emulation.net News Archives

January 1998

A new Nintendo emulator, GrayBox, has been released! This emulator is written in PowerPC assembly for speed and already supports a wide variety of games.
MO5/Mac has been updated to version 2.0.1! Users of this emulator will be pleased to find that it is nearly twice as fast as before, due to improved video code.
SimCoupe has been updated to version 0.7.2v2.

The Silhouette emulator has again become the controversy of the day. EmuNews details the story; it seems that Trepalium (Chad Kitching), a former SNES9X team member, found some similarities in the code of SNES9X and Silhouette, and called Silhouette a fraud. Later evidence posted to EmuNews, though, seems to contradict Trepalium's findings and may validate Silhouette's authenticity. Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to contact Trepalium for more details.
A former reader of HP48.com lamented the loss of this web page, and explained that the site was discontinued due to legal pressure from Hewlett Packard. Although the story is unconfirmed, it certainly sheds some light on the situation, although I can't understand why Hewlett Packard would shut down a fan page for its own product.
The Swedish version of MacMAME 0.30 has been released!
[MacMAME 0.31 information withheld at the request of the developers.]

The emulator table below has been updated, including a separate section for handheld devices as well as incorporating the systems which hadn't previously been included.
The TI-85 emulator has finally received a proper home on emulation.net.

Big news of the day: today is my 20th birthday!
HP48.com, previously a fan site for HP48 users, now seems to link to the Hewlett Packard home page. Where did this site go?

If you just downloaded iNES, check to make sure you got 0.7.7; the archive wasn't replaced properly the first time. (The problem has now been fixed.)
iNES has been upgraded to version 0.7.7! Along with an important bug fix for registered users, this version also cleans up a lot of Appearance related problems. The most important update--System 7 support is now working! (Appearance Manager software is required for System 7 users; it is available for download on the iNES page.)
Installing the Appearance Manager should also allow current versions of MasterGear and ColEm to run properly on System 7.
The xNES project has been cancelled due to irreconcilable differences with the current xNES team and the original author. A statement from the current xNES team is available.
Bernie ][ the Rescue has had some minor bug fixes, reaching version 1.2.1.
NoSTalgia has been updated to version 0.3.2, which fixes some bugs in the processor core.
A German version of MacMAME 0.30 is now available.

The rumor mill has it that future versions of MacMAME will be incorporating System 16 support. It looks like several teams have independently developed System 16 cores; this should be a very exciting development!
Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, has been updated to version 1.2! Printing support is working and several bug fixes and code updates are in place.
UnMAME is a utility to take Macintosh-style MAME ROMs and convert them to PC compatible archives.

The GenEm home page has returned; it seems the execpc.com web servers were having some technical difficulties.
A port of the Sega System 16 emulator, capable of playing the arcade ROMs for Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Shinobi and more, is currently underway. It's being undertaken by Lewin Edwards, who warns that the port might take a while since a large chunk of the code is still in Intel assembly language.
A mailing list for users of Bernie ][ the Rescue has been started. Join this list if you're interested in news and tips relating to this popular Apple IIgs emulator.

Correction from a post made earlier today: ZX81 PPC is not new; I just got confused for a moment and mislabeled it. Sorry about that.
The demos of SoftWindows and SoftPC have been removed at Insignia's request. It seems that their license for distribuing demo versions of Windows and MS-DOS has expired, and so these demos are no longer legal to distribute.
The Mr. Do! 1998 competition is now underway! Entrants have until March 3rd to send in their Mr. Do score files from MacMAME. High scores will be posted as entrants send in their files.
A separate link to GenEm PPC has been secured, but unfortunately there is still no explanation for the disappearance of Brian Verre's web page.

Anonymous sources have confirmed that both RealPC and Virtual PC should be supporting 3Dfx technology very soon. This is something that I look forward to with great anticipation!
A demo version of SoftWindows 1.0 has been added to the PC emulation section. (Note that this is quite a large download.)

I'm back in Berkeley again! It's great to be back on a real computer.
CPC++ for Power Mac, an Amstrad CPC emulator, has been updated to version 1.4.0! This version is a major upgrade, and fixes a lot of bugs.
iNES 0.7.6 seems to be very fickle! Apparently it's telling some of my valued customers that they're pirates. Obviously this is a concern to me, so I'm going to try to fix this bug as soon as possible and release a patch within a few days. My apologies to everyone affected by this glitch, and if you haven't yet downloaded the new version, you might want to stick with 0.7.5 for a few more days. (If possible, I might also try to incorporate some limited form of System 7 support in the update as well, but this isn't guaranteed.)
The GenEm web pages and download links seem to be broken, along with all of Brian Verre's pages on execpc.com. Does anyone know what happened?
An Apple developer reports that the Gus project is still alive and well, and will be getting a new URL (and perhaps even a new update) soon. He also apologized for the lack of progress on Gus, but said he doesn't have enough time to support the project.
Rumor Mill: Several readers have forwarded me a rumor (first appearing on Mac OS Rumors) stating that future versions of RealPC will support 3Dfx cards! If true, this could be extremely promising for the quality of 3D game emulation; by taking the load off of the emulated CPU and placing it on a cross-platform, native 3D card, current PC games could theoretically run at close to native speeds!

iNES has been updated to version 0.7.6! This is a great update: iNES is now compatible with Punch-Out, Dragon Warrior 3, Dragon Warrior 4, Worldrunner 3D and more! Speed is improved, and the Mac OS 8 Appearance Manager is also integrated into this new version.
It seems like the search engine might be little unresponsive at times. I'm currently utilizing HotBot, but if I have any lasting problems I might switch to a CGI-based engine or another web searching engine. For now, though, this seems like a workable solution.

emulation.net is now equipped with a search engine! Hopefully this will prove to be a useful addition.
Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, will soon reach version 1.2! This new version promises limited printing capability, and works even better with older Apple II titles.
Part of the MacMAME License requires that emulation sites refrain from maintaining archives of all the MAME ROMs in one file. So the archive of updated MacMAME ROMs has been removed from emulation.net. Don't worry! House of Coins has a very thorough archive of new MacMAME ROMs, hosted on a speedy server.
During a recent web site reorganization, the web pages for Apple's Gus project (an Apple IIgs emulator) seem to have disappeared! Has Apple finally cancelled this promising emulator? Anyone informed about the current status of Gus, please let me know.
I've added a new emulation.net site of the week. This one focuses on the real reason MacMAME exists: Mr. Do!

Some MacMAME fans have managed to download all the new or updated ROMs for MacMAME 0.30 and combine them into one archive. This archive is now available from emulation.net. (Apparently, it is sometimes possible to get into the MAME subdirectory of obsolete.com; only ten users are allowed at a time.)
A demo of Universal SoftPC has been located and made available on emulation.net. Although there are several disadvantages (the program is from 1991, times out in 15 minutes, and isn't even optimized for PowerPC), this can be useful if you occasionally need to emulate simple DOS-based programs.

Several users complained of problems downloading MacMAME 0.30.1. The archive has been fixed, so if you received a corrupt file, please try the download again. (Also noteworthy is that the usual server for MAME ROMs, obsolete.com, is completely rejecting any access to the MAME subdirectory.)
Power PC Engine, a PC Engine emulator (known as TurboGrafx-16 in the states), has been updated to version 0.3.1!
GrayBox, a NES emulator that is still in beta testing, will be released January 31st! This emulator is written in PowerPC assembly for speed, and seems to work very well with a large variety of different games.
A special keyboard layout for Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, has been developed. This allows for better compatibility with programs like AppleWorks and foreign language input.

The new emulation.net Archives are now in service! From now on, past news from emulation.net will appear on the archives page.
A small note: after extensive testing, I've found that emulation.net, along with the vast majority of web pages out there, simply looks best in Netscape Navigator 4.0. Although every attempt is made to retain compatibility and aesthetic appeal with other browsers, this page is written for and tested on Netscape. I admit that Internet Explorer 4.0 has some neat features--however, Netscape simply does a better job at HTML rendering.

emulation.net has gotten a minor facelift--from now on, news items will be tagged with their date of arrival.
With the arrival of PSEmu and Project Unreality, the Myths page was... well, no longer true. So it's been updated with more recent information.

After reading about Console Cables, many users have written in to inform me about the Choicestick. This is a multi-function game controller adaptor; for $40, it allows use of controllers from the PC, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64 or PlayStation. A Choicestick unit sports connectors for all four of those systems, and supports both analog and digital controllers.
MacMAME has been updated to 0.30.1, fixing a potential crash bug when selecting the keyboard layout.

It's here! MacMAME 0.30 has finally been released, and it supports 90 new games. No, that's not even a typo. Looks like I'll be busy all weekend!
Ever wished you could play SNES9X or Silhouette with a real SNES controller? For twenty bucks, you can. I'm seriously considering picking one of these ADB adaptors up; if anyone has tried one already, I'd love to hear a report of the quality and compatibility of these gadgets.
SoftWindows 5.0 has been officially released! As predicted, it folds in most of the additions from RealPC, such as SoundBlaster and MMX support, and does incorporate the previously mentioned 25% speedup.
WACKE has been updated to version 1.3! Several games which didn't work before are now compatible with WACKE, and support for a second disk drive has been added.

A small TI-85 emulator has been ported by Robert Stiles! (No, I don't think we're related.)
A page for the MO5 computer has been created.
The newest MacMall catalogs have ads listed in them for SoftWindows 5.0, and claim a 25% speed increase over previous versions! However, this information isn't yet on Insignia's SoftWindows page. Perhaps this update will incorporate some of the new features found in RealPC (such as MMX support and full SoundBlaster compatibility).
Harley Poole's Atari 2600 page has moved. (He's also just released a game based on the Psygnosis classic "Oids," called Probe; not an emulator, but certainly worth checking out for classic game fans.)
The wonderful folks at F. E. Systems have helped me out by reworking the table below to include the Apple ///. Thank you!

Virtual PC is being upgraded to version 2.0! With a February release date, it promises a 25% to 40% speed increase, along with Windows 98 compatibility, enhanced DirectX support, drag-and-drop between Mac and Windows, clipboard sharing, sound input support, and optimizations for the new G3 processor!
A new page for Apple /// has been created. (The graphical tables below will likely not be updated until I return to Berkeley; I don't have any good graphics tools handy here.)

Phil Stroffolino's REM-Mac Rygar emulator has been updated to version 1.0, now supporting sound and a real Mac interface!
Several readers have written in questioning the history of Silhouette. A lot of the facts seem hard to believe; I'm skeptical myself, and it could just be an elaborate hoax. Some readers have asked whether it is a hack--after looking through the program briefly, though, it's easy to see there are obvious differences. Transparency effects are not an easy hack! Somehow I'm reminded of the ZSNES incident a few months back. I think it's too soon to pass judgment, but we'll see.

With the arrival of the new year, an astonishing new emulator has surfaced! Silhouette is a new SNES emulator, apparently developed by former Nintendo employees, which boasts capabilities no other emulator has matched--full transparency, near-perfect sound emulation, and excellent compatibility. This arrived in my e-mail with no explanation and an invalid return address, so if anyone has any information at all about Silhouette, please let me know!
Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, has been updated to version 1.1d4! This version supports 5.25" disk images (for older Apple II software) and properly handles the Apple II speaker output, making Bernie ][ the Rescue more capable of running older Apple II titles.
Happy new year! Welcome to 1998!

Send feedback to emulation.net.
Back to emulation.net.

	A new Nintendo emulator, GrayBox, has been released! This emulator is written in PowerPC assembly for speed and already supports a wide variety of games. MO5/Mac has been updated to version 2.0.1! Users of this emulator will be pleased to find that it is nearly twice as fast as before, due to improved video code. SimCoupe has been updated to version 0.7.2v2.
	The Silhouette emulator has again become the controversy of the day. EmuNews details the story; it seems that Trepalium (Chad Kitching), a former SNES9X team member, found some similarities in the code of SNES9X and Silhouette, and called Silhouette a fraud. Later evidence posted to EmuNews, though, seems to contradict Trepalium's findings and may validate Silhouette's authenticity. Unfortunately, I haven't yet been able to contact Trepalium for more details. A former reader of HP48.com lamented the loss of this web page, and explained that the site was discontinued due to legal pressure from Hewlett Packard. Although the story is unconfirmed, it certainly sheds some light on the situation, although I can't understand why Hewlett Packard would shut down a fan page for its own product. The Swedish version of MacMAME 0.30 has been released! [MacMAME 0.31 information withheld at the request of the developers.]
	The emulator table below has been updated, including a separate section for handheld devices as well as incorporating the systems which hadn't previously been included. The TI-85 emulator has finally received a proper home on emulation.net.
	Big news of the day: today is my 20th birthday! HP48.com, previously a fan site for HP48 users, now seems to link to the Hewlett Packard home page. Where did this site go?
	If you just downloaded iNES, check to make sure you got 0.7.7; the archive wasn't replaced properly the first time. (The problem has now been fixed.) iNES has been upgraded to version 0.7.7! Along with an important bug fix for registered users, this version also cleans up a lot of Appearance related problems. The most important update--System 7 support is now working! (Appearance Manager software is required for System 7 users; it is available for download on the iNES page.) Installing the Appearance Manager should also allow current versions of MasterGear and ColEm to run properly on System 7. The xNES project has been cancelled due to irreconcilable differences with the current xNES team and the original author. A statement from the current xNES team is available. Bernie ][ the Rescue has had some minor bug fixes, reaching version 1.2.1. NoSTalgia has been updated to version 0.3.2, which fixes some bugs in the processor core. A German version of MacMAME 0.30 is now available.
	The rumor mill has it that future versions of MacMAME will be incorporating System 16 support. It looks like several teams have independently developed System 16 cores; this should be a very exciting development! Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, has been updated to version 1.2! Printing support is working and several bug fixes and code updates are in place. UnMAME is a utility to take Macintosh-style MAME ROMs and convert them to PC compatible archives.
	The GenEm home page has returned; it seems the execpc.com web servers were having some technical difficulties. A port of the Sega System 16 emulator, capable of playing the arcade ROMs for Altered Beast, Golden Axe, Shinobi and more, is currently underway. It's being undertaken by Lewin Edwards, who warns that the port might take a while since a large chunk of the code is still in Intel assembly language. A mailing list for users of Bernie ][ the Rescue has been started. Join this list if you're interested in news and tips relating to this popular Apple IIgs emulator.
	Correction from a post made earlier today: ZX81 PPC is not new; I just got confused for a moment and mislabeled it. Sorry about that. The demos of SoftWindows and SoftPC have been removed at Insignia's request. It seems that their license for distribuing demo versions of Windows and MS-DOS has expired, and so these demos are no longer legal to distribute. The Mr. Do! 1998 competition is now underway! Entrants have until March 3rd to send in their Mr. Do score files from MacMAME. High scores will be posted as entrants send in their files. A separate link to GenEm PPC has been secured, but unfortunately there is still no explanation for the disappearance of Brian Verre's web page.
	Anonymous sources have confirmed that both RealPC and Virtual PC should be supporting 3Dfx technology very soon. This is something that I look forward to with great anticipation! A demo version of SoftWindows 1.0 has been added to the PC emulation section. (Note that this is quite a large download.)
	I'm back in Berkeley again! It's great to be back on a real computer. CPC++ for Power Mac, an Amstrad CPC emulator, has been updated to version 1.4.0! This version is a major upgrade, and fixes a lot of bugs. iNES 0.7.6 seems to be very fickle! Apparently it's telling some of my valued customers that they're pirates. Obviously this is a concern to me, so I'm going to try to fix this bug as soon as possible and release a patch within a few days. My apologies to everyone affected by this glitch, and if you haven't yet downloaded the new version, you might want to stick with 0.7.5 for a few more days. (If possible, I might also try to incorporate some limited form of System 7 support in the update as well, but this isn't guaranteed.) The GenEm web pages and download links seem to be broken, along with all of Brian Verre's pages on execpc.com. Does anyone know what happened? An Apple developer reports that the Gus project is still alive and well, and will be getting a new URL (and perhaps even a new update) soon. He also apologized for the lack of progress on Gus, but said he doesn't have enough time to support the project. Rumor Mill: Several readers have forwarded me a rumor (first appearing on Mac OS Rumors) stating that future versions of RealPC will support 3Dfx cards! If true, this could be extremely promising for the quality of 3D game emulation; by taking the load off of the emulated CPU and placing it on a cross-platform, native 3D card, current PC games could theoretically run at close to native speeds!
	iNES has been updated to version 0.7.6! This is a great update: iNES is now compatible with Punch-Out, Dragon Warrior 3, Dragon Warrior 4, Worldrunner 3D and more! Speed is improved, and the Mac OS 8 Appearance Manager is also integrated into this new version. It seems like the search engine might be little unresponsive at times. I'm currently utilizing HotBot, but if I have any lasting problems I might switch to a CGI-based engine or another web searching engine. For now, though, this seems like a workable solution.
	emulation.net is now equipped with a search engine! Hopefully this will prove to be a useful addition. Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, will soon reach version 1.2! This new version promises limited printing capability, and works even better with older Apple II titles. Part of the MacMAME License requires that emulation sites refrain from maintaining archives of all the MAME ROMs in one file. So the archive of updated MacMAME ROMs has been removed from emulation.net. Don't worry! House of Coins has a very thorough archive of new MacMAME ROMs, hosted on a speedy server. During a recent web site reorganization, the web pages for Apple's Gus project (an Apple IIgs emulator) seem to have disappeared! Has Apple finally cancelled this promising emulator? Anyone informed about the current status of Gus, please let me know. I've added a new emulation.net site of the week. This one focuses on the real reason MacMAME exists: Mr. Do!
	Some MacMAME fans have managed to download all the new or updated ROMs for MacMAME 0.30 and combine them into one archive. This archive is now available from emulation.net. (Apparently, it is sometimes possible to get into the MAME subdirectory of obsolete.com; only ten users are allowed at a time.) A demo of Universal SoftPC has been located and made available on emulation.net. Although there are several disadvantages (the program is from 1991, times out in 15 minutes, and isn't even optimized for PowerPC), this can be useful if you occasionally need to emulate simple DOS-based programs.
	Several users complained of problems downloading MacMAME 0.30.1. The archive has been fixed, so if you received a corrupt file, please try the download again. (Also noteworthy is that the usual server for MAME ROMs, obsolete.com, is completely rejecting any access to the MAME subdirectory.) Power PC Engine, a PC Engine emulator (known as TurboGrafx-16 in the states), has been updated to version 0.3.1! GrayBox, a NES emulator that is still in beta testing, will be released January 31st! This emulator is written in PowerPC assembly for speed, and seems to work very well with a large variety of different games. A special keyboard layout for Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, has been developed. This allows for better compatibility with programs like AppleWorks and foreign language input.
	The new emulation.net Archives are now in service! From now on, past news from emulation.net will appear on the archives page. A small note: after extensive testing, I've found that emulation.net, along with the vast majority of web pages out there, simply looks best in Netscape Navigator 4.0. Although every attempt is made to retain compatibility and aesthetic appeal with other browsers, this page is written for and tested on Netscape. I admit that Internet Explorer 4.0 has some neat features--however, Netscape simply does a better job at HTML rendering.
	emulation.net has gotten a minor facelift--from now on, news items will be tagged with their date of arrival. With the arrival of PSEmu and Project Unreality, the Myths page was... well, no longer true. So it's been updated with more recent information.
	After reading about Console Cables, many users have written in to inform me about the Choicestick. This is a multi-function game controller adaptor; for $40, it allows use of controllers from the PC, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64 or PlayStation. A Choicestick unit sports connectors for all four of those systems, and supports both analog and digital controllers. MacMAME has been updated to 0.30.1, fixing a potential crash bug when selecting the keyboard layout.
	It's here! MacMAME 0.30 has finally been released, and it supports 90 new games. No, that's not even a typo. Looks like I'll be busy all weekend! Ever wished you could play SNES9X or Silhouette with a real SNES controller? For twenty bucks, you can. I'm seriously considering picking one of these ADB adaptors up; if anyone has tried one already, I'd love to hear a report of the quality and compatibility of these gadgets. SoftWindows 5.0 has been officially released! As predicted, it folds in most of the additions from RealPC, such as SoundBlaster and MMX support, and does incorporate the previously mentioned 25% speedup. WACKE has been updated to version 1.3! Several games which didn't work before are now compatible with WACKE, and support for a second disk drive has been added.
	A small TI-85 emulator has been ported by Robert Stiles! (No, I don't think we're related.) A page for the MO5 computer has been created. The newest MacMall catalogs have ads listed in them for SoftWindows 5.0, and claim a 25% speed increase over previous versions! However, this information isn't yet on Insignia's SoftWindows page. Perhaps this update will incorporate some of the new features found in RealPC (such as MMX support and full SoundBlaster compatibility). Harley Poole's Atari 2600 page has moved. (He's also just released a game based on the Psygnosis classic "Oids," called Probe; not an emulator, but certainly worth checking out for classic game fans.) The wonderful folks at F. E. Systems have helped me out by reworking the table below to include the Apple ///. Thank you!
	Virtual PC is being upgraded to version 2.0! With a February release date, it promises a 25% to 40% speed increase, along with Windows 98 compatibility, enhanced DirectX support, drag-and-drop between Mac and Windows, clipboard sharing, sound input support, and optimizations for the new G3 processor! A new page for Apple /// has been created. (The graphical tables below will likely not be updated until I return to Berkeley; I don't have any good graphics tools handy here.)
	Phil Stroffolino's REM-Mac Rygar emulator has been updated to version 1.0, now supporting sound and a real Mac interface! Several readers have written in questioning the history of Silhouette. A lot of the facts seem hard to believe; I'm skeptical myself, and it could just be an elaborate hoax. Some readers have asked whether it is a hack--after looking through the program briefly, though, it's easy to see there are obvious differences. Transparency effects are not an easy hack! Somehow I'm reminded of the ZSNES incident a few months back. I think it's too soon to pass judgment, but we'll see.
	With the arrival of the new year, an astonishing new emulator has surfaced! Silhouette is a new SNES emulator, apparently developed by former Nintendo employees, which boasts capabilities no other emulator has matched--full transparency, near-perfect sound emulation, and excellent compatibility. This arrived in my e-mail with no explanation and an invalid return address, so if anyone has any information at all about Silhouette, please let me know! Bernie ][ the Rescue, an Apple IIgs emulator, has been updated to version 1.1d4! This version supports 5.25" disk images (for older Apple II software) and properly handles the Apple II speaker output, making Bernie ][ the Rescue more capable of running older Apple II titles. Happy new year! Welcome to 1998!