Stella 2.7.5 released

[+stephena]

Yes, it's only me for quite some time, unfortunately There are some people working externally to the project to add video filtering, but I'm responsible for the entire codebase as it exists right now.

Well, thanks for your work. Be sure to take that vacation, before you completely burn out!

Yes, I keep meaning to take that vacation ...

However, there is a workaround; set your fullscreen resolution the same as your desktop resolution (and since you use OpenGL mode, you wouldn't notice any change in speed).

Ok, how do I do this? When I get that changed, I'll check the debugger white screen thing too.

Just change the 'fullscreen resolution' in the Video Settings dialog to match your desktop resolution. It's probably set to 'Auto' right now.

TIA Emulation:

Currently, Stella won't run the CyberTech Colorbars program because it is properly interlaced. To do that, I pushed VSYNC and RSYNC around a lot during the vertical interval. Are there plans to improve the way VSYNC and RSYNC are emulated?

Perhaps, when I complete the TIA refactoring for the next major release. I'll need details on how it's supposed to work, and also some test ROM(s), with a description of what's not working and how it should be working (preferrably with snapshots).

I can help with this when you get to it. I'd need to know how Stella handles timing currently, but I can provide test roms and support on how the TIA/TV interaction works.

OK, help is always appreciated, especially on the TIA parts of Stella (which I'm still coming to terms with). I'll let you know when I start working on that again, which will probably be sometime later this month.

[cwilkson]

However, there is a workaround; set your fullscreen resolution the same as your desktop resolution (and since you use OpenGL mode, you wouldn't notice any change in speed).

Ok, how do I do this? When I get that changed, I'll check the debugger white screen thing too.

Just change the 'fullscreen resolution' in the Video Settings dialog to match your desktop resolution. It's probably set to 'Auto' right now.

I'm an idiot. It's right there on the Video Settings main menu. But it was grayed out when not in full screen. So when I set full screen, I unconciously ignored that option. All I could find was the launcher resolution in UI settings and I knew that wasn't what I wanted. I had to go through looking for everything that was set to "Auto". Anyway, setting the FS Res to match my desktop solved the corrupted desktop thing. It's wonderful! Thanks. I still get the white debugger screen though. It doesn't happen with software rendering, so if I'm developing something I'll use that for now.

 

OK, help is always appreciated, especially on the TIA parts of Stella (which I'm still coming to terms with). I'll let you know when I start working on that again, which will probably be sometime later this month.

Ok, let me know when you're ready.

[cwilkson]

Here's the goods on the CyberTech palette for those who are interested. Look at the end of that post for Stella palette file and a test rom. And a HTML color chart. Edited April 10, 2009 by cwilkson

[Wickeycolumbus]

stephena, could you add an option to change the background color to white? It would be useful for debugging (so you could see HMOVE lines in games that have black backgrounds).

[+stephena]

stephena, could you add an option to change the background color to white? It would be useful for debugging (so you could see HMOVE lines in games that have black backgrounds).

Do you mean the background of the TIA image in the debugger, or in normal emulation mode as well?

[Wickeycolumbus]

stephena, could you add an option to change the background color to white? It would be useful for debugging (so you could see HMOVE lines in games that have black backgrounds).

Do you mean the background of the TIA image in the debugger, or in normal emulation mode as well?

 

Either one would be nice

[+stephena]

stephena, could you add an option to change the background color to white? It would be useful for debugging (so you could see HMOVE lines in games that have black backgrounds).

Do you mean the background of the TIA image in the debugger, or in normal emulation mode as well?

 

Either one would be nice

OK, this isn't an easy as I thought. I just looked at the code, and it seems that HMOVE lines are drawn in black. So having the background as white wouldn't really help here; what you need is to draw the lines in white instead. In other words, the HMOVE lines aren't 'missing' parts of the display like on a real system, but something else that the emulator 'draws' to simulate how it looks on a real TV.

 

I think I'll have to push this off until I implement the 'fixed debug colours' item in the TODO list. For those not familiar, this was a TODO suggestion to add functionality from nocash2K emulator where you could manually 'fix' the colour of each item the TIA draws, to immediately see what effect it has on the image.

[shadow460]

Stella 2.7.5 loads up and simply sits there with a white screen on my computer. What would I have to do to change this?

 

I'm on 98SE, BTW, with a Pentium III box.

[+stephena]

Stella 2.7.5 loads up and simply sits there with a white screen on my computer. What would I have to do to change this?

 

I'm on 98SE, BTW, with a Pentium III box.

White screen normally means you're using OpenGL mode and the drivers aren't up to date. And if you're using an ATI video card, well, let's just say that their drivers are terrible. I assume you're starting with a clean installation (ie, try deleting the stella.ini file in 'My Documents\Stella' folder).

 

Unfortunately, I may have made my suggestion too soon about moving to the latest version. I didn't know you were using Windows 98, and I don't have much a test environment for it (I'm basically only able to test it in VMWare). As time goes by (particularly later this year when I add new OpenGL graphical filtering), support for Windows 98 may have to be phased out.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

...support for Windows 98 may have to be phased out.

And after more than 10(!) years, noone should blame you for that.

[SeaGtGruff]

...support for Windows 98 may have to be phased out.

And after more than 10(!) years, noone should blame you for that.

As long as an older version for the Windows 98 crowd is kept archived, that should keep them happy.

 

Michael

[shadow460]

Stella 2.7.5 loads up and simply sits there with a white screen on my computer. What would I have to do to change this?

 

I'm on 98SE, BTW, with a Pentium III box.

White screen normally means you're using OpenGL mode and the drivers aren't up to date. And if you're using an ATI video card, well, let's just say that their drivers are terrible. I assume you're starting with a clean installation (ie, try deleting the stella.ini file in 'My Documents\Stella' folder).

 

Unfortunately, I may have made my suggestion too soon about moving to the latest version. I didn't know you were using Windows 98, and I don't have much a test environment for it (I'm basically only able to test it in VMWare). As time goes by (particularly later this year when I add new OpenGL graphical filtering), support for Windows 98 may have to be phased out.

 

I'll look for that file. I use the software renderer on Stella 2.2. My video card in this computer is a 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500. I have used WickedGL in the past to great success, and I will have to try it. I just need to figure out how to set it up to recognize Stella's graphic engine, or use the software renderer.

 

EDIT: I renamed the file, and Stella 2.7.5 loaded. No to find out how to get it going with WickedGL...

Edited April 12, 2009 by shadow460

[shadow460]

It looks like Stella 2.7.5 is a no go on this machine. It runs quite slowly. Stella 2.2 will load the prototype Phaser Patrol rom properly after two or three tries, but 2.7.5 just drags every time.

 

If there's a way to get WickedGL going with this, then it'll work. Until then, I do have a PSP emulator that is based on Stella 2.2 that I will use for games over 4K, and for games under that, I'll run them to the SuperCharger with makebin.

 

I just don't emulate much. I've always had trouble emulators of all kinds, even on much more powerful hardware than what this old box has. The only thing I needed Stella for recently was to test some prototypes, but I can test those on a Supercharger.

[sandmountainslim]

Ok,

Just a simple question from a non 'puter pro.

 

I am currently running Stella 2.6.1 and have had zero problems playing any 2600 games with it from the old classics to new WIP's.

Is this newest version of Stella so much better that I would notice the difference or is it just minute details that only programmers would pay attention to?

Thanks

Wp

[Wickeycolumbus]

stephena, could you add an option to change the background color to white? It would be useful for debugging (so you could see HMOVE lines in games that have black backgrounds).

Do you mean the background of the TIA image in the debugger, or in normal emulation mode as well?

 

Either one would be nice

OK, this isn't an easy as I thought. I just looked at the code, and it seems that HMOVE lines are drawn in black. So having the background as white wouldn't really help here; what you need is to draw the lines in white instead. In other words, the HMOVE lines aren't 'missing' parts of the display like on a real system, but something else that the emulator 'draws' to simulate how it looks on a real TV.

 

I think I'll have to push this off until I implement the 'fixed debug colours' item in the TODO list. For those not familiar, this was a TODO suggestion to add functionality from nocash2K emulator where you could manually 'fix' the colour of each item the TIA draws, to immediately see what effect it has on the image.

 

Thats fine, no hurry

[+stephena]

Ok,

Just a simple question from a non 'puter pro.

 

I am currently running Stella 2.6.1 and have had zero problems playing any 2600 games with it from the old classics to new WIP's.

Is this newest version of Stella so much better that I would notice the difference or is it just minute details that only programmers would pay attention to?

Thanks

Wp

My suggestion is to look at the Changelog/Stella News on the homepage and decide for yourself. It may be that there's nothing there to interest you, so there's no reason to upgrade. One of the biggest features is a new UI, which is much nicer to look at. But there have also been TIA and debugger emulation improvements as well.

 

Also keep in mind that if you have any problems, my very first requirement will be to try the latest version first. So I'll leave it up to you.

[+batari]

I was working with the debugger yesterday and was trying to figure out how to trapread/write on a range of addresses instead of a single address, and couldn't figure out how. Is this possible? I ended up entering all 64 possible addresses individually and it took a while to enter. I don't think it will work with breakif, as there doesn't seem to be a register for the address bus itself. I could be wrong though.

 

Also, I found that some less used bankswitching schemes don't debug properly, or at least they do not run properly after exiting the debugger. Admittedly, I'm a couple of revisions behind with Stella, but I didn't notice anything in the changelog indicating this had been addressed.

[+stephena]

I was working with the debugger yesterday and was trying to figure out how to trapread/write on a range of addresses instead of a single address, and couldn't figure out how. Is this possible? I ended up entering all 64 possible addresses individually and it took a while to enter. I don't think it will work with breakif, as there doesn't seem to be a register for the address bus itself. I could be wrong though.

No, those functions aren't available (yet), but they are good ideas. I'll look into it for a future release.

Also, I found that some less used bankswitching schemes don't debug properly, or at least they do not run properly after exiting the debugger. Admittedly, I'm a couple of revisions behind with Stella, but I didn't notice anything in the changelog indicating this had been addressed.

That's entirely possible. The debugger doesn't seem to get much feedback to me, so I'm not surprised that some of the more esoteric BS schemes are glitchy. I guess it depends on what you're doing in the debugger, and what you mean by 'not running properly'. More testing and feedback is definitely required. But at this point, I'm more wrapped up the ADC/SBC opcode decimal mode emulation, which seems to be causing problems.

[SeaGtGruff]

The debugger doesn't seem to get much feedback to me, so I'm not surprised that some of the more esoteric BS schemes are glitchy.

I did notice-- while running Video Life this weekend-- that the debugger's disassembly listing showed the 1K of expansion RAM at $F000-$F3FF (read addresses) and $F400-$F7FF (write addresses). I was able to see that the expansion RAM had some small bit of executable code in it! That's very handy.

 

Michael

[+batari]

I was working with the debugger yesterday and was trying to figure out how to trapread/write on a range of addresses instead of a single address, and couldn't figure out how. Is this possible? I ended up entering all 64 possible addresses individually and it took a while to enter. I don't think it will work with breakif, as there doesn't seem to be a register for the address bus itself. I could be wrong though.

No, those functions aren't available (yet), but they are good ideas. I'll look into it for a future release.

Also, I found that some less used bankswitching schemes don't debug properly, or at least they do not run properly after exiting the debugger. Admittedly, I'm a couple of revisions behind with Stella, but I didn't notice anything in the changelog indicating this had been addressed.

That's entirely possible. The debugger doesn't seem to get much feedback to me, so I'm not surprised that some of the more esoteric BS schemes are glitchy. I guess it depends on what you're doing in the debugger, and what you mean by 'not running properly'. More testing and feedback is definitely required. But at this point, I'm more wrapped up the ADC/SBC opcode decimal mode emulation, which seems to be causing problems.

I just figured out that you can run a script file in the debugger, so that should work for now.

 

As for the issues, I've noticed it on a number of bankswitching schemes in the past, but most recently I found that when debugging FA binaries, the RAM was zeroed upon entering the debugger and writes were disabled. Superchip seems to work, though.

[+stephena]

I was working with the debugger yesterday and was trying to figure out how to trapread/write on a range of addresses instead of a single address, and couldn't figure out how. Is this possible? I ended up entering all 64 possible addresses individually and it took a while to enter. I don't think it will work with breakif, as there doesn't seem to be a register for the address bus itself. I could be wrong though.

No, those functions aren't available (yet), but they are good ideas. I'll look into it for a future release.

Also, I found that some less used bankswitching schemes don't debug properly, or at least they do not run properly after exiting the debugger. Admittedly, I'm a couple of revisions behind with Stella, but I didn't notice anything in the changelog indicating this had been addressed.

That's entirely possible. The debugger doesn't seem to get much feedback to me, so I'm not surprised that some of the more esoteric BS schemes are glitchy. I guess it depends on what you're doing in the debugger, and what you mean by 'not running properly'. More testing and feedback is definitely required. But at this point, I'm more wrapped up the ADC/SBC opcode decimal mode emulation, which seems to be causing problems.

I just figured out that you can run a script file in the debugger, so that should work for now.

 

As for the issues, I've noticed it on a number of bankswitching schemes in the past, but most recently I found that when debugging FA binaries, the RAM was zeroed upon entering the debugger and writes were disabled. Superchip seems to work, though.

I really need to get a thread going about the debugger, its issues and capabilities, and what to add/how to improve it. This really needs to come from developers like yourself that use it regularly as a developer, vs myself (I only use it on a cursory level). But that will have to wait for the next major release.

 

If only there were more people to help with development ...

[Wickeycolumbus]

If only there were more people to help with development ...

 

I wish I could help you I just wanted to let you know that you do a great job! Someone here must be able to help you

[+stephena]

Stella 2.7.6 has just been released, which addresses several issues mentioned in this thread (I've marked the remaining items on an internal TODO list). Please move all discussion to that thread.