I have decided to look at the burner interface for a bit. I don't usually enjoy WIN32 API programming but some of this is probably overdue!

 

I have added a context menu to the game selection dialog. Currently this gives the option of playing the game or viewing the game information dialog (see later). I also have a nice new feature planned to go here later which I hope comes off ok.

 

As mentioned above I have added a game information dialog. This can be accessed via the game selection dialog or the menus when in-game. It contains the following information about a game:

 

* Preview screenshot or title screenshot (in the games correct aspect ratio read from the driver)

* Pictures of the games flyer, cabinet, marquee, control panel and PCB

* The games roms as read from the driver

* The games history as read from the history.dat database. Some basic formatting is also applied.

 

The dialog is unicode only at the moment. I'll probably go back and make it work with non-unicode builds though.

 

I have also expanded the cheat support by merging in iq_132s cheat code. This provides the ability to read cheats in from FBA cheat files, Nebula/Kawaks cheat files or the MAME cheat.dat file. The MAME support is slightly limited but most things work. The code also adds support for more CPUs so more drivers will have cheats. Unfortunately, cheats which require changes to multiple CPUs aren't supported by this code.

 

I have also added a feature requested by one person on and off for a long time - the ability to auto-switch into full-screen after loading a game from the dialog. Should make at least one person happy!

 

I plan on simplifying the game selection dialog a bit now (the game information dialog replaces some of it's functions) and maybe adding some new features to it. Then I might start looking at my idea for something to add to the context menu.

Visit Barry Harris' Blog for screenshots:

http://www.barryharris.me.uk/article_view.php?id=105

Improved set capacity (increased from 4 to 8 sets)

Improved set handling (infinite sets a big step closer)

Improved assignment right-click set menu (split into set submenus)

Improved SetSelector indicators (replaced dots with set number and method icon)

Improved window display positioning

Improved window position saving

Improved remember window positions option (on by default - centred if disabled)

Improved closing of all windows (all windows close if re-opened - they now toggle)

Improved global settings options layout (expanded window size and removed scrollbox)

Improved timing accuracy and loop counting

Improved component creation in some areas

Improved processing of scan animation display (when no controllers are connected at startup)

Improved keyboard test timing when emulating a sequence

Improved controller properties layout

Improved handling of dialog text formatting

Improved default path determination

Improved image text writing

Added yellow highlight to Controller and Profile buttons whenever changes have been made and need saving

Added type and battery/power information for Xbox 360 compatible controllers to properties window

Added Profile Settings window

Added KeyTapTime global and profile options

Added AllowEmulatedKeys checkbox to keyboard test

Added first run dialogs (welcome and program location, user file location, add associations)

Added Associations option

Added bolding of toggled global options (so you know what options have changed)

Fixed a bug where assigning onto a set selector via advanced assignment window caused error (thanks to tbd2007)

Fixed a bug where re-running with different path casing triggered different-location boot error (thanks to Thraka)

Fixed a bug where programs launching Xpadder using "xpadder.exe" fail boot name check (thanks to Thraka)

Fixed a bug where custom system font dpi size caused error (thanks to scotsummers)

Fixed a bug where custom system font dpi altered window layouts

Fixed a bug where custom system font dpi cropped all checkboxes

Fixed a bug where custom system font dpi affected some fonts (Tahoma 8 is now used 100% throughout)

Fixed a bug where assigning to a one-way set selector copied assignment to setbuddy

Fixed a bug where keyboard settings checkboxes were not translatable

Fixed a bug where Windows 2000 showed icons with magenta background

Fixed a bug where holding shift/ctrl/alt and closing assignment window caused thread error (thanks to generic.imitation)

Fixed a bug where Clear Advanced assignments de-focused advanced assignment window preventing keypresses

Fixed a bug where clicking space to right of global options toggled the checkbox

Fixed a bug where pressing Enter or Space in Advanced Assignments window after pressing a button caused button to repress

Fixed a bug where flickering could occur on multi-core CPUs

Fixed a bug where Inserting a slot caused flicker and highlighting of incorrect slot

Fixed a bug where combinations with Windows Logo keys did not work (thanks to Christian)

Fixed a bug where some dialog windows did not use bold text for details

Fixed a bug where changing background colours while scan animation was running used an old workaround

Fixed a bug where AssignmentPopUpMenu Clear option and wheel clicking was possible even if assignment was already empty

Fixed a bug where Keyboard tab text was not translated (thanks to Ivan T)

Fixed a bug where Controller Properties text could be scrolled via horizontal mouse wheel (thanks to SGTCableDog)

Fixed a bug where multiple buttons could be auto-snapped to stick center in controller settings window

Fixed a bug where Controller help did not show information about the Controller menu (only the tabs)

Fixed a bug where SetSelector help listed methods before list

Fixed bugs where Bad Stick/Trigger Access error values did not show correct value if non-standard and invalid axis

>> Get it HERE.

Here is the usual (a) version fixing bugs in the previous release

 

- Fixed missing trigger buttons in gun games

- Fixed desert tank locked into test mode

- Improved main cpu/sound cpu sync in Model2 Original games.

>> Get it HERE.

Another bugfix release of Sidtool has been released:

Updates to 1.2.3 from 1.2.2

 

* Fixed possible multi load/display of STIL.txt

* Fixed possible missing extension when saving PlayList

* Forced alphabetical sort of Composer/Sid list, which did not work on some machines

Get it here