ST emulator + debugger

[l12n]

What are the best Atari ST emulators + debuggers out there? I have heard of Steem Boiler Room but unfortunately I haven't been able to find where to download it (I did get Steem and Steem SSE but couldn't find a debugger).

[Chri O.]

2024-04-18: Version 2.5.0
Hatari 2.5.0

https://hatari.tuxfamily.org/news.html

[Chri O.]

Hatari Debugger User's Manual

 

[Jfcatari]

Just an FYI for Hatari users.

 

This 2.5.0 release allows Spectre 3.0 (Mac emulation) to run.

Edited May 21 by Jfcatari

[l12n]

Thanks. I was also able to find the Steem debug version. I took a look at both debuggers. Ideally I'd like a debugger which can show the graphical resources of the software (such debuggers exist for some other old machines) but this might not be an option for the Atari ST.

[+CyranoJ]

The defacto gold standard for emulator debuggers can be found here.

[l12n]

7 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

The defacto gold standard for emulator debuggers can be found here.

On the page that you gave I see Steem Debug 3.2, whereas I found somewhere else Steem SSE Debug 4.0.2. Any major differences between the two?

[+CyranoJ]

20 minutes ago, l12n said:

On the page that you gave I see Steem Debug 3.2, whereas I found somewhere else Steem SSE Debug 4.0.2. Any major differences between the two?

 

Never felt the need to move beyond 3.2, so no idea.

[l12n]

Fair enough. BTW, would you know of any good tutorial? As a first exercise, I'm running Pacmania for STE in Steem Debug and I'm trying to catch it drawing the next screen one blit at a time. I was able to break for each blitter call, but I'm not sure if Steem Debug can display on the screen any area of the memory I want.

[ggn]

On 5/22/2024 at 1:20 AM, l12n said:

Fair enough. BTW, would you know of any good tutorial? As a first exercise, I'm running Pacmania for STE in Steem Debug and I'm trying to catch it drawing the next screen one blit at a time. I was able to break for each blitter call, but I'm not sure if Steem Debug can display on the screen any area of the memory I want.

https://beyondbrown.mooo.com/post/steem-debug-the-boiler-room/

[Cyprian]

On 5/21/2024 at 5:06 AM, CyranoJ said:

 

Never felt the need to move beyond 3.2, so no idea.

emulation in Steem 3.2 is so outdated, also its debugger is a somewhat limited.

 

Steem SSE 4.x has a lot of features. There you can find what was implemented:

https://sourceforge.net/p/steemsse/blog/

 

 

13 hours ago, ggn said:

https://beyondbrown.mooo.com/post/steem-debug-the-boiler-room/

nice manual,

it would be worth to mention more features e.g. "Monitor: address range"

Edited May 31 by Cyprian

[+CyranoJ]

21 minutes ago, Cyprian said:

emulation in Steem 3.2 is so outdated, also its debugger is a somewhat limited.

 

Steem SSE 4.x has a lot of features. There you can find what was implemented:

 

Yeah, clearly I'm not qualified to answer

[Cyprian]

On 5/22/2024 at 12:20 AM, l12n said:

Fair enough. BTW, would you know of any good tutorial? As a first exercise, I'm running Pacmania for STE in Steem Debug and I'm trying to catch it drawing the next screen one blit at a time. I was able to break for each blitter call, but I'm not sure if Steem Debug can display on the screen any area of the memory I want.

 

that's the reason to use the latest Steem SSE because Steven did a great job with the BLiTTER emulation there (it was very bad in 3.2).

What exactly do you need?

And if it is not possible with Steem SSE, we can ask Steven to add it to the Debugger.

 

[l12n]

5 hours ago, Cyprian said:

 

What exactly do you need?

 

I'm trying to understand how are some games implementing their animation, e.g.
- In Pacmania (STE version), I'm trying to break before (or just after) the game is blitting each resources in the next frame (to see how the next frame is being drawn). I tried setting a breakpoint on Blitter calls but they are never caught
- In Return to Genesis, I'm trying to find the pre-shifted graphical resources
- How some games are using interrupts to add extra effects like more than 16 colors on screen

[phoenixdownita]

15 hours ago, CyranoJ said:

 

Yeah, clearly I'm not qualified to answer

https://d-bug.me/

extras tab says

 

 The Law (who had left Automation for a spell to join The BBC) became Cyrano Jones
 

I assume you are “The Law” … did I get it right?

Edited June 1 by phoenixdownita

[+CyranoJ]

No comment. 

[phoenixdownita]

44 minutes ago, CyranoJ said:

No comment. 

Ok, maybe above “The Law”.

 

I found a hd image for MiST(er) with D-Bug stuff on it and a few games mention:

“cracked by xyz, recracked by Cyrano Jones”

or something to that extent.

 

Funny remark to have right there, both to give initial credit but also to “you didn’t bother really finishing it” … my interpretation obviously … at any rate I was assuming I had to thank you for those thinking you are one and the same given your prolific list of ST ports to Jaguar … so thank you, for the Jag ports too.

 

Edited June 1 by phoenixdownita

[ggn]

On 5/31/2024 at 11:07 AM, Cyprian said:

nice manual,

it would be worth to mention more features e.g. "Monitor: address range"

Thanks, it was written as a very entry-level introduction to the Boiler Room. Of course if anyone wants to write an article describing more advanced things, I'd be happy to host it :).