#Cspect: SpecNext Emulator für Windows, Linux and OSX by Mike Dailly - New Version

[Luzie]

Just a thread to inform you about new versions of Mike Daillys (http://dailly.blogspot.com/?m=1) #Cspect: Spectrum Next Emulator:

#CSpect V2.15.1
#CSpect V2.15.1 changes

Fixed SD card access - SpecNext IMG files now boot again

Download: http://www.javalemmings.com/public/zxne ... _15_01.zip

[Luzie]

No new version yet, but I´ve found an example file for CSpect-PlugIns here: https://retrobits.altervista.org/blog/2 ... ct-plugin/

A simple #CSpect plugin
I just gave a quick try at #CSpect plugin functionality and coded in few minutes a plugin to log the BORDER colour to the console output. Ok, pretty useless, but gave me the chance to see how easy writing a plugin can be!

https://youtu.be/TwgmEVMshv8

Download: http://somebitsofme.altervista.org/misc ... Plugin.zip

[Luzie]

New latest Version of #CSpect: SpecNext Emulator for Windows, Linux and OSX by Mike Dailly V2.15.2

As seen on Facebook yesterday:

Mike Dailly:

#CSpect V2.15.2

https://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/03/cspect-v2152.html

Updated so that the very latest NextZXOS now works by adding new Next Registers $B8-$BB, along with a few updates, changes and fixes.
Also please note, if you take over the "whole" machine to have a full RAM machine, you will now need to set registers $B8-$BB to be able to jump to address $0000, or the DivMMC may well page in.

DeZogPlugin added to main distro so it remains upto date.
Added stackless NMI support
Reset register $02 added
Added NextRegs $B8 to $BB for DivMMC direct paging control
Current ROM and DivMMC registers added to rewind history
F6 now cycles through turbo speed settings
F5 Now takes a screen shot (was on CTRL+F3)
Fixed a rendering glitch when estimates for the right HBlank timing are "missed" and the line isn't drawn.
-log_cpu removed. Rewind probably replaces the need for this.
Updated RST$08 read/write to return values in BC,HL and DE as described in NextZXOS
Layer 2 banks can now be in the full 2Mb (regs $12 and $13)
Parallax demo updated to work with new $B8-$BA registers

Will try and adapt HDFmaker https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/forums/ ... 0&start=20 soon

[Pegaz]

It doesn't work, just show this screen.

Latest roms are in the emulator root folder with the latest official sd card image 2gb.
The three system files differ in the new version (esxDOS.dll, i2C_Sample.dll and Plugin.dll), but it seems that Plugin.dll is the cause of this problem.
The previous version v2.15.1 works without issues, so I revert back.

[Luzie]

It doesn't work, just show this screen.

Latest roms are in the emulator root folder with the latest official sd card image 2gb.
The three system files differ in the new version (esxDOS.dll, i2C_Sample.dll and Plugin.dll), but it seems that Plugin.dll is the cause of this problem.
The previous version v2.15.1 works without issues, so I revert back.

#CSpect V2.15.2 working here for me with actual Next-Distribution (Dated today 2022-03-30):

Download: https://gitlab.com/thesmog358/tbblue/-/tree/master

.HDF-File/SD-Card created with HDFmaker-Tool https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/forums/ ... 0&start=20

[Luzie]

As seen today in SpecNext Facebook-Group:

Mike Dailly
New version of #CSpect - V2.16.0

https://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/04/cspect-2160.html

Lots of fixes and a few new additions. Improved the new divMMC auto-paging for directly loaded NEX files. Added the -mouse option to try and help MAC users a little, and also fixed up the copper when large DMA blocks were running. A nice new feature is being able to visualise both copper and Raster IRQ splits using CTRL+ALT+S (via the copper plugin). Even for non-devs, this is a funky little tool to show just how complex things can get!

Added directory functions to RST$08 plugin
Fixed screen rendering time a little.
on .NEX load, regs $B8-$BB are set to $82,$00,$00,$F0 - same as the OS.
Added reg $0A = bit 2, to be able to disable DivMMC auto mapping
Fixed crash when typing "BR :" in debugger
Added a "-mouse" command line option. This will disable the "grabbing" of the mouse.
When specifying an SD card image, you no longer have to specify -zxnext and -nextrom on the command line as well
Fixed Copper when the DMA is running and blocking CPU, now counts DMA "TStates" instead of CPU ones
.NEX files will automatically disable DivMMC PC address memory mapping
Added -divmap command line, so you can force memory mapping of the DIVMMC "on" when directly loading a .NEX file
Fixed a raster interrupt issue
Added -copwait command line so you can easily visualise where the copper splits are
Added -irqwait command line so you can easily visualise where the raster irq splits are
You can now toggle the copper and irq visualiser with CTRL+ALT+S via the copper disassembler plugin
You can now "set" command line globals via the Plugin interface

[Luzie]

http://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/05/cspect-2163.html:

Friday, May 20, 2022
#CSpect 2.16.3

SNASM V3.1.1

Fixed bug where LD A,(IX-??) wasn't recognised

#CSpect V2.16.3 changes

Mainly some CTC timer fixes, and fixing the disassembler to display LD ?,(IX/IY-??).

Fixed CTC timers, should now be correct
CTC cascading timers added (I think)
Fixed disassembler, "LD A,(IX-??)" should now be displayed correctly
Interrupts are now disabled im start of IM2

Download: #CSpect V2.16.3 Emulator: http://www.javalemmings.com/public/zxne ... 2_16_3.zip

[Luzie]

From SpecNext-FB-Group:

Mike Dailly:
https://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/05/cspect-2164.html

Another day, another version....

Will now finally tell the user to install OpenAL, and I've fixed some 4bit relative image stuff.

Now correctly detects that OpenAL is not installed, and will message the user and disable audio
Added "IR" register to disassembly window
Fixed some 4bit relative sprite shape stuff
F5 will now screen shot whatever is on screen. The Spectrum screen (pre-shader), or the debugger
Window should now start centred on screen (or 0,0 if screen isn't big enough)

[Luzie]

http://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/05/cspect-v2165.html

Tuesday, May 24, 2022
#CSpect V2.16.5

#CSpect V2.16.4 changes

Very quick version to allow people to load older SD card versions, and older version of the ROM.

Now detects older Next ROM image files and will auto-disable the divMMC auto mapping so they still work

Download: #CSpect V2.16.5 Emulator: http://www.javalemmings.com/public/zxne ... 2_16_5.zip

[Luzie]

http://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/10/cspect-2166.html?m=1

Sunday, October 23, 2022
#CSpect 2.16.6

#CSpect V2.16.6 changes

This version has been sitting on my machine for a while, so decided to fix a couple more things and chuck it out.

Regs $6e and $6f set to newer defaults, reading should also be fixed.
F_SEEK in esxDOS emulation now takes IXL (instead of L) for the offset type.
Hires tile maps now scroll properly - and at the right speed
640 L2 mode now clips in the lower screen properly.
Command line will now try and detect what your doing, so passing in
an SD card image will setup the proper options, same for NEX files etc.
"CSPect.exe card.img" or "CSpect.exe game.nex" is now valid
Plugin "CSpect.Debugger(eDebugCommand.Enter)" now triggers on the next instruction, not a frame later.
NextRegister 2 - hard reset, should now work.
F3 now does a full hard reset, so should be far more dependable.

Download: #CSpect V2.16.6 Emulator: http://www.javalemmings.com/public/zxne ... 2_16_6.zip

[Luzie]

http://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/12/cspect-v2170.html

Thursday, December 22, 2022
#CSpect V2.17.0

#CSpect V2.17.0 changes

This version has been sitting on my machine for a while, so decided to fix a couple more things and chuck it out.

Fixed auto-mapping when RAM paged in over the ROM
IM1 now has IRQs disabled on triggering
Added Timex Hires and Timex Hi colour, smooth scrolling
Fixed Timex Hires border colour (I think)
Added DMA ports $0B and $6B
Contended memory no longer affects 7,14 and 28Mhz modes
Fixed a bug where all NEXT register stores (for reading back) were being zero'd on direct load of a NEX/SNA/SNX file
CTC timers should now always run at 28Mhz regardless of CPU speed.
SD card detection no longer crashes when it can't read partitions from a NEX/SNA/SNX file...
Fixed using F3 on older card images (2.06 and below)
New NextRegister Viewer window, activated by pressing CTRL+ALT+R
New Plugin command added "DissasembleMemory()" - see iPlugin.cs for details
Instruction TStates added to debugger view
New Profiler added, activated by pressing CTRL+ALT+P
Fixed up some TStates for Next instruction in the debugger

Download: #CSpect V2.17.0 Emulator : http://www.javalemmings.com/public/zxne ... 2_17_0.zip

[Luzie]

https://dailly.blogspot.com/2022/12/cspect-2171.html

Mike Dailly:
Minor update, fixing a profiler crash, and adding a new plugin to do file associations (windows only). This means once activated, you can now double click a .NEX or .SNX file and have it run no matter where the files are.

Fixed a crash in the profiler
Added a new extension to associate .NEX and .SNX files with the emulator using ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+A

Download: #CSpect V2.17.1 Emulator: http://www.javalemmings.com/public/zxne ... 2_17_1.zip

[Luzie]

Youtube: "#CSpect V2.17.2 - Mode 6 blending and tile/sprite ordering": https://youtu.be/EVi1zR-oIEw

#CSpect V2.17.2 - Mode 6 blending and tile/sprite ordering
Mike Dailly
02.01.2023
Quick demo showing 3 of the new blending methods in mode 6 working - that being...

(U|T) S (T|U) (B+L)

Where B = ULA, Tile, Tile+ULA, None

There are some really wacky tile/sprite ordering things going on here that's been a bugger to get going, but we're almost there.

Youtube: "#CSpect V2.17.2 - Mode 6 blending completed": https://youtu.be/sMUFWPwa0Fw

#CSpect V2.17.2 - Mode 6 blending completed
Mike Dailly
02.01.2023
The last weirdness reproduced.... Bit of a ball ache, but I knew it would be.
Not as slow as I thought it'd be - though it's far from fast!

https://dailly.blogspot.com/2023/01/cspect-2180.html

Monday, January 02, 2023
#CSpect 2.18.0

#CSpect V2.18.0 changes

Major update as we now support Mode 6 and Mode 7, complete with the fancy blending they can do, and all the tile to sprite weirdness.

Mode 6 and 7 added in all it's ULA/Tile ordering weirdness. "(U|T) S (T|U) L" ordering
Mode 6 blending added (B+L)
Mode 7 blending added (B+L-5)
multiface is now paged out on RETN
Fixed a couple of RETN's that were marked as RETI's
Added the Mode 6 and 7 blend mode (and fiddling) test/demo + source

Download: #CSpect V2.18.0 Emulator: http://www.javalemmings.com/public/zxne ... 2_18_0.zip

[Luzie]

Youtube "#CSpect V2.19.0.0 - sprite weirdness emulated":

Mike Dailly

Last weird bit of sprite/tile interactions added... If you watch the sprites, when tiles are being blended but "above" the tiles, they cut shapes from the sprites - IF there is a ULA pixel above it. When the ULA moves out the way, the sprites are no longer affected.

Weird...

Donwload: www.javalemmings.com/public/zxnext/CSpect2_19_0.zip

[Luzie]

Download: www.javalemmings.com/public/zxnext/CSpect2_19_0.zip

Seems Download was removed in the meantime. So we have to wait for a newer version

[TMD2003]

I'm backing up my main hard drive at the moment, and while the main computer is incapacitated doing that (I've left it in Safe Mode just to make sure of minimising any complications), I thought I'd see if I could get CSpect working on my old laptop. When I say "old", I mean "it's just crashed through its 15th birthday". It has a dual-core processor that runs at 1.86 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, and even if that doesn't sound very impressive now, it still runs Windows 7 without too many troubles. But it is, as far as I know, 32-bit architecture - so it comes in useful if I have to run older programs that refuse to run on my main PC with its 64-bit architecture.

I copied the CSpect folder over from the main PC to the laptop, so that all the SD card images, ROMs and switches added to the BAT file to start it were intact from the configuration I'd managed to get working on the main PC the other day. But on the laptop - no dice. It started - at least the DOS-esque window displaying CSpect.exe and the switches I'd added appeared - it paused for a few seconds, and disappeared. CSpect didn't even start in 48K Spectrum mode. And so far, nothing I could think of to get it started has done so.

I also have a Linux installation on this machine - Lubuntu 18.04.6 - and, apparently, there's a version of CSpect for Linux. A previous thread on this forum mentions having to update "Mono" to get CSpect to work. I have no idea what this is, nor what it does, nor where to find a Linux version of CSpect - and as a general rule, if it isn't already there on the Ubuntu repository (and CSpect isn't), this means I'm going to have to compile it from source and I have zero chance of ever being able to do that even if I study computer science full-time for the next ten years; I've tried before, and all I get is a screen full of incomprehensible gobbledegook when the compiler inevitably throws up an error that I don't understand, let alone have any idea how to fix it.

Is what I'm doing wrong a simple fix, or is it utterly futile trying to run an emulator for a computer over a decade newer than this laptop?

[PeterJ]

@TMD2003,

I posted about Mono. You use the same CSpect binaries in Linux. Mono is just an open source implementation of the Microsoft.net tools. You Linux is probably way too old for recent versions of mono.

viewtopic.php?p=52022#p52022

[Luzie]

@TMD2003 Is there any error message in cspect.log?

[TMD2003]

@TMD2003,

I posted about Mono. You use the same CSpect binaries in Linux. Mono is just an open source implementation of the Microsoft.net tools. You Linux is probably way too old for recent versions of mono.

Or maybe not - the thread I found before (from some time in 2020) had the user running Ubuntu 18.04 - which does come with a version of Mono that's too old, but it was updatable to version 6 which was fine, so that's unlikely to be a problem.

I'll give this a go and see how it works... any time I've seen a file ending in .exe I've always assumed I'd need Wine, and that's an extra layer of strain that I don't need. Anyway, here goes...

@TMD2003 Is there any error message in cspect.log?

The laptop-failed-execution didn't add anything to the log. All that was logged at any time was that it was starting with the Next ROM, and the last entry was 5th January, i.e. not earlier today.

[TMD2003]

It's working, on Linux - and there doesn't seem to be any speed issues, at least not running at 3.5 MHz. I have no idea what I might need 28 MHz mode for yet, as I still haven't reached the programming section of the manual yet, and even then there may still be all the elementary stuff to wade through that I knew inside out by the end of 1987. The screen resolution I have available is the bare minimum required, though it looks OK in full screen mode.

Cheers for that! Now, if there are any clues as to how the WIndows version might be made to work...

[Luzie]

@TMD2003

Now, if there are any clues as to how the WIndows version might be made to work...

What happens, when you run "beast.bat" in CSpect-Directory?

You installed "OpenAL Audio Library"? As can be read on: https://retrobits.altervista.org/blog/d ... uickstart/

I also found this:

[PeterJ]

It's working, on Linux - and there doesn't seem to be any speed issues.

Excellent!

[TMD2003]

What happens, when you run "beast.bat" in CSpect-Directory?

Annoyingly, it's a blank file with no text in it. The other .bats - parallax, NXTel and mod_player, all do the same as CSpect trying to start on its own - the Command Prompt appears for about three seconds, and disappears with no execution of CSpect.

You installed "OpenAL Audio Library"? As can be read on: https://retrobits.altervista.org/blog/d ... uickstart/

I did - it didn't make a difference. Maybe it will once CSpect actually works, because there'll be sound - but for now, no dice.

[Luzie]

@TMD2003

Annoyingly, it's a blank file with no text in it. The other .bats - parallax, NXTel and mod_player, all do the same as CSpect trying to start on its own - the Command Prompt appears for about three seconds, and disappears with no execution of CSpect.

My BEAST.BAT contains:

Code: Select all

CSpect.exe -fullscreen -sound -w2 -60 -vsync -zxnext -mmc=./ beast.nex

Do you have any AntiVirus Protection active (even Windows Defender)? This maybe something that detects and blocks CSPECT.EXE as "False Positive Virus".

I did - it didn't make a difference. Maybe it will once CSpect actually works, because there'll be sound - but for now, no dice.

My experience with it is a little bit different than that: CSpect won´t start on Windows if "OpenAL Audio Library" isn´t installed. With or without sound.

[TMD2003]

Do you have any AntiVirus Protection active (even Windows Defender)? This maybe something that detects and blocks CSPECT.EXE as "False Positive Virus".

I do - AVG on both Windows computers. The main desktop machine allows CSpect to work with no hindrance. The laptop doesn't - but there's no indication that it's AVG causing the problem. Usually it would show a nag screen that says "you've been a naughty boy trying to run programs that are haram".