MESS Version 0.74 Released

[Albert]

Version 0.74 of MESS (Multi Emulator Super System) has been released. This MESS update contains some Atari 7800 emulation improvements, courtesy of Eric Ball and Nate Woods, as well as improvements to other emulators for other systems. Please visit the MESS Homepage to download the latest binary and source versions of MESS.

 

I posted this here, seeing as there are some 7800 improvements to this version of MESS. I have not yet had the time to try them myself, but I figured others might be eager to do so.

 

..Al

[NE146]

I'd be interested in hearing how good the 7800 emulation is as well.. seeing as I have no way of doing a direct comparison (I've never owned a 7800 )

[EricBall]

My changes to the MESS a7800 were mostly improvements to the 320 modes, and really only have an impact to Tower Toppler AFAIK. The 2600/7800 Artifacting topic has some screen shots showing the differences. Note: Tower Toppler on MESS looks different than on a real TV, see the topic for details.

 

The MESS emulation of the 7800 is not perfect (though most games work acceptably). MESS does not model how MARIA DMA steals cycles from the 6502, nor how the 6502 clock downshifts for TIA & RIOT accesses. So any homebrews should be tested on a real 7800 (which should make Chad happy).

[Trebor]

I'd be interested in hearing how good the 7800 emulation is as well.. seeing as I have no way of doing a direct comparison

 

Actually, it is very good. Most games work great. Many have 'title-screen' only glitches or other minor graphical glitches. The games that are *really* buggy include:

 

1. Kung-Fu Master: Various graphical errors. However, improvement has been made Version 0.74 with regards to scrolling.

 

2. One-On-One Basketball: The clock tics *way* too fast. This is a long standing bug - timing issue which (I believe) affects Asteroids in some manner as well. Other graphical errors. Additionally, a new bug is present with version 0.74 - Both 'players' are now a solid shade of blue.

 

3. Choplifter: Scrolling/Mirroring(?) bug. Graphics rapidly go from good to bad throughout.

 

4. Ikari Warriors: Major freeze at power-up of game. However, pressing F3 (Resetting) and then pressing Player 1's *2nd* fire button, will start the game. If you do F3 and then press Player 1's *1st* fire button, it usually hangs the game - or causes other graphical errors and then freezes (BTW, P1 1st button = Left Ctrl, P1 2nd button = Left Alt)

 

5. Tank Command & Water Ski (Froggo games): Info placement divided between top and bottom of screen.

 

6. Xenophobe: Screen flickering.

 

Well, that wraps it up. There are some exceptional great Arcade ports including Dig Dug and Food Fight (Which is *MUCH* better to play under the 7800 because of the Analog control issues in MAME). And there are some lousy ones *cough* Double Dragon *cough*. All-in-All a great little system with *A lot* of potential.

[DanBoris]

2. One-On-One Basketball: The clock tics *way* too fast. This is a long standing bug - timing issue which (I believe) affects Asteroids in some manner as well. Other graphical errors. Additionally' date=' a new bug is present with version 0.74 - Both 'players' are now a solid shade of blue.

.[/quote']

 

This bug has really bothered me. I studied Asteroids for a while but could find the problem. The speed difference is just so dramatic, something major must be missing.

 

Dan

[Tempest]

I just noticed that the Pitfighter proto moves WAY too fast. Is there a fix for this?

 

Tempest

[+Mitch]

I just noticed that the Pitfighter proto moves WAY too fast.  Is there a fix for this?

 

Tempest

 

It's probably the same issue as Dan mentioned in his post before yours.

 

I remember that Eric mentioned, in a different thread, that MESS doesn't emulate the 7800 DMA stealing cycles, maybe that's related. I couldn't say for sure because I'm not a programer.

 

Mitch

[Trebor]

2. One-On-One Basketball: The clock tics *way* too fast. This is a long standing bug - timing issue which (I believe) affects Asteroids in some manner as well. Other graphical errors. Additionally' date=' a new bug is present with version 0.74 - Both 'players' are now a solid shade of blue.

.[/quote']

 

This bug has really bothered me. I studied Asteroids for a while but could find the problem. The speed difference is just so dramatic, something major must be missing.

 

Dan

 

 

Whoops..one more thing I left out. This 'timing' issue also affects the scrolling story after the title screen of Karateka. The story scrolls too fast.

For the record, I have compared this against the actual 7800 running Karateka. There is a *significant* speed difference.