openMSX 18.0 released

Par Tolvatar

Paragon (1043)

13-06-2022, 18:03

Good to see the improvements.
Hope some day i see what i expect for so long.

Par gdx

Enlighted (6442)

14-06-2022, 12:12

Having repaired my PC, I installed it.

Quote:

Together with openMSX an updated version of Catapult, the user-friendly GUI, was also released. No functional changes in Catapult however.

The GUI could be really user friendly if expansion cartridges were selectable in the same way as a Rom cartridge like Nekolauncher for Mac. With Catapult, it's complicated to insert a cartridge into the slot we want, and it's even impossible if we use one, or worse two expanders slots. This GUI gives the impression that it was not developed for an MSX emulator. It doesn't even provide that an MSX can have more than 2 slots. It's a shame for an emulator that claims advanced emulation.

Par tfh

Prophet (3430)

14-06-2022, 14:36

gdx wrote:

Having repaired my PC, I installed it.

Quote:

Together with openMSX an updated version of Catapult, the user-friendly GUI, was also released. No functional changes in Catapult however.

The GUI could be really user friendly if expansion cartridges were selectable in the same way as a Rom cartridge like Nekolauncher for Mac. With Catapult, it's complicated to insert a cartridge into the slot we want, and it's even impossible if we use one, or worse two expanders slots. This GUI gives the impression that it was not developed for an MSX emulator. It doesn't even provide that an MSX can have more than 2 slots. It's a shame for an emulator that claims advanced emulation.

Although I'm also not a big fan of the GUI, you can add a slot expander in catapult and add more cartridges. Not ideal, but most of the time does the job.

Par gdx

Enlighted (6442)

14-06-2022, 15:00

I'm not saying we can't add a slot expander but it is complicated to insert a cartridge into the slot we want. It's even impossible in several case and especially if we want use two expanders.

Par Udderdude

Supporter (13)

14-06-2022, 19:19

Nice update.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

14-06-2022, 20:17

Catapult hasn't been developed for years. Use the built in OSD menu for such things. It allows all the things you mentioned.

Par moldov31337

Expert (106)

14-06-2022, 23:47

Guys, thanks a lot for your commitment. Every project I do for MSX could not have been existed without OpenMSX and OpenMSX Debugger.

Par manolito74

Paragon (1300)

16-06-2022, 00:13

Oh..., what a pity...! I was expectant to see, oficially, the TSX Emulation in the OpenMSX.

Par Vahan

Expert (101)

16-06-2022, 00:17

Keep it up. You're finishing up where Blue MSX left off. I wonder how many more versions until perfect emulation? I can most certainly wait until then.

Par Vampier

Prophet (2415)

16-06-2022, 22:31

manolito74 wrote:

Oh..., what a pity...! I was expectant to see, oficially, the TSX Emulation in the OpenMSX.

Let me put it this way: openMSX will NEVER have TSX emulation. You can quote me on this.

Now you never have to be disappointed again because your expectations have been set.

Par Vampier

Prophet (2415)

16-06-2022, 22:27

Vahan wrote:

Keep it up. You're finishing up where Blue MSX left off. I wonder how many more versions until perfect emulation? I can most certainly wait until then.

openMSX and blueMSX were developed in parallel and we worked together - right now openMSX is far beyond where blueMSX stood 12 years ago when it was abandoned (by lack of a better word)

Par Bengalack

Paladin (805)

18-06-2022, 17:14

Awesome news!!! Keep it up. openmsx is the home of msx development. New slogan right there

(btw: any focus on a new release of the debugger)?

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

18-06-2022, 18:40

The debugger has never had a release... But you can just get the current state... At any time.

Par Gradius2

Hero (657)

20-06-2022, 08:43

CG on new version.

About Sega SG-1000, it cannot run Taiwan ROMs (gets looping boot), only japanese ROM are supported?

I even tried the last build (post v18), and doesn't works too.

Btw, I finally discovered how many MSX were sold after all those years: a bit more than 4M units.

Par Tolvatar

Paragon (1043)

20-06-2022, 16:44

Vampier wrote:

manolito74 wrote:

Oh..., what a pity...! I was expectant to see, oficially, the TSX Emulation in the OpenMSX.

Let me put it this way: openMSX will NEVER have TSX emulation. You can quote me on this.

Now you never have to be disappointed again because your expectations have been set.

Sad to hear that.
Don't know why, but i'm not going to ask.

On other side, good work on the fixes for this new version

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

21-06-2022, 07:51

Gradius2 wrote:

Btw, I finally discovered how many MSX were sold after all those years: a bit more than 4M units.

How did you get to this number? And why post it in this thread?

Par manolito74

Paragon (1300)

23-06-2022, 01:56

Vampier wrote:

manolito74 wrote:

Oh..., what a pity...! I was expectant to see, oficially, the TSX Emulation in the OpenMSX.

Let me put it this way: openMSX will NEVER have TSX emulation. You can quote me on this.

Now you never have to be disappointed again because your expectations have been set.

Hi,

Sorry to hear this drastical decision.

Why did you say that? I think OpenMSX is an Open Emulator, an Emaulator that "aims to be perfect". TSX Forma is justa another Format. In my humble opinion, all the Formats can "live" perfectly together: CAS, WAV, TSX.

The TSX Format is a evolution of older format, like CAS. The CAS Format, isn't perfect. Games need to be patched often in order to work in any Emulator.

It's justa a way to progress and advance, open the mind and open new possibilities. As you know OpenMSX can manage perfectly the TSX Format with minimal modifications. In fact, there is an unofficial for that supports that. So... why not an OFFICIAL VERSIÓN of the OpenMSX with TSX Format?

Following your way of thinking the CAS Format shouldn't be supported for OpenMSX or any other Emulator? In the same way that one day the CAS Format appears some years ago the TSX Format has been released. There is a definition of the format and there is almos 500 TSX Files available to download.

MSX-VR supports that Format, Retro Virtual Machine supports also the TSX Format. The TSX Format is a solid Format with a lot of possibilities. So... why to deny the reality...? Why to refuse in this radical way the TSX?

All the formas can live together and the User'll decide what format wants to use.

It's just that. This is not a "war" ("a ver quién la tiene más larga...") It's just a question of evolution and be open minded.

I know that you prefer the WAV format. But unfortunately, we (you) have to recognize that even your WAV support is quite far to be perfecto. MAME Emulators in most of the cases manage better the WAV format and a lot of games in WAV format that can't be loaded in Open MSX load perfectly in the MAME Emulator.

I repeat... this is not a wor. It's just to evolve. And the TSX Team has always open their arms, their hands in order to collaborate with the Open MSX authors.

Thank you very much indeed.

Best regards. ;-)

Par manolito74

Paragon (1300)

23-06-2022, 02:08

Ps. In fact, we are working now in a GUI to manage the MakeTSX in order to create the TSX Files easier. With tools like that, with Emulators that support the TSX, etc., more Users'll be interested in the TSX Format.

So thanks for your great work and for your Emulator and please, reconsider your decision and your way of thinking. It's a question to "add" and not to "substract".

Of course is my humble opinion and sincerely I don't understand your radical (and drastic) answer to my comment. I think even the way to answer my is a little bit "aggresive", don't you think so? (at least is how I have felt) I think all the time I have been polite and respectful when I have given my opinion. But don't worry.. of course I'am not "angried" or "upset" with you. It's just my personal perception. ;-)

I'm sure you are smart enough to understand what I try to mean. ;-)

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

23-06-2022, 07:49

manolito74 wrote:

But unfortunately, we (you) have to recognize that even your WAV support is quite far to be perfecto. MAME Emulators in most of the cases manage better the WAV format and a lot of games in WAV format that can't be loaded in Open MSX load perfectly in the MAME Emulator.

Please name a few examples of such wav files which load on real MSX but not in openMSX.

Par manolito74

Paragon (1300)

24-06-2022, 05:12

Hello, Manuel,

I was talking about that some WAV Files loaded in the MAME Emulator but not in the Open MSX Emulator.

Best regards.

Par wouter_

Hero (535)

24-06-2022, 08:48

manolito74 wrote:

I was talking about that some WAV Files loaded in the MAME Emulator but not in the Open MSX Emulator.

Yes, we understood that. But can you name some concrete examples? Because all such files we looked at in the past turned out to also not load correctly on various real MSX machines.

Par Pablibiris

Paragon (1834)

24-06-2022, 18:07

Waiting for the Imulilla's version

Par Vampier

Prophet (2415)

27-06-2022, 21:41

“I want TZX support in openMSX”

Why?

“……. Silence”

No one gives a damn about TZX - I certainly don’t.

Here is my wish list of format supports before TZX:bin/cue, chd, iso, VHD support

Par ro

Scribe (5063)

27-06-2022, 22:07

Not vhs?

Par Tolvatar

Paragon (1043)

28-06-2022, 12:51

Vhd would be great.
About TSX, well, It would be great also but this was discused un other threads already.
In short (in my opinion), tsx has advantages over cas (more fidelity over original tape) and weak points (cas is more simple format.
Same if you compare with WAV.
But i'm not an expert, just a tape collector trying to preserve my collection.
What i find in my work are many CAS files overdumped or bad dumped, many of the wavs i tried don't load (real hardware) i suposse due to incorrect dumps. But i couldnt find a tsx not working on real machine when loaded with my TSX Duino

Par Tolvatar

Paragon (1043)

28-06-2022, 12:56

Correction. I could not load some games on some machines due to memory slots problems. But those are programming problems present in some games

Par mth

Champion (507)

28-06-2022, 14:33

Gradius2 wrote:

About Sega SG-1000, it cannot run Taiwan ROMs (gets looping boot), only japanese ROM are supported?

Some Taiwanese ROMs work fine on a plain SG-1000, but several others require a RAM expansion cartridge which we don't emulate yet. You can work around this by editing "share/machines/Sega_SG-1000.xml" and under "Main RAM", change "1024" into "8192".

Par imulilla

Rookie (29)

02-07-2022, 10:44

Hello, I don't understand why you say that nobody wants TZX support, one thing is that you don't want to implement it and another thing is to deny that people are asking for it.

Nor am I going to go into whether it is a suitable format for preservation or not, but it is true that people are using it because it is a small format like .CAS and can include non-standard blocks, so there is no need to patch loaders , leaving the software as it was originally.

I am not going to continue with the topic of asking you to add it because you have already made it very clear that you are not going to do it and it seems fair to me because the emulator is yours and nobody has to demand anything from you, especially since it is an unpaid job.
Regarding the other formats, anything that improves emulation and ease of use is welcome.

Par encore

Supporter (12)

03-07-2022, 14:51

Great to hear of a new OpenMSX-version. At the Internet Archive there are a few emscripten-based versions of emulators like MAME, DOSBOX, VICE and I'm sure some more - in a project called Emularity so that it's possible to run software directly in the browser. I wonder if that is also the case (or if anyone is working on it) of OpenMSX to be able to run MSX things? Otherwise it would surely be the best choice of MSX-emulator. :)

Par saccopharynx

Master (175)

05-07-2022, 00:18

Vampier wrote:

“I want TZX support in openMSX”

Why?

“……. Silence”

No one gives a damn about TZX - I certainly don’t.

Here is my wish list of format supports before TZX:bin/cue, chd, iso, VHD support

No one? Why do you generalise? "Only" say that you do not give a damn and that is it!!!

Par saccopharynx

Master (175)

05-07-2022, 00:42

imulilla wrote:

Hello, I don't understand why you say that nobody wants TZX support, one thing is that you don't want to implement it and another thing is to deny that people are asking for it.

Nor am I going to go into whether it is a suitable format for preservation or not, but it is true that people are using it because it is a small format like .CAS and can include non-standard blocks, so there is no need to patch loaders , leaving the software as it was originally.

I am not going to continue with the topic of asking you to add it because you have already made it very clear that you are not going to do it and it seems fair to me because the emulator is yours and nobody has to demand anything from you, especially since it is an unpaid job.
Regarding the other formats, anything that improves emulation and ease of use is welcome.

One of the most frustrating things in regard to adding support to TSX is how contradictory some of the "strong" arguments against are. One of the "strong" ones has always been the time and effort that the developers have to put into it. OK, I understand that, and in that case, I suppose that adding support to "SG-1000" was "totally effortless" and took no time at all. There is perhaps an engine powered by AI that can read minds and delivers what someone wishes for, while sitting by the pool and drinking beer (making no efforts, of course). Who knows!!!

In my modest opinion, supporting "SG-1000" in an MSX emulator is much more controversial than adding support to TSX.

I am going to rephrase some words I previously read: "I do not give a damn about SG-1000 - I certainly don’t". Just because the console is powered by Z80?

Par mth

Champion (507)

05-07-2022, 01:36

I added SG-1000 mainly as a steppping stone towards supporting Franky. It was relatively little effort because all the chips were already emulated (Z80, VDP, sound chip), so it was just a matter of connecting the joysticks and creating a memory map.

The problem with TSX is its complexity. It does a bit of everything and all in its own way. I see the appeal of a format that can archive metadata and art scans, but it would be a lot more appealing if it was built on top of existing formats. For example a cleaned up WAV for the sound, PNG for cover scans, XML for metadata and put that in a ZIP file with standardized file names.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

05-07-2022, 07:53

I think everything there is to say about it has already been said here: https://github.com/openMSX/openMSX/issues/1076

I don't understand why people start making useless remarks like "Hope some day i see what i expect for so long.". It has no relation to the release of this version. And that's all I will post about it in this thread.

Par imulilla

Rookie (29)

05-07-2022, 18:20

I wanted to reply to mth that the good thing about the TSX is not that it can have metadata (I even think it's the least important thing), but that you can
encode the blocks as "you want", the data inside the blocks is readable and that its size is a little larger than the information it contains (18 bytes per block plus another 18 for the header),
A clear example is the Mr Micro games (Aliens, Elite ..) that consist of a standard format loader block and the other non-standard format blocks (instead of using 2 stop bits they use 3); in TSX we just set those blocks with 3 stop bits by changing one byte of the block properties.
I won't go into more detail because I've already gone far enough from the subject of the thread, if you need more information about the format I'd be happy to help you

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

29-09-2022, 22:03

Weet iemand waarom er sprites (fighter and enemiers) en graphics missen in openmsx 18 wanneer ik de enhanced versie van Gradius start?
BlueMSX laat ze wel zien.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

29-09-2022, 22:57

Works fine here. Which MSX are you emulating? Do you use on-the-fly patching or do you use a pre-patched ROM?

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

29-09-2022, 23:30

Hi Manuel, a pre-patched rom on a NMS 8255 in openmsx.

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

29-09-2022, 23:29

I will use English in future posts.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

29-09-2022, 23:41

What's the sha1sum of the ROM?

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

01-10-2022, 18:22

SHA1 hash of Gradius. Nemesis (1986)(Konami)(JP)[a][RC-742].rom:
50efb7040339632cf8bddbc1d3eaae1fb2e2188f

SHA1 hash of Gradius. Nemesis (1986)(Konami)(JP)[a][RC-742][Enhanced].rom:
cb42bebed357fc949577bca39680f766533f4c65

I used the Nemesis - Gradius ENHANCED V101 IPS Patch.

Everything looks fine in BlueMSX, but in openMSX i am missing graphics.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

01-10-2022, 18:56

Can you post a screenshot of the problem?

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

01-10-2022, 19:12

Salamander smoothscrool version:
BlueMSX works fine.
openMSX no ship, missing graphics, no smoothscroll.

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

01-10-2022, 20:36

I does not depend on which machine is emulated.
In openMSX i have the same issue with FS-A1GT.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

01-10-2022, 20:04

Well, it all works fine here, so something strange is going on. Did you change any settings?

A screenshot or a video would still be very useful.

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

23-10-2022, 20:11

Hi Manuel,
It seemed that i had a graphics related issue with Space Manbow (GoodMSX rom version) as well.
It could be a video driver issue.
I tried openMSX 0.15.0 under Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS, which does not show the issue and is running fine.
I would like to have openMSX running fine under Windows 10 as well.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

24-10-2022, 07:55

Can you post a screenshot of the problem?

What is your video card and driver?

Can you try with the SDL renderer?

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

24-10-2022, 21:59

Changing to SDL only renderer did not resolve the issue.
I then tried both openmsx 16.0 CBIOS MSX2+ and openMSX 18.0 with Space Manbow.
Please see screenshots:

So for Space Manbow openMSX 16.0 seems fine compared to openMSX 18.0.

There is also an issue (missing graphics, sound etc. does work) with Gradius Smoothscroll for Both openMSX 16.0 and 18.0.

CPU: AMD FX-8150
Videocard: AMD Radeon HD 7850
Video Driver: AMD Radeon HD7800, Version 27.20.1034.6, Driver Date 21/08/2020
Mainboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX

Same Issues with the latest drivers from AMD:
radeon-software-adrenalin-2020-22.6.1-win10-win11-64bit-legacyasics-june23-2022-legacy

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

24-10-2022, 22:25

So I went further and installed an earlier version of openMSX:
openmsx-0.15.0-7-g8f7a14971-windows-vc-x64-bin

Renderer: SDLGL-PP Renderer
Scaler: 2xsimple
Accuracy: Pixel
Deinterlace: On
Limit sprites: On

The older version was showing the Accuracy setting in Catapult, which is not present in the later versions.
So according to the openMSX manual Accuracy must be set to pixel (which is logical).

So I tried that with openMSX 18.0 through set accuracy pixel in the console and yes, everything looks fine now.
I am not sure how and when my accuracy setting changed.
So problem solved. Thanks Manuel for your interest.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

25-10-2022, 00:32

Weird, pixel is the default...

Par exetron

Supporter (12)

25-10-2022, 21:38

It was not directly obvious to me because the accuracy setting has been removed from Catapult and it is also not available through the openMSX upperleft menu.
Can it be that settings are stored somewhere and the portable version does not overwrite these settings by itself if they already exist?

Par albs_br

Champion (499)

06-11-2022, 15:41

Update from version 16 to 18 (simply downloaded and override all files on openmsx directory), and now it won't work anymore:

Fatal error: Error in "Sony_HB-F1XD" machine: Wrong unicode value in keymap file

Any ideias?

Par albs_br

Champion (499)

06-11-2022, 15:53

I reinstalled from the MSI package and now it works just fine.

Par Manuel

Ascended (19691)

07-11-2022, 00:45

Looks like some data files were found that came from 16. Did you put some stuff in your home directory manually?

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