Frontend News: Nitrolic Frontend 1.1
20:31:  A new version of Nitrolic Frontend, a ZSNES frontend, has been released. Here's the list of changes in 1.1:

- Officialy renamed Front-end to Nitrolic.
- Added SPCPlay for playing .SPC's, and all Zst's.
- Changed back color
- Re-Written the entire program for faster use.
- Re-Written Run command.
- Fixed many bugs for running the emulator.
- Fixed Directory bug.
- Made Save directory. (don't have to keep changing back to the same dir)
- Added Saving for Zsnes.exe.
- Removed back gradient color.. (yuk)
- Added an Easter egg. (: (what would a program be like, without one?)
- Oops! forgot to get rid of a useless loop! gone now.
- Put the new e-mail address in the about box (right click)
- Re-did the Readme.txt

Nitrolic Frontend Homepage

Emulator Release: NESemu 0.10a
19:13:  A new release of NESemu, the smallest NES emulator there is (only 6 KB) is now available. Here's what's new in 0.10a:

- A completely scanline-based graphics engine (both background and sprites). NESemu is slower than before because of it, but I'm still happy.
- Sprite priorities (Mario actually goes INTO the pipes!).
- Gravis Gamepad support (Player 1 only).
- Mapper 4, 7 and 9 added.
- MMC1 fix (graphics in DrMario no longer messed up).
- Timing is more accurate, thanks to Y0SHi's new version of NEStech.doc. Graphics finally work in Shadowgate, Deja Vu and Uninvited.
- PPU mirroring corrected, vertical scrolling in Mega Man II and many others works now.
- Scrolling works in games that use horizontal and vertical scrolling at the same time (Castlevania 2, Final Fantasy, Tom and Jerry etc).
- Fixed file I/O bug that caused DOS to run out of filehandles if you saved too many PCX snapshots in one session, thus eventually crashing the emulator.
- Set the border color index to a place outside the NES palette so it doesn't interfere with image palette color 0. This means that games which use a background color other than black no longer have an annoying "frame" around the picture.

You can download NESemu 0.10a from the NES page.

Emulator Release: Boycott 0.37
18:12:  Boycott 0.37 has been released. It's a GameBoy emulator for DOS coded in C. Here's the list of changes:

- Savefiles (GB batteries with .SAV) added
- RAM Bank switching added
- *BUG FIXES* with 8x16 sprites (RTYPE2, etc...)
- Add two special keys (Reset and Pause)
- 1 or 2 Joysticks autodetection (MsDos)
- Speed increase
- ROM Bank switching is faster
- SIO Interrupt improved (ALLEYWAY works thanks to Hans De Goede)
- DIVIDER register more accurate
- Command line bug fixes (parameters order)
- Optimization of BG/WIN/SPRITES displaying (better !!!)
- Optimization of BG/WIN refreshing

You can download Boycott 0.37 from the GameBoy page.

Emulator Release: A800 DOS
18:05:  Yet another release of A800 DOS. Here's the list of changes in this new version, 0.9.5:

- UI fix: it's possible to disable disk drive by [Space] again.
- Gtia fix: CONSOL (Start/Select/Option keys) handling. (Perry)
- Pokeysnd: poly4 and poly5 bit fields were changed for more accurate sound emulation. The original values are still available with -DPOKEY23_POLY. (Perry)

You can download A800 DOS 0.9.5 from the Atari 8bit/5200 page.

Site News: Staff position open
02:01:  Tbe utilities pages are currently being maintained by absolutely nobody. [NOAM] will no longer be updating it, instead he is now our graphics designer, as well as the quotes page maintainer. Therefore, we're looking for someone *dedicated* (must update them at least twice a week). If you feel you are up to the task of taking over the Utilities pages, please let me know as soon as possible.

4/29/98
Emulator Release: Z26 1.01
23:51:  Version 1.01 of Z26, an Atari 2600 emulator for DOS by John Seigar, has been released. Here's the list of changes:

- Sound generation is now interrupt driven. It's faster and the sound buffer is smaller. Now 64 bytes per interrupt.
- Frame synchronization has been improved, especially on slower machines where the image is more stable.
- It appears that this also fixes the *Millenium Bug* -- the sporadic lockups that occured especially on Matrox Millenium cards. I suspect that other cards may have had this problem as well. Thanks to David Gray for working with me on this one!
- Non-linear palette, which is generally brighter.
- More precise frame timer (-f).

You can download Z26 1.01 from the Atari 2600 page.

Translation News: Minor Update
21:56:  Thanks to Darkniciad who gave me the new url for Off Course Translations. Furthermore, I added the Wedding Peach patch v0.9 to the patches page. Rumour has it that Translation Dimension will be releasing their Romancing Saga EV v0.4 patch on May 1st. If there are any translations that you feel should be posted on ZD, please dont hesitate to contact me.

Emulator Release: SNEmul 0.6.1a
18:00:  Archeide and v0x have released a new version of SNEmul. Here's what's new in 0.6.1a:

- implemented a new ROM detection(thanks to ZoOp :)
- fixed the last bug in sound decompression
- fixed bugs in reset
- IMPLEMENTED THE SOUND RIPPER : you can know rip music into a MOD file
- implemented an equalizer and options to enable/disable channels
- other little things implemented and bugs fixed.

You can download SNEmul 0.6.1a from the SNES page.

Misc. News: Y0SHi's Nes-Tech Document 1.00
16:18:  Y0SHi has released Version 1.00 of his NES Technical Documentation! For all of you emulator authors, or authors-to-be, you will want to read this document carefully, it's almost everything you ever wanted to know about the NES's internals.

Nes-Tech Documentation 1.00

Emulator Release: Shark 2.00
08:01:  Shark, an arcade emulator for the game Flying Shark plus three others, has been updated to Version 2.00. Here's the list of changes in this version:

- Fixed a bug with the enemy behaviour.
- Fixed the generic problem with the DirectX code which caused the emulator to crash on certain graphics cards with the message "generic failure".
- Fixed a sound crash on certain computers.
- Switched to Neil Bradley's Z80 emulator, which is about twice as fast as the old one.
- You can now run Shark without arguments for displaying your available DirectX resolutions.
- Created a links page on the Sharkweb.
- Optimized sprite rendering.
- Added 2 player simultaneous support.
- Fixed the enemy movement to be arcade perfect, thanks to the guys who pointed out the differances, and to those who asked if it really was supposed to be this difficult we can only say, no, it was even harder. And that is on the easiest setting.
- Added rotation 180 degrees for playing on special monitors.
- Added 5 virtual display modes, see options for usage.
- Added missing sprites in Flying Shark/Hishou Zame.

You can download Shark 2.00 from the Multi Arcade emulator page.

4/28/98
Site News: Zophar's Domain going Bilingual?
23:44:  Since some people that visit my site don't understand English (the majority of non-american visitors come from either Sweden, Spain or Japan), anyone who is interested in maintaining a language mirror of the main page, and maybe the internal sections of Zophar's Domain, please e-mail me, and we'll talk. Remember that if you're interested, you'll have to provide a server and space yourself.

Translation News: Translation Updates
21:29:  There is not much new in the way of Translation patches as of late, however, I have added some new utilities which may be to your interest.

-New Kanjihack RPG Maker 1 and 2 patches released
-The creator of Naga has released v.18 of the famous sprite editor and also from the Naga team comes ISDA v1.0 65c816 Disassembler
-Added Killem to the Snes Utilities page which is basically a program designed to remove various protections on Snes roms.
-Added SMC v0.9 File Checker to the Utilities page which is great for comparing rom checksum's and format conversions.
-The Off Course Translation Url seems to have disappeared and I am not sure if they are still an active group. They are translating Dragon Quest V and Deep Dungeon IV. Please let me know if you have any information about this group.

Emulator Release: Neo Geo Emulator
21:10:  Well, it looks like the Neo Geo emulator was released after all. Sort of. This "teaser" version only plays one game, Nam 1975, and also requires the Neo Geo bios ROM. When the actual version is released, a Neo Geo page will be added to ZD along with the emulator. For now, download it from the official homepage.

Neo Geo Emulator Page

Emulator Release: Atari 800 DOS 0.9.4
14:57:  A new version of Atari 800 emulator for DOS has been released. Here's the list of changes from 0.9.4:

- CPU fixes: several unofficial instructions compared with real Atari800XE and their emulation fixed. ADC/SBC "V" bit bug found and fixed (Thor source used, which in turn was taken from Frodo emulator, AFAIK). Compatibility greatly improved again! (RASTER)
- Antic fix (improves sound quality in non-interrupt driven sound update routines). (Perry)
- Voxware sound driver updated (tested under Linux). pokey11.[ch] files removed. (Robert Brewer)
- the crashing in UI when switching to Atari5200 mode fixed. (Perry)
- internal monitor improved (symbolic names for often used hardware registers etc). Line assembler implemented. Single instruction step mode implemented. Monitor remembers not only last N PC addresses, but also last N jumps. To enable these features edit your Makefile CFLAGS = -DMONITOR_BREAK -DMONITOR_HINTS -DMONITOR_ASSEMBLER. (Golda)
- additional WIN32 code (Atari800 User Interface is used in Win port now) (Rich)
- all Hardware_GetByte(address) routines return 0xff for unknown address now.
- fixed several files so Makefile.pm works now. (Perry)
- NMIEN is not readable now. (Thor)

You can download Atari 800 DOS 0.9.4 from the Atari 5200/8bit page.

Emulator News: Neo Geo Emulator?
14:31:  It appears that the author of 2 arcade emulators for Nemesis and Salamander has been working on a Neo Geo emulator. However, it is not available for download yet, and even though there is an animated gif of screens from the supposed emulator, everyone knows how skeptical I am about emulators that are announced but not released (heh heh). So we'll have to wait and see.

Neo Geo Emulator Homepage

Site News: CPU emulator sections
14:27:  A new section has been added to ZD today, for CPU emulators. The two current subsections of it currently are for the 6502 CPU (which was used in systems such as the NES, some old arcade units, and some computers), and the Z80 CPU (which was used in systems such as the Master System, GameGear, some old Arcade units, and some computers). These are all public emulators. Let me know if you find any that aren't on these two pages, as I'm sure there are many more.

Frontend News: Another ZSNES Frontend
08:30:  Too many ZSNES frontends...this one's coded in Visual Basic and has all the options of ZSNES .393. I don't even know the name of it (this is why you should tell me the name of things when you e-mail me, people), but you can download it from the homepage.

Frontend News: Z-GUI 0.11
08:15:  A new version of Z-GUI, a frontend for ZSNES, has been released. This version now saves your program locations, and settings for SPCPlay. You can download it from the official homepage.

4/27/98
Site News: New images again
21:54:  Yup, i've struck again. After being totally sick of the Message Domain images, I descided to knock them off and toss together newer ones. Comments welcome on the Message Board.

Emulator News: SNEmul Sound Ripper
21:04:  Archeide of the SNEmul team e-mailed me today. In it, he said that he has been working on a music ripper that will rip to MOD files. Don't believe it? Well, here's three samples of Super Mario World [(C) 1991 Nintendo] mods ripped with Archeide's upcoming tool:

Super Mario World mods

Emulator Release: BRSMS 1.3
20:15:  BRSMS 1.3 has just been released. Many more games work now due to horizontal scrolling being implemented. Here's the list of what's new:

- Support to horizontal scroll
- Support to VDP register 2 ("Pacmania")

You can download BRSMS 1.3 from the Sega Master System & GameGear page.

Emulator Release: XGS DOS 0.50.5
17:04:  The DOS port of XGS, an Apple II GS emulator, has been updated to version 0.50.5. I have no idea what's new since the emulator comes with no documentation. Anyone who wants to help out here, feel free. You can download it from the Apple II page.

Frontend News: ZSNES RearEnd .300
16:48:  Zsnes' RearEnd ver. .300 is finally out. Here's what's new:

- Enables that still prehistoric but useful button config
- Fixes that ugly picture error
- Has a simple Options menu

Note there is a current bug when closing using the control menu ( the _, box and X button at top right ) so it had to be disabled. You can get ZSNES RearEnd .300 from the homepage.

Frontend News: URL 0.94
16:10:  A new version of Zoop's Universal Frontend, URL, has been released. Here's the list of changes in URL 0.94:

- Various bugs fixed.
- Added !CASE command line parameter.
- Added !F1 to !F5 command line variables.
- Added !IFx and !IFNx command line statements.
- Added new colors themes and a color inverser [tab].
- Added directory renaming, still using [F8].
- Added read manual hotkey [shift]+[F4]
- Added EXCLUDE command.
- Added a key configuration screen.
- Added extraction hotkey [shift]+[F3]
- Fixed SNES names recognition.
- Fixed MAME games names recognition. Now it should work with futures versions of MAME.
- Fixed some authorizations problems in kid mode.
- Fixed file viewer when viewing large files.
- Now you can use more favorites directory, rename them and move them.
- Reduced memory usage so you can store more roms infos.
- Optimized some parts of the code.

URL Homepage

Emulator Release: TheSE 0.13
09:03:  TheSE, an SNES emulator, has been updated to version 0.13. Here's what's new in this version:

- Some Sound. Very buggy at the moment though
- Mode 0 - Fixed palette bug
- Graphical HDMA
- Faster PPU code. Rewritten Decoder Routines.
- New structure of the PPU code

You can download TheSE 0.13 from the SNES page.

4/26/98
Emulator Release: MAME 32 0.31
23:18:  The new version of the Windows 95 port of MAME has been released. The changes in MAME32 0.31 are the same as in MAME for DOS 0.31. You can download it from the Multiple Arcade Emulator page.

Site News: Save archives updated
16:40:  The STA and ZST archives have been given minor updates. Thanks to all contributors.

Emulator Release: CAGE 1.05
15:34:  A new release of CAGE, a multi arcade emulator for Windows 95 is now available. Here's the list of changes in Version 1.05:

- Fixed PAUSE logic to keep display painted properly.
- Enhanced windows mode to run at full speed even on a 65536 color display when stretched! (eliminates the need for fullscreen mode).
- Added user-settable option to pause with loss of focus.
- Added drop-down list to allow choosing of the fullscreen resolution (previously it forced display to 640x480).
- Fixed timing screw-up after pausing the game. Previously, the frames would run too quickly until it 'caught up' to the current time.
- Added support for Mappy & DigDug2 (100% operational). Sorry, but these require at least a Pentium 100 to run well. I need to optimize my character graphics/sprite code.
- Cleaned up sound support a bit and added more error checking and the option to disable sound.
- Fixed screen capture to work when directx enabled.

You can download CAGE 1.05 from the Multi Arcade Emulator page.

Site News: New Main Image
00:59:  I got really sick of the old one, was playing genecyst..saw those 2 guys hanging out..had to use them.

4/25/98
Site News: New Links page maintainer
23:54:  A new Links page maintainer has joined the Zophar's Domain staff. Leo Chiao (_Rza_) has stepped down from his position of maintaining the links page to welcome Jeff Malkowski (CB4) to the staff. He will be maintaining the Links page from now on.

Also, the mystery frontends maintainer shall be revealed shortly...

Links page

Frontend News: Z-GUI
23:35:  This is pretty cool, for the newly released SPCPlay and ZSNES itself. Still under development, this Frontend is the first to Support the SPCPlay Utility from the ZSNES team. My opinion, get it, use it, like it..i do.

You can get it at the official homepage located here.

Misc. News: First International SPC Bank (Literally)
22:28:  nEMU has opened up the first SPC bank (an archive of ZSNES .spc files for use on SPCPlay). It isn't very large yet, but Nirvana assures us this will change soon. He requests your favorite .SPC files to help the SPC Bank grow.

The SPC Bank

Emulator Release: DVE 1.41
15:05:  The final version of DOS Vectrex Emulator (DVE) was released a couple days ago. There are barely any changes in DVE 1.41 from what I can see, and the download is over 3 megs so it was split up into 2 parts. Download it if you want, but for such a large increase in size over the last version, there's barely anything new. You can get DVE 1.41 from the Vectrex page.

Emulator Release: MAME 0.31!
14:49:  After 4 months since the last release of MAME, the ultimate multi arcade game emulator, a new version of the DOS port has finally been released. Over 100 new games are supported in this release! MAME now supports over 400 arcade games, and since the what's new list is far too long to post here, you'll have to read it yourself. Some of the new games now supported include City Connection, Boot Hill, Crash, Punch Out, Rygar, and many Capcom System 1 games that the multi arcade emulator Callus supports. Many bugs have also been fixed. You can download MAME 0.31 binaries and source code for the DOS version from the Multi Arcade emulator page.

4/24/98
Emulator Release: Massage 0.9 Registered
22:41:  Although people who have not registered Massage will not be able to download Massage 0.9, it is out to those who have registered. According to the homepage, the freeware version of Massage 0.9 should be out by the end of May or beginning of June.

Massage Homepage

Emulator Release: SPCPLAY 0.100
16:36:  From the authors of ZSNES comes an emulator for the SPC700. It basically already exists in ZSNES, but now it's its own program, and you can actually play the music from save states (*.zst) or SPC file dumps (*.SPC). Here's a list of features present in SPCPlay 0.100:

-Load's .ZST Save State files from Zsnes.
-Load's .SPC files generated from Zsnes.
-Full SPC700 emulation (may contain some bugs)
-Sound DSP Emulation
-ADSR/GAIN Volume Effects
-Echo Effects (Not fully implemented)
-FIR Filtering
-Noise Emulation

You can get SPCPlay 0.100 from the ZSNES Archive page.

Misc. News: Interview of zsKnight and _Demo_
12:06:  Although the interviewer doesn't have the best english in the world, it's an interesting interview nonetheless. You might want to read it, as it answers a few questions that many people have been asking (such as why Super FX emulation was disabled in ZSNES).

ZSNES Team Interview

Emulator News: Translation of EX68 0.31 Update list
12:02:  A few days ago, I posted about the release of EX68 0.31. Now, here's the list of changes, translated by Yutaka Tanida (Thanks Yutaka!):

- Dynamic resolution change Support(DirectX required)
- Scanning frequency support Added (31.5KHz->55.3Hz, 24KHz->53.1Hz, 15KHz->61.5Hz)
- Bugfix(OPM & Scanning Freq.)

4/23/98
Emulator Release: SNEmul 0.6.0
16:02:  A new version of SNEmul has been released. Here's the full list of changes in 0.6.0:


- Because of a bug in SPC700, some musics were played too fast, that's fixed.
- implemented sound buffering(speed up sound, especially for wavetables sound cards). You can also select the size of the buffer.
- fixed H-IRQ calls
- fixed the WAI opcode
- speeded up SNEmul when frames are skipped(especially with auto skip)
- speeded up SPC700 emulation
- fixed a bug in palette update
- SNEmul now uses 200 cycles per scanline(like a true SNES)
- fixed some bugs in BRR decompression
- some samples were not played entirely(like in FF3...) that's fixed.
- implemented stereo sound
- fixed a bug when sprite address is altered in the middle of the screen (thanks to the ZSNES team for the idea :)
- fixed ports writing
- fixed some bugs with DMA transfert and implemented all the channels
- fixed some bugs with snapshots
- many other bugs fixed and new other games work

You can download SNEmul 0.6.0 from the SNES page.

4/22/98
Emulator Release: BRSMS 1.2
15:23:  A new version of the newest Sega Master System emulator, BRSMS, has been released. Here's the list of changes is 1.2:

- brighter palette
- support to 8x8 and 16x16 sprites
- support to vertical scroll
- fixed colors in CPU graph and PSG graph
- fixed the memory mapper ("Afterburner" and a lot of other games)
- fixed the IRQ handler ("Alien Storm")
- full debugger
- a bit slower than the first release (full framerate in a 486dx66 and 1 out of 2 frames in a 486sx25)

You can download BRSMS 1.2 from the Sega Master System/GameGear page.

4/21/98
Emulator Release: Atari 800 Emulator 0.9.3
11:01:  A new version of Atari 800 Emulator for DOS has been released. Here's the list of changes in 0.9.3:

- POKEY interrupts implemented (inspired by Thor's version). Ghostbusters run now! :-)
- NOVA graphics support on Atari TT/Falcon computers finished. Atari800 is no longer Atari Falcon specific port, now it works on any TOS compatible machine with MC68020 or higher and a NOVA graphics card (please test in on Medusa, Hades and Milan machines)
- A special check for pending IRQ put into CLI, PLP and RTI insns. It's a macro for speed reasons, though a function might be more appropriate.
- A new function GenerateIRQ() was written in CPU module and is used where needed (ATARI and POKEY modules).
- Handling of IRQ's changed. Before, we tested for IRQEN (is interrupt enabled?) and then (in positive case) we set IRQST. Now, we always set the IRQST and then we take an action only if IRQEN is OK. I don't know if it's OK, I have just been told that more demos work with this.
- all HardwareGetByte(address) routines return now 0 for unknown address (probably not ideal, but deterministic at least).
- several routines from ANTIC, CPU and POKEYSND modules moved to POKEY module, where they actually belongs.
- CPU emulation fixed (INDIRECT_X mode was overflowing) (Thor, Golda, Raster)
- CPU and Antic speeded up *slightly* by using type casts instead of direct anding with 0xff (the compiler got a chance to optimize it at least). (Raster)
- a lot of uneccessary castings to (UWORD) and (UBYTE) was removed from CPU emulation ;-) (Petr)
- DiskDir of UI enhanced - now you can define up to eight directories where disk images are stored - then you can go through these directories in Disk Management by pressing TAB key. (Golda)
- fixed sorting of file list in Disk management in DOS port (a speciality of strcmp() function of DJGPP libc). (Golda)

You can download Atari 800 Emulator from the Atari 5200/8bit page.

Site News: Poll Results
08:22:  2 weeks ago, we asked you the question, "Of the remaining consoles that have not yet been emulated, which would you most like to see emulated?" The majority of you, 39.9%, said Neo Geo. Sega CD came in second place, with 28.6% choosing it. None of the other systems even came close to these two in the poll. Here's the full list:

Sega CD: 28.6%
Sega 32X: 5.1%
Atari Jaguar: 4.2%
Nintendo Virtual Boy: 6.4%
Panasonic 3DO: 3.8%
Atari 7800: 4%
NEO*GEO: 39.9%
None: 8%

The new poll question is "What was the first emulator you ever used?" Cast your vote!

Frontend News: ZSNES RearEnd 0.2
07:46:  Zero-X, the author of this new ZSNES frontend, named "ZSNES RearEnd", has asked me many times to post the news about his frontend. But, being the busy person I am (heh heh), I never had a chance to stick it up here. So, here it is. Get it, it's really good.

ZSNES RearEnd Homepage

Emulator Release: EX68 0.31
07:41:  A new release of the only X68000 computer emulator for Windows 95 is now available. I am not able to tell you what's new in 0.31 of EX68, since it's in japanese, but if anyone can translate the part of update.txt dealing with the new version, let me know. You can download EX68 0.31 from the X68000 page.

Frontend News: SNES Emu Launch 2.11
07:24:  A new version of SNES Emu Launch has been released. Here's what's new in this Windows 95 frontend for ZSNES, Snes9x and Esnes:

- Support for zipped ROMs, now you can zip up your ROMs, save some disk space and have SNES Emu Launch uncompress them and run them "on the fly".

SNES Emu Launch Homepage

Emulator Release: BRSMS 0.10
07:19:  A new Sega Master System emulator has been released. From the authors of BRMSX comes BRSMS. This emulator runs full speed on a 486-sx25 but due to the fact that sprites have not been implemented yet, they are not playable. Here's the features in 0.10:

- Written in 100% 32-bit assembly
- Uses the same near-perfect Z80 emulator from BrMSX
- Fast! Run at full framerate in a 486-sx25
- Both color palettes implemented
- Both character tables implemented
- Character X-flip and Y-flip
- All three PSG square wave channels implemented
- Support to cartridges with 4Mbit or less
- Voice with 4-bit PCM (partially implemented, try "Arcade Smash Hit")
- PSG graph and CPU graph
- Three speeds: NORMAL, FAST and TURBO
- Vertical retrace sync

You can download BRSMS 0.10 from the Sega Master System/GameGear page.

Site News: No updates yesterday
07:17:  The entire Zophar's Domain staff was...on vacation yesterday. (Either that or they were somewhere on Cloud 9). Therefore, all the updates that should have been on here yesterday will go on here today. Sorry about that.

4/19/98
Emulator News: Tech Information Request
21:38:  A friend of mine clos is working on a Mortal Kombat Emulator. The plans are for it to be a multi arcade emulator which will hopefully emulate MK1, MK2, and maybe MK3. So far he has the MK1 roms and some board information. If you have any information on the MK1, MK2, or MK3 boards please email him.

Emulator Release: TMNT Emu v.5 Released!
01:27:  Wow lots of good stuff in this new release, definitely worth the download. Anyhow, here's what's new:

- Fixed the way interupts were called, resulting in a slight speed increase
- Tiles are now 100% decoded correctly
- Scrolling is 100% correct
- Added configurable keys (still no joystick)
- Reduced memory usage by about 256k
- Implement TilePage 1, now all tile pages are in
- Changed the way screen renders, resulted in big speed increase,
but inclusion of TilePage 1 slowed it down a little
- Command line control for SVGA detection/use
- New documentation (Read it!)
- Fixed possible problem of SVGA detection from Windows
- Fixed the sprite list problem where some sprites where not displayed, now it should display all the sprites

Pick up the new release at the Single Arcade Emu Page.

4/18/98
Misc. News: Eidolon´s Inn's Sega CD section
22:41:  The Sega CD section over at Eidolon's Inn has been enlarged to include the BIOS ROMs from both version 1.00 and 1.10 of the Sega CD, some games, and as much information as there is on the Sega CD's hardware at the present time. I recommend to anyone interested in emulating the Sega CD to check this site out A.S.A.P. The Sega CD had the best RPGs in my opinion that were ever made (ie, the Lunar series) and it would be a shame to see this machine go unemulated.

Eidolon Inn's Sega CD section

Translation News: Translation Updates
18:55:  The Translation Page has been updated with some new projects and patches available.

-Villgust v0.40 patch released from Transcore.
-Translation Dimension homepage has moved to a new Url.
-Bahamuts Lagoon v0.03b patch released from Starsoft.
-Dragon Ball v1.1 patch released from TransBRC.
-Final Fantasy Remix translation added to page.
-The Violinist of Hamlin v0.05 patch released from J2E.
-Nadia v1.2 patch released from J2E 100% complete.
-Our staff member Alamone is also working on a translation of
Der Langrisser which is now added to the page.

More updates will come tomorrow especially for the utility pages.
Starting now, if you would like your patch to be eligable for posting on ZD, you will need to have a translation with at least 10% of the game done. We are getting lots of requests but many translations are not even 3% finished and remain dormant for months etc.

Emulator Release: Shark 1.03 Released!
11:44:  Well first of all it appears that I missed version 1.02 due to problems with the site last night, but i checked over at the Shark page and waddya know, another version. Here's what WAS new in the last version, and what is new in this one:

V1.02
- Added support for Hishouza(Japanese version of Flying Shark).
Game code was slightly different from Flying Shark.

V1.03
- Added Joy support and option for manually setting the OPL
address.

Also, since it now supports 2 roms it has been moved to the Multi Arcade Emu Page.

Emulator Release: GBE 0.20
10:41:  A new Gameboy emulator, dubbed GameBoy Emulator (GBE for short) has been released by the author of PC-NES. It uses the Adlib port for sound emulation, and has real time save/loading and joystick support. Since it's coded in 32 bit assembly, it's quite fast. You can download GBE 0.20 from the GameBoy page.

4/17/98
Emulator Release: Z26 1.00
23:01:  1.00 of Z26 is now available. Although it's finally at that magic number 1, it's just a minor update:

- For one thing, it looks like I've run out of version numbers less than one!
- Fixed a couple of sound bugs that cropped up in the assembly language translation. One in digital signal processing, another in the drivers for cards that have version 3.xx DSP. We now turn on the hardware low-pass filter like we used to.
- Reassigned the keyboard to be compatible with the V-Stick, and we now support 2 player joystick games from the keyboard (and the V-Stick). You can find the key assignments in the help screen or readme.txt. The main thing you'll notice if you're used to playing from the keyboard is that the player 0 fire button is now the CTRL key. Sorry about that. But it also fixes an obscure bug that shows up when the space bar is used as a fire button. You can now move diagonally and fire at the same time! This was previously not possible, at least not in all 4 diagonal directions.

You can download Z26 1.00 from the Atari 2600 page.

Emulator Release: CAGE 1.04
14:16:  A new release of CAGE, a multi arcade emulator for Windows 95, is now out. Here's what's new in Version 1.04:

- Added preliminary support for Pac & Pal.
- Rewrote 6808 and 6809 CPU's in assembler for maximum speed.
- Added support for Windowed and Full-Screen DirectX.
- Added very preliminary support for Galaga.
- Cleaned up PAUSE functionality.
- Added very preliminary joystick support (only works in PacMan & Qix).

You can download CAGE 1.04 from the Multiple Arcade Emulator page.

Emulator Release: Atari 800 Emulator 0.9.2
13:26:  A new version of Atari 800 Emulator for DOS has been released. Here's what's new in 0.9.2:

- LPTjoy implemented. Now you can connect up to three old style CX-40 (Atari, Amiga digital joysticks) to the printer ports of your PC (via a very simple interface). Then you just specify "-LPTjoy1" on command line for joystick on LPT1 etc. LPTjoy idea came from Petr Sumbera.
- m68k assembler CPU emulation was updated to reflect recent changes in CPU module .
- preliminary support for NOVA graphics on Falcon
- Allegro joystick routines slightly improved (now you can play even without real joystick)
- Atari800Win changes were put in the main source tree
- after selecting another OS from UI emulator doesn't hang if there is no ROM file.

You can download Atari 800 Emulator for DOS from the Atari 5200/8bit page.

Emulator Release: JAS 1.01 released
13:03:  A new version of JROK's Arcade Simulation (JAS) has been released. Here's what's new:

- Pacland support
- F12 saves screen dump
- Game name follows directory name

The author seems a little confused on the version number (he calls it 1.01 and 1.1 in the readme in different places, so you decide). You can download Jas 1.01(?) from the Multi Arcade Emulator page.

4/16/98
Misc. News: Some Important Announcements
02:07:  Alright people, these are a few important announcements. Please read them very carefully.

First of all, for all of those that keep e-mailing me VSMC emulator news, *stop*. The VSMC 98 joke is now over. The version of VSMC that was released was version 9703a, the final registered version of VSMC. 1 year ago. It does NOT have sound or FX support. It is NEVER being updated again. The documentation that came with it was a joke. The homepage at futureone.com is not real. So people, PLEASE stop e-mailing me about this.

Next, a familiar face to some of you will be entering the Zophar's Domain staff shortly. He will be maintaining the new Frontends page (really!) and will possibly be taking over the Links page. We'll see what happens.

Finally, a word about e-mails. When you e-mail me, PLEASE make sure you are not e-mailing me about something that another maintainer handles. See the 'Staff' section at the bottom of this page to see who updates what. As usual, do not e-mail ANY of us ROMs requests, as we will be posting those e-mails up for people to see.

That's all. Have a nice day.

4/15/98
Emulator Release: Shark Emulator Released!
22:57:  A wonderful emulator, Shark - The Flying Shark Emulator has been released. So far all it supports is flying shark so i'll keep it in the single arcade section until it supports others. It requires a pretty fast cpu and Direct X 3.0 or higher.

Pick it up at the Single Arcade Emulator Page.

Emulator Release: BRMSX 1.126 Released!
22:15:  BRMSX has been updated today not much new, but an update's an update, heh. Here's what's new:

- Fixed a bug in the GUI (now Load ROM works again)
- Now you can create a .CAS file instead of just reading it.
- New resolution, 256x192 with square pixels, this one should work in all VGA-compatible monitors (code contributed by Enrique Sanchez).

Pick up this new BRMSX at the MSX Emulator Page.

Emulator Release: ZSNES .393 released!
22:08:  Here it is AGAIN another wonderful update from our friends _Demo_ and zsKnight. Straight from the readme, here's what's new:

- Whoops! Forgot to remove the debug variables in v0.391
- Fixed another sprite clipping bug
- Fixed clipping in Mode7 16-bit mode
- Removed FPU Copy since it didn't seem to speed up emulation
- Added .USA and .JAP rom extension into the GUI
- Added Save SPC Data which saves the contents of the SPC700/DSP of the beginning of the next song (Future Reserved)
- Add Sound Buffer Dump which dumps the decompressed sound buffer as raw pcm. This can become quite inaccurate due to the way how zsnes stores its decompressed sounds.
- Added MenuItem Sound Buffer Dump into the F1 Menu
- Added MenuItem Save SPC Data into the F1 Menu
- Added a key to disable offset mode. Press 0 key to activate/deactivate
- Added small screen support in 640x480VESA2 modes. This mode should be much faster for those who use 640x480. Use the -c commandline to enable this when in 640x480.
- Added an option for centered small screen. Use the -cc commandline.
- Fixed up 320x240x65536 support for ARGB cards again. It now
should be working. (No, seriously!)
- Removed some static from the sound.

Pick up this update to zsnes at the ZSNES Mirror.

4/14/98
Misc. News: SNES Copiers For Sale
21:25:  This isn't really emulator related, but many people have been having a hard time finding SNES copiers lately. SNES Copiers are being sold at http://members.tripod.com/~heXim/emu/.

Emulator Release: FPCE released
18:19:  So far un-named this TG16 emu is very new and doesn't have many features. Check it out though it could be nice.

Pick it up at the TG16 Page.

Emulator Release: TMNT Emu Released!
17:27:  This is actually the second release of this great TMNT emu. The first release was burdened by only black and white support. A really good emu even at it's early state.

Pick it up at the Single Arcade Page.

4/13/98
Emulator Release: VSS 0.77
21:49:  Virtual Super System 0.77 has been released. This is an Atari 5200 emulator for DOS, coded by Dan Boris. Here's what's new:

- Added GTIA modes 9,11 (Fractalus and Ballblazer)
- Fixed DLI handling in mode 2 (fixed little quirk in pac-man)
- Cleaned up the startup and shutdown routines. This should help prevent memory leaks that may have caused people problems.
- Added -nostick option. This was requested for use with frontends.
- Improved speed limiter so games run smoother on high speed machines.
- Fixed color handling of ANTIC modes 2,4,5.
- Tweaked color palette.
- Enemies in Wizard of Wor are visible again. (I have no idea why!)
- Fixed DLI bug in mode ANTIC mode 15, Galaxian now runs.
- Added support for a default configuration file.
- Made command line options for selecting controllers a little simpler.
- Added better support for pathname handling.
- Added support for VGA modex.

Download VSS 0.77 from the Atari 5200 page.

Emulator Release: ZSNES 0.391
17:05:  ZSNES 0.391 has been released! In this version, zsKnight(not sKnight or szKnight, mind you) and _Demo_ have fixed a few bugs that cropped up:

- Fixed a bug in DMA from v0.390
- Fixed some sprite windowing clipping bugs
- Fixed an OAM overflow bug. Thanks to WallFly for some help on this!
- Fixed a save state bug where running a game off the commandline and having a save directory specified prevented more than 1 save state
- Fixed a transparency bug from v0.390

You can download ZSNES 0.391 from the ZSNES mirror.

Misc. News: Insert Coin returns
16:16:  Insert Coin, a famous arcade emulator site, has now returned to the web. Hopefully, they won't be forced to move again.

4/12/98
Misc. News: Return of The Books of Genesis
23:31:  Now known as the Books of Gaming, the site which houses online manuals of Genesis games is now being hosted at Hapeqb. This is a great place to go if you are looking for a particular manual for a genesis game.

Frontend News: AssiST 0.29
19:15:  A new version of AssiST, a frontend for the Atari ST emulator PaCifiST, has been released. Here's what's new in AssiST Version 0.29:

- The ability to launch PaCifiST directly.
- Checks for corrupted/old settings files and updates them.
- Supports all the new PaCifiST features.
- Display fixes/cleanups.
- Inline docfile.
- Several bug fixes and the ability to customise the frontends display :)

AssiST Homepage

Emulator Release: TOSBOX 1.03
18:58:  A new version of TOSBOX, an Atari ST emulator for DOS, has been released. There is but one change in Version 1.03:

- Small change in keyboard emulation supports Papillon menu equivalents

You can download TOSBOX 1.03 from the Atari ST page.

Misc. News: Archaic Ruins returns
18:43:  Archaic Ruins is back from the dead! It is now up at a new server, and things seem to be working out. Good luck to Archaic Ruins, and hopefully this will be their final move.

Emulator Release: Pasofami DirectX 2.4c
18:33:  A new DirectX version of Pasofami, 2.4c, has been released. Since it's in japanese, I can't really tell you what's new. Any Japanese speaking people who can tell me what's new in this release, please let me know. You can download it from the NES page.

4/11/98
Emulator Release: SNEeSe 0.16a Released
19:57:  whoop, 2 snes emu's in one day, here's what's new in SNEeSe 0.16a:

- Fixed priority bug in mode 7, now FF2 & 7th Saga show the main
character(s) on the map screen.
- Fixed priority bugs in mode 0, now FF2 status screens are
correctly interleaved.
- Fixed volume on mono somewhat, its roughly the same as stereo
mode now.
- Implemented field bit in STAT78 register.
- Binary compiled for release build (no more debug code) which
should make it quicker.
- Super Mario All Stars is fully playable (but you must use
joypad 2, for convenience I have configured both controllers
to use the same keys).

Pick up this new release at the Snes Page.

Emulator Release: ZSNES .390 finally released!
17:02:  After months of hard work, the ZSNES team have finally released .390 of their excellent SNES emulator. Here's the entire list of new things in this new version:

- Fixed a bug which caused 320x240x65536 to display incorrectly on video cards with an 16-bit ARGB setting
- Fixed a minor screen add/sub bug
- Fixed a minor sprite priority bug
- Fixed a BG3 priority bug in BG Mode 0
- Fixed a color window addition bug
- Fixed a minor VIRQ enable bug
- Swapped The Cursor Button and Autofire Switch in Super Scope
- Fixed a joystick read timing bug
- Sound volume register returned an invalid value. Now fixed.
- Added some dword alignment to some variables.
- Thanks to Marius Fodor for this info!
- Implemented 64k sram files
-Implemented Sprite VRAM address changing in the middle of the screen. Should fix some games such as Lufia 2
- Added some hacks to get some games working better
- DSP : Fixed a divide by 0 bug when key on is set without any sound
variables initialized
- Increased default cycles executed in FastROM.
- Added ZSNES.FAQ . Read this if you have troubles!
- Added a key to disable/enable HDMA and Windowing. Press 9 to
activate this.
- Implemented EAGLE algorithm in 640x480x256 video mode. Use -y to enable. Thanks to A CoolMan for the algorithm!
- Later on, we'll implement his code which has MMX acceleration!
- Implemented FPU copy. Use -o to enable. Used only when copying buffer to video in 320x240 vesa2 modes.
- Re-wrote Windowing routines for speed and expandability
- Added Dual Windowing on BGs in all logic modes
- Added Dual Windowing on Sprites
- Added some minor stuff to the header displayer
- Added partial offset per tile mode. (Mode 2/Vertical/8x8) Thanks to the feenix65 for some help on this! Implementation still a bit buggy.
- Sorry, but memory requirements had to increase by a bit.
- Fixed a tile graphics wrapping bug
- Clean up and optimised 16-bit graphics code
- Fixed up a display bug when switching from 224 to 239 y resolution
- Optimised some video processing code. Thanks to Crash_Man for the help!
- Fixed up a potential sound crashing bug when sound is played out of bounds
- Changed some mosaic offsets
- Minor optimisations to the 65816
- Improved color intensity in the back area
- Fixed a sram directory bug where the save state didn't save in the save directory when the game is specified from the command line
- Fixed a keyboard bug when left-shift is selected as a key. Thanks to Pharos for help on this!
- Sorry, but SuperFX emulation is disabled for this public version.

You can download ZSNES 0.390 from the official ZSNES mirror.

Emulator Release: SNEeSe 0.16 Released
02:24:  Here we are, SOMETHING new, heh SNEeSe hot off the emulation presses, here's what's new.

- Sound emulation working in many roms, the SPC still has bugs
in it, but thanks to the efforts of Brad Martin, archeide and
myself (SnaX) SNEeSe is no longer silent. Selectable between
off/mono and stereo in gui.
- Tile Caching implemented, speeds up emulation.
- Tile priorities implemented, sprites and bkgs are now
interleaved much better.
- Fixed bug in IRQ support, helps many roms to start now ;-)
- Fixed bug in work ram addressing, now many roms are stable.
- Fixed bug in old style joypad read routines, now they work
again..ie playable star wars, super bomber man etc.
- Added snes mouse support, it works under snes tester cartridge,
king arthurs world, powermonger etc.
- Fixed bug in save ram name determination, now paths such as
..\sneese\roms\pacman.smc will work.
- Added page up and down to directory listing in rom loading
option in gui. These allow an entire page to be skipped so you
can find the file you want quicker.

Pick it up at the Snes Page.

4/10/98
Misc. News: Insert Coin taken down
20:51:  Another emulator site, Insert Coin, has been taken down, due to SEGA having a problem with the ROMs on the site. Yet another blow to emulation...

Emulator Release: Z26 0.99
20:45:  A new release of Z26 is now available. Now 1 version away from 1.0, Z26 is 100% assembly once again (there were still some parts in C the previous version). Here's the full list of what's new:

- Rewrote Ron Fries' TIASound library in assembly language.
- Rewrote all the other "C" code in assembly language.
- We are now 100% pure assembly language again! :-)
- Fixed some bugs in the command line processor. An illegal command line switch no longer runs the previous game (!)

You can download Z26 0.99 from the Atari 2600 page.

Misc. News: Emulation timeline?
07:46:  Harry Tuttle of The Dump e-mailed me the other day, with an interesting proposition. Would any of you be interested in seeing an emulation timeline? What I mean by this is, an entire timeline of all the console, arcade, handheld, and maybe even computer emulators since they first appeared. It would be a very long and difficult task, but I think the end result would be worth it. Would any of you be interested in helping out (maybe even some site maintainers from other websites)?
If so, please e-mail me, and let's see what we can do.

Emulator Release: FCE 0.01
07:42:  A new NES emulator has been released, this time from a Japanese author. It's called Family Computer Emulator, or FCE for short. Currently, it only runs Mapper 0,1,2 and 3 games, is quite buggy, and has only Adlib sound support, so it's not really worth the download, unless you want to check out the source which is freely distributable. Included in the zip is a PC98 version for Japanese computers. You can download FCE 0.01 from the NES page.

4/9/98
Misc. News: Some Reminders
16:20:  First of all, I want to take this oppurtunity to remind you all that Zophar's Domain does not carry ROMs, and never will. Therefore, please do not e-mail me ANY questions dealing with 'Where can I get xxx ROM for xxx system' or 'Can you send me xxx ROM?' I'm not going to answer any of these questions, and just so you know, I began updating my Lame E-mail page today with an e-mail which kind of put me in a bad mood today.

Also, Zophar's Domain has an extenders section on the left hand side, underneath the Handheld emulator section, called 'Extenders'. Any of you who need DOS4GW, CWSDPMI or DOS32 can download it from there. So please don't e-mail me asking where you can get these extenders.

That's all for now. Enjoy your day!

Emulator Release: TheSE 0.12
16:15:  TheSE (The SNES Emulator) 0.12 has been released. TheSE is the newest SNES emulator yet. Here's what's new in this version:

- SRAM Support
- Header Detection
- NTSC/PAL Detection
- HDMA (not implemented in GRFX)
- Better Sprite Clipping
- Correct Sprite Priority
- Correct Background Priority
- And of course a lot of BUGs fixed

You can download TheSE 0.12 from the SNES page.

Translation News: The Fall Of Secret Of Mana 2
10:33:  The translation of Seiken Densetsu 3 has been dropped by RPGe and Dejap Translations. The rom contains massive text compression which apparently has no distinct pattern, making it difficult to edit or create a script dump. This is truly a disappointment for all Secret Of Mana fans. RPGe's homepage has more information regarding the dropping of SOM2. On the bright side, there are still lots of walkthrough's and faqs available for this game.

4/8/98
Emulator Release: BRMSX 1.123
19:41:  A new release of BRMSX, the fastest MSX emulator available, is now out. Here's what's new in Version 1.123:

- Support to 16kb cartridges starting at 0000h ("Keystone Kapers")
- Support to MegaROM games with less than 128kb ("Donkey Kong")
- Fixed a bug in memory allocation, now BRMSX is more stable in machines with little or low memory
- Fixed a bug in sound routines, now BRMSX will work properly in machines without Sound Blaster
- Increased stack size, now BRMSX will be more stable in machines with lots of TSRs
- Fixed a bug in IRQ handling, now "Valkyr" is playable.
- Added 28 new command line options (type "brmsx -help")
- Only one .EXE, now you can select dos, win, or mmx in command line.
- Emulation of the Caps Lock LED ("Valkyr")
- Low-level, port-based disk emulation ("Hello", "Prokit Zapper", "Chave Mestra", "Super Disk Copy")
- Idle bus emulation, now reading an unconnected slot will return 0xFF
- Support to tape images (.CAS files)
- Disk drive LED emulation, in scroll lock LED (only for port-based disk.rom)
- 128kb of Memory Mapper in slot 2
- SCC wavesample-RAM emulation. Now the "normal scc" version of Konami's Game Collection will work properly. This means "Nemesis 1", "Knightmare" and "Antartic Adventure" with SCC sound!!!

You can download BRMSX 1.23 from the MSX page.

Emulator Release: NESemu 0.04a
19:25:  NESemu 0.04a has been released. In NESemu 0.04a, the only increase from 0.03a is speed (it now runs more than 100% on a P75). However, since I missed the 0.03a update, here are the changes that were present in 0.03a:

- Major speed-up in background drawing (80%)
- Minor speed-up in 6502 emulation
- Palette mirroring
- CPU RAM mirroring
- MMC1 fixed (but still buggy)

You can download NESemu 0.04a from the NES page.

Emulator Release: SNEmul 0.56
18:14:  A new release of SNEmul is now available. Here's what's new in Version 0.56:

- fixed a small bug in HDMA
- implemented the first clip window
- corrected errors in sprites priority
- new BG priority order that take care of mainscreens/subscreens (you can disable it with '6')
- fixed a bug in SPC700 that made some musics to be not played entirely
- the sound card can now be chosen in the GUI and config file
- AWE cards are now correctly used

As a side note, Archeide and v0x have received a lot of flames regarding their emulator. People, please don't harrass emulator authors. It's not right, it's not nice, and they don't have to be doing this for all of you. It takes a lot of work to create an emulator, and this is the last thing they need.

You can download SNEmul 0.56 from the SNES page.

Site News: Article #2: Damaged Cybernetics: A Year since its death
14:38:  Article #2 has been finished today, and I invite you all to read it very carefully. It basically sums up in a few paragraphs exactly what transpired between the days of April 3rd and April 8th, shows my opinion on the matter, and really lets you all see that after this perioid, things began to go downhill.

Articles Section

Frontend News: RaineFacend 0.09c
14:17:  RaineFacend 0.09c has been released. It's a frontend for Raine 0.09 which has just been re written in C++. Here's what's new:

- ZIP-support. Now it's your choice.. (default OFF) I think this is very useful.. it saves a lot of HD-space.
- Now it saves RaineFacend's configuration.
- 4DOS is not required anymore 8P.

RaineFacend 0.09c Page

4/7/98
Misc. News: No News today
23:50:  For the first time in a long time, there was absolutely nothing new in the emulation world today. On the plus side, though, I attended the Phillies opening game at the Veteran's stadium today, and we won 9-8. Go Phillies!

4/6/98
Emulator Release: Z26 0.98
23:15:  A new version of Z26, an Atari 2600 emulator for DOS, has been released. Here's what's new in Z26 0.98:

- *Full Metal* sound drivers (pure assembly language). Thanks again Chris!

You can download Z26 0.98 from the Atari 2600 page.

Site News: Poll Reset
17:42:  The current poll votes have been reset. Why? Because of a slightly MAJOR omission by Zophar (point at Zophar and laugh, children!), I had to add the NEO*GEO to the poll, and I wanted the end results to be as fair as possible. End result? You may now cast your vote for NEO*GEO, if you desire (several people wanted this choice available).

Site News: Poll results & new poll question
05:17:  The poll results are in! Last week, we asked you what you thought of the new server, malicia, in terms of speed. Well, 21.2% of you said it was super fast, while 32.1% said it was pretty fast. Already, the majority of people fe el the server is above average in speed. 24.1% of people said it was average, 13.9% said it was below average and a tiny 8.8% thought it crawled. It seems the majority are pleased with the new server.

The new poll question is:Of the remaining systems that have not yet been emulated, which would you most like to see emulated? Cast your vote at the Polling Grounds today!

Emulator News: Seattle Labs drops C64S!
04:52:  Seattle Labs, the company responsible for the Commodore 64 emulator, C64S, has dropped the emulator. The new distributer for C64S is 'PHS', and the website can be found at this location . Check the website to get more information about C64S, and about Seattle Labs dropping it.

Emulator Release: Xain'D Sleena Release 1
04:49:  Release 1 of Xain'D Sleena emulator is now out. This single arcade emulator emulates the game Xain'D Sleena (duh), also known as Solar Warrior and Soldier of Light. Here's what's new:

- Correct Color
- Partial Sound
- Joystick Control
- Support for Solar Warrior

You can download Xain'D Sleena Release 1 from the Single Arcade emulator page.

4/5/98
Site News: For Your Information Part II
23:05:  A few days ago, I posted a list of things that I wanted to add to ZD, in order of importance:

- An Articles section is being added tommorow, no questions asked here. The first article will be written by me, and it is about NESticle's First Anniversary.[done]
- The Translation Page is going to be updated regularly, because the ZD Staff is getting a new member soon.[done]
- New Save State Archives are being added to ZD soon, courtesy of Alamone.[done]
- Emulators for UN*X (Linux, FreeBSD and the like) will be added to many emulator sections of ZD.[in progress]
- And, of course, a Front Ends section will come sometime before the Apocalypse.[in progress]

As you can see, 3 out of 5 of these have been finished. UNIX emulators will be added to the site sometime this week, and lastly, the Frontends section will be added sometime this month.

Emulator Release: New SNEmul
14:23:  A nice new version of SNEmul. I just got finished trying it, and they aren't lying, the sound is now pretty dang good! You should definately give this emulator a try. New to this version:

- Speeded up the graphic engine and the execution when both CPUs are emulated (now SNEmul is about 25 % faster:)
- now SNEmul play the samples with loop(still not perfect) the sound is much much better :)
- implemnented the auto frame skipping
- SNEmul now uses the SEAL library
- Linux port has been updated ! (but some problems with the sound library)
- mosaic effets are now correctly implemented
- fixed bugs when writing to the ports
- fixed some bugs with sprites(now the priority rotation works)
- fixed a bug in the MVP opcode(which was acting like MVN =)
- fixed a bug when reading the NMI state with port 4210
- snapshots now save and restore sound state.
- some other bugs fixed : now Final Fantasy III, Utopia, etc. work !

It is available at the SNES page.

Utility News: Callus Fixer Upper (for Callus 0.30)
04:09:  I've made a utility to "fix up" the callus GUI. It edits the Callus GUI to only list the games that you have. You can see how bored I was just now, can't you? Still, it's a neat little thinga-mabob to have until another Call us comes out that will probably make this util obsolete. The util is called Callus Fixer Upper (how clever!).

4/4/98
Translation News: New Translation Maintainer
23:57:  There has recently been a change of staff on ZD as Demi will no longer be responsible for updating the translation pages. Demi has resigned as he is busy with other projects and I will be taking over his position. The Translation Page has been updated with lots of new ongoing projects and several patches were added. You may also wish to check out the new Translation Utilities Page which contains much in the way of rom hac king software. If you would like to have your translation or utility added to the page please fill out our web based submission form.

Site News: Save archives updated
23:35:  The Callus and NESticle save archives have been updated. Thanks to all who contribute!

Site News: UN*X emulators to be added this week
21:33:  We will be adding some emulators for OSs like Linux, FreeBSD, and other Unix clones during this week. For those of you that have asked over the past year for emulators for systems other than DOS and Windows, you'll finally be g etting your wish.

4/3/98
Emulator News: EX68 0.30 : List of Changes
10:14:  Thanks to Yutaka Tanida, here's the translated list of changes present in EX68 0.30:

- Benchmark called "Query Performance Counter"
- Bug fix about directory scan on remote drive

He has also informed us that FM Sound Emulation will be available soon for Windows NT users.

Site News: NESticle turns 1
07:32:  NESticle, that NES emulator that stunned us all last April 3rd, is now one year old. Since console, computer and arcade emulation is all about reliving the past, I've put NESticle 0.2 online, for you to download and see how far it's come, and NES emulation in general.

Site News: Articles Section is now Online!
07:29:  The Articles Section is finally online. The first article that has been written is by me, and it is about NESticle's First Anniversary, which just happens to be today! It's also about the way emulation is going, both good and bad. Be sure to read it carefully.

Site News: New save game archives added
02:15:  A Callus Save Archive and a NESticle Save Archive have been added to Zophar's Domain. They are just starting now, so please contribute! Thanks go to _bigd_ for the Callus saves.

4/2/98
Emulator News: SNES9x Soon...
22:08:  The offical SNES9X Homepage has been updated. According to the page, ports of SNES9X are being attempted for the following systems:

Windows, DOS, Linux(i386), Linux(PowerPC), SunOS(i386), SunOS(Sparc), MacOS(PowerPC), OSF1 3.2&4.0, IRIX64 6.4, HPUX 9&10, AIX 3.2&4.2, BeOS, Nintendo 64, RedHat(i386), SGI, Amiga, Risc OS (StrongARM) and Playstation.

Most exciting is news that DOS, Mac, and Windows ports may be released within a week! Can't wait to check out that source code, personally. Thanks to Ash for this news.

Emulator Release: EX68 0.30
21:43:  EX68 0.30, an X68000 (a Japanese Computer) emulator, has been released. Since the update.txt is in japanese, I have no idea what the changes are in this version. However, if any of you can read Japanese, and can translate what it says, let me know and I'll post it here. You can download EX68 0.30 from the X68000 page.

Emulator Release: Boycott 0.36
21:21:  A new version of Boycott, one of the newest Gameboy emulators for DOS, has been released. Here's what's new in version 0.36:

- Frame skipping (default 1/3 frames)
- Transparency bug fixes!!! (MARIO 2, SMURFS 3, etc...)
- Five default skins included in a specific pack (thanks DRT)
- Skin .ski loading
- Bug fixes in debugging messages
- Optimization of BG displaying (12% better!!!)
- Optimization of BG/WIN refreshing
- BG/WIN refreshing (PUZZLE.GB and maybe other games work now!!!)
- Now available in English and French

You can download Boycott 0.36 from the GameBoy page.

Misc. News: Archaic Ruins looking for new home
21:07:  Archaic Ruins, one of the oldest emulation sites still standing, and also one of the largest, is in trouble. They will be losing the server they are currently on very soon, possibly tommorow. Therefore, Chris Hickman is asking for help. Anyone who can give Archaic Ruins a new home, please contact him as soon as possible. He needs about 150 MB of space, and the server should be prepared to handle the bandwidth. As a side note, please don't e-mail him with pay providers like Simplenet. Chris and I are firm believers that we provide you all a service, and should not have to spend money in order for *us* to continue to provide *you* that service. As a final note, he is willing to put advertisement banners up for the server owner. Please help him out if you can.

Site News: For your Information
14:40:  Alright people, here are some general things that I'll announce that you should be expecting to appear soon at ZD, in order of importance:

- An Articles section is being added tommorow, no questions asked here. The first article will be written by me, and it is about NESticle's First Anniversary.
- The Translation Page is going to be updated regularly, because the ZD Staff is getting a new member soon.
- New Save State Archives are being added to ZD soon, courtesy of Alamone.
- Emulators for UN*X (Linux, FreeBSD and the like) will be added to many emulator sections of ZD.
- And, of course, a Front Ends section will come sometime before the Apocalypse.

Enjoy your visits to ZD, and we hope you keep coming back for more!

4/1/98
Utility News: Thingy 0.8 released
20:40:  Well I think this is the only REAL news for today, next to RMenu. But anyhow direct from the readme, here's what's new:

- Probably a very buggy release, i tried to add too much stuff into this one!
- Now you're able to specify strings on any length on the right side of the table files. For example: 0400=Cecil
- Also shown in the above example, I added the option to define values with two hex bytes (i don't know any better way to explain it.) I think that might help with japanese roms as well. Other things that might help with script dumps:
- !xx and @xx commands now specify the " and ø values for jap script dumps. in alot of games (like Vilgust SNES and Wonderboy2 PCE) when the value for " or ø comes before it, it puts the " or ø on top. Also in other games (lots of old NES games) the " or ø come after it. For these games put a > on a separate line.
- In some games certain hex values use the value(s) after it for something (i.e. 02xx = goto column xx in FF2). Specifying $02=x then automatically displays the <$xx> value of x characters after it. So putting in $02=1 would display: <$02><$xx> where xx i s the hex value of the next 1 char.
- Added the option to jump to a hex value, just put a "h" at the end of the value.
- If anything is too confusing feel free to ask me, looking at the example table files will make it alot easier to understand.

A very big update to a very nice utility. Pick it up at the NES Utilities Page.

Misc. News: April Fool's Fun
14:16:  OK people, the next person that e-mails me about any of the below April Fool's pranks is going to get caned on the buttocks in Singapore 16 times.

- Duddie's arrest by the FBI
- Tekken 2 or System 11 Emulator
- A new release of Snes9X
- Jim Pragit's involvment in the Monica Lewinsky scandal
- Why Bill Clinton just has to be Cartman's father

Remember, all of the above are false. I think.

Frontend News: RMenu 3.8
14:08:  Steve Patrick has just released Rom Menu (RMenu for short) Version 3.8. Here's what's new in this universal frontend:

- RAGE now supported
- LHA/LZH compression support added
- Rom File Deletion (thanks again Jim V.!)
- Rom List Creation
- Colour Change :)
- Scroll Bar on file list
- A few minor bug fixes

RMenu Homepage

Site News: Zophar's Inner Sanctum updated
10:38:  I've finally updated my personal page, "Zophar's Inner Sanctum". There is now a Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Page that you may want to check out if you are a fa n of the Lunar series.