[Atari] Steem SSE 4.0.2 R32 15/02/2021

[0] faust @ !!! Poniedziałek, 15 Lutego 2021 01:38 CET [12-10-2020 23:32 CET]

Pojawiła się kolejna pełna wersja STEEM'a i oprócz poprawek pojawił się wątek nazewnictwa - pierwotnie ten fork Steem'a nazwany został Steaven Seagal Edition, obecnie ponoć skrót SSE należy rozwijać jako ST Enhanced Emulator Sensei Software Edition - przynajmniej tak pisze jego twórca. Tak czy siak to Steem SSE, nie ważne jak go nazwać, jest jednym z ciekawszych emulatorów maszynek ze stajni Tramiela.
Po latach pozwala powrócić do tytułów na ATARI ST (co prawda bez fikuśnego i egzotycznego Falcona) i namacalnie sprawdzić, co ta platforma miała do zaoferowania (a że miała i co ciekawsze przetrwała jako symbol 16 biciaka do pracy, a nie do zabawy jest niepodważalne).

Do pobrania pod "okienka" trzy wersje - "DD" (Dx7) i "D3D" (DirectDraw3D9), ta ostatnia powinna fajniej chodzić pod Windows 10. Wersja debug jest wersją z dodatkowymi narzędziami, pozwalającymi na śledzenie procesu emulacji.

Game Over II (Electronic Arts, Inc., 1988)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R32

Fix regression in keyboard click check (Game Over II)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R31

Fix large border at startup and other glitches
Emulation thread less hang-prone

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R30

Fix fullscreen colour bitmap of Colour control on second monitor
Emulation thread less crash-prone when changing ST Video/display options live As mentioned in the blog we say Steem SSE again instead of Steem 4

Xenomorph (Pandora, 1990). Niektórzy kochali DUNGEON MASTERA, ja wolałem Xenomorph

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R29

Fix emulation thread/fullscreen random hanging
Fix fullscreen crash in Windows XP 64bit (thx Marc)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R28

Fix some glitches for GUI, fullscreen, option Lock aspect ratio

Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals (a.k.a. Larry 3) (Sierra On-Line, Inc., 1990). Dobrze od razu znaleźć wersję HD, bez tego rozwód i porzucenie dla innej kobiety będzie naszym najmniejszym zmartwieniem;)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R27

Debugger fixes only
Patches for Monkey Island, Chrono Quest, Formula One Grand Prix (I saw the bugs while doing the patches!)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R26

Fix save screenshot to file when freeimage.dll loaded

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R25

Fix crash on Disk manager 'Get contents' of a unrecognised, non-archive file

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R24

(re)Fix PRG/TOS support STF
Debugger (re)fix crash on config change
Fix save screenshot to clipboard when freeimage.dll loaded (D3D)
6301 random mouse state on reboot
Faster rendering in medium resolution (32bit)
Fix overscan, no border corruption
Green disk manager

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R23

Reset LINEWID (thx Vincent Rivière)
Fix .TOS file support on STE
64bit: real clippling for OSD texts
Some debugger fixes

Gunship (MicroProse Ltd., 1986). Ten moment, w którym bez manuala... nie polecisz.

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R22

Mapping files for US keyboard on UK TOS and UK keyboard on US TOS
Some Status info page fixes
Fix wrong doc files (v4.1.0) in package

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R21

R21 Fix PRG or TOS file not reloaded on startup
Fix loading AUTOMATION PACKER V2.3r PRG files

Prophecy (Electronic Zoo, 1990)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R20

MFM emulation write to disk (R9 bug)
Fix display rendering method on startup with no borders and other little glitches

Darklyte 2 (1993, Howard & Carl Tilley)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R19

Fix Use Pasti for all floppies and ACSI option (R9 bug)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R18

Restore Windows XP compatibility of Steem 64
Disk manager little glitches
Bug using unrar multifiles
WD1772 clear CRC on good ID
EDIT quick fix autoinsert 2nd disk broken again :)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R17

Fix Disk manager Get contents for archives handled by ArchiveAccess (such as 7z)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R16

Some floppy drive fixes
Added some protection patches

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R15

Fix Steem can start on any screen (R13 bug)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R14

Fix stretched display modes (R13 bug)
Monochrome rasters only for palette 0 (Starglider 2)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R13

Auto insert disk B broken (R12 bug)
Fix file association (this one is older)
FPS: don't display if zero

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R12

Glitches on loading a config and other minor fixes

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R11

Steem can start on any screen
Fix timeout bug in MFM emulation

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R10

64bit build not compatible with Windows XP for better performance
Fix regression mono digital sound (Talk talk 2 steps, argh!)
Fix Microwire mixer write 0 (Pacemaker)
Fix potential bugs in ghost disk

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R9

Fix ACSI + STX mixing
Fix HD GEMDOS Atari Works (R8 bug)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R8

Fix old bug when mixing MFM and STX or CAPS disk images
(Re)fix interference between interrupts and GEMDOS HD emulation
Remove confusing default A, W, S, Z joystick keys

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R7

Compatibility with Windows XP restored

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R6

Fix little GUI glitches
Improved resuming of memory snapshots involving an IPF/CTR disk image

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R5

Fix crash on take screenshot (R4 bug)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R4

14MB RAM hack
Extended monitor hack
Random corruption possible on load snapshot
Fullscreen in some display modes (DD)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R3

Fix some large border glitches
Fix some other cases of stalling after loading memory snapshot
Revert recent mod in CAPS interface (OutRun CTR)
steem.ini-only option TrueFullScreenGui (see manual)

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R2

Fix some cases of stalling after loading memory snapshot
Remove misc. Warnings option

Steem SSE 4.0.2 R1

Main:

Fix reading HSCROLL updates the MCU register (Kultur Melk)

Debugger:

Can log IO writes in Trace.txt
Fix R/W log wrong end of line in Trace.txt
Fix history window with few instructions
Monitor distinguish CPU and DMA R/W

→ NOWSZY [Atari.Area] Steem SSE 4.2.0 R5

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→ NOWSZY [Atari] Steem Steven Seagal Edition (SSE) 4.2.0 20/07/2025

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Human Killing Machine (1989, U.S.Gold)

Steem SSE 4.2.0 20/07/2025

v4.2.0 Notices

Windows builds: Windows 2000 not supported anymore, Windows XP or later required, this is because of DirectMusic support.
GUI changes:
- Left click and right click have been reversed for hard disk icons. Left to switch on/off, right to open the settings.
- Wrench icon for configurations removed from tool box, it was a mistake (configs still available in settings)
Linux builds: RtAudio and PortAudio not supported anymore, Steem SSE supports Pulse Audio.

v4.2.0 Features

Native support for STX images (Windows, Linux)

If the pasti.dll plugin isn't available, Steem SSE will try to load those disk images on its own. This is based on the unofficial Pasti file format documentation by DrCoolZic and especially sarnau.
There's no option, if the plugin is present it is used. The plugin is only available as a 32bit Windows library, which means that the feature is especially useful for the 64bit builds and the Linux builds of Steem SSE.
Native handling of STX images is less precise than the plugin, it isn't cycle-accurate (technically, it is based on the scanline timing and not CPU cycles).
You can also convert STX images to STW (v2) through a simple right click on the disk image, but it will not always create working images.

TCP/IP connection (Windows)

New TCP/IP option for I/O ports. With this, you should be able to connect with someone else on the internet through Steem SSE. One instance of Steem SSE can play server (write server as address), the other can play client (type the address or the IP of the server). Reselect the TCP/IP option to start the connection if you change the address or the port. The server should be started first. It will probably trigger your firewall. The server can have multiple clients, if you think it's a bad idea or if your machine is client, just leave the option at 1. To terminate the connection, select the None option.

Imitation of the GEM Control Panel (Windows)

This is a major extension of the former keyboard click option. Now you can also change the colours. You find this in the settings window.

Emulation parameter controls (Windows)

Also available (if the all settings option is checked) are some emulation parameters. Normally they should be left alone, but it may help if some program isn't properly emulated. For example, emulation of the MFP (MC68901) is still trouble, adjusting parameters may compensate that.

Support for DirectMusic MIDI (Windows)

The DirectMusic drivers allow greater precision and potentially eliminate MIDI jitter, provided your audio interface has the correct drivers. This uses the DirectMidi library by Carlos Jiménez de Parga.

Monochrome

Smaller bottom border size for normal size if no overscan option is enabled

Mega Turbo button (hack)

The thing was missing on the real Mega STE, there wasn't even an option to set the CPU to 16MHz in the GEM.
It also works with the Mega ST, emulating an AdSpeed card.

Mouse auto-release

It's like "auto" but the mouse will be released each time a program is run. Useful if you need the mouse only to launch the program in GEM.

Display: Old sync

Use this if your computer has trouble with the way recent versions of Steem SSE handle video synchronisation.
When it's checked, settings for microseconds and the hard loop have no effect.

Disk Manager option Protect image files

If this is checked, Steem won't modify image files of floppy and hard disks.

v4.2.0 Emulation improvements

Software Overscan
- Support for high resolution bottom border removal
TOS 2.06 on STF
- It is possible again to run TOS 2.06 on STF-like models, Steem imitates the hardware hack that intercepts TOS address range decoding.

→ NOWSZY [Atari] Steem SSE 4.1.2 3/04/2022

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Steem SSE 4.1.2 has been released on 3 April 2022.

v4.1.2 Features

Key mappings
- New keyboard mappings for French and German PC keyboards targeting serious software running in UK TOS ("what you type is what you get"), or menu disks and games (what counts is the key position, check Megaroids and Thrust).
Joystics
- 6 setups instead of 3
- Shortcut to select the setup, as an alternative to selection through Num Lock and Scroll Lock (laptops typically don't have those keys).
Snapshot & screenshot (D3D)
- Steem SSE will save a screenshot together with the memory snapshot, and on load it will display that screenshot instead of trying to draw the video memory (didn't work with overscan and Spectrum 512-like pictures).
- If the option Restore previous state isn't checked, a nice picture will be loaded at startup, provided you copied it in Steem's directory. You can of course customise this.

Floppy Disk

Write-protect
- New option to write-protect the disk (the sliding tab on the floppy is up), this is now used instead of the Read Only file property in drive emulation. When you insert a disk, the option will be set if the file is read-only or an archive, then you can change it if you will.
MFM emulation
- Disk image format STW v2: handling fuzzy bits, timing variation and variable track length
New context option to convert SCP images to STW

ACSI hard drive

Create
- New button to create a hdd image file. Enter the number of megabytes you wish (1MB=1,000,000 bytes). The file is filled with zeroes. It's up to you to make it a working hdd image. ICD Pro and other ST software may help. The feature isn't much but without it you need special utilities just to create the file.

Display

Single pixels
- New option Single pixels, it is like scanlines but vertical.
Gamma correction
- If option Show all settings isn't checked, there's only one slider for gamma control.

Sound

New option Slow fade for MicroWire emulation. The feature already existed but it was commanded by option Hacks before, now it is clearer. Use it If you want to avoid pops when the program changes the volume too fast.

Status bar

Little redesign, by default the 2nd pane contains useful info, ROM and RAM info is moved to the 3rd pane. Click on panes to change the behaviour.

Misc.

Save backup snapshot on reset. This was automatic, now it's optional (because saving is a file operation, it can cause a glitch).

Features enabled in Linux builds

Various features that were only available in Windows builds have been ported to Linux:
Ghost disks
MFM Emulation for standard disk images and conversion of image disks to STW
Option Count DMA cycles on disk operations
PRG/TOS support
Special adapters (dongles etc.)
YM -12db hack for STE
Freeboot
Joystick jump button

v4.1.2 Emulation improvements

Blitter
- Closer to hardware for the NFSR flag
MFP (MC68901)
- Some timing modifications to increase compatibility
Floppy Disk
- MFM emulation
  - Better timings on SCP images

→ NOWSZY [Atari] Steem SSE 4.1.1 16/07/2021

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James Pond 2: Codename: RoboCod (a.k.a. RoboCod) (Millennium Interactive Ltd., 1991)

Steem SSE 4.1.1 has been released on 16 July 2021.

v4.1.1 Notices

As of version 4.1.1, a 64bit build of Steem SSE is available for Linux.

v4.1.1 Features

Display
- VSync (D3D): VSync now also works with double frequencies (eg 100Hz). Remark that VSync generally consumes more CPU on the 64bit builds.
- Microseconds (Windows): Use precise hardware counters to time video rendering, if it's not checked milliseconds are used. Microseconds allow emulating the real video frequencies, which are fractional. Timing of display still depends on the hardware and OS (better with FreeSync). This setting is ignored when VSync is engaged.
- BFI (D3D): BFI stands for Black Frame Insertion. When the option is checked, Steem SSE will update the display at twice the ST rate, one frame will be black, one frame will be the emulated image. It results in less movement blur on LCD screens, but video gets dimmer and some flicker may be perceptible. This option operates in windowed and fullscreen modes, with or without VSync, but better with VSync. The screen must be set at a high frequency or in FreeSync.
- Timing Loop: Steem SSE will start a hard polling loop so many milliseconds before the planned time of blit (video rendering). A higher setting means more CPU use. Generally 2ms seems to be a good compromise (1ms is the previously hardcoded setting).However, if your PC is very busy, no matter how high the setting, Steem SSE may lag. The general option Make Steem high priority has a greater impact here. This setting is ignored when VSync is engaged.
- US Border: The normal border size now depends on the TOS language, fewer scanlines for a US TOS, to avoid the black bands.
GUI
- ACSI hard drive manager: For Linux too.
- Joystick select: New shortcuts that simulate key presses on Num Lock or Scroll Lock for keyboards missing those keys (laptops...).
- On Screen Display: Bad jokes. Yes, now it's an apart option!

Emulation improvements

CPU: Closer to a real MC68000 for BCD operations and for undefined flags.
ACSI hard drive: Some ICD-protocol SCSI commands are now emulated ($25, $28, $2A, $2B), disk image larger than 1GB are handled.
DMA: Refill FIFO buffer as soon as it's empty when writing to device (no more hack for laser printing).
6301:
The 6301 uses an independent 1MHz quartz, not a fraction of the Shifter clock.

→ NOWSZY [Atari] Steem SSE 4.1.0 28/02/2021

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Steem SSE 4.1.0 has been released on 28 February 2021.

v4.1.0 Notices

As of version 4.1.0, three full downloads (with doc and some plugins) are offered: Windows D3D 32bit and D3D 64bit, and Linux 32bit. All other builds, including the debugger builds, are in one separate archive.

v4.1.0 Features

Options design

Some options have been moved around again. The advanced settings concept has changed. Now it's called all settings and should be checked only if you want those rarely used settings. The GUI is clearer if it's not checked (for instance the ST model option is a radio button control and not a menu).

Big GUI (Windows)

Steem can now sport bigger icons and fonts. Useful for high DPI screens. It's a startup option, Steem doesn't adapt its GUI dynamically. Because of those bigger icons, the status bar has been moved to the bottom of the window, and its functionality extended. You even get the CAPS NUM SCRL info! Two "crisp" sizes have been added too: x3 and x4, also for those screens.

Printers (SMM804, SLM804)

The SMM804 was an Epson-compatible dot matrix printer, the SLM804 was Atari's famous laser printer. Output is an RTF file for formatting (SMM804) or BPM files for graphics (both printers).

Colour Control

Three new cool options for more vivid colours and for monochrome, grey or green.

CRT Pixel Shaders (D3D9)

New ST Video option. It uses the SweetFX Shader Suite from Guru3D.com. Available on D3D builds only, highly customisable (manually), with this you can emulate cathodic screens in Steem. Guess it's even possible to add new effects.

Smart Disk Swapper

Steem now features a disk swapper. It is smart because you don't need to create a list, Steem will look for disks in the current folder or archive. Accessible through shortcuts, the classic menu or the context menu. Optionally it can look for series with the same name and a different number or letter, or just load the next or previous disk images. If you so fancy, you can go through the full Automation set with just the disk swapper.

Configurations

More portable, using relative paths for TOS and disk in A, B. Can customise ST model name.

v4.1.0 Emulation improvements

Mega STE

Finally the last ST model is handled in Steem SSE. We emulate the essential: 16MHz CPU and cache, blitter timing differences, 1.44 MB floppy disks.

GEMDOS Hard Drive

GEMDOS hard drive emulation has been refactored and improved. Now operation on TOS 1.00 and 1.02 is quite reliable (there was a little memory leak in all previous versions of Steem). Also, it is now possible to save and restore state snapshots with open HD files.

Floppy Drive Sound

Still not perfect, but good enough to drive you crazy.

Freeboot

Your dream has come true, you can boot from the external drive.

MIDI

More realistic input and output timings.
Note: this doesn't remove jitter, Steem still uses a real-time precision of about 1ms.

MFP

Computed relation between CPU clock and timer crystal instead of a random delay, different default crystal for STE (IMO the simple reason for some weird cases).

Game

Pirate alert! An STX image of Dungeon Master is included in the Windows 32bit download. The boot sector has been altered so that the game runs at 16MHz on the newly emulated Mega STE, for better response.

→ [Atari] Steem Steven Seagal Edition (SSE) 4.0.2 R21 04/10/2020

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