News Roundup: June 14 - August 12

mossy_11 on Tuesday, 13 August 2013. Posted in News

My apologies about missing July’s roundup; I had a very busy month.


Nintendo 64 emulator Mupen64Plus has been updated to version 2.0. This release improves all the plugin modules, notably adding support for video window resizing and six new joysticks. It also fixes emulation issues with a number of games, including Donkey Kong 64 and Ocarina of Time. Check out the release notes here, then download via this page.


After two years without an update, Eric Shepherd aka SheppyWare’s Sweet16 Apple IIgs emulator has seen a major new release and a subsequent minor update. Version 3.0 drops support for PowerPC Macs, implements drag-and-drop support between the Mac and Apple IIgs Finder, adds a bunch of long-overdue features, fixes loads of issues, and improves everything else. Check out the release notes for both this and the 3.0.1 update at the Sweet16 website.


One year to the day after its previous release, Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon emulator Hatari has been updated to version 1.7.0. This release adds an experimental MMU for the 68030 mode, improves accuracy in several areas, and makes a few other fixes. From a gaming perspective, 15 titles that previously had issues—including James Pond and Microprose Golf—should now work. The full release notes are included in the download (available here), while the quick-fire version is on the Hatari news page.


NekoLauncher Mednafen, a frontend/launcher for multi-system emulator Mednafen, has been updated to version 0.9.29. As has Mednafen itself, courtesy of idyll and Weedy Weed Smoker. For the uninitiated, Mednafen handles Game Boy Advance, Virtual Boy, Super Nintendo, and several other classic systems with aplomb, and it’s also an excellent choice for Mac folks looking to emulate PlayStation games. You can grab Mednafen with or without its frontend here, or pop over to Nekocan for just NekoLauncher Mednafen. And share your thoughts on the newly-minted MacScene forum thread.


Continue reading for more emulator news, including updates to Stella, Sheepshaver, and CocoaMSX, along with a couple of new additions to the scene.


Atari 2600 VCS emulator Stella has been updated to version 3.9. Changes include an enhanced debugger, bugfixes for zip handling and first-run behaviour, an updated ROM properties database and PNG/ZLIB libraries, and a couple of UI improvements. Check out the Stella news page for more information.


Arcade emulator MAME has been updated to version 0.149u1, as has its Mac-specific command-line port SDLMAME. You can see what’s new here, and as always source code is available at the MAMEdev site while an SDLMAME binary can be downloaded from the SDLMAME and SDLMESS website.


PowerPC Mac emulator SheepShaver has a new test build available for download (dated July 26). This build allows adding sparsebundle disk images to the volumes list in the built-in preferences editor. Grab it from the E-Maculation Forums.


The most interesting new development in classic Mac emulation, however, is this Mac OS runtime environment that sounds rather a lot like Executor. Mosrun will run OS 7.6.6 software without the need for Apple ROMs. It’s still a bit rough, but if you get it running let us know how it handles.


Speaking of classic Macs, MacFCEU, an NES/Famicom emulator for pre-OS X systems, has been updated to version 0.8a7. This appears to have improved real-time playback, smoothed sound performance, and added an option to select individual files with a zip archive. Get it from the MacFCEU SourceForge page.


Gaming-focused Amiga emulator FS-UAE version 2.2.3 has been released. This is a minor update, primarily fixing Windows-only issues. Get it, or check the release notes, from the FS-UAE download page.


JPCSP, a Java-based PSP emulator, has been getting more automatic builds. The last few builds look to have fairly minimal additions. You can grab the latest revision from EmuNewz, or check out the JPCSP website for more information.


Meanwhile, PPSSPP, the big mover in PSP emulation, has reached version 0.8—with 0.9 due for release later this month. Version 0.8 adds full video and audio playback in “most” games, increases compatibility, and adds several handy UI features. There’s still no official Mac build, but you can grab an up-to-date unofficial one from PPSSPP Builds by Karen.


PlayStation fans will be happy to note that we’re still being treated to regular Mac builds of PCSX-Reloaded, courtesy of ConsoleEmu. Head over to this link for the latest builds. No word yet on an official new build, even though it’s been three years since the last one.


Open-source x86 virtualisation tool VirtualBox got a couple of maintenance releases since the last roundup. It’s up to version 4.2.16 at the time of writing. Most of the changes look to be bug fixes.


DOSBox frontend/launcher DBGL has been updated to version 0.76. This implements a Gallery View mode and fixes a number of issues. See the Changelog for details. You can get it here, although frankly I don’t see why you’d pick it over Boxer.


Open-source machine emulator and virtualiser QEMU received five updates between this and the last news roundup, each with lots of changes and additions, with the latest release at 1.6.0-rc3. See here for the 1.6.0 ChangeLog. You can download the source code here. I’m not aware of any pre-compiled builds for Mac.


In news we missed last time round, Nintendo Game Boy Color emulator Gambatte has been updated. The change log hasn’t been updated, and I’m not digging through source commits, so you’ll have to figure out what’s new for yourself. This latest release is numbered 537 and dated 1st June. Get it from the Gambatte SourceForge page.


MSX emulator CocoaMSX has been updated to version 1.3. This release adds support for gamepads/joysticks on Mac and for compressed machine ROMs. Get it from the CocoaMSX GitHub site. And let us know if you have thoughts on how it compares to the longer-established openMSX.


If you’re an openMSX fan, you’ll be pleased to know there’s a new frontend on the scene. OpenMSX Launcher will scan your hard drive for MSX ROMs, disks, and tapes, and display two screenshots in-app for each game. Version 1.0 was released last month.


Dolphin, an emulator for the Nintendo Wii and Gamecube consoles, is getting a ridiculous number of automated development builds. Check out the Development versions section of the Dolphin downloads page if you absolutely must stay at the cutting edge, or just stick with the stable 3.5 build.


Got any news tips? Let us know on the forums.

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