Professional Documents
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Kega History
Kega History
Kega History
Whats New ?
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I'm making this unplanned release, because things never go as planned, and
all my stuff is going to be in storage for a while (again). Due to that
thing they call 'real life' I have probably forgotten most of what I've
changed since the last build, and there may be stuff I have only partially
implemented and forgotten about.
But I'll list what I remember, and I'm sure you guys (and girls) will find
stuff I forgot about, or broke - because you rock.
Most of what I've done is by user request. PLEASE LET ME KNOW OF ANY MAJOR
PROBLEMS IMMEDIATELY.
* GG games that are really SMS games in a GG cart should now auto boot in
SMS mode
* A couple of 32X tweaks that will only matter to homebrew coders currently
* Fixed a couple of SegaCD games that didn't boot/run - if you find any
more, please do let me know - as far as I know, there are none
* Command line with -scd or -mcd and no filename will now cause Fusion to
start up in 'Boot SegaCD' mode
* Added support for the (pretty useless) SF7000 floppy disk interface for
the SC3000 - you need the SF7000 IPL ROM for this to work
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v3.63 (Windows) (C) Steve Snake 2009
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Whats New ?
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* Made some changes to the config options. Hopefully this fixes a problem
some people were having where Windows would fail to size the window
correctly, although I cannot reproduce this problem.
* Moved SMS controls into main controls window, matching the other builds.
Snake.
kega kat at gmail dot com (withnospacesanywhere)
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Kega Fusion v3.62 (Windows) (C) Steve Snake 2009
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Whats New ?
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* Seperate SMS controls (finally) allowing for support of SMS Paddles and
Light Phasers. The reason I haven't done this before is down to the UI.
I don't much like the current solution, either, but it's functional for
now.
* Allow changing state slots, and saving states (but not loading) during
Netplay. I'm not sure what use this is, but it was often requested.
* Added support for a couple of Custom SRAM games that were recently
discovered.
* Many small behind the scenes bugfixes that you probably won't notice, and
I've mostly forgotten...
Fusion has not been my main focus since the last build, and this build (as
well as the other platform builds) have basically been sitting around since
January. However, one reason for this is that there were many changes made
that I've since reverted, because they were counter-productive. I wasn't
sure what to do with them - well, now they're gone until such a time as I
can do more hardware testing. This build (and other things...) have been
sitting around for way too long without further work or release.
Snake.
kega kat at gmail dot com (withnospacesanywhere)
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Kega Fusion v3.62x - Linux - (C) Steve Snake 2009
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This is the first (and maybe only?) Linux release - it includes everything
in the Mac build and is therefore pretty much feature complete already. I'm
only really doing this because certain people have asked for it... I don't
claim to be a "Linux guy" ;-)
Fusion.ini file can be found at ~/.Kega Fusion - and that's also where you
should place the Plugins folder.
ISO/MP3 support is via the seperate libmpg123. More info on how to get
this, and other things working can be found in the readme.
Snake.
kega kat at gmail dot com (withnospacesanywhere)
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Kega Fusion v3.62i - Mac OS X (Intel) - (C) Steve Snake 2009
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Whats New ?
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The Mac version now includes most features from the Windows version, plus many bug
fixes:
* Netplay support added. Works cross platform with the other builds. You'll
need to tell the Apple Firewall to allow Kega Fusion. Check the readme for
more information.
* ISO/MP3 support for SegaCD games added, using Apples built-in MP3 decoder.
Again, see readme for more information.
* Rewrote TV mode - this worked fine wherever I tested it, but some reported
problems. It'll be fine now. There is now only one TV mode.
Cheers,
Snake.
kega kat at gmail dot com (withnospacesanywhere)
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Kega Fusion v3.52i - Mac OS X (Intel) - (C) Steve Snake 2008
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This is the first Mac release. It should be fairly self explanatory. But, I
don't have time right now to write up any proper documentation for the mac
version, so for now I am just supplying the documentation for the Windows
version, incase there's anything you need to know, you can probably find it
here.
There are various things missing from the Mac version right now (hence the
lower version number) - they will be mostly implemented later - but this
was intended to be a pre-christmas release, so...
Snake.
kega kat at gmail dot com (withnospacesanywhere)
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Kega Fusion v3.61 (C) Steve Snake 2008
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Whats New ?
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Various fixes for problems found in the last version, plus a couple of
extras:
* Moved menus around a bit - the Country and CD Drive menus are now part
of the Options menu. This fixes problems with the old menus not fitting
properly in 320x240 mode, and is also a bit less cluttered.
* Timing was out by a small amount after I removed test code. It should
now be back to where it was supposed to be, removing minor glitches from
a few games.
* Windowed VSync is not required, or desired, under Vista. Fusion now will
default to ignoring the VSync flag when running windowed in Vista. There
is an INI file option to re-enable it just incase this causes problems
for anyone.
* Vista-specific code can also be disabled via another INI file option,
incase this causes problems, or you're trying to run Fusion under Wine,
Darwine, or Crossover.
* Upped the number of Render Plugins again, to 48. Please don't ask for
any more, there isn't, and probably never will be, anything like 48
different plugins that are actually worth bothering with ;)
Merry Christmas.
Snake.
kega kat at gmail dot com (withnospacesanywhere)
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Kega Fusion v3.6 (C) Steve Snake 2008
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Whats New ?
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Well it's been a long time. Lots of really bad things have happened, often
working on Kega felt like the last thing I wanted to be doing.
Still. Work on it I did. Lots of changes and additions over the last two
years, most of which I've forgotten about again, but here's the stuff I
can remember:
* Removed a few pieces of test code that were not supposed to be left in,
and affected timing of various things under certain conditions.
* Rewrote controller code, should fix problems with some USB controllers.
* Added support for more games that use custom SRAM, and fixed some that
were already emulated, but got broken at some point.
* Added support for all unlicensed Genesis games that I know of.
* Added support for the Sega Virtua Processor (SVP). Thanks to the reverse
engineering work by the amazing Tasco Deluxe, and the proof of concept
emulator by Notaz, I was able to write and debug my ASM core for this in
just two days.
* Removed some filtering in YM2612 SuperHQ mode (you won't actually notice)
and instead added a "Filter" option to the sound menu. This filter is
very close to that in a real Model 1 Genesis/MegaDrive. Most people will
want to leave this off (me included) but I know some people wanted it.
* Added preliminary Sega Pico support. There's a lot more I plan to do with
this. For now, just load as a Genesis ROM. Mouse is required for Pico,
along with the following controls: START switches between StoryWare and
trackpad, B is the pico red button, A and C turn pages, and U/D/L/R are,
well, U/D/L/R.
* Added ability to create 128K SegaCD RAM carts to keep SpinelSun happy ;-)
* Added two controller sharing options for Netplay. Everybody can now share
controller one, or all controllers. The latter isn't very useful, but why
not.
* Added "Nearest Multiple" option to the Video Menu. The various Aspect
modes do what they have always done when this option is enabled, but now
when it is disabled, they will allow non-multiple stretching while still
keeping the aspect ratio correct.
* Added "Use NTSC Aspect" option to the Video Menu. This used to be done
automatically under certain conditions, now you have full control.
* Added No Frame Skipping feature. You should pretty much ignore this and
let Kega do what is best. But it does also trigger a special case mode
when you have VSync enabled, and you hit Fast Forward. Normally, VSync
is ignored during Fast Forward, or else Fast Forward wouldn't actually
do very much. With No Frame Skipping enabled, it will still do VSyncs.
This might be useful to you if your video mode is running at some odd
refresh rate. Note that the sound could well sound awful if you do this.
* Added AVI Logging using custom Kega Game Video 1 lossless codec. This is
needed because logging RAW video causes poor performance even on highend
machines, and using any of the available codecs either doesn't compress
well enough to fix that, or does compress well enough, but can't keep up
with 60fps, so you get poor performance either way. The codec is able to
use hints from the emulator to aid in compression, allowing pretty good
compression while taking very little CPU time. The codec to allow you
to play back and convert the files is included in the archive, and can
be installed via right clicking on the INI file and telling the OS to
continue with the install. Tested on XP and Vista64, should work fine
on 9x and Vista32.
Note that these AVI files are not really meant to be shared as they are,
it's just a way for you to log video without horrible laggy gameplay.
Convert them to Xvid or something using the excellent VirtualDub program
(Google it.) I'll open up this codec sometime later incase it's useful
for other purposes/programs.
* Disabled BIOS use where possible during Netplay games, to prevent out
of sync errors when people had different combinations of BIOS/NO BIOS/
Different BIOS.
* Netplay Games should now automatically change your country code to that
of the host.
* Added Fast 32X Timing option. This is mainly for development. If you
don't know what this is for, leave it disabled.
* Added CartBoot option, which is enabled via INI file only. Again, if
you don't know what this is for, leave it disabled.
Kega Fusion was already more accurate than any other emulator, this time
around, thanks to various internal tweaks, and removing of left-over test
code, it SHOULD be more accurate than ever before :-)
I don't think I broke anything, but there have been some very big changes
and I have changed machines and build environments twice since the last
version, so it's entirely possible. Please let me know if I have.
I'll just add here that several people assumed Kega was 'dead' because I
hadn't updated it for a long time. Rest assured, this is not the case.
Nothing is 'dead' unless I say otherwise. I may well have some problems,
or even other projects, that take all my time. But just like Arnie, I'll
be back.
Snake.
kega kat at gmail dot com (withnospacesanywhere)
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Kega Fusion v3.51 (C) Steve Snake 2006
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Whats New ?
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Quick Update:
* Re-added another deleted line, the sound effects in Ecco work again.
* Fixed a Timing issue, Street Racer works again.
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v3.5 (C) Steve Snake 2006
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Whats New ?
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Lots of stuff that I did months ago, and now have completely forgotten...
However here is the stuff that I remember doing.
* Rewrites to lots of Genesis and 32X side stuff. Should fix things I broke
in 3.4, and is very slightly faster. Hopefully nothing is broken.
* Re-added one line of ASM to the 32X emulation which must have gotten
deleted a long time ago. Now disolveable objects in Chaotix work again.
* Fusion now supports more MP3 formats than Winamp does - i.e. all of them.
44100Hz Stereo is still recommended, but not neccessary.
* Seeking within MP3s works now. Not sure about VBR files though.
* Controller config rewrite. You can now define directions for controllers
as well as buttons.
* VGM Log now logs VGM1.10 format files, which should be much smaller. You
can change back to VGM1.01 if you need to by editing the VGM_Version
setting in the INI file. (16,1 for VGM1.10, 1,1 for VGM1.01)
* Preliminary Netplay support. You MUST read the README.TXT to learn how to
use this feature.
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Kega Fusion v3.4 (C) Steve Snake 2005
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Whats New ?
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* Split this file into README.TXT and HISTORY.TXT and basically redid
README.TXT. Some of the info in there was very out of date, and there
is some very important info I needed to add for this version.
* Added Keyboard Shortcut for CVBS TV Mode that I forgot to add before.
* Added option (set via ini file only) to disable the TV static effect.
There isn't really any need to do this because it takes close to zero
CPU time anyway. Still - StaticDisabled=1 turns it off.
* Added selectable (via ini file only) refresh rates for PAL and NTSC.
See the section in README.TXT on EXPERT OPTIONS for more info.
* Added the ability to specify what video modes etc. are used, and to have
the mode switched automatically. See the section in README.TXT on
EXPERT OPTIONS for more info.
* Improved Command Line support. You can still specify which console to
start up, as before, but now it should not be neccessary, as Fusion
will try to detect this automatically. You can now specify options and
filename in any order. You can now start Fusion without a file if you
really want to.
* Added new functionality to the Load RAM Cart option - now it is valid to
load a Gens-style file here. You will be given the option to load the
Built-In RAM or the Cartridge RAM part of this file. The part you select
will be converted into Cartridge RAM and loaded, the original file will
not be altered. Now it is much easier for you to copy data from either or
both parts of a Gens save into your normal Built-In RAM file.
* Added File History. CTRL-ALT-L will load the most recently used file.
(be sure to disable key shortcuts if you're likely to use these three
keys while playing ;)) There is another (ini file only) option related
to the File History - ShortenHistoryNames=1 will show just the file name
rather than the full path name in the History.
* Fixed crash bug that could occur if you tried to load some invalid file
as a SegaCD image.
* Fixed strange problem that could occur when loading certain games after
Sonic 3.
* Fixed problem I seem to have introduced last year sometime with Sonic CD.
* Fixed excessive music slowdown issue with the Thunderforce games. Fusion
now behaves exactly like the real hardware - meaning it still slows down
sometimes, but only very slightly.
* Fixed problem that occurs when you die on the second level of SoulStar
(SegaCD). The music and the game will now continue as normal.
I also made a lot of other changes to try to resolve certain other issues,
but the details of all that is unimportant.
Spent the last 11 days writing and rewriting and rewriting the following
until I was happy enough with it to release it:
* Altered some other video related timings in order to make the above stuff
work. This affects all consoles, hopefully in a positive way ;)
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v3.3 (C) Steve Snake 2005
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Well it took just a bit longer to get my life back than it was supposed to.
Hopefully things go well in the next month or so, because I still have some
major rewriting as well as some huge features planned. Would be a shame if
they don't happen.
Most of the changes in this version were done shortly after v3.2 was
released, right before any concept of 'free time' vanished completely.
I've forgotten most of what I did - there were some pretty major changes
behind the scenes, and I may have broken stuff / forgot to take some test
code out... but everything seems stable to me, so here goes. It's a big
one, and this is just what I made a note of...
Whats New ?
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* Removed the BETA status. It was only really there because I never like to
say something is finished until I'm done with it. But, yet again, some
people won't bother to try 'Beta' software...
* Re-added code to look for MP3 ID3 tags. There should be no problem with
MP3s now. However - if your MP3s are playing at the wrong speed, or not
at all, then make sure they are 44100Hz Stereo MP3s! These are supposed
to be CD Audio tracks, you know ;)
* Fixed silly problem where I forgot to alter the size of a YM2612 buffer.
All YM2612 related sound problems should be gone, and the core should
now be pretty much 100% accurate to real hardware.
* Improved SMD/BIN detection, should have less problems loading odd sized
BIN files.
* Added an option to set Fusion to run at High Priority. This option does
a couple of other things too, such as change the way that Fusion gives
up time to other apps (making it give up very little.) Probably makes
sense to turn off 'Sleep while Waiting' while using this option, too.
* Added an option to disable all keyboard shortcuts (except the ESC key)
for those people who had problems with accidentally triggering a menu
while playing.
* Added another 'Fixed Aspect' option. Whereas the first will try to best
fit the image within your display, this one basically does the opposite.
Example: if you have a widescreen TFT monitor, this option will try to
best fill the width of your monitor. Clipping may occur at the top and
bottom instead of getting big black bars at the left and right. This
also works the other way if your monitor is taller than it is wide.
I know some people will prefer this.
* Fixed problems related to the Genesis OS ROM and resetting / saving /
loading states.
* Added seperate folders for SMS and GG Patch (i.e. GameGenie) Files.
* Fixed bug where SMS Save States ended up in the Genesis Save State
folder.
* Added dialogs when the user attempts to use the SegaCD RAM cart options
when the SegaCD is not running, hopefully this should help prevent all
the confusion surrounding RAM carts.
* SegaCD RAM carts are now created as CRM files to distinguish them from
internal BRM files. You can still load BRM files in the same way as
before.
* When Fusion detects a Gens format BRM file, it will create a backup, and
then create seperate BRM and CRM files out of it. It will also alert the
user to the fact that it has done this. This should prevent people from
managing to corrupt their save files among other things. Now all we need
is to get Gens itself to do this and the nightmare will be over.
* 32X emulation is now far more accurate. Primal Rage, Shadow Squadron,
Toughman Contest, Pitfall, Virtua Racing and Mortal Kombat now perform
exactly as on real hardware. Some of these problems took a HUGE amount
of time to track down, and understand, but I think it's worth it. I
don't believe any other emulator can run all of these games accurately.
* 32X BIOS is no longer required. This hasn't received any serious testing
but seems to work fine. If Fusion cannot load one or more of the 32X
BIOS files it will default to not using them. If you find any problems
you should probably test with a real BIOS to make sure that isn't the
cause.
* A MASSIVE amount of behind the scenes stuff and other stuff that I've
forgotten. You may notice this version is faster/slower than previously,
I'm really not sure about that yet ;)
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v3.2 BETA (C) Steve Snake 2005
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Whats New ?
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* Rewrote another part of the YM2612 core. Should now be pretty much
perfect.
* 32X PWM should now be the correct volume. I haven't noticed any nasty
clipping yet, but if you do, just turn off overdrive.
* Various internal changes that should hopefully make MP3 decoding work
properly when VSync is on, or some slow render plugin is being used.
Now, this time, I really DO mean "Next update will come when I get my
life back." Hopefully this is only a month or so away. We shall see.
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v3.11 BETA (C) Steve Snake 2005
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Whats New ?
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* Now selecting -fullscreen from the command line will not alter fullscreen
setting in the INI file.
That's pretty much it, the last version was unusable because of the silly
YM2612 bug, so I needed to get a new version out quickly. I had a look at
the MP3 problem some people were reporting, and made a small change to
fullscreen mode which *might* help. I'll need to rewrite my entire CDDA
handling code to make any real improvement, though... Some other time.
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v3.1 BETA (C) Steve Snake 2005
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Whats New ?
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* Fixed Fullscreen / Escape key problem when running from a command line.
The YM2612 core was the biggie, spent 99% of my free time on that one. I'm
sure I fixed a couple of other things too, but I forgot ;-)
Next update will come when I get my life back. I'm sure everybody will have
a big list of requested features by then :D
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v3.0 (Maple) BETA (C) Steve Snake 2005
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Whats New ?
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Well, since I only just got my PC back, and since my free time right now
is totally non-existant, far less than I hoped to have done. But rather
than delay this any longer, since I *have* added a lot of features that
various people have been asking for for a while now, I'm making another
release.
You may have noticed the big jump in the version number? Somebody commented
that they didn't bother trying Fusion, because of the low version number...
Well, since there has been Kega, Lazarus, and now Fusion, that makes this
Kega 3.0, right? ;-)
* Removed ISO/BIN reading for SegaCD - this is now handled by the BIN/CUE
engine. You won't notice any difference, but trust me, its better ;-)
* Fixed bug in BIN/CUE engine when multiple files were used.
* Added MP3 support to the BIN/CUE engine. Yes, this means that Fusion now
supports ISO/MP3. Fusion uses the Windows Codec and therefore contains
no patented algorithms. Too many people asked for this feature, so
although I didn't really want it, it's now there.
* VSync now works in Windowed mode. Be aware that this can severely slow
down the emulator, especially if your monitor is not set to a multiple
of 50hz or 60hz, depending on the region of the game you are playing.
* Added GameGenie and Pro Action Replay support for the GameGear and Master
System.
* Fixed a couple of minor issues affecting the SegaCD BIOS CD Player only.
* When Fixed Aspect is disabled, Filtering is enabled, and you are running
an NTSC (USA/JAP) game, the screen will now be slightly stretched. This
works for all consoles. Stretching does not happen for PAL games, because
PAL TVs show more lines than NTSC TVs, and because some PAL games use the
extra portion of the screen (Virtua Fighter 32X, for example). And no, it
doesn't completely remove the Master System border. That would look very,
very wrong.
* Now supports up to 24 Render Plugins. This should now be way more than
enough.
* Switched around the naming of the various Scanline modes. People like it
better this way.
* Fusion will now start in fullscreen mode if it was exited from that mode.
Still some major work planned for Fusion, once I get my life back...
Anyway, hope you like the additions to this release, and hope I didn't
break anything. I'll have to start documenting some of this stuff properly,
too.
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v0.1e BETA (C) Steve Snake 2004
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Whats New ?
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Well I wanted to add some new stuff before releasing another version, but
since people have been asking, and since I'm not going to be able to do
anything with it for a while due to "real life" getting in the way, I am
releasing the current version, which has many small changes and bugfixes.
To be honest I've forgotten most of what I fixed ;-) Anyway, here is the
stuff I remember:
* Added "Sleep While Waiting" option - NOT recommended because it can cause
skipping in the sound and the framerate of the emulator, also not really
needed because the emulator *will* give up time to any running program
automatically - but since so many people really want to see the task
manager showing available CPU time, here it is. Use it if you must. But
don't complain about choppy frame rates ;-)
* Updated render plugin system to allow for 2x, 3x and 4x scalers. (Only
works in Enhanced GFX mode)
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v0.1d BETA (C) Steve Snake 2004
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Whats New ?
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* Forgot to add the 6 button changes to Alternate Timing mode. Is there now.
* Switched Power On and Soft Reset around, hopefully people will now only use the
Soft Reset function when its actually useful ;-)
Console options are: -sms, -gg, -gen or -md or -32x, -scd or -mcd
Country options are: -usa -jap -eur or -auto
Apart from the filename, which must come first, all options can be in any order,
and are optional.
When using the -fullscreen option, the ESCAPE key will exit the emulator.
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v0.1c BETA (C) Steve Snake 2004
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Whats New ?
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* Added Message Box for first time run to try and cut down the number of
people asking about the graphics settings...
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Kega Fusion v0.1b BETA (C) Steve Snake 2004
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Whats New ?
-----------
Quick update:
* Fixed the problem whereby you couldn't define the space bar as a key.
* Moved the INI file settings to the top of the file for easier access.
There are now 4 different modes you can try - by default it uses a more
compatible, but possibly slower mode. If everything works fine you can
try setting EnhancedGFXOpt to 1 to see if that also works - this is usually
the fastest mode. If neither enhanced mode 0 or 1 work, you can set
ForceCompatibleGFX to 1, and then try CompatibleGFXOpt at 0 or 1 to see
which is the fastest. Also, on some older cards the enhanced mode may be
quite slow - if this is the case you should use Compatible mode.
I hope that this now works on a much wider range of graphics cards - let
me know :)
Snake.
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Kega Fusion v0.1 BETA (C) Steve Snake 2004
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Initial Release.
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'Previously on 24'
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