News Roundup: July 11 - August 24

mossy_11 on Wednesday, 27 August 2014. Posted in News

PlayStation Portable emulator PPSSPP has been updated to version 0.9.9.1. This fixes a few issues discovered in the 0.9.9 release, which added support for the mp3 and aac codecs and PMP video format, fixed a number of graphical issues by adding CLUT/paletted texturing from framebuffers, improved vrot CPU instruction emulation, and much more. Mac builds are still not officially supported, and the angelXwind site that normally hosts unofficial builds seems to be down, but PPSSPP forum-goer slavezeo put together a script that can be used to compile the emulator with only a little modification.


Nintendo Wii and Gamecube emulator Dolphin apparently received hundreds of code optimisations in July, resulting in big performance improvements, fixes to long-standing bugs, and even a few new features. Read the typically-fascinating Progress Report for a rundown of the most notable changes. They've also got a review up on the Dolphin blog for the Mayflash DolphinBar, which is a USB sensor bar designed to work with Dolphin and as a mouse replacement. If you're after new builds, there's a steady flow of automated development versions appearing every day.


It's been a long time coming, but ScummVM 1.7.0 was released in July. Five new games are supported, including 1996 claymation The Neverhood. Changes include "many" improvements to the UI, an OpenGL backend and enhanced AGOS engine, and updated MT-32 emulation. You can read a full breakdown of the changes in the release notes. Get it from the ScummVM download page.

Continue reading for more updates, including GBA on Bizhawk, loads of FS-UAE development builds, new Hatari, and more.


Multi-console emulator BizHawk now supports Gameboy Advance (with a GBA BIOS file). That takes the tally on OS X up to 15 — NES, FDS, SMS, Game Gear, PCE/TG16 games, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, ColecoVision, Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega CD, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, TI-83 graphing calculator, Wonderswan (and Wonderswan Color). Head over to our BizHawk forum thread to discuss, or grab a download via SourceForge.


CocoaMSX, an open-source OS X-specific emulator for the MSX computers, has been updated to version 1.40. This adds a number of (virtual) LEDs to the status bar, updates to the latest blueMSX core, adds quick save and load commands, and more. See the full list at the CocoaMSX GitHub project repository.


Multi-console emulator Mednafen has been updated to version 0.9.36.3. This fixes a crash bug in the PlayStation emulation, plus a couple of other issues. See the announcement post for details. Mac builds are back, thanks to rrshier, so you can grab the 0.9.36.3 OS X binary with or without NekoLauncher Mednafen from the Mednafen forums.


Games-focused Amiga emulator FS-UAE has received seven development builds this month. Changes include an updated WinUAE core, experimental PearPC PPC emulation, and lots of bug fixes and code cleanup. The latest development release at the time of writing is 2.5.12dev. You can download this via the development download page, or head to the regular FS-UAE download page for the latest stable build.


Hatari, an Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon emulator, has been updated for the first time in over a year. Version 1.8.0 provides "huge improvements" to floppy disk controller emulation, adds support for STX, IPF, and CTR files, fixes a bunch of issues, and more. You can see a detailed summary in the release notes, and as slways the latest release is available to download via the official Hatari website.


Arcade emulator Raine has been updated to version 0.63.10. This release fixes loads of bugs, most notably with NeoGeo games now able to re-read their memory card on repeat runs. See the announcement post for a longer list of fixes. Still no new Mac build since 0.63.4, but you should be able to compile it yourself (or run the Windows one in a wrapper).


Multiple arcade emulator MAME has also been updated. Version 0.154b features loads of bugfixes and new additions, as described in the what's new file. Its sister project MESS has similarly been pushed to 0.154b, with new systems supported including the Goldstar Famicom FC-100 and FM-Towns Marty 2. You can see the MESS changes here. Both MAME and MESS are available in binary form (with SDL 1.2.15 required) at the SDLMAME for OS X website.


MAME and MESS frontend/launcher QMC2 has been updated to version 0.44. This version syncs up with MAME/MESS 0.154 and includes a new ranking system as well as some important bugfixes and improvements. See here for the changes, and get it from the QMC2 download section.


VirtualBox, an open-source x86 virtualisation tool, got its customary monthly-ish maintenance release, with changes focused on NAT networking issues. The software now also considers BluRay devices when scanning for host CD/DVD devices on OS X. See here for the changelog.


Processor/machine emulator and virtualiser QEMU versions 2.0.2 and 2.1.0 have been released. Version 2.1 adds mouse wheel support to the SDL 2.0 interface, improves networking on OS X, adds USB 3 passthrough support, and loads more. Check out the changelog if you'd like to see the full list. As has been the case for some time, there's no OS X build available, but those with the know-how can roll their own from the source code available at the QEMU download page.


DOSBox frontend Dapplegrey has been updated to version 4.2.8. The app now remembers disk drive settings. No other changes were noted. You can get it from the Classics for X website.


Java-based PSP emulator JPCSP continues to receive regular automated builds, which you can grab from EmuNewz


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