dont use a vmu with importain saves or back them up warning dont remove a vmu when the emulator is on it will crash it. 


(Q).What does auto game loading mean really? 


(A).New in this version auto loading checks if the lid has been opened, and tells you to take the emulator disk out. It will not thrash the laser like before but only check when you place the, neogeo cd into the dreamcast, and shut the lid. When this is done no user input is needed it will auto load the game wait for it to 
load. a black screen is normal till a game loads but over 1 min is not normal Check the game list on what works. 

(Q).What's a new progress status? 

(A).It's a set of txt prompts telling you what, to do and when, to do it, this should make it the most easy, to use version, better then last time. 

(Q). Whats proper 2 player controls ?

(A). Now a keyboard is no longer needed for 2 player games 2, Dreamcast(tm) controlers can be uses to play VS games So proper 2 player controls First version to support this.


(Q).Error? on this version

(A).KOF games have messed loading screens does not effect game play. Some other games prolly have messed Loading screens.

(Q).Still no SFX?

(A).Yes the code is going to be Addapted from Genesis plus SDL in parts and re written for V1.0

(Q).Still Not all games working with CDDA

(A).Correct Around 12 games work with perfect stereo cd sound track Track order is not a problem with real cd's ive been told. 


New in v6.5

Speed and slow down fixes. 

- metal slug is now much much better
- Control is now even better
-  Bug fixed some code readded some missing part in cdaudio.c
- cdaudio now on time delay is much better.

This is much faster on the slow parts.

Framelimter has been changes makes it smoother.
Readded my pesudo frameskip as well

It's now really quiet speedy please give this a try on metal slug
you will like it..



New in v6:

Frameskipping: it was implemented before but not properly. it is fixed and set at ~4.

Frame Limiting: This allows for the emulator to slow down if it is rendering too fast.

VMU Display: Existed before but was broken, now displays a neo geo logo, saving... or "PUSH UP FOR REGION SELECT" when appropriate.

Optional Region Select: Region select is now not default. To access it, hold up while the emu is loading. (defaults to USA)

Game Autoloading: Now the emulator auto-loads game, no need to wait and hit start, just put in a CD when prompted, and the emulator will do the rest.

Speedup: The emulator has been sped up by around 10% max, without the frameskip. When frameskip is taken into account, it runs almost completely full speed.

Misc bugfixes and code optimizations.




Old news/

New in 5.5 slight speed up.. Tells you when the bios is loaded.simple 
stuff to help newbie's..


New in V5 this version has a region selector so you can chose what region. 
Also i have made it so a saving txt will display so you know when 
it's saving.. Now ther emight be a problem saving with the vmu from changed regions.
Screen and display .should be flicker free and speed should be slighty better on all games and less slow-down.
Less memory is being used again so other games may-work. Quzar did the selector me and
him sat on msn all night going throu it.. SO it's like the quzar editon..
Other fixes could not be added At this time and really i want a break from doing this
For now small one nothing to much.. This should tide you over till V6

Version4 Metalslug 1 & 2 now working speed ups Control now dpad and anlog pesudo auto frameskip.
Fosters sent me a file for dpad control.. Both me and him  found the fix for metal slug. was 
some thing pretty simple but seem to do the trick. Frameskip code was worked on by Quzar and speud
I edited speuds frameskip code to suit what i wanted.. Hope you enjoy the best version yet

This does not included every thing from every one i need a break it's easter if i dont release this 
now im not going to have a break so here it is..


<============================================================================================>


HOW TO USE THIS EMULATOR
--------------------------

You must include the BIOS (512k) on the on the root directory of the CD.  Wait till it's loaded 20 sec is good then swaping a game or count 15 secs (there is now a message on the screen that tells you)

What you have to have is a NEOGEO CD game. Boot this up and you will see the boot screen. 
Open your dreamcast lid, remove the emulator, then place the NEOGEO CD in. Close the dreamcast 
lid. Wait 30 seconds (or less) just so the GDROM drive spins back up. Then press start. 
If the game works (for example: puzzle bubble) then about 10 seconds after you will see the 
game load up. 


CONTROLS
--------

ANALOG STICK
movment 

Dpad
movement

BUTTONS
-------
Player 1 Start - Start Button
Fire Button    - Button A
Left trigger   - saving
Right tigger   - sound effect enable (beeping and ticking only not needed for cd audio) Disabled




Make sure you now delete the old vmu save first.For example in puzzle bubble when your asked for a name for the high score put one in it asks to save data. say yes then it asks to format card.. say yes press (A).. then press down on the dpad to complete the saving. When you check the vmu you will see the new icon save..




FAQ
---

1. Does this emulator include the NEOGEO CD BIOS?
*No. Due to copyright ristrictions, I am not able to include the file with this emulator. You 
can search the internet to find it. It is called "neocd.bin" and has to be 512kb in size. The
smaller one that is available does not work with this emulator.

2. I can't get this to burn, can you make me a CDI or NRG image?
*Again, no. Due to copyright restrictions, I cannot supply a CDI or NRG of this emulator. Please
do not ask, either in email or on my forums. The topic will be ignored.

3. I CANT FIND ANY NEOGEO CDS!!!! Can you find me one?
*No. As copies of games are illegal, I will not supply or link to pirated material. You can play
your real NEOGEO CDs with this emulator.

4. How come there's no <insert feature here>!!??
Porting and emulation takes time and effort from all concerned. We, like you, would love to have
everything implemented as soon as possible, but asking over and over for features, will not get
the emulator done any quicker. Please be patient.

5. the 1ST_READ.BIN is scrambled for selfbooting this is a bootdisk.
style of emulator so it needs to be selfbooted. You must ether  include the bios on the cd or it will fail to work.

