gzdoom/game-music-emu/changes.txt

Game_Music_Emu Change Log
-------------------------

Game_Music_Emu 0.5.2
--------------------
- *TONS* of changes and improvements. You should re-read the new header
files and documentation as the changes will allow you to simplify your
code a lot (it might even be simpler to just rewrite it). Existing code
should continue to work without changes in most cases (see Deprecated
features in gme.txt).

- New file formats: AY, HES, KSS, SAP, NSFE

- All-new comprehensive C interface (also usable from C++). Simplifies
many things, especially file loading, and brings everything together in
one header file (gme.h).

- Information tags and track names and times can be accessed for all
game music formats

- New features supported by all emulators: end of track fading,
automatic silence detection, adjustable song tempo, seek to new time in
track

- Updated mini player example to support track names and times, echo,
tempo, and channel muting, and added visual waveform display

- Improved configuration to use blargg_config.h, which you can modify
and keep when you update to a newer libary version. Includes flag for
library to automatically handle gzipped files using zlib (so you don't
need to use Gzip_File_Reader anymore).

- GBS: Fixed wave channel to not reset waveform when APU is powered off
(affected Garfield). Also improved invalid bank selection (affected Game
& Watch and others).

- VGM: Added support for alternate noise shifter register
configurations, used by other systems like the BBC Micro.

- SPC: Removed IPL ROM dump from emulator, as none of the SPC files I
scanned needed it, and an SPC file can include a copy if necessary. Also
re-enabled supposed clamping in gaussian interpolation between the third
and fourth lookups, though I don't know whether it matters

- Added Music_Emu::load_mem() to use music data already in memory
(without copying it)

- Added Music_Emu::warning(), which reports minor problems when loading
and playing a music file

- Added Music_Emu::set_gain() for uniform adjustment of gain. Can only
be set during initialization, so not useful as a general volume control.

- Added custom operator new to ensure that no exceptions are thrown in
the library (I'd use std::nothrow if it were part of pre-ISO (ARM) C++)

- Added BLIP_BUFFER_FAST flag to blargg_config.h to use a lower quality
bandlimited synthesis in "classic" emulators, which might help
performance on ancient processors (measure first!). Don't use this
unless absolutely necessary, as quality suffers.

- Improved performance a bit for x86 platforms

- Text files now in DOS newline format so they will open in Notepad
properly

- Removed requirement that file header structures not have any padding
added to the end

- Fixed common bug in all CPU emulators where negative program counter
could crash emulator (occurred during a negative branch from the
beginning of memory). Also fixed related bug in Z80 emulator for
IX/IY+displacement mode.

- Eliminated all warnings when compiling on gcc 4.0. The following
generates no diagnostics:

	gcc -S gme/*.cpp -o /dev/null -ansi -fno-gnu-keywords
	-fno-nonansi-builtins -pedantic -W -Wabi -Wall -Wcast-align
	-Wcast-qual -Wchar-subscripts -Wdisabled-optimization -Werror
	-Winline -Wlong-long -Wmultichar -Winvalid-offsetof
	-Wnon-virtual-dtor -Woverloaded-virtual -Wparentheses
	-Wpointer-arith -Wredundant-decls -Wreorder -Wsign-compare
	-Wsign-promo -Wunknown-pragmas -Wwrite-strings


Game_Music_Emu 0.3.0
--------------------
- Added more demos, including music player using the SDL multimedia
library for sound, and improved documentation

- All: Improved interface to emulators to allow simpler setup and
loading. Instead of various init() functions, all now support
set_sample_rate( long rate ) and load( const char* file_path ).

- All: Removed error return from start_track() and play(), and added
error_count() to get the total number of emulation errors since the
track was last started. See demos for examples of new usage.

- All: Fixed mute_voices() muting to be preserved after loading files
and starting tracks, instead of being cleared as it was whenever a track
was started

- VGM: Rewrote Vgm_Emu to support Sega Genesis/Mega Drive FM sound at
any sample rate with optional FM oversampling, support for alternate
YM2612 sound cores, and support for optional YM2413

- VGM: Added tempo control, useful for slowing 60Hz NTSC Sega Genesis
music to 50Hz PAL

- VGM: Removed Vgm_Emu::track_data(), since I realized that this
information is already present in the VGM header (oops!)

- GYM: Changed Gym_Emu::track_length() operation (see Gym_Emu.h)

- NSF: Added support for Sunsoft FME-7 sound chip used by Gimmick
soundtrack

- NSF: Fixed Namco 106 problems with Final Lap and others

- Moved library sources to gme/ directory to reduce clutter, and merged
boost/ functionality into blargg_common.h

- Added Gzip_File_Reader for transparently using gzipped files


Game_Music_Emu 0.2.4
--------------------
- Created a discussion forum for problems and feedback:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/blargg-sound-libs

- Changed error return value of Blip_Buffer::sample_rate() (also for
Stereo_Buffer, Effects_Buffer, etc.) to blargg_err_t (defined in
blargg_common.h), to make error reporting consistent with other
functions. This means the "no error" return value is the opposite of
what it was before, which will break current code which checks the error
return value:

	// current code (broken)
	if ( !buf.sample_rate( samples_per_sec ) )
		out_of_memory();
	
	// quick-and-dirty fix (just remove the ! operation)
	if ( buf.sample_rate( samples_per_sec ) )
		out_of_memory();
	
	// proper fix
	blargg_err_t error = buf.sample_rate( samples_per_sec );
	if ( error )
		report_error( error );

- Implemented workaround for MSVC++ 6 compiler limitations, allowing it
to work on that compiler again

- Added sample clamping to avoid wrap-around at high volumes, allowing
higher volume with little distortion

- Added to-do list and design notes

- Added Music_Emu::skip( long sample_count ) to skip ahead in current
track

- Added Gym_Emu::track_length() and Vgm_Emu::track_length() for
determining the length of non-looped GYM and VGM files

- Partially implemented DMC non-linearity when its value is directly set
using $4011, which reduces previously over-emphasized "popping" of
percussion on some games (TMNT II in particular)

- Fixed Fir_Resampler, used for SPC and GYM playback (was incorrectly
using abs() instead of fabs()...argh)

- Fixed SPC emulation bugs: eliminated clicks in Plok! soundtrack and
now stops sample slightly earlier than the end, as the SNES does. Fixed
a totally broken CPU addressing mode.

- Fixed Konami VRC6 saw wave (was very broken before). Now VRC6 music
sounds decent

- Fixed a minor GBS emulation bug

- Fixed GYM loop point bug when track was restarted before loop point
had been reached

- Made default GBS frequency equalization less muffled

- Added pseudo-surround effect removal for SPC files

- Added Music_Emu::voice_names() which returns names for each voice.

- Added BLARGG_SOURCE_BEGIN which allows custom compiler options to be
easily set for library sources

- Changed assignment of expansion sound chips in Nsf_Emu to be spread
more evenly when using Effects_Buffer

- Changed 'size_t' values in Blip_Buffer interface to 'long'

- Changed demo to generate a WAVE sound file rather than an AIFF file


Game_Music_Emu 0.2.0
--------------------
- Redid framework and rewrote/cleaned up emulators

- Changed licensing to GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)

- Added Sega Genesis GYM and Super Nintendo SPC emulators

- Added Namco-106 and Konami VRC6 sound chip support to NSF emulator

- Eliminated use of static mutable data in emulators, allowing
multi-instance safety


Game_Music_Emu 0.1.0
--------------------
- First release