ParaJVE : Parabellum's Java Vectrex Emulator   

Official Home of ParaJVE ... A travel through the programming of a freeware Vectrex emulator in java!

Thursday, January 11, 2007  

Version 0.4.0 released

I've just finished uploading the latest release, so you can now jump to the download site, and grab your version! :)

Most of the additions were already listed in the previous posts, so let's just review them quickly...

First come the major changes and additions:

  • Updated the JOGL library embedded within ParaJVE, in order to make the emulator work with the latest 1.5 java runtime (update 10).

  • Alex of Vectorzoa.com kindly allowed me to add one of his game, Star Sling 4K (Turbo Edition), within the distribution. This game, coded in 2006, features a mode with two simultaneous players, and makes a perfect use of the analog joysticks, in as few as 4 kilobytes ... so don't miss it! And by the way, if you like cool homebrew Vectrex productions, then by all means, be sure to check out Vectorzoa's site.

    A small reminder about analog mode within ParaJVE : to enter analog mode, simply double click the game area with the left mouse button (click the button again to exit this mode).

  • I completely rewrote the way the game ports are handled. You can now plug and unplug different peripherals into both game ports (through a special menu). For now, the only available peripherals are the Joystick and the Keyboard Adapter (see next point), but more devices should be implemented as the versions come out...

  • Added emulation of a new peripheral : the PS/2 Keyboard Adapter. This new device, realised in 2006 by Richard Hutchinson, let you connect any PS/2 keyboard to the Vectrex! Since it's a brand new hardware, there is not any application making use of it yet, but ParaJVE is now ready for the developers who want to have a go at it (don't forget to set it up through the "Key Mapping" menu). If you're interested, you can find more information in this discussion.

  • Implemented direct DAC write to Sound Resistive Network (as described in this post), to complete sound emulation.
And finally, this release comes with a few minor fixes:

  • Implemented VIA6522 SR Mode 101.
  • Fixed a regression introduced in 0.3.2 where the command line argument -GAME=xxx was not handled correctly.
I hope you'll have fun with this version!

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