Emulator Release: GeoMame 1.0 for Macintosh
17:25:  Version 1.0 of GeoMame, the Neo-Geo only release of MAME for the Mac, is out. Here's what's new:

9/29/1999
Site News: jzIntv 010a
23:15:  jzIntv 010a is out. Apparently, this is a bug fix release.

Get it at the Macintosh Intellivision page.

Emulator Release: Wacke 1.6 for Macintosh
23:06:  Wacke 1.6 for Mac is out. Here's what's new:

Interview News: The Scribe interviewed
18:35:  The Scribe, a.k.a. Sam Pettus, author of many compatibility charts, the EmuFAQ and the emulation timeline that's posted in the articles section has been interviewed by MD Master of Genesis Temple. It's good! Check it out.

Thanks to MD Master for the news.

Emulator Release: MAME 0.36 beta 6 (DOS) released
13:09:  MAME, a multi arcade machine emulator, version 0.36 beta 6 for DOS has been released. This version adds support for 29 new games, as well as adding support for 2 clones. It also has driver updates for graphics and sound on several games, as well as several other fixes. For the complete list of what's new, check out the What's New file.

You can download this new version from the MAME area.

Emulator Release: Stella 1.1 for Macintosh
10:29:  Stella 1.1 for Mac has been released. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: PCx 1.0b4 for Macintosh
10:07:  PCx, A new freeware PC emulator for Mac has been released. Features:

Emulator Release: MacBochs 990925
09:57:  MacBochs has been updated to 990925. What's new:

Emulator Release: SNES9x 1.2.6 for Macintosh
09:39:  SNES9x for Mac has been brought up to 1.2.6. Here's what's new:

9/28/1999
Misc. News: Winamp 2.50d
22:46:  Even though the Winamp official site hasn't updated yet, the new version is out. Only 3 changes are listed: new MJuice code, cleaned up CDDA plug-in and fixed a few bugs.

CDROM.com, Download.com, and Tucows are fast download sites if you'd like to grab it.

Emulator Release: Meka 0.30
19:41:  Meka 0.30 has been released for all of you unregistered users now. In case you forgot, here's what's new:

Emulator News: PSEmu Pro Web Site Moves
15:29:  The PSEmu Pro web site has moved from www.psemu.com to www.psemu.net. There were no changes made to the site itself, just the address.

Emulator Release: Virtual TI 2.5 beta
15:14:  A new version of Virtual TI has been released, and here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Snes9x 1.26 DOS
12:58:  Looks like the DOS porter of Snes9x is hard at work pumping out new versions. Here's what's new to the DOS version of Snes9x:

Site News: Special Bulletin
12:54:  Hey everyone, Zophar here. I'll talk quickly, as I'm currently involved in a number of huge projects.

The one I want to talk about right now is a new feature of ZD that has myself and many others very excited! Most of you know that other emulation sites have done real audio shows. Some succeed, while others have failed. I am now ready to take emulation audio shows to the next level... how does a video show starring yours truly sound? ;)

I'm currently experimenting around with different formats and what not. Those of you with Real Player G2 and some time to spare, I'd be appreciative if you could stop by #zopharsdomain on IRC (efnet) to do some alpha-testing. I'll be online from the time of this post until about 3:00pm EST.

Hope to see you soon!

Emulator News: Bleem! 1.5 Information
12:44:  DragonYen made a post on the Bleem! messageboards a few days ago with some information about Bleem! 1.5. Here it is:

"#1 - Rand hit on the fact that FF8 MemCards would be working in 1.5, however he didn't mention that so will a ton of other MemCards... I don't want to give false expectations however, I am very impressed with the number of games that didn't used to Save/Load that now do. I do still have games that don't load or save however, please don't assume every game will magically save/load.

#2 - GPF/NO LOAD -- I'm not giving away any of the games that have been fixed, but quite a few of the games that used to GPF (Crash) or Not Load at all are now working. Since it was normally that ONE point that kept the game from working, most of these games went straight from NO to YES bypassing "Partial" all together. I do still have games that don't load, or crash however, please don't assume every game will magically work.

With the time that has gone past since the last update (only 40 days) the expectations for v1.5 build and build, and while we are pretty happy with the current build, the demand for something a bit more in this version is there. Rand is still working on some "Timing Issues" that basically effects the way bleem works. (Can cause video/sound desync, and even causing a game to not load at all). That's why you can have two identical machines, with identical hardware, but they run bleem differently. The same reason we suggest closing ALL programs before running bleem."

He also made another post today, saying that "it's being worked on", and that he still doesn't have any kind of release date.

Emulator Release: The Pi Release 2 for Macintosh
08:36:  The Macintosh emulator, The Pi, has been updated. Here's what's new:

9/27/1999
Interview News: Archaic Ruins interviews Neill Corlett
22:42:  My personal favorite emulation site, Archaic Ruins, has interviewed Neill Corlett of recent SD3e fame. Take a look at it.

Emulator Release: VisualBoy
16:12:  A new Gameboy emulator called VisualBoy has made its debut. Here's what it supports:

Misc. News: Tripod to pay popular websites?
09:25:  Ever wanted a good reason to use one particular free web space provider over another? Well, now you have a reason: For any site that gets 100 hits or more a day, Tripod will hand over some of the ad revenue to the owner of the site (50 cents per 1000 hits for sites that get 100 hits a day, $1.00 per 1000 hits for sites that get 1000 hits a day.)

Read about it at ZDNet.

Site News: Save archives updated
05:34:  Updated: GS0, NSF, NSM, SPC, SRM, STA, ZMV, ZST archives.
On a side note, the NSF archive has exceeded 100 contributions, and the SPC archive has exceeded 10,000 SPC files. Many thanks to all of you, the contributors.

9/26/1999
Emulator Release: EMU+ 0.36 Beta 5
20:02:  EMU+ has been brought up to sync with MAME, so go and get your copy over at the MAME page.

Misc. News: Ultima Online 2 in the making
19:09:  It seems that Ultima Online 2 is being developed. I wonder if it will be better than the last one. Anyways, you can see more information about it here.

Thanks to The Ultimate Hero for the news.

Emulator Release: Z80Stealth 0.80
19:07:  Z80Stealth 0.80, a Sinclair emulator, was just released. Here's what's new:

Interview News: Two EmuCamp interviews
17:19:  EmuCamp has interviewed Charles Doty, who recently released a demo for the port of Defenders of the Crown that he is working on, and Fx3 of RockNES. Go check them out!

Thanks to ZeroAge for the news.

Emulator Release: SynK GB 0.021a
17:08:  SynK GB 0.021a has been released, here's what's new:

9/25/1999
Emulator Release: Hash 25.09.99
23:31:  A new version of Hash, a Gameboy emulator, has been released. It's now up to 25.09.99, the date. Here's what's new:

Interview News: Fixo interviews Marissa
19:21:  Fixo of EmuGaming has interviewed Marissa of SNES Redump 2K. Check it out, it's a good read.

Utility Release: TownEdit 3.00 & Zelda2 editor 0.8
11:26:  A new version of TownEdit, a Dragon Warrior facelift utility (level editing, etc.) for DOS, was released a few weeks ago, but was never added to ZD. It has been added, as well as a Zelda2 editor released by the same author.

You can download both of these editors from the Facelift Utilities page. Thanks to Marvin Williams for the news.

Emulator Release: French MacMame 0.36 Beta 5
11:09:  The translation of MacMame into french was updated. It now has all the features of 0.36 Beta 5.

Get it at the Macintosh Multi-Arcade section.

Misc. News: Digital Chameleon: The Rise of Computer Emulation
08:28:  Here's another ZD exclusive article. The Scribe, in his first installment of Digital Chameleon, writes about IBM and their very first computer emulator. It makes one wonder where emulation would be today had it not been for IBM. You can check out the article at the link below.

Emulator News: TRWin status update
07:11:  The official TRWin homepage has been updated with some news on this Windows N64 emulator's progress. From the site:

Yes, TRWin finally gets a functional User Interface. It is in testing now and RCP plans to release it this weekend (9/26/99). Here is a brief overview:

- Windows Explorer' style browse window. Point and click your way around your system and double click to launch a rom. Roms are represented by nice colorful icons for your viewing pleasure.

-Rom Properites. Right click on a rom and set it properties. In addition to selecting the UCode for the rom, you can add UltraHLE(c) 'Patch -1' style patches and cheats. Patches can be imported and exported, so you can share with a friend (or enemy, depending on the patch...) Support for 'SRam' loads and save will come soon. Included in the release will be a small database of the correct rom properties for some of the more popular roms.

- Gfx emulation of most 2D/Sprite roms has been improved. This applies to many 3D roms as well, such as Mortal Kombat 4 which looks pretty damn good now.

- There are a couple of more roms that are now playable as well, and any rom that was playable before should look a lot better now.

- Better support for other video cards, such as the Voodoo family, Riva128 and others. Some cards will be much faster.

- Small speed increase for all roms.

Thanks to Emugaming.com for the word. You can check out the official TRWin homepage at the link below.

Media News: Pac-Deluxe mentioned in PCZone
06:51:  The Pacman remake, which was announced on ZD a little while ago, has made its way into the media already. Atila was kind enough to send along a copy of the article, since it can't be directly linked to:

21 September - PC Zone -- With almost every arcade game/console/handheld/calculator/hairdryer ever made having been emulated, emu writers have, over the last year, been turning their hands to 'improving' upon the classics. In much the same way as many of the seventies more dubious artists took it upon themselves to 'improve' upon classical music, classical gaming is now finding itself in the same boat.

Following from last month's release of Klass Of 99 (a remake of the original Speccy classic, School Daze), Mike Green, co-author of the rather bizarre Speak 'n' Spell emulator, has announced plans to re-do the classic PacMan with new graphics, translucency effects, gradient shading.

"Everything has kept its shape and character," says Mike on his PAC-DELUXE '99 site, "and remains true to the original game." Best news of all, though, is the decision to make the emulator run off of the original ROMs, and as Mike explains: "Any tricks you used to pull on the old machine, you can do here!"

You can have a look at some preliminary screenshots over at the project's Homepage, where you can also read regular updates on progress.

Once again, thanks to Atila of Retrogames.com for the article.

Emulator Release: No$GMB 2.3a
05:24:  A bugfix release of No$GMB, a Gameboy emulator for DOS, is now available. Here's what's been fixed:

Emulator News: Some words on Corn
05:10:  A few days ago, a new N64 emulator was released. Dubbed Corn, the only commercial game it can run is Mario64. However, the speed of this emulator is incredible. While it doesn't seem to like my 2 week-old Voodoo3 3000 too much (many graphical glitches), it's very fast.

The author of Corn has offered some reasons explaining Corn's speed, as well as some troubleshooting tips. From the official page:

Static Recompilation Static rec is the main technique that Corn experiment wants to test. In theory, static rec should be faster than dynamic rec since the branch/call overhead is much lower. And, with static rec, we can afford to do sophisticated optimizations like a real compiler does. Although the actual implementations can greatly affect the real performance.

On the other hand, static rec becomes the major deficiency of Corn. It makes corn need individual configuration to run each rom. So, in terms of compatibility, it is not a good approach. Probably this is the main reason why other emulator authors did not try it before(in my knowledge). Between compatibility and speed, most authors will choose the former. If Corn was not started as an experiment, I would have chosen dynamic rec also.

Right now, the optimization done in Corn is still simple. So, probably not much speed (10%-25%?) really come from this part at this time. Later, I will try to apply more advanced optimization techniques to study the power of static rec, which is the main goal of this experiment.

You can check out the rest of his comments at his official website, which you can access at the link below.

Emulator Release: MAME32 0.36 Beta 5
04:47:  A new release of the Windows version of MAME, MAME32, is now available. MAME32 0.36 Beta 5 has been brought to sync with the other Beta 5 versions, and no extra changes are present in the MAME32 build.

Thanks to Later Dude for the news. You can download MAME32 0.36 Beta 5 and the source at the MAME page.

Misc. News: More on the "Elite" situation
04:17:  ZD has been posting on the situation with "Elite", a game for the NES (and other systems) which was released as freeware by Ian Bell. David Braben wanted permission from Ian Bell to release this game through his "Elite" club, but something went wrong. From alt.fan.elite:

A number of publishers, including PC Format and PC Zone, have been taken in by a scurrilous ‘press release’ purporting to be from Ian Bell, co-author of the 80’s classic “Elite”. They have published elements from this without first checking the facts, but they have behaved very reasonably and have amended their stories after reading postings to the USENET group alt.fan.elite, and discussing the issue with CIX and myself. This release is intended to set the record straight.

As was discussed earlier this year on the newsgroup, I intend to offer old versions of Elite, Frontier, etc for download from a part of Frontier Developments ’s web site (which is currently massively out of date), as long as we can get the required clearances. These will not be public domain, but will not be charged for (a subtle distinction preserving rights). It is likely that sources will also be made available via an “Elite Club”.

Ironically I am prevented from putting Elite on our site as it was a joint project and I do not have permission from Ian to do so. To further complicate this I believe Ian has sold his rights in Elite, but have no confirmation of this from Ian, who has not been replying to my correspondence. With this in mind I inquired of CIX (the publishers of the site) as to the identity of the site holder (as it may not be Ian Bell), and asked for a contact address, making my wishes to offer Elite very clear, together with an offer of retrospective permission for Ian Bell’s site.

It is only after a lack of any response over a period of three months that I asked CIX to remove the site. Rather than finally triggering a response as I expected, this caused a purported email correspondence between ibell and staff at CIX to be placed on the site. A director of CIX has told me that these purported mails were far from complete and seriously misrepresent the dialogue between CIX and ibell, putting both CIX and myself in a very bad light. I understand it was this that was the final trigger for the removal of the site.

I am happy to discuss any of the issues involved, including issues raised in the dodgy press release. I strongy suggest that web publishers remove this from their sites, or at least check out the facts for themselves.

This problem can still be sorted out and the web site possibly re-instated. For more details please look at the lengthy dialogue on the USENET group alt.fan.elite (which can be seen on the Deja News Archives at www.deja-news.com if they are no longer on your news server).

David Braben

I can be contacted at: dbraben@frontier.co.uk

We at ZD hope that sets the record straight. Thanks to LordHaHa for the news.

Emulator News: Pacman Deluxe remake
04:07:  A new project is underway. Named Pacman Deluxe, or PAC-DX for short, the goal of the project is to improve upon the original game Pacman. It's coded by the same author who wrote SASS (the Speak 'n' Spell simulator). From the official site:

Everything has kept its shape and character, and remains true to the original game, and best of all, it runs the original pacman roms (not supplied) so any tricks you used to pull on the old machine, you can do here!

You can check out the official site at the link below.

Pacman Deluxe

Misc. News: EmuFAQ v991001
03:58:  The Scribe is a busy man! Here's a new version of his Emulation FAQ, EmuFAQ v991001. This release is a very interesting read. In The Scribe's own words: "I'm liable to get lynched by both the emuscene and the vendors for this one." You can check it out at the link below.

Misc. News: ZD Exclusive: Updated Emulation Timeline
03:31:  The Scribe has done it again. A new version of his emulation timeline (exclusive to ZD) has been released. It's been broken up into three parts now, rather than one big clump of text. You can check it out at the ZD articles page.

9/24/1999
Links Update: 4 links added, 65 sites deleted
20:54:  Are we having fun yet?

Jason Flythe sent me all the links that are broken on the links page. It is now totally clean. Thanks goes out to Jason for the big help.

Here is the updated Links page.

Translation News: Table Auto-Generator v1.0
16:24:  Table Auto-Generator v1.0 has been released. Here's whats new:

Emulator Release: Mac Tiger 0.1a6
13:34:  A new version of Mac Tiger is out. What's new:

Emulator Release: jzIntv 010 for Macintosh
06:09:  jzIntv 010 is out. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: PSMac 0.0.4.1
05:37:  PSMac 0.0.4.1 is out. What's new:

Emulator Release: Snes9x 1.2.3a for Macintosh
05:31:  Snes9x Mac 1.2.3a is out. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: NO$GMB 2.3
01:53:  A new version of NO$GMB has been released. This version includes some timing/link/snespad fixes, OAM screen, and A22I-XED. You can get it at the Gameboy page.

Links Update: 10 sites added, 21 deleted
00:10:  Wow, 2 link updates in 2 days. Another tomorrow? I hope not. Anyway, if you all are wondering, I wrote it "spelt" for a reason. Because it may look correct, but it isn't. When you write down your links, make SURE that they work. Because looks can be deceiving. And thanks to Jason Flythe for the help on telling me which links were broken on the General Emulation section.

You can visit the links by visiting the Links Page.

9/23/1999
Utility Release: ckmame Unix v0.4
22:38:  That is, I think it's v0.4, I wasn't very clear on that. Nevertheless, ckmame is a new utility that checks MAME rom sets, nifty, eh?

General Unix Utilities.

Site News: J64 - Java Commodore 64 emulator added
21:26:  Go to the Java C64 page to get it.

Emulator Release: Snes9x Linux v1.26
17:41:  A new version of the Linux port of Snes9x, that's libc6, folks. Just because I enjoy wating your time, what's new:

Emulator Release: Snes9x 1.26 Source
15:35:  A new version of the Snes9x source has been released. Whether or not 1.26 will become a Win/DOS version, only time will tell. Here's what's new:

Links Update: 36 added, 14 deleted
01:12:  After going through 80+ e-mails, I saw that only 36 sites worked. The rest either didn't work, or the wrong address was given. As for the 14 deleted, those were from the ROMs section. People, can you please send me links that are SPELT CORRECTLY! Do n't let the site go down within the first 2 days of it being up. If you want to start a site, you have to want to do it for a while, you can't just do it for 5 days, then give up. Now, for the people who do send in links, please include a description, and the name of the site. This would REALLY save me some time, for I don't have much time to do these. Thank you.

You can view the updated links here.

9/22/1999
Emulator News: Magic Engine
21:16:  The Magic Engine page has posted an update saying that they have completed HuCard and Supergraphx emulation. That means that Ghouls & Ghosts works now. CD-ROM emulation is next on the list, and it is already 90% completed. Thanks to Victor for the news .

Misc. News: Microsoft DirectX 7.0
16:03:  Wow, it only seemed like yesterday when 6.1 was released! Today, Microsoft DirectX 7 has been released. It includes many improvements, but the biggest one yet is a Visual Basic type library (For those of you who doesn't know what this is, it means you can create a FF7 type game at full speed!)

You can get DirectX 7.0 at Microsoft DirectX Page. Thanks to Serge, a #ZopharsDomain op and regular, for the news.

Emulator Release: Corn 0.01 beta
15:23:  Corn is a brand new N64 emulator written by ContraSF from EmuHQ. It currently runs Mario64 and a few demos, but its faster than any other N64 emulator out there. It has some graphics bugs, and there's no sound, but tha t will be fixed in time. You can get it at the N64 page.

Site News: MacMame 0.35b5
14:31:  MacMame 0.35 beta 5 is out! Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Bernie ][ The Rescue 2.5 for Macintosh
14:18:  Bernie ][ The Rescue 2.5 is out. Here's what's new:

Utility Release: Forgotten Worlds/Lost Worlds (Jap) Patch 0.4 beta
08:17:  The Capcom System 1 Patch Team has released version 0.4 of their Forgotten Worlds, and now also Lost Worlds, the japanese version of the ROMset, patch for the DOS and Windows versions of Callus, a Capcom System 1 emulator. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: CaPriCe32 v1.11 released
08:06:  CaPriCe 32, an Amstrad CPC emulator for Windows, has been updated with a bugfix. It fixes a problem with sound output on some Soundblaster clones such as Vortex based cards. The official site states that it isn't a perfect fix, bit it's better than no s ound at all. :)

You can grab your copy in the Amstrad CPC emulators section.

Emulator Release: CCS64 DOS and Win9x ver 2.0 betas released
01:53:  While there are no updated version numbers, the DOS and Win9x versions of CCS64, a Commodore 64 emulator, has been released. Here is what's new in both versions:

Added:

Translation News: Hexecute 2.10
01:24:  A new version of Hexecute has been released. The authors notes states:

"Hexecute 2.10 is released, this is somewhat major due to the inclusion of support for multiple byte character values in table files, if you are attempting to dump a japanese script, this would be of great use to you."

Get it off the Translation Utility page.

Emulator Release: SynK GB Version 0.021 Alpha released
01:21:  SynK GB, a Win32 Gameboy emulator, has been released. Here is what's new:

Misc. News: Preview of Missle Command for PC
00:50:  Mike Stulir of the Back In Time website sent this info in:

"Hasbro Interactive was kind enough to send me an "alpha" build of their new Missile Command game for the PC, which will be released later this year. I have posted some exclusive new screen captures, along with a brief review of the game. If you saw the older Missile Command screen captures I had up on the site, you will need to check out the new ones, as the game has changed significantly over the past few months. Missile Command is shaping up to be a very fun game. The feel and intensity of the coin -op classic are still present in this updated version. Be sure to check out my review."

You can check out that review, as well as the screen shots on the Back In Time Website.

Site News: Java Emulators
00:35:  I added the following Java emulators:

Java Pleiads, Java Pheonix, and Pheonix Emulator
These can be found at the Java Single Arcade page.
Virtual Colecovision for Java Can be found at the Java Colecovision page.
Comeback 64 for Java can be found at the Java Commodore 64 page.
Jamicom can be found at the Java NES page.
Hob can be found at the Java Spectrum page.
The Applelet can be found at the Java Apple ][ page.
Plus/4 for Java can be found at the Java Plus/4 page.
Return of the Z-machine can be found at the Java Z-machine page.

Thanks to Brice and Arcade games online for the information.

9/21/1999
Emulator News: RockNES
23:32:  According to the RockNES page, a "second major code rewrite" has been done. It should be running more smoothly now. You can get the current version of RockNES at the NES page.

Emulator Release: A/PMAME 0.36 beta 5
23:22:  Rodmius has updated AMAME and PMAME to 0.36 beta 5. It contains all of the MAME 0.36 beta 5 features plus fixed Sidewinder support. You can get it at the MAME page.

Emulator News: Meka 0.30 Released to Registered Users
22:50:  A new version of Meka has been released to registered users. The public release will be in about a week. Here's what's new:

Frontend News: EmuStation RC1
20:35:  A new version of EmuStation (a universal frontend), which is now a Release Candidate, has been released. Here's what's new since Beta 2:

Frontend News: MAMELOAD v2.80
20:25:  MAMELOAD, a DOS-based MAME frontend, is now up to version 2.80. What's new:

Emulator Release: Power64 v2.5.1 for Macintosh
19:35:  Power64 v2.5.1 for Macintosh is out. I assume this is just a bugfix version as I can not find what's new.

Get it at the Macintosh Commodore 64 page.

Emulator Release: iGS-Mac 0.53r2
19:07:  A new iGS-Mac is out. What's new in 0.53r2:

Emulator Release: Snes9x 1.25 for DOS
16:00:  A new DOS version of Snes9x has finally been released. It has all the updates from the Snes9x 1.25 source, plus these DOS-specific improvements:

Emulator Release: Catakig 1.15 for Macintosh
14:56:  Catakig 1.15 is out. Here's what's new:

Emulator News: Moonlit Coalition Site Updated
01:56:  The Moonlit Coalition web page has been updated with news about Sunset. Here's what they had to say:

"So youve all probably wondered whats going on with the coalition. Few weeks back getting rid of our lead coder and releasing some old betas that ran over 60 commercial games to some extent combined. We have found a new lead coder, more info on this co der will be revealed soon enugh. In this coders first week and a half with the coaliton the coder has added support for voodoo cards and better game compat. Expect a killer release from our new coder. Sunset2k© truly is the Emu of the Millenium now :) - 6 4bit, Leader of the Moonlit Coalition©"

It sounds like their new coder is really good. You can get the betas at the N64 page.

Emulator Release: GBMac 1.2.1b1
00:05:  GBMac 1.2.1b1 is out! What's new:

9/20/1999
Emulator Release: Basilisk II 0.7 build 92
20:22:  A new version of Basilisk II has been released, and here's what's new:

Interview News: Kinox interview
19:57:  Kinox has interviewed David Tucker of CD-iEmu9x and RealityBoy. It talks about the CD-i emulator that he is working on, how to dump VB ROMs (!), and other things. You can read it at this page. Make sure you choose the more recent interview, obviously. ;)

In other news, David Tucker has updated his VB programming document.

Thanks to MickoZ for both of these items.

Misc. News: Words of Wisdom from the UltraHLE Author
19:04:  The UltraHLE site has been temporarily taken down so that the author could say a few words and have people listen. Here's the entire message from his site:

20th September 1999 - Right, there are a few things I want to talk about......
These words are my own and I apologise if they cause any offence.....
I also apologise to all the genuine fans of the project but I really need to say this.......

First, you will notice that the site has gone barring this page, this is a temporary measure, the project IS STILL BEING ACTIVLEY DEVELOPED. The reason the site has been temporarily removed is for me to highlight the continued problem there seems to be within the emulation community. There are several people out there who seem intent on smearing and destroying the UltraHLE name and project as well as other emulation projects (e.g. PSEmuPro, probably one of the most promising PSX emulators there was) and I WILL NOT let this happen. These people don't seem to care or realise the time and effort the emu developers spend on their 'hobbies'....Thats right, they are hobbies and are undertaken in our OWN FREE TIME. I am sick of the constant childish attitude that a small group of people seem to take to the whole Emulation scene....GROW THE F*&K UP. If your not interested in Emulation, go away......

Second, I would like to mention that the above applies only to a small group of people. The majority of people still seem genuinely interested in emulation and support it to the full. To those people I say "good show"...you obviously are adult enough to enjoy emulation for what it is...

Third, and more specifically I want to address the UltraHLE project. There has been rumor and heresay about who coded what in UltraHLE, where is Epsilon etc. etc. What the f*&k does it matter...?? As I said before, people who code emulators do it as a hobby...we are not commercial concerns out to make a fast buck....we do it for fun, because we enjoy it.....why can't some people understand that. The project WILL continue regardless of these people...

Finally, As I get a heavy proportion of negative feedback on web news posts (hence the lack of updates recently)I have to ask you, the public, how you would prefer the project to be handled.....would you rather it just appeared as did v1.0.0 or do you want regular news updates. I have to ask, because so many people slating what I try to inform you about that I wonder why I even bother sometimes.....oh, and one final thing....if you haven't got anything sensible or productive to say in the UltraHLE message boards then don't.

Let me know your thoughts...... [E-mail]

RealityMan

Emulator Release: DBOY ver0.51 released
09:40:  Great news! DBOY has been resumed by the author!

Here's what's new in this version:

9/19/1999
Misc. News: E-Mail troubles
22:59:  I had problems with my e-mail, so if anyone sent a frontends submission to me, please resend so I can post it. Thanks.

Emulator Release: ZSNES .963
22:22:  A new version of ZSNES was just released. They like to do this, release many versions within a week. :) But I'm not complaining. Here is what's new:

Site News: Turbografx 16 Mac Section
17:15:  I have added a new emulation section for the Macintosh.

Go to the TurboGraphix 16/PC Engine page.

Emulator Release: Hu-Go 1.02
05:05:  A new version of Hu-Go has been released, and here's what's new:

Emulator Release: WOOM 0.1 beta
04:51:  This is the first released of a new MSX emulator called WOOM. It currently supposes MSX1 and runs MegaROMs well. Go check it out at the MSX page.

Emulator Release: Z80Stealth 0.050
04:24:  Z80Stealth 0.050, 'Music Support Release', is out. Here's what's new:

Emulator News: Forgotten Worlds Patch 0.3 beta
04:05:  A new version of the Forgotten Worlds patch for Callus is out, and here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Nestra v0.64
04:03:  A new version of one of the older NES emulators for Unix. Seems as though TuxNES has envoked some updates out of this one as well... What's new:

Emulator Release: ZSNES v0.962a/c!
03:22:  New version of ZSNES, both C/ASM and ASM-only versions this time too. Not entirely a bugfix version either. What's new:

9/18/1999
Emulator Release: The Pi for Macintosh
21:43:  The Pi is out. This is currently the most advanced free Playstation emulator for the Macintosh. It runs many demos as well as some homebrewn games. Release notes:

Emulator Release: Snes9x Linux v1.25
21:28:  A new version of the Snes9x for Linux port and the source. I don't know why I'm repeating this, but what's new:

v1.25:

Emulator Release: MSiX 0.2a
20:46:  A new MSX emulator has been released, called MSiX. As of now it will only play games if used as a frontend for BrMSX, but it looks quite promising.

Get it from the MSX page. Thanks to the author, Ti-B0ne, for the news.

Emulator Release: Pete's OpenGL GPU 1.22
20:41:  Pete has released a new version of his OpenGL GPU for PSEmu Pro. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Snes9x 1.25 Source
15:27:  A new version of the Snes9x source was released. Here's what's new:

1.25

Emulator Release: MAME 0.36 beta 5
15:07:  Another MAME beta was released today. You can view what's new in MAME 0.36 beta 5, "Bally/Sente", at a different location. You can get it at the MAME page.

Site News: The choice has been made
11:13:  As I'm sure you've noticed, I have selected and trained the new Macintosh sections maintainer for ZD. I'd like to thank everybody that mailed in applications. Lopantu is hard at work picking up where I left off, so make sure you e-mail him with all your Macintosh emulator updates!

Emulator Release: Gemulator SoftMac
06:46:  Gemulator SoftMac is out. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Power20 1.2 for Macintosh
06:04:  Power20 for Macintosh is out. I assume this is just a bugfix version, as I can't find what's new.

You can get it at the Macintosh Vic-20 page.

Emulator Release: MasterGear 1.3 for Macintosh
05:19:  MasterGear 1.3 for Macintosh is out. What's new:

Emulator Release: Mac1964 0.2.5-2
03:41:  Mac1964 0.2.5-2 is out. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: Virtual Gameboy 1.6 for Macintosh
03:23:  Virtual Gameboy for Macintosh is now up to speed with its counterparts. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: GeoMame 1.0b7 for Power Macintosh
02:14:  GeoMame 1.0b7, the unofficial Neo Geo only version of Mame is out. Here's what's new:

Site News: New Macintosh Maintainer
01:42:  Hi, I'm Lopantu, Zophar Domain's new Macintosh emulator maintainer. If you have any Macintosh emulation news, I'm the person to send it to.

Site News: Save archives updated
01:17:  Updated: GS0, NSF, NSM, SPC, SRM, STA, ZMV, ZST archives.

Emulator News: RockNES
00:30:  The RockNES page has been updated with a small bit of information. Mapper #18 has been rewritten, and it should work fine in the next release. You can get the current version of RockNES at the NES page.

Emulator Release: gbemu 0.44.4
00:23:  A new version of gbemu is out, but its in Japanese, so I don't know what's new. You can get it at the Gameboy page. Thanks to Destination Emulation for the news.

9/17/1999
Emulator News: Forgotten Worlds Patch for Callus 0.2 beta
23:59:  A bugfix for the Forgotten Worlds patch is out, and here's what's new:

Misc. News: Amiga fans get more bad news...
22:07:  Don't the Amiga faithful suffer through enough? Anyway, Amiga (the company) has decided to back away from building their own computers, and is planning on licensing their MCC technology to hardware companies for use in their computers. Will Amiga OS-based PCs be using Intel architecture? That's what it sounds like.

Anyway, read about it at that other site with "ZD" in its initals, ZDNet.

Emulator News: Nemu stuff
20:15:  An email from the Nemu mailing list said that sound support for commercial ROMs is being worked on, but not ready.

Thanks to Gunz2002 for the forwarded message.

Emulator Release: ZSNES v0.960 released!
19:53:  A new version of the greatest SNES emulator for DOS has been released at long last! Unfortunately, none of the remaining large problems have been resolved, the few remaining that is, although from the what's new, it seems that the ZSNES team has begun to tackle the sound generation bug. What's new:

Site News: News Submitter trouble
17:13:  The news submitter CGI is down indefinitely. For now, please send an email to the proper staff member.

By the way, in other news, thanks to a couple of people, I have learned that the Dreamcast port 113 is the authenciation (or IDENTD) port.

Misc. News: Nemu64 0.6 Compatbility List
17:07:  Dijital of Explosion Net has compiled a massive Nemu64 compatbility list, now with 117 games tested. This even beats my list. Anyways, you can find Dijital's list here.

Misc. News: MAME and Raine Flyers
17:02:  Two new packs have been released, #11 for MAME, includes 18 new ones and 21 replacements. For RAINE, #06 was released containing 6 new ones and 1 replacement. You can get them here.

Thanks to Xray1 for the news.

Misc. News: Unreal Tournament
16:26:  EmuGaming has posted a mirror for the release of the Unreal Tournament demo! Check it out at the Emugaming download page.

EmuGaming

Emulator Release: TuxNES 0.71
00:00:  A new version of TuxNES, the NES emulator based on the old Nestra source, has been released, and here's what's new:

9/16/1999
Misc. News: Can I have one please?
23:36:  I ran across this interesting article today. Talk about a fun ride!

Go to CNN

Utility Release: YMAMP 1.3
16:09:  A new version of YMAMP, a WinAmp plug-in for GYM and CYM files, is out, and here's what's new:

Misc. News: Nintendo Cart/Box Scanning Project
15:44:  Josh, the guy who runs Nintendo Domain has started on the massive project of making scans of all the NES carts, boxes, and instruction books. Currently, he only owns about 150 carts, so he's going to need submissions eventually. If you would like to help, go to Nintendo Domain.

Emulator News: MagicEngine news
13:33:  The MagicEngine page has been updated with the news that an FAQ is now online, and HuCard and SuperGrafx emulation is coming soon. Also, MagicEngine now has new mascots, check out the FAQ.

Thanks to Dave's Classics for the news.

Emulator Release: Z80Stealth 0.40
09:50:  Z80Stealth 0.40 has been released, and here's what's new:

9/15/1999
Emulator News: Bleem 1.5 coming soon
21:36:  Randy of Bleem posted a message on the Bleem message board at their site, saying that there will be new features, increased compatibility, some speed fixes, major memory card fixes, and a "neat surprise." I guess we'll just have to wait and find out what that surprise is.

Thanks to Chris FitzPatrick for the news.

Misc. News: Dreamcast Rumor falsified
17:16:  With the help of Thomas Dimson, also known as Z^E_R^O, I had the chance to portscan a Dreamcast. Here are my findings:

Emulator News: Forgotten Worlds Patch for Callus
12:01:  The CPS-1 Patch Team has released a patch that will let you play Forgotten Worlds on Callus. They have also updated the Street Fighter Zero patch to version 10. You can download them both at the multi-arcade page.

9/14/1999
Misc. News: The Flyer and Post Archive for MAME Updated
18:02:  The Flyer and Poster Archive for MAME has been updated with more flyers for MAME and Raine. In MAME 18 are new and 21 are replaced, and in Raine 6 are new and 1 is replaced. The flyers have also been split up into packs, and they are all in .png format now. Go check it out.

Emulator News: Hu6280 News
15:31:  The Hu6280 page has posted news about the emulator's progress. It says that a Hu6280 CD release is "coming soon". There is also a huge list of CD games that are playable and screenshots. If you're interested, go check out the Hu6280 page.

Emulator Release: Snes9x 1.24 for Windows
15:16:  Its shaping up to be a great day =). A new version of Snes9x for Windows has been released. Here's what's new:

1.24

Emulator Release: Nemu64 0.6
15:02:  A new version of Nemu64 is out, after a few months without any releases. There's all kinds of new stuff in this version, and here it is:

*** Lemmy ***

Misc. News: Elite Is Under Fire Again
02:03:  The NES ROM Elite, written by Ian Bell and David Braben, is in legal troube again. It was made freeware by Ian Bell awhile ago, but David Braben has tried repeatedly to keep it from being free. In yet another attempt to stop its distribution, David Braben has threatened CIX, Ian's ISP, with legal action. Now the Elite page is down. You can read the whole story at NES WORLD and download the ROM at the NES ROMs page. Thanks to Martin for the news.

Emulator News: Two New Games Found in Raine
01:39:  Two new games, Gun Lock and Grid Keeper, have been discovered in Raine. To enable them, add the following lines in the raine.cfg file.

[Romlist]
gun_lock =86420
grid_seeker =13579

Thanks to Zomby for the news.

9/13/1999
Site News: Zophar's Diary: 5 days after 9-9-99
20:40:  Hey everyone, Zophar here, with another horrific edition of the People's e-zine: Zophar's Diary. This will be a much longer edition than usual, so I ask everyone to please bear with me while I go over the events of the past week.

First, the bad. This has been, without a doubt, a very depressing and all-around lousy week for me. Ironic as it may be, this all started on "Nine-Nine-Ninety-nine". I caught a very bad case of strep throat (for the uninformed: a very painful throat infection, accompanied by cold-like symptoms), and missed my second day of classes at college. Speaking of college, I ended up not getting the computer science class I've been trying to get for the past year. Remember my Pentium III? 9-9-99 signaled its doom. After trying it in several computers, I determined it's a bad chip, and I'm calling Intel tomorrow. Guess what else? I purchased a Riva TNT2, which doesn't work properly in Intel's SE 440BX2 motherboard which claims to support AGP 2.0X! Needless to say, I've lost most respect for Intel, I'm on a Celeron 300a which I can't overclock on Intel's lovely jumperless motherboard, and this popping of sound due to being 200mhz less when accessing the hard drive is killing me!

Whew. Now that I've let everyone know how evil 9-9-99 was, let's move on to the good! As many of you have probably noticed by now, ZD has been signing deals with advertising agencies lately. One of the deals (which you've probably figured out from the banners that keep appearing) is a WWF.com deal! You've probably noticed many WWF.com banners popping up in various places on ZD. But not only that... ZD now has a banner of its own, which you can check out for your viewing pleasure. Thanks to Craig of ZD for creating this banner. After hours of yelling at him and screaming my wishes to him, I feel that the banner makes a statement. :) I feel that the exposure that ZD will now be getting will be a great asset in ZD's never-ending quest to become the absolute top source on all things emulation. Oh, and you can check out this screenshot I made of our banner being advertised on a VERY famous website. ;)

I'm almost done sorting through the NSM submissions (honest!) I want everyone who submitted to know that I haven't forgotten about you, and that the winner shall be announced soon. Had it not been for my strep throat case, the computer troubles I've been having, and starting college, they would have been done long ago. So I do apologize for the delay, but rest assured that the winner shall be announced soon.

I've been going over many of the sections on ZD, the emulator for DOS/Win9x sections in particular. Many of the descriptions are out-of-date, and for this I would like to apologize. I've already begun to rewrite the descriptions for some of Marat Fayzullin's emulators, and you can check out the new descriptions of VGB and MG at the Gameboy and Master System/GameGear emulator pages. More new descriptions are coming soon, so sit tight!

I'd like to point out that I feel that Sam Pettus (The Scribe) has been doing a tremendous job with his EmuFAQ and the ZD-exclusive "emulation timeline". If you haven't checked them out yet, I strongly urge you to do so, as they are both very informative articles.

Hmm... what else? We've been thinking about adding an emulators for BeOS section to ZD, as we've been receiving a fair amount of e-mails requesting such a section. If you haven't taken the time to vote on the subject yet, please head down to the ZD poll and do so; it will help us out in determining whether or not such a section would be useful to our viewers.

Many people have e-mailed in regarding ZD's layout. It's true, the layout has been in use since early 1998, and I feel that ZD has finally outgrown it. The sidebar crowding is starting to get a little silly. Therefore, Sam Michaels of ZD is currently working on a new design for ZD, and we'll keep you posted as to how it's progressing.

For a very long time now, I've been thinking about writing a monster article on everything I've experienced in emulation from the very beginning when I first tried VGB-DOS in 1996, all the way to the present. It would include a lot of information about people I've met over the years, the rise of ZD from a tiny unknown site to what it has become today, and more! If you think such an article would be a good idea, or if you just want to comment on any other part of the diary, please send me an e-mail and let me know your opinions!

Remember, ZD is here for your benefit. Without every single person's support, we wouldn't be where we are at today, and we wouldn't be able to provide you with the highest quality that ZD has provided everyone with. We truly appreciate all of our visitors, and all that we ask in return is that you keep coming back, and tell others of the greatness that is emulation. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Emulator Release: New TRWinGL
19:47:  A new version of TRWinGL, the N64 emulator, has been released. I couldn't find a what's new file, though.

Get it from the N64 page.

Site News: Call it PlayStation2
19:18:  That's right. After months of teases and little crumbs, Sony has finally given us the whole enchilada. Today in a press conference in Japan, the new PlaySation was announced. What may surprise some is that Sony will call the system simply "PlaySation2." Here's a detailed list of the specs for the system:

Emulator News: Nemu news
18:47:  Gunz2002 forwarded a copy of an e-mail from the Nemu listserv, and it says that a new version of Nemu will be coming out tomorrow. Keep your eyes peeled.

Thanks again to Gunz2002 for the news.

Emulator News: MGX discontinued
18:38:  According to Zoop, the f in the latest release of MGX (0.12f) stands for final-in other words, MGX has been discontinued. If Zoop knows, he hasn't said why on EmuCamp...strange.

Emulator Release: Spec256 1.2
12:41:  Spec256 1.2 Final has been released. I don't know what's new, but you can get it at the Spectrum page.

Emulator Release: Calypso Beta Build 008
12:26:  A new version of Claypso has been released, and here's what's new:

Emulator Release: MGX 0.12f
12:22:  A new version of MGX is out, but I don't know what's new. You can get it at the SMS/GG page.

Frontend News: StartRAINE 0.25.1
10:36:  A new version of StartRAINE, an excellent RAINE frontend, has been released to be in sync with the latest version of RAINE. Here's what's new:

9/12/1999
Translation News: Radia Finally Completed!
21:04:  Yay, this must be some kind of record, 2 complete translations released in the same week! Radia has been worked on for a long time, and now is finally completed. One of the better NES RPGs.

Download it from the Translations page.

Emulator Release: Another LoopyNES beta
20:15:  Loopy has released another beta of his NES emulator, LoopyNES. This version fixes some Zapper problems, and other bugs.
Grab it now at the NES emulators page.

Misc. News: Solar Wars news
15:05:  Chris Covell has updated his page with new screenshots of his Scorched Earth-type game, Solar Wars.

Emulator Release: RockNES 0.96a
14:37:  RockNES 0.96a has been released, and here's what's new:

Technical Docs News: NSF Specification updated to v1.20
04:18:  Kevin Horton has updated his NSF Specification document to v1.20, extending the format to allow usage of external sound chips (VRC6, FDS sound, etc). View the updated specification at the NSF archive.

Emulator News: 1964 Site Updated
02:47:  The 1964 site has been updated with info about the lack of releases. The project is still going along smoothly and they are currently working on dynarec and rdp.

Emulator Release: Raine 0.25c
02:34:  In version 0.25b, released a few hours ago, the Cadash French driver was missing. They added it back in 0.25c. Go download it at the multi-arcade page.

Misc. News: What REALLY happened to those bad Dreamcast discs?
01:20:  It turns out that those "bad" discs that some people have been receiving for the Dreamcast (Most likely Sonic Adventures and Blue Stingers) were actually games that was shipped to the wrong region. Due to packaging errors, some PAL discs ended up in NTSC cases, and vice versa. Thanks to Sildrake for the information.

Misc. News: "History of Emulation" Updated
01:12:  The Scribe has updated his article, "The History of Emulation" with new dates and information. This is a great article, so I suggest you read it at the articles page. This is also a ZD exclusive, meaning this is the only place w here you will find it.

Site News: Poll Update
00:30:  Yep kiddies, it's that time again: Poll update-o-rama! Well, that just sounds dumb, but here's last week's poll:

Who would be interested in seeing a weekly digest format of ZD in their mailbox?

Utility News: Want to convert your PSX/N64 pad to use USB?
00:02:  This awesome website tells you how to convert your pad to use USB. Thanks to Simon Nield, the webmaster, for the update. The website is here.

9/11/1999
Emulator Release: Raine v.0.25b
23:59:  Okay, the new version of Raine is out, v0.25b, the "kiki kai kai release". There are 24 brand-spankin' new playable games supported, along with these changes:


Changes from Spindizzy:

Misc. News: EmuFAQ update
23:57:  The Scribe has updated his EMUFAQ. I can't tell anything about the version, because WinZip just simply refuses to work with me tonight. The file is in ZIP format, so you'll need to download it and open it.

EMUFAQ.

Misc. News: Telnet a Dreamcast?
23:39:  I was just browsing along over at Slashdot when I found an interesting article about how someone did a portscan on his Dreamcast, and then was able to connect to it.

"OK so today I was bored, and I did what anyone with a Dreamcast and a portscanner would do, I did a port scan on my Dreamcast. The results are interesting"

You can read the full text of the article or visit Slashdot.

Emulator News: DarcNES v990822 LinuxPPC
19:13:  Sephiroth has released a brand-new port for DarcNES, a port for LinuxPPC, using Gimp Toolkit (GTK). It's the same version as the latest released source by Nyef, a good start ;).

Emulator Release: RockNES 0.96
13:13:  RockNES 0.96 has been released, and here's what's new:

Emulator News: Nemu64 Site Updated with Screenshots and More
01:46:  The Nemu64 website has been updated with screenshots of ISS '98, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and Milo's Astrolanes. They have also started a mailing list, so you can get your Nemu64 news directly from the authors. If you're interested, go to the Nemu64 webpage.

Utility Release: Final Fantasy Spell Editor
00:52:  A new utility for Final Fantasy 1 on the NES has been released. This utility allows you to edit the spells on the game, like Cure, fire, life, etc.

You can download FFSE from the Facelift utility section.

Site News: UltraHLE GUI pictures released
00:22:  RealityMan has updated his page with some pictures of the new GUI for UltraHLE. One of them is from the main dialog, and the other is from the controller config. Take a look for yourself.

You can view them at the Official UltraHLE homepage.

Misc. News: Microsoft releases another security fix for Win95/98
00:18:  It's an absolute joke. Microsoft has to release another patch for the neverending streams of security holes in Windows. Now, just a suggestion to the Microsoft Windows development team: If you test your product well, you will not have these problems.

Anyway, the issue this time deals with telnet.exe's ability to let any malicious webmaster have the ability to do anything on a person's PC. All they have to do is visit their page. Some web browsers, such as the version of IE that comes with Win98 Second Edition, don't have these problems, but you have to pay money to get Windows 98 Second Edition. :P

Read about it on Microsoft's site.

Thanks to Retrogames for the news.

9/10/1999
Emulator Release: Snes9x v1.23 Linux and source
18:02:  A new version of the Snes9x port of Linux (libc6) has been released along with the v1.23 source for you developers and such. What's new:

Misc. News: Bad Dreamcast Discs
12:16:  Okay, so you know that the one thing that could go wrong with the Sega Dreamcast release is something. They almost made it without any trouble at all. Everyone went home with their Dreamcast and games happy.

When they got home, though, the games didn't work for a lot of people. The discs were bad, and wouldn't boot. So, something went wrong with yet another Sega console release. You have to almost feel sorry for Sega now. The games in particular that are bad are Sonic Adventure and Blue Stinger.

Read about it here:
ZDTV Article

Thanks to Peter Geleijns for the news.

Emulator Release: SNEeSe 0.36
11:47:  SNEeSe 0.36 has been released, and here's what's new:

Translation News: Sailor Moon RPG Finally Complete!
03:55:  After 2 years, this translations is finally done... I thought I would say, this was the first translation team i joined in 1997...however, about 12 people left abruptly.. I for one, am glad that they could finish the patch. Thanks go our from me to the Bi shoujo Senshi Translations team for getting it done. If you're an anime fan, or an RPG fan, this is a game to try out.

Download it off the Translations page.

Misc. News: Added another ZD-spc skin
00:02:  Thanks again to satsu for the skins, These ones are pretty cool, and are from the game Lupin III Insanity.

You can download the SPC player ZD-spc from the ZD-spc page.

And you can download SPC's for ZD-spc from the SPC archive.

9/9/1999
Misc. News: The Scribe's emulation timeline
23:11:  The Scribe has updated his emulation timeline again. You can read it in the articles section.

Thanks to the author of the document for the news.

Misc. News: Beam International makes classic computer system software freeware
20:09:  Beam International has made several old computer systems' software they have created public domain. I have added 18 Spectrum titles to ZD, with C64 and Amstrad CPC titles on the way. Very special thanks to Giordano "EoS" Caputi for this news.

Also, a Virtual Boy section has been added, with a single Pong game residing there for now.

The Spectrum ROMs can be obtained from the Spectrum Free ROMs area, and the Virtual Boy one can of course be obtained in the Virtual Boy Free ROMs area.

Emulator Release: MameGrip 0.36 beta 4
15:35:  A version of MAME called MameGrip has been released. It gives MAME support for the Gravis Gamepad Pro, Xterminator, and Stinger, along with better support for the Sidewinder. If you don't want to mess with Grip keysets, go get MameGrip at the MAME page. Thanks to FF Fanatic for the news.

Misc. News: Microsoft building technology for a console
14:29:  Yes, you read that right. Microsoft is making a new console, currently code-named the X-Box. Scary, eh? You can read about it here:

Seattle Times article

Misc. News: Big day for video gaming
13:37:  Today's a pretty big day for gamers, as two ultra-hyped products are coming out today:

1. Sega Dreamcast. If you didn't reserve one, there's no chance of getting it. ;)

2. Final Fantasy 8. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy, even though I probably won't because I never reserved one. (If you get FF8 today, tell me what you think of it! I've heard good and bad, so I want to see what the majority of people think.)

The stores are going to be packed!

Emulator Release: EMU+ 0.36 beta 4
10:29:  EMU+ 0.36 beta 4 has been released, and here's what's new besides the normal MAME features:

Emulator Release: MGX 0.11
10:15:  MGX 0.11 has been released. I don't know what's new, but you can get it at the SMS/GG page.

Emulator Release: Z26 1.35
10:02:  Z26 1.35 has been released, and here's what's new:

Some very minor changes to video mode code, but the main purpose of this release is to bring z26 into conformance with the terms and conditions of the GNU Public License (GPL). I should probably have done this back around version 0.88 when I included Ron Fries' TIAsound code, but unfortunately I didn't actually read the license until a couple of days ago. Sorry.

Get it at the Atari 2600 page.

Emulator News: UltraHLE Site Updated
09:52:  The UltraHLE site has announced that version 1.1.0 will use OpenGL for graphics. There is also talk of a non-Intel version and ports to other systems like MacOS or UNIX. I suggest you go to the site a nd read it for yourself. Thanks to hyperX for the news.

9/8/1999
Emulator Release: FCE Ultra 0.17
21:03:  FCE Ultra 0.17 has been released, and here's what's new:

Translation News: Challenge!
19:05:  Both the Super Mario Bros. 3 and Metroid Challenge hacks have been updated.

Grab them off the Hacks page.

Translation News: Suicidal Translations...?
18:41:  The Suicidal Translations homepage has been updated. Changes include screenshots of the Monster Maker intro, introduction of 3 new staff members and the biggest announcement, the translation of Sweet Home as a joint project between Gaijin Productions and Suicidal Translations.

Suicidal Translations

Emulator Release: TuxNES v0.70
17:42:  A new NES emulator for Unix/X11 was just released. It is based on Nestra, with the following great features:

Misc. News: Computer problems already?
17:23:  After receiving a few emails asking about the "9/9/99 bug", I thought I'd share that information and hope it doesn't add to the Y2K hysteria.

Any programming guru knows that the sequence "9999" is used to signify the end of a file, or end of data transmission. Well, some computers will see 9999 and interpret it as the end of the file, depending on the way it stores the data. Will it affect al l the computers and cause the destruction of the world as we know it? Nah...I think we'll still be around the season premier of E.R.

If anyone has further information or a correction on this, send me an email.

Emulator Release: fMSX Unix v2.1
17:23:  I'm sorry for the lateness of this, it seemed I was having trouble uploading everything. Anyway, as in the previous update for the Windows version, here's what's new:

Emulator Release: MAME32 v0.36 Beta 4
16:53:  The Win32 port of MAME has arrived. Here's what's new as far as this port is concerned:

• Improved version detection of the required common control dll
  
• Added Minimize/Maximize code
  
• Removed joystick config from UI
  
• Added support for multiple OPL chips (aka FM synthesis)
  
• Removed profile option from the UI
  
• Games that have 'The' in front of their names are alphabetized with the 'The' trailing
  
• Updated DirectSound code
  
• Y2K certified

9/7/1999
Misc. News: A request for help
18:56:  Angelo of Ultra 64 is looking for VC++ programmers with knowledge of the N64 architecture to help out with some coding. If you're interested, drop by the Ultra 64 site.

Emulator News: UltraHLE returns?
17:38:  RealityMan announced that development on v1.1.0 of UltraHLE, the first N64 emulator to run commercial games smoothly, will be continued. You may remember that the release of v1.0.0 caused such an upset in the emulation community that the site was taken d own and the emulator progress halted just a few hours after its initial release. Quote from the home page:

Many of you have asked the question, Why restart the UltraHLE site after seven months away and why just as a support site? Well, as some of you speculated there was more to it. With Version 1.0.0 of UltraHLE we waited until we felt it was good enough to release before we annouced it to the world. As many of you may remember it created quite a stir and we were suprised by the ensuing 'feeding frenzy' of the rom beggers etc, hence the project was discontinued. There are now many more N64 emulators avai lable now that run commercial software so it seems the right time to let you know that UltraHLE v1.1.0 is currently in development. At this point in time I am not releasing any specifications or promising any release dates, this is just to let you know that development is currently under way again. As the development continues I will post more information for you.

Keep checking back with ZD and the UltraHLE page for more info!

Translation News: Two new releases
14:52:  A new version of MetEdit just came out. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: MSKISS 0.2.3
12:29:  MSKISS 0.2.3 has been released. There's quite a bit of new stuff, so you'll have to check it out on a separate page. You can get MSKISS at the MSX page.

Emulator Release: fMSX 2.1
12:10:  fMSX 2.1 has been released, and here's what's new:

Emulator Release: MacMAME 0.36 beta 4
11:53:  The Macinotsh version of MAME has been brought up to date with the latest official version. You can get MacMAME at the Mac Multi-Arcade page.

Emulator Release: A/PMAME 0.36 beta 4
09:52:  Rodmius Prime has updated his AMD and Pentium optimized versions of MAME. They are now up to date with the official version. You can get them at the MAME page.

9/6/1999
Site News: Applications no longer being accepted
22:43:  I have started the interview process for my replacement as Macintosh sections maintainer, which means applications for this position will no longer be accepted. Hopefully in a week or so you'll see a new friendly face upkeeping the Mac sections.

Interview News: Kinox interviews Azuco
20:53:  Kinox has interviewed Azuco, author of AX68k and A-Saturn. You can read it here.

Thanks to MGandhi for the news.

Site News: Save archives updated
17:58:  Updated: NSF, NSM, SPC, ZMV, ZST archives.

Translation News: Sailor Moon RPG Release date...
16:43:  BST has updated their page again, with news that the patch will be released this friday, which happens to be Sailor Mercury's birthday.

Bishoujo Senshi Translations

Misc. News: Phantom Staffer Guesses
16:01:  Wow! Many of you have made some great guesses as to who I am. Guesses from the Admin of the servers (Lev) to Sardu. Some of my personal favorite guesses were:

Misc. News: EmuFAQ update
15:33:  The Scribe has released part of a draft of his EmuFAQ to the public. It's pretty interesting, but it's a long read.

EmuFAQ - In Defense of Programming Freedom

Emulator Release: JFF 0.24
00:03:  Roberto Ventura has released version 0.24 of his multi-arcade emulator for Windows9x, Just For Fun. Here's what's new:

9/5/1999
Utility Release: NeoJukeBox v2.21a Released!
21:22:  NeoJukeBox, a utility that allows you to play Neo Geo sound/music files on Windows 9x, has been released. Here's what's new in this version:

Emulator Release: Snes9x v1.19a for HP-UX.
20:15:  A Snes9x v1.19a port for HP-UX has been released. There's nothing left to say, is there?

Emulator Release: Sope v0.03.1
20:12:  Sope, an open-sourced PSX emulator for Unix has [finally] been updated. Thanks to Faraway for demanding that I post about it ;). What's new:

Site News: New Spectrum emulators for java section
19:48:  With much thanks to SausageLord, another section of emulators written with java has come to life. 2 Spectrum (TS2000) emulators have been added: Jasper and Spectrum for Java. If anyone is familiar with emulators written in java, contact us and bring us up to speed.

Emulator Release: New GB emulator
18:14:  A new [Color] Game Boy emulator has been released, entitled Hash. It's a little buggy and it doesn't have sound, but otherwise, it's pretty good.

Get it from the Game Boy page. Thanks to Shih Tzu for the news.

Emulator News: SNES9x (Windows) news
17:32:  The SNES9x Developers' Journal states that Direct3D support will probably be in the next version of SNES9x for Windows, as Glide has been causing incompatibility problems with different 3D cards.

Thanks to Drunken for the news.

Site News: Announcing a new section!
13:31:  If you take a peek at the sidebar with all the various places to visit on ZD, you might notice a new section entitled "Emulators for Java". Right now, we only have 1 Nintendo emulator, but I'm hoping more will be attempted or be discovered.

Misc. News: And the new changes to the Blizzard site are about...
13:23:  WarCraft III! Yes, that's right, WarCraft III. There are a few early screenshots, some wallpapers, and a story summary on Blizzard's new WarCraft III page. If the storyline seems familiar, it's because that was supposed to be the storyline for WarCraft Ad ventures, which later got scrapped.

Check it out at Blizzard's website.

Site News: Life Goes On
11:03:  I'm sure some of you have noticed that my updates have become few and far between in recent weeks. You also may have noticed that other staff members have been doing Macintosh updates. With school, work, and all the other stuff I do working against me, I' ve had very little free time, and as such, very little time for ZD. Therefore, I have decided to resign my position as Macintosh sections maintainer. I'd like to apologize to everybody about my poor upkeeping of those pages as of late, and announce that m y position is open, waiting to be filled. Before you e-mail Zophar asking about this job, take into account these requirements:

Translation News: The Homepage of Kings
07:29:  Lina-chan and Nuku-Nuku, famous for their work with Seiken Densetsu 3, and Magic Knight Rayearth now have their own homepage! 2 New translations are listed, one that hasnt even been announced, Tenchi Muyo RPG!.

Lina-chan and Nuku-Nuku's homepage

Translation News: Bishoujo Senshi Translations!
07:20:  Bishoujo Senshi Translations had updated their page, with excellent news!

Yes, we've moved again, and this time for good, hopefully! Welcome to terminaldogma.net, which is currently under massive stages of construction, but-- ah, forget, I know what you all came here to hear. The full, complete, 100% finished translation pat ch will be available VERY SOON! That's right, it's only a matter of a few days now.. Check back here soon!

The Sailor Moon RPG Translation screenshots can be seen here.

Emulator News: Does bleem! run Final Fantasy VIII?
04:18:  I've been receiving e-mails from people who (ahem) have acquired an early copy of Final Fantasy VIII. These (unnamed) people have been reporting that bleem! does indeed run Final Fantasy VIII. While I have seen screenshots, I would like to let everyone kn ow that this is 100% NOT confirmed, but I felt this should be posted so that I don't receive another 4,000 e-mails about it. ;)

Misc. News: Big change to happen at blizzard.com
04:13:  I'm not totally sure what's going on, but something big is going to happen today to www.blizzard.com. Blizzard created the WarCraft & StarCraft series, as well as Diablo. Maybe Diablo II? I guess we'll see what happens. Thanks to evilpaul13 for the news.

Emulator Release: Snes9x (Windows) 1.22a
01:30:  A new release of Snes9x for Windows, a portable SNES emulator by Jeremy Koot and Gary Henderson, is now available. There's a minor change in Snes9x since 1.22:

Not much changed in this release, except there's now a README file and Voodoo 3dfx support is fixed for Sieken Densetsu 3.

Thanks to all who mailed in. You can download Snes9x (Windows) 1.22a from the SNES emulators page.

9/4/1999
Site News: Zophar's Diary: System Configuring galore!
23:55:  Hey everyone, Zophar here: just in time for another installment of the world's most non-secret journal, "Zophar's Diary"! I hope you all enjoy this latest segment.

I've been busy these last few days using up the end days of my Employee Discount at Best Buy. Yep, it's time for me to move on, since I start college in less than a week. To stay at Best Buy while going to college would have been suicide on my part, so I decided to leave. But they know I'll be back. ;)

I put together a computer system for my brother. It consists of both old and new parts that I've gathered over the last few months: Celeron 300a, Abit BH6, 32 megs pc66 ram, Diamond 2000 pro, AWE64... nothing fancy. It's also the first time I've ever put together a computer from scratch... go me! :) Comments can be sent to me if you so choose.

I also did a little upgrading of my own. I said goodbye to the last remainining piece of the computer that I owned when Zophar's Domain first started (unless you count my disk drive, hah!). My old Digital 15" monitor is now my brother's. I went and bought myself a Radius 17" Trinitron (r) .25mm Aperture Grille monitor for only $225.00 (don't you love discounts?)! I love it to death, what can I say?

I finally have my Pentium III-500 & Intel SE-400BX2 running stable (the Abit BH6 didn't seem to like the P3 too much). I've also finally upgraded to Windows98 (SE), so all I need to do now is upgrade that 64 MB to 128!

I'm still checking Faxanadu submissions... if I have to stare at one more of those NSMs, I'm going to go crazy! Once again, thanks to everyone who submitted. There will be a winner announced shortly. The next contest will be ZMV, so everyone had better brush up on their SNES playing skills. :)

ZD would like to welcome Chojin back into the ZD fray. Taichou has stepped down as the Rom Hack Board maintainer, and Chojin is his replacement. We feel that these changes will be to everyone's benefit.

I'll be doing some updates tonight, so that we're kept up to date. We'll eventually get to DarkStalk's 200 line e-mails, keeping us informed of all the broken links on ZD. Wheeee. ;)

Well, that's about it for this night's installment of the Diary. Remember, ZD is absolutely zero, zilch, nada, goose-egg, without the support of everyone who comes to visit us from all around the globe. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Emulator Release: Vice 1.1
23:00:  A new version of Vice, a Commodore 64 emulator, has been released. Here's what's new:


General changes

Misc. News: Prodigy Classic goes down in flames
22:24:  Prodigy Classic, the original online service, will be turning off its servers on October 1, due to problems with Y2K. Some of you may remember using Prodigy; it was never as pretty as AOL, but it certainly got the job done. Goodbye Prodigy Classic, we'll miss you...

Time Digital article on the shutdown of Prodigy Classic.

Interview News: Kinox interviews Antiriad and Gridle
20:11:  Kinox has interviewed Antiriad, of Raine, and Gridle, from MAMEdev and the official MAME page. Go check it out!

Thanks to MGandhi for the news.

Emulator Release: MGX 0.10a
19:56:  A new version of MGX, the Sega Master System/Game Gear emulator, has been released. Here's what's new:

Emulator Release: gbemu 0.44.2
19:51:  This little Win9x Gameboy emulator, gbemu, has been updated. I'm not sure what's new, though. You can get it from the Gameboy page.

Emulator Release: MAME 0.36 beta 4
19:20:  MAME 0.36 beta 4 has been released, with lots of changes. Pick it up at the MAME page.

By the ways, this time the file is completely uploaded. heh :>

Misc. News: Tired of Windows 98's IE integration?
19:09:  I came across this great program called 98lite the other day. It lets you install Windows 98 without the Internet Explorer integration! I installed this today, and I'm amazed at the results! You can get it from the 98lite official page, which is here.

Frontend News: Calliope 1.04 Released
18:52:  Calliope is an amazing MAME frontend. It's simple yet packed with eyecandy. This is what I like to see in a frontend! You can grab it here.

Misc. News: More on the new Game Boy
16:43:  IGN Pocket has posted a big FAQ about the upcoming Game Boy, you can read the article at this page.

Thanks to SolonoloS for the news.

Misc. News: The Scribe's emulation timeline
02:21:  The Scribe has released an new revision of his emulation timeline document. You can read it in the articles section.

Thanks to the author for the news.

Site News: Poll update!
00:51:  Yes, I'm updating the poll again. Now, I have some good ideas, so look forward to them.

Here's the last poll:

9/3/1999
Misc. News: Chrono Cross battle scene movie
23:59:  Even quicker than emufreak could speak, someone corrected us. On Videogames.com, there are actually some movies of the battle scene.

You can find it here.

Thank you Daniel Wood for the news.

Emulator Release: NeoMAME 0.36 Beta 3 revised.
23:48:  Okay, so I haven't updated much lately. So sue me -- after I get it all set up the way I want it, I'll be able to do my updates WHILE at school.

Anyway, enough about me -- it's all about NeoMAME. A new revision of the program, a version of MAME specifically for Neo-Geo games, has been released. Here's what's new:

These drivers have improved GRAPHICS:
-------------------------------------

Emulator Release: Hu-Go 1.01
23:42:  Hu-Go 1.01 has been released, here's what's new:

Misc. News: Chrono Cross movie
23:07:  UPDATED: Square of Japan has posted a movie of Chrono Cross with lots of screenshots and pictures of the characters on their Chrono Cross page. The graphics look amazing! I can't wait until there's actually a movie of a battle scene. I hope that it doesn't turn out to be a disappointment.

Thanks to The Dragon Keeper for the news. By the way, you'll need Flash to view the movie on the page, or you can download the same movie in QuickTime format.

Thanks to Kai for the correction.

Emulator News: Hu6280 page update
22:54:  The Hu6280 page has been updated again with more screenshots.

Thanks to JamSponge for the news!

Emulator News: RockNES will NOT be ported to the N64
16:32:  Fresh from the RockNES page, here's some bad news:

"I'm sorry to say, that I will not be able to port RockNES to the n64, not now, and not ever. I've decided to port DarcNES instead, because it is easier to port. I've found several incompatibilities (...)"

In case you couldn't tell, that was written by JL_Picard. You can get RockNES and DarcNES at the NES page.

Emulator News: Magic Engine stuff
10:44:  The Magic Engine site has been moved to its own domain. The TG16 page has been updated to reflect the move.

In a related story, version 1.0 of ME is being worked on, which will be for not only DOS, but also for Macintoshes with the PowerPC chip in them, and a Windows (!) version.

Keep your eyes peeled for a new release soon.

Misc. News: Nintendo announces new portable
10:11:  UPDATED: Nintendo has announced that they will be developing software for their new Game Boy system in conjunction with Mobile 21, a joint venture between Konami and Nintendo.. It will be a 32-bit system with Internet capabilities through a mobile phone. With a digital camera accessory, gamers will be able to see the face of the person they are playing against. (!) It will also be compatible with the original GB and GBC. It is scheduled for launch in Japan sometime next August and will debut in the US before the end of 2000.

Sounds cool! Thanks to Mark Chisholm for the information.

Thanks to Cracker Jack for the correction.

9/2/1999
Emulator Release: A-Saturn 0.14e
19:33:  A new version of A-Saturn has been released. I don't have a 'whatsnew' list, so you'll have to figure out what's new by yourself. You can get it at the Sega Saturn page. Thanks to tc for the news.

Emulator News: Nemu64 Homepage is Ready
14:54:  The Nemu64 webpage has been redesigned, and its back with a flashy new format. As for a new release, its still being worked on and should be ready in a few weeks. For now, go check out the page. You can get the latest version of Nemu64 at the N64 page.

Emulator Release: Sunset version 5/05/99
12:15:  A new beta of Sunset has been released, and the compatibility continues to rise. Between the 5/05/99 and the 5/15/99 betas, Sunset supports 67 commercial games. You can get this new beta at the N64 page and check the compatibility at the Moonlit Coalition homepage.

Emulator Release: Snes9X 1.2.3 Mac
11:38:  Snes9X 1.2.3 for the Mac has been released. I don't have a 'whatsnew' list for it, but I hear that SuperFX works now. You can get it at the Mac SNES page.

Emulator Release: NLMSX 0.10
09:53:  NLMSX 0.10 has been released, and here's what's new:

Translation News: Wowee
05:12:  Tonight was update mania, too many to count.

Visit the Translations, Hacks and Translation Utility pages for updates.

Emulator News: Vnes Continues
01:24:  Vnes, the only NES emulator for the N64, released months ago by jl_picard, has been taken over by the RockNES team. NES World has posted some screen shots of the interface. Thanks to Brett for the news.

NES World

Misc. News: Screen Shot Site
00:54:  I've just been informed about a new site that is collecting screen shots for many games, across many platforms. They have a nice collection (251) up so far, and growing rapidly. If you'ld like to help, just e-mail the webmaster shots in the RAW format captured by the emulator. For more information, visit their site:

Game Pics

Site News: Brand new way to reach us!
00:52:  I invite everyone to take a gander at our new contact page, which has the news submit form on it, as well as some guidelines on what and what not to mail us. We've also moved our email addresses to the bottom of that page, and put up some helpful info on what each staffer specifically does.

Remember, getting email sent directly to us is very flattering, but news and public information gets processed much more faster when you use the submit news form.

Also, interesting fact for you all: while working on the text, IE, and Netscape enhanced versions of ZD, I've noticed that the most used browser is IE 4.x....neat:)

Emulator Release: Z80 Stealth 0.30
00:18:  Z80 Stealth 0.30 has been released, and here's what's new:

9/1/1999
Emulator Release: MacMAME 0.36 beta 3
23:54:  MacMAME has been brought into sync with the DOS version of MAME. You can get it at the Mac multi-arcade emulators page.

Misc. News: Solar Wars
23:48:  Chris Covell is working on a game called Solar Wars for the NES, which is like Scorched Earth for the PC or Dome Wars for the Mac, if you've ever played either of them. He put some screenshots up of the game at his site, which you can visit here.

Emulator Release: Speccyal v0.61 Released!
21:43:  Speccyal, a Sinclair Spectrum Emulator for Windows, has been released. Here's what's new in v0.61:

Emulator Release: SNES9x Windows 1.22 released
18:55:  A new version of SNES9x was released. Here's what's new:

Site News: Save archives updated
06:54:  Updated: CHT, NSM, SPC, STA, ZMV, ZST archives.

Site News: Zophar's Diary: The Late Edition
01:27:  Hello everyone, Zophar here with a late edition of The Diary. I'm sure you'll all like some of the things that this update has to do with.

First of all, I've replaced my Celeron 300a (at 375mhz) with a PIII-500. Hey, I got a really great discount on it, so don't say I got ripped off. ;) I've noticed that when it's really hot down here in the computer room, the PIII-500 becomes unstable. Gues s the rumours about the heat problems with the P3 are true after all. Then again, it's nice to run every emulator at 60 FPS, bwuahaha.

NSM Contest #4 is closed. No more entries will be accepted. I received quite a few Faxanadu submissisons, and I'll be reveiwing them all over the course of the week. I'll try to have the winner announced by Sunday. All I can say is, it's going to be close . VERY close...

ZD would like to welcome back emufreak into the Domain. He has returned after a 6-week hiatus. He has returned as an assistant updater, so updates will be swifter to ZD than ever before.

Sam Michaels (SwampGas), our head of security and CGI here at ZD, is hard at work on a new version of ZD for lynx viewers, or people who just want a text-only version of ZD, but want more than the news-only page. We here at ZD are all looking forward to t he new page , as we feel it will benefit everyone, and also create for faster loading times for those people who don't want to spend time loading the graphical aspects of ZD.

Who the HECK is that Phantom Staffer? Some of the names that have been thrown around:

InVerse
Steve Grimett
Icer Addis
Bjorn Astrom
Steve Case
Ubu
The C.E.O of ZipLink.net

... and more! But just who IS he? Send me an e-mail and tell me who you think it is, because I'm stumped!

That's about it for this late night edition of Zophar's Diary. Remember: we're nothing without your support. Thanks for visiting ZD!

Emulator Release: VGB 1.6
00:34:  A few days ago, we reported on VGB 1.6's release for UNIX. We neglected to mention that the Windows version was also released to registered users! Here's the full list of what's new: