Updated documentation for the 1.3 release.

git-svn-id: svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/stella/code/trunk@169 8b62c5a3-ac7e-4cc8-8f21-d9a121418aba
This commit is contained in:
bwmott 2003-02-17 19:02:48 +00:00
parent 1c69f95546
commit 9fa22953d9

@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
<br><br><br><br><br>
<center><b>February 1999 - FIXME (April 2002)</b></center>
<center><b>February 1999 - February 2003</b></center>
<center><b>The Stella Team</b></center>
<center><b><a href="http://stella.sourceforge.net">Stella Homepage</a></b></center>
@ -210,7 +210,18 @@
<h2><b>New in Release 1.3</b></h2>
<ul>
<li><h1>FIXME - Some other stuff from Brad and company</h1></li>
<li>Improved TIA sound system so that games with digitized audio work</li>
<li>Added saving and loading of game state to the core; X11, SDL, and DOS
versions current support saving and loading game state</li>
<li>Added support for F4 bankswitching method</li>
<li>Pitfall II DPC sound emulation completed</li>
<li>Fixed a bug which caused the difficulty switches to operate backwards</li>
<li>Changed DPC auto-detection to use file size so that Pitfall II mods work</li>
<li>Modified RIOT timer emulation so that startup values are random</li>
<li>Added 3F bankswitching auto-detection routine so that homebrews and
demos work without a stella.pro entry</li>
<li>Updated the TIA message boxes so they look a little nicer</li>
<li>Latest stella.pro file included in distribution</li>
<li>Added some <b>developer</b> options to the core, and the ability to change
game width, height, xstart, ystart, etc. while the emulation is running. Added
ability to switch between NTSC and PAL at runtime, and the ability to save the
@ -225,7 +236,6 @@
in "<i>$HOME/.stella/stella.pro</i>"
<li>Changed the way options are supplied on the commandline. Now all commandline
options take <b>exactly</b> the same arguments as in the INI file</li>
<li>Made the TIA message boxes look a little nicer</li>
<li>Added "<i>-accurate</i>" command line option to choose between accurate
(CPU-intensive) timing or less accurate (CPU-friendly) timing to X11 and SDL
versions. This is the final version of what was considered experimental timing code
@ -242,58 +252,23 @@
<li><i>-Dystart</i></li>
<li><i>-Dmerge</i></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h1> FIXME - possibly delete this next part ...</h1>
<p>
<h2><b>New in Release 1.2</b></h2>
<ul>
<li>License change to the GNU General Public License (GPL)</li>
<li>Website moved to SourceForge</li>
<li>Improved illegal CPU instruction support (Thrust and Qb work now)</li>
<li>Emulation of undefined TIA bits was improved (Video Pinball works)</li>
<li>TIA emulation improved to fix some problems with
Pole Position, Fatal Run, Dolphin, Decathlon, Robot Tank,
and Hole Hunter.</li>
<li>Added support for Pitfall II, however, the enhanced sound is not
currently supported</li>
<li>Improved Supercharger emulation including a new BIOS that shows
the vertical blue progress bars like the real thing.</li>
<li>Added support for Megaboy cartridge and Commavid bank-switching method</li>
<li>Unix version ported to SDL (requires SDL 1.2.0 or greater)</li>
<li>Much improved startup time in all versions</li>
<li>X11, SDL, DOS versions no longer load whole stella.pro file in memory
(huge memory savings)</li>
<li>Stella.pro file now required, it is no longer optional</li>
<li>INI file support added to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>PNG snapshot support added to X11 and SDL versions (requires PNG library)</li>
<li>Added pause ability to the core, DOS, X11 and SDL versions supported for now</li>
<li>Updated PAL & NTSC palettes with more accurate colors</li>
<li>Added experimental timing code to X11 and SDL versions. Reduces CPU
usage at the expense of smooth framerates.</li>
<li>Added "<i>-zoom</i>" command line option to set initial window size
to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-grabmouse</i>" command line option to keep mouse in game
window to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-hidecursor</i>" command line option to hide cursor in game
window to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-center</i>" command line option to center initial game window
to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-volume</i>" command line option to set volume level
to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-showinfo</i>" command line option to see some useful info on
emulator exit to DOS, X11, and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-ssdir</i>" command line option to specify where to save
snapshots to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-ssname</i>" command line option to specify where how to name
snapshots to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-sssingle</i>" command line option to specify whether to generate
single (vs. multiple) snapshots to X11 and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-pro</i>" command line option to specify to use another
properties file (instead of stella.pro) to DOS, X11, and SDL versions</li>
<li>Added "<i>-fullscreen</i>" command line option to switch to fullscreen
mode to SDL version</li>
<li>Fixed window resize bug in the X11 port</li>
<li>Added "<i>-nosound</i>" command line option to the DOS port to disable audio</li>
<li>DOS port supports a "<i>-vsync</i>" option to synchronize emulation with the
video blank of the video card</li>
<li>Changed VGA code in the DOS port to use a 60Hz 320x200 and a 60Hz
320x240 graphics mode</li>
<li>DOS port has been updated to run better under Windows NT, 2000, and XP.
There are still issues with the sound, however, it is usable.</li>
<li>DOS port is using a new Sound Blaster driver created by Matt Conte which
supports auto-detection of sound cards.</li>
<li>DOS port supports a STELLA_HOME environment variable that defines
the location of config files.</li>
<li>In the DOS port the stella.pro file is searched for first in the
current working director and then in the <i>%STELLA_HOME%</i> directory
<li>In the DOS port the ROM image is searched for first using the
specified path, then in <i>%STELLA_HOME%/ROMS</i>, and finally
in <i>%STELLA_HOME%</i></li>
</ul>
<p>
@ -350,7 +325,7 @@
<li>DOS 5.0 or higher
<li>8 MB of RAM
<li>256 color VGA graphics card
<li>486/120 MHz required; 586/166 MHz highly recommended
<li>586/166 MHz required
<li>At least 2 megabytes of hard disk space available
<li>Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card required for sound
<li>Joysticks or gamepads are highly recommended
@ -412,8 +387,9 @@
<p>The DOS version of Stella is distributed as a ZIP archive containing the DOS
executable as well as some other files. The DOS version of Stella
works with DOS as well as Windows 9x, however, it does not work very
well with Windows NT and 2000. You should install it as follows:</p>
works with DOS as well as Windows 9x. The DOS version will run under
Windows NT, 2000, and XP, however, the sound may not operate correctly.
You should install it as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Change directories to the root directory:<br>
@ -427,6 +403,8 @@
<li>If you have a Sound Blaster or 100% compatible sound card make sure
the <b>BLASTER</b> environment variable is set in your <b>AUTOEXEC.BAT</b> file.
The sound driver will attempt to auto-detect your card if the <b>BLASTER</b> variable
isn't correctly specified.
For example:
<pre> SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1</pre></li>
@ -615,6 +593,11 @@
the default 320x200 graphics mode</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><pre>-nosound</pre></td>
<td>Indicates that the sound blaster support should be disabled</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><pre>-paddle &lt;0|1|2|3|real&gt;</pre></td>
<td>Indicates which paddle the mouse should emulate or that real Atari
@ -628,6 +611,13 @@
<td><pre>-showinfo</pre></td>
<td>Shows some game info on exit</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><pre>-vsync</pre></td>
<td>Indicates that the emulation should synchronize with the video card instead
of the system timer</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><b>Emulator Game Shells</b></p>
@ -1487,10 +1477,10 @@
<tr>
<td VALIGN="TOP"><i>Cartridge.Filename:</i></td>
<td>This property indicates the name of the file containing the ROM image.
In general this property is not needed, however, if present Stella uses it
<!--In general this property is not needed, however, if present Stella uses it
while attempting to match a game with its block of properties. If the
value of the property matches the filename of the ROM image then Stella
uses that block of properties for the game.</td>
uses that block of properties for the game.--></td>
</tr>
<tr>