WIP Blog
Posted by barry on 19 February 2011 at 22:15:31
I added some new drivers to FB Alpha recently. First up is a driver for Irem M62, the driver is finished and everthing works.
I've also added some of the games that abuse the Taito custom chips. I've rewritten the TC0100SCN module to allow multi-screen games to work properly and also to be faster. I have added Thunder Fox to the Taito F2 driver which uses two of the chips for multiple layers on the same screen.
I have also added support to the TC0480SCP module for double-width mode and added support to the PC080SN module for the custom rendering done by Top Speed, which is a complete driver. I have checked the TC0480SCP changes with a driver for Super Chase which is complete except for sound (I need to port MAME's ES5505 sound core for sound to work).
Posted by barry on 20 March 2010 at 18:19:16
I wrote a driver for Operation Thunderbolt. It has a lot in common with Space Gun so it was quite a quick one to finish up.
Posted by barry on 10 March 2010 at 21:47:24
Click more for the statement.
FB Alpha Megadrive Test Release
Posted by barry on 27 March 2009 at 19:30:15
A test version of FB Alpha with just the Megadrive games enabled. There have been significant improvements to thecurrent released version.
Click more for more information and the download.
Posted by barry on 6 March 2009 at 19:33:44
The SoftFX filters were getting a bit of a mess, so I've tidied them up, and updated the enhanced blitter to support more than sixteen filters, as well as updating the configuration file to support long long integers. I have also added some more filters (see image below).
Posted by barry on 4 March 2009 at 20:42:02
I have added support for hiscore.dat in FB Alpha. Due to the problems this file caused in MAME before support was removed I have imposed the following restrictions on it's use;
- Support is only turned on when the option Save high scores when supported is enabled. This is off by default.
- Support is only turned on when a driver specifically declares support for it.
The reason why I have insisted on a driver specifically declaring it's support is so that hiscore support can be tested in games and only enabled if it is verified to work well. I have currently done the Galaxian driver and only enabled hiscore support in games that work well. I do not intend on doing many more drivers as I don't have the time to test them all. I hope that users will test drivers for themselves and let us know their experiences.
To test a games hiscore support you need to place the hiscore.dat in your hiscore directory and enable the Save high scores when supported option. You also need to compile your own version of FB Alpha and enable hiscore support in the driver you want to test. To enable hiscore support in a driver you edit the BurnDriver struct and adding BDF_HISCORE_SUPPORTED to the flags member.
In pretty much any circumstance, this would involve changing;
to;
Then recompile and test the game. If hiscore saving works then let us know. The easiest way to do that would be to post at NeoSource.
Posted by barry on 4 March 2009 at 20:40:55
Several people have been requesting that support is added to the Megadrive driver for their favourite games. The driver currently contains my favourite games that work. There are simply too many games in the driver for us to test them all and enable ones that work. To this end, I am giving users the opportunity to add games to the driver.
To do this, firstly you need to download a version of FBA, with all Megadrive games enabled. iq_132 has made one available and you can download it here. Once you have tested a game you can update it's status using this page. Registration is required - this is because we want to log changes and if necessary block any people who abuse the system.
The process is simple. Simply enter the short name of the driver you tested (e.g. g_soni) and click the Amend button. Update the details according to your testing and then click the Amend button to change the details. Strictly speaking, most details shouldn't change. The only fields I expect will change, are;
- Year
- Manufacturer
- Number of Players
- Genre
- Status
- Notes
Each field should be self-explanatory. The Notes field should be used to record your testing experience and to explain any problems with the game, etc., so we can look at fixing things when the driver is more mature.
With each new release of FB Alpha I will generate a new driver file from this database and any games marked as working will be automatically included. All game details will be updated using the data stored here so we should be able to get more complete info on each game, (e.g., genre, year) than we have now.
So, if you want to see more Megadrive games in FB Alpha, you really don't have any excuses anymore.
Posted by barry on 18 January 2009 at 08:24:22
I have been rewriting the Galaxian driver I wrote years ago, which never made it into the official FBA, over the last few months. I now have most things up and running. The current number of games added in this new driver is 131!
Everything works well, with the exception of anything that uses the Galaxian sound hardware, which I haven't looked at implementing yet. Other games have sound though, including all the Konami ones like Frogger, Scramble, Turtles, etc. and a few others like Checkman, Jump Bug, Moon Shuttle, Zig Zag and some more. This one should make it into the next release when ready and I'm glad I've finally redone it as it was my very first FBA driver and to do it "properly" now is quite pleasing.
Click more for some screenshots. (Warning: There are quite a few)
Posted by barry on 6 September 2008 at 15:30:03
Well, I ported another CPU core from MAME and now I can get the mystery game from the previous article going. Here is Double Dragon fully working - one of my favourite games from childhood!
This means we now have a HD6309 core, as well as a HD63701 core to go with the recently added M6809 core - all of these are used by Double Dragon.
The HD6309 and HD63701 both need proper interfaces adding to FBA but they are fully working as this driver demonstrates. The HD63701 is a clone of the M6800, so we also have pretty easy access to cores for the following CPUs if we need them, M6800, M6801, M6802, M6803, M6808, and NSC8105.
Click more the screenshots.
Posted by barry on 5 September 2008 at 20:16:05
I have ported the M6809 core from MAME which is used by quite a lot of hardware. I have used it to make two drivers which have been useful in testing that is working correctly. It has been used with Ghosts 'n Goblins where it is the main CPU and also in a driver for Renegade where it drives an FM chip which provided a good test for the timer support!
I have also ported a different core from MAME which I have used to get as far as the screenshot below. The palette isn't hooked up yet hence the blueness! The game seems to be waiting for a sub-CPU to do something but that is another core that will need adding to FBA....
Click more for some screenshots.
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