openMSX v0.5.0
posted in Emulator Release by spacetiger on Oct 18th, 2004Today there was a massive update to openMSX, the MSX emulator that "aims at perfection." This release includes, among other things, a complete redesign of the hardware configuration XML files, a "ROM pool" feature for easy installation of system ROMs, and the option to save settings for later use. Here's what's new:
- Old Configuration Options Converted to Settings:
- Machine: the default machine (needs openMSX restart)
- Frequency: the sound mixer frequency (needs openMSX restart)
- Samples: the size of the sound mixing buffer (needs openMSX restart)
- User_directories: directories that are searched for data files
- Changes in the Video System:
- Use of MMX to speed up video scaling considerably
- Big speed up of scanline effect
- Enabled blur effect in the SDLHi renderer
- Scale2x and hq2x scalers now also work in hi-res modes
- Made pixel accuracy the default
- Removed 8bpp support
- Fixed crash when making screenshot in 16bpp
- New or Improved Emulator Features:
- Added channel mode 'off' to mute individual sound devices
- Added meta data of machines in config files
- New "iomap" command lists the I/O ports and the devices connected to them
- Added a debugger interface to all (S)RAM
- Improvements in the 'type' command
- Release key presses when the console becomes active
- Improved geometry detection of disk images (MSX1Mania disks work)
- Fixed crash in Win32 when dir-as-disk is used with files with weird dates
- MSX Device Support:
- MoonSound fixes
- Added slotexpander extension
- 8kB BASIC ROMs now work correctly and are auto detected as well
- Added simple DC filter for cassette images
- Fixes for TC8566AF FDC
- Fixed joystick and mouse reading in games that write illegal values to the PSG
- Emulation of the Tetris II Special Edition dongle
- Fixed high-frequency reads of low-frequency clocks (such as RTC)
- Many bugs were fixed, including long-standing bugs
- Build System, Packaging, Documentation:
- Separated OS and CPU in the build system
- Build support for x86-64 (Athlon64)
- Fixed bug: new TCL was not detected by running "make probe" again
- Added openMSX FAQ to documentation