Mame4all 2.1 Released


sbock

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A new version of MAME4all from Franxis is available.

wiz1.jpg


New in version 2.1:

- GP2X WIZ version improvements:
Added MMU Hack kernel module by notaz. It gives more performance.
Added more CPU frequencies selectable in the frontend.
MENU button is fire button in rotated video mode.
Option to draw the screen rotated to fix the diagonal line but with impact in the performance.
- Some optimizations and bug-fixes in the timers.
- Less frame-skip is applied (changed the threshold to consider full speed in the auto-frameskip code, from 99% to 92%).
- Slaanesh added discrete sound system. So far only Canyon Bomber has been updated. It now has sound but it is slow.

Download: Archive.

Sources: Archive.

Source.

Mods, please move this topic in the news section, thanks!
 
Nice release, Franxis! Good to see the tearing is gone in several of my favourite games. The speed hit is not that big as I expected. What do you think: How much performance is lost in average?
There are several games which have problems with the fix option. I noticed that all Neo Geo games, SmashTV and Battle Zone are affected.

I have a long time problem with the game Block Out (set 1). As it's my absolute favourite MAME game it's really a pity. It worked great with your latest MAMEGP2X port 5.1. It never worked correct with all versions of MAME4all GP2x/Wiz. The game allways crashes at the begin of the first bonus round (after round 5). The only way to get around this is to deactivate the sound. I cross checked the game with the DOS version of MAME 0.37b5 under DosBox on my PC. It worked flawlessly so I don't think that the bug is in the original code.
I don't know if its worth the trouble to fix it.

Thanks.

Regards,
Stephan
 
Wow, I thought I'm the only one who concern this problem :)
(I just couldn't decide whether wait for next version or report it as a bug)

slaanesh: No, It crashes even with cyclone core only. And both romset 1, 2 has same simptom. (I haven't test it with no asm core yet. I played it from stage 1 to 5 everytime for testing :huh: )
 
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. The only way to get around this is to deactivate the sound.
Did you try using only Cyclone ASM core (and not DrZ80"]?[/quote]Hi slaanesh!

Thanks for the tip, but I know about the compatibility issues of the Dr Z80 core. I tried all settings over and over again to track this out on F-200 and Wiz. The only solution is to deactivate the sound and I really like the sound... ;)

QUOTE
slaanesh: No, It crashes even with cyclone core only. And both romset 1, 2 has same simptom. (I haven't test it with no asm core yet. I played it from stage 1 to 5 everytime for testing )


Hi mittens!

Thanks for the testing and confirmation. I only have set 1 here.

Regards,
Stephan
 
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Okay, I played it all the way through connected through telnet. It's causing a segmentation fault and dying.
It must be something to do with the sound core if you say that it doesn't happen with sound switched off. I noticed it makes a bit of buzzing noise just before it dies. I'll investigate a bit further.
In the mean time, I've updated the driver.

As a matter of interest, did it ever work with any version of MAME4ALL? It might be easier tracking down the problem if someone has played it for every version of MAME4ALL and can confirm that it's always crashed at the same spot (Bonus Stage after level 1-5 is complete).
 
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Cheers, slaanesh!

I tried many versions of MAME4all, but I'm not completly sure if really all versions are affected. Perhaps mittens can confirm this...

Regards,
Stephan
 
I will release tomorrow a new version. It has several improvements, the most important one is the new timers system based on integers (instead of floats). I have been working on it intermittently for several months, and finally it works!.

The speed improvement is great:

WIZ CPU 700 MHz, sound 22 KHz, frameskip 0

Double Dragon (bootleg)
MAME4ALL 2.1: 39 fps
MAME4ALL 2.2: 49 fps (20% faster)

Mortal Kombat
MAME4ALL 2.1: 39 fps
MAME4ALL 2.2: 50 fps (22% faster)

Out Run
MAME4ALL 2.1: 43 fps
MAME4ALL 2.2: 48 fps (10% faster)

Xain'd Sleena
MAME4ALL 2.1: 48 fps
MAME4ALL 2.2: 55 fps (13% faster)
 
Absolutely brilliant news - despite all the wiz goodies lately, MAME remains my most played - I've even gotten right into bubble bobble after years of indifference wondering what all the fuss was about :)

Cheers
Simon
 
Hi Franxis,

If I could make a feature request, it would be to have the volume remain the same between games. Is this something that is tricky to do with the current kernel? I've noticed Picodrive does the same thing. If you can fix this, it would be a great addition. Thanks!
 
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