Zodiac Stuff

ZodMAME

Download the program here

Download the Vector games artwork (optional) here

This is a port of MAME v0.36 (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).

ZodMAME is extensively optimised to use the Tapwave's ATI Imageon graphics chip to boost the performance of the games. It uses pretty much every hardware accelerated function the ATI Imageon chip has to offer (blit, sprites, line drawing, point drawing, masking), and the MAME core graphics engine had to be rewritten to make use of this. Because of this some games will not draw completely correctly, most appear to work fine though. The 8MBytes of VRAM in the ATI chip is used for some of the memory requirements in the games meaning more games will run but much of this memory is used for caching the graphics.

The optimisations have resulted in some games running up to 2-3 times faster some will run slower. Vector games benefit from the hardware line drawing meaning that pretty much all the vector games run at full speed with 44KHz sound. Most newer games which are more CPU intensive will not see much of an increase in speed, there is nothing that can be done about that, the Zodiac would need a faster CPU.

There is full quality sound support in ZodMAME. Using sound in MAME adds extra processing requirements so some games which run full speed with sound off will not with it on. Most older games (1985 or earlier) should run full speed with perfect sound. There is also an option for lower quality sound which can help some games to run much faster.

ZodMAME was originally based on PalmOS PalmMAME which is itself based on MAMECE.

To play the ROMS they must be in 0.36 version format.

The following game systems do not work on ZodMAME:

• Sega System 16
• Nemesis based games - Nemesis, Salamander, etc

Updates

Version 1.3 30/07/07

• ROM directory is now configurable in the launcher.
• Performance boost for many graphics drivers. CPS1 games have a big boost from this tuning with smoother framerate changes.
• Improved memory manager to add 'simpsons' support, woohoo!
• Added 'parodious' and 'aliens' support
• 'bombjack' graphics driver tuning, near full speed now with Hi sound.
• Added artwork for Vector games

Version 1.2 07/07/07 *RETURN RELEASE* (back developing...a bit)

• Moved directory from /PALM/Programs/PalmMAME/ to /PALM/Programs/ZodMAME/ to avoid conflicts between the different MAME versions.
• Implemented Protected Feature Memory (Storage Memory) loading of GFX and SFX Roms for big games. UDMH is not required anymore. All writing to Feature Mem is done safely to avoid any corruption, unlike UDMH! Summary: Memory used is no longer limited to 8MBytes dynamic memory but can potentially use all the 128MBytes RAM on a Zodiac 2!
• Added Favourites Export/Import to Memopad
• Fixed CPS1 graphics transparency/masking issues.
• Put back CPS1 "ghouls" support, still crashes when exiting but no longer corrupts Tapwave as UDMH isn't used anymore.
• Fixed graphics drawing problems with JrPacman, Pac-Land, Dig Dug and related games.
• Added 11khz sound rate option (low, high) for lower sound quality but faster speed.
• Added colour fixes from Vilmos, fixes most games that had colour corruption before like "Ghosts'n Goblins", "Tapper", "Rampage" etc. Thanks to Vilmos.
• Fixed "Bosconian" graphics, thanks to Vilmos.
• Rewrote "Missile Command" graphics driver for much faster performance.
• Fixed loading of NVRAM config, Williams games now don't need starting twice.
• Added nice "GFX Decoding" wait message

Version 1.1 was released on 15/10/2006 *FINAL RELEASE*

• Added Cyclone 68000 ASM core to all modules. Substantial speed up for many 68k games. Some that worked before may crash now though.
• Implemented underclocking of MAME CPUs and sound CPUs. Big speedup for many games.
• Samples, such as StarTrek, now load using Storage Memory, i.e. less out of memory errors.
• Graphics optimisations to Capcom CPS1 drawing, some big speed ups.
• 16bit hack to handle 16bit games, thanks Vilmos!
• Vector games memory usage substantially reduced, no more out of memory errors, also the startup time has been reduced.
• Various graphical fixes to many games.
• Added favourites support to launcher
• Added Help to launcher
• Fixes to launcher ROM filtering

Version 1.0 was released on 17/08/2005

Links

• MAME homepage MAME.net
• MAMEWorld (loads of MAME information) MAMEWorld.net
• PalmMAME homepage (for PalmOS devices other than Tapwave)

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