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Liberty version 1.3.1
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Gambit Studios
Changes Log History [for you geeks] :P
Liberty version 1.3.1
1.3.1
19-Dec-02
- PalmOS(r) 5!
Serious modification to blitting engine, save game state
and general memory configuration/tweaking to be 100% API
compliant for PalmOS(r) 5 devices.
>> NOTE: liberty contains absolutely ZERO arm code! <<
Our internal testing has shown that Liberty running on a
Tungsten|T unit runs at approximately the speed of a 68k
device running at 40Mhz. [well done palm - PACE rocks]
- general updates
A set of updates, tweaking, compatibility fixes to make
gameplay for various rom images work correctly.
- PalmOS key handling (no more jumping out of app!)
- radical emualution
New algorithm for emulation, to reduce number of gb CPU
cycles emulated per frame. *MAY* cause gfx problems with
some rom images or slow downs :(
. please provide feedback on this option when enabled!
1.3 beta 2
15-Feb-02
- Joypad interrupt code really works this time!
- 2 Minor bug fixes missed last time. F1 Boy
and Star Trek: Generations now work!
- More (minor) sound tweaking.
1.3 beta 1
18-Jan-02
- Minor bug fixes, optimizations of z-80 code
- Fixed JoyPad Interrupt Code (should Fix
Double Dragon 3, other games where the key
presses were not registering)
- New "trick" in the emulation, which will speed
up a small number of games SIGNIFICANTLY!
Donkey Kong Land 3 is now 40% faster, Joust
speed has improved over 20%
- Sprites ignore Priority Bit (it fixes
"disappearing sprite" bugs in some games,
though sprites now always appear on top of
the background.
- "Terrible" sound is no longer quite so
"terrible"! The frequencies have been tweaked
significantly, resulting in improved sound
quality.
- Clock support for cartridges with built-in
Real-time-clock (such as Pokemon Gold) Please
let us know if you have a game this does not
work in. We ARE aware of an issue in Pokemon
where the time appears to flucuate while viewing
the PokeGear. We are looking into the problem.
1.2.5
28-Dec-00 - argh fix
one clean up broke support for some devices - now fixed.
1.2.4
28-Dec-00 - InnoPak/2V Module support
(http://www.innogear.com/)
A number of users requested rumble pack support for the
InnoPak/2V springboard module - so here it is :)
- xmas cleaning
A few small memory leaks and possible "future" problems
were isolated and cleaned up such that Liberty now runs
without dying harshly on Palm DEBUG rom images (POSE).
1.2.3
01-Dec-00 - Memory Access Module support
(http://www.pjbox.com/data/data-memory.jpg)
Rumble pack support!!!!
The Memory Access Module provides three functionalities,
however, we were interested in tapping into only one! :)
The vibrating mechanism allows Liberty to emulate games
that have Rumble Pack support!! Feel the vibrations as
your pinball ball hits the rammers when playing a game
like Pokemon Pinball!!
- Handspring Flash Module updates
Revisited the application load/game restore code and put
in additional checks to correctly launch a saved game or
previously active game for a GameBoy rom image stored in
a Springboard module memory area.
1.2.2
29-Nov-00 - GamePad(tm) controller support
(www.palmgamepad.com)
The ultimate accessory for a GameBoy emulator! Get the
real feeling of a GameBoy device by using this device
produced by World Wide Widget Works.
===========================================
[ up ] [ A ]
[ left ] [ right ] [ B ]
[ down ]
[ select ] [ start ]
===========================================
1.2.1
18-Nov-00 - GameBoy screen emulation fixes
Fixed some graphic and interrupt glitches that affected
the display and playability of some games.
- saved game fix
Added some sanity type checks in the state compression
code to catch *very* rare situations where a soft-reset
can occur (ie: checking bounds etc - slower, but, safer)
- rom beaming fix
Modification of the beaming code to prevent the "unknown
file format" error message from being presented when a
rom image with a "." character in the name was beamed.
1.2
15-Nov-00 - z80 emulation fixes
- GameBoy screen emulation rewrite
The largest bottleneck in Liberty was the manner that we
handled the transition of the GameBoy graphics from the
emulation onto the Palm's display. A complete re-write
has been done, and a 30-70% speed increase has occured!
- memory management changes
Cleaned up a bit of the memory management services (such
as saved games, memory initialization) to be "cleaner",
in addition to allowing some games to run! (yay). It is
stuff you dont see, so - you wont even notice it :)
- sound!
You asked for it, and now - you have it! Bleep-Blop etc,
the presence of sound may wish you never wanted it :) it
works great on some games, and can be totally annoying
on others - but, its there. configure to your liking :))
By default, we have disabled the sound - so turn it on!
- configuration adjustments
Its been on the wish-list since day one, and its finally
here! *yay*. Configure your controls / colors / tweaks
on a game by game basis! No more tweaking each time you
start your favourite games!
1.1.1
17-Oct-00 - z80 emulation fixes
- ROM loading fixes
General purpose bug-fixes/enhancements here, a number of
games that didn't work in earlier versions now do. visor
users may now install roms into the flash module and get
access to playing (no more NULL dbID passed error).
- controller additions
Modifications have been made such that the user can use
the grafitti area for pressing buttons. This feature can
be useful in some games (walking) however it has a few
limitations.
[ U+L ][ U ][ U+R ] [ BUTTON A ]
[ L ][ ][ R ] ------------
[ D+L ][ D ][ D+R ] [ BUTTON B ]
+-------------------+ +----------+
alphabetic numeric
It is not possible to press a direction AND a button at
the same time (limitation of Palm, only ONE pen) :P
- 32K rom limit removed (in demo)
The 32K rom limit has now been lifted. Included is a new
file called "Gmbt_TRIAL.pdb", which when installed will
allow you to test gameboy games greater than 32K.
This trial feature is available ONLY for 30 executions.
After the application has been started 30 times, it will
become "unregistered", and will be limited to 32K roms.
- color changes!
Running Liberty on color devices now lets you get a nice
feeling of what you can do with color (did you all miss
the color tweaking configuration screen?)
Liberty runs in lovely default colors (if available):
. musky yellow and
. musky blue
See "pikachu" in his correct colors in Pokemon! :P
- improved rom2pdb :P
Generating datafiles on various operating systems caused
a few problems when just "adding" the name of the rom to
the output file generation.
1.1
22-Aug-00 - z80 core update
- Press All Keys support
The z80 core went through a serious optimization bashing
tweaking every last nano-second out of the emulator. At
the same time, heaps of modifications to support various
GameBoy games, such as echo-ram etc.
- smaller roms!!!
We heard ya, and since we squeezed enough speed from the
z80 emulation core - a few nano-seconds could be spared
without you even noticing a difference from 1.0e :))
If you install an OLDER rom format, it will let you know
when you try and run it -> YOU MUST RECONVERT THE ROM!!!
- rom BEAMING support
Share... Share... Share...
Please be aware that some overclocking tools dont allow
beaming of "databases" when the system is overlocked. If
you are having problems with beaming, disable them and
try again.
- GameState Save [individual games]
Now you can cheat :) Save the state of the current game
that is running, exit out of the game, and then through
our little save-state manager you can delete or continue
the game where you left off! We know space is an issue,
so we compressed them too.
1.0e
12-Jul-00 - z80 core update
- serial interrupt implementation
- countdown timer fixes
A small number of modifications to the emulation engine
that provides support / fixes for various GameBoy games
being emulated.
- GameState Save Fix [for exit-return ONLY]
We forgot to keep track of the current bank index :))
1.0d
09-Jul-00 - ROM Emulation Warning Dialog
Emulators are fragile things :) We recommend that users
test the GameBoy emulation on the PalmOS Emualtor (POSE)
prior to installing them into their device. Not all ROM
images are emulated perfectly, and may cause your device
to crash unexpectedly.
- GameState Save [for exit-return ONLY]
If the user is emulating a GameBoy game and wants to get
out temporarially, tapping on the [apps] button and then
restarting Liberty would return them to where they were
when they left.
1.0c
07-Jul-00 - New Memory Management Architecture
The use of undocumented PalmOS API calls were taken out
of the application, which was causing pernament memory
corruption to the device - *ouch*.
GREETZ TO: Gacel, pthree, irq, raja and setuid!
1.0, 1.0a, 1.0b
06-Jul-00 - Offical Release of Liberty
Memory Management architecture of these versions proved
fatal to many Palm Computing Platform users based on the
manner in which the emulator was executing. Untrusted
pointers were generated by the emulation engine and data
access (which was unprotected) lead to the overwriting
of data/applications within the device. DO NOT install
these versions or installed to your device - the problem
occured with specific gameboy rom images that were not
tested (there are over 1000 rom image) within the lab.
// Aaron Ardiri
// Michael Ethetton
- the Liberty development team
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