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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Well, I’m not really working on boards or 9010A
scripts right now because I know the 9100A keyboard converter is near complete
(or at least I hope! :) So I’ve been playing around with something
that kev and John were talking about a while ago.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I’ve been hacking around the MAME code, and I’ve
got it to the point where I can walk through the data structures and pull out
information like ROM files and addresses, and read & write addresses. What
I am thinking of building is a simple “pre-code” generator that
will help you build a 9010A script based on this simple memory map. It would
build the map for any of the supported MAME games (even if the game isn’t
working; that is not what is important). It could also link you directly to the
MAME source code for quick reference. Just wondering if people would find this
helpful or useful. Although it would be a first pass, here are possible
pitfalls:</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>* ROM banking is frequently “hacked” in MAME
(see Qix.c)</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>* read/write addresses in software are not always read/write
in hardware</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>* I have no good way to insert the actual 9010A signatures
right now because I would need to have all of the MAME ROMs (I don’t) and
my programs don’t yet unzip the ROMs</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>* I don’t know exactly how precise or accurate the
memory map is in MAME</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>* I almost guarantee mismatches between reality and the MAME
driver :) Not that the programmers didn’t do a good job, but just that
the software emulation might not match the actual hardware</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>But… the good would be that you have something to
start with given a game that you’ve never worked on (the memory map is
usually where I start). I would also be able to add in other hardware
information to my database (CPU, # CPUs, type, etc.) and provide a cross
reference to other games.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Does this reference material sound helpful? John, is this
sort of what you’d had envisioned?</span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>--James
Bright<br>
www.QuarterArcade.com<br>
Restored </span></font><font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Arcade</span></font><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> Games for your Home </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span></font></p>
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Received on Mon Sep 15 18:57:19 2003
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