Sophie: meka-0.73-1mdv2010.2 i586

meka-0.73-1mdv2010.2.i586.rpm

MEKA 0.73 - Documentation
===========================
Multi machine emulator for MS-Windows, MS-DOS and GNU/Linux.
(c) in 1998-2010 by MEKA team (Omar Cornut and contributors, list below).
==========================================================================
Homepage: http://www.smspower.org/meka
License in 'sources.txt' file (BSD-like for most parts)
==========================================================================
This documentation is best viewed with a fixed width font.
Please forgive my sometimes flaky english.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 0 : I am a busy guy
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are looking for how to donate to the MEKA project, press Up, Down,
Right, Left and start directly at Level 7. However I strongly recommend
reading the whole documentation, if only to make me think I haven't wrote
it for nothing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 1 : Introduction
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MEKA is a multi machine emulator, originally started as a Sega Master System
emulator, and generally very oriented toward Z80-based Sega 8-bit systems.
MEKA officially emulates the following systems:

- Sega Game 1000 / SG-1000 / Japan, Oceania
- Sega Computer 3000 / SC-3000 / Japan, Oceania, Europe
- Super Control Station / SF-7000 / Japan, Oceania, Europe
- Sega Mark III / MK3 / Japan
+ FM Unit Extension / MK3+FM / Japan
- Sega Master System / SMS / World Wide
- Sega Game Gear / GG / World Wide
- ColecoVision / COLECO / America, Europe
- Othello Multivision / OMV / Japan

You can play other systems on it only if you are smart enough to figure how.
And if you are, I doubt you will want to play Nintendo games. So forget it.

MEKA is developped and coordinated by:

> Omar Cornut / Bock
Project manager, machine emulation, tools, graphical user interface, sound
interface, graphics, miscellaneous stuff.
E-mail: omar AT miracleworld DOT net

And include invaluable contributions from the following handsome people:

> Hiromitsu Shioya / Hiro-shi Original sound engine. OPL-based Yamaha 2413 emulator.
> Marat Fayzullin / RST38H Zilog Z80 CPU emulation core. Implemented with modifications/fixes in MEKA.
> Mitsutaka Okazaki Software Yamaha 2413 emulator (EMU2413).
> Maxim Software PSG emulator.
> Ulrich Cordes FDC765 emulator for SF-7000. Implemented with modifications in MEKA.
> Valerie Tching / Kittie Original Memory Editor.
> Johan Euphrosine / Proppy GNU/Linux tweaks, initial MacOSX port.
> DJRobX Blitters and video improvements, HQ2X interface.
> Maxim Stephin / MaxSt HQ2X graphics filter.
> Dirk Stevens Eagle graphics filter.

MEKA in its original flavor, is for MS-DOS and compatible systems.
MEKAW is the codename for the MS-Windows version of MEKA.
MEKANIX is the codename for the GNU/Linux version of MEKA.

Generally speaking, people mentionned above are not directly involved in
MEKA and may or may not want to be contacted about it. That is why I did
not include their e-mail addresses. Please refer to credits at the end of
this document to find web sites, or feel free to contact me if you're
interested in obtaining someone's e-mail address.

Now let me tell you more about the cool systems that MEKA emulates:

-- on the Sega side --

The SG-1000, for "Sega Game 1000", was released in Japan in July 1983.
Heavily based on the MSX hardware, it is the first known Sega home console
system. It was later distributed by Grandstand in New Zealand.

The SC-3000, for "Sega Computer 3000", is a variation of the SG-1000 (still
compatible with it) with a keyboard, and some optional peripherals such as
a printer (SP-400), a tape recorder (SR-1000), or that big extension called
the Super Control Station (SF-7000), providing a 3" floppy disk drive, a
Centronics printer port, and more available memory. The SC-3000 was released
in November 1983 in Japan, and then was sold in certain countries around the
world (Oceania and Europe), usually shipped with a BASIC programming cart.

Later, Sega released some updates to these systems, including, but not
limited to the SC-3000h (a re-release of the SC-3000 with a hard keyboard),
and the SG-1000-II (also called Mark II). The SK-1100, for "Sega Keyboard"
was an upgrade to the SG-1000 and SG-1000-II to be able to use keyboard
software such as the BASIC or the Music Editor.

The Mark III, released in 1985, is the first Master System compatible system.
It still have the necessary ports to plug the keyboard. A FM extension was
made available later, providing with a better sound hardware. FM sound is
supported by most games released in Japan between 1986 and 1988, Out Run
being the first game featuring FM.

The Mark III is backward compatible with SG-1000/SC-3000 games, although it
has a darker, slighty incorrect palette (compared to an original SG-1000 or
SC-3000).

In 1986 came the Sega Master System, two years after Nintendo released their
crappy gray box. It was sold just about everywhere, but the Japanese version
had the FM extension embedded and profited from it because of better music.
Other differences with the Mark III are the 3-D Glasses mini jack port and
the embedded rapid fire unit, none of them being available on non-Japanese
units. The Master System is also backward compatible with the older systems,
with the same palette problem as the Mark III.

The Master System had an interesting success in Brazil, where Tec Toy, the
official distributor, released plenty of ports from Game Gear, unreleased
games and sometimes even original games of their own, up to 1997. Tec Toy
released a Master System 3 for the Brazilian market, although it is in fact
just a renamed Master System 2.
They then later released the Master System Super Compact, and a pink colored
version called the Master System Girl. Both fits in hands and allows playing
a few meters away from the TV, with no direct connection.

Tec Toy is still around and continuing its work on Sega systems. In early
December 2002, a new and surprising package was released in Brazil, called
the "Master System 3 Collection". It contains about fifty games emddedded
in a white colored, SMS 2 shaped console.

In July 2004, Tec Toy released its latest variation of the Master System,
called the "Master System Handy". This Dreamcast controller alike shaped
console fits in hands (like the Super Compact models) and embed 8 games.

The Sega Game Gear was released in 1991. It is basically a portable Master
System with a smaller screen, a communication port (for dual player gaming)
and a bigger palette (4096 colors available instead of 64). Although old
SG-1000/SC-3000 video modes are still supported, their default palette
was removed so most SG-1000/SC-3000 software have wrong colors on a
Game Gear (software modification is possible to fix that).

-- on the other side --

There was a machine called the Othello Multivision, released in Japan,
which is in fact a SG-1000 with a new shape (pretty small, and embed an
incomplete keyboard) and an Othello game in ROM. Eight game cartridges
were specifically released for it. They are fully compatible with SG-1000.

(following text by Tincho DJ)

In 1982, Coleco (COnnecticut LEather COmpany) released the ColecoVision.
In those years, Atari led the home video games market with Atari 2600, a
8-bit console released in 1978. Coleco wanted to release ColecoVision with
Donkey Kong, the Nintendo's arcade smash hit. But it wasn't possible; Mattel
(the Intellivision manufacturer) and Atari released this game first. Anyway,
Coleco could release Donkey Kong four months later, acquiring KING KONG's
rights from Universal Studios (Nintendo had been demanded by Universal, due
to suspicious similarities between Donkey Kong and King Kong. Some months
later, Nintendo won). This wasn't the last controversy in which Coleco was
involved. In 1983, a cartridge adaptor was released by Coleco. This adaptor
would let you use Atari 2600 cartridge on the ColecoVision. Of course, Atari
demanded Coleco; but Coleco won.

Later, Coleco released Adam, a computer based on Colecovision hardware. It
wasn't very successful. Colecovision's time was running out, and production
was stopped in 1984.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 2 : Features
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Graphics
--------
Original VDP (Video Display Processor) functionnalities were implemented as
accurately as possible (within my given time and brain ressources), including
some obscure features, so most games should be displaying accurately.

MEKA emulates the following display modes:

- TMS9918 mode 0 (Graphics)
- TMS9918 mode 1 (Text)
- TMS9918 mode 2 (Graphics)
- TMS9918 mode 3 (Multicolor)
- SMS/GG mode 4
- SMS PAL extended 224-lines mode

Including proper scrolling, line-based raster effect and sprite collision,
sprite flickering (optional), and some VDP variation emulation.

If your computer is slower and cannot cope with MEKA (<300 Mhz), you may
want to try using Massage or BrSMS. Both of those MS-DOS based emulators
are faster, although not as compatible.

Sound
-----
MEKA emulates both sound hardware featured in the supported systems:

- SN-76496 Programmable Sound Generator (PSG) by Texas Instrument
- YM-2413 FM Generator (FM) by Yamaha

Although technically better, the FM hardware is only supported by certain
Master System games, mostly released between between 1986 and 1989.
As mentionned earlier, this hardware only exists as an add-on for the
Sega Mark III, or in the Japanese Sega Master System. So for most users,
FM music will sound unusual.

FM emulation is disabled by default, but if you are interested in hearing
how an extended Mark III or a Japanese Master System would sound, you can
freely enable it back in the SOUND menu of the emulator.

The 4 channels of the Programmable Sound Generator are emulated in near
perfection. Data gathered from various studies (including, but not
limited to excellent work done by Maxim) allows perfection to go as far
as generating noises using the same sequence of pseudo random numbers
as a real PSG!

The Yamaha YM-2413 chipset features 9 channels, 15 pre-defined instruments,
and 1 user definable instrument. 3 channels can be used for percussions,
and the chipset provides hardware vibrato and amplitude modulation.

Two different YM-2413 emulators are provided in MEKA:

- Mitsutaka Okazaki's EMU2413 emulator.
This emulate the YM-2413 accurately by generating samples.
It is a bit slow, but sounds very accurate. It works on all systems.
This emulator was written by Mitsutaka Okazaki.

- Hiromitsu Shioya's OPL wrapper.
Requires an OPL chipset on your soundcard (old Soundblaster/Adlib
have that). Newer soundcard may not works well with it.
It is fast, and sounds very cool (cool as in: not fully faithful).
However, it does only works under DOS and Windows 95/98/ME due to
technical restrictions. It might works under Windows XP under certain
conditions (enabling compatibility mode) and assuming that you have a
soundcard with an OPL chipset and a BLASTER environment variable set.
Using software such as DOSBox or VDMSound may allow to use it.

If for some tragic reason you want or have to use the DOS version of
MEKA under a Windows NT/2000/XP system, you may want to use one of the
following program:

- VDMSound, sound support in DOS boxes
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/

- DOSBox, a x86 emulator with DOS
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/
(MEKA was reported to work properly with it)

Sound should work natively with MEKAW throught DirectSound (DirectX).

It is important to note that although PSG/FM emulation is excellent,
sound playback using the SEAL library and some incorrect timing code is
a big flaw and can damage sound on some Windows configuration.
This problem is being addressed.

Peripherals
-----------
MEKA supports/emulates the following peripherals:

- Standard, two buttons joypad:
[all systems]
Control with keyboard or joypads.

- Light Phaser:
[Master System]
Control the cursor with mouse, shoot with first button (by default).
Gangster Town supports 2 Light Phasers, but there's currently no way
to control two separates Light Phasers in the emulator (but you can assign
your mouse to both of them on the same time and double fire-power).

- Paddle Control (ala Steering Wheel):
[Mark III / Master System]
This analog paddle is supported by a few japanese games.
It is possible to use a standard keyboard or digital joystick, but a
mouse is HIGHLY recommended to simulate a Paddle Control.
Galactic Protector supports 2 Paddle Controls on the same time.

- Sports Pad:
[Mark III / Master System]
This heavy trackball is supported by a few sports games.
Control with mouse. First and second buttons have the usual behavior.
Sports games supports 2 Sports Pad, but there's currently no way to
control two separates Sports Pad in the emulator (you can assign your
mouse to both of them on the same time, thought).

- SK-1100 Keyboard:
[Sega Computer 3000]
Used in all Sega Computer 3000 specific programs such as the Sega BASIC.
Control with your computer keyboard. See key assignements below in this
document.

- 3-D Glasses:
[Mark III / Master System]
MEKA let you play 3-D games using three differents methods.

- The first method is handled on the software side and the one you
are likely to use without any particular hardware.
MEKA can show either left or right eyes screens, removing the huge
jerky flickering that you can see when showing both eyes screens.
As a result of showing only one side, the framerate is halved by two.

- A more interesting method is to use real 3-D glasses.
If you tell MEKA to keep 3-D rendering as is (showing both sides),
you will be able to enjoy the effect by using a video card such as
the ASUS AGP-V6600, which uses the same technology. I did not try
it myself so I cannot confirm, but you should be able to play 3-D
games with MEKA using such video card and its dedicated 3-D glasses.

- Last but not least, the greatest way of playing 3-D games is to use
real Sega Master System 3-D glasses! The TECH.TXT include description
and schematic of a simple adaptor to plug such glasses on your computer,
through COM ports. MEKA supports SMS 3-D glasses plugged this way and
will communicate with them to enable/disable each eyes in sync with
emulation.

- Terebi Oekaki (TV Draw) Graphic Board:
[Sega Game 1000 / Sega Computer 3000 / Mark III / Master System]
This is a graphic board and pen set which was available in Japan only,
and directly connected to a drawing software cartridge.
Control with mouse. First button simulates a pen press, and second
button simulates the pen being away from the graphic board, so you
can control the cursor with a joypad as well.

Using dedicated adapters, it is also possible to plug and use Sega Master
System controllers into your computer. Please read the TECH.TXT about it.

Interface
---------
MEKA includes a dedicated graphical user interface (GUI).
It should not requires particular skill to use. Just use your mouse to
point and click. Experienced users that are sick of using mice are also
able to use keyboard shortcuts to activate certain functions. However, to
give you some fun - or, due to me being a lazy bastard - they aren't all
documented or functionnal.

The graphical user interface is a bit slow, and a fast machine (300+ MHz)
is recommended to use it in optimal conditions, without having to skip
frames. Of course, the interface can be disabled (pressing Escape) and
emulation speed is not affected.

The current state of this thing is that I wrote the GUI code a long time
ago and that it is severely outdated now. I want to make plenty of update
and add new features to it, but that will be when I'll find enough time.

Other things
------------
A lot of work has been done on various things, some described below:

- ZIP file support: you can keep your ROM compressed in the ZIP file
format to save space, MEKA does know how to handle them.

- Patching system: this allows you to tell MEKA to patch a ROM on loading,
without having to modify the original file, or to patch memory (RAM, etc.)
at runtime. It can be used as a basic cheating functionnality.
This part requires tweaking the "MEKA.PAT" file manually or using a tool.

- Localized messages inside the emulator. Thanks to translating contributor,
MEKA is usable in variety of languages.

- Save states. You can load and save in-game, using F5 and F7 keys, with
up to a hundred slots for storing a game state (change with F6 and F8).
In addition, it is possible to load old Massage states by renaming them
to the MEKA naming convention. MEKA will automatically convert them.

- BIOS inclusion. You can play the snail game in MEKA, provided you know
how to access to it (alright, if you forgot, try pressing UP+1+2).
Originally, MEKA was supposed to use my own reprogrammed BIOS. Then I
found that someone already dumped them so I stopped working on mine and
included the original one instead.
MEKA even includes the Japanese Master System BIOS, which you can check
by setting the machine to Japanese and booting it without any game loaded.
It shows a little demo with a scrolling ground and plays the Space Harrier
music theme, taking advantage of both sound chipsets.

- A precise compatibility list. MEKA was heavily tested by myself.
Also thanks to all people who reported bugs, and Mxs, Jossa, Tincho DJ,
for their past help with Game Gear and ColecoVision lists.

- A game database, with full name, ROM image checksum, product numbers,
required peripherals, and comments in some cases. A lot of time was spent
building and updating this unique database. This permit to display full
game name and select specific emulation feature per game, although this
database is not needed for MEKA to function properly in most cases.
This database is kept updated to reflect various game versions, and is
one of the fundation element of a full-featured web site in the work.

- Logging of sound output to VGM (and WAV) format. VGM is a logging format
developed by the S8-Dev community of SMS Power. For more information,
and a music archive, go to http://www.smspower.org/music.
Logging of WAV only works for PSG sound (YM-2413 FM is not yet logged).

- Definable video modes with some nice fullscreen effects available such
as TV scanline simulation or HQ2X graphic enhancer.

- Debugging features, making MEKA useful for various programming/debugging
or even cheating purposes:
- Palette Viewer
- Tiles Viewer
- Tilemap Viewer
- Memory Editor
- Technical Information summary
- Data Dumping features
- And a basic debugger (run MEKA with /DEBUG parameter).
Read the "DEBUGGER.TXT" file for more information.

- Easter eggs / secret features: edit everything, click everywhere, try
all keys combinaisons... and you may get lucky several times!
Or unlucky playing Mario.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 3 : "Does it work ?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tried to make MEKA as compatible I could make it.
Unfortunatly, not every single game is working perfectly with it. If you
want to know which, be sure to check the compatibility list provided in
the COMPAT.TXT file.

If you found or suspect any bug or glitch that is not mentionned in the
compatibility list, please report it to me. Your help in spotting bugs
is precious.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 4 : "I just checked it... Heh ! where did you got all these games ?!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

SMS Power! - http://www.smspower.org

This is our Internet home, and new ROM images are regularly made available
from here. However, it is of your responsability to find ROM images.
You may want to check links or use Internet search engine.
Although SMS Power's current occupation is to release new ROM images, we
are comitted to slowly evolve into a full-featured Sega 8-bit web museum,
with hundred of pages that will make you drop Opa Opa tears and consider
building a time machine.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 5 : Usability
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Simply execute the "MEKA.EXE" (or "MEKAW.EXE", depending on the version
you are using) file, and MEKA should be up and running.

Command line options
--------------------
You can also run MEKA from the command line and it will take a filename
as a first parameter.

Additionnal parameters are also available:
-HELP -? Display command line help
-SETUP Start with the setup screen
-EURO -US Emulate an European/US system for this session
-JAP -JP -JPN Emulate a Japanese system for this session
-DEBUG Enable debugging features
-LOAD <n> Load savestate <n> on startup
-LOG <file> Log message to file <file> (appending it)
-NOELEPHANT Just what it says

Keys
----
The default keyboard mapping is detailled in sections below.

Common to all systems
---------------------
D-Pad ........................... Arrow Keys (default)
Button 1 ........................ Left Control (default)
Button 2 ........................ Left Alternate (default)

Master System / SG-1000
-----------------------
Soft Pause ...................... Space
This is the same pause as if you pressed the button on a real machine.
It can be used only if the game supports it at the moment you press it.
On some game, pressing pause will get you a menu, etc..
Hard Pause ...................... ALT+P or F12
This "special" pause with simply freeze the game, without changing
anything. It is usable everytime, everywhere.
Soft Reset ...................... Backspace
This is the same reset as if you pressed the button on a real machine.
It can be used only if the game supports it at the moment you press it.
On some emulated systems that does not support software reset, like the
Game Gear, pressing this key will actually produces an hard reset.
Hard Reset ...................... ALT+Backspace
This "special" reset with completly reset the emulated system.
It is usable everytime, everywhere.

Game Gear
---------
Start ........................... Space
Hard Reset ...................... Backspace

SC-3000/SF-7000 (anytime using the SK-1100, in fact)
----------------------------------------------------
Soft Reset ...................... Break

Other keys are mapped at the same place as the Sega Keyboard (SK-1100).
So be sure to look at the provided picture carefully. For example:

Control ......................... Caps Lock
Graph ........................... Left Control

The "Pi" key, also used to type the "Ro" kana in Japanese, has
unfortunately no equivalent on today's PC keyboard of most countries.
Because of this, you can also either use the backslash key on the
bottom left of your keyboard, OR the slash key on the keypad, to
replace the missing "Pi" key.

See a paragraph below about how to use SC-3000 and SF-7000 software.

ColecoVision
------------
Numeric Pad ..................... Keys 0 to 9, Minus and Equal

Miscellaneous keys
------------------
Switch to next fullscreen blitter ....................... F1
Switch between automatic and standard frameskipping ..... F2
Decrease speed (automatic) or frameskip (standard) ...... F3
Increase speed (automatic) or frameskip (standard) ...... F4

Save Game State ................. F5
Load Game State ................. F7
Previous State Slot ............. F6
Next State Slot ................. F8

Show FPS counter ................ ALT+F

Change emulated peripheral ...... F9
Enable/Disable Sega keyboard .... ALT+F9

Enable/Disable sprites .......... F11
Enable/Disable background ....... ALT+F11

Enable/Disable debugger ......... Scroll Lock (*1)

Close current window ............ CTRL+F4
Cycle thru inputs windows ....... CTRL+TAB

Quit emulator ................... F10
Save screen to a file ........... PrintScreen (*2)
Switch fullscreen/windowed....... ALT+Enter

(*1) Debugger must be activated. See "How to use the debugger".

(*2) To use the PrintScreen key with MEKA/DOS under a Windows environnement,
you have to tell Windows to stop intercepting the event. There is a
checkbox in the properties panel.
If PrintScreen doesn't work for you, please contact me.

Notes
-----
[DOS version]
To use a mouse (for the graphical user interface, and Light Phaser / Paddle
emulation), be sure to have an appropriate driver loaded in DOS mode. Some
drivers or system are known to cause problems. Try another driver in this
case, such as "Cute Mouse Driver", and be sure to report if you are having
such problem.

[All versions]
I am interested in implementing analog support for certain peripherals.
This is one of the obvious MEKA lack. It will be done whenever possible.

How to use SC-3000 and SF-7000 Software
---------------------------------------
Original SC-3000 games were the same as for SG-1000, being provided as
cartridge and thus loading the ROM is the only thing you need to do to
make them run. However, since the SC-3000 provided a BASIC cartridge,
and more over, the SF-7000 an easy way to store programs (on floppy
disks), homemade programs may prove being trickier to load.

SF-7000 disks are rarely self-bootable (this is of course the case of
the Disk Basic), and for most of them they need to be run from inside
of the Disk Basic. Once it is loaded and running, load the floppy disk
(.SF7 extension) you want to use, and type the FILES command to be given
a list of files on the disk.

To load a specified program, use LOAD "program name" where the program
name is usually ending with the .BAS extension. You can move your cursor
to the line the FILES listing gave you, add the LOAD command and press
enter, that'll do it. Afterward, the RUN command will start the program.

The cassette drive (CLOAD command on Disk Basic, and LOAD on original)
is not yet emulated and thus you will not be able to use it now :-(
Note that I am always looking for SC-3000 tapes, if you have some you
can part, they might prove being useful in the future. I am gathering
many of them currently, and of course hope to be able to work on tape
emulation someday (Aaron, I'm hearing you :)

How to use the debugger
-----------------------
Please read to the "DEBUGGER.TXT" documentation file.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 6 : "It is slooooooooow !!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

MEKA was mostly programmed by me, in C language, with few parts in x86
assembly. It is being hand optimized since a long time, but some things
still aren't very fast.

One of the biggest flaw, that is well known and unfortunately not yet fixed,
is that its synchronization to target speed (eg: 60 Hz) isn't perfect and
video refresh are not always optimal. It can be improved in various ways,
look in the "MEKA.BLT" file for more information about it. But the real
problem lies in the code, and is begging to be fixed.

Otherwise, MEKA's fairly accurate emulation may be a reason why it is slower
than some older emulators. Eg: Graphic refresh, palette and collision
detection are all handled on a scanline-by-scanline basis. Of course it
includes other features not helping to make emulation faster, either.

Other emulators may or not include those features or use different coding
practices, so that you may want to try them if MEKA doesn't run properly
for you. Of course, being worried of doing my best, I am always interested
in your feedback if you have to use MEKA over another emulator.

And now, for some tricks:

[DOS version]
Try running MEKA in pure DOS mode (not under Windows 95/98/ME).
Use VESA video modes if possible (see "MEKA.BLT").

[Windows version]
Use DirectX video modes if possible (see "MEKA.BLT").
Try upgrading your DirectX drivers.
Try begging me so I finally fix timing problems.

[UN*X version]
You are smart guys, you can figure it out!

[All versions]
Close all unused boxes in the interface. For exemple, palette and tiles
viewer may slow things down, depending on the game.

Disable YM-2413 FM emulation for games that supports it.
The digital YM-2413 emulator slows down emulation dramatically.
Or disable whole sound emulation.

Or erase MEKA.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 7 : "Man, I still like MEKA !" - How to help
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks. If you want to help further development and support the software
and general Sega 8-bit support, your donations are welcome and helpful.

- Donate Sega 8-bit related items:
I would love that. Software, hardware, cartridges, cards, tapes, posters,
magazines, goodies, documents, source codes, development kits, samples,
trivias, prototypes, all welcome.

- Donate money (via PayPal or other means):
Money helps me to purchase games related to the SMS Power! project, as
well as getting weird pieces of related Sega 8-bit hardware/items.

You can donate the amount of your choice.
< This section of the documentation used to contain a detailed equation
suggesting how much to donate based on your computer power (supposedly
related to your income) but such practice are so 1998 that I removed it. >

Suggestion donation method:

- PayPal.com
Good form of payments for us lazy computer geeks.
PayPal account is linked to my e-mail address (as seen at the top of
this documentation).

If you want to use another form of payment or intend to do a material
donation, contact me to discuss the details.

Finally, if your main pretext for not donating is lazyness, then you
know yourself it is not a valid pretext :)

< This section of the documentation used to contain funny treats and
comments to encourage you to make a donation, but such practice are so
2001 that I removed it. >

Donating users will be granted access to SMS Power! releases area,
and most importantly they feel warm and nice inside.

Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 8 : Source code and development
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for 2005/04/03, MEKA source code is now available to all users.
Your input and improvements are welcome.
Please refer to SOURCES.TXT for more information about developping for MEKA.
License is also included in SOURCES.TXT (it is a custom BSD-like license
for most parts).

You can download the source code on MEKA homepage:
http://www.smspower.org/meka

Latest work-in-progress version:
http://www.smspower.org/meka/wip

Any development related dicussion are held in a dedicated forum:
http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=7

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 9 : I am a freak, tell me everything !
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a quick description of the ressource files that comes with MEKA:

--MEKA.CFG-- or --MEKAW.CFG--
This is the configuration file where MEKA stores most of the options
and user definable parameters. Some are accessible from the interface,
but some, more complex ones, are only available by manually editing this
file. It should be self explanatory, but here are some comments:

Common sample rate values are 11025, 22050 and 44100, the highest being the
best quality but also the slowest.
Today's computers being fast, MEKA defaults to 44100.

Screenshots and music dump filename templates are configurable for those
who have websites and likely would like to avoid renaming a hundred of file,
or generally if you want to share the produced files. Templates uses LibC's
printf() formatting rules, which am I going to explain quickly, and for use
in that context. printf() gurus will pardon me.
(In an ideal world, I would write code to avoid using printf() formats, but
I barely have time for more important things now.)

The syntax of the string used by MEKA must be in that form:
...%[.name_max_length]s...%[0number_padding]d.file_format
Where things inside brackets are optional and '...' is anything you want.
When I say "anything you want", you can truly put anything you want, with
two exceptions:
- if you want to use spaces, replace them with asterix (*) characters.
- if you want to use %, double them - or be prepared for a crash.

screenshots_filename_template =

%.5s_%02d.png (DOS default setting)
Limit game name to 5 characters and pad capture number to 2 characters.
Save file in PNG format.
Playing "Psycho Fox.SMS" will get you capture filenames such as
"Psych_01.png" or "Psych_42.png".

%s-%02d.png (Windows & UN*X default setting)
Does not limit game name, pad capture number to 2 characters.
Save file in PNG format.
Playing "Psycho Fox.SMS" will get you capture filenames such as
"Psycho Fox-01.png" or "Psycho Fox-42.png".

%s*(%d).bmp
Does not limit game name, and let capture number as it is.
Save file in BMP format.
Playing "Psycho Fox.SMS" will get you capture filenames such as
"Psycho Fox (1).bmp" or "Psycho Fox (42).bmp".

Available file format for screenshots are PNG (default), BMP, PCX, TGA.
Incorrect use of this feature can leads MEKA to crash in a horrible and
painful way. You were warned.

--MEKA.BLT--
This file contains the configuration for fullscreen video modes.
It is self documented. I strongly suggest giving it a look to enable
the best video modes for your system (see Level 6 of this documentation).
Maxim's MEKA Configurator allows you to edit this file easily:
http://www.smspower.org/maxim/mconfig/

--MEKA.INP--
This file contains inputs configuration. It is automatically rewritten by
MEKA when quitting, and most of its options are available from the GUI.
However, experienced users may want to tweak with it and try to use some
of the top-secret options it offers.
Maxim's MEKA Configurator allows you to edit this file easily:
http://www.smspower.org/maxim/mconfig/

--MEKA.MSG--
This file contains text messages used in MEKA and allows you to create
translation in new languages or dialect using latin characters.
An extension to use asian (or other) type of characters is planned but
unfortunately not to be done very soon.

--MEKA.NAM--
This file contains the name, product numbers and comments database that
are used by MEKA. If you are curious you can edit it. And if ever you have
comments to add about any games in it, send them to me for future inclusion
in the distribution version.

--MEKA.PAT--
This file allows you to tell MEKA to apply simple patches to a ROM on
loading, or to memory (RAM, etc.) an runtime.
Nothing extraordinary but programmers and hackers will find such feature
useful. Additionnally, it can be used as a basic cheating functionnality,
and you can convert Pro Action Replay codes to MEKA patching system easily.
The file is self documented.

--MEKA.THM--
This file contains themes available from the user interface. If available
GUI colors are boring you, this is the place to check. The file is also self
documented.
Maxim's MEKA Configurator or Lilac's Wonder Theme allows you to edit this
file easily. Both tools are linked from MEKA homepage.
You can also get pictures for uses with some of the default themes at:
http://www.smspower.org/meka/themes

--MEKA.DAT--
This file contains data used by the emulator and its interface. Editing
it will shows you a bunch of garbage so it is not a really good idea.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 10 : Cool things to do when playing games is not enough
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Connect to an Efnet IRC server and join #smspower and/or #meka to meet
happy and strange people.

Check out http://www.smspower.org and participate to the healthy debates
on the forum. Also check out the developer section and see some great
homemade programs and projects in the work.

Check out http://www.smspower.org/music for a great Sega 8-bit music
archive, informations, tools and a forum.

If you are a musician, use your skills to make us some great remixes of
Sega Master System music.

Check out http://www.smspower.org/meka/wip for latest work-in-progress
versions of MEKA, with new great features you never dreamed of.

Buy games you like, buy (or register) software you like.
Avoid piracy of new games.
Support the video game industry.
Support creative games.
Support indy and home developpers.

Play Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap over and over until you figure out
you cannot get bored with it.

If you are unsure about other games to play, here is a personal selection:

- Sega Game 1000:
- The Castle
- H.E.R.O.
- Ninja Princess
- Pitfall II

- Sega Master System:
- Alex Kidd in Miracle World
- Aztec Adventure (Nazca '88)
- California Games
- Cyborg Hunter (Chouon Senshi Borgman)
- Double Dragon
- Fantasy Zone
- Fantasy Zone II - The tears of Opa-Opa
- Gangster Town
- Golden Axe Warrior
- Kenseiden
- Kung Fu Kid (Makai Retsuden)
- Out Run
- Penguin Land (Doki Doki Penguin Land)
- Phantasy Star
- Power Strike (Aleste)
- Power Strike II
- Psycho Fox
- Rastan
- R-Type
- Shinobi
- Ultima IV
- Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Super Wonder Boy Monster World)
- Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (Monster World II)
- Y's - The Vanished Omens (Ys)
- Zillion

And I could name a hundred of other :)
A full list of all existing Sega Master System games is available there:
http://www.smspower.org/museum/lists

Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 11 : MEKA was made using...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Compilers/assemblers:
- GCC/DJGPP (DOS version) suite, by DJ Delorie and contributors, based on GCC.
http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/
- Microsoft Visual C++ (Windows version), by Microsoft.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/
- GCC (UN*X versions) and development suite by a bunch of happy GNU people.
http://gcc.gnu.org/
http://www.gnu.org/software/make/
- NASM (Netwide Assembler)
http://nasm.sourceforge.net/

Librairies:
- Allegro (video and inputs features), by the Allegro team.
http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/
- SEAL (sound playback library), by Carlos Hassan.
- zlib (compression library), by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
http://www.gzip.org/zlib/
- libpng (PNG file format manipulation), by Guy Eric Schalnat,
Andreas Dilger, Glenn Randers-Pehrson and others.
http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html

- Librairies above may take advantage of various other librairies,
depending on the target system, including, but not limited to:
DirectX, Xlib, SVGAlib, ALSA, etc.
Please consult their respective documentation for more information.

Tools:
- UPX (executable compressor), by Markus Oberhumer and Laszlo Molnar.
http://upx.sourceforge.net/
- Paint Shop Pro 4, to draw icons and graphics, by Jasc Software.
http://www.jasc.com/products/

System:
- MS-DOS 7.1, Windows 98, Windows XP, GNU/Linux, NetBSD, etc.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 12 : Last Boss
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To defeat the Vampire Dragon, stay at the bottom middle of the screen
and wait for him to come level with you. When he comes close, jump and
hit his cape. When he goes down, below the screen, fly up so he won't
come up and hit you! Repeat this procedure until he is destroyed. You
will get the SALAMANDER CROSS and be able to change into Hu-Man.

(Written by Clint Dyer, for Sega of America)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 13 : End Credits
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In addition to people already listed as "Contributors" at the top of this
document, I would like to thank the following persons:

Hiromitsu Shioya (Hiro-Shi):
for having done the basic work on sound/music emulation in MEKA. Without
him, you may be still using the emulator with crap and buggy sound!

Mitsutaka Okazaki:
he wrote a software YM-2413 emulator that he available in MEKA.
http://www.angel.ne.jp/~okazaki/ym2413/

Phillip Smith:
for being a cool guy, having shared a lot of things together and being
one of the kickstart behind SMS Power as a dump-maniac site :)

Mike Gordon:
another nice guy who like toying with hardware stuff. He also brought
some very interesting things to the growing Sega 8-bit emulation scene,
including his SMS Reader design, and work on development cartridges.
Generally has been very helpful to me.
http://www.smspower.org/smsreader

Maxim:
for general support, various work, and being a nice guy.
Maxim is the author of countless programs related to MEKA and the SMS.
His work includes the first and probably always best VGM player as a
plugin for WinAMP, a VGM player running on the SMS, various other VGM
tools, a CHIP8 emulator also on SMS, SMS Checker, MEKA Configurator,
a SMS Tile Decoder, working on a Phantasy Star retranslation project,
and various demos, including embarrassing Bock's Birthday demos.
He also studied the PSG chipset used on Sega 8-bit systems and his
implementation is used in MEKA, although screwed up by my poor playback
code.
http://www.smspower.org/maxim

Nicolas Warren (Heliophobe):
for general support, various work, and being a nice guy.
Nicolas is the author of SMEG, the great SMS emulator for Dreamcast,
and as made various contributions to the SMS development scenes, with
homemade programs (such as the world famous Tetracycline game, and
Damiana - with sources to be released very soon).
http://www.smspower.org/heliophobe
http://www.kenseiden.com
http://www.kenseiden.com/smeg

Charles Mac Donald:
for SMS Plus, sharing lot of things together - nice chats, and being one
of the most productive hardware tester and hacker. Impressive person.
He studied and documented obscure aspect of many SEGA console systems.
http://cgfm2.emuviews.com

Casiopea, Masato, RedS, Sankichi, Skyhigh, Toshi, Yakmo, Yoneda, Yujiro:
doumo arigatou to my all Japanese friends,
for being friendly, shared lots of information, brought help, support,
dumps, fun, and helping to improve my collection ^_^
http://bto8.smspower.org (Casiopea)
http://www.loose-logic.com (Masato)
http://bto8.smspower.org/segapower (Toshi)
http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~fwik0826/ (Yoneda Mitsunori)
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Denei/8588/ (Yujiro)

David Michel (Rony):
for Magic Engine, support, advice, help and being my second hard drive,
all back in good old days.
http://www.magicengine.com

Nicolas Hamel (Gouky):
for the invaluable help at the very beginning. A while ago.
http://www.multimania.fr/gouky

James McKay:
for Massage (which got me interested again in SMS!), and because when
I asked him plenty of crap questions, back in the days, he kindly answered
me with details. Very nice guy.
http://www.enterspace.org/world/massage.htm

Eric Quinn:
for being there a long time ago already, dumping a few ROM, and managing
an excellent SMS site (The Sega Notebook). Eric is also an active member
of the S8-Dev research community, author of a promising development-oriented
emulator (MesaDX), and released some early SMS code.
http://shell0.elnet.com/~gm-quinn/sms/

Marc Le Douarain:
for help with SF-7000 emulation and dumps of his old disks.

Ulrich Cordes:
for providing the base source code of the FDC-765 (floppy disk controller),
as used for SF-7000 emulation.

Gary Pierce (Youltar):
for his general support, SmsCartPad adapters, 3-D glasses and rapid fire
schematics, artworks.
http://www.smspower.org/smscartpad

Mr Lee, Billy Jr:
for being impressive hardware hackers and doing a lot for the "scene".
http://www.billyjr.com

Marat Fayzullin:
for Master Gear, for being one elder all emulation users and authors should
respect, for having released the sources of most of his old emulators and
CPU cores. Also because he wrote an early technical document about the
Master System. Marat is one of the father of console emulation.
http://fms.komkon.org

Ricardo Bittencourt:
for BrSMS and BrMSX (great emulators), and various SMS software.
http://www.lsi.usp.br/~ricardo/brsms.htm

Martin Konrad:
martin is one of those young genius who will someday take over the world,
and put me to despair and shame, if I'm not working for him by then.
he just need to learn about proper strategy and marketting :)
http://emukon.kontechs.de
http://www.smspower.org/martin

Jon (the unknown one):
this guy is the one who wrote the (old) document with all the knowledge
on which the first emulators were based. I am also pretty sure the first
dumps came from him. Although I doubt he's still on the internet, I would
love to be in contact with him. Jon, if you're reading, e-mail me :)

Super Majik Spiral Crew (the):
for having written a technical documentation about the SMS.

Richard Talbot Watkins:
for having written some technical documentation about the SMS.
He is also the author of Miracle, an old SMS emulator for Acorn machines.
http://www.willothewisp.demon.co.uk/SMS/

Richard Bush (Antiriad):
for Raine, support, advice and help. Also for some patches on Allegro.
http://www.rainemu.com

Sean Young:
for writing great technical documentation about the TMS9918a and Z80.
http://www.msxnet.org

Andrew Lindsay:
for The SMS Preservation Society (1996-1997)
for having dumped tons of ROM, and made the original MKI reader design.
If you don't know him and his site, then I'm afraid you missed the
golden age of emulation.
http://members.aol.com/smsstuff

Leonard Silva de Oliveira and Flavio Morsoletto:
for their help with hardware hacking and precious reports:
"It eats +5 and GND (duh!). One line reports trigger activity. The last
line goes (theoretically) low when the phototransistor is lit."

Dump Masters (ViperZ and Omega):
for having dumped a few ROM (including some crappy Brazilian hacks ;)
http://www.emucamp.com/dump_masters

Charles Doty:
this guy contributed a lot to the console development scene. He also wrote
an old text demo for Game Gear, which is from where I started learning Z80.
http://www.pcisys.net/~cdoty/console

Lasse Reinikainen & Image/Helsinki/Finland:
for beta testing and tons of ROM dumps, including the old and original
Master System BIOS. Before getting it, me and Martin Skog spent a lot of
time recreating it from stratch. Then a few days before the release, Lasse
sent me the ROM. Believe it or not, there was only one different pixel
between the original Sega logo and the one I drew by looking at my TV :)

Dirk Stevens:
for having released the sources of his Eagle graphic filter, supported
in MEKA if you enable the corresponding blitter.

Leonardo Pires (s0rcerer):
for great support, advice and help in various things.
http://emucity.unae.com

Nicolas Lannier (Archeide):
for SNEmul, support, advice and help.
http://www.epita.fr/~lannie_n/english.html

Richard Mitton (Nodrog):
for TNZS-Emu, RAZE, support, advice and help.
http://www.emucamp.com/tnzs

Mxs:
for having done the old GG compatibility list and some smart beta testing.

Christopher Coleman:
he is such a coolman - even if for some reasons he dared saying
Castelo Ra Tim Bum graphics were nice.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~coleman

Sam Pettus:
for your Sega 8-bit Compatibility Chart, others amazing documents,
and being the most strangest, paranoid and serious guy I ever met on
the internet. Take it easy :)

Chris White:
4 ur great hlp , support& terreeble whay of typinng mails ;-)
Yogi Bear power !

Martin Skog (MoonTrip):
for the Wonder Boy III music he made (dadada dada dadada) and the very good
work on the Sega sound reproduction (the one that was about to be used
in the reprogrammed boot ROM, before Lasse sent the original one).

Jonathan Griffith (Lilac):
alright, I had to put you somewhere :)
for all his suggestions, and WonderTheme (a MEKA theme editor)
I shared some years with Lilac doing Emulation Camp... memories.
http://www.emucamp.com

Larry M (Ellum):
for the Wonder Boy III music he made. This game definitively rocks !
http://sega-zone.com/sega_haven

Olivier Aichelbaum (ACBM) and Dominique Toussaint:
for my first owned SC-3000h, the BASIC cartridge and the documentation.
http://www.acbm.com

An unknown guy:
for the rendered Master System picture used on the interface.
no one knows who you are but you are getting famous. I love you.

Puyolin:
for the excellent "Ocean" interface color theme (and some other), and
for correcting(corrected) mistake/s? in/on? (the?) first documentation/s?
~~~ ~~~~ xx ~~~
Westone (including Shinichi Sakamoto and Ryuichi Nishizawa):
for making Wonder Boy III, the best game ever... in 1989. :~)
if anybody wants to hire me to work on a proper remake/sequel, I'm there!
http://www.westone.co.jp

All my friends for their support.

*All people* who bothered donating to MEKA and supporting SMS Power.
You know who you are and your support is greatly and always appreciated.
Everyday MEKA lives, it is thanks to you.

And of course thanks to SEGA, for such a cool system and great games !

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . . .
Goodnight Brave Warrior, . . .
. Goodnight Monster-land. . . . . .
. . . . . . .
. __________ . . . .
. / \ . . . . .
|____________| . . . .
. | ___ | . . . .
. | | | | . . . . .
. | | | | . . . .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------