ZX ULAX emulator

Struggling with Fuse or trying to find an emulator with a specific feature. Ask your questions here.
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Lethargeek
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critical update!

Post by Lethargeek »

new emulator version (public beta 6) - same links (zx-pk is now back to life as well)

mainly z80 emulation improvements (memptr added, several small bugs and one fatal bug in undocumented instructions were fixed)

tape now will be stopped when the end of loading or loading error is detected (does not work in 100% cases probably but seems ok)
next loading attempt will start on the same block, if you actually want to skip it, press LAlt+F5
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Lethargeek
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perfectionist update

Post by Lethargeek »

new emulator version yet again (public beta 7)

now Z80 emulation is almost complete, successfully passing all of the Raxoft's tests + NMOS/CMOS
(the previous beta 6 was released only because of critical bug fix, this one was intended)

also removed that annoying hum when skipping silent frames (F1 key)

same download links on the first page
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Ivanzx
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Ivanzx »

I don´t want to sound rude, as it is not my intention, but why create/modify this kind of games with an emulator that "amplifies" the possibilities of the Spectrum instead of creating new games for systems that are, from scratch, more powerful than the Spectrum such as the Sam Coupe, Master System, Game Boy?
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Lethargeek
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Lethargeek »

Ummm, let me think, why then create anything with "amplified" capabilities like making a disk version or adding ULA+ palette or AY tune or a joystick support when there was none?

...because we can :D and it makes the game better while still remaining a Spectrum game? Because these other more powerful systems aren't Spectrums? Some people might prefer how the Spectrum version feels but not exactly how it looks.

Also not just for an emulator, but for the hardware being developed. The emulator is helping in the development and in itself is a statement in the long and heated discussion about how a modern ZX video extension should be arranged to have better software support (compared to the previous attempts usually having none))
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Ivanzx
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Ivanzx »

Lethargeek wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 11:49 am Ummm, let me think, why then create anything with "amplified" capabilities like making a disk version or adding ULA+ palette or AY tune or a joystick support when there was none?

...because we can :D and it makes the game better while still remaining a Spectrum game? Because these other more powerful systems aren't Spectrums? Some people might prefer how the Spectrum version feels but not exactly how it looks.

Also not just for an emulator, but for the hardware being developed. The emulator is helping in the development and in itself is a statement in the long and heated discussion about how a modern ZX video extension should be arranged to have better software support (compared to the previous attempts usually having none))
But this is the thing, they are not Spectrum games anymore ;)

Anyways, just my opinion, of course any person can use their free time in whatever they want ;)
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Lethargeek
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Lethargeek »

Ivanzx wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 12:16 pmBut this is the thing, they are not Spectrum games anymore ;)
No, the whole point was it is still the same Spectrum game with the same Spectrum code being executed. Very much unlike, say, a new software for the Spectrum NEXT or the russian "extended" video modes from 1990s.

Moreover, in many cases the recolored game does not just looks "better", it looks exactly how the original author intended it to look but couldn't or wouldn't cope with the Spectrum attribute system. Especially those older spanish games usually having better graphics but worse clashing (eg check the Jungle Warrior, Game Over, Sol Negro in the game pack).
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Lethargeek
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game pack update!

Post by Lethargeek »

Back in my early spectrum years i was somewhat disappointed with Academy, really liked the concept and depth of the game play, but for me the action window resolution was too low for its (usually) small textured objects. It was hard to tell what the hell was going on and how dangerous were these little dots moving on the horizon.

So after successfully recoloring Total Eclipse i decided to improve Academy the same way. Compared to Freescape games, Academy uses less and simpler textures, so all of them could simply be replaced with solid colors of different bright levels, and suddenly everything in the game gets more clear. Checking all possible texture uses and setting several dynamic palettes corresponding to original mission attributes and flares/infrared system in time was a bit of pain though. Maybe i still missed some obscure things.

Game version included in the archive is one russian disk mod (with pentagon border fix added by me), so run it as usual with TR-DOS, in the intro press "g" to load the game and then load the corresponding dux. It should be safe to press PgDn in menus and then PgUp any time if you're curious to compare old & new graphics.

Note the emulator doesn't support saving modified disk images yet, sorry. But you can use quicksave snapshots to keep your progress.

Same links.
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Lethargeek
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unusual announcement

Post by Lethargeek »

My emulator thread was just closed on the WoS forum after some dirty liar named rich_chandler came there to flood it with off-topic messages and spreading lies about me personally and (after being asked politely to bring any proof of STFU and still continuing it, later with the support of other trolls) his sweet buddy Lee_Fogarty was quick to take his side without even looking into the case (or maybe it was all staged from the start?)

Anyway, why i am writing this here? No, i'm not complaining, i'm wondering if this makes my emulator the first ZX emulator ever banned on ZX Spectrum site? :shock: Does anybody know other examples?

In any case, be quick to grab the last version! This might be a rare chance for you to own a "forbidden ZX emulator" :lol:
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djnzx48
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by djnzx48 »

Lethargeek wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:32 pm Anyway, why i am writing this here? No, i'm not complaining, i'm wondering if this makes my emulator the first ZX emulator ever banned on ZX Spectrum site? :shock: Does anybody know other examples?
Does the version of Fuse that was used in the Vega+ count? The source was even available on GitHub for a while before it was removed for some reason.
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Lethargeek
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Lethargeek »

djnzx48 wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:43 pm
Lethargeek wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:32 pm Anyway, why i am writing this here? No, i'm not complaining, i'm wondering if this makes my emulator the first ZX emulator ever banned on ZX Spectrum site? :shock: Does anybody know other examples?
Does the version of Fuse that was used in the Vega+ count? The source was even available on GitHub for a while before it was removed for some reason.
I'm not sure. Is any fork of any emulator still available? Or could VEGA+ version be considered a separate emulator?
Anyway, FUSE is for UNIX, mine emulator is for Windows, so it's still "first forbidden Windows Spectrum emulator" at least. :D
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Lethargeek
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Lethargeek »

Btw i just googled the Vega+ to refresh my memory and almost immediately stumbled upon a very familiar name from these recent events. And next to the words "lies", "paid" and "scam", no less. So it seems i shouldn't have been surprised by the actions and personal qualities of the current WoS staff. Maybe now being a lying crook is even a requirement to be in. :roll:
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by polomint »

Lethargeek wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:32 pm My emulator thread was just closed on the WoS forum after some dirty liar named rich_chandler came there to flood it with off-topic messages and spreading lies about me personally and (after being asked politely to bring any proof of STFU and still continuing it, later with the support of other trolls) his sweet buddy Lee_Fogarty was quick to take his side without even looking into the case (or maybe it was all staged from the start?)

Anyway, why i am writing this here? No, i'm not complaining, i'm wondering if this makes my emulator the first ZX emulator ever banned on ZX Spectrum site? :shock: Does anybody know other examples?

In any case, be quick to grab the last version! This might be a rare chance for you to own a "forbidden ZX emulator" :lol:
lol
So far, so meh :)
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Lethargeek
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by Lethargeek »

polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:35 pmlol
Yes, but somehow at the same time not so funny when recalling the aforementioned dirty little liar was also an emulator threads maintainer. Oh, is he now the first ever emulator threads maintainer directly responsible for intentionally killing an emulator thread on his forum? :o

With staff like these doing such an excellent work, it's no big wonder once a great forum became a sad and dying place with most activity happening in the chit-chat section and so many productive people left elsewhere. :roll:

Also "several complaints" as a reason for the "last warning" is especially precious coming out from someone named Lee Fogarty :lol:
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by polomint »

Lethargeek wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:01 pm
polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:35 pmlol
Yes, but somehow at the same time not so funny when recalling the aforementioned dirty little liar was also an emulator threads maintainer. Oh, is he now the first ever emulator threads maintainer directly responsible for intentionally killing an emulator thread on his forum? :o

With staff like these doing such an excellent work, it's no big wonder once a great forum became a sad and dying place with most activity happening in the chit-chat section and so many productive people left elsewhere. :roll:

Also "several complaints" as a reason for the "last warning" is especially precious coming out from someone named Lee Fogarty :lol:
Ohh, I dunno, I am quite productive, and the guys in the zxasm slack group are too :)
With the expertise of the emulator authors in the group, I am working on a Windows version of SpectREM by Mike Daley :)
Great people, fun banter, and plenty of silly stuff ;)

https://join.slack.com/t/zxasm/shared_i ... DI2MGRjYzE
So far, so meh :)
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Lethargeek
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by Lethargeek »

polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:04 pmOhh, I dunno,
the numbers (post counters per section and average users online) speak for themselves
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by polomint »

Lethargeek wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:14 pm
polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:04 pmOhh, I dunno,
the numbers (post counters per section and average users online) speak for themselves
Eh? are you on about post counts on here? If so, then that means that I do nothing through all of my life... In that case, all the apps I write for work, in fact my work in general was all a dream...
My life with my gf, kids, cars, military, troubles, highs were/are all a simulation..

Thank you for notifying me of my mistake, so that my understanding is improved..

If I am wrong in my thinking then please correct me...
So far, so meh :)
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Ast A. Moore
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by Ast A. Moore »

polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:04 pm I am working on a Windows version of SpectREM by Mike Daley :)
Oh, did he update it beyond v0.9? Cause that’s the latest version I have.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.

Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by polomint »

Ast A. Moore wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:07 pm
polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:04 pm I am working on a Windows version of SpectREM by Mike Daley :)
Oh, did he update it beyond v0.9? Cause that’s the latest version I have.
It is working.. Nuff said ;)
So far, so meh :)
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Lethargeek
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by Lethargeek »

polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:22 pmEh? are you on about post counts on here?
i'm on about more directly-spectrum-related activity here, counts are just indicators being spot on
many times i was annoyed in that other place clicking "discussions" and getting a list populated with too many "chit-chat" messages
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Re: unusual announcement

Post by polomint »

Lethargeek wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:37 pm
polomint wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:22 pmEh? are you on about post counts on here?
i'm on about more directly-spectrum-related activity here, counts are just indicators being spot on
many times i was annoyed in that other place clicking "discussions" and getting a list populated with too many "chit-chat" messages
In that case, we have 3 emulator authors in that chat,,,,
So far, so meh :)
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Lethargeek
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Lethargeek »

maybe i will check it later, i don't usually join when i can't see at least some of the content before
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Pegaz »

Lethargeek wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2020 2:23 pm Btw i just googled the Vega+ to refresh my memory and almost immediately stumbled upon a very familiar name from these recent events. And next to the words "lies", "paid" and "scam", no less. So it seems i shouldn't have been surprised by the actions and personal qualities of the current WoS staff. Maybe now being a lying crook is even a requirement to be in. :roll:
Many of us remember well and haven't forgotten the history of censorship and bans of Fogarty's company on wos.
Probably you didn't know it and that was why you were an easy target, but some of us who have spent more than a decade there, know their methods very well.
You reacted impulsively to their provocations, but you were absolutely right, because you noticed what kind of liars and manipulators you were dealing with and you told them straight in the face.
So, relax...and don't pay attention to some wos trolls, this is Spectrum Computing forum.
Their mockery, lol and facepalm performance, simply doesn't bring much success here.
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druellan
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by druellan »

Destiny Mission looks stunning without color clash, and I'm wondering about Arkanoid 2 :lol:

Image

BTW: is there an English version for the documentation about the format?
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Lethargeek
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by Lethargeek »

One of the oldest ones... it was just a test of full color-per-pixel repaint of something. The background in Destiny Mission was chosen to get most effect for the least amount of work. Usually i prefer to change sprite colors.

Maybe i will do Arkanoid someday. And you people may name other titles you'd like to see improved.

Not even the russian documentation is properly finished, some changes happen time to time and it needs more tutorials. Starting the translation now means more work in the end, and it's hard enough for me to write so much in english already.
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Re: ZX ULAX emulator

Post by R-Tape »

druellan wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2020 7:46 pm Destiny Mission looks stunning without color clash, and I'm wondering about Arkanoid 2 :lol:

Image
This is a hoax. Everyone knows that Destiny Mission doesn't have any sprites.
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