Stella version 2.4 released

[+stephena]

OK, here's the latest release of Stella. First off, we still haven't finished the TIA updates, so any TIA bugs present in the last release will still be here. We hope to make further progress on this front soon, so there's still hope.

 

Anyway, there are some nice improvements here. Specifically, the fullscreen/windowed switching bug has been fixed, and widescreen monitors are automatically supported. All (non TIA related) bugs reported in the 2.3.5 thread have been fixed. Anyway, here's the changelog:

 

  * Added new video sub-system where fullscreen and windowed modes are treated
differently.  Windowed modes now use '-zoom_tia' and '-zoom_ui' arguments,
while fullscreen modes can be specified by resolution using the new
'-fullres' argument.

 * Widescreen video modes are now supported; Stella will simply center the
image with surrounding black borders.

 * Many UI-related changes, including resizable ROM launcher and debugger
windows, and a new UI palette (the previous 'classic' palette is still
available).  This is still a work in progress.

 * The locations of all major config files (statedir, palette file,
cheat file, properties file, etc) are now configurable from the
commandline and within the UI.

 * Updates to TIA palette support.  Added SECAM support, and removed the
built-in 'original' palette.  Standard, z26, and user are still
available.

 * Various bugfixes to some debugger commands.  The 'run' command no
longer causes a crash, and several others have better error-checking.

 * Added more complete cartridge auto-detection for Commavid (CV), 3E,
3F and Activision (FE) formats.

 * Removed XStart and Width ROM properties, since the forthcoming TIA
rework won't be using them.

 * Reworked internal storage of ROM properties to be faster and take up
less space.

 * Added several different ways of stretching the OpenGL image to the
'-gl_fsmax' argument, for more flexibility.

 * Removed OpenGL aspect ratio setting favour of the previously mentioned
video changes.  We'll see how this goes.

 * Removed dirty-rect support from software rendering, since it was actually
sub-optimal in Windows and OSX and defaulted to off in previous versions.

 * Added support for gzipped ROMs.

 * Re-added pause support.

 * Re-added support for Windows 98.

 * Removed support for 'STELLA_BASEDIR' environment variable, since each
config file can be now configured separately.

 * Removed '-fastscbios' argument, since it must always be turned on.

 * Removed PSP support, since it hasn't been updated in over a year, and
someone else is maintaining another port elsewhere.

 * For the Unix/Linux port; fixed 'make install' issues, and changed icon to
PNG format.

 

As always, you can download Stella from http://stella.sf.net. Also, please report any bugs here.

[JL]

Looks great. Many Thanks

[Albert]

Excellent, thanks. Will post some news about this later..

 

..Al

[rxd]

Wow, I just updated Stella to the new version on my Mame cabinet and this along with the stelladapter I just received has made it into my 2600 machine of choice. This version is a big improvement for me.

 

Thanks very much!

[dwk3]

Thanks for the new release!

 

With the removal of the aspect ratio setting, what is the way to get the screen looking like a real 2600? I tried different resolutions, but most games appear compressed vertically. Any tips?

 

Thanks,

Don

[+stephena]

Thanks for the new release!

 

With the removal of the aspect ratio setting, what is the way to get the screen looking like a real 2600? I tried different resolutions, but most games appear compressed vertically. Any tips?

 

Thanks,

Don

Unfortunately not. I'm still not completely opposed to re-adding aspect ratio settings, but I need to think some more on how to do it with the new video infrastructure. It's just that I didn't want to delay this release any longer, so I decided to release it with aspect ratio disabled. Depending on the amount of feedback for this feature, I may put it back again.

 

EDIT: After thinking about this a little more, it seems that adding aspect ratio correction back in wasn't that difficult at all. So I went ahead and did it I'll have it in a 2.4.1 release, but for now I'm waiting for feedback to fix any other bugs that are found.

Edited August 21, 2007 by stephena

[+atari2600land]

I can't find version 2.4 on the Stella homepage. Is it a stable relase?

[Buzbard]

Ok, where did you put the "Browse Folders" checkbox? I'm stuck in the "Browse Folder" view and can't seem to switch to the game list view (or whatever it's called).

[+stephena]

I can't find version 2.4 on the Stella homepage. Is it a stable relase?

Yes, under the 'Stable Releases' link to the left. Although the GP2X and WinCE releases are still at 2.3.5 for now, Linux, OSX and Win32 releases of 2.4 are there.

[+stephena]

Ok, where did you put the "Browse Folders" checkbox? I'm stuck in the "Browse Folder" view and can't seem to switch to the game list view (or whatever it's called).

Unfortunately, due to some other issues, I had to disable that feature for this release. Assuming I can work out the problems, I'll consider re-adding it for 2.4.1.

 

EDIT: I found a workaround for the previous issue, and re-added this functionality. It will be included in release 2.4.1.

Edited August 22, 2007 by stephena

[Trebor]

Thanks for the new release!

 

With the removal of the aspect ratio setting, what is the way to get the screen looking like a real 2600? I tried different resolutions, but most games appear compressed vertically. Any tips?

 

Thanks,

Don

 

Video Settings:

 

Renderer: OpenGL

FS Resolution: 720x480

GL Stretch: Always

 

The above looks best for my setup. I experienced the same "compressed vertically" affect to varying degrees with other resolutions. While some other settings left the screen "compressed" both horizontally as well as vertically. Try the above, hopefully it will work for you too.

 

-Trebor

[SeaGtGruff]

Thanks for the new release!

 

With the removal of the aspect ratio setting, what is the way to get the screen looking like a real 2600? I tried different resolutions, but most games appear compressed vertically. Any tips?

 

Thanks,

Don

 

Video Settings:

 

Renderer: OpenGL

FS Resolution: 720x480

GL Stretch: Always

 

The above looks best for my setup. I experienced the same "compressed vertically" affect to varying degrees with other resolutions. While some other settings left the screen "compressed" both horizontally as well as vertically. Try the above, hopefully it will work for you too.

 

-Trebor

On a TV screen, the Atari 2600's pixel aspect ratio is about 5:3, or 1.67:1. The only Stella resolution that matches that is 1280x768. Unfortunately, when you pick that resolution, Stella doesn't actually fill the screen with the game screen; there is a large amount of black border all around-- but the pixels do have the correct aspect ratio.

 

Michael

[SeaGtGruff]

GL Stretch: Always

D'oh, I forgot about the stretch! If you turn it on (with 1280x768), it does fill more of the screen, but I still get some black border at the right and bottom.

 

Michael

[+stephena]

GL Stretch: Always

D'oh, I forgot about the stretch! If you turn it on (with 1280x768), it does fill more of the screen, but I still get some black border at the right and bottom.

 

Michael

That extra space is because of the interaction between the video mode, SDL, and your monitor. I suspect that video mode just isn't filling all the screen; ie, it's a hardware issue. Anyway, I've re-added the GL aspect ratio setting, which will be included in Stella 2.4.1. I find the best thing to do is use the desktop resolution, since it eliminates the 'hardware/SDL' black borders. Then use GL stretch = 'tia' ('all' will actually stretch UI modes too, which doesn't look too nice). Finally, set the GL aspect to whatever looks best. Obviously you can't do that last part until the 2.4.1 release.

 

BTW, if there are any other outstanding issues, now's the time to report them for the 2.4.1 release. I plan to do this in a week or so, after I get some more feedback. If you don't get the issues reported now, it may have to wait until 2.5, which could be several months away.

[Trebor]

On a TV screen, the Atari 2600's pixel aspect ratio is about 5:3, or 1.67:1. The only Stella resolution that matches that is 1280x768. Unfortunately, when you pick that resolution, Stella doesn't actually fill the screen with the game screen; there is a large amount of black border all around-- but the pixels do have the correct aspect ratio.

 

Michael

 

Oops...Should have mentioned I am outputing to my television and monitor at the same time (NVIDIA 7600GT in clone mode). Inside Stella's video options the highest available resolution is 1024x768 (Which is the highest I can output to the TV). Nonetheless, 720x480 with stretch turned on still looks best for resolutions 1024x768 or lower for my setup [Note: 1024x768 both with stretch turned on or off displays a smaller screen].

 

-Trebor

[SeaGtGruff]

On a TV screen, the Atari 2600's pixel aspect ratio is about 5:3, or 1.67:1. The only Stella resolution that matches that is 1280x768. Unfortunately, when you pick that resolution, Stella doesn't actually fill the screen with the game screen; there is a large amount of black border all around-- but the pixels do have the correct aspect ratio.

 

Michael

 

Oops...Should have mentioned I am outputing to my television and monitor at the same time (NVIDIA 7600GT in clone mode). Inside Stella's video options the highest available resolution is 1024x768 (Which is the highest I can output to the TV). Nonetheless, 720x480 with stretch turned on still looks best for resolutions 1024x768 or lower for my setup [Note: 1024x768 both with stretch turned on or off displays a smaller screen].

 

-Trebor

I think I made a mistake about the aspect ratio. With 1280x768, the aspect ratio of the *screen* is 1.67:1, but that isn't the same thing as the aspect ratio of the *pixels*! And I may be wrong, but I think Stella will normally double the pixels horizontally, so that 2 pixels side-by-side are used to form "1" pixel. (Of course, Stella used to let you specify the pixel aspect ratio in OpenGL, which is what brought on this discussion-- that feature is now gone.) If that's the case, it means that to get a 1.67:1 pixel aspect ratio, we need a resolution with a 0.83:1 aspect ratio, so that putting 2 pixels together will give a "double-wide" pixel aspect ratio of 1.67:1. At least, I think that's right-- this is all kind of confusing!

 

Michael

[SeaGtGruff]

Okay, if I'm not mistaken, the ideal resolutions should be 320x200, 640x400, or 1280x800. Note that some of these might not be available (it depends on what your system can handle), and some of them might not give good results. For example, I can get all three of those resolutions on my computer at the office, but my system at home apparently can't do 640x400 (at least, Stella doesn't even list it as an option), and 320x200 won't fit vertically on my monitor (and my LCD monitor doesn't let me change the height of the image). On the other hand, 1280x800 looks great on my system.

 

These three resolutions have a screen aspect ratio of 1.6:1, as measured by the number of pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions. However, the physical screen has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1-- the standard 4:3 ratio. To find the pixel aspect ratio, you use the formula L / P * W / H, where L is equal to the number of scan lines (i.e., the height of the screen in pixels), P is equal to the number of pixels on a scan line (i.e., the width of the screen in pixels), W is equal to the width of the screen in some fixed unit (e.g., inches), and H is equal to the height of the screen in that same fixed unit. For a display that has a physical aspect ratio of 4:3 (like a standard-width TV or computer monitor), use 4 for W, and 3 for H. So for the three resolutions listed above, you get 200 / 320 * 4 / 3 = 800 / 960 = 5 / 6, which is either 1:1.2 or 0.83:1, depending on how you prefer to express it. When Stella displays two adjacent pixels at that resolution to get a single "double-wide" pixel, the pixel aspect ratio is 5:3 or 1.67:1.

 

Michael

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Okay, if I'm not mistaken, the ideal resolutions should be 320x200, 640x400, or 1280x800.

Only for NTSC games. For PAL it should be 320x240...

[+stephena]

I think I made a mistake about the aspect ratio. With 1280x768, the aspect ratio of the *screen* is 1.67:1, but that isn't the same thing as the aspect ratio of the *pixels*! And I may be wrong, but I think Stella will normally double the pixels horizontally, so that 2 pixels side-by-side are used to form "1" pixel. (Of course, Stella used to let you specify the pixel aspect ratio in OpenGL, which is what brought on this discussion-- that feature is now gone.) If that's the case, it means that to get a 1.67:1 pixel aspect ratio, we need a resolution with a 0.83:1 aspect ratio, so that putting 2 pixels together will give a "double-wide" pixel aspect ratio of 1.67:1. At least, I think that's right-- this is all kind of confusing!

 

Michael

As I mentioned above, this feature has been added back into CVS, and will be present in 2.4.1. If I had any idea how useful it was to some people, I would have given much greater thought to fixing it before the 2.4 release

[SeaGtGruff]

Okay, if I'm not mistaken, the ideal resolutions should be 320x200, 640x400, or 1280x800.

Only for NTSC games. For PAL it should be 320x240...

Good point!

[+stephena]

Thanks for the new release!

 

With the removal of the aspect ratio setting, what is the way to get the screen looking like a real 2600? I tried different resolutions, but most games appear compressed vertically. Any tips?

 

Thanks,

Don

This feature has been re-added in the new 2.4.1 release.

[+stephena]

Ok, where did you put the "Browse Folders" checkbox? I'm stuck in the "Browse Folder" view and can't seem to switch to the game list view (or whatever it's called).

This feature has been re-added in the new 2.4.1 release.