version 2.07 13-11-2005
=======================

update for looping sounds on scorpion1/2

also minor bugfix, if large prom names were used (>16 chars)
coin inputs could be overwritten resulting in coin acceptor not working

matrix board should be better synchronised with mainboard


version 2.06 05-11-2005
=======================

update for system85 games

games with over 32K did not work
memorymap was wrong !!


version 2.04 test (17-06-2004)
==============================

this is a test version !!

- sound emulation "nec uPD7759" improved.
- global soundcard "ymz280B" emulated.
- PSD tool rewritten, layouts can now be saved as PSD !!
  PSD tool is more interactive
- off bitmaps no longer needed.
- bug fixed in 'Quickstart' option
- stepper motor can be configured ('stepper' command).
  belts / dice-units can be 'simulated'
- horizontal reels/belts possible. ('hreel' command)
- multiple .gam script files in a single layout possible.
  can be used for different ROM versions of the same machine
  in a single layout.





version 2.02 (25-11-2003)
=========================

small update (again)

- improved motion blur, 
  reel speed is now updated at a fixed interval.
  This solves the problem with the dutch "Cops'n'Robbers" system85

- Alpha display scroll mode fixed. ( fixes problem with BFM "Club Grandslam" )
  (The display scrolled to soon )

  note: flash modes are not emulated yet.
        (never have been emulated, but they will be ...)

- Machine status now displays (usefull) info of current alphadisplay modes.

- wrongly dumped Scorpion2 Soundproms (2Mbit/4Mbit)
  are now detected and garbage is ignored. (no more samples of 0 bytes )

- screen updates use 'GDISetBatchLimit', should improve drawing speed.
  ( i can't realy see a difference, maybe you can . . .)



version 2.01 (12-11-2003)
=========================

small update

- 8 mechanical meters supported

- coin switch 00 is possible

- scorpion 1 and 2 have different status dialogs

- improved reel speed display (in status dialog)

- added motion blur to reels.
  motion blur is pre calculated, the current speed of the reel is used to decide
  if the reel needs to be blurred.
  note: because of the way the reel speed is determined.
        some games can have problems (system85)
        (reel is drawn blurred whilt it is not rotating)

- fixed bug in scrollmode vfd display.
  
- Better readable VFD graphics
  The characters are smaller so the dot ('.') is better visible



version 2.0 (16-08-2003)

- Layouts can be scrolled with the mousewheel and the pageup / pagedown keys.

- Communication between scorpion board and DotMatrixboard via the inputmux
  is emulated. In other words, Cops'n'robbers + Around the Town's dotmatrix features
  work !!!

- Bellfruit's Adaptive sound board is emulated.
  This is used in the karaoke feature in "around the town"

  still not 100%, but you can cheat by disableing the mic input 

- Reels can be scrolled (to assist with nudges).
  Use HOME / END to scroll or click on the reels.

- Errel's LED multiplexer board is emulated (used by clubspinner)

- Enabled tools again.
  LoadRAM / SaveRAM / reversed engineering tool.
  Improved disassembler.

- Status window for scorpion2 changed

- Loads of bugs removed



version 1.9 (13-07-2003)

- Bugs found:

   If a layout used the XSOUND command, the emulator could crash if you tried to quit.
   starting the emulator from the commandline 

- Extra setting: use accurate timing.
		 If selected, a more accurate CPU throttle is used.
                 ( WinAPI 'Sleep' tends to oversleep.
                   accurate timeing 'sleeps' less and spends more time in a busy loop
                   NOT good for multitasking !! )

- Pulldown menus work if title bar is turned off.

- added Euro coin cursors to COINNAME command

	10 = 2.00 Euro
	11 = 1.00 Euro
        12 = 0.50 Euro
        13 = 0.20 Euro
        14 = 0.10 Euro

	example:

		COINNAME 1 2_Euro 10 VK_F1

		coin 1 is named 2 Euro and uses the 2 euro cursor 
                F1 is used as a shortcut

- Reels can have a variable number of lamps ( max 8 )
  needed for eurocoin superstar


version 1.8 (14-06-2003)

- Videoboard emulation improved.
  The "Adder" board is now emulated in the same thread as the main MPU board.
  To avoid deadlock between the main MPU and the Adder board.

- Improved NEC uPD7759 emulation.
  on scorpion2 4 banks of 128K are emulated (used in 'Del Millions' )

- Machine sounds improved.
  Mech.Meter sounds can overlap
  Slide sounds can overlap.

- Memory leak found in WAV load routine (used for machine sounds).
  was harmless.

- Memory leak found in scorpion board emulation.
  This caused the emulator to crash if it was quit on some systems !!!

- Dot matrix board emulation improved.
  Busy line seems to be working better.
  The dot matrix board is still not 100%

- Alpha display colors can be changed.
- Coin names can be changed.
- Improved recognition of scrambled game ROMS.
- Improved show sound dialog.
- Improved scorpion2 coin acceptor (BCO mode supported Binary Combined Output)
- Improved reverse engineering tool,
  Could lock up in endless loop.  
- PSD tool couldn't handle PSD files without layers.
- Added SC1_ECSOUNDCARD soundcard for use with eurocoin scorpion-1 games
- Added SC2_BFMGAME2    gamecard  for scorpion2 games (will be needed in "Around the town")
- Added DotMatrix tab in settings dialog
- Added coin cursors for UK coins.
- Added Key shortcuts for coins.
- Status bar   can de turned On/Off.
- Window title can be turned On/Off.
- CTRL + F7 - F11 are opto inputs ( usefull for scorpion diagnostic ROMS)
- CTRL + 1 - 6    can be used to insert coins
- if no RAM file exists, the default RAM file (if one exists) is loaded from the zip file


version 1.7 (18-05-2003)

- Fixed problem with self modifying code !!
  caused emulator to crash if backdoor was opened/closed
  on dutch BFM/ELAM games

- Fixed a problem with back spinning reels (seen on Safecracker Club).

- Scorpion-2 soundprom supported (4 MBit, max 256 samples)
  "Dells Millions" is now fully supported

- Quickstart now works with games without reels (video only).
  Quickstart is disabled with games wich have reels and a videoboard.

- Mechanical meters are saved and restored in a .RAM file.

- Auto save RAM files if program is quit.

- Added path settings for layout files and RAM files.

- Settings are saved in registry.

- PSD parser can handle PSD files with folders (photoshop 7)

- All machine sounds are loaded with windows audio compression manager.

- Added new layout commands:

    XSOUND  no  samplefile

	replaces sound <no> with sample <samplefile>

	this command can be used to replace samples from a soundprom with
        custom samples.
 	If there is no soundprom, you can use this command to add sounds.


    METERNAME no name

	use this command to set the name of a mechanical meter.


    FORCEPAGE

	selects a different memorybank after a reset.
	some games may require this.
	for example BFM/ELAM's "Impact"


    PAL filename

	load a PAL, used in belgian videogames. (slots)

Known bugs:

- There are still problems with games wich use the VideoBoard.
- The dotmatrix board is not working 100% (close though)



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


whats new since version 1.5


- Video Hardware emulated !

  The BFM "adder" video board is emulated.

  adderboard specs:

    - Character based display ( 50 x 35 characters) ( 400 x 280 pixels 50 Hz )
      16 colors (2 bits red, 2 bits green, 1 bit for blue --> 4x4x2 = 32 different colors)
    - 8192 different characters possible (2x 27C010 E-proms).
    - X-flip and Y-Flip.
    - Board has its own 2Mhz 6809 CPU with one 27C010 E-prom for program code.
    - Board receives commands from the scorpion board via a serial connection.
      There is a MC6850 ACIA on the video board for this.



  Note:	There are still a lot of problems with the serial communication between the
        video board and the scorpion board.

        This is because both boards are emulated independ of each other in seperate threads.
	

- Pressing ESCape will toggle the menu bar. 

- added new script commands:

   "monitor <x> <y> <width> <height>"	adds a video monitor to a layout.
   "charrom <file>"		     	load a character rom for video emulation
   "video   <file>"			load a video rom for video emulation

- improved rom analyser.
  You can select the board type for the rom you want to analyse.
  Jump tables are recognised.

- Photoshop converter can be started by dropping a .PSD file on the emulator window.

- ZIP loader speed up !!!
 
Bugs fixed:

- If the machine sounds were turned off, the buttons did not work correctly.
- Scorpion2 lamps were not updated if 'sync lamp update' was checked.


