[VCS] Gopher2600 Preview 3 0.40 23/02/2025

[10] faust @ !!! Niedziela, 23 Lutego 2025 21:01 CET [13-01-2025 23:37 CET]

Stella ma całkiem rozwiniętego konkurenta, który jak większość multiplatformowych aplikacji potrafi doprowadzić mnie do szewskiej pasji kiedy chce załadować gry z innej partycji;) Po za tym, to całkiem przyjemny emulator ATARI 2600 posiadający dość dobry filtr "psujący" obraz i parę dodatkowych ustawień pozwalających na dopicowanie naszego wirtualnego VCS.

Aby odróżnić się od Gopher64, bo w tym samym czasie praktycznie rozwijane są dwa świstakowe projeky - emulator Nintento 64 i trochę starszy Gopher2600, autor postanowił rozszerzyć nazwę - dzięki temu będzie prościej:)

Atari 2600 Emulator: Gopher v0.34 Preview 3 23/02/2025

(...)In this preview I have changed the output value of "black" as produced by NTSC Colour-Lum value $00. For PAL and SECAM there are more values that produce "black" and this applies to them too. The purpose of this change is to make it the same value of the "black" produced by VBLANK.

Without going into too much detail, the purpose of this change is to ensure that both types of black (the one produced by VBLANK and the one produced by Colour-Lum $00) are affected by the brightness/contrast controls equally, which is what can be observed on real hardware.(...)

Other Changes

Corrected detected of "PAL60" in filename

This controls the specification of the emulated television

DPC (Pitfall II) fingerprinting

The detection for DPC is based purely on size of the ROM file

Problem identified in #36

DPC Random Number Generator

Corrected random number algorithm to more closely match DPC patent

Pumped on every cartridge access and not just on 'non-volatile' access

ARM Timers

ARM timers more efficiently updated

Small improvement in performance

ELF Performance

Small efficiency improvements

Atari 2600 Emulator: Gopher v0.34 Preview 2 17/02/2025

<i>...In the image you will notice that the rim around the screen is not tinted by blue because it is illuminated by the screen, which has a different predominant colour.</i>

...In the image you will notice that the rim around the screen is not tinted by blue because it is illuminated by the screen, which has a different predominant colour.

This is a second preview release of v0.40.0. I'm still not satisfied with what I am now referring to as the new colour model so I'm still holding off making a non-preview release. And I still want to emphasise that the colours are not 'final' or fully understood.

Colour Models

The changes to the new colour model are as follows

NTSC colour burst

Previously a phase adjustment would cause the burst to change very slightly, which it shouldn't. The burst is now fixed in all instances.

IQ and UV values are no longer scaled by Y

Contrast adjustment now uses a grey level of 7.5%

colour-lum of 0 is set to 7.5% grey

Other Changes

Small performance improvement during cycle accumulation

Separation of integer and fractional parts of a cycle count now uses SIMD instructions

Patch Files

Missing patch file is no longer a fatal error

Patch file given on the command line is not assumed to be in the patches directory of the configuration directory.

The path given on the command line is now an absolute path

SDL Audio

Small performance improvement caused by calling sdl.AudioQueue() less frequently

Queue management now slows the sample rate when queue is running low

This should result in fewer audio buffer underruns

Atari 2600 Emulator: Gopher v0.34 Preview 13/01/2025

Changes since v0.35.3

This release is a bit different than normal. I've been sitting on some major changes to the code and I haven't been wanting to release them until it was done. However, I think the project will benefit from people seeing it and having the opportunity to give feedback but with the understanding that some of these changes are not final.

Colour

The major change in this release relates to how colour is created. Surprisingly, colour on the 2600 is a controversial topic. For this reason the default range of colours in this version of Gopher2600 is by no means the final article. The default range is something that is likely to change in future versions.

If you want to change the colours then you can do so by pressing F10 and selecting the Television tab(...)

Rendering, TV Bevel and Audio

Other changes in this release include a much improved rendering pipeline. This should result in less glitching for ROMs that use "flicker kernels" and in particular, when using a compositing window manager on X11.

There is now also a real TV "bevel" as opposed to the goofy option that existed before. It's enabled by default but you can disable it from the CRT tab of the preferences window (press F10 for the preferences window). (...)

Configuration Files

One of the planned changes for the project is an improved handling of user preferences. I've not implemented this yet, so in the meantime I recommend that you delete your existing configuration files and start over. It should be okay if you don't, but I can't guarantee that the settings you have now will look okay in conjunction with the above changes.

Information about configuration files and where to find them is in the project wiki

Blog

I've also started a blog which you may be interested in following. https://jetsetilly.github.io/Gopher2600-Blog/ I plan to update it with development discussion from time to time. My next article will be on colour generation: how I've implemented it and why it's such a big issue.

Other Changes

In addition to the major changes described above, this release also has some smaller maintenance changes.

Bug Fixes

TIA Corrections

the moment when NUSIZx is handled during the TIA sub-cycle

reset condition for ball

Keypad

Corrected behaviour of the '3' key for the right keypad peripheral

Debugger

Added CHANGED option to WATCH command

Improved feedback messaging for the PERIPHERAL command

Vox populi

Ten artykuł nie byl jeszcze komentowany:(

Dodaj komentarz!!!!

wstecz23/02/2025 21:01

Inne treści związane z tematem

[Atari.Area] HDDRIVER 12.74

Pojawiła się nowa wersja popularnego i cenionego sterownika dla pamięci masowych – HDDRIVER 12.74. Oprogramowanie to, wraz z dołączonymi narzędziami, jest pierwszym wyborem dla każdego pasjonata 16/32-bitowego komputera, który chce korzystać z nowoczesnych i starszych dysków twardych oraz kart pamięci. HDDRIVER jest kluczowym elementem, który zapewnia maksymalną kompatybilność ...

[Atari.Area] Czwarta beta Elite dla Atari 8-bit

Brian Reifsnyder opublikował kolejną, czwartą wersję demonstracyjną swojego portu przełomowej gry kosmicznej Elite dla komputerów Atari 8-bit, przenoszonej z wersji na BBC Micro. Czym w ogóle było Elite w czasach ośmiobitowców? Ta gra, pierwotnie wydana w 1984 roku, była rewolucyjna. Odrzuciła liniowość na rzecz symulacji otwartego wszechświata, oferując unikalne połączenie ...

[Atari.Area] FujiNet Battleship od Erica Carra

Eric Carr, znany deweloper w społeczności FujiNet, wydał nową grę - Battleship - dla komputerów Atari 8-bit. To klasyczna gra w statki, w którą można grać w maksymalnie cztery osoby. Gra jest w pełni dostępna za pośrednictwem platformy FujiNet, co umożliwia łatwe dołączanie do rozgrywki poprzez FujiNet Game Lobby. Najważniejsze cechy nowej wersji to: Wsparcie dla maksymalnie 4 ...

[Atari] AtariOnLine: Demo "Zener Drive" i K.K.

Już jutro, w poniedziałek, 1 grudnia 2025 roku, o godzinie 20:30, spotkamy się na zoomie AtariOnline.pl z Krzysztofem "K.K." Kluczkiem autorem dema dla Atari XL/XE, opublikowanego na ostatnim Silly Venture pod tytułem Zener Drive.Demo zajęło trzecie miejsce, i pododbnie jak z "Unseen", w mojej perspektywie zostało bardzo niedocenione przez głosujących. Są ...

[Atari] AtariOnLine: Demo "Unseen" i Bober

Już dziś, w niedzielę, 30 listopada 2025 roku, o godzinie 12:00, w samo południe spotkamy się na zoomie AtariOnline.pl z Rafałem "Boberem" Ciepielą autorem dema dla Atari XL/XE, opublikowanego na ostatnim Silly Venture pod tytułem Unseen.Demo zajęło czwarte miejsce, a ponieważ w mojej prywatnej klasyfikacji powinno być znacznie wyżej, bo bardzo ...