ngine-SNES9x 0.24 release notes (tubooboo) 2000/12/22  

          +-------------------------------------------------+
          | ngine "snes9x edition" v0.24 release notes      |
          |                                                 |
          | Release Date:     23rd Dec 2000                 |
          | Prior Release:    none                          |
          | By:               Emanuel Schleussinger         |
          |                   (aka tubooboo)                |
          |                                                 |
          | ngine is (c) 200x Emanuel Schleussinge          |
          | snes9x sources courtesy of Gary Henderson       |
          |                                                 |
          | for the latest version: http://www.ngine.de     |
          +-------------------------------------------------+


1. What it is:
--------------

ngine is a base shell for all kinds of applications I
intend to write over time. It looks very much like a 
command line interface people were used to under DOS 
and still are under Linux/UNIX. It also manages keyboards,
controllers, sets up applications to use your local TV
output mode, allows you to browse a CDROM file system, and
in this edition, run SNES games on your Sega Dreamcast ;)

This is the very first public release of ngine, so expect it
to have a truckload of bugs in the command line.

Sources will be available once I am more satisfied with
the integrity of the ngine codebase.


2. Who should use this:
-----------------------

Only people that have all of the following

 - A Sega Dreamcast
 - A Joypad
 - A Dreamcast keyboard
 - At least a bit of experience with Command line usage
 - patience (snes9x does not run full speed, yet, 
   see future improvements section for details)
 - the will to operate pre-release software

will enjoy running ngine in its current version.
All others I suggest should wait for version 1.0 of
ngine, which will be running fullspeed, have sound,
and support saving.

3. What currently works
-----------------------

 - most games that snes9x supports are also working in
   ngine.
 - command line interface (see how to use section)
 - joypad control for snes9x (see how to use section)
     

4. What does (currently) not work
---------------------------------

 - loading of splitted ROM images is not yet supported
   (you can recognize splitted ROMs by the ending .1 usually)
 - SNES9x not fullspeed (like all other SNES9x emus on DC)
 - no sound
 - only 1 joypad
 - no saving
 - "cd .." does not work, use "cd /yourdir" instead
 - "ls" command does not take any parameters currently
 - also see the bugs section for known issues

5. How to use it
----------------

Burn the CD image in this archive with Discjuggler 2.x or 
3.x and chuck it into your Dreamcast, and power it on. You 
should be seeing something like: 

+---------------------------------+
|  ngine console 0.24             |
|           tubooboo@ngine.de     |
|  correctly started up plugins   |
|                                 |
|  ...have a lot of fun ;-)       |
+---------------------------------+

If you have no keyboard, this is the end of story for you.
The rushed release did not allow me to support joypad ROM
selection. This will be included with the second release,
i assume.

If you do not get the message above at all, something went 
wrong burning your CD and you are  propably better off going 
to look through the message board of http://www.ngine.de and 
look for help on this issue. Do not email me about burning 
problems please.

If all is fine, you should now be able to type on the command
line. Certain issues you might discover are listed in the "Known
Bugs" section

Usually, you will want to use the snes9x command. Here is a
typical Walkthrough on how to do this:

1.) take out the ngine CD and replace it with a CD containing
    SNES ROMs.
2.) type "ls" , which will show you the contents of your CD
3.) if your ROMs are in a subdirectory, type 
    "cd "
4.) assuming your game is called "MARIO.SMC" type:
    "snes9x mario.smc"
5.) play the game. 
    Button mappings are same as for the SNES, just
    two buttons are different (this will change soon)
    START  (SNES) -> Start+UP
    SELECT (SNES) -> Start+Down


6.) When you want to exit, press the ESC key 
    on your keyboard and load a different game.

There are a few interesting other things you can do with this 
release of ngine, if you are tired of snes games, see the help 
command for details.

6. Future improvments
---------------------

 - full speed through an assembly CPU kernel
 - sound
 - saving
 - improve command line

7. Known bugs:
--------------

 - ngine will crash if you invoke snes9x with a non existant 
   filename
 - "cd .." does not work. use "cd /" instead.
 - ls does not take any parameters
 - snes9x in this port does not support splitted ROMs
 - ngine might crash on some SuperFX games
 - the DEL key on the keyboard might not work sometimes
 - the keyboard layout is mapped to a standard german keyboard. A
   US/UK keymap is in the works, sorry for this. Here is help on 
   some often used keys:
   "-" press "/" key
   "_" press "/" key + Shift
   "/" press "7" key + Shift
 - Sometimes the directory logic gets flaky, if you consistently
   get "No CD in Drive", type "cd /", that might fix it
 - The virtual Start/select buttons may not work in SOME games.
   I will change this asap.

8. Greetings:
-------------

Thanks to:

The DC Dev list, Dan Potter, Marcus Comstedt, Gary Henderson, 
Keith Stuart, Andrew Kuschnik, CyRuS64, Maike (l)

Greetings:
Mark, Joggl, Noogz, Crussell and Elly, Franzi, all Amazon staff, 
Dani, Nico, Sin, Morgan Johansson, David Michel, theman078, 
Zophar, EDGE magazine, EmuUnlim, Gamefreax, Back2roots.org,
all Quark.de staff, and all I have forgotten this time around.

9. Terms of use:
----------------

You must not change the contents of this archive. Also, 

you must not:

 - offer any part of ngine for a profit
 - redistribute ngine bundled with SNES ROM files or other 
   copyrighted material
 - redistribute parts of this archive without prior permission
   though the author.

If this breaks your hardware, software, or soul, its your fault,
not mine. 

Sega is a trademark.

10. Contact:
------------

To get in contact with me, visit my web site on

                 http://www.ngine.de
Or write to:     tubooboo@ngine.de


 
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