MAME 0.53

Release Date

MAME 0.53 was released on 12 August 2001.

Major Announcement

As of this release, the "beta" numbering scheme has been abandoned. This version is 0.53 because 0.36 (the last "non-beta" release) + .16 (the number of "beta" releases since then) = 0.52.

Contributors

The known contributors for this version are, in alphabetical order:

• Aaron Giles
• Aley Keprt
• Bernd Wiebelt
• Bryan McPhail
• David Graves
• David Haywood
• Fabrice Frances
• Luca Elia
• Mathias Rosenhauer
• Nicola Salmoria
• Paul Priest
• Phil Stroffolino
• Scott Brasington
• Takahiro Nogi
• Victor Trucco

Specific Contributions

The known contributions for this version are, in the order specified in the whatsnew:

• Nicola Salmoria fixed the background in Bioship Paladin.

• Nicola Salmoria fixed some issues in Taito B system games.

• Nicola Salmoria added real shadows to some Konami games (88 Games, Chequered Flag, X-Men, Asterix, Surprise Attack, Sunset Riders, etc.).

• David Haywood added real shadows to some SNK games (Ikari Warriors, Victory Road, etc.).

• Luca Elia added real shadows to Cisco Heat and F1 Grand Prix Star.

• Nicola Salmoria fixed some protection related issues in Sunset Riders.

• Nicola Salmoria fixed colors in Major Title 2.

• Nicola Salmoria fixed colors in Berlin Wall.

• Mathias Rosenhauer fixed the radar display in Aztarac.

• Bryan McPhail and Nicola Salmoria decrypted the sound CPU in Gunforce, Blade Master, Lethal Thunder, Undercover Cops, Mystic Riders, Major Title 2, Hook, R-Type Leo, In the Hunt, and Perfect Soldiers.

• Aaron Giles fixed a EX550x bug that caused Taito F3 and Incredible Tech games to sound bad.

• Aaron Giles fixed the remaining issues in Slapstic emulation.
  • Pit Fighter works to the end
  • Rampart works to the end
  • Tetris now uses the slapstic code

• Bryan McPhail fixed the protection in the original Robocop.

• Nicola Salmoria decrypted the original Popeye.

• Scott Brasington fixed the Free Play mode in Galaga.

• Fabrice Frances added support for the target data extracted from the laserdisc to MACH 3.

• The Windows port is now called "MAME" (instead of "MAMEW"). The DOS port is called "DMAME".

• Paul Priest and Bernd Wiebelt improved the CLI support in the Windows version:
  • config option for steadykey (default: OFF)
  • parse debug.ini in debug builds
  • mamew \anywhere\roms\pacman.zip works
  • improved -log option
  • mame will now parse argv[0].ini instead of mame.ini. i.e. if the mame executable is called "m37b17.exe" it will parse m37b17.ini instead of mame.ini

• Aley Keprt added support for C64/Atari/Sinclair joysticks connected via DB9 or Turbografix interface to the DOS version.

• Big changes to the palette system. 8-bit modes are no longer supported, only 16-bit ones are used. 8-bit support may be removed from the OS dependant code; the core will never ask for an 8-bit deep screen. 8-bit bitmaps could still be used though.

• Palette compression has been removed. palette_recalc(), palette_transparent_pen and palette_used_colors* [[]] are not available anymore. Drivers that relied on PALETTE_COLOR_TRANSPARENT for transparency effects must be rewritten to implement them differently. As a result of this, all games using the Taito TC0480SCP video chip, and all Taito F3 games, are broken in this release.

• tilemap_update() is gone. Everything is handled by tilemap_draw().

• IMPORTANT CHANGE FOR PORTERS: the OS dependant code is now required to guarantee, in 16-bit palettized mode, that Machine->pens* i == i. The "pens" argument to osd_allocate_colors() will be NULL, actually it has been renamed "rgb_components" since direct RGB modes are the only ones that will pass that argument.

• Remove VIDEO_MODIFIES_PALETTE and the "modifiable" parameter from osd_allocate_colors().

• Nicola Salmoria added new flags VIDEO_HAS_SHADOWS and VIDEO_HAS_HIGHLIGHTS that automatically extend the palette creating a darker(brighter copy for shadows handling. palette_set_shadow_factor() and palette_set_highlight_factor() allow to control the adjustment to apply (shadow can be > 1.0, making it an highlight, and highlight can be < 1.0 making it a shadow - the names are just conventional).

• Nicola Salmoria added the function palette_set_brightness(), allowing selective control of palette brightness independently of the palette RAM contents.

• MachineDriver.color_table_len can now be 0, meaning that the colortable is a 1:1 mapping from the palette. Note that you CANNOT use this feature if you use TRANSPARENCY_COLOR; but of course, if you need TRANSPARENCY_COLOR you'll not have a 1:1 colortable.

• Phil Stroffolino added the function tilemap_draw_roz().

• Aaron Giles added the function auto_malloc(); this is the same as malloc(), but the memory is automatically freed when the driver exits.

• osd_bitmap.line is now a void ** to prevent confusion.

Game Support

New Games added or promoted from GAME_NOT_WORKING status

• Mazinger Z
• Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon
• Sokonuke Taisen Game
• Mahjong Doukyuusei
• Mahjong Doukyuusei Special
• Big Run
• Magical Crystals
• Sand Scorpion
• Continental Circus
• Chase HQ
• Battle Shark
• Special Criminal Investigation
• Night Striker
• Aqua Jack
• Double Axle
• World Grand Prix 2
• Super Real Mahjong Part 3
• Mahjong Yuugi
• Funky Jet
• Sotsugyo Shousho
• Hasamu
• Kengo
• Dirt Fox
• Mighty Guy
• Ultra Tank

New clones added

• Astro Flash (= Transformer)
• Twin Hawk (= Daisenpu)
• Omega (= The End)
• Gingateikoku No Gyakushu (bootleg, set 2)
• Point Blank (= Gun Bullet)
• Robocop 2 (World, Japan)
• Don Doko Don (US)
• Thunder Fox (World)
• Camel Try (US, alt sound)
• Robocop (World rev 4)
• Chelnov (World)
• Twin Hawk (World)
• Swimmer (set 3)
• Boulder Dash (Japan)
• Robocop (Japan)
• Great 1000 Miles Rally (USA)
• Super Real Darwin (World)
• Pit Fighter (bootleg)
• Klax (prototype set 1)
• Klax (prototype set 2)
• Up'n Down (encrypted)

Games removed

• Speak & Rescue bootleg (identical to Speak & Rescue with copyright notice removed)