
"Sparcade!" aka Dave's Arcade Emulator, copyright David Spicer 1995-1999
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Core release v2.33 BETA

Note: Those already familiar with Sparcade should just read the sections
      marked with '*NEW*'

-- BETA notes ----------------------------------------------------------------

This version of Sparcade may be considered a BETA release and has
many known problems.  Please refer to the bug list before contacting
me to say you've found a bug.

Releasing a buggy program has not been my policy in the past.  However,
I've found myself with very little time to work on Sparcade and would
rather release a less than perfect version than nothing at all.

To cap it all, the docs have become rather unwieldy - sorry guys!

-- What's new ----------------------------------------------------------------

  Gradius III driver
  Galaga driver
  Arkanoid driver
  Airwolf driver
  Lifeforce RAT (Jap version)
  VESA 2 support
  Recordable games
  Improved YM2151 emulation (audio in Vulcan Venture, Gradius II, Gradius III
                             and Salamander)
  Stereo audio (not used in many games as yet)
  Audio sound quality improved via use of interpolation/oversampling
  Fixed slowdown during bench test
  Improved history sequence in Vulcan Venture, though still buggy
  Various improvements to games running on Galaxian-style hardware
  Most drivers now run faster

-- Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------

  1. Conditions of use

  2. Introduction

    2.1 What is Sparcade?

  3. Using Sparcade

    3.1 System requirements
    3.2 Installing Sparcade
    3.3 The menu system
    3.4 Default keyboard controls
    3.5 Benchtesting

  4. Troubleshooting and contact information

  5. Thanks to...


  Appendices

    A. Outstanding issues/problems with Sparcade's emulations
    B. Performance issues
    C. Missing drivers
    D. Update history
    E. Bug list


-- 1. Conditions of use ------------------------------------------------------

  Sparcade is provided for free, personal use subject to certain terms and
  conditions.  Please take the time to read through these conditions before
  using Sparcade.

    Sparcade is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either
    expressed or implied.  Anyone using the program does so at their own
    risk.  The author accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising
    from its use.

    Distribution of Sparcade on public Internet web sites is permitted
    providing the original zip file is not modified.  All other forms of
    distribution are strictly prohibited.  This restriction includes, but is
    not limited to, distribution on floppy disks, CDs or via a BBS.  In
    particular, attempting to sell Sparcade or distribute it with game ROM
    code constitutes a violation of copyright and may result in legal action.

    Sparcade may only be used for the purpose of playing the supported games.
    Users must not disassemble or reassemble the program code or produce
    derivative works based on the concepts or program code of the emulator.

    The author will not be held responsible for copyright violations by users
    of the emulator.  Users are reminded that all of the games supported are
    copyrighted and should not be distributed without permission.

    To use Sparcade, you must agree to be bound by the conditions of use
    listed above.  If you cannot agree to these terms, please delete your
    copy of the emulator immediately.

    Violation of the conditions of use will directly affect the future of the
    Sparcade emulator project.


-- 2. Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------

  2.1 What is Sparcade?

    Sparcade is a multi-processor emulation engine, primarily designed to
    run code from the classic arcade games of the 80s.

    I'd like very much to expand this section to include some detail about
    Sparcade's history and my motivations for continuing with the project.
    However, time is short and for now I'll have to mark it as "to be
    expanded at a later date".


-- 3. Using Sparcade ---------------------------------------------------------

  3.1 System requirements

    3.1.1 CPU

      Minimum setup

        486DX2-66 with 4 megabytes of RAM

        Some of the more complex titles won't run smoothly.

      Typical setup

        Pentium 133 with 8 megabytes of RAM

        Vulcan Venture will still have problems.

      Dream setup

        K6/Pentium 300 with 32 megabytes of RAM

        Everything should run smoothly and at full speed.

      Don't worry if your system doesn't meet the requirements above.  Try
      running a few games - you may be surprised!

      N.b. Sparcade uses 486 code in some of its drivers, making them
           incompatible with 386-based machines.  The offending titles
           are: Tutankham, Terra Cresta, Nemesis, Salamander, Lifeforce,
           Vulcan Venture, Gradius, Gradius II and Gradus III.  All other
           games should work on a 386, though not always at full speed.


    3.1.2 Operating system

      MSDOS 3.0 and above or Windows 95.  Unlike the original Sparcade,
      this version does not require a memory manager.

      Running Sparcade from a Windows 95 DOS reboot may cause problems
      if EMM386 is installed.  The same appears to be true of programs
      using PMODE/W, suggesting that the problem lies with the PMODE
      DOS extender rather than Sparcade itself.


    3.1.3 Graphics card

      Basically, the faster the better.  I'd certainly say users should be
      aiming at VLB or PCI based cards.  Does *anyone* still use ISA?

      A card with full VESA 2 support is required in order to run Sparcade.
      *NEW*


    3.1.4 Sound card *NEW*

      Gravis Ultrasound (all models)

        The Gravius Ultrasound is not supported in this release.

      Sound Blaster (mono models)

        Sound Blasters with mono sound (DSP rev less than 3.0) are not
        supported in this release.

      Sound Blaster Pro

        Only the 22KHz mixing rate is provided, since the Sound Blaster
        Pro cannot provide higher rates when in stereo mode.

        Terra Cresta and Commando may produce incorrect sound since most
        (all?) SB Pro's are lacking the OPL3 synthesiser chip.

      Sound Blaster 16 / 32 / AWE32 / AWE64

        Quality audio for all games, including those that require FM
        sounds.

        I've had reports of problems with the "value" edition of the SB16
        when playing the games requiring OPL3 support.  It's quite possible
        that the value editions don't include an OPL3 chip and, as such,
        are incompatible with some of Sparcade's games.

      Sound Blaster Live / Sound Blaster PCI

        These cards appear to use emulation for their FM sounds and
        will therefore sound rather poor with Wardner, Terra Cresta and
        Commando.

      Sound Blaster clones

        A 100% compatible Sound Blaster or Sound Blaster 16 clone should
        work flawlessly with Sparcade.  Cards which are not 100% compatible
        may sound out of tune, especially at high mixing rates.

        Some clones of the Sound Blaster Pro will work correctly with
        mixing rates above 22KHz.

    3.1.5 Input

      Sparcade supports keyboard play or a joystick with up to 4 fire
      buttons.


  3.2 Installing Sparcade

    3.2.1 Basic installation

      Unzip Sparcade into an empty directory.  If using Windows 95/98,
      create a shortcut for the program 'arcade.exe' and modify its
      properties as follows:

        Program/Close on exit: checked
        Screen/Usage: full-screen
        Misc/Windows shortcut keys: all boxes unchecked

      The "protected" box under "memory settings" should remain unchecked.

      Owners of slow systems may find performance is increased by running
      Sparcade in MSDOS mode.  The shortcut can be made to do this
      automatically by checking the 'MS-DOS mode' box under Program/Advanced.

      Note: For correct operation with a Windows 95 keyboard, Microsoft's
            "Winkey" utility should be installed.  Winkey may be obtained
            from Microsoft's ftp site.

    3.2.2 Game ROM images

      Game ROM images must be placed in individual directories.  By default
      Sparcade expects to find these within its own directory, however an
      alternative location can be chosen (see 'the options menu' below).

      The names of the ROM image directories and the files within them are
      all listed in the file 'romlist.txt'.

    3.3.3 Starting Sparcade

      In DOS, change to the Sparcade directory and type 'arcade'.  In Windows
      95/98, click on the shortcut you created earlier.


 3.3 The menu system

    Use the following keys to navigate through the menu system:

      up/down cursor keys    - choose item
      page up/page down      - move rapdily through items
      home                   - move to top item
      end                    - move to bottom item
      left/right cursor keys - change menu
      return                 - run game or select chosen item
      esc                    - exit from Sparcade

    3.3.1 The main menu

      Fairly self explanatory - select a game to play or push the left
      cursor key to enter the options menu.

    3.3.2 The options menu

      Push the right cursor key to return to the main menu or select from
      the following items:

      (All options marked with a '*' are used to calibrate Sparcade's
      'custom' video modes and do not affect VESA modes)

        Change monitor type *

          Toggle the monitor type between VGA and SVGA.  Selecting VGA
          allows Sparcade to work correctly on an old 640x480 monitor,
          whereas SVGA will work with more modern monitors.

          Why use it?  Switching to SVGA mode allows Sparcade to use
          higher refresh rates in some of the emulations (e.g. Pacman).

        VESA timing *NEW*

          Switch between 4 methods of synchronising movement to the
          display update.  'Direct 1' and 'direct 2' work only with
          cards which supply VGA compatible hardware.  'Soft 1' and
          'soft 2' use VESA 2 calls for their timing.  Cards with no
          VGA compatible hardware will use the 'soft 1' method
          instead of the 2 direct modes.

          Do not touch this setting unless you experience any of the
          following problems:

            - Shearing, whereby the bottom part of the display moves
              slightly ahead of the top.
            - Screen flashes to the wrong position momentarily.
            - Flickering sprites.

          Some people may not think of shearing as a problem, having
          been used to accepting it on other emulators.  It shouldn't
          happen in Sparcade at all!

        Calibrate video card *

          This option allows Sparcade to work out which display resolutions
          are available using standard VGA features.  If you don't see a good
          spread of 'dot clock' values, you may have problems with the 'generic'
          hi-res mode documented above.

          (Typically, you will see 4 numbers ranging from 25MHz to 40MHz)

          For safety, you should switch off your monitor during calibration
          (switch back on a few seconds after starting calibration).

          Aborting video calibration causes any previous settings to be
          arranged.  This feature may be used to reverse the effects of
          calibration if you experience problems with your video card.

        Toggle MMX optimisations

          Owners of Pentium MMX, Pentium 2, Pentium 3, AMD K6, AMD K6-2,
          AMD K6-3 or Athlon processors should enable this option for
          improved performance. *NEW*

          NOTE: This option must *not* be enabled unless your processor
                supports MMX.  Doing so may cause unpredictable behaviour
                when running MMX-capable games.

        Change ROM path

          Allows you to specify the root directory where Sparcade will look
          for arcade ROM images.  Specifying an empty path (the default case)
          causes Sparcade to look in its own directory.

        Redefine keyboard controls

          Modify the "global" controls used by Sparcade.

        Calibrate joystick

          Prepare an analogue joystick for use.

        Change FM delay

          Compensate for timing conflicts between newer motherboards and
          old FM sound chips.  The default value of 1 should work with all
          Sound Blaster cards from the Pro upwards.

          I'd suggest using Wardner as a test case for this option.  If you
          experience problems with the game's sound, increase the FM delay
          and retry.

          N.b. Setting the FM delay to '0' may cause early Sound Blaster
               models to crash Sparcade.
          
    3.3.3 The 'in-game' menus

      The in-game menus may be accesed by pressing the "options" key
      (by default, the TAB key is used).

      Press ESC to exit, or select from the following items:

        Game settings

          Modify settings which appear as DIP switches on the original
          games.

          The settings will not usually take effect until the next time
          you load the game.

        Video settings

          Mode (VESA 2/Custom/Hires + scanlines/Hires + soft scanlines)

            Switches between various video modes.

            The custom modes are similar to the modes used by earlier
            versions of Sparcade.  Hires modes are a 'novelty' addition,
            increasing resolution at the expense of speed.

          Frame skip

            Allows display updates to be skipped in order to give faster
            performance.  Movement will only be smooth if a frameskip
            value of 0 is used.

          Scan lines

            When enabled, lines of pixels alternate with black lines.  Some
            people seem to like this effect, though personally I find it
            quite ugly.

          Detail level

            When set to 'low', some display features will be disabled in
            order to give better performance.  Currently, this option only
            works with Nemesis.

          N.b. The frame skip and scan lines options don't work on
               Tron, Domino Man or Satan's Hollow.

        Sound settings

          Master volume

            Overall volume level.

          Digital volume/FM volume

            Individual controls for digital and FM levels.  FM sounds
            are used in Wardner, Terra Cresta and Commando.

          Mixing rate

            Selects the number of audio samples per second available
            to Sparcade.  Reducing the mixing rate may improve
            performance at the expense of sound quality.

          Interpolation

            When enabled, additional data is created to smooth the
            transitions between audio samples.  The effect is most
            noticable on low frequency sounds.

          Oversampling

            With oversampling enabled, Sparcade mixes at a higher rate
            than usual, before scaling down the data to fit the selected
            mixing rate.  This has the effect of reducing distortion on
            higher frequency sound (e.g. the laser sound in Nemesis).

            Selecting x2 oversampling at a mixing rate of 22KHz allows
            SB Pro owners to simulate 44KHz mixing, even though their
            cards cannot support it.
            
            Oversampling is quite CPU-intensive and should be used
            sparingly.


          Unless you have a very powerful machine, I recommend dropping
          the mixing rate to 22KHz (SB16) or turning off oversampling
          (SBPRO) on all of the later Gradius games.  The sound
          emulation for these particular games is very CPU intensive.


        Keyboard controls

          Redefine keyboard controls.

        Joystick controls

          Choose fire button mapping for joystick control.

        Record/playback

          Leads to a submenu where games may be recorded or played
          back.

          Record from reset will power down the game before recording
          begins.  Since no game state information is needed, the files
          created frin this option are much smaller than when the
          standard record option is used.

          Recorded games are saved in the Sparcade root directory as
          <name>.rec.  Accompanying save game state files use the name
          <name>.rsv.

          Playback with test allows either of the 2 benchtest methods
          to be used whilst playing a recorded game.  Test # 1 is
          equivalent to pressing 'F10' and test # 2 is equivalent to
          pressing 'F9'.  Note that very short recorded games will
          give spurious readings.

        Switch off game

          Exit from the current game.  Using this option will cause the
          game to act as if it had been switched off, usually losing any
          high score settings.          

        Return to game

          As the name suggests, exits from the menu and returns to the game.
          Pressing the ESC key acts as a shortcut to this option.

 3.4 Default keyboard controls

    The default keyboard controls for Sparcade are:

      cursor keys            - joystick up, down, left and right
      ctrl                   - first fire button
      alt                    - second fire button
      space                  - third fire button
      return                 - fourth fire button
      TAB                    - enter the in-game menu system
      ESC                    - exit from game without switching off
                               (play will resume from where you left it
                               next time the game is started)

 3.5 Bench testing

    New versions of Sparcade incorporate a simple benchtesting facility
    which may be used to measure performance.  While testing is enabled,
    2 numbers are displayed: the lefthand number gives the average frame
    rate and the one on the right gives the current rate.  Values larger
    than 9999 will be displayed in the form xxEy, where the actual frame
    rate = xx * 10^y (i.e. y tells you how many zeroes to add).

    During test, any speed limiting within Sparcade is disabled and the
    current game runs as fast as it can on your system.

    Two test modes are available:

      Test mode # 1

        Press F10 to test.
 
        In this mode, Sparcade emulates one frame's worth of code
        from the original game, updates the display and repeats.

        Once full speed for a particular game is achieved, it's
        likely that your video card will become the system bottle-
        neck and increasing processor speeds will have very little
        impact on performance.  In effect, you'll end up testing
        your video card rather than Sparcade!

      Test mode # 2

        Press F9 to test.

        In this mode, emulation of the original game code proceeds
        as above but the display will not be redrawn any faster
        than 60 times a second.  This provides a more meaningful
        benchmark than mode # 1 at high frame rates.

    To disable test mode, press either F9 or F10.



-- 4. Troubleshooting and contact information --------------------------------


  For troubleshooting information, refer to the on-line "frequently asked
  questions" documents, accessible via the Sparcade home page.  Please get in
  touch via email if you have a question which is not answered there and I'll
  endeavour to add it to the faq.

  *Please note* - questions which can be answered by reading either this
  documentation or your operating system's manual will not be answered!


  How to contact me:

    Sparcade homepage:            http://www.sparcade.freeserve.co.uk
    Email address for questions:  archelp@sparcade.freeserve.co.uk
    Email address for comments:   sparcade@sparcade.freeserve.co.uk


  Please don't quote these addresses in any public forum (e.g. news-
  groups, web pages).  Automatic mailing list programs grab addresses from
  all over the Internet and the resulting spam really spoils my day.

  Some people are already quoting my email addresses.  *PLEASE STOP!*


  For a more immediate response, try posting a message to the Sparcade
  message board on the Emuverse site (www.emuverse.com).

-- 5. Thanks to... -----------------------------------------------------------

  James Rowan, for providing invaluable information about the workings
  of the YM2151 sound chip.

  Shigeru Kojima, for selling me a Gradius III board, allowing this
  rare game to finally make it into Sparcade.


  Also, a big "hi" goes out to:

    Mark Adsett
    Sal Bugliarisi
    Linda Christle
    Jason Brashill
    James O'Connor
    Gary Pearson
    Lee Taylor
    Jodie Ward
    Kin Man Yu

    and all the other folks who've crossed my path in the past few
    years.

  Beta testers for this release:

    Mark Adsett
    Sal Bugliarisi
    James Rowan

  Thanks guys...


-- Appendix A - outstanding issues/problems with Sparcade's emulations -------


  Title                  Outstanding issues
  ----------------------------------------------

  Airwolf
  Amidar (Japan)
  Amidar (US)
  Arkanoid
  Berzerk                    S
  Bombjack
  ++Centipede                S
  Commando                   S OPL3
  Domino Man
  Frogger
  Galaga
  Galaxian (Midway)
  Galaxian (Namco)
  Gradius 3
  Hangly Man
  ++Junior Pacman
  Lunar Rescue               S
  ++Millipede                S C
  Moon Cresta (Gremlin)
  Moon Cresta (Nichibutsu)
  MsPacman
  Nemesis/Gradius
  Pacman
  Pengo
  Pisces
  Salamander/Lifeforce       S
  Satan's Hollow
  Scramble
  Slap Fight
  Space Attack               S
  Space Invaders             S
  Space Invaders Deluxe      S
  Starforce                  C
  Starforce v2               C
  Super Cobra                C
  Tazmania                   C
  Terra Cresta               S OPL3
  The End                    C
  Tron
  Turtles                    C
  ++Tutankham                  S
  Uniwars                    C
  Wardner                    FM
  War of the Bugs            C
  Vulcan Venture/Gradius 2   S C


Key:

   S = Sound support is incomplete or absent
   C = Some or all colours may be incorrect
   G = Some graphical features may not be fully emulated
  FM = Use the Sound Blaster's FM chip.  Some recent models, e.g.
       Sound Blaster Live, don't seem to correctly support FM
       sound.
OPL3 = A Sound Blaster with an OPL3 chip is required for quality sound
       (later versions of Sparcade will provide emulation for owners
       of pre-OPL3 sound cards).  Also see notes for FM.

  Games prefixed by '++' have been temporarily removed from Sparcade
  and will return in future versions.
  

Additional notes:

  Galaxian, Pisces, Moon Cresta, Uni Wars

   - Turning on 'starfield flicker' in the game options menu gives a
     more accurate, if rather unpleasant, emulation of the starfield.

  Tron, Satan's Hollow and Domino Man

   - After switching to test mode you have to exit and rerun the game.
   - Game state is not saved on these games.  However, high scores
     and game settings are retained as on the original arcade versions.

  Tron

   - Tron is designed for keyboard play at present and is rather awkward with
     a joystick.

  Salamander

   - Game state is not saved.

   - Some moments of slowdown are "emulated" and are true to the original
     (e.g. the missile attack on level 1)

  Vulcan Venture

   - On the penultimate level, the graphics code will run out of display
     colours resulting in rather odd-looking sprites.  A fix is planned
     for the next release.

   - Some moments of slowdown are "emulated" and are true to the original.
     As a rule of thumb, you can tell when an emulated slowdown is occurring
     because the music continues to play at normal speed.

  Gradius 3

   - The chronic slowdown was present in the original!  Selecting the
     'overclock' option allows owners of fast machines to experience a
     smoother game, but will cause some oddities within the attract mode.

-- Appendix B - performance issues -------------------------------------------

  YM2151 emulation

    A lot of CPU horsepower is required for the sound emulation in
    Salamander, Vulcan Venture, Gradius II and Gradius III.  If you
    experience genuine slowdown in these games (as opposed to emulated
    slowdown), try dropping the sound mixing rate.  Genuine slow-
    down is occuring when the background music slows down at the same
    time as the gameplay.

  A general note on sound

    Oversampling is very CPU intensive.  Selecting x{t} oversampling
    multiplies the mixing rate by {t} and adds some additional overhead.
    Generally speaking, you should only need to use oversampling if your
    sound card is unable to reach higher mixing rates in hardware.

    Interpolation, on the other hand, is fairly efficient and most users
    should leave it enabled permanently.

  VESA issues

    8-bit VESA modes should set to a refresh rate of 60HZ, otherwise
    most, if not all, of the games will run too slowly.

    Scitech Display Doctor users may set their refresh rates by running
    the 'uvconfig' command with the option '-e60'.

    Some VESA implementations may cause shearing effects to be visible.
    These can be compensated for by adjusting the 'vesa timing' setting
    in the options menu (see earlier docs).  Please note that Scitech
    Display Doctor does not always fix these problems.  In particular,
    Matrox Mystique owners will find that any BIOS bugs are replicated
    when using Display Doctor.

    Some VESA 3.0 implementations do not provide backwards compatibility
    with VESA 2.0 (as used in Sparcade).  Yes, I think this is stupid
    too!  Later versions of Sparcade will have native VESA 3.0 support.

    High resolution VESA modes cause Sparcade to run much more slowly.
    If games are appearing in a tiny window in the center of the screen,
    your card may only support high resolution modes.  Try installing
    Scitech Display Doctor for improved performance.

  Severe speed problems

    If Sparcade is running VERY slowly indeed, there may be another
    program running which is preventing the use of the PC's timer
    hardware.

    A program called 'watchdog', installed with some scanner software,
    is known to cause this problem.

-- Appendix C - missing drivers ----------------------------------------------

  Centipede, Millipede, Tutankham and Jr Pacman have not yet been updated
  to work with this release of Sparcade.  They'll be back in a future
  version.

-- Appendix D - update history -----------------------------------------------


v2.23

  Wardner game options fixed
  Centipede scanlines bug fixed
  Original version of Slapfight now supported
  Alcon now supported (US version of Slapfight)
  Commando frame skip bugs fixed

v2.24

  Vulcan Venture / Salamander / Commando sound improved
  Terra Cresta colours + sound fixed
  Joystick button mapping fixed
  Galaxian background noise no longer affected by frame skips
  Sound Blaster mixer settings now correctly retained
  Windows keyboards now supported
  Fire logo now drawn correctly in VGA mode
  Fixed a bug in SVGA monitor mode

v2.25

  Vulcan Venture sprite<->background priorities fixed
  Cured a bug in Vulcan Venture which caused noisy SB sound fx
  Terra Cresta's second fire button can now be redefined
  Terra Cresta's performance improved for slow machines
  Benchtest facility added
  Save game feature added

v2.26

  Record/playback feature added
  Frameskips no longer corrupt sound in Vulcan Venture
  Vulcan Venture performance improved
  Vulcan Venture game state saved
  Fixed bug causing some games to slow down during bench test (e.g. Nemesis)
  Partially fixed problems with Vulcan Venture "history" sequence.

v2.27

  Record/playback bugs fixed

v2.3 (big update - jumped to next major version number)

  Graphics sub-system completely rewritten, including support for VESA
  All drivers optimised for "modern" systems as opposed to 486+16-bit
    graphics.  Performance will now increase with system power, whereas
    previous versions "levelled off" once performance had exceeded that
    of the game being emulated.
  Fixed scrolling on Starforce's hidden bonus screen.
  Added background colour and starfield to Scramble and Super Cobra.
  Fixed Galaxian starfield.

v2.31

  Added support for single page Vesa modes.

v2.32

  Soundblaster portion of sound sub-system completely rewritten.  Support
  for 8/16-bit resolution, stereo, interpolation and oversampling.

  Corrected sound update rate in Scramble, Super Cobra, The End, Starforce,
  Commando and Slapfight, resulting in smoother, more accurate effects.

v2.33

  Added digital YM2151 emulation.
  Fixed Gradius 3 colour problems.
  Sound settings now default to 'sensible' values, depending on card used.
  Fixed colour problems in menus.
  Fixed flicker when restarting games in hires modes.

v2.33b

  Fixed a bug which prevented Gradius 3's audio playing correctly when
    used with an original ROMset (mine was hacked because I didn't
    fancy unsoldering my ROMs!)


-- Appendix E - bug list -----------------------------------------------------

  Garbage is occasionally displayed on the game menu.  If anyone can
  consistantly provoke this, please get in touch.

  The bench test readout doesn't always appear in a visible colour when
  in hires modes.

  Missing sound on Gradius and other games running on the same boardset
  (the RATs for these games have been held back pending a fix).

  FM sounds are sometimes muted on exit from the in-game menus.

  YM2151 sounds are corrupted when reloading a game (affects Salamander,
  Lifeforce, Vulcan Venture, Gradius 2 and Gradius 3).  The problem will
  clear after a while.

  On the final level of Lifeforce/Salamander, the sprites momentarily pass
  behind some sections of the background.

  The ghosts in Wardner do not move correctly (I know why and will fix
  the problem soon!)

  16-bit audio output doesn't work correctly (disabled in this release).

  Mono audio mixing doesn't work correctly (disabled in this release).

  Left/right audio channels sometimes swap places (possibly fixed???)

  The colour bands on Starforce's logo are incorrect.

  Part of Bombjack's logo is displayed using the wrong colours.

  Video card calibration no longer works (disabled in this release)

  The game state is not saved on Salamander and possibly others.

  There is no explosion sound in Galaga.

  Galaga DIPs are not programmable (trivial - I really MUST do this!)

  The 'directory not found' message persists even after successfully
    loading a game.

  Gradius III slows down rather more than it should during the 3d
    level.  Not so much a bug as an atypical case that catches the
    driver unawares.

  The 'custom+scanlines' video mode does not work.

  The recorded Gradius III game on the Sparcade website will only
     work if you have exactly the same ROM set as me.  This isn't
     really a bug, since the different ROM sets do cause the game
     to play ever so slightly differently.

  Pengo doesn't work.  Probably something simple, I just haven't
     had time to look.

  Probably more....

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