Stella 2.3 Released!

Lefteris_D

Administrator
Staff member
The Atari 2600 emulator, Stella, has been updated. Here is what is new in this release:
* Potentially huge speedups in software rendering mode, both in emulation
and UI modes. Deactivating 'dirty rects' uses these new modes, which
can be 2-3 times faster for many configurations.

* For UI navigation, changed from using 'joymouse' to the more familiar
'tabbing' functionality, where you move from object to object by use of
some tab key. As a result, completely removed the 'joymouse' commandline
argument and all associated functionality.

* Added event remapping for UI events, separate from events while in
emulation mode.

* Added support for PAL60 ROMs, which use the PAL palette and resolution
but run at NTSC timing (60Hz). Added ROM property for this, and updated
the internal properties database for many PAL60 ROMs.

* Added support for user-definable palettes. For now, only one extra palette
is supported, but in the future we may have them specified per-ROM.

* Fixed bug in PAL colour-loss emulation, which wasn't actually being done
for the original Stella and z26 palettes.

* Fixed several TIA-related emulation bugs as reported on AtariAge. More
fixes will come with the TIA rewrite, due in the next release.

* Added new scaler infrastructure, replacing the '-zoom' commandline argument
with '-scale_ui' and '-scale_tia'. This means the UI and emulation can now
be scaled independently.

* Added '-gl_vsync' commandline argument and associated UI elements, which
uses synchronization to vertical blank interrupt in OpenGL on supported
systems. This eliminates tearing in OpenGL rendering.

* Changed naming of snapshots and state files. These files are now
named based on the names given in the properties database, and no longer
use the 'md5sum' name. As a result, state files from previous versions
will no longer work unless they're manually renamed. Related to this,
removed the '-ssname' commandline argument.

* Fixed bug where 'Snapshot saved' appeared when taking snapshots in
succession.

* Added a 'Previous directory' entry to the top of each listing while
in ROM Browse mode, which is equivalent to the 'Go Up' button. This makes
it easier to navigate the filesystem, since you never have to 'tab out'
of the ROM listing.

* Added all sound related commandline options to the UI, so you no
longer have to use the commandline to set those options.

* Added new property to ROM properties specifying whether to swap paddles
plugged into a virtual port. This eliminates the need to manually set the
paddle mode for those ROMs that don't use paddle zero by default.

* Added a 'Defaults' button to the Game Properties dialog, which resets
the ROM properties to the internal defaults, deleting that ROMs properties
from the external properties file.

* Fixed bug whereby modified ROM properties weren't being reloaded when
restarting a ROM.

* Made 'phosphor' and 'phosphor blend' a ROM property, meaning it can be
set per-ROM.

* Added support for relocating the base Stella directory, by setting the
environment variable 'STELLA_BASEDIR'. This must be done each time before
Stella starts.

* Added '-fastscbios' commandline argument, which speeds up loading of
vertical bars in Supercharger ROMs, and made it the default.

* Added '-autoslot' commandline argument, which automatically switches
to the next available slot after saving a state. This defaults to off,
and must be set from the commandline.

* Fixed bug in debugger command 'runto', which could enter an infinite
loop under some conditions.

* Updated configure/build toolchain so patching is no longer required for
Debian packages.

* Removed dependency on PNG library (PNG snapshots are still present, but the
actual library is no longer required).

* For the OSX port, improved OpenGL performance on Mac Mini using Intel
GMA950 video hardware.

* For the GP2X port, added support for PAL ROMs, and updated SDL to use
hardware scaling.

* NOTE: Because of the many changes in this release, all settings
will be reset to defaults. If this doesn't happen for you, it will be
necessary to manually delete your previous settings.
You can get it from here.
 
Top