Stella 3.3 released

[+stephena]

OK, it's time for an early Christmas present - a new release of Stella This one has some really nice debugger/disassembly improvements. The highlight is that the emulation core now tracks accesses to ROM, and tries to determine exactly how ROM is accessed (code, data, graphics, etc). And the disassembler then uses this information to visually differentiate the output, including showing player and playfield graphics as bitmaps which can be directly edited!

 

For those not interested in debugger stuff, there are also some fixes for video problems. Specifically, an annoying flickering in OpenGL mode has been fixed, as well as crashes when trying to open the debugger in certain fullscreen mode resolutions.

 

Finally, those people still using Windows 98 and Windows 2000 can rejoice; Stella works again Support was broken for Win2000 in the last point release, and for Win98 sometime around 3.0 or so. I've managed to resurrect Stella for these platforms again, but no guarantees how long I can keep doing this (MS development tools really want to discontinue older OS's). And I no longer have these systems to use for testing, so also no guarantees on how well it works.

 

As usual, Stella can be downloaded from http://stella.sf.net. Please test and report any bugs here, or directly by email. Here's the complete changelog:

 

 * Added the following Distella 'directives', which are used to override
   and specifically tell the debugger how to treat address space (CODE,
   GFX, PGFX, DATA, ROW).  See the debugger documentation for more
   information.

 * Disassembly from the debugger is now tracked by the emulation core,
   and accented by the built-in Distella code.  Basically, the emulation
   core knows when an address is referenced as code, making for very
   accurate disassembled output.  Related to this, the emulation core now
   tracks accesses to GRPx and PFx registers, automatically marking the
   addresses as GFX or PGFX sections.  This will be improved in future
   releases, as there are many ways to store data in the graphics
   registers.

 * Improved output of graphics output in the disassembler, by marking
   such addresses with a bitmap of the data they represent.  This
   allows player graphics (GFX directive) and playfield graphics (PGFX
   directive) to really stand out in the disassembly.  Related to this,
   added ability to edit such graphics in either binary or hexidecimal.

 * Added preliminary support for Distella configuration files.  Much
   more work is required in this area, since Stella now contains
   directives that don't yet exist in the standalone Distella program.
   Configuration files are automatically loaded, and debugger commands
   now exist to load and save configuration directives directly from
   the debugger.

 * Added the following commands to the debugger prompt:
    - clearconfig, listconfig, loadconfig, saveconfig
      (used for Distella configuration files)
    - code, data, gfx, pgfx, row
      (directives used to override automatic disassembly types)
    - jump (jumps to a specific address in the disassembly)
    - type (gives detailed info for disassembly type of an address)

 * The debugger prompt commands 'trap', 'trapread' and 'trapwrite' now
   accept a range of addresses as well as a single address.

 * Added 'data source' address output for the CPU SP/A/X/Y registers.
   This is useful for quickly seeing what an operand address resolves
   into with various load commands.

 * Many commands in the debugger prompt are now case-insensitive;
   further improvements will be made in future releases.

 * Many improvements to the built-in Distella disassembler.  When passing
   a relative branch or jump, data is now disassembled as code only if
   the emulation core hasn't detected it as data.  Such 'preliminary'
   code is marked with a '*' in the disassembler, indicating that it is
   tentative code, and hasn't actually been executed yet.  This allows to
   quickly see possible code paths, and at the same time eliminate
   disassembly of addresses that are never used as code sections.

 * Program counter/instruction addresses can now be toggled in the
   disassembly.

 * Disassembled instructions involving relative branches now show only
   one byte for the operand, not two bytes.

 * Fixed bug in several text input fields, whereby binary data couldn't
   be input (a '\' was required, but the character was blocked).

 * Fixed issues with PAL ROMs on screenmodes smaller than a PAL ROM
   would require.  In this case, the image is centered and clipped to
   the screen resolution.  This prevents the message "PAL ROM not
   supported" from appearing.

 * Fixed bug in fullscreen OpenGL mode when using ATI video cards;
   the desktop background was 'bleeding through', resulting in a very
   annoying flickering.

 * Fixed crashes when opening windows larger than the desktop resolution
   in fullscreen mode; this is now allowed only in windowed mode.

 * Application window centering now also works when switching between
   video modes, not just when starting the application.

 * Added support for building a Windows version compatible with Windows
   98 and 2000 (compiled with Visual Studio 2005).  Testing is very
   limited, since I no longer have access to these systems.

 * Fixed build issues for Innosetup in Windows XP.

 * Fixed bug in OSX version where the name of the application wasn't
   being shown in Activity Monitor.

 * State files from older versions will no longer work in this release,
   because of the extensive changes to the debugger and disassembler.

-Have fun!

[Atari_afternoon]

Thank you! Stella has been on my desktop for over a year now, getting almost daily playtime (and if counted together with StellaDS, definitely each day!)

Just wanted to say thanks to you!

[Silntdoogood]

Thank you! Stella has been on my desktop for over a year now...

 

Agreed...that is...on my desktop PC. Sadly, I can't use my Atari controller on my laptop. I usually keep a screen on my desktop devoted to Stella when things are slow, (even though Stella laggs my system more....it's more bearable). So many home brews out there!

[+Nathan Strum]

Thanks for all your hard work. It's appreciated every time I fire up Stella on my Mac, which is frequently.

[Keatah]

Yeh when I show folks my emulation collection and how cool it is to play Atari, months later, and we're playing games again, they ask to play the old games that have the green selection screen. They are referring to the Stella startup/selection screen. This has happened on several separate occasions. Nice..

Edited November 17, 2010 by Keatah

[+stephena]

Thanks for the words of encouragement from everyone. I just wanted to add that I just updated the Stella webpage with an EXE installer for the Windows 98/2000 version (previously, there was only a ZIP install, which may not work for many people who don't have ZIP installed).

[sandmountainslim]

Thanks for the words of encouragement from everyone. I just wanted to add that I just updated the Stella webpage with an EXE installer for the Windows 98/2000 version (previously, there was only a ZIP install, which may not work for many people who don't have ZIP installed).

 

Thank U Version 3.3 works great with Win2000.

Wp

[ChuckH]

I can't seem to get the mouse to work as a controller in Stella. Use Mouse as a Controller is checked in the Input Devices section. I've tried Control-0 etc. but nothing happens. I tried to Map Paddle 0 to the mouse but nothing happens. I'd like to use the mouse on games like Centipede, etc. I can use the mouse in MESS fine but I'd like to use it in Stella too. Sorry to be a pain. I'm using the latest Stella 3.3 and everything works great otherwise. Stella is a great emulator and keep up the great work.

[ClassicGMR]

Thanks for the words of encouragement from everyone.

The words of appreciation are easy stephena... the work you do is the hard part and we appreciate it!

 

Thank you!

[johnny_boy]

I've never seen an emulator maintainer so consistently dedicated to keep a high level of polish & functionality to his product. Stella is awesome, and therefore so are you.

[+stephena]

I can't seem to get the mouse to work as a controller in Stella. Use Mouse as a Controller is checked in the Input Devices section. I've tried Control-0 etc. but nothing happens. I tried to Map Paddle 0 to the mouse but nothing happens. I'd like to use the mouse on games like Centipede, etc. I can use the mouse in MESS fine but I'd like to use it in Stella too. Sorry to be a pain. I'm using the latest Stella 3.3 and everything works great otherwise. Stella is a great emulator and keep up the great work.

The mouse only works as a paddle, and only in games that actually use paddles. For such games, the support should be automatic; that is, the built-in database automatically recognizes paddle games and 'does the right thing'. Since Centipede is a joystick game, I assume you mean you want to use the mouse to emulate the joystick, and not just the paddles. Currently this isn't possible, since as I've said, the mouse can act as a paddle only. I invite you to add a tracker item for this, and I'll look into adding support for a future release. The Stella tracker can be accessed at the top of this page with the 'Tracker' link.

[ChuckH]

I can't seem to get the mouse to work as a controller in Stella. Use Mouse as a Controller is checked in the Input Devices section. I've tried Control-0 etc. but nothing happens. I tried to Map Paddle 0 to the mouse but nothing happens. I'd like to use the mouse on games like Centipede, etc. I can use the mouse in MESS fine but I'd like to use it in Stella too. Sorry to be a pain. I'm using the latest Stella 3.3 and everything works great otherwise. Stella is a great emulator and keep up the great work.

The mouse only works as a paddle, and only in games that actually use paddles. For such games, the support should be automatic; that is, the built-in database automatically recognizes paddle games and 'does the right thing'. Since Centipede is a joystick game, I assume you mean you want to use the mouse to emulate the joystick, and not just the paddles. Currently this isn't possible, since as I've said, the mouse can act as a paddle only. I invite you to add a tracker item for this, and I'll look into adding support for a future release. The Stella tracker can be accessed at the top of this page with the 'Tracker' link.

 

Thanks for responding. As you suggested, I've added a request feature in the 'Tracker' section.

[+Stephen]

Can't wait to try this! I can't imagine how much better the debugger can get.

[Omegamatrix]

Hi Stephena,

 

The debugger is looking great. I haven't had too much time to play with games lately, so I have only been able to test it a little bit. Thank you for all your hard work, it is much appreciated!!

 

 

Jeff