docs/WHATSNEW

   1 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 R5 GCC/Qt
   2 -------------------------------
   3
   4 * Specific breakpoints for the M68000 "illegal instruction", "address error", "bus error",  "Unimplemented instruction", and "Exception not referenced" exceptions
   5 * Specific breakpoints will occur in case of a rom writes at an unknown location
   6 * Added a HW registers browser window for the Blitter
   7 * Fixes for the Linux platform from @richard42
   8 * Stability & improvements for the debugger mode
   9 - ELF & DWARF information support improvements
  10 - Modified the call stack layout window
  11 - Added a search feature in the All Watch global variables window
  12 - Added a video output display in a specific window
  13 - Show the SR value as a readable form in the M68000 CPU browser
  14 - Added a tracing, step in and step over, at source code level
  15 - Added a source code file date check when reading DWARF information
  16 - Support the structure's members in the Local variables window
  17 - Improvements for the two Breakpoints windows
  18 - Added two M68000 cycles counters in the status window
  19
  20
  21 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 R4 GCC/Qt
  22 -------------------------------
  23
  24 * Fixed a crash legacy issue when emulator launches in Alpine mode without a valid rom
  25 * Stability improvements for the DWARF information decoding, the all watch, and the debugger memory windows
  26 * Improvements and fixes for the Heap allocation, the Alpine tab, the emulator status, Local & all Watch variables windows
  27 * Debugger mode improvements, better source code file reading and ELF/DWARF structures decoding
  28 * Breakpoint / alert box may now occur in case of writing at unknown memory location or in case of ROM writing
  29 * UI modifications mostly for the debugger mode, key bindings, and icons
  30 * Added screenshot & call stack window features, Jaguar model & BIOS configurations, and a source code files list viewer
  31 * Added multiple breakpoints feature but only for M68000 functions
  32 * Added a Save Dump As... feature to save a memory zone to a file
  33 * Added a cartdridge view menu to display cartdridge directory system and his files list
  34 * Added some log information for the emulator initialisations
  35 * Added search paths in case of missing DWARF directories information
  36 * Added ELF sections check so a potential unknown section will stop, or not stop, the ELF structure decoding
  37 * Minor misspellings fixes and text help update
  38 * The -d command line option, dedicated to the debugger, has been renamed with -D
  39 * Updates for the setup registries
  40
  41
  42 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 R3 GCC/Qt
  43 -------------------------------
  44
  45 * Added an Exception Vector Table browser window
  46 * Modified the About window to update the credits list in a more appropriate way
  47 * Fixed a crash when reading the DWARF information in the case of the DWARF2 format has not been used
  48 * Added ui, alpine & debugger groups in the settings
  49 * Added the possibility to erase settings
  50 * Added the --es-all, --es-ui, --es-alpine & --es-debugger options to erase specific settings
  51 * Added a key bindings tab and adapted the configuration dialog tabs
  52 * Fixed a crash, in Release mode, when the HW labels setting is turn on
  53 * Fixed the SP (Stack) window UI potential missing data
  54 * Create a directory for EEPROMs (based on the EEPROMs setting) if it doesn't already exist
  55 * Keep the scrollbar position in accordance of the M68000 PC pointer
  56 * Fixed a crash when DWARF information report a source line number exceeding the number of lines present in a source file
  57 * Improved the .heap section detection to avoid a detection error
  58 * Fixed a crash when DWARF information does references to missing source code files
  59 * Added a Local browser window for local variables
  60
  61
  62 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 R2 GCC/Qt
  63 -------------------------------
  64
  65 * Added some error detections when reading the ELF executable file
  66 * Added all hardware labels (based on the document scans from the Version 2.4 - June 7, 1995)
  67 * "Step Over" code function for BSR/JSR functions
  68 * Added the .debug_ranges detection to avoid a detection error
  69 * DWARF format support
  70 * Added an All Watch browser window for non-local variables
  71 * Added a heap allocator browser window based on my own memory allocation functions
  72 * Added additional 4 memory browser windows with address input based on hexa, decimal or symbol name
  73 * Windows refreshing executed only if windows is visible
  74 * Added a restart function
  75 * Updated the About window to update the credits list
  76 * Fixed (hacking) the display of the SP (Stack) memory browser
  77 * Set the emulator in Halt mode when launched in alpine debug mode without a loaded rom
  78 * Added some information in the --help/-h/-? option
  79 * --debugger option no longer force the log file
  80 * Added a --dram-max option to extend the DRAM size to 8MB
  81 * Added the "enter" key support when setting the BPM (Breapoint)
  82 * Save the windows positions, size and visibilities (show or hide) status
  83
  84
  85 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 R1 GCC/Qt
  86 -------------------------------
  87
  88 * BPM (Breapoint) now stop at the designated address and no longer stop after executing the code
  89 * Added SP (Stack) memory browser
  90 * User can change now the number of lines of disassembly displayed in the tracing window
  91 * User can turn on/off the op-codes associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68000 tracing window
  92 * Added an emulator status window (GPU status, M68000 debugger & tracking status)
  93 * Added a GPU disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
  94 * Added a DSP disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
  95 * Added possibility to change refresh rate of browser windows when emulation is launched
  96 * Display partial hardware labels (Internal Memory & Graphics sub-system address space) in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68000 tracing window
  97 * User can turn on/off the hardware labels associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68000 tracing window
  98
  99
 100 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 R0 GCC/Qt
 101 -------------------------------
 102
 103 * New option --debugger
 104 * ELF format support
 105 * ELF debug symbol support
 106 * "Step Into" code function
 107 * Menus layout dedicated to the debugger
 108 * Added a dedicated main window for tracing (M68000)
 109 * Added a Debugger tab in the config tab
 110
 111
 112 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.3 GCC/Qt
 113 ----------------------------
 114
 115 * Added interlaced mode handling. [Shamus]
 116
 117
 118 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.2 GCC/Qt
 119 ----------------------------
 120
 121 * Bugfix for catastrophic failure in Controller config dialog. Thanks to ggn for
 122   reporting this! [Shamus]
 123 * Bugfix for non-English locales. Thanks to SCPCD for reporting! [Shamus]
 124
 125
 126 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.1 GCC/Qt
 127 ----------------------------
 128
 129 * Added controller profiles. What this means is that if you left your gamepad
 130   behind and/or have a different one, VJ will let you create a controller
 131   config for the new controller without destroying the old one. This also means
 132   that if you have *no* controllers, you can still play VJ with the keyboard.
 133   [Shamus]
 134 * Fixed a few problems with the DSP timing; as a result, the sound in Rayman
 135   and the FACTS demo is correct now. [Shamus]
 136 * Removed toolbar from full screen mode. [Shamus]
 137 * Added analog inputs to gamepad support. [Shamus]
 138 * Fixed 6MB cartridge space access limitation. 6MB carts should work now.
 139   [Shamus]
 140 * Fixed problem with JERRY interrupts corrupting the M68K core. [Shamus]
 141
 142
 143 Virtual Jaguar v2.1.0 GCC/Qt
 144 ----------------------------
 145
 146 * Added gamepad support. [Shamus]
 147 * Added fullscreen option. [Shamus]
 148 * Added some more developer goodies to Alpine mode. [Shamus]
 149 * Re-added command line switches. [Shamus]
 150 * Moved JERRY into host audio IRQ. This should make sound much smoother, though
 151   it may run ahead of the rest of the emulator. [Shamus]
 152 * Kludged a fix into the audio handler to set the correct frequency for audio
 153   playback. Note that there could still be problems with this approach, as it
 154   can be easily fooled. Thanks to Dr. Typo for the initial analysis and insight
 155   into this bug. :-) [Shamus]
 156 * Preliminary fixes for proper emulation of memory reads between $200000 and
 157   $800000. [Shamus]
 158 * Proper handling in the OP of objects with 0 IWIDTH. [Shamus]
 159
 160
 161 Virtual Jaguar v2.0.2 GCC/Qt
 162 ----------------------------
 163
 164 * Fixed problem on OP with 24BPP bitmaps. [Shamus]
 165 * Cosmetic GUI fixes. [Shamus]
 166 * Switched to UAE 68000 CPU core. [Shamus]
 167 * Fixed some RISC STORE and LOAD alignment issues. Still need to verify against
 168   real hardware. [Shamus]
 169 * Fixed video frame timing for both NTSC *and* PAL. [Shamus]
 170 * Improved OP logging, added emulation of OP bug. [Shamus]
 171 * Fixed addressing bug with UAE 68000 core. [Shamus]
 172
 173
 174 Virtual Jaguar v2.0.1 GCC/Qt
 175 ----------------------------
 176
 177 * Fixed NTSC timings; they were hardwired to PAL rates. [Shamus]
 178 * Fixed possible missing trailing slash on path fields input by user. [Shamus]
 179 * Fixed exit hotkey to work on Win32. [Shamus]
 180 * Changed PAL/NTSC switch to only work when virtual machine is powered off.
 181   [Shamus]
 182 * Miscellaneous documentation fixes. [Shamus]
 183
 184
 185 Virtual Jaguar v2.0.0 GCC/Qt
 186 ----------------------------
 187
 188 * Switched GUI to Qt. And there was much rejoicing. ;-) [Shamus]
 189 * Added detection code to fish out files from inside ZIP archives. What this
 190   means is that now you can have other goodies inside of your ROM ZIP like
 191   labels, box art, and overlays. See built-in help for details. [Shamus]
 192 * Various usability improvements, too many to list here. ;-) [Shamus]
 193 * Various compatibility improvements to the Jaguar core, too many to list
 194   here. ;-) [Shamus]
 195
 196
 197 Virtual Jaguar v1.1.0 GCC/SDL (r299 - Never officially released)
 198 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 199
 200 * Switched OpenGL rendering to 32 BPP. This is not only how a real Jaguar
 201   renders graphics, but it also gives VJ a nice speed boost. ;-) [Shamus]
 202 * Changed execution to a time-based solution so that timers and IRQs and
 203   such can happen when they're supposed to. [Shamus]
 204 * Fixed blitter writes so that Intensity[0-3] and Z[0-3] are written in the
 205   correct order. [Shamus]
 206 * Major rewrite of blitter to conform the the TOM ASIC nets. This should fix a
 207   bunch of stuff that wasn't working correctly before. [Shamus]
 208 * Fixed writes to 64 bit blitter registers. [Shamus]
 209 * Refactored GUI to be more maintainable, better looking and more responsive.
 210   [Shamus]
 211
 212
 213 Virtual Jaguar v1.0.7 GCC/SDL
 214 -----------------------------
 215
 216 * Various fixes to make for smoother compilation on MacOS. [Adam Green]
 217 * Fixes to filetype parsing. VJ now properly recognizes .abs, .jag, .rom,
 218   and .j64 files--be sure to check the README for the gory details! [Shamus]
 219 * Added a kludge to allow homebrew demos to run without a Stubulator ROM and
 220   without crashing the emulator. [Shamus]
 221 * Fixed a blitter intensity addition problem. This fixes the title in Hover
 222   Strike and the road/shadows in Checkered Flag. [Shamus]
 223 * Partially fixed a problem with the SUBC opcode in the RISC processors. This
 224   allows Hover Strike, Phase Zero and Fight For Life to boot into their title
 225   screens and makes them somewhat playable. [Shamus]
 226 * Fixed a horizontal scaling problem in the OP and the off-by-one bug that it
 227   reintroduced. This fixes the road in Atari Karts and probably a few others.
 228   [Shamus]
 229 * Fixed a long standing blitter bug that kept certain doors in AvP from
 230   rendering correctly. [Shamus]
 231 * Fixed some vertical positioning bugs in the OP. Now Checkered Flag, Alien
 232   vs Predator and probably others now work as they should (graphically ;-)
 233   [Caz]
 234 * Better GUI support. Most options in the GUI work now, and more are expected
 235   to be functional in the near future. [Shamus]
 236 * Fixed a few more lingering blitter bugs (there are more to be found). This
 237   fixes most of the glitches in Cybermorph and Alien vs Predator. [Shamus]
 238 * Fixed an Object Processor scaled bitmap bug that caused incorrect
 239   positioning of scaled bitmaps that started outside the line buffer, and
 240   also fixed a problem that caused the OP to hang in certain situations. This
 241   fixes Bubsy, International Sensible Soccer, and probably a few others.
 242   [Shamus]
 243 * Cleaned up various bits of video rendering related code. [nwagenaar]
 244 * Added support for OpenGL textures with a depth of 16bpp, 24bpp or 32bpp.
 245   [nwagenaar]
 246 * Rewrote several OpenGL related rendering code concerning the new OpenGL
 247   texture depths and texture sizes. [nwagenaar]
 248 * Rewrote several OpenGL rendering functions concerning speed related items.
 249   [nwagenaar]
 250 * Several bugs resolved due to OpenGL and normal rendering code. [nwagenaar]
 251 * Default resolution for OpenGL is now 640x480. [nwagenaar]
 252
 253
 254 Virtual Jaguar v1.0.6 GCC/SDL
 255 -----------------------------
 256
 257 * Added support for gzipped ROM files. [Adam Green]
 258 * Added OpenGL support. Because of this, aspect ratios in the various
 259   graphic modes should be correct now. Thanks goes to Niels for enlightenment
 260   in this area. :-) [Shamus]
 261 * Moved all platform specific video code to video.cpp. This should make it
 262   easier to add functionality to the video subsystem without having to chase
 263   code around in places where it didn't belong. [Shamus]
 264 * Key bindings are now customizable. [Shamus]
 265 * VJ now uses a config file (vj.cfg) for commonly used settings. Settings in
 266   the config file can still be overridden by command line switches. [Shamus]
 267 * Preliminary GUI mouse support. [Shamus]
 268 * Fixed an off-by-one bug in the Object Processor when dealing with scaled
 269   bitmap objects. [Shamus]
 270 * Fully virtualized screen size. What this means is that we can keep the
 271   Jagaur screen displayed in a convenient size (320 x 240) and the graphics
 272   that various ROMs display will now be properly centered (more or less, they
 273   were really centered for a TV display). [Shamus]
 274 * Border color is now displayed properly. [Shamus]
 275 * Fully pipelined DSP core. Because of this, Wolfenstein 3D now has sound. To
 276   use the old core, use the -nopipeline switch. [Shamus]
 277
 278
 279 Virtual Jaguar v1.0.5 GCC/SDL
 280 -----------------------------
 281
 282 * Various fixes to the codebase so that it compiles and works properly on
 283   Linux. :-) The makefiles are almost identical now, the only thing that's
 284   different between them are the SYSTYPE and EXESUFFIX variables defined at
 285   the top. [Shamus]
 286 * Fixed a pernicious blitter bug that kept Rayman from doing proper collision
 287   detection. [Shamus]
 288 * Added a simple file selector so that typing in long filenames in order to
 289   run the emulator is no longer necessary. :-) To use it, instead of
 290   supplying a ROM name, simply put in the name of the directory where your
 291   ROMs live. [Shamus]
 292 * Removed all the assembly language code from the DSP, so it should be a
 293   little less buggy now. Also, removed some brain-dead timeslice releasing
 294   that was causing a bunch of problems with various ROMs. [Shamus]
 295 * Added sound support! In order to hear any sound, you probably have to
 296   start VJ with the -dspon switch. Also, unless you have a very fast computer
 297   the sound is going to be choppy. Hopefully future optimizations will cure
 298   this. ;-) [Shamus]
 299 * Added GUI support. You can see the results by hitting the TAB key while the
 300   emulator is running. ;-) [Shamus]
 301 * Lots of cleanups to the source code including the ability to trace who
 302   writes what to where. [Shamus]
 303
 304
 305 Virtual Jaguar v1.0.4 GCC/SDL - source only release
 306 ---------------------------------------------------
 307
 308 * Lots of bugfixes. [Shamus]
 309 * Jaguar BIOS now works properly and is used by default. BIOS failure was
 310   due to a bug in the GPU (specifically in the SUBC and ADDC opcodes). To
 311   override this behavior, use the -nobios switch. [Shamus]
 312 * Rewrote the OP code--mostly because it was pissing me off. ;-) Not
 313   to mention that it was almost completely unmaintainable in its former
 314   state and was just plain wrong in its implementation in many places.
 315   Because of this, some RMW effects that were missing from AvP are present
 316   now and leftover crud in scaled bitmaps in Rayman is gone now. ;-) [Shamus]
 317 * ZIP support! Now there is no longer any need to unzip ROMs (although if
 318   you prefer to waste HD space, VJ will gladly accomodate you). The code to
 319   support this is a pretty ugly hack, but it works and there are other fish
 320   to fry at the moment. Also, ZLIB is now required to compile VJ. [Shamus]
 321 * Support for PD ROMs. Currently the only one that works at all is JagMania,
 322   though as the hardware emulation gets better more PD ROMs will begin to
 323   work. Note that you must use the -nobios switch for this to work. [Shamus]
 324 * Preliminary support for PAL Jaguar emulation. Default is NTSC. To use it,
 325   use the -pal switch. [Shamus]
 326 * Support for DSP activation. The DSP is now *off* by default, since it
 327   doesn't work properly yet. Use the -dspon switch to force the DSP on.
 328   [Shamus]
 329 * Removed all hacks that were written to support a specific ROM from the OP
 330   and GPU code (much more remains to be removed). Since the CRCs that were
 331   calculated to support these hacks were done on byte swapped ROMs, they
 332   weren't working anyway. Besides which, a hack means that you don't
 333   understand the hardware properly and/or don't know how to write the code to
 334   properly emulate the hardware. ;-) [Shamus]
 335 * Renamed the executable from the ridiculously named jag_em to the more
 336   sensibly named vj. Note that the Jag_em.cpp file has also been changed to
 337   reflect this name change. [Shamus]
 338 * Removed Aaron Giles 68K dissasembler in favor of the one included with the
 339   Musashi core. It's there, why not use it? ;-) [Shamus]
 340 * Reordered the order of A, B, and C buttons to more accurately reflect their
 341   respective positions on a real Jaguar controller. Also fixed a small bug that
 342   kept the number pad from reporting the right numbers to the emulator. :-)
 343   [Shamus]
 344 * Started to remove the !__PORT__ defintions from the source code. Since this
 345   is supposed to be a portable emulator, we won't be using any MS specific
 346   code anyway. [Shamus]
 347 * Fixed some problems with the blitter when doing clipping and bit expansion.
 348   Also fixed (reintroduced?) a bug that existed in the real blitter HW (the
 349   YADD1 bit in A2--fixes Tempest 2000). [Shamus]
 350 * Probably a bunch of other stuff that I've forgotten about. ;-) [Shamus]
 351
 352 NOTE: Tested only on WIN32 platform! ;-)
 353
 354
 355 Virtual Jaguar v1.0.3 GCC/SDL - source only release
 356 ---------------------------------------------------
 357
 358 * Converted GNU assembly in the GPU core to C code -- Rayman and
 359   Alien vs Predator work again. :-) [Shamus]
 360 * Removed closed source Starscream and replaced it with the open source
 361   Musashi core. Because of this, VJ runs a little faster now. :-) [Shamus]
 362 * Various cleanups to the source files (still lots of work to do!). [Shamus]
 363
 364 NOTE: Tested only on WIN32 platform!
 365
 366
 367 1.0.1 - 1.0.2 - Unreleased, mostly for testing/finding bugs
 368 -----------------------------------------------------------
 369
 370 * Lots of stuff happened, but we can't remember any of it. :-)
 371
 372
 373 Virtual Jaguar v1.0.0 GCC/SDL - initial source release
 374 ------------------------------------------------------
 375
 376 * Converted VC++ assembly to standard GNU assembly.
 377 * Fixed small bugs in SDL related items (keyboard/graphics).
 378 * Added *some* optimalisations to the graphics sources.
 379 * Added joystick support (not tested).
 380 * Added joystick port support (not tested).
 381 * Added frameskip support.
 382
 383 Source only release. Tested on BeOS, Linux, FreeBSD and WIN32.
 384 SOUND emulation was NOT done. Need help with this one :)
 385
 386
 387 SDLEMU (Niels Wagenaar & Caz) - http://sdlemu.ngemu.com