Vice64X Commodore 64 Emulator port for XBox v7

http://xport.xbox-scene.com
http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/

What's new:

 - Fixed SID playback in UI

 - Date/timestamp appears next to each used save state in the
   state selection menu.


Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD,
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance,
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X,
Vice20X, VicePETX, KegsX, XPired, AdamX, WonderSwanX, BeatsOfRageX,
PowermangaX, LynxBox, BlueMSXBox, GladiatorX, AmphetamineX, StarfighterX,
PachiX, BlobWarsX, OdysseyX, ArnoldX, X68000X, WinUAEX, MekaX,
MednafenX-NES, MednafenX-PCE, MednafenX-Lynx, AbuseX
what's next?

Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------

Vice64X Commodore 64 Emulator port for XBox v6

http://xport.xbox-scene.com
http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/

What's new:

 - Remembers location when backing out of Gamebase menus

 - Fixed bug where "Only Show Available Games" and "Force Configuration
   Before Each Game" settings were not being saved.


Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD,
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance,
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X,
Vice20X, VicePETX, KegsX, XPired, AdamX, WonderSwanX, BeatsOfRageX,
PowermangaX, LynxBox, BlueMSXBox, GladiatorX, AmphetamineX, StarfighterX,
PachiX, BlobWarsX, OdysseyX, ArnoldX, X68000X, WinUAEX, MekaX,
MednafenX-NES, MednafenX-PCE, MednafenX-Lynx, AbuseX
what's next?

Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------

Vice64X Commodore 64 Emulator port for XBox v5

http://xport.xbox-scene.com
http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/

What's new:

 - Gamebase v3/v4 support (see below)

 - Pressing DPAD Left/Right on Gamebase selection menu when searching
   by game letter will advance based on the 2nd letter of the name
   rather than the first.

 - Pressing X while on the Gamebase game selection menu will force
   the game-configuration screen to appear.

 - Added option for stereo SID 

 - Can now use LTHUMB stick to move cursor on keyboard menu.

 - Selectable external palette file.  PEPTOPAL is selected by default.
   Included the following palette files:
   C64S
   CCS64
   Frodo
   Godot
   PC64
   VICE
   PEPTOPAL - This seems to be the most accurate palette - see details here:
              http://unusedino.de/ec64/technical/misc/vic656x/colors/

 - AutoBoot games (see below)


IMPORTANT NOTES
===============

AutoBoot Games
--------------

This allows people to configure a CD/DVD such that when it boots, it will boot 
directly into the specified game.

If you place a file called BOOT.INI in the same directory as your DEFAULT.XBE, then 
the filename specified in that file will be automatically loaded upon startup.
Similarly, if you place BOOT.KEY and BOOT.STG in the same directory, then the
controller configuration (BOOT.KEY) and settings (BOOT.STG) will be used if none
already exist for the game specified in BOOT.INI.  Create these boot.key and boot.stg
files from the existing configuration files for a particular game in the 
E:\SAVES\<emulator> directory.

Sample BOOT.INI contents: 

d:\gamename.zip


Gamebase V3/V4
--------------

Overwrite the DAT files in the GAMEBASE subdirectory with the DAT files
located inside gamebase_v3_dats.zip.  

Please note that if you are upgrading from an existing V2 (as was included 
in the original versions of Vice64X) then you will have to re-convert your 
screenshots because V3 changed some of the game filenames.  Follow the 
instructions located further down in this readme to convert your gamebase
screenshots and to configure gamebase in general.

It looks like Gamebase will have a v4 sometime next month.  The instructions
for how to convert it into XBOX compatible DAT files are located in the
subdirectory CONVERT_NEW_GAMEBASE.  See the README.TXT file in that
directory for details.


Special note for Gamebase V4 and any future Gamebase versions
-------------------------------------------------------------

As of V4, the gamebase screenshots have all been converted to PNG files, 
which makes the gif2png.exe program unnecessary.  You still need to run the 
gb64_xboxrename.exe program to rename your screenshot files, but you 
should delete the gif2png.exe file before running it since it is not needed.


Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD,
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance,
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X,
Vice20X, VicePETX, KegsX, XPired, AdamX, WonderSwanX, BeatsOfRageX,
PowermangaX, LynxBox, BlueMSXBox, GladiatorX, AmphetamineX, StarfighterX,
PachiX, BlobWarsX, OdysseyX, ArnoldX, X68000X, WinUAEX, MekaX,
MednafenX-NES, MednafenX-PCE, MednafenX-Lynx, AbuseX
what's next?

Enjoy!

----------------------------------------------------------

Vice64X Commodore 64 Emulator port for XBox v4

http://xport.xbox-scene.com

what's new:

 - ISO9660 support

 - Simplified menus

 - Help menu

 - New button options from Game Selection menu :
     X     - Configure Game
     BLACK - Delete save files for selected game
     WHITE - Adds/Removes selection as a favorite

 - HQ2X graphics filter

 - Option to startup with background music disabled

 - Option to startup on the favorites game selection screen or the regular game selection screen

 - Option to confirm overwriting save states

- Support for Linux Relax sharing
   At this time, your linux share name must contain the "/" character somewhere
   if you want it to be recognized as a linux share.
   For example :

   rlxshare=/home/player/roms@192.168.1.30:1400

 - Possible Samba fix/improvement : see next item

 - New network configuration parameters : XBox IP, Subnet Mask, Gateway IP.
   Access these through the Configuration -> Network Options menu or change
   them in the INI file :

   [GENERAL]
   LOCAL_IP=192.168.1.30
   SUBNET_MASK=255.255.255.0
   GATEWAY_IP=192.168.1.254
   
   LOCAL_IP is the XBox IP address
   SUBNET_MASK is the subnet mask 
   GATEWAY_IP is your default gateway

   Set these to the same values you use in your XBMP configuration file.
 
   This might help people with Samba issues.


Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD,
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance,
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X,
Vice20X, VicePETX, KegsX, XPired, AdamX, WonderSwanX...
what's next?

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy!


------------------------------------------------------------

Vice64X Commodore 64 Emulator port for XBox v3

http://xport.xbox-scene.com

http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/

http://www.gb64.com

Huge thanks to J-RED for another excellent skin!


What's New :

 - Create blank disks from in-game options menu

 - Fixed Music Control Menu so that it will load M3U files correctly.

 - Load New Disk from regular directories or gamebase directories.

 - Can now wrap backwards from first screenshot to last screenshot

 - Bugfix virtual keyboard in 1080i mode




Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD, 
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance, 
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X...
what's next?


Enjoy!




------------------------------------------------------



Vice64X Commodore 64 Emulator port for XBox v2

http://xport.xbox-scene.com

http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/

http://www.gb64.com

Huge thanks to J-RED for another excellent skin!


What's New :

 - Gamebase64 Support (read docs below for configuration/setup)

 - Virtual Keyboard - go to Controller Configuration / UI Mappings to select
   the button combo that will bring up the Virtual Keyboard while in-game.

 - Defaults to PAL instead of NTSC and Joystick port 2 instead of 1 since
   these are more sane values.

 - Swapping joysticks is now a controller-configurable action.  Default is
   LEFT_TRIGGER to swap joysticks while in game.  Go to Controller Configuration -
   Game Mappings to change it.

 - Can now save any string setting (like Samba/Relax share names) and directory
   locations via menus.  To change Samba/relax share names, go to Configuration ->
   Network/Netplay Configuration.  To change the default directories, go to
   Configuration -> Change Default Directories 

 - Fixed bug preventing some carts from working.

 - Play SIDs in background

 - Music Control Menu - press LTHUMB anywhere to bring up the music control menu.
   This is also a customizable controller action while in-game.  Configure it
   via the Controller Configuration -> UI Mappings menu.

 - Can enter descriptions for cheat codes using virtual keyboard or real keyboard.



======================
Notes About Gamebase64
======================

If you are unfamiliar with Gamebase64, go to http://www.gb64.com 

Gamebase64 is a database project to catalog as much information about C64 games
as possible.  It is also a frontend which provides easy/standardized access to
games/screenshots/SID files and more.  

The Vice64X package has a preconfigured GAMEBASE directory. You will have to provide
your own games, screenshots, and SID files.  Due to filename restrictions on the
XBox, I could not use the standard filenames for the screenshots as they appear
in the Gamebase64 database.  Therefore, I have written a Windows utility to 
convert/rename all of the standard screenshot names (as they appear in the Gamebase64
datafiles) into something usable on the XBox.  To better illustrate the differences 
between XBox Gamebase64 and Windows Gamebase64, I will show some example directory
structures of each.

Windows Gamebase64 Directory Structure:

/GAMEBASE
/GAMEBASE/GAMES
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/0
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/0/180_00013_01.zip
...
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/p1
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/p1/PHANT3A_05655_01.zip
...
/GAMEBASE/MUSIC
/GAMEBASE/MUSIC/20CC
/GAMEBASE/MUSIC/20CC/13_Seconds_of_Massacre.sid
...
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/0
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/0/180.gif
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/0/180_1.gif
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/0/180_2.gif
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/0/18_uhren.gif
...


The subdirectories off of /GAMEBASE/GAMES represent the filenames as they appear in
the Gamebase database.  The filenames are important - download them from the sites
on www.gb64.com.

The subdirectories off of /GAMEBASE/MUSIC represent the filenames as they appear in
the Gamebase database.  They are also the same as the High Voltage SID Collection
directory structure.  

The subdirectories off of /GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS represent the filenames as they appear
in the Gamebase database.


XBox Gamebase64 Directory Structure:


/GAMEBASE
/GAMEBASE/GAMES
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/0
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/0/180_00013_01.zip
...
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/p1
/GAMEBASE/GAMES/p1/PHANT3A_05655_01.zip
...
/GAMEBASE/MUSIC
/GAMEBASE/MUSIC/20CC
/GAMEBASE/MUSIC/20CC/13_Seconds_of_Massacre.sid
...
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0/180_00013_01
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0/180_00013_01/0001.png
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0/180_00013_01/0002.png
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0/180_00013_01/0003.png
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0/18UHREN_11659_01
/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0/18UHREN_11659_01/0001.png
...


As you can see, the directory structure is the same as the windows version with the
exception of the screenshots directory.  There is an included Windows utility called
gb64_xboxrename.exe that will assist you in converting your Windows Gamebase64
screenshot files into a XBox-compatible directory/name structure.  To use it, simply
double click it.  When the window appears, you will need to select the location of the 
GAMES.DAT file (which is also included in the Vice64X package.)  The GAMES.DAT file
stores the screenshot name information that is necessary for the conversion process.
Once you have selected the GAMES.DAT file, you can press the Rename button.  It will
now prompt you to select a screenshot file from your Windows Gamebase64 screenshot
directory structure.  This step essentially tells the program where your Windows
screenshots reside.  Next it will ask you to select a directory into which the new
XBox screenshots will be written.  Simply navigate to a directory and then enter 
anything into the file-selection dialog box.  When you have done that, it will begin
processing.  This might take a few minutes, so just leave it alone until it's done.
When it finishes, it will have created a CONVERTGIF.BAT file in the same directory
as the GAMES.DAT file you specified.  Before you double-click this BAT file, you must
make sure that the GIF2PNG.EXE file is located somewhere in your path (like in your
main WINDOWS directory.)  You can check to see if it is in your path by doing a
START -> Run and then entering "gif2png" (without the double-quotes) and pressing enter.
If you get an error message saying something about the file cannot be found, then
the GIF2PNG.EXE file is not in your path.  If you see a console window flash up for
a split-second and then disappear, then you are all set.  Once you have verified 
GIF2PNG is in your path, you can double-click the BAT file and away it will go.
This will take several minutes to finish.

This is kind of an involved process, but the XBox compatible screenshots may be made
available on the www.gb64.com website (since the windows-screenshot package is currently
available on the website).  Then it will be a simple matter of just downloading the
xbox screenshots, unpacking them, and putting them in the appropriate directory.


You may need to change the location of the screenshot directory while running
Vice64X in order for the new Gamebase64 screenshot location to be recognized.  You
can do this by going to Main Menu -> Configuration -> Change Default Directories ->
Screenshot Directory.  Select that option and then navigate to the directory where
the "C64" directory resides.  For example, if one of your xbox screenshots is:

/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS/C64/0/180_00013_01/0001.png

Then your screenshot directory should be 

/GAMEBASE/SCREENSHOTS



While on the Gamebase64 game list screen, the following buttons are available :


WHITE button  - View information on the currently selected game.  
BLACK button  - Play the SID file that is associated with the game (if one exists).


There are two games included in the package to demonstrate the Gamebase64 functionality.

Name      : IK+
Genre     : Sports-Fighting
Publisher : System 3

Name      : Great Giana Sisters
Genre     : Arcade - Platformer (scrolling screen)
Publisher : Rainbow Arts

Search for them via name, genre, or publisher.  
When you have found the games in the list, you can press the WHITE or BLACK buttons
while the game is highlighted.



Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD, 
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance, 
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X...
what's next?


Enjoy!



-----------------------------------------------------------------------




Vice64X Commodore 64 Emulator port for XBox v1

http://xport.xbox-scene.com

http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/

Huge thanks to J-RED for another excellent skin!


Features :

 - Emulates Commodore 64

 - Excellent compatibility - ported from Vice

 - Loads disk images, tape images, cartridges

 - USB Keyboard support 

 - ZIP support

 - Cheat system - Search/Create your own cheat codes (see notes)
 
 - Favorites list

 - Netplay

 - Resizable game screen

 - 480p, 720p, 1080i support

 - Skin-able :
    - Backgrounds
    - Sounds
    - Background Music
    - Sprites
    - Text position (right/left/center, top/bottom/center)
    - Text color, select bar color
    - Font
    - Fading speed
    - Screenshot position
    - Can specify 2 sprites to surround the selected menu option
    - Option to have a transparent select-bar color (from select-color menu)
    - Can flip sprites horizontally/vertically
    - Can set motion_x and motion_y variables for sprites
    - Sprites can loop continuously or just once
    - If you want to change the way something looks in this new UI,
      chances are that you can change it via the Configuration menu.

 - Save Game management - delete save game files

 - Samba/NetBIOS sharing support (read roms from your PC)

 - Relax Network Sharing (read roms from your PC)

 - Play MP3 or M3U playlists in the background
   (Can also read MP3/M3U from across Samba/Relax shares.)

 - User definable save directory.  If you don't like the default of
   E:\SAVES\VICE64X you can change it via the VICE64X.INI file

 - Take in-game screenshots and display them on the game selection list

 - New UI feature - auto-screenshot capture mode.  When enabled, the emu
   will start taking screenshots at a user-defined interval.  Useful for
   ripping sprites/animation.

 - Hardware filtering options : Point, Bilinear, Trilinear, Anisotropic 

 - Graphics filters :
     + 2xSai
     + Super 2xSai
     + Eagle
     + Super Eagle
     + SuperScale
     + AdvanceMame 2x
     + Simple 2x
     + 2xSai Scanline
     + Super 2xSai Scanline
     + Eagle Scanline
     + Super Eagle Scanline
     + SuperScale Scanline

 - Record/Playback feature - record your gameplay in the emu and then
   play it back again.  Record up to 10 minutes of gameplay.

 - Every single in-game command is fully customizable on any of the
   four joypad controllers.

 - Map any emulator or UI command to a single button or a combination of
   two buttons.  (e.g. RTrigger+LTrigger = Save State)

 - Autofire capabilities for any emulator button on any controller

 - One-button combos (define a series of emulator commands to be played
   back when you press a user-definable XBox controller combination.)
   (E.g. Press RTrigger+LTrigger to execute the command string
   A,B,A,B,Up,Down,Left,Right)

 - Traverse any directory on any drive ( Continue selecting the parent
   directory entry on the file selection list to get the drive selection
   list.  Selectable drives are C, D, E, F, R, X, Y, Z, and SMB. 
   R is the CDROM drive.  SMB is the samba share you have defined in your
   VICE64X.ini file.)  Press Y from any file-listing screen to go up one
   directory level.

 - All UI commands (save state, load state, screenshot, etc) can be
   invoked from the Options/Pause menu as well as in-game via your
   customized joypad mappings.

 - Can be invoked from a command-line to directly run a game from a front-end
   or dashboard and bypass the user-selection screens. (Only if the frontend
   or dashboard supports this feature.)

 - Can return to the launching program *if* the launching program supports this
   feature.  For example, if the custom-launch routines are incorporated into 
   a new frontend, that frontend could launch VICE64X and when you exit 
   VICE64X, that frontend can be automatically reloaded.  



Default ROM dir is D:\C64DISKS


====================================
Important Tips on Usage - README!!!!
====================================

Different games require different options.  Please try as many configurations as 
possible before deciding that a game doesn't work.  For example, some games require
true drive emulation to be enabled and some require it to be disabled.  Some games
require reSID and will not work with fastSID.  

Enabling true drive emulation makes loading of games *very slow*.  Be patient!
You can either sit there holding the throttle button down or you can walk away
for a few minutes.  When it has loaded, I suggest saving the state so you don't
have to go through the loading procedure again. 


========================
Playing with Disk Images
========================

The ideal way to play disk images is unzipped and on your XBox hard drive.  If you are
playing a disk-based game and it needs to write data back to the disk, then it will
not being able to do so if the disk image is zipped or if the disk image resides on 
non-writable media (e.g. CDRW/DVD-R ).  Furthermore, it also cannot write back to
disk images that are loaded from across a network share.  

============================
Save States With Disk Images
============================

Whenever you save a state, that state can only be re-loaded if the same disk image is
loaded.  For example, let's say you start playing Ultima 3.  First you select Ultima 3
disk #1 from the game-select menu.  After it has loaded, it will tell you to insert disk #2.
After you have done so, you can actually play the game.  At this point, you decide to 
save the state.  The next time you want to play from that save state, you have to
select disk #2 from the game-select menu instead of disk #1 and then load the state.


=====================
Relax Network Sharing
=====================

The relax sharing setting goes in the [GENERAL] section as follows:

rlxshare=c:\C64DISKS@192.168.123.77:1400

Replace 192.168.123.77 with your computer IP address and replace 8989 with the
port where you have Relax running.


============================
Note on Samba/NetBIOS Shares
============================

There are two INI file settings relating to Samba/NetBIOS sharing and they both
reside in the [GENERAL] section of VICE64X.INI:

smbshare=smb://username:password@workgroup:ip_address/computername/sharename
smb_nameserver=192.168.0.1


The smbshare parameter accepts many different formats.  Here are the most 
common:

smbshare=smb://username:password@workgroup/computername/sharename
smbshare=smb://username:password@workgroup:ip_address/computername/sharename
smbshare=smb://username:password@computername/sharename
smbshare=smb://username:password@computername:ip_address/sharename
smbshare=smb://workgroup/computername/sharename
smbshare=smb://workgroup:ip_address/computername/sharename
smbshare=smb://computername/sharename
smbshare=smb://computername:ip_address/sharename

Please try all of the above combinations before deciding it does not work.
Also be aware that some people have to select their SMB drive in VICE64X a few
times before any files appear.

If it's still not working, then set the nameserver equal to the IP address of
the computer you are trying to reach or set it equal to your NetBIOS name server.
(If you don't know what a NetBIOS name server is, then just set it to the 
IP address of the computer you are trying to reach.)


Also remember that when you make changes to VICE64X.INI, you have to do a 
"Force Reload of D:\*.INI" from the Configuration Menu or else the changes
you made to VICE64X.INI will not be loaded.  




=============
Configuration
=============

Almost everything can be changed from the configuration menu.  Here are the
things that require manual modifications to the VICE64X.INI file included in
the package:

Samba share name - goes in the [GENERAL] section.  Example:

smbshare=SMB://USERNAME:PASSWORD@COMPUTERNAME/SHARENAME


Screenshot directory - default is E:\SCREENSHOTS - goes in [GENERAL] section
Example:

screenshot_dir=E:\SCREENSHOTS


Skin directory - where skins can be found.  Default is D:\EMUSKINS - goes in
[GENERAL] section.  Example:

skin_dir=D:\EMUSKINS


Save directory - this is where you want all your saved games to be stored.
Default is E:\SAVES\VICE64X.  Goes in [GENERAL] section.  Example:

save_dir=E:\SAVES\VICE64X


The default ROM directory INI setting goes in the [GENERAL] section as follows:

rom_dir=d:\C64DISKS


If you change any of the above items, then you must upload the new VICE64X.INI
file to your XBox, load up VICE64X, then select "Force Reload D:\\*.ini 
Settings" from the Configuration menu.  Please note that this will overwrite
any of the setting changes you might have made after you first loaded
VICE64X.


===============
Menu Navigation
===============

Select menu options with the DPAD or with R/LTrigger.  The speed of 
R/LTrigger movements can be controlled by :

Configuration -> Menu Scroll Speed

There are some places where you can enter or change values.  This 
can usually be done in a variety of ways include DPAD Left/Right, 
R/L Trigger, and L/R Thumb.  Try all of them if the values are changing
too slowly.

"A" selects the highlighted choice.  "B" cancels/returns.
"Y" from a file-select list will go up one directory.


=======
Netplay
=======

In order to netplay with someone, follow these steps:

 - Go to the Configuration menu
 - Select Netplay options
 - Turn netplay on
 - Add a server if you are going to connect to someone else
 - Select the game to play
 - If netplay is on, it will ask you if you want to be the client
   or the server.  One person is the client, and the other is the server.
   If you are the server, the game will wait until the client has
   joined.  If you are the client, make sure the server is ready to accept
   your connection before continuing.  
 - When server starts netplay, you can select a netplay skip value.
   This number specifies how often it should skip checking for network data.
   The higher the number, the less often it checks for network data, but the
   result will be a less responsive controller.
 - Once a connection has been made, it should work fine.

NOTE : You both MUST be using the *EXACT* same game.  
I would be *extremely* surprised if the PAL version of a game
worked via netplay with an NTSC version of the same game.  


The server player is always player 1.  The client player is always player 2.

I don't know how well netplay will work across real networks.  Two xbox's 
on the same intranet work very well, though.

If your connection is lost during gameplay, just wait 30 seconds and
you can return to the game select menu.  (Or you can always reboot...)


=====
SKINS
=====


Instructions for making a new skin:

 - Create a new directory off of your SKINS directory (default skins directory
   is D:\EMUSKINS
 - Place your sound/font/graphic media files in this new directory 
 - Load VICE64X
 - "Select Skin" from the main menu and select your new directory.
 - Select Configuration
 - select Configure Skin
 - Use the menus to select your new media files and change your settings
 - When you are satisfied with what you have, go back to the main menu.
 - Select "Configuration"
 - Select "Overwrite D:\*.ini and D:\emuskins\\<skin>\\settings.ini"
   This will write the skin settings in your skin directory (if your skin
   directory is on the hard drive.)
 - You're done!  You can package up the directory and share it with your friends.


If you wish to use sprites in your new skin, then read the following:

 - Create a subdirectory off of your new skin directory called SPRITES
   e.g. D:\EMUSKINS\NEWSKIN\SPRITES
 - In this new SPRITES directory create a 0-based numeric directory for
   each sprite you wish to make.  This means that if you have 4 sprites
   you wish to load, the directory names *must* be called 0, 1, 2, and 3.

   Do not call them 1, 2, 3, and 4.  
   Do not call them 0, 3, 5, 6.  
   Do not call them SPRITE1, SPRITE2, SPRITE3, SPRITE4.  

 - Inside each of these new directories, you must place the sprite frames.
   Each frame is represented by a BMP, PNG, or JPG file.  The order of the
   frames is given by the filenames.  These filenames must also be named
   with 0-based numbers.  For example, 0.png, 1.png, 2.png.  Look at the
   sprites directory of the included default skin to see how it works.

 - Do not skip numbers when naming sprite directories or sprite frame 
   filenames.  A list of directories called 0,1,2,5,7 is *INVALID*.
   Similarly, a list of files called 0.png, 1.png, 4.png, 5.png is also
   *INVALID*.

Also be aware of memory constraints.  Let's say you have a frame of a sprite
called 0.png.  This picture file is 90 pixels wide and 130 pixels high.
This will get rounded up to a 256x256 pixel 32bit picture.  This means
that it will consume 256x256x4 bytes (256KB) of memory.  If your sprite has
10 frames of animation, that's around 2.5MB of memory.  Keep this in mind
before you make ultra-smooth moving sprites with hundreds of frames of
animation.

You can check your available memory by going to Configuration -> Configure Skin
-> Show Available Memory

If you make/configure a skin and VICE64X does not load the next time you
play it, then you need to delete the E:\SAVES\VICE64X\VICE64X.INI and
E:\SAVES\VICE64X\SKIN_SETTINGS.INI files.  VICE64X should work fine again,
but you'll have to reconfigure your skin.  The problem was probably
that one of your resources (like a WAV or background file) was specified
incorrectly or was never changed from the old skin.  Carefully look at the 
E:\SAVES\VICE64X\SKIN_SETTINGS.INI file to make sure that all filenames exist 
in your skin directory.



====================
Controller Remapping
====================

Configuration -> Configure Controllers

There are 32 general/all-purpose emulator "buttons" or actions.  Each of these
buttons can be assigned a specific emulator action.  For example, Emu Button 1
can be A, or B, or DPad Down, etc.  These "emu buttons" can then be assigned 
XBox triggers.  For example, Emu Button 1 (which you have mapped to, for 
example, A) can be triggered by  XBox controller button B.  The default button 
mappings should provide enough information on how the system works and 
how it can be used.  

==========
Autofiring
==========

Configuration -> Configure Controllers -> Controller # -> Change Autofire

Each "Emu Button" can be set up for autofiring.  Simply set the autofire
variable to a non-zero value.  This value indicates how long the emulator
should wait before releasing and re-pressing the button.  A value of 1
might be too fast to register on some games.  I suggest setting it to a
number like 5 first and them fine-tuning it.


======
Combos
======

Setting up a combo can be kind of tricky because you need to know exactly
what the game expects to have happen on the joypads to execute the special
move.  For example, let's say that we want to map a standard move that is
described like this : 

D, DR, R, A

D = Down, DR = Down+Right, R = Right, A = A button

First, set the delay to a number like 2 or 3.  Then set up the moves.  In
this case, any (or none) of the following might work:

Down
Down+Right
Right
Right+A
Right

OR

Down
Down+Right
Right+A

OR

Down
Down+Right
Right
Right+A
Right+A
Right+A


You will probably need to fine-tune each combo move before it works, but
you'll soon get the hang of it.



================
MP3/M3U Playback
================

Simply select the MP3 or M3U file from the game-selection screen.

The M3U file can also just be a regular file with one songfile per line.
For example:

d:\songs\song1.mp3
e:\moresongs\song2.mp3
smb:\mp3s\song3.mp3

If you are making a playlist of songs on your SMB share, then please note
the format:

smb:\mp3s\song3.mp3

The smb:\ tells VICE64X to read from your SMB shared directory.  Do not
put the SMB share definition in the filename.

----------SMB shared filenames are case sensitive!!!---------

==============
No Save States
==============

The state-saving functionality is currently not implemented in Z26.


==================================================
Cheating System - How To Make Your Own Cheat Codes
==================================================

Special Note for Z26 - In many Atari 2600 games, certain important values (like
the number of lives you have, etc) are stored as a nibble value.  A nibble is
half of a byte.  For example, in Asteroids your number of lives and the current
direction you are pointing are stored in the same byte.  (High nibble is the
number of lives and the low nibble is the direction.)  When searching for cheat codes,
I would advise using *only* the "equal to" or "not equal to" options.

Just about every single port I've released has this feature, and I 
occasionally hear people asking "how does it work?" This is easiest to 
explain by example:

 1) Start playing a game. 

 2) Go to Options Menu and select "Start Search for Cheat Code"

 3) Go back to game and lose a life

 4) Go to Options Menu and select "Continue Search For Cheat Code"

 5) Select "Search For Values Less Than Before" because when you
    first selected "Start Search For Cheat Codes" you had one more
    life than you do now.  You will see the number of matches go down.

 6) If the number of matches is greater than 10, then perform actions
    3, 4 and 5 continually until the number of matches is less than 10.
    If you run out of lives, then just start playing the game again.
    (Do not exit the emulator and select the game again - just start another
    game from within the emulator.)  Now you will have a full stock of lives,
    which is *more* than the last time you checked your values.  So when you
    continue searching, you'll want to select "Search For Values Greater Than
    Before."  Then go through steps 3-5 over and over until you have less than
    10 matches.

 7) Now that you have less than 10 matches, you can add the codes to your
    list.  If the search narrowed the list down to 1 possible match, it
    will automatically add it to your list.  Now you can "List Cheat Codes"
    and selectively turn on/off the cheat codes to try them out and see
    which on is the right one.

Alternately, you can use the "Search For An Exact Value" option if you
already know the number you wish to change.  Example:

Let's say you are playing Dragon Warrior and your character currently has
25 Hit Points.  Follow these instructions:

 1) Go to Options Menu and select "Start Search for Cheat Code"

 2) Select "Continue Search For Cheat Code"

 3) Select "Search For an Exact Value" and enter 25 as the number.
    The number of matches should decrease very quickly.  

 4) Go back to the game and do something to change your Hit Points amount.
    For example, let's say you drink a potion and your Hit Points are now 35.

 5) Go to options menu and select "Continue Search For Cheat Code"

 6) Select "Search For an Exact Value" and enter 35 as the number.
    Chances are very good that the number of matches will be down to 
    one or two.  Just try out the codes to see which one gives you infinite 
    Hit Points!

Advanced Cheat Code Usage:

Cheat codes have the following format:

TT AAAAAA VVVV

TT     = Type
AAAAAA = Address
VVVV   = Value

You can hand-edit the cheat codes you've created.  Go to the Cheat Code list,
select a code, and select Edit.  Let's say you've already created a cheat code
that keeps your hit points at 25.  The last four hex digits of your code will be
0019 (which is hexidecimal for 25.)  You can change the last two digits to, for 
example, FF which will give you 255 hit points instead of 25.  More sophisticated
codes can be made by altering the Type:

Type Table

80 - Means set the 16-bit value (0-65535) pointed to by the cheat code address 
     to the cheat code value.

30 - Means set the 8-bit value (0-255) pointed to by the cheat code address 
     to the cheat code value.

10 - Means increase the 16-bit value pointed to by the cheat code address
     by the cheat code value.

11 - Means decrease the 16-bit value pointed to by the cheat code address
     by the cheat code value.

20 - Means increase the 8-bit value pointed to by the cheat code address
     by the cheat code value.

21 - Means decrease the 8-bit value pointed to by the cheat code address
     by the cheat code value.

D0 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 16-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is equal to the cheat code value

D1 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 16-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is not equal to the cheat code value

D2 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 16-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is less than the cheat code value

D3 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 16-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is greater than the cheat code value

E0 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 8-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is equal to the cheat code value

E1 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 8-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is not equal to the cheat code value

E2 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 8-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is less than the cheat code value

E3 - Means only execute the next code in the list if the 8-bit value pointed
     to by the cheat code address is greater than the cheat code value

If you are familiar with cheat codes, you'll notice that these are standard
Gameshark types.  With enough experience you could make some seriously
interesting codes with this system.  

For example, I played around with Super Mario Bros (NES) and found out that
address 0007EE stores the number of coins and address 0007FA is the
one's digit in the timer.  Here are two codes:

E0 0007FA 03
20 0007EE 01

Those codes mean that while the ones timer digit is equal to three, increase the 
number of coins by one.  You won't see the coins updated on the overhead
display in the game, but if you start a game, wait until the timer one's
digit is a three and then collect a coin, you'll see that your coin value
is actually much higher than one, now.  Fun useless stuff.  :P



==================================================
Command-Line/Auto-Launching and Return to Launcher
==================================================

This section is for the developers of frontends, dashboards, etc.

VICE64X can be started with parameters to automatically launch a game
at startup.  Example code can be found in the custom_launch_params.cpp file.

There is also example code in that same file that will show you how to 
make VICE64X load your frontend/dashboard when it exits.




Stella, Gnuboy, SMSPlus, FCEUltra, HUGO, NeoPop, DGen, Bochs, HUGO-CD, 
FMSXBox, Bliss, WinSTon, Gens, Z26X, StepmaniaX, PCSXBox, XBoyAdvance, 
DOSXBox, AtariXLBox, MirrorMagicX, KoboX, MaelstromX, MarblesX, Vice64X...
what's next?


Enjoy!
