Announce: Stella 1.4_cvs snapshot for testing ...

[+stephena]

OK, this is a test release of the current CVS code for what will become Stella version 1.4. Some people have asked the progress, so here it is:

http://www.cs.mun.ca/~stephena/stella_cvs_0416.zip

 

Go to the 'linux' directory for the linux version, or the 'windows' directory for the windows version. If you want/need to recompile, go to the 'src/build' directory.

 

 

Major changes from version 1.3:

 

1) Biggest change is that the codebase is now based on SDL. That means that all other ports have been discontinued. So there's no X11, DOS, or DirectX ports anymore.

 

2) The Windows port is now commandline based. I will be adapting either StellaX or Cyberstella to work with the commandline version (eventually). For now, you need to use a DOS box.

 

3) All sound ports have been discontinued. That means that for Linux, the OSS and ALSA sound backends are gone, and for Windows the DirectSound is gone. The sound code now uses SDL only.

 

 

New features:

 

1) An OpenGL backend has been added (use the '-video gl' commandline argument)

 

2) Event remapping is possible. That means that almost every function in Stella can be assigned to some other key (or joystick). Hit the TAB key for a MAME-like in-game menu. To change a key remapping, hit the ENTER key while on an event, then hit the key/joystick event to assign to it. To erase a mapping, hit the ENTER key while on an event, then hit ESCAPE. Hit TAB again to exit menu mode, or hit ESCAPE to 'move up' to a previous menu'.

 

3) Probably some others that I'm forgetting ...

 

 

What doesn't work quite right yet:

 

1) Fullscreen OpenGL mode in Windows is a bit screwy.

 

2) The sound code is scratchy in places, especially in Windows.

 

3) The advanced sound in the Pitfall2 cart is not supported (again, but it may be before the final release).

 

4) Screen snapshots don't work yet in OpenGL (it gives the same output as if software video mode had been selected).

 

5) The Windows software rendering backend is quite slow for some reason. I haven't figured it out yet, but it sometimes uses 60-70% CPU (the same code in Linux uses 3-4% CPU). The OpenGL code uses about 8% CPU under Linux and Windows.

 

 

OK, if using Linux, you may need to recompile for your distro. Email me if you need any help.

 

And please people, give me feedback on this. I can't fix something if I don't know it's broken.

 

And finally, if someone wants to try and compile this in MacOS X, then go for it. And let me know how it works (there shouldn't be any code to change, except for possibly creating a SettingsMacOS class).

 

Email me at stephena@users.sourceforge.net.

 

Thanks,

Steve Anthony (Stella maintainer)

[KaineMaxwell]

tried downloading it and the download wouldn't finish.

[+stephena]

It seems I've overloaded my university account. In the future, everyone should use the following link to the sourceforge page:

 

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/stella/...16.zip?download

 

Thanks,

Steve

[KaineMaxwell]

No idea how to use this.

[+stephena]

No idea how to use this.  

 

Can you be a bit more specific? You don't know how to unzip a file? Or you don't know how to use the emulator?

 

For unzipping, you will have to refer to whatever OK you use. Once you do unzip it, change to the windows directory (assuming you use windows) and type 'stella NAME_OF_ROM' in a DOS box.

 

Since z26 is commandline based, I assumed that most people here would be comfortable using Stella from the commandline.

 

Steve

[Ze_ro]

Compiles and runs great on my system! Good to see more developers using SDL... it makes compiling and porting so much easier in the long run.

 

--Zero

[+stephena]

Compiles and runs great on my system! Good to see more developers using SDL... it makes compiling and porting so much easier in the long run.

 

--Zero

 

Thanks for the info. But (and I probably should have posted this in the original message) what type of system do you have? If you can, please provide OS, SDL version, games tried, software vs. OpenGL mode, etc.

 

As for the cross-platform nature, I've already received feedback from one user that with some small modifications, the code compiles in OS X as well. Those changes will be included in the next pre-release.

 

Thanks,

Steve