continuing
As I was picking myself up off the shooter’s shack floor, I glanced over to the TV.
The ballplayers were all wandering around the field, looking skyward. Evidently, there was this hellacious explosion…even the television sports commentators were speculating as to what happened.
Whoops.
I looked out into the quarry. The wall that I had charged had receded some 75 feet.
There was rather a large amount of shattered, blasted dolomitic limestone now in the quarry. Enough, I found out later, for a full month’s worth of orders.
We never did find the blasting mats. I think they sort of evaporated.
Luckily, the quarry is essentially an open amphitheater in plan view; basically a big hole in the ground with vertical limestone walls. The shockwave of the blast that didn’t spend itself shattering the limestone into which it was housed, blew out laterally, hit the opposite quarry wall, rebounded, and then dispersed, rather energetically, vertically upward.
I set off car alarms for a 20 block radius.
There were no broken home windows, as the lion’s share of the shock wave was redirected upward.
Good thing there were no low flying zeppelins or dirigibles in the area...
I waited the requisite time to allow for any loafers. There were none, so I jumped into the nearest wheel loader and began clearing the quarry floor. Hell, I had to so I could open the front gate.
As I was clearing the floor, making pile number eight of the loose rock I had liberated, I heard the characteristic whoop-whoop of emergency vehicles.
I parked the wheel loader, opened the front gate, and raised the green flag. That was enough blasting for one day.
A few minutes later, three police cars zoom into the site. Two were local city cops, and one was a state trooper.
“Hi, guys!” I waved, “Nice day, innit?”
“Doctor Rock! We should have known.” One of the local boys groaned.
“Hey, I did call you beforehand, as per procedure,” I said.
Polack the cop walks up, just knowing I was responsible. “Yeah, but we didn’t figure on you terrorizing the entire city.”
“Polack! How goes it?” I asked.
The other local cop and the state trooper look to Polack, “You know this maniac?”
“Oh, hell yeah. For years. Don’t worry, the good doctor is mostly harmless.” He chuckles.
“Damn. OK. I guess everything’s OK. Just no more shooting today, please, Doctor. It’s going to take hours to calm everyone down.” He laments.
“Yes, sir. I’m done for the day.” I reply, snickering slightly.
The one local and state trooper depart, shaking their heads in amazement. This left Polack to follow me over to the shooter’s shack to mooch a cigar and whatever else he can find.
“Jesus Hula-Dancing Christ, Rock. What the hell was that? I was all the way out in Whitewatosa and heard you.” He asks as he sneakily snakes a smoke out of my case.
“Just some common chemicals in the proper proportions.” I snicker.
“Which were?” he asks.
I go in the back of the shed and toss him an empty container of one of the parts of the binaries I used. He catches it, reads the label, and drops it like a live grenade.
“Binaries? Fuck! Like what you used at the tower?” he asks.
“Yep. I used just a little more.” I reply.
“Little more? Damn, as I said, we’ve been briefed on the stuff. This shit’s nasty.” He shakes his head.
“Yeah. Fun, too.” I reply.
Polack grabs a Sprechler’s Cream Soda out of the fridge as I opt for a cold Cream Ale and shot of potato juice. Hell, I was done for the day, so…
We sit around and have a chat, just shooting the shit, as it were. Manly topics, so the conversation eventually steered over to guns.
“Hey!” Polack remembers, “That’s right! You fucking owe me. Let me borrow that fucking cannon you carry. I want to show the chief a thing or two.”
“Yeah, that’s right”, I agree, “When do you need it?”
“This Friday, after shift. It’s the monthly qualifiers for us.” He notes.
“Are pyromaniacs allowed in?” I ask.
“To observe? Sure. To shoot? Nope. Insurance regulations.” He says.
“What time?” I continue.
“1800 hours.” He tells me.
“I’ll be there. I’ll bring my gun and an assortment of loads. Hey, this could be fun!” I evilly smile.
“Doctor. You’re doing that thing again. You’re grinnin’ like a shithouse rat. You know how much that scares me. Stop it.” He pleads.
“No worries. Friday at 1800 hours.” I reply, grinning.
Polack slurps down his Sprechlers, snitches another stogie, and squeals out of the quarry in a cloud of dense dolomitic dust.
I arrive back at our flat, after stopping for two frozen custard Turtle Sundaes, to go. I give one to an appreciative wife and I ask her about her day.
“Oh, went shopping with Oma. Got the cutest shoes, and a new purse, and…oh well, never mind. You’ll see.”
Between bites of Turtle Sundae, she asks how my day went.
“Oh, my dear. I had a real blast.” I replied, not lying in the least.
Monday, after my first classes, I’m back in the faculty lounge, savoring a Greenland Coffee.
There was the usual instructor chatter when Dean Vermiculari walks in.
“Good morning, Dean!” I say. “Care for a sit-down and a coffee?”
“Good morning, Doctor Rock. Yes, please to both.” He replies.
I fix us both a fresh Greenland Coffee and return to our table. I hand him one and sit down to savor my soupçon.
“How was your weekend?” I ask the Dean of the College.
“Oh, very nice. Had a fine time catching some perch and crappie out on Lake Genever. I see you had a victorious weekend as well. Twice.” He smiles.
“Twice?” I asked.
“Well, your handling of the tower demolition made all the papers. Very, very well done, Doctor. I congratulate you.” He smiles.
“Thank you, Dean. That means a lot. Just doing what I can with what I’ve got. But twice?” I replied.
“It wasn’t front-page news, but I saw there was some, well, let us just say, ‘energetic activity’ out at the Silurian reef limestone quarry yesterday.” He grinned.
“Oh, yes. I had a job to do and well, as I always say: ‘Nothing succeeds like excess.” I smile back.
“Quite. This beverage you’ve created is really rather extraordinary, Doctor. Again, I thank you.” He tips his mug my direction in the age-old Midwestern salute.
“It’s a little recipe I picked up on my last expedition to the northlands. I grew rather fond of the concoction.” I replied.
“Ah, I see. Marvelous.” He smiles.
“Thank you, Dean. High praise indeed.” I reply.
“Which leads me to…ah, Doctor Rock. I have another favor to impose upon you.” He says, all serious.
“Yes, Dean? How can I be of service?” I ask.
“We, as you no doubt know, have many, many fine extractive mineral company connections. We actually receive quite a large amount of funding and endowments from them. They recruit here extensively for our young geoscientists. Now, since Dr. Pataariki has left for industry himself, I would like to appoint you as the College of Natural Sciences corporate liaison.” He explains.
“Indeed?” I replied, too stunned for words for once.
“Yes, indeed.” He continues, “It will require travel, mostly domestic, and delivering symposia at various companies on differing extractive geological subjects. You will also serve as host and university coordinator when they are present on recruiting tours. There will, of course, be additional remuneration to accompany the added responsibilities.”
I slurped my coffee, thinking furiously.
“Could I please first discuss it with my wife before I answer?” I ask.
“Oh, Doctor. Of course, of course. Take your time. I will not require a reply until… tomorrow.” He smiles, finishes his coffee, thanks me again, and toddles out.
“Yow, Es!” I exclaim, “This is one hell of an opportunity. It’s never before been offered to a junior professor. This will cement my tenure-track. It’s going to be a bitch with time, though. What do you think I should do?”
“Well, Rock, honey, I think you should do…” Es begins.
“No! None of that ‘do what you think is best’ stuff. I want your own thoughts, just like when I decided to go after my doctorate.” I explained.
“OK, then.” Esme looks all serious like she’s going to deliver a bipartisan political speech.
“Yes.” She says, firmly
“That’s it?” I ask.
“Yep. You asked I answered. We’ll make it work. We always do. You can’t let the Dean down. You will accept tomorrow without fear or qualms of your wife’s hesitations, of which I harbor none.” Esme proclaims.
“Did I ever tell you of the myriad reasons I love you so?” I ask.
The next morning I meet with Dean Vermiculari. He’s pleased that I accept and hands over to me the charter. Then the lists of company representatives, their contact information, and some other secret stuff that I can’t divulge right yet.
A raft of oil companies will be coming in the late spring semester, so I need to contact each and every one to solidify dates, times and positions for which they’re recruiting. But that’s for then, I have something more proximal for now.
I have a Friday appointment with Polack the cop at the town police shooting range.
I arrive spot on time with my Casull .454 Magnum pistol, in its carry bag, along with a small duffel crammed with Pyrodex, Tannerite, and selection of specialty loads I had Herman the German, the inveterate gunsmith, create.
Herman the German, his actual sobriquet, was this incredible gunsmith, craftsman, and all-around artillery specialist. Have any sort of problem with a rifle, shotgun, or pistol? See Herman. Gun holding too high? See Herman. Barrel warped? See Herman. Need solid gold projectiles for a certain one-off job? See Herman.
Herman the German can sort it out.
Just never ask him: “How?”
“Ach! I’ve lived so long to learn, and you want it free? I’ll fix it, you pay, but I am only one knowing how!”
Herman was a cranky old Kraut, and has lived here for as long as anyone can remember. Even my Grandfather had deferred to Herman when he had some particularly delicate machining operation that need special attention and was unique.
As far as anyone knew, Herman had no family, but was never at a loss for friends. He was one of the most popular, and well known, but still oddly really unknown, kind of mysterious, old bastards in the entire community.
Herman the German liked me because I could obtain for him certain high-energy things he couldn’t. All were entirely legal, but some were sort of out there in the gray zone.
He also liked that I was educated, as he held education in the highest esteem. He also liked that I was of German extraction myself.
I often made it a point to drop by with odd and unusual high-octane potables while never expecting anything in return other than a story or a shared cigar.
Herman created some special loads for my .454 Magnum, which he prized.
“I like your gun, Doctor Rock, it is so big! I can still see well enough to build things for it.” He told me one day over cheroots and Schnapps.
Herman was a character to be certain. It must have been the pixie in him to dream up some of the specialty rounds he created for me to share with the local constabulary.
He lived out in the county by himself in an old farmhouse. He had a full machine shop in his basement, complete with forge, metal handling equipment, and a firing test range.
He handed back my .454, rather solemnly.
“Doctor, I am afraid to say I couldn’t test all the special rounds I’ve created for you. I need to patch the hole in the cinder blocks in the downstairs range. Your gun punched right through the back…” he apologized.
Now, Herman does all sorts of work on the local’s deer rifles, the police’s ordinance and has even worked some with the Baja Canada National Guard. Some of the little novelties he’s dreamed up for me are the first to escape his homemade basement test range.
I felt oddly honored.
After proving who I was to the nice range officer, I looked around trying to find Polack.
“It’s 1550. Where the hell is Polack? I wondered.
“Rock! Over here.” Polack calls to me.
He motions me outside to the police department’s tactical outdoor range. I had thought all along he was referring to the indoors police target range. This might pose some problems.
The tactical range was a series of clapboard shacks, all setup and designed to represent some downtrodden urban inter-city landscape. There were a couple of junked cars, broken sidewalks, storefronts, houses, bus stops…in short, all things necessary to replicate the seediest sections of a settlement where malefactors live and breed.
The cops all run around this range, shooting at bad guy pop-up cut-outs and avoid the not-bad-guy pop-up cut-outs. They’ve got music blaring, firecrackers going off, all trying to re-create a shady deeply urban environment. Points are awarded by the accuracy of fire on the run, time to maneuver the course, and the ability of not gunning down innocent bystanders.
It is not the best place to test a .454 Cusall. This hand cannon recoils like a fundamentalist Christian being solicited for donations to Anton LaVey, shoots flames and incandescent gasses like Smaug after a hard night of drinking and a stop at the Taco Bell buffet, is louder than a dime-store Karen demanding to see a Manager, and more powerful than a Ghost Pepper suppository.
To quote Joe Piscopo: “It shoots through schools.” Especially faux-schools made of plywood.
A .32 or .38 cop special is the correct weapon here; even a 9mm is a little heavy. Enough power to make a serious dent, easy on control, light on the recoil…a good tactical weapon.
But, nothing succeeds like excess.
Polack’s Chief is running around, capping off his ‘big ol’ .44 Magnum, and making the valley echo. He punches considerable holes in the pop-up cut-outs, but has such a hard time handling the recoil, his score is barely passable.
Polack runs his test with his standard 9mm sidearm and qualifies easily. However, he’s nowhere near done with his Chief yet.
I suggest to Polack we have a shoot-off. And since a .44 Magnum bullet ‘is so close to a .454 Magnum’, which it isn’t…the .454 Casull generates nearly 85% more recoil energy than the .44 Magnum; that we’d need something other than holes punched in plywood to judge the efficacy of each.
We are literally just down the road from Max Yazzer’s farm and market. They’re the place you go for your Halloween jack-o-lantern. However, now, he has a surplus of melons.
I think you can see where this is headed…
I borrow Polack’s personal conveyance and run down to Max’s farm. I return with a trunk-load of elderly, overripe, cheap as chips, melons. Watermelons, Honeydews, Musks, and Casabas.
We place them in strategic areas on the course, five for the Chief to find, and five for Polack.
A .44 vs. a .454 melon-wise results in pretty much the same sort of mess: high-velocity fruit spatter. Although, the Chief was very impressed by the report of the .454. So, after running the tactical-melon course, clear demarcation of a winner was elusive.
OK, OK, clever dicks. How about this? A standing shoot-off? We’ll set up 3 melons each at 30, 20, and 10 yards. Beginning at 30 yards, your time will be until you take out all three melons. But, they’re not going to be in a straight line, we’re going to make them somewhat camouflaged. You will stand in one small demarcated area, hunt those miscreant melons, and bring them to justice. Fastest time and greatest display wins, as determined by the Police Peanut Gallery.
Polack and the Chief agree.
The Chief goes first and dispatches the melons, with a fair amount of spatter, in 15.3 seconds.
Not bad.
Polack is next. He wipes out all the melons and creates some thoroughly impressive displays with Herman’s ‘special’ rounds. Normal ballistics for the .454 are, for a 250 grain (16 g) bullet, a muzzle velocity of over 2,400 feet per second, developing up to 2,800 ft-lb of energy.
Herman’s hot loads are double that.
Polack wins the day on impressive high-velocity melon distribution, but misses, so close, with a time of 17.0 seconds.
Recoil’s a bitch.
Then there are Herman’s ‘specialties’.
The Chief is duly impressed and even comments that his ears are ringing even with the ear protectors. He asks to inspect the weapon. He is even more than duly impressed.
Polack knows what’s up and asks the Chief if he’d like to give a whirl.
Of course, the Chief can’t back down.
Polack loads the .454 with 5 of Herman’s specialties: hollow-point rounds loaded hot, compressed, and tipped with alkaline earth metals, like metallic sodium and metallic potassium…
We set up the nastiest, glorpiest, just barely-holding-together, overripe, laced with Tannerite (an impact-actuated low-explosive) watermelon at the ‘Concealed Carry’ distance of 5 meters.
We slowly fade back into the distance to avoid the inevitable ‘Gallagher reaction’.
The Chief fires one, and just nicks the top of the melon. Don’t laugh, with the type of recoil and heft of the sidearm, and tensing up in anticipation, it’s easy to be off the mark initially.
The second round impacts dead-center. Now, alkaline earth metals and water don’t get along really well. In fact, their relationship is explosive. Especially explosive when delivered at 2,900 feet per second.
The Chief catches a huge smattering of vitamin-packed watermelony back blast goo.
He’s not entirely happy. He looks positively grisly with all that blown-up melon schmoo on his nice, neat uniform.
He returns my gun and bans me from ever showing up at the police range again.
Polack is on traffic duty for the next month.
He figures it was well worth it.
Back at the flat, Esme is shaking her head and wondering if I’ll ever grow up.
“I may grow old, but I’ll never grow up.” I reply.
I see I have several missed phone calls. Ah, me; no rest for the weary. Back to company-university liaison duties.
After I had contacted these companies, I receive no less than 12 requests for symposia, talks, and seminars to be given to various level of industrial scientific employees in their respective companies.
I am now slated to give academic conferences on stratigraphy, sedimentology, and seismic structural geology to different companies in Houston, Oklahoma City, Denver, Casper, Corpus Christi, New Orleans, and Tulsa. In the next 12 weeks, I’ll be giving no less than 8 talks in seven cities.
I speak with Dean Vermiculari on how best to handle the situation. He understands and appoints two graduate student teaching assistants to handle my classes while I’m on the road. That relieves me of being physically there, but I still have to grade papers, compose lesson plans, and keep things running smoothly until finals.
Besides giving the talks, there’s travel to oil fields, production facilitates, manufacturing plants, hotels, restaurants while I’m in town…the pace is excruciating. I’m gone more than I am at university. Plus in my time back home, I’m still the ad hoc master blaster for the limestone quarry.
Then, there’s the companies arriving on campus, and the roles are reversed. Now I’m the welcome wagon and have to sort out the logistics of receiving the company representatives. I need to set up the colloquia to introduce the companies to the prospective students, arrange lodging, arrange passes for the university, transportation, “Meet-and-Greet’s, ad infinitum.
I knew this was having a bit of effect on me when I came back to the flat after one particularly grueling ordeal of canceled flights, full hotels, missed connections and lukewarm reception by the company workers.
“Hello”, I said, as I walked in the flat, “I believe you have a reservation for…”
Esme just stood there, wondering if I was having a laugh.
No, I wasn’t. I was completely hallucinating from road weariness, lack of sleep, jet lag, and total disorientation. This continued on for the next approximately 18 months.
Esme was beginning to have second thoughts about all this.
My teaching load was diminished by one whole introductory course. However, I was still flying hither and yon, delivering symposia, meeting with young geoscientists and getting to know the ins-and-outs of the Oil Industry.
I found it particularly fascinating.
Time marched on and it was once again it was the recruiting season. We had no less than eight oil companies visiting the university in their quest to swell the roster of their junior scientists.
I’m still busier than a one-armed paperhanger in a windstorm, but have settled into a groove of sorts. I know the company recruiters and they now know me. I’ve actually struck up friendships with several. Particularly since I take them to the best local restaurants and bars after their recruiting duties are finished.
I’ve met with recruiting representatives of Shrill Petrol, Mexxon, Nobil, Nocono Oil, Flug, Geddy, Brutish Petroleum, and Qexaco.
The recruiting season is winding down and I find myself with Red (not Adair), of Nocono Oil.
“Well, Doctor Rock”, Red states, “Another fine recruiting run. We’ve snagged two of your young geologists and one geophysicist. I’d say it was almost a perfect score.”
We’re sitting in the Norton’s Steakhouse. After a couple of prime pink porterhouses, we’re working on the post-dinner double vodka and bitter lemon for me, and Lagavulin for Red.
“Almost perfect?” I ask.
“Yeah. There’s been this one small nagging concern from our company higher-ups.” Red continues.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“We need some more senior people. For one thing, we’ve recently opened a new petroleum laboratory down in our Houston office. Going to need some serious talent to run that show.” Red says.
“I see”, I reply, “And…?”
“We need mentors. Those with varied and far-flung knowledge. They must be well educated, global in experience and stature, with an [ahem] diverse set of skills.” Red notes.
“Whew”, I agree, “That’s a tall order. You want my help with names of possible candidates? Is that it?”
“Not as such, Doctor.” Red drains his drink, motions for me to do the same, and orders another round.
Our drinks arrive and Red downs half his in one gulp.
“Well, then”, I continue, “How can I help?”
Red chuckles, “For someone so educated, you can really be thick as two short planks at times.”
I sit back, and sip my Old Thought Provoker.
The mercury-vapors light off.
“No!” I say, incredulously.
“Oh, yes.” Red smiles.
“No?” I ask, slowly taking in the possible effects of what he’s hinting at…
“OK, Doctor Rocknocker”, Red gets all serious and corporate, “We’d like to offer you a position at Nocono Oil as Senior Laboratory Manager and Head of Corporate Continuing Education.”
You could have knocked me over with a grenade. I was stunned. I fumbled with my drink.
“Red, you old con artist” I reply, “Is this a set-up?”
Red, serious as a heart attack, looks directly at me and replies, “Doctor Rock, absolutely not, it’s a genuine offer.”
He slides over a folder with some papers inside. “Here are the particulars.”
Reeling, I accept the folder. I open it and right after the corporate logos and legal bullshit, I see a tall figure with a whole raft of zeros trailing behind it.
I read furiously. The job would be both interesting and challenging. It would be in Houston, with travel and teaching at all other company outposts on a regular basis. I reexamine that figure from before and verify that I’m not now hallucinating.
The job comes with furnished, corporate-paid housing, incredible benefits, loads of opportunity for advancement, more opportunity to travel, really generous vacation time…
“Right. On the level?” I ask again.
“Yep.” Red bluntly says.
“Well”, I gulp, “you know I have to discuss this with Esme”, whom he’s met several times previous.
“Of course, and you probably want to finish out the semester, correct?” red asks.
“Oh, yes.” I reply. There would be a monsoon of paperwork and other grunt work I’d need to conclude or hand over if I were to accept this offer.
“OK, then”, Red finishes his drink, motions for me to do the same, a real rarity; but I was in another dimension at this point. He orders another round and sits back, waiting on a refill.
“You have two weeks to reply” Red states.
“I know that’s not a terribly long time, but we need to fill this position ASAP. Can I ask for that? Your answer, yea, or nay, within a fortnight?” Red demands.
“Yes”, I reply. “I at least owe you that.”
And that was the end of the discussion for the night about me joining the private sector. We stayed a few more hours, chatting, smoking my cigars, and discussing everything but the lumbering elephant in the room.
We part outside as I need to head back to our flat. Red wants to go downtown to one of those “Gentleman’s Clubs” he’s heard were so famous at the time.
I was flummoxed the whole cab ride home.
It was late when I returned, but I simply had to wake Es with the news.
“Rock, for pity’s sake, its 2 o’clock in the morning!” Es protests. “Can’t this wait until later?”
“Sorry, my dear” I reply, probably as serious as I ever had with Esme. “This is a potential game-changer.”
“What is it? Are you OK?” Esme trembles.
“Oh, I’m fine. Better than fine.” I reply.
She’s relieved.
“Then what’s so important?” she asks.
“Um…how would you like to move to Houston?” I ask.
“You going to teach at Cougar High (University of Houston)?” she inquires.
“Nope. Brace yourself. I’ve been offered a job with Nocono Oil.” I finally spill the beans.
Esme is slightly stunned and sits down.
I go to the wet bar, fix me a bracing potato juice and citrus and Esme a stiff white Zinfandel.
I hand her the wine and she is still semi-dazed and digesting the information.
I slurp a good portion of my drink, retrieve her Sobranjes and me a cigar from my Turkmenistan humidor.
I sit on the couch next to her and hug her soundly.
“Esme? Es? Earth to Es? You in there?” I joke.
“Oh, Yeah. Rock. Really? Hang on”, she leaves, returning with her housecoat as this might take a little time.
“So?” I ask, “Your thoughts. Now! Immediately! Initial reaction!” I try to jar her back into reality.
“Well, what do you want?” she asks.
“C’mon, my dearest. You know I hate that. No, what do you think? What do you honestly think?” I reply.
We both fire up our smokes, and I refresh our drinks. We return to the dinner table where Red’s folder lies.
“Es, here. Look at this.” I say, sliding the portfolio over to her.
She reads like a hungry man at a Vegas casino buffet. I can tell where she was stopped by something extraordinary.
“This is for real?” she asks, “Red’s not pulling a fast one?”
“Nope. It’s the genuine article”, I tell her, “He needs my reply within two weeks.”
“Rock, Rock…I just don’t know. It’s a lot to process at 0230 in the morning. Let’s go to bed and have a think in the morning. You have the luxury of at least that amount of time.” She notes.
“Right again, as usual”, I say, “Stuff it. It can wait.” We toddle off to bed.
The next morning, over Cuban omelets and Greenland Coffees, we sort through the particulars.
“Rock, it’s an extraordinary offer. But, do you want to leave teaching? I remember how you got all animated by Dean Vermiculari giving you the corporate liaison job and how that would improve your shot at tenure.” She notes.
“I just don’t know. I’m still shell-shocked.” I tell her. “Let me go to school and we’ll pick this up tonight. We both have work to do no matter what. Oh, bloody hell. I hadn’t considered your job. Another wrinkle in the mess.”
“Don’t you worry about that”, Esme smiles. “One catastrophe at a time.”
“I do so love you.” I hug her soundly. “Think I should mention this offer to anyone at school?”
“No. Definitely not.” Esme shakes her head. “Let’s figure this out on our own.”
“I agree”, I say, kiss her and depart for school once again.
The next week was a blur. Recruiting duties were dragging and I was being preoccupied.
Even my students noted the lack of in-room explosions lately.
I spend the next Saturday at the quarry, doing some small amount of blasting. I quiz the quarry owners about their progress in acquiring a new master for the quarry’s operation.
“Oh, Doctor Rock” they gush, “You’re doing such a fine job, we haven’t really looked. Why do you ask?”
“No particular reason at this time, I reply, “But perhaps you might want to begin looking”
The chinks in my armor were finally starting to show.
Sunday was spent out on Sliver Lake, with Esme and me chasing the elusive crappie, perch, and bucketmouth bass. It also gave us a chance to clear our heads from work, school and other such intrusions. We both needed a bit of downtime.
Later that night, after a meal of beer-battered fillet of crappie and perch on the barbie, we sit down at the dinner table.
The portfolio sits there, taunting us.
I get up, makes us both our drinks, sit down and declare that this is it.
“Es, darling” I say, “its nut-cuttin’ time. We need to make our decision.”
“You’re right.” Es agrees, “Time for risk-reward analysis. Get some paper and some pencils.”
We spend the next few hours listing the pros and cons of accepting the Houston position or staying here and pursuing my tenured professorship.
After several hours, I stretch, stand, and go to the fridge. I retrieve the bottle of Bollinger Les Vieilles Vignes Francaises I had purchased the other day.
I return to the table with the wine and the glasses, pop the cork and pour us both a glass of high-brow bubble water.
I hug and kiss Esme like I had just returned from a long, solo expedition.
“Esme, my darling. I’d like to propose a toast. First to us. Hа здоровый!”
“Cheers!” Esme replies.
“Secondly to Red, Dean Vermiculari, the quarry guys, Polack the Cop, and all the others that makes our life weird around here.”
“Seconded”, Es echoes.
“Finally: to Houston, Texas. Our new home!” I finally add.
The next morning, Dean Vermiculari peers over the top of his pince-nez glasses. He’s not looking overly happy with me right now.
“Why is it, Doctor, that everyone that receives the job of corporate liaison ends up going with corporate?” he asks.
“Perhaps it’s just the exposure to another world that exists beyond academia.” I reply, truthfully.
“Doctor Rocknocker,” the Dean gravely states, “I am not at all happy about your decision. We had great hopes for you here and you were riding right up the tenure track. Another five years and it would have been assured.”
“Five years is a long time, Dean”, I state the obvious.
“Yes, indeed.” The Dean replies frostily. “However, you are young. Perhaps you need to get this private sector nonsense out of your system, then you can return to academia where you belong.”
“Perhaps, perhaps”, I reply.
“Please, do consider this option down the road. You and your antics will be missed here, by students and faculty alike.” He says.
“I will, Dean, I promise.” I reply “However, for now, it’s time for my boot heels to be wanderin’.”
“Doctor, I will miss your strange and unique way of looking at life. I reluctantly accept your resignation at the end of the current semester and wish you all the best in your newest endeavors. Please remember us when corporate support for academia is mentioned in your new company.” he says.
“I promise you, Dean, I will not forget what I’ve learned here and what you’ve taught. It’s the least I can do,” I reply. “I will never forget my roots.”
“All I can ask”, he concludes. He stands to shake my hand. We shake and my audience is over.
I resign from the quarry a week later. They haven’t found a new blaster but wish me well on my new journey. I tell them I’m here until the end of the semester, so I won’t leave them high and dry.
I tell Polack the Cop about all the goings-on.
“Who the hell can I roust for beer and cigars now?” He whines. “Let me know when you get to Texas if they need any cops. I wouldn’t mind trying’ that. Hell, maybe a Texas Ranger!”
“A Cheesehead Ranger…?” I assure him I will and pass a box of cigars to him as a parting gift. He gives me a mayoral-signed get-out-of-jail-free card.
“Now you can drive that old Harley just as crazy as you want.” He chuckles.
“Thanks, Polack.” I say, shaking his hand. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I sold my bike a week earlier.
Red was very chuffed with the news.
“Snagged me a big one this time!’ He laughed, over the phone.
There was enough paperwork, considerations and decisions to be made to last the remaining time Esme and I had in-state until our move. Already, a moving company had arrived, done inventory, and was preparing for our move to Houston.
Esme resigned her position and decided she wanted to take some time off. She wanted to be a housewife, a colleague, and not have to work for once at an outside job. My new position allowed for that in spades. Besides with her credentials, anytime when she wants to re-join the workforce, there are myriad opportunities in the Bayou City.
We made the choice of housing out west of town, in Katy, Texas. We could have chosen Sugarland, Addicks, Greenspoint, Greenway, or the Memorial area. However, these west Houston company properties were closest to the job and largest in square footage.
My students got wind of my resignation and relocation. They threw me an unexpected farewell party at the Gast Haus. It was nickel-beer night and since they were footing the bill, it all worked out just fine.
I would miss the old place. The camaraderie, the seasons, the university; hell my home these last many years. I’ve been on many, many expeditions, but I always returned home.
Now, home was moving and was awaiting our arrival.
Esme and I said our farewells to our families as well. We were the first through college, the first ones to travel international, the first Doctor in the family, and the first to leave the state.
That’s a lot of familial firsts.
I had to keep reminding everyone it wouldn’t be the last. Hell, we’re just moving to Texas, it’s not like we’re off to Greenland or Mongolia…
[Gasp]
We saddled up Es’s old Chevy Nova, took one last, lingering look in the rearview mirror, and said fare thee well to our previous lives.
“We’ll be back. Someday. I promise” I told the city of our youth and young married adulthood.
We decided to drive to Houston because we had the luxury of a bit of time. We needed the stretch to chew over some interpersonal and private things on the way to the next chapter in our lives. Besides, the weather was good, the roads ahead open and clear, and Texas had no ‘Open Container’ law, yet.
We pointed the old Nova south and hit the gas.
A week later, we’re wandering around our new house in Katy, Texas. Our belongings, scant though they may be, arrived the day after we did. Esme and I spent the next couple of day rearranging the house, buying necessary domestic bits and pieces, and getting to know our new neighborhood.
First thing, though, Esme wanted to replace the old Nova. I concurred, but insisted we keep it as a second car and went out to purchase our first new car as a couple.
I wanted a Land Rover. We ended up with a glossy black Toyota 4-Runner. Close enough.
I was scheduled to show up at my new job the next Monday.
I had my own parking spot, complete with “Reserved for Dr. Rock” painted on the bumper block. I was shown my new lab and was introduced to my seven laboratory assistants. I was shown the catalogs I could use to order what I needed and went over the requisition procedures.
I was trotted around to meet the company CEO, CFO, CIO, VPs and many, many more company executives and managers. I’ve met with presidents and heads of state, I was impressed but not overly. They seemed like a more or less nice bunch of chaps.
Almost exactly five weeks to the day from our arrival in Houston, I come home, yelling “Darling, I’m home!”
Esme comes to greet me with a rib-rearranging hug. She tells me to sit at the dinner table, where my long hard day at the office drink, cigar, ashtray, and lighter are already set.
“How was work, dear?” she asks, sitting down with her Perrier water.
“Oh, it’s going great. The knotheads let me have an open-ended budget until I get the labs sorted just the way I want it. These guys pay their bills on time and I have carte blanche at Wards Scientific, and other supply houses. My crew is great, no interpersonal crapola, and hard workers. I can smoke in my office and no one dares give me shit about my cigars. I’m getting to know the exploration department quite well. They’re really interested in our expeditions and are more interested in my opinions of their new exploration directives.”
Esme just smiles and sips her water.
“Odd”, I thought.
“That’s great, dear.” She says. “I am so glad to hear it.”
“Me too”, I say, “How are you holding up after all these weeks alone?”
“Oh, I’m getting used to it.” She smiles.
And smiles. Beatifically. Glowing.
“What?” I ask.
“Remember what we talked about in the car on the way down here?” She asks.
“We talked about a lot of things…” I say, suddenly my eyes grew very, very wide indeed.
“Yes. You’re going to be a father. I’m pregnant, Rock.” Esme smiles.

MAME 0.203

With Hallowe’en basically over, the only thing you need to make October complete is MAME 0.203. Newly supported titles include not just one, but two Nintendo Game & Watch classics: Donkey Kong and Green House, and the HP 9825B desktop computer. We’ve added dozens of new versions of supported systems, including European bootlegs of Puck Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Phoenix, Pengo and Zero Time, more revisions of Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II, and a version of Soldier Girl Amazon made under license by Tecfri.
There are major improvements to plug-in TV games in this release, specifically systems based on the XaviX and SunPlus µ'nSP processors. The Vii is now playable with sound, and the V.Smile can boot games. Tiger Game.com emulation has come to the point where all but one of the games are playable. Some long-standing issues with Tandy CoCo cartridges have been fixed.
It isn’t just home systems that have received attention this month: Namco System 22 emulation has leapt forward. Yes, the hit box errors making it impossible to pass the helicopter (Time Crisis) and the tanks (Tokyo Wars) have finally been fixed. On top of that, video emulation improvements make just about everything on the system look better. In particular, rear view mirrors in the driving games now work properly. If that isn’t enough for you, the code has been optimised, so there’s a good chance you’ll get full speed emulation on a modern PC. There have been less dramatic improvements to video emulation in other Namco and Tecmo systems, and CPS-3 row scroll effects have been implemented.
MAME 0.203 should build out-of-the-box on macOS “Mojave” with the latest Xcode tools (provided your SDL2 framework is up-to-date), a number of lingering debugger issues have been fixed, and it’s now possible to run SDL MAME on a system with no display. MAME’s internal file selection menus should behave better when you type the name of a file to select it.
MAME 0.203 is a huge update, touching all kinds of areas. You can get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page.

MAMETesters Bugs Fixed

• 00430: [Graphics] (flkatck.cpp) mx5000: Game has priority problems. (Angelo Salese)
• 00777: [Gameplay] (namcos22.cpp) timecris, timecrisa: Incorrect hitbox for the helicopter in level 3. (hap)
• 06157: [Graphics] (cps3.cpp) jojo, jojoba and clones: Combo meter graphics missing for second player. (David Haywood)
• 06164: [Graphics] (namcos22.cpp) ridgerac: Title screen graphics are missing from second attract loop onwards. (hap)
• 06171: [Core] System-specific INI file settings are retained when starting a new emulation session. (Ryan Holtz)
• 06616: [Crash/Freeze] (coco3.cpp) coco3: Cartridges using 32k external ROM mode don’t work. (Tim Lindner)
• 07088: [Crash/Freeze] (interpro.cpp) ip6000, ip6700, ip6800: 1 Hz clock causes assertion failure in scheduler. (Patrick Mackinlay)
• 07110: [DIP/Input] (snk.cpp) tdfever: The “Allow Continue” DIP switch is reversed. (Angelo Salese)
• 07111: [Graphics] (namcos22.cpp) dirtdash: Speedometer displayed incorrectly. (hap)
• 07115: [Sound] (cps2.cpp) spf2t (qsound): Sound effects are distorted, mainly on left channel. (superctr)
• 07123: [Documentation] (megadriv.cpp) megadriv [dstrike]: Title is inaccurate. (Tafoid)
• 07124: [Documentation] (megadriv.cpp) megadriv [rrash3]: Title is inaccurate. (Tafoid)
• 07126: [ColoPalette] (8080bw.cpp) yosakdon: Yosaku to donbei used an overlay for colour. (MASH)

New working machines

• Game & Watch: Donkey Kong [algestam]
• Game & Watch: Green House [algestam]
• HP 9825B [F.Ulivi]
• Nerae! Super Goal (J 981218 V1.000) [PascalP, Bill D., The Dumping Union]
• Sky Challenger (J 000406 V1.000) [ShouTime, Bill D., Charles MacDonald, Dane Biegert, Candy Wolff, Henrique Areias Pontes, Sean Sutton, Surgeville, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]

New working clones

• Ace Driver: Victory Lap (Rev. ADV1, Japan) [ShouTime, Henrique Areias Pontes, Evan Korzon, Dane Biegert, mrgoodwraith, Michael O’Malley, Alexander Monin, Sean Sutton, Sung Eugene, Russell Howard, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Arm Champs II (ver 2.7) [Siftware]
• Crazy Rally (Recreativos Franco license) [Recreativas.org]
• Crock-Man (Marti Colls bootleg of Rene Pierre Crock-Man) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Fenix (Niemer bootleg of Phoenix) [Recreativas.org, Arcade Vintage]
• Heated Barrel (World version ?) [Jorge Silva]
• Koutetsu Yousai Strahl (World) [VectorGlow]
• Land Maker (Ver 2.02O 1998/06/02) [SEGV]
• Ms. Pac-Man ('Made in Greece' bootleg, set 2) [Michael Moffitt, The Dumping Union]
• Ms. Pac-Man (Marti Colls bootleg) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Pac Man (FAMARE S.A. bootleg of Puck Man) [Marcos75, Recreativas.org]
• Phoenix (G. Universal Video bootleg) [VectorGlow]
• Pengo (Marti Colls bootleg on Pac-Man hardware, set 1) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Pengo (Marti Colls bootleg on Pac-Man hardware, set 2) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Player's Edge Plus (SET033) Set Chip [Brian Troha]
• Pocket Gal Deluxe (Asia v3.00) [Jorge Silva]
• PuLiRuLa (World, earlier?) [Jorge Silva]
• Rapid Hero (NMK) [pacman70]
• Rim Rockin' Basketball (V1.2, bootleg) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• Soldier Girl Amazon (Tecfri license) [Fredric Sjöholm]
• Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (World 910204) [Erik Preston]
• Super Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle (USA 930911) [Steve Gordon]
• Tazz-Mania - El Trompa (U.R.V. BBCPE bootleg) [Ricky2001, Recreativas.org]
• Tetris (bootleg set 4, with UM3482) [Asayuki, ClawGrip]
• The Killing Blade / Ao Jian Kuang Dao (ver. 106) [Brad Hicks]
• Twins [David Torres, ClawGrip, Recreativas.org]
• Twins (Mega Twins bootleg) [Barry Harris, ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• World Cup '90 (european hack, different title) [Roberto Fresca, Martin Mejia Britez]
• Zero Time (Marti Colls) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]

Machines promoted to working

• Jungle Soft Vii [Ryan Holtz]
• Tokyo Wars (Rev. TW2 Ver.A, World) [hap]
• Video 21 [hap]

New machines marked as NOT_WORKING

• Bowling Road (Ver 1.5) [f205v]
• BwB Tetris v 1.0? (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Decision Data IS-482 Workstation [Al Kossow]
• Falco 5220 [Al Kossow]
• Gynotai (Japan) [Dane Biegert, Evan Korzon, Candy Wolff, Henrique Areias Pontes, Sean Sutton, ShouTime, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• HP 700/70 Windowing Terminal [Bitsavers]
• ITT 1700 [Al Kossow]
• Labyrinth (Ver 1.5) [f205v]
• MCS-51 System Design Kit [Glen Slick]
• MIPS RC2030 [Patrick Mackinlay]
• MIPS RS2030 [Patrick Mackinlay]
• MVS-TEMP 'SubSystem Ver1.4' (Nazca development board) [Brian Hargrove]
• Pin Ups (Ver 1.0 Rev A) [f205v]
• Prize Space Invaders (v1.4D?) (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Prize Space Invaders (v2.0D?) (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Prize Space Invaders (v2.14?) (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Rushing Beat (SNES bootleg) [Jorge Silva]
• S-Plus SET005 Set chip [Brian Troha]
• S-Plus SET015 Set chip [Brian Troha]
• S-Plus SET026 Set chip [Brian Troha]
• Scientific Instruments Model 5500 Temperature Controller [ClawGrip]
• Super Derby (satellite board) [Chris Buehler]
• UFO Robot (Ver 1.0 Rev A) [f205v]
• World Cup (Ver 1.5) [f205v]

New clones marked as NOT_WORKING

• Altered Beast (bootleg) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• Break Thru (Tecfri license) [jordigahan, Recreativas.org]
• Bowling Road (Ver 1.4) [f205v]
• Bowling Road (Ver 1.4, ND2001 hardware) [f205v]
• Congo (1.1, DCS sound 1.0) [PinMAME]
• Diner (PA-0 prototype) [PinMAME]
• Emergency Call Ambulance (Japan) [ShouTime, Henrique Areias Pontes, Evan Korzon, Dane Biegert, mrgoodwraith, Michael O’Malley, Alexander Monin, Sean Sutton, Sung Eugene, Russell Howard, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Excalibur (Mdm) (MPU4, V1.4) [James Wallace]
• Heavy Metal Meltdown (German) [PinMAME]
• HP9000/360 [Sven Schnelle]
• Jack*Bot (0.4A prototype) [PinMAME]
• Mushiking The King Of Beetle (MUSHIUSA '04 1ST, Prototype) [Jorge Valero, rtw]
• Showdown (version 4.0) [Mark Jenison]
• Super Pang (World 900914, bootleg, set 2) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• World Cup (Ver 1.4) [f205v]
• Zorton Brothers v1.00 (Los Justicieros) [Arcade Vintage, Recreativas.org]

New working software list additions

• bbc_rom: Accelerator 1.00, Accelerator 1.02, Accelerator 1.05 Accelerator 1.06, BeebCalc 1.2B, BeebCalc 1.2C, BeebCalc 1.2D, BeebCalc 1.2E, Caretaker 1.00, Caretaker 1.01, Caretaker 1.02, Caretaker 1.03, Communicator 0.90, Communicator 1.04a, Communicator A2.1, Debug, Disc Doctor 1.05, Disc Doctor 1.06, Disc Doctor 1.07, Disc Doctor 1.09, Disc Doctor 1.0A, Disc Doctor 1.0B, Graphics Extension 1.02, Graphics Extension 1.03, Graphics Extension 2.09, Gremlin 1.20, Gremlin 1.21, Inter-Chart 1.01, Inter-Chart 1.02, Inter-Chart 1.03a, Inter-Sheet 0.47, Inter-Sheet 1.00, Inter-Sheet 1.02, Inter-Sheet 1.03, Inter-Sheet 1.06, Inter-Sheet 1.06c, Inter-Sheet 1.06s, Printmaster (Canon) 1.08, Printmaster (Epson) 1.00, Printmaster (Epson) 1.01, Printmaster (Epson) 1.02, Printmaster (Epson) 1.08, Printmaster (Epson) 1.10, Printmaster (Star) 1.10, Speech, Termi 2.07, Termi 2.05, Termi 2.06, Termi 2.10, Termi II A1.5, Text To Speech, WordWise 1.17, WordWise 1.17 (Beebug), Wordwise 1.00, Wordwise 1.10, Wordwise 1.20, Wordwise Plus 1.48, Wordwise Plus 1.49, Wordwise Plus 1.4A, Wordwise Plus 1.4B, Wordwise Plus 1.4C, Wordwise Plus 1.4E, Wordwise Plus 1.4F [Nigel Barnes]
• hp9k3xx_flop: Pascal 3.25 [Sven Schnelle]
• ibm5150: Rampart (Hit Squad release) [ArcadeShadow]
• ibm5170: ADSP-21xx EZ-KIT Lite, Auto Convert, Central Point Anti-Virus for Windows, Compaq ProLinea 486-based PC's - Microsoft Windows 3.0 Support Diskette, Compaq ProLinea 486-based PC's - Microsoft Windows 3.1 Support Diskette, DIVA T/A ISDN Modem Setup Wizard for Windows 3.x, Diagnostics - Test, Setup, and MDMI Utilities for Products with 640K of RAM Installed, Direct Access Windows, Drafix Windows CAD (Demo), Enhanced 5250 Emulation Program, HiJaak, HiJaak Pro, Integration i Microsoft Office 97: Step by Step (Swe), Internet in a Box - Single-User Version, Jack Nicklaus Screen Savers, MS-DOS FASTART/SYSTEM - The Compaq Personal Computer FASTART/SYSTEM Diskette, MS-DOS Operating - The Compaq Personal Computer Operating Diskette, MS-DOS Support - User Programs, Mastering Borland C++ 3.1, Micro-Cap III, Microsoft Windows Support - User Programs, Mitsumi Mouse Driver (v6.0), Mouse/Trackball, NexNIC ND010 PCI Adapter (Ethernet/Fast Ethernet), Norton CrashGuard for Windows 95, Nova 9 (International Version, 5.25"), NuSound PnP Install Disk, Postnummerkatalogen 1996 (Swe), Scroll 3D Mouse Setup Disk for PS/2 and Serial, SoundWave 32 Series, TMS320C5x DSK - Applications Guide/Application Software, Tango Printed Circuit Design Evaluation, Tango Schematic Capture Evaluation, The Greatest Little PIC Book, Thunderhawk AH-73M, WordFinder Lexikon på PC (Swe), Write On! for Windows [FakeShemp]
• pc98: Ballade3, Bible Master - Crash of the Blleot Rutz, Bible Master - Crash of the Blleot Rutz (Alt), Bind - Kinbaku Jinmon Densetsu, Black Bird - Tori-tachi no Tooboe, Blackthorne - Jigoku no Fukushuu (16-color version), Blackthorne - Jigoku no Fukushuu (256-color version), Blandia 98, Blind Games, Blue Ruins - Harukanaru Bibanon no Hihou, Bounty Hunter Ludy, Branmarker 2, Bretonne Lays Scenario Shuu 1, Briganty - The Roots of Darkness, Bunny Hunter Zero [Neo Kobe Collection]
• pico: Oryouri Daisuki! Kitchen Pico (Jpn) [TeamEurope]
• sorcerer_cart: Exidy Standard Basic v1.1 [exidyboy, Robbbert]
• sorcerer_cass: Head-on Collision, Lander Arcade [exidyboy]
• uzebox: 2048, 65536-in-1, Block Boy, Buddha, Solitaire, Space Age, Uzekickers, Vector Game, Video Poker, XOR [ArcadeShadow]
• vgmplay: Air Duel (Irem M72), Burning Fight (SNK Neo Geo), Chimera Beast (Jaleco Mega System 1), Chip's Challenge (IBM PC AT), Cycle Mahbou (Arcade), D.A.S.S. (MSX2), Dark Seal (Arcade), Denjin Makai (Arcade), Direct-X Release.2 (Sharp X68000), LHX Attack Chopper (IBM PC AT), Major Stryker (IBM PC AT), Mega Man IV (Nintendo Game Boy), Metal Gear 2 - Solid Snake (MSX2), Second Earth Gratia (Jaleco Mega System 32), Sky Destroyer (Arcade), Slimyer (Sharp X68000), Tintin in Tibet (Game Boy), Uncharted Waters (Sharp X68000), Vinyl Goddess from Mars (IBM PC AT), Wizard Fire (Arcade) [Tafoid]
• x68k_flop: Abunai Bunkasai Zenya [Wayder]

Software list items promoted to working

• gamecom: Batman & Robin, Centipede, Duke Nukem 3D, Fighters Megamix, Frogger, Henry - Match the Sounds Memory Game, Indy 500, Jeopardy!, Monopoly, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Quiz Wiz - Cyber Trivia, Resident Evil 2, Scrabble, Sonic Jam, Tiger Casino, Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Fortune 2, Williams Arcade Classics [Robbbert]
• pc98: Batsu, Battle Queen - Saikyou Fighters Retsuden, Be Girl (Alt Format), Bio 100% Free Games Collection (Alt Format), Bishoujo Shashinkan Bangaihen - Outside Story, Bokosuka Wars, Brandish VT, The Bard's Tale - Tales of the Unknown, The Best Play Baseball (Demo) [Carl, r09]

New NOT_WORKING software list additions

• 32x: Clay Fighter 2 (Jpn, USA, Euro Prototype) [VampierMSX, Porchy]
• bbc_rom: ConQuest, Instant Mini Office II, Inter-Word 1.02, Quest Paint 1.04, Quest Paint 1.10, SpellMaster 1.66, SpellMaster 1.69, The Wapping Editor [Nigel Barnes]
• mac_hdflop: ClarisWorks (Swedish) [FakeShemp]
• pc98: Brandish Renewal [r09]
• princ: Bad Badtz-Maru, Hello Kitty, Kazoku de Nengajou, Pochacco [TeamEurope]

Source Changes

• Emulated National DP8350 CRT controller family. [AJR]
  
• mcs48: Set lower 4 bits of P2 to input during (and after) MOVD A,Pp. [AJR]
  
• i8243: Release P2 output after completion of read operation. [AJR]
  
• sbrain.cpp: Driver overhaul: [AJR]
  
  • Added cursor and scrolling through CRT controller registers.
  • Corrected number of interrupts per frame.
  • Actually show the “insert diskette” message.
  • Added options for RAM size and two or more floppy drives.
  • Added RS232 ports and DIP switches for Baud clock selection.
• tms9900: Internalized TMS9980A clock divider, and corrected endianness for TMS9980 and TMS9995 in unidasm. [AJR]
  
• xavix: Allow debugger to step over CALLF instruction. [AJR]
  
• crt9007: Added frame timer. [AJR]
  
• flipjack.cpp: Driver overhaul: [AJR]
  
  • Reimplemented video using CRT controller row update method.
  • Fixed cocktail mode and changed rotation from 90 degrees to 270 degrees.
  • Modernized interrupts and cleaned up code.
• Invalidate memory access caches when removing watchpoints (prevents crashes on subsequent accesses to the same areas). [AJR]
  
• mcs96 updates: [AJR]
  
  • Replaced I/O space with callbacks, and added internal address space for non-executable register file and SFR area.
  • Made SFRs more accessible to the debugger, and made disassembler show names for directly-addressed SFRs.
  • Corrected disassembler output for some forms of ADDCB, SUBCB, MULB, ANDB, JBC and JBS.
• unidasm: Added st62xx support. [AJR]
  
• flkatck.cpp: Fixed sprite-sprite priorities, and removed driver hack from k007121.cpp. [Angelo Salese, dink]
  
• combatsc.cpp: Added video and scroll memory to save states. [Angelo Salese]
  
• contra.cpp: Fix sprite RAM mapping. [Angelo Salese]
  
• Added shaders for performing color transforms and three-dimensional lookup tables. [anikom15]
  
  • Allows arbitrary color space manipulation within the sRGB space.
• rainbow.cpp: Connected WD2010 write fault input, and changed default serial port device to Microsoft 2-button mouse. [Bavarese]
  
• r9751 updates – Disktool is now fully functional: [Brandon Munger, Stephen Stair]
  
  • i86: Allow ’188 to advance DMA immediately if DRQ is held high when source synchronous DMA is started.
  • Connected SMIOC DMA to 68k CPU and fixed communication.
  • Emulated SCC2698B octal UART and connected to SMIOC.
  • Improved logging.
• iremga20.cpp: Fixed playback rate algorithm. [cam900]
  
• itech8.cpp: Updates and cleanup: [cam900]
  
  • Converted sound latch to generic_latch_8_device.
  • Converted to use derived memory maps and unit masks.
  • Reduced runtime tag map lookups, and cleaned up redundant and duplicated code.
• glass.cpp: Simplified code, removed duplication, and improved region names. [cam900]
  
• segas24.cpp: Added save state support, split address maps by ROM board type, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• crystal.cpp: Cleanup and updates: [cam900]
  
  • Made class members private where appropriate, cleaned up code, reduced duplication, and added notes.
  • Converted to use derived address maps and configured banking.
  • Added CRT controller register details.
  • Improved device names and removed MCFG macros.
• targeth.cpp: Reduced runtime tag map lookups, and reduced code duplication. [cam900]
  
• ramdac.cpp: Removed MCFG macros. [cam900, AJR]
  
• blitz68k.cpp: Reduced code duplication and made state class members private as appropriate. [cam900]
  
• tecmo_mix.cpp: Added mixing for text layer bitmap, made background pen blendable, and removed MCFG macros. [cam900]
  
• gaiden.cpp, tecmo16.cpp: Corrected sprite lag, cleaned up graphics decode and ROM loading, and added notes. [cam900]
  
• namcofl.cpp: Implemented screen clipping and shadows, fixed sprite banking, and confirmed crystal values. [cam900]
  
• namconb1.cpp: Corrected sprite lag, added raw screen parameters, reduced code duplication, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namcos1.cpp: Reduced code duplication and replaced a naked pointer with a required region pointer. [cam900]
  
• namcos2.cpp: Removed unnecessary memory banks, added raw screen parameters, improved region names, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namcos21.cpp, namcos21_c67.cpp, namcos21_de.cpp: Improved member names and tags, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namco_c116.cpp: Implemented device_palette_interface for internal palette. [cam900]
  
• namco_c123tmap.cpp: Internalized graphics decoding, implemented tilemap disable bit, and simplified configuration. [cam900]
  
• namco_c169roz.cpp, namcos2_roz.cpp: Internalized graphics decoding and simplified configuration. [cam900]
  
• namco_c355spr.cpp: Added support for double-buffered sprites, simplified configuration, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namcos2_sprite.cpp: Get palette from graphics decode, avoiding redundant configuration. [cam900]
  
• onetwo.cpp: Use a palette decoder member function for palette decoding. [cam900]
  
• qx10kbd: Dumped and emulated keyboard microcontroller. [Carl, Frank Hughes]
  
• mwarr.cpp, stlforce.cpp: Converted video code to a device. [David Haywood]
  
• cps3.cpp: Implemented score layer row scroll effects, and cleaned up code. [David Haywood]
  
  • Fixes combo meters in jojoba (MT06157, GitHub #4033).
• wecleman.cpp: Marked weclemanb as a hack. [David Haywood]
  
• XaviX updates: [David Haywood]
  
  • Renamed members based on strings in code, moved audio stubs to a separate file, and updated notes.
  • Hooked up sprite addressing mode control register, improved sprite RAM hookup, and hooked up “text array“ pattern generator.
  • Fixed multiplier unit use in rad_madf.
  • Added inputs for rad_bass, rad_crdn, taitons1 and taitons2.
  • Improved palette mode used by taitons2, improved sprite positioning, implemented sprite flipping, and improved priorities.
  • Added support for RAM-based tiles used in rad_bb2 test mode, and 24-bit tile addressing used by epo_efdx.
  • Improved CALLF, RETF and BRK, allowing namcons2 to boot and rad_ping to get past the first screen.
  • Mapped BIOS into second external bus space for e-kara sets, and implemented DMA register read-back.
  • Improved transparency handling, and implemented “arena control” clipping effect.
  • Re-implemented Super XaviX opcodes based on observed usage.
  • Allow some opcodes to bypass zero page, as required by namcons1.
  • Hooked up I²C memory.
  • Implemented per-line rendering and raster interrupts (improves backgrounds in rad_snow and xavtenni).
• Don’t set the SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL extra flag if -video none is set. [dslegend]
  
  • Allows a true headless run when the environment variable SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy is set.
• hphybrid: Added support for the 09825-67907 variant, and updated the hk64k and hp9845 drivers as necessary. [F.Ulivi]
  
• Emulated HP 9825B desktop computer, including DC100 tape drive, internal printer, and matrix display. [F.Ulivi]
  
• namcos22: Added view matrix reflection. [hap, Ryan Holtz]
  
  • Fixes alpinr2b character selection screen, raveracw/ridgera2 rear-view mirrors, and secret mirror track in raveracw.
• namcos22 updates: [hap]
  
  • Added save state support and improved performance.
  • Corrected pixel clock and DSP clocks.
  • Fixed coin 2 not working.
  • Implemented rendering from point RAM (used on Alpine Racer 2 and Ridge Racer 2 title screens).
  • Improved System 22 fader and background color (fixes Victory Lap attract mode).
  • Improved Super System 22 fog and spot (improves graphics in Aqua Jet, Dirt Dash and Time Crisis).
  • Fixed polygon layer sometimes rendering when it shouldn’t
  • Added preliminary POSIRQ implementation (partial updates are not enabled yet).
  • Fixed window clipping on Ace Driver rear view mirrors and Alpine Racer 2 character selection screen.
  • Fixed hitboxes for helicopter in Time Crisis and tanks in Tokyo Wars (error in 68020 CHK2).
  • Added Super System 22 lamp and motor outputs.
• pokey: Return most recent m_ALLPOT value and freeze POT counters during SK_RESET. [Jürgen Buchmüller]
  
• Allow undefined GL symbols for WebAssembly target (GitHub #4187). [Justin Kerk]
  
• Fixed compilation with X11 XInput enabled (NO_USE_XINPUT=0). [Kiall Mac Innes]
  
• mpatrol: Fixed graphical issues including sprite priority, background positioning, and screen flipping. [kunikuni]
  
• liblrabl, toypop: Improved cocktail mode emulation, and corrected DIP switch settings. [kunikuni]
  
• warpwarp.cpp: Corrected player 2 shot/ball offset in cocktail mode. [kunikuni]
  
• pacland: Corrected “Bonus Life” DIP switch values. [kunikuni]
  
• ti99: Added guards against selecting non-existent drives. [Michael Zapf]
  
• bbc_tube_6502/65c102: Added ReCo6502 Tube 1.21 ROM. [Nigel Barnes]
  
• bbc.cpp updates: [Nigel Barnes]
  
  • Reimplemented the addressable latch using the ’LS259 device.
  • Added 32K ROM slots in B+ and Master variants.
  • Use bankdev to switch IO/ROM in Master.
  • Use ram_device instead of ROM_REGION for RAM.
  • Added I2CMEM device for PCD8572 in Master Compact.
  • Corrected sound device from SN76489 to SN76489A.
• bbcb: Added ReCo6502 co-processor. [Nigel Barnes]
  
• bbcmc: Added expansion port and Mertec Companion expansion device. [Nigel Barnes]
  
• phoenix: Don’t configure_entries and set_base on the same bank. [O. Galibert]
  
• Added a skeleton driver for MIPS Computer Systems ROSC/os machines, with initial focus on the RC2030 headless workstation. [Patrick Mackinlay]
  
• GENie: Changed minimum target macOS version to 10.6 to allow building on macOS 10.14 “Mojave” with latest Xcode tools. [R. Belmont]
  
• Fixed compilation with SDL 2.0.8 and later on macOS. [R. Belmont]
  
• hapyfish: Replaced driver with clone of mini2440, allowing it to boot from NAND Flash. [R. Belmont]
  
  • Boot loader now comes up and fails because it can't find both Flash chips.
• gamecom.cpp: Made all games besides lostwrld playable, and updated notes. [Robbbert]
  
• sorcerer.cpp: Added DDMON 1.3 and ADSMON BIOS options. [Robbbert]
  
  • ADSMON requires an 80 column card that is not emulated.
• sm8500: Improved logging of unknown opcodes. [Robbbert]
  
• sun4c updates: [Ryan Holtz]
  
  • Changed FDC to and fixed mapping.
  • Added save state support.
  • Added machine configuration for SPARCstation SLC (4/20), IPX (4/50), 1+ (4/65) and 2 (4/75).
  • Added RAM size options and fixed mirroring in 4 MB configurations.
  • Improved MMU/cache behaviour, and added support for full-width memory mask on segment map writes.
  • Re-wrote timers to tick at 1 MHz (allows NetBSD to progress further).
• sbus: Added font register and fixed drawing endianness for cgsix card. [Ryan Holtz]
  
• debugcpu: Fixed watchpoints for CPUs that use word addressing. [Ryan Holtz]
  
• generic_slot: Allow file name extensions to be omitted from constructor call. [Ryan Holtz]
  
• vii.cpp updates: [Ryan Holtz]
  
  • Fixed titles and publishers.
  • Ported current µ'nSP 1.0 CPU core and serial EEPROM emulation from Unununium.
  • Made µ'nSP instructions that use post-increment/decrement addressing modes update segment register on rollover.
  • Fixed road layer in several Zone 60 games.
  • Added an optional visual debugger for audio (may be enabled with a preprocessor macro).
  • Converted SPG24x and SPG28x SoCs to devices, added saturation and fade offset control, and implemented sound output.
  • Added SPG24x/SPG28x chip select callbacks and rudimentary analog inputs.
  • Hooked up walle NVRAM.
  • Added preliminary V.Smile support – runs BIOS and boots games.
• osdwindows: Fixed BGFX not rendering in multiple windows (internal UI is still glitchy). [Ryan Holtz]
  
• ibm5150.cpp: Hooked up cassette data output (GitHub #4076). [Ryan Holtz, BigAlUK]
  
• Fixed compilation with libjpeg for environments where TRUE and FALSE aren’t preprocessor macros. [Ryan Schmidt]
  
• vt100, ec1841, mc1502, poisk1, km035 and ms7004: Made keyboards Lua-friendly and updated mappings. [shattered]
  
• PlayStation GPU: Copy the textures’ STP bit (improves Silent Hill). [smf]
  
• PlayStation GTE: Use helper functions to count leading zero/one bits rather than implementing locally. [smf]
  
• vgmplay.cpp: Added support for multiple instances of the same chip with different clock frequencies. [smf]
  
• qsoundhle.cpp: Saturate voice and output accumulators (MT07115). [superctr]
  
• hp_dio updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Allow cards to share interrupt and DMA request lines.
  • Removed MCFG macros and moved classes into a namespace.
  • Configure all DIO slots as non-fixed, as none of the devices are on-board or physically captive.
  • Removed unused map() functions.
  • Added HP98620 DMA controller and HP98625A SCSI controller card devices.
  • Fixed plane masks in HP98543 video card.
• M68000 MMU updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Add Special Status Word to exception frames.
  • Raise MMU configuration exception if SRP/CRP is invalid.
  • Factored out code to set bus error details, perform address translation cache lookup, match TT register, and walk tables.
  • Added support for short indirect descriptors (used by HP-UX 9).
  • Set MMU status flags when performing address translation cache lookup.
  • Split PLOAD and PTEST code from m68881_ops into separate functions, and corrected the name to m68851_ops.
  • Correctly disassemble more forms of PTEST and PFLUSH instructions.
• hp9k_3xx.cpp, mb87030.cpp, hp9122c.cpp: Converted to use delegate timers. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• hp9k_3xx.cpp updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Moved sound, GPIB, keyboad and RTC to human interface DIO module.
  • Cleaned up DIO configuration.
  • Use 98543 DIO card for video output on HP9000/320 and HP9000/332, replacing driver code for the latter.
• tms9914: Latch EOI flag until next byte is sent. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• hp_hil updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Added HP46060B mouse device.
  • Converted logging to use logmacro.h and removed MCFG macros.
  • Removed obsolete bus error handler and superfluous RAM regions.
• nscsi_bus.cpp, nscsi_cd.cpp, nscsi_hd.cpp: Disable logging by default. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• Emulated Fujitsu MB87030 SCSI controller. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• Fixed command line parsing for the long form of the first instance of a media option. [Tim Lindner]
  
• Fixed CoCo 16k cartridge banking, CoCo 3 32k external ROM mode, and Zumwalt banking through the CoCo Multi-Pak. [Tim Lindner]
  
  • Addresses MT06616 and GitHub #2746.
• coco3.cpp: Added workaround to show only one screen by default. [Tim Lindner]
  
• pcjr.cpp: Added null_modem and terminal to serial port options for IBM PCjr family. [TSCHAK]
  
• iremga20: Stop sample playback on encountering a zero-valued sample, as this appears to be a sentinel value. [ValleyBell]
  
  • Also reduced code duplication in sound stream update function.
• Improved search behaviour in file selection menus. [Vas Crabb]
  
• jazz.cpp: Added PS/2 keyboard/mouse controller emulation. [Vas Crabb]
  
• krz2000.cpp: Dumped the Kurzweil K2000 “ROM1 – Orchestral” and “ROM2 – Contemporary” add-on modules. [anonymous]
  
• namcops2.cpp: Re-dumped superdbz DVD and confirmed that gundzaft DVD dump is good. [Arcade-Projects]
  
• Dumped the IBM Model M PC/AT and PS/2 keyboard microcontroller. [Brandon Ermita]
  
• paradise.cpp: Updated information about Spinner Controls Daughtercard, and added DIP switch locations for Mad Ball. [Brian Troha]
  
• seta2.cpp: Added PCB layouts for Kosodate Quiz My Angel and TelePachi Fever Lion. [Brian Troha, Carl Graham]
  
• sega16a.cpp: Corrected labels and ROM locations for aliensyn2. [Brian Troha]
  
• atetris.cpp: Added PLDs to atetrisb2. [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
  
• pofo: Dumped character generator ROM, and verified that BIOS is a good dump. [Curt Coder]
  
• twinkle.cpp: Updated documentation to match data gleaned from kits. [DragonMinded]
  
• itgamble.cpp: Updated notes and hardware info. [f205v]
  
• Barcrest MPU4: Removed Intel HEX copies of previously dumped ROMs. [James Wallace]
  
• nes.xml: Corrected Japanese titles for chestfld and touch. [killamegagiga]
  
• krz2000.cpp: Added notes. [Lord Nightmare]
  
• norautp.cpp: Marked drhla as a clone of drhl. [MASH]
  
• 3do.cpp: Corrected year and manufacturer for orbatak. [MASH]
  
• Added smartmedia to arcade build (now used by hapyfish). [MASH]
  
• Added color overlay to Yosaku to Donbei. [MASH, hap]
  
• pc98.xml updates: [r09]
  
  • Marked Brandish Renewal entries as cracks.
  • Re-labeled disks with their actual names, and changed order so they automatically mount in a logical way.
  • Added usage notes for software that requires DOS.
  • Removed images where only save game data differs, and removed user-created disks.
• tourvis.cpp: Dumped BIOS versions V4-42 and V4-51. [Ricky2001, Recreativas.org]
  
• deco0.cpp: Dumped 68705 MCU for drgninjab2. [Sean Riddle, ClawGrip, The Dumping Union]
  
• taito_f3.cpp: Verified that ROMs from a Puchi Carat Asia cartridge ROMs match the overseas version. [SEGV]
  
• system1.cpp: Document that the parent Gardia set is Sega factory conversion. [ShouTime]
  
• Removed documentation for command-line options that are no longer supported, and added preliminary documentation for new options. [Tafoid]
  
• x68k_flop.xml: Added and corrected many entries. [Wayder]
  
• Addressed some consistency issues in documentation. [Wellington Uemura]
  

MAME 0.188

MAME 0.188 comes to you with tales of perseverance, blind luck, and the kind of insanity you’d get from no-one else. By sheer chance, a DECO Cassette system Brian Troha picked up cheap happened to come with a set of graphics ROMs for Explorer. While the Explorer program cassette was dumped sixteen long years ago, the graphics ROMs have proved elusive until now. We can finally all enjoy this Tempest-inspired title from the early ’80s.
After much effort and rendering several boards inoperable, Peter Wilhelmsen and Morten Shearman Kirkegaard successfully extracted the programs from the DS5002FP protection modules on Gaelco World Rally 2 and Touch & Go. Yet another seemingly impenetrable protection scheme has been been emulated. Persistence has paid off. This is also a boon for people wishing to repair Gaelco games that have ceased to function after the lithium cell in the protection module has failed. After extracting the program from a working board, it’s possible to reprogram other boards running the same game.
As for MAMEdev-brand insanity, we are (to the best of our knowledge) the world’s first and only emulator for the INTELLEC® 4. This system was used to develop software for Intel’s earliest microprocessor family, the 4004 and 4040. We’ve even put together a user manual of sorts if by chance you want to see what interactive debugging was like in the ’70s. It has lots of fun LEDs and switches!
Fans of handheld LCD games will be pleased to see the steady stream of improvements: 0.188 adds support for several Konami and Tiger handhelds, and vector backgrounds have been added for Game & Watch titles Mario Bros, Mickey & Donald, and Cement Factory.
On the arcade side, we’ve added support for Operation Wolf SC, a version of the military-themed shooter Operation Wolf with reduced difficulty intended for small cabinets located in shopping centres (hence the SC). Children could stay out of trouble storming concentration camps and powder magazines while their parents shopped in peace. Another interesting addition from Taito’s history is a very rare prototype of Bubble Bobble on Tokio hardware. It has different graphics and music, and includes a functional stage editor. Of course we’ve added an assortment of clones as usual, including versions of Act-Fancer, Kageki, Logger, Solar Assault, Street Fighter II, Taisen Idol-Mahjong Final Romance 2, and Xevious 3D/G.
I’ll finish by mentioning that save states and scheduled exits should now work properly in Emscripten builds (thanks to James Baicoianu), colours are fixed for Time Limit and Omega (thanks to ShouTime dumping the PROMs), and ROM identification (-romident verb) is even faster (under ten seconds on my old notebook). You can get the source/Windows binaries from the download page and try it out.

MAMETesters Bugs Fixed

• 05900: [Sound] (ddenlovr.cpp) funkyfig, funkyfiga: Missing music and partial sound FX (Ivan Vangelista)
• 06261: [Sound] (polepos.cpp) polepos2: Crowd Cheering sounds are messed up at the chequered flag (goal). (Robbbert)
• 06370: [Save/Restore] (vegas.cpp) sf2049se, sf2049te: Crashes on reload (-str 8) in a staggered -str 20 run (Ted Green)
• 06562: [Crash/Freeze] All sets in octopus.cpp, zorba.cpp: Fatal Error when using various terminal/printers in slots (Ivan Vangelista)
• 06564: [Crash/Freeze] (ti99_4x.cpp) All sets in ti99_4x.cpp, ti99_4p.cpp: SuperAMS memory expansion card (samsmem) Fatal Error when mounted (Ivan Vangelista)
• 06581: [Interface] Various problems with software loading/unloading: Various problems with software loading (Nathan Woods)
• 06588: [Interface] Regression loading softlist items from the command line with changed slot options (Nathan Woods)
• 06592: [DIP/Input] (nbmj8891.cpp) chinmoku: DSW B should not exist. (Robbbert)
• 06613: [Crash/Freeze] (rohga.cpp) schmeisr: Exception on exit (David Haywood)
• 06620: [Crash/Freeze] (itech8.cpp) ninclown: During final boss Twisto the game can potentially crash (Phil Bennett)
• 06624: [Misc.] (mc10.cpp) Emulation of the right-shift and rotate instructions (ASR, LSR, ROR) do not correctly modify the overflow flag (V) (AJR)
• 06627: [Sound] (segas32.cpp) kokoroj2: Missing voice in game (Arzeno Fabrice)
• 06631: [Sound] (vgmplay.cpp) vgmplay: Attempting to play a .vgm/.vgz file containing 2 X POKEY does not play back correctly. (AJR)

New working machines

• A-One Arrange Ball/Tandy Zingo/LJN Computer Impulse [hap, Sean Riddle]
• Blades of Steel (Konami handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle]
• Bucky O'Hare (Konami handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle]
• Double Dragon (Tiger handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle, Kaede]
• Gauntlet (Tiger handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle]
• Go Go Cowboy (English, prize) [Brian Troha, Ryan Holtz, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union, Luca Elia]
• INTELLEC 4/MOD 4 [Vas Crabb]
• INTELLEC 4/MOD 40 [Vas Crabb]
• Legend (SNES bootleg) [ShouTime, MetalliC]
• Milton Bradley Arcade Mania [hap, Sean Riddle]
• Sonic The Hedgehog (Tiger handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle]
• Space Jam (Tiger handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle]

New working clones

• Act-Fancer Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (World revision 3) [Corrado Tomaselli, The Dumping Union]
• Bubble Bobble (prototype on Tokio hardware) [Arzeno Fabrice, brizzo, Phil Bennett, rtw, Alex Meijer, The Dumping Union]
• Cobra-Command (World/US revision 4) [Bryan McPhail]
• Deco Cassette System Multigame (ROM based) [David Haywood]
• Explorers of Space [hap, Igor]
• Fidelity Excel 68000 Mach III [CB-Emu]
• Fidelity Excel 68000 Mach II (rev. C+) [CB-Emu]
• Game & Watch: Egg [hap]
• Golden Poker Double Up (bootleg) [Arcade Vintage, Roberto Fresca]
• HP 85 [F.Ulivi]
• Kageki (World) [frsj8112, The Dumping Union]
• Logger (Rev.2) [Andrew Welburn, Craig Anstett, The Dumping Union]
• Nu, pogodi! [hap, Igor]
• Operation Wolf (Japan, SC) [ShouTime]
• Player's Edge Plus (PP0006) Standard Draw Poker [Brian Troha]
• Return of the Invaders (bootleg no MCU set 3) [f205v]
• Silk Worm (prototype?) [frsj8112]
• Solar Assault (ver JAA) [ShouTime, pablopelos, Dullaron, Paul Vining, Jason Wible, Surgeville, Sean Sutton, David Mercer, John Cunningham, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Solar Assault Revised (ver JAA) [ShouTime, pablopelos, Dulleron, Paul Vining, Jason Wible, Surgeville, Sean Sutton, David Mercer, John Cunningham, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Space Invaders (Nas Corp bootleg) [Guru]
• Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Japan 911210, CPS-B-17) [ShouTime, Bonky, MetalliC]
• Super Triv (English questions) [Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Taisen Idol-Mahjong Final Romance 2 (Japan, newer) [system11, The Dumping Union]
• Tetris (v341R) [Arzeno Fabrice, MetalliC]
• The Ninja Warriors (World, earlier version) [Irongiant, The Dumping Union]
• Xevious 3D/G (World, XV32/VER.A) [rtw, invzim, The Dumping Union]

Machines promoted to working

• Alphatronic PC [R. Belmont, Carl, rfka01]
• Black Touch '96 [Angelo Salese]
• Explorer (DECO Cassette) (US) [Brian Troha, David Haywood]
• Game & Watch: Mickey Mouse [hap]
• Mega Double Poker (conversion kit, version 2.3 MD) [Caps0ff, AJR]
• Ron II Mah-Jongg [Angelo Salese]
• The Roulette (Visco) [Team Europe, Luca Elia]
• Touch & Go (World) [Morten Shearman Kirkegaard, Peter Wilhelmsen, David Haywood]
• World Rally 2: Twin Racing [Morten Shearman Kirkegaard, Peter Wilhelmsen, David Haywood]

Clones promoted to working

• Frogger (bootleg on Amigo? hardware) [Ivan Vangelista]
• Mega Double Poker (conversion kit, version 2.1 MD) [Caps0ff, AJR]
• Sega Ninja (315-5113) [David Haywood]
• Touch & Go (Non North America) [Morten Shearman Kirkegaard, Peter Wilhelmsen, David Haywood]
• Touch & Go (earlier revision) [Morten Shearman Kirkegaard, Peter Wilhelmsen, David Haywood]

New machines marked as NOT_WORKING

• Abnormal Check [R. Belmont, Guru]
• Ai-mode - Pet Shiiku [system11, The Dumping Union]
• Block Pong-Pong [Arzeno Fabrice, brizzo]
• Casino Strip [any]
• Casino Strip IX [any]
• Casino Strip VIII [any]
• Dam Dam Boy [R. Belmont, ShouTime, Sean Sutton, Surgeville, Ryan Holtz, Phil Bennett, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• MAC Jungle [PinMAME]
• Mahjong Gal-pri - World Gal-con Grandprix (Japan) [system11, The Dumping Union]
• Mahjong Hanafuda Cosplay Tengoku 6 - Junai-hen (Japan) [sytem11, The Dumping Union]
• Mahjong Mogitate [system11, The Dumping Union]
• Need for Speed - 4 Cab Link (2 Discs) (v1.0.1 Rev B) [ShouTime]
• Need for Speed GT (Hard Drive+2 Discs) (v1.1.0 Rev C) [ShouTime]
• Nichibutsu DVD Select (Japan) [system11, The Dumping Union]
• Percussion Freaks 4th Mix (G*A25 VER. AAA) [smf]
• PokoaPoka Onsen de CHU - Bijin 3 Shimai ni Kiotsukete! (Japan) [system11, The Dumping Union]
• Renai Mahjong Idol Gakuen (Japan) [system11, The Dumping Union]
• Sharp FontWriter FW-700 (German) [R. Belmont, rfka01]
• Super Derby II [Phil Bennett, Hammy]
• Tsuugakuro no Yuuwaku (Japan) [system11, The Dumping Union]
• VG Pocket Mini (VG-1500) [BeckieRGB]
• VG Pocket (VG-2000) [BeckieRGB]
• Virtua Striker 4 (Export) (GDT-0014) [rtw]
• Virtua Striker 4 Ver.2006 (Japan) (Rev B) (GDT-0020B) [rtw]
• VT330 [Toshi]
• WaiWai Drive [Arzeno Fabrice, brizzo]
• War: The Final Assault (EPROM 1.91 Apr 13 1999, GUTS 1.3 Apr 7 1999, GAME Apr 7 1999) [rtw, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• World Kicks PCB (World, WKC2 Ver.A) [rtw, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Yamaha TG100 [vampirefrog, superctr, bmos, Valley Bell]

New clones marked as NOT_WORKING

• Beat the Clock (with flasher support) [noahpdavis]
• Commodore PC 10 [rfka01]
• Dirty Harry (LF-2) [PinMAME]
• Fighting Vipers (Revision B) [Phil Bennett, MooglyGuy, Tourniquet, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Motocross Go! (MG2 Ver. A, set 2) [ShouTime, Bill D, The Dumping Union]
• New Super Triv III [Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Tazz-Mania (Rodmar bootleg) [Arcade Hacker, The Dumping Union]
• Triv Five Special Edition [Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]

New working software list additions

• abc80_flop: ABCDatastorm [Genesis Project]
• coco_flop: Pacman (z80 to 6809 Transcoded - v1.01) (512kb) [Glen Hewlett]
• gameboy: Sachen 4 in 1 (Euro, 4B-003) [Tauwasser]
• ibm5150:
  • Le Manoir de Mortevielle [breiztiger]
  • Battle Chess, Blades of Steel, Castlevania, Double Dribble, Earl Weaver Baseball, Future Wars - Adventures in Time, Gamer's Edge Sampler - Catacomb and Dangerous Dave, Hardball 2, Heroes of the Lance, John Madden Football, King's Bounty, Lakers vs Celtics and the NBA Playoffs, Links - Championship Course - Bountiful Golf Course, Links - The Challenge of Golf, Mean Streets, Monopoly v2.00 (Shareware), Monty Python's Flying Circus, Ninja Gaiden II, Nova 9, Over the Net, Pharaoh's Pursuit, Secret of the Silver Blades, Speedball II, Street Fighting Man, Super C, Superstar Ice Hockey, Superstar Indoor Soccer, Superstar Indoor Sports, Superstar Outdoor Soccer, The Cycles, Top 10 Solid Gold Volume II, Wings of Fury, Zool [Justin Kerk]
• ibm5170: B-17 Flying Fortress, Body Blows, Corncob Deluxe, DOS/V (multiple versions), Dune, Global Conquest, King's Quest V, Lightspeed, MS-DOS (Version 6.22, Brazilian Portuguese), Star Trek - 25th Anniversary [Justin Kerk]
• pce_tourvision: Doraemon - Nobita no Dorabian Night, Majin Eiyuu Den Wataru [system11, The Dumping Union]
• x68k_flop: Chourensha 68k (v1.00) [Justin Kerk]

New NOT_WORKING software list additions

• ibm5150: Boulder Dash Construction Kit [Justin Kerk]
• ibm5170: IBM Personal Computer DOS (Version J5.00/V) (Japanese), PC-DOS (multiple sets using XDF disk format) [Justin Kerk]

Source Changes

• z8: Fixed disassembly of DECW RR opcode, added more control registers to state for debugger. [AJR]
  
• Added support for experimental overclocking of sound devices through UI sliders with -cheat enabled. [AJR]
  
• ym2151, ymf271, namco: Added support for dynamic changes to clock frequency. [AJR]
  
• Fixed scheduler overflow when a device executes for more cycles than there are in a second. [AJR]
  
• nibbler, levers: Changed joysticks to 4-way as documented in manuals. [AJR]
  
• megadpkr: Hooked up 68705P5 MCU, figured out banking, and added timekeeper RAM and inputs. [AJR]
  
• colt: Fixed colors. [AJR]
  
• vgmplay enhancements: [AJR]
  
  • Added support for YMZ280B and YMF271.
  • Fixed clock speed for dual POKEY.
  • Produce error message when nonexistent file is specified.
• froggeram: Fixed PPI accesses allowing sound emulation to work. [AJR]
  
• listxml enhancements: [AJR]
  
  • Match arguments against device names as well as driver names.
  • Allowed DTD output for -listxml, -listsoftware and -getsoftlist to be suppressed with -nodtd option.
• gunfront: Corrected "Upright Controls" DIP switch - OFF is Single, and should not be the default. [AJR]
  
• mrdo: Load protection PAL data (not used at the moment). [AJR]
  
• mastboy: Changed parallel EEPROM type to "EAROM" (rather than generic NVRAM). [AJR]
  
• MC6800: Fixed LSROASR overflow flag generation (N XOR C). [AJR]
  
• funystrp: Added serial EEPROM for high score entries. [AJR]
  
• ygv608.cpp: Added CRTC function, turned IRQs into handler callbacks, added border color. [Angelo Salese]
  
• blackt96.cpp improvements: [Angelo Salese]
  
  • Added flip screen and coin counter support.
  • Reimplemented text layer as tilemap.
  • Added notes, promoted game to MACHINE_IS_INCOMPLETE - bugs like the timer not decrementing are actually caused by sloppy coding.
• cvs.cpp: Kludged a protection check in Superbike that was resetting the machine under certain conditions. [Angelo Salese]
  
  • Also demoted to MACHINE_UNEMULATED_PROTECTION since game can lock indefinitely under a particular condition.
• Wrote a new device container for Nichibutsu sound hardware, used by csplayh5.cpp and niyanpai.cpp. [Angelo Salese]
  
• Standardized button layout for PCE bootlegs. [Angelo Salese]
  
• Fixed screen misalignment regression in Bionic Commando. [Angelo Salese]
  
• Added sound samples to PT Reach Mahjong. [Lord Nightmare, Angelo Salese]
  
• socrates: Reimplemented keyboard MCU simulation as a separate timer-driven function. [Lord Nightmare]
  
  • Fixes issues with super painter and a few other games not recognizing keyboard input.
  • Also eliminated anonymous timers and keyboard tagmap lookups, and added savestate support.
• arkanoid.cpp: Added machine definition for Akranoid bootleg with 68705P3 and AY-3-8910, matching real hardware. [Lord Nightmare]
  
  • Also added notes about which sets bootlegs are derived from.
• dectalk.cpp: Removed unnecessary driver init and replaced with machine_start, eliminated anonymous timers, and added savestate support. [Lord Nightmare]
  
• taitocchip.cpp: Hooked up the four 'ASIC RAM' shared bytes/semaphores/command registers between external CPU and the C-chip, got rid of hack for megablast. [Lord Nightmare]
  
• Implemented DIP switches and tweaked inputs for Bubble Bobble prototype so that the stage editor works. [Lord Nightmare]
  
• missb2 updates: [Lord Nightmare]
  
  • Fixed OKI read/write bitswap so what seem to be the correct sound effects are played.
  • Replaced the corrupt OKI ROM dump with the bublpong OKI ROM - all non-corrupted areas are identical.
  • Added watchdog.
• retofinv.cpp: Added original Taito 68705 MCU dump. [Corrado Tomaselli, Lord Nightmare, brizzo]
  
  • Moved bootleg 68705 MCU to its own set, renamed sets to make it more obvious which are bootlegs.
  • Verified XTAL, dividers, and SN76489A type from PCB pictures.
  • Added missing original color PROMs and allowed video/retofinv.cpp to use either those or the single bootleg color PROM.
• Added correct palette weighting for all dec8 games. [Bryan McPhail]
  
• Made DECO RM-C3 into a device used by dec8 and karnov.cpp games. [Bryan McPhail]
  
• Fixed colours in Crude Buster (verified against real hardware); added documentation to cbuster.cpp. [Bryan McPhail]
  
• pc9801: Moved cbus to bus and added WIP mpu401 support. [Carl]
  
• plugins/cheat updates: [Carl]
  
  • Poll for setting hotkeys.
  • Link simple cheats.
• Added Motorola MC14411 Bit Rate Generator device. [Joakim Larsson Edstrom]
  
• fccpu1 updates: [Joakim Larsson Edstrom]
  
  • Updated LOG system and replaced CLOCK_SIGNAL_HANDLER with real MC14411 BRG device.
  • Added machine configuration for baud rates for all three serial ports using MC14411 device.
  • Added newer version of firmware Force Debugger v1.1.
• 68340: Added configuration macros and callbacks for 8-bit ports A and B, updated LOG system. [Joakim Larsson Edstrom]
  
• sda5708: Added layout support and state saving. [Joakim Larsson Edstrom]
  
• sda5708: Added layout with generated bezels and program snippet to redo it as a comment. [Joakim Larsson Edstrom]
  
• dbox: Added sda5708 matrix display layout (displays version number on start but hangs shortly thereafter). [Joakim Larsson Edstrom]
  
• ti99: Changed Hexbus chaining; moved Hexbus up one level (from bus/ti99 to bus). [Michael Zapf]
  
• Overhauled MAME options handling. [Nathan Woods]
  
  • The new options system is more dynamic and should detect errors earlier.
  • The slot menu now shows updated options in response to selections made by the user.
• Added a menu listing existing state files displayed when choosing a position to save/load. [Nathan Woods]
  
  • Any position may be selected with keyboard 0-9/A-Z or joystick buttons.
  • Existing positions may be selected using UI navigation controls.
• Made the length parameter for debugger 'load' command optional (defaults to length of file), converted code from stdio to iostream. [Nathan Woods]
  
• MC6847: Fixed "Semigraphics 6" mode on CoCo/MC-10 (issue reported by Jim Gerrie). [Nathan Woods]
  
  • Displays "stripes" for video bytes $00-$7F because INT/EXT is asserted but A/S is not, and there is no external ROM.
• Cleaned up the MC-10 driver. [Nathan Woods]
  
• Fixed regression in ROM loading that resulted in not all actual hashes being printed on mismatch. [Nathan Woods]
  
• sdl: Added SDL_WINDOW_BORDERLESS for fullscreen, required by some Linux window managers. [O. Galibert]
  
• dvdisasm: Simplified by decoupling information creation and display rendering. [O. Galibert]
  
• debugcpu: Eliminated direct() from read_opcode. [O. Galibert]
  
• options: Set the value when setting the default as before. [O. Galibert]
  
• mameopts: Don't lose the system inipath when looking for hashpath. [O. Galibert]
  
• dimemory: Lifted cap on number of address spaces per device, renamed AS_DECRYPTED_OPCODES to AS_OPCODES. [O. Galibert]
  
• Fixed media option numbering with custom instance names (github issue 2468). [O. Galibert]
  
• cbuster.cpp: Added a x3 hack to the YM2203 clock frequency to fix incorrect pitch. [Phil Bennett]
  
• Improved -romident performance by dynamically allocating large arrays at device_start time. [Phil Bennett]
  
• m377xx: Added preliminary M37720 support. [R. Belmont]
  
• alphatro improvements: [R. Belmont]
  
  • Added correct banking and partial floppy support.
  • Corrected motor on and FDC reset.
  • Corrected number of driver (real machine only has two), and fixed B: drive.
• output: Fleshed out network output provider to have the same capabilities as legacy Win32 provider: [R. Belmont]
  
  • Messages are of form "verb = value\1"; "hello = 1" on successful connection, "mamerun = 0" on shutdown.
  • Send "send_id = n" to query IDs where n=0 means machine shortname, and n=1-? are output node names.
• Rewrote MCS-40 (4004/4040) emulation/disassembly: [Vas Crabb]
  
  • Added support for all 4040 features besides interrupts.
  • Split address/status, RAM/ROM ports, and program memory into separate address spaces.
  • Emulated 8-clock instruction cycle, interruptible at any point, bus signals exposed.
  • Converted inputs to input lines, added callbacks for chip select outputs and 4008/4009/4289 signals.
  • Made disassembly output closer to what ASL accepts as input.
  • Allowed 4-bit registers to be set independently through the debugger.
• Added INTELLEC 4 driver with support for MOD 4 and MOD 40 variants: [Vas Crabb]
  
  • Supports TTY, PROM programmer, and all front-panel debugging features using clickable artwork.
  • Supports PROM, program/data storage and high-speed paper tape reader cards.
• Updated flicker to use new MCS-40 core and improved emulation: [Vas Crabb]
  
  • Re-implemented I/O based on how hardware actually works (wasn't possible with previous 4004 core).
  • Corrected flicker RAM size, removed NVRAM, and connected playfield lamps and operator adjustments.
  • Added save state support.
• Layout system improvements: [Vas Crabb]
  
  • Made scripts do substantial validation of layouts at build time.
  • Drop views that don't validate at runtime rather than entire layouts to help machines with terminals connected by default.
• Cleaned up serial, matrix keyboard and TI-8x link protocol interfaces: [Vas Crabb]
  
  • Switched to delegate timers and moved state registration to post-start, making implementations a bit less error-prone.
• Made device_memory_interface own its address space objects. [Vas Crabb]
  
• Made parent/clone loops raise a fatal error rather than hanging in a loop appending to a string. [Vas Crabb]
  
• Made internal UI list missing/incorrect files when audit fails. [Vas Crabb]
  
• Cocoa debugger improvements: [Vas Crabb]
  
  • Save/restore window positions/sizes/splits/scrolling/expressions/focus (excluding device info viewer).
  • Fixed scroll jump on clicking a memory/disassembly view that's been scrolled while unfocused.
• Made XML file a specialisation of data node that can be easily managed with smart pointers, and added a method for copying a data node/subtree into a different tree. [Vas Crabb]
  
• Fixed fatal error on selecting a software part with internal UI, and made software parts menu sort by name. [Vas Crabb]
  
• Cleaned up Gaelco protection MCU interface device. [Vas Crabb]
  
• hh_sm510 artwork updates:
  
  • Added background vector graphics to gnw_ml102. [ChoccyHobNob]
  • Improved gnw_mw56 SVG screen and added background graphics. [hap, ChoccyHobNob, Tanukichi]
  • Improved gnw_jr55 LCD segments. [hap, JonasP]
  • Added background graphics to nupogodi.svg. [Igor, hap]
  • Added background graphics to gnw_dm53.svg. [O. Galibert, hap]
• segas16b.cpp: Replaced goldnaxe2 317-0122 i8751 bad dump with working redump from undamaged chip and removed simulation code. [anonymous, digshadow]
  
• segas32.cpp: Redumped kokoroj2 sound data ROM. [Arzeno Fabrice]
  
• Improved WD2010 emulation: [Bavarese]
  
  • Better feedback on cylinder positions, almost all checks pass except low level tests expecting manufacturer or diagnostic tracks.
• Added Commodore D9060 82S137 PROM dumps. [Bo Zimmerman, Andrew Welburn]
  
• r9751: Added preliminary SMIOC device with 8237 DMA controllers and RS-232 ports. [Brandon Munger]
  
• Added an external panel for the Ensoniq VFX family of keyboards, with a websocket interface and an HTML/Javascript implementation that can be served over HTTP. [Christian Brunschen]
  
• Fixed QT 5.5.1 for Ubuntu 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" (allows Travis CI build to complete). [dankan1890]
  
• naomi.cpp: Dumped earlier Sega Gun Board firmware. [Darksoft]
  
• opwolf, opwolfa, opwolfj, opwolfjsc, opwolfu: Added C-chip dumps (game-specific EPROM still bad). [Caps0ff, David Haywood]
  
• Touch & Go, World Rally 2, TH Strikes Back: Dumped DS5002FP security modules, replaced simulation. [Morten Shearman Kirkegaard, Peter Wilhelmsen, David Haywood]
  
• Created Taito C-chip device and used in asuka.cpp, opwolf.cpp, rbisland.cpp, taito_f2.cpp, taito_x.cpp and volfied.cpp. [David Haywood]
  
• srdarwin: Replace MCU simulation with internal ROM dump: [Caps0ff, David Haywood]
  
  • Using real dump for srdarwin, and hand-modified version to satisfy srdarwinj.
  • Fixes incorrect behaviour for 6th boss (no longer skips first form).
• Split decocass state class up so that the dongle types aren't polluting base class. [David Haywood]
  
  • Also added support for bootleg multigame and fixed regression caused by change in draw order.
• tehkanwc.cpp: Fixed DIP switches for tehkanwcd (different setup to other sets); added DIP switch locations for all sets in driver. [David Haywood]
  
• Identified DIP switches for a number of DECO Cassette sets. [David Haywood]
  
• Irem M62 cleanups: [David Haywood]
  
  • Split PROM regions up by function (legacy from when MAME only allowed a single PROM region per system).
  • Made use of multiple palettes and gfxdecode structures.
• upd7810, upd7811: Added internal address maps. [David Haywood]
  
• gaelco/ds5002fp updates: [David Haywood]
  
  • Made ds5002fp store battery-backed internal RAM and SFR registers as NVRAM.
  • Made SFR defaults configurable in ROM loading like NVRAM defaults.
  • Made external SRAM persistent as well (some games store scores etc. in it).
  • Cleaned up Touch & Go dump and added preconfigured internal RAM.
  • Created device for Gaelco protection module and removed remaining simulation code.
• Decrypted SEGA_315_5133 used by 'seganinja' set. [David Haywood]
  
  • Shares identical code with other sets, just encryped with a different key.
• Add DIP switches to Tsukande Toru Chicchi. [einstein95]
  
• Initial HP series 80 emulation: [F.Ulivi]
  
  • Working HP-85A with 16kB RAM, including Capricorn CPU, keyboard, CRT text/graphics modes, timers, and beeper.
  • DC100 cassette, extension ROMs, I/O modules, and integrated printer are not supported.
• ITT3030: Corrected 70-track drive type, and added 35-track drive type and format definition. [helwie44, rfka01]
  
• Added Commodore PC10-III ROM dumps collected by German vintage computer forum users. [rfka01]
  
• Added original Commodore PC 10/PC 20/ PC 30 in two BIOS variants. [rfka01]
  
• Fixed default DIP switch settings for Parodius. [Jack Li]
  
• Enhanced Emscripten support: [James Baicoianu]
  
  • Fixed save/load support and scheduled exit.
  • Improved main loop, simplified integration points, and made JavaScript entry points static members of running_machine.
  • Exposed soft_reset, hard_reset, exit load and save functions, allowing more control of emulation session from JavaScript.
• Fixed #include path with USE_LIBSDL on macOS. [Joshua Root]
  
• Hooked up ibm5150 softlist to compc and europc drivers; changed europc to use single built-in 3.5" drive. [Justin Kerk]
  
• snk.cpp: Added PAL dumps to victroad. [Kevin Eshbach, The Dumping Union]
  
• wolfpack: Fixed missing Torpedo trail. [MASH]
  
• z80scc: Added basic wait/DMA request support, renamed WRDY to WREQ to match datasheet. [Patrick Mackinlay]
  
• ncr5390 improvements: [Patrick Mackinlay]
  
  • Improved initiator transfer information logic.
  • Split transfer count/counter.
  • Added rudimentary 53C90A/53C94 support.
  • Reworked initiator transfer information state machine, should now support all SCSI phases
  • Improved handling of DMA/non-DMA commands.
  • Added an undocumented hack to make InterPro work.
  • Implemented interrupt status flag in status register for 53C90A (critical for InterPro).
  • Improved tcounter and DMA/DRQ handling.
  • Corrected tcounter and transfer count zero handling (based on transfers to/from SCSI bus, not DMA).
  • Prevent fifo oveunderrun, requires restarting state machine from dma_r()/dma_w().
  • Corrected bus/function complete with FIFO (interrupt only when it empties, but state detected based on SCSI bus).
  • Clear status, istatus and sequence when reading istatus (not status) with active interrupt.
  • Tweaked DRQ behaviour - only assert if there is insufficient data in FIFO.
• nscsi_hd: Corrected INQUIRY command handling when a non-zero LUN is requested. [Patrick Mackinlay]
  
• interpro: Got SCSI working and other improvements: [Patrick Mackinlay]
  
  • Reworked DMA, added eth registers.
  • Improved 5390 device, removed legacy 539x SCSI stuff.
  • Passes all iogadiag tests if bus error hack is enabled.
  • Implemented basic serial DMA.
  • Switched to ncr53c94.
  • Initial preparation for Ethernet implementation.
  • Implemented timer-based DMA.
• Implemented i82586 Ethernet MAC, ~90% complete. [Patrick Mackinlay]
  
• Improved wheel board on Midway Seattle and Vegas, and added layout for sf2049. [Risugami]
  
• sun1: Replaced console hack with upd7201 device. [shattered]
  
• chihiro.cpp: Added Quest of D Firmware Update DVD dump. [ShouTime]
  
• freekick.cpp: Dumped color PROMs for Omega (Nihon System), correcting the colors. [ShouTime]
  
• Redumped Time Limit color PROMs. [ShouTime, TServo2049, pablopelos, The Dumping Union]
  
• shootaw2: Added dumped EEPROM image. [Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
  
• Added skeleton driver for Yamaha TG100 MIDI module. [superctr]
  
  • H8/520 CPU is not implemented, sound chip is Yamaha YMW258-F (likely to be identical to Sega MultiPCM).
• Game Boy/Super Game Boy improvements: [Tauwasser]
  
  • Added Super Chinese Land 1.2.3' to MBC1 Collection check code.
  • Fixed MMM01 zero-adjust logic for ROM bank.
  • Fixed Super Game Boy VRAM transfers and removed border hack.
  • Fixed various code style and comment issues.
• macpci: Added more Pippin ROM sets. [unknown]
  
• retofinv.cpp: Added DIP switch locations and documented edge connectors. [Brian Troha]
  
• wrally.cpp: Added World Rally PCB layout. [Brian Troha]
  
• targeth.cpp: Added PCB layout, defined CPU clocks in terms of OSC/resonator, corrected OKI clock, and corrected Target Hits v1.1 program ROM labels. [Brian Troha]
  
• stv.cpp: Corrected Taiwan BIOS label. [cpsystem3]
  
• sms.xml updates: [Enik Land]
  
  • Fix The Terminator by adding their on-cart RAM.
  • Added notes for games with SK-1100 keyboard support.
  • Corrected Great Baseball (Euro, USA, Bra) release year.
  • Corrected Teddy Boy Blues (Jpn, Ep-MyCard, Prototype) and Ghost House (Sega Card, Prototype) interface types.
• kinst.cpp: Updated hardware info. [Guru]
  
• abcheck: Added default EEPROM so the game boots without going into service mode first. [Guru, R. Belmont]
  
• Updated compiling instructions for Fedora Linux. [inflatador]
  
• Updated hiscore.dat. [Leezer]
  
• Added -output option to documentation with description of available choices. [OzFalcon]
  
• megasys1.cpp: Added information regarding R&T (Rod-Land Prototype). [Ryou]
  
• SDL sound: Fill buffer with silence on underrun. [057a3dd61f99517a3afea0051a49cb27994f94d]
  

MAME 0.203

With Hallowe’en basically over, the only thing you need to make October complete is MAME 0.203. Newly supported titles include not just one, but two Nintendo Game & Watch classics: Donkey Kong and Green House, and the HP 9825B desktop computer. We’ve added dozens of new versions of supported systems, including European bootlegs of Puck Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Phoenix, Pengo and Zero Time, more revisions of Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II, and a version of Soldier Girl Amazon made under license by Tecfri.
There are major improvements to plug-in TV games in this release, specifically systems based on the XaviX and SunPlus µ'nSP processors. The Vii is now playable with sound, and the V.Smile can boot games. Tiger Game.com emulation has come to the point where all but one of the games are playable. Some long-standing issues with Tandy CoCo cartridges have been fixed.
It isn’t just home systems that have received attention this month: Namco System 22 emulation has leapt forward. Yes, the hit box errors making it impossible to pass the helicopter (Time Crisis) and the tanks (Tokyo Wars) have finally been fixed. On top of that, video emulation improvements make just about everything on the system look better. In particular, rear view mirrors in the driving games now work properly. If that isn’t enough for you, the code has been optimised, so there’s a good chance you’ll get full speed emulation on a modern PC. There have been less dramatic improvements to video emulation in other Namco and Tecmo systems, and CPS-3 row scroll effects have been implemented.
MAME 0.203 should build out-of-the-box on macOS “Mojave” with the latest Xcode tools (provided your SDL2 framework is up-to-date), a number of lingering debugger issues have been fixed, and it’s now possible to run SDL MAME on a system with no display. MAME’s internal file selection menus should behave better when you type the name of a file to select it.
MAME 0.203 is a huge update, touching all kinds of areas. You can get the source and Windows binary packages from the download page.

MAMETesters Bugs Fixed

• 00430: [Graphics] (flkatck.cpp) mx5000: Game has priority problems. (Angelo Salese)
• 00777: [Gameplay] (namcos22.cpp) timecris, timecrisa: Incorrect hitbox for the helicopter in level 3. (hap)
• 06157: [Graphics] (cps3.cpp) jojo, jojoba and clones: Combo meter graphics missing for second player. (David Haywood)
• 06164: [Graphics] (namcos22.cpp) ridgerac: Title screen graphics are missing from second attract loop onwards. (hap)
• 06171: [Core] System-specific INI file settings are retained when starting a new emulation session. (Ryan Holtz)
• 06616: [Crash/Freeze] (coco3.cpp) coco3: Cartridges using 32k external ROM mode don’t work. (Tim Lindner)
• 07088: [Crash/Freeze] (interpro.cpp) ip6000, ip6700, ip6800: 1 Hz clock causes assertion failure in scheduler. (Patrick Mackinlay)
• 07110: [DIP/Input] (snk.cpp) tdfever: The “Allow Continue” DIP switch is reversed. (Angelo Salese)
• 07111: [Graphics] (namcos22.cpp) dirtdash: Speedometer displayed incorrectly. (hap)
• 07115: [Sound] (cps2.cpp) spf2t (qsound): Sound effects are distorted, mainly on left channel. (superctr)
• 07123: [Documentation] (megadriv.cpp) megadriv [dstrike]: Title is inaccurate. (Tafoid)
• 07124: [Documentation] (megadriv.cpp) megadriv [rrash3]: Title is inaccurate. (Tafoid)
• 07126: [ColoPalette] (8080bw.cpp) yosakdon: Yosaku to donbei used an overlay for colour. (MASH)

New working machines

• Game & Watch: Donkey Kong [algestam]
• Game & Watch: Green House [algestam]
• HP 9825B [F.Ulivi]
• Nerae! Super Goal (J 981218 V1.000) [PascalP, Bill D., The Dumping Union]
• Sky Challenger (J 000406 V1.000) [ShouTime, Bill D., Charles MacDonald, Dane Biegert, Candy Wolff, Henrique Areias Pontes, Sean Sutton, Surgeville, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]

New working clones

• Ace Driver: Victory Lap (Rev. ADV1, Japan) [ShouTime, Henrique Areias Pontes, Evan Korzon, Dane Biegert, mrgoodwraith, Michael O’Malley, Alexander Monin, Sean Sutton, Sung Eugene, Russell Howard, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Arm Champs II (ver 2.7) [Siftware]
• Crazy Rally (Recreativos Franco license) [Recreativas.org]
• Crock-Man (Marti Colls bootleg of Rene Pierre Crock-Man) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Fenix (Niemer bootleg of Phoenix) [Recreativas.org, Arcade Vintage]
• Heated Barrel (World version ?) [Jorge Silva]
• Koutetsu Yousai Strahl (World) [VectorGlow]
• Land Maker (Ver 2.02O 1998/06/02) [SEGV]
• Ms. Pac-Man ('Made in Greece' bootleg, set 2) [Michael Moffitt, The Dumping Union]
• Ms. Pac-Man (Marti Colls bootleg) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Pac Man (FAMARE S.A. bootleg of Puck Man) [Marcos75, Recreativas.org]
• Phoenix (G. Universal Video bootleg) [VectorGlow]
• Pengo (Marti Colls bootleg on Pac-Man hardware, set 1) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Pengo (Marti Colls bootleg on Pac-Man hardware, set 2) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]
• Player's Edge Plus (SET033) Set Chip [Brian Troha]
• Pocket Gal Deluxe (Asia v3.00) [Jorge Silva]
• PuLiRuLa (World, earlier?) [Jorge Silva]
• Rapid Hero (NMK) [pacman70]
• Rim Rockin' Basketball (V1.2, bootleg) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• Soldier Girl Amazon (Tecfri license) [Fredric Sjöholm]
• Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (World 910204) [Erik Preston]
• Super Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle (USA 930911) [Steve Gordon]
• Tazz-Mania - El Trompa (U.R.V. BBCPE bootleg) [Ricky2001, Recreativas.org]
• Tetris (bootleg set 4, with UM3482) [Asayuki, ClawGrip]
• The Killing Blade / Ao Jian Kuang Dao (ver. 106) [Brad Hicks]
• Twins [David Torres, ClawGrip, Recreativas.org]
• Twins (Mega Twins bootleg) [Barry Harris, ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• World Cup '90 (european hack, different title) [Roberto Fresca, Martin Mejia Britez]
• Zero Time (Marti Colls) [A.R.P.A., Recreativas.org]

Machines promoted to working

• Jungle Soft Vii [Ryan Holtz]
• Tokyo Wars (Rev. TW2 Ver.A, World) [hap]
• Video 21 [hap]

New machines marked as NOT_WORKING

• Bowling Road (Ver 1.5) [f205v]
• BwB Tetris v 1.0? (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Decision Data IS-482 Workstation [Al Kossow]
• Falco 5220 [Al Kossow]
• Gynotai (Japan) [Dane Biegert, Evan Korzon, Candy Wolff, Henrique Areias Pontes, Sean Sutton, ShouTime, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• HP 700/70 Windowing Terminal [Bitsavers]
• ITT 1700 [Al Kossow]
• Labyrinth (Ver 1.5) [f205v]
• MCS-51 System Design Kit [Glen Slick]
• MIPS RC2030 [Patrick Mackinlay]
• MIPS RS2030 [Patrick Mackinlay]
• MVS-TEMP 'SubSystem Ver1.4' (Nazca development board) [Brian Hargrove]
• Pin Ups (Ver 1.0 Rev A) [f205v]
• Prize Space Invaders (v1.4D?) (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Prize Space Invaders (v2.0D?) (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Prize Space Invaders (v2.14?) (MPU4 Video) [James Wallace]
• Rushing Beat (SNES bootleg) [Jorge Silva]
• S-Plus SET005 Set chip [Brian Troha]
• S-Plus SET015 Set chip [Brian Troha]
• S-Plus SET026 Set chip [Brian Troha]
• Scientific Instruments Model 5500 Temperature Controller [ClawGrip]
• Super Derby (satellite board) [Chris Buehler]
• UFO Robot (Ver 1.0 Rev A) [f205v]
• World Cup (Ver 1.5) [f205v]

New clones marked as NOT_WORKING

• Altered Beast (bootleg) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• Break Thru (Tecfri license) [jordigahan, Recreativas.org]
• Bowling Road (Ver 1.4) [f205v]
• Bowling Road (Ver 1.4, ND2001 hardware) [f205v]
• Congo (1.1, DCS sound 1.0) [PinMAME]
• Diner (PA-0 prototype) [PinMAME]
• Emergency Call Ambulance (Japan) [ShouTime, Henrique Areias Pontes, Evan Korzon, Dane Biegert, mrgoodwraith, Michael O’Malley, Alexander Monin, Sean Sutton, Sung Eugene, Russell Howard, Smitdogg, The Dumping Union]
• Excalibur (Mdm) (MPU4, V1.4) [James Wallace]
• Heavy Metal Meltdown (German) [PinMAME]
• HP9000/360 [Sven Schnelle]
• Jack*Bot (0.4A prototype) [PinMAME]
• Mushiking The King Of Beetle (MUSHIUSA '04 1ST, Prototype) [Jorge Valero, rtw]
• Showdown (version 4.0) [Mark Jenison]
• Super Pang (World 900914, bootleg, set 2) [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
• World Cup (Ver 1.4) [f205v]
• Zorton Brothers v1.00 (Los Justicieros) [Arcade Vintage, Recreativas.org]

New working software list additions

• bbc_rom: Accelerator 1.00, Accelerator 1.02, Accelerator 1.05 Accelerator 1.06, BeebCalc 1.2B, BeebCalc 1.2C, BeebCalc 1.2D, BeebCalc 1.2E, Caretaker 1.00, Caretaker 1.01, Caretaker 1.02, Caretaker 1.03, Communicator 0.90, Communicator 1.04a, Communicator A2.1, Debug, Disc Doctor 1.05, Disc Doctor 1.06, Disc Doctor 1.07, Disc Doctor 1.09, Disc Doctor 1.0A, Disc Doctor 1.0B, Graphics Extension 1.02, Graphics Extension 1.03, Graphics Extension 2.09, Gremlin 1.20, Gremlin 1.21, Inter-Chart 1.01, Inter-Chart 1.02, Inter-Chart 1.03a, Inter-Sheet 0.47, Inter-Sheet 1.00, Inter-Sheet 1.02, Inter-Sheet 1.03, Inter-Sheet 1.06, Inter-Sheet 1.06c, Inter-Sheet 1.06s, Printmaster (Canon) 1.08, Printmaster (Epson) 1.00, Printmaster (Epson) 1.01, Printmaster (Epson) 1.02, Printmaster (Epson) 1.08, Printmaster (Epson) 1.10, Printmaster (Star) 1.10, Speech, Termi 2.07, Termi 2.05, Termi 2.06, Termi 2.10, Termi II A1.5, Text To Speech, WordWise 1.17, WordWise 1.17 (Beebug), Wordwise 1.00, Wordwise 1.10, Wordwise 1.20, Wordwise Plus 1.48, Wordwise Plus 1.49, Wordwise Plus 1.4A, Wordwise Plus 1.4B, Wordwise Plus 1.4C, Wordwise Plus 1.4E, Wordwise Plus 1.4F [Nigel Barnes]
• hp9k3xx_flop: Pascal 3.25 [Sven Schnelle]
• ibm5150: Rampart (Hit Squad release) [ArcadeShadow]
• ibm5170: ADSP-21xx EZ-KIT Lite, Auto Convert, Central Point Anti-Virus for Windows, Compaq ProLinea 486-based PC's - Microsoft Windows 3.0 Support Diskette, Compaq ProLinea 486-based PC's - Microsoft Windows 3.1 Support Diskette, DIVA T/A ISDN Modem Setup Wizard for Windows 3.x, Diagnostics - Test, Setup, and MDMI Utilities for Products with 640K of RAM Installed, Direct Access Windows, Drafix Windows CAD (Demo), Enhanced 5250 Emulation Program, HiJaak, HiJaak Pro, Integration i Microsoft Office 97: Step by Step (Swe), Internet in a Box - Single-User Version, Jack Nicklaus Screen Savers, MS-DOS FASTART/SYSTEM - The Compaq Personal Computer FASTART/SYSTEM Diskette, MS-DOS Operating - The Compaq Personal Computer Operating Diskette, MS-DOS Support - User Programs, Mastering Borland C++ 3.1, Micro-Cap III, Microsoft Windows Support - User Programs, Mitsumi Mouse Driver (v6.0), Mouse/Trackball, NexNIC ND010 PCI Adapter (Ethernet/Fast Ethernet), Norton CrashGuard for Windows 95, Nova 9 (International Version, 5.25"), NuSound PnP Install Disk, Postnummerkatalogen 1996 (Swe), Scroll 3D Mouse Setup Disk for PS/2 and Serial, SoundWave 32 Series, TMS320C5x DSK - Applications Guide/Application Software, Tango Printed Circuit Design Evaluation, Tango Schematic Capture Evaluation, The Greatest Little PIC Book, Thunderhawk AH-73M, WordFinder Lexikon på PC (Swe), Write On! for Windows [FakeShemp]
• pc98: Ballade3, Bible Master - Crash of the Blleot Rutz, Bible Master - Crash of the Blleot Rutz (Alt), Bind - Kinbaku Jinmon Densetsu, Black Bird - Tori-tachi no Tooboe, Blackthorne - Jigoku no Fukushuu (16-color version), Blackthorne - Jigoku no Fukushuu (256-color version), Blandia 98, Blind Games, Blue Ruins - Harukanaru Bibanon no Hihou, Bounty Hunter Ludy, Branmarker 2, Bretonne Lays Scenario Shuu 1, Briganty - The Roots of Darkness, Bunny Hunter Zero [Neo Kobe Collection]
• pico: Oryouri Daisuki! Kitchen Pico (Jpn) [TeamEurope]
• sorcerer_cart: Exidy Standard Basic v1.1 [exidyboy, Robbbert]
• sorcerer_cass: Head-on Collision, Lander Arcade [exidyboy]
• uzebox: 2048, 65536-in-1, Block Boy, Buddha, Solitaire, Space Age, Uzekickers, Vector Game, Video Poker, XOR [ArcadeShadow]
• vgmplay: Air Duel (Irem M72), Burning Fight (SNK Neo Geo), Chimera Beast (Jaleco Mega System 1), Chip's Challenge (IBM PC AT), Cycle Mahbou (Arcade), D.A.S.S. (MSX2), Dark Seal (Arcade), Denjin Makai (Arcade), Direct-X Release.2 (Sharp X68000), LHX Attack Chopper (IBM PC AT), Major Stryker (IBM PC AT), Mega Man IV (Nintendo Game Boy), Metal Gear 2 - Solid Snake (MSX2), Second Earth Gratia (Jaleco Mega System 32), Sky Destroyer (Arcade), Slimyer (Sharp X68000), Tintin in Tibet (Game Boy), Uncharted Waters (Sharp X68000), Vinyl Goddess from Mars (IBM PC AT), Wizard Fire (Arcade) [Tafoid]
• x68k_flop: Abunai Bunkasai Zenya [Wayder]

Software list items promoted to working

• gamecom: Batman & Robin, Centipede, Duke Nukem 3D, Fighters Megamix, Frogger, Henry - Match the Sounds Memory Game, Indy 500, Jeopardy!, Monopoly, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Quiz Wiz - Cyber Trivia, Resident Evil 2, Scrabble, Sonic Jam, Tiger Casino, Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Fortune 2, Williams Arcade Classics [Robbbert]
• pc98: Batsu, Battle Queen - Saikyou Fighters Retsuden, Be Girl (Alt Format), Bio 100% Free Games Collection (Alt Format), Bishoujo Shashinkan Bangaihen - Outside Story, Bokosuka Wars, Brandish VT, The Bard's Tale - Tales of the Unknown, The Best Play Baseball (Demo) [Carl, r09]

New NOT_WORKING software list additions

• 32x: Clay Fighter 2 (Jpn, USA, Euro Prototype) [VampierMSX, Porchy]
• bbc_rom: ConQuest, Instant Mini Office II, Inter-Word 1.02, Quest Paint 1.04, Quest Paint 1.10, SpellMaster 1.66, SpellMaster 1.69, The Wapping Editor [Nigel Barnes]
• mac_hdflop: ClarisWorks (Swedish) [FakeShemp]
• pc98: Brandish Renewal [r09]
• princ: Bad Badtz-Maru, Hello Kitty, Kazoku de Nengajou, Pochacco [TeamEurope]

Source Changes

• Emulated National DP8350 CRT controller family. [AJR]
  
• mcs48: Set lower 4 bits of P2 to input during (and after) MOVD A,Pp. [AJR]
  
• i8243: Release P2 output after completion of read operation. [AJR]
  
• sbrain.cpp: Driver overhaul: [AJR]
  
  • Added cursor and scrolling through CRT controller registers.
  • Corrected number of interrupts per frame.
  • Actually show the “insert diskette” message.
  • Added options for RAM size and two or more floppy drives.
  • Added RS232 ports and DIP switches for Baud clock selection.
• tms9900: Internalized TMS9980A clock divider, and corrected endianness for TMS9980 and TMS9995 in unidasm. [AJR]
  
• xavix: Allow debugger to step over CALLF instruction. [AJR]
  
• crt9007: Added frame timer. [AJR]
  
• flipjack.cpp: Driver overhaul: [AJR]
  
  • Reimplemented video using CRT controller row update method.
  • Fixed cocktail mode and changed rotation from 90 degrees to 270 degrees.
  • Modernized interrupts and cleaned up code.
• Invalidate memory access caches when removing watchpoints (prevents crashes on subsequent accesses to the same areas). [AJR]
  
• mcs96 updates: [AJR]
  
  • Replaced I/O space with callbacks, and added internal address space for non-executable register file and SFR area.
  • Made SFRs more accessible to the debugger, and made disassembler show names for directly-addressed SFRs.
  • Corrected disassembler output for some forms of ADDCB, SUBCB, MULB, ANDB, JBC and JBS.
• unidasm: Added st62xx support. [AJR]
  
• flkatck.cpp: Fixed sprite-sprite priorities, and removed driver hack from k007121.cpp. [Angelo Salese, dink]
  
• combatsc.cpp: Added video and scroll memory to save states. [Angelo Salese]
  
• contra.cpp: Fix sprite RAM mapping. [Angelo Salese]
  
• Added shaders for performing color transforms and three-dimensional lookup tables. [anikom15]
  
  • Allows arbitrary color space manipulation within the sRGB space.
• rainbow.cpp: Connected WD2010 write fault input, and changed default serial port device to Microsoft 2-button mouse. [Bavarese]
  
• r9751 updates – Disktool is now fully functional: [Brandon Munger, Stephen Stair]
  
  • i86: Allow ’188 to advance DMA immediately if DRQ is held high when source synchronous DMA is started.
  • Connected SMIOC DMA to 68k CPU and fixed communication.
  • Emulated SCC2698B octal UART and connected to SMIOC.
  • Improved logging.
• iremga20.cpp: Fixed playback rate algorithm. [cam900]
  
• itech8.cpp: Updates and cleanup: [cam900]
  
  • Converted sound latch to generic_latch_8_device.
  • Converted to use derived memory maps and unit masks.
  • Reduced runtime tag map lookups, and cleaned up redundant and duplicated code.
• glass.cpp: Simplified code, removed duplication, and improved region names. [cam900]
  
• segas24.cpp: Added save state support, split address maps by ROM board type, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• crystal.cpp: Cleanup and updates: [cam900]
  
  • Made class members private where appropriate, cleaned up code, reduced duplication, and added notes.
  • Converted to use derived address maps and configured banking.
  • Added CRT controller register details.
  • Improved device names and removed MCFG macros.
• targeth.cpp: Reduced runtime tag map lookups, and reduced code duplication. [cam900]
  
• ramdac.cpp: Removed MCFG macros. [cam900, AJR]
  
• blitz68k.cpp: Reduced code duplication and made state class members private as appropriate. [cam900]
  
• tecmo_mix.cpp: Added mixing for text layer bitmap, made background pen blendable, and removed MCFG macros. [cam900]
  
• gaiden.cpp, tecmo16.cpp: Corrected sprite lag, cleaned up graphics decode and ROM loading, and added notes. [cam900]
  
• namcofl.cpp: Implemented screen clipping and shadows, fixed sprite banking, and confirmed crystal values. [cam900]
  
• namconb1.cpp: Corrected sprite lag, added raw screen parameters, reduced code duplication, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namcos1.cpp: Reduced code duplication and replaced a naked pointer with a required region pointer. [cam900]
  
• namcos2.cpp: Removed unnecessary memory banks, added raw screen parameters, improved region names, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namcos21.cpp, namcos21_c67.cpp, namcos21_de.cpp: Improved member names and tags, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namco_c116.cpp: Implemented device_palette_interface for internal palette. [cam900]
  
• namco_c123tmap.cpp: Internalized graphics decoding, implemented tilemap disable bit, and simplified configuration. [cam900]
  
• namco_c169roz.cpp, namcos2_roz.cpp: Internalized graphics decoding and simplified configuration. [cam900]
  
• namco_c355spr.cpp: Added support for double-buffered sprites, simplified configuration, and cleaned up code. [cam900]
  
• namcos2_sprite.cpp: Get palette from graphics decode, avoiding redundant configuration. [cam900]
  
• onetwo.cpp: Use a palette decoder member function for palette decoding. [cam900]
  
• qx10kbd: Dumped and emulated keyboard microcontroller. [Carl, Frank Hughes]
  
• mwarr.cpp, stlforce.cpp: Converted video code to a device. [David Haywood]
  
• cps3.cpp: Implemented score layer row scroll effects, and cleaned up code. [David Haywood]
  
  • Fixes combo meters in jojoba (MT06157, GitHub #4033).
• wecleman.cpp: Marked weclemanb as a hack. [David Haywood]
  
• XaviX updates: [David Haywood]
  
  • Renamed members based on strings in code, moved audio stubs to a separate file, and updated notes.
  • Hooked up sprite addressing mode control register, improved sprite RAM hookup, and hooked up “text array“ pattern generator.
  • Fixed multiplier unit use in rad_madf.
  • Added inputs for rad_bass, rad_crdn, taitons1 and taitons2.
  • Improved palette mode used by taitons2, improved sprite positioning, implemented sprite flipping, and improved priorities.
  • Added support for RAM-based tiles used in rad_bb2 test mode, and 24-bit tile addressing used by epo_efdx.
  • Improved CALLF, RETF and BRK, allowing namcons2 to boot and rad_ping to get past the first screen.
  • Mapped BIOS into second external bus space for e-kara sets, and implemented DMA register read-back.
  • Improved transparency handling, and implemented “arena control” clipping effect.
  • Re-implemented Super XaviX opcodes based on observed usage.
  • Allow some opcodes to bypass zero page, as required by namcons1.
  • Hooked up I²C memory.
  • Implemented per-line rendering and raster interrupts (improves backgrounds in rad_snow and xavtenni).
• Don’t set the SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL extra flag if -video none is set. [dslegend]
  
  • Allows a true headless run when the environment variable SDL_VIDEODRIVER=dummy is set.
• hphybrid: Added support for the 09825-67907 variant, and updated the hk64k and hp9845 drivers as necessary. [F.Ulivi]
  
• Emulated HP 9825B desktop computer, including DC100 tape drive, internal printer, and matrix display. [F.Ulivi]
  
• namcos22: Added view matrix reflection. [hap, Ryan Holtz]
  
  • Fixes alpinr2b character selection screen, raveracw/ridgera2 rear-view mirrors, and secret mirror track in raveracw.
• namcos22 updates: [hap]
  
  • Added save state support and improved performance.
  • Corrected pixel clock and DSP clocks.
  • Fixed coin 2 not working.
  • Implemented rendering from point RAM (used on Alpine Racer 2 and Ridge Racer 2 title screens).
  • Improved System 22 fader and background color (fixes Victory Lap attract mode).
  • Improved Super System 22 fog and spot (improves graphics in Aqua Jet, Dirt Dash and Time Crisis).
  • Fixed polygon layer sometimes rendering when it shouldn’t
  • Added preliminary POSIRQ implementation (partial updates are not enabled yet).
  • Fixed window clipping on Ace Driver rear view mirrors and Alpine Racer 2 character selection screen.
  • Fixed hitboxes for helicopter in Time Crisis and tanks in Tokyo Wars (error in 68020 CHK2).
  • Added Super System 22 lamp and motor outputs.
• pokey: Return most recent m_ALLPOT value and freeze POT counters during SK_RESET. [Jürgen Buchmüller]
  
• Allow undefined GL symbols for WebAssembly target (GitHub #4187). [Justin Kerk]
  
• Fixed compilation with X11 XInput enabled (NO_USE_XINPUT=0). [Kiall Mac Innes]
  
• mpatrol: Fixed graphical issues including sprite priority, background positioning, and screen flipping. [kunikuni]
  
• liblrabl, toypop: Improved cocktail mode emulation, and corrected DIP switch settings. [kunikuni]
  
• warpwarp.cpp: Corrected player 2 shot/ball offset in cocktail mode. [kunikuni]
  
• pacland: Corrected “Bonus Life” DIP switch values. [kunikuni]
  
• ti99: Added guards against selecting non-existent drives. [Michael Zapf]
  
• bbc_tube_6502/65c102: Added ReCo6502 Tube 1.21 ROM. [Nigel Barnes]
  
• bbc.cpp updates: [Nigel Barnes]
  
  • Reimplemented the addressable latch using the ’LS259 device.
  • Added 32K ROM slots in B+ and Master variants.
  • Use bankdev to switch IO/ROM in Master.
  • Use ram_device instead of ROM_REGION for RAM.
  • Added I2CMEM device for PCD8572 in Master Compact.
  • Corrected sound device from SN76489 to SN76489A.
• bbcb: Added ReCo6502 co-processor. [Nigel Barnes]
  
• bbcmc: Added expansion port and Mertec Companion expansion device. [Nigel Barnes]
  
• phoenix: Don’t configure_entries and set_base on the same bank. [O. Galibert]
  
• Added a skeleton driver for MIPS Computer Systems ROSC/os machines, with initial focus on the RC2030 headless workstation. [Patrick Mackinlay]
  
• GENie: Changed minimum target macOS version to 10.6 to allow building on macOS 10.14 “Mojave” with latest Xcode tools. [R. Belmont]
  
• Fixed compilation with SDL 2.0.8 and later on macOS. [R. Belmont]
  
• hapyfish: Replaced driver with clone of mini2440, allowing it to boot from NAND Flash. [R. Belmont]
  
  • Boot loader now comes up and fails because it can't find both Flash chips.
• gamecom.cpp: Made all games besides lostwrld playable, and updated notes. [Robbbert]
  
• sorcerer.cpp: Added DDMON 1.3 and ADSMON BIOS options. [Robbbert]
  
  • ADSMON requires an 80 column card that is not emulated.
• sm8500: Improved logging of unknown opcodes. [Robbbert]
  
• sun4c updates: [Ryan Holtz]
  
  • Changed FDC to and fixed mapping.
  • Added save state support.
  • Added machine configuration for SPARCstation SLC (4/20), IPX (4/50), 1+ (4/65) and 2 (4/75).
  • Added RAM size options and fixed mirroring in 4 MB configurations.
  • Improved MMU/cache behaviour, and added support for full-width memory mask on segment map writes.
  • Re-wrote timers to tick at 1 MHz (allows NetBSD to progress further).
• sbus: Added font register and fixed drawing endianness for cgsix card. [Ryan Holtz]
  
• debugcpu: Fixed watchpoints for CPUs that use word addressing. [Ryan Holtz]
  
• generic_slot: Allow file name extensions to be omitted from constructor call. [Ryan Holtz]
  
• vii.cpp updates: [Ryan Holtz]
  
  • Fixed titles and publishers.
  • Ported current µ'nSP 1.0 CPU core and serial EEPROM emulation from Unununium.
  • Made µ'nSP instructions that use post-increment/decrement addressing modes update segment register on rollover.
  • Fixed road layer in several Zone 60 games.
  • Added an optional visual debugger for audio (may be enabled with a preprocessor macro).
  • Converted SPG24x and SPG28x SoCs to devices, added saturation and fade offset control, and implemented sound output.
  • Added SPG24x/SPG28x chip select callbacks and rudimentary analog inputs.
  • Hooked up walle NVRAM.
  • Added preliminary V.Smile support – runs BIOS and boots games.
• osdwindows: Fixed BGFX not rendering in multiple windows (internal UI is still glitchy). [Ryan Holtz]
  
• ibm5150.cpp: Hooked up cassette data output (GitHub #4076). [Ryan Holtz, BigAlUK]
  
• Fixed compilation with libjpeg for environments where TRUE and FALSE aren’t preprocessor macros. [Ryan Schmidt]
  
• vt100, ec1841, mc1502, poisk1, km035 and ms7004: Made keyboards Lua-friendly and updated mappings. [shattered]
  
• PlayStation GPU: Copy the textures’ STP bit (improves Silent Hill). [smf]
  
• PlayStation GTE: Use helper functions to count leading zero/one bits rather than implementing locally. [smf]
  
• vgmplay.cpp: Added support for multiple instances of the same chip with different clock frequencies. [smf]
  
• qsoundhle.cpp: Saturate voice and output accumulators (MT07115). [superctr]
  
• hp_dio updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Allow cards to share interrupt and DMA request lines.
  • Removed MCFG macros and moved classes into a namespace.
  • Configure all DIO slots as non-fixed, as none of the devices are on-board or physically captive.
  • Removed unused map() functions.
  • Added HP98620 DMA controller and HP98625A SCSI controller card devices.
  • Fixed plane masks in HP98543 video card.
• M68000 MMU updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Add Special Status Word to exception frames.
  • Raise MMU configuration exception if SRP/CRP is invalid.
  • Factored out code to set bus error details, perform address translation cache lookup, match TT register, and walk tables.
  • Added support for short indirect descriptors (used by HP-UX 9).
  • Set MMU status flags when performing address translation cache lookup.
  • Split PLOAD and PTEST code from m68881_ops into separate functions, and corrected the name to m68851_ops.
  • Correctly disassemble more forms of PTEST and PFLUSH instructions.
• hp9k_3xx.cpp, mb87030.cpp, hp9122c.cpp: Converted to use delegate timers. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• hp9k_3xx.cpp updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Moved sound, GPIB, keyboad and RTC to human interface DIO module.
  • Cleaned up DIO configuration.
  • Use 98543 DIO card for video output on HP9000/320 and HP9000/332, replacing driver code for the latter.
• tms9914: Latch EOI flag until next byte is sent. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• hp_hil updates: [Sven Schnelle]
  
  • Added HP46060B mouse device.
  • Converted logging to use logmacro.h and removed MCFG macros.
  • Removed obsolete bus error handler and superfluous RAM regions.
• nscsi_bus.cpp, nscsi_cd.cpp, nscsi_hd.cpp: Disable logging by default. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• Emulated Fujitsu MB87030 SCSI controller. [Sven Schnelle]
  
• Fixed command line parsing for the long form of the first instance of a media option. [Tim Lindner]
  
• Fixed CoCo 16k cartridge banking, CoCo 3 32k external ROM mode, and Zumwalt banking through the CoCo Multi-Pak. [Tim Lindner]
  
  • Addresses MT06616 and GitHub #2746.
• coco3.cpp: Added workaround to show only one screen by default. [Tim Lindner]
  
• pcjr.cpp: Added null_modem and terminal to serial port options for IBM PCjr family. [TSCHAK]
  
• iremga20: Stop sample playback on encountering a zero-valued sample, as this appears to be a sentinel value. [ValleyBell]
  
  • Also reduced code duplication in sound stream update function.
• Improved search behaviour in file selection menus. [Vas Crabb]
  
• jazz.cpp: Added PS/2 keyboard/mouse controller emulation. [Vas Crabb]
  
• krz2000.cpp: Dumped the Kurzweil K2000 “ROM1 – Orchestral” and “ROM2 – Contemporary” add-on modules. [anonymous]
  
• namcops2.cpp: Re-dumped superdbz DVD and confirmed that gundzaft DVD dump is good. [Arcade-Projects]
  
• Dumped the IBM Model M PC/AT and PS/2 keyboard microcontroller. [Brandon Ermita]
  
• paradise.cpp: Updated information about Spinner Controls Daughtercard, and added DIP switch locations for Mad Ball. [Brian Troha]
  
• seta2.cpp: Added PCB layouts for Kosodate Quiz My Angel and TelePachi Fever Lion. [Brian Troha, Carl Graham]
  
• sega16a.cpp: Corrected labels and ROM locations for aliensyn2. [Brian Troha]
  
• atetris.cpp: Added PLDs to atetrisb2. [ClawGrip, Roberto Fresca, Recreativas.org, The Dumping Union]
  
• pofo: Dumped character generator ROM, and verified that BIOS is a good dump. [Curt Coder]
  
• twinkle.cpp: Updated documentation to match data gleaned from kits. [DragonMinded]
  
• itgamble.cpp: Updated notes and hardware info. [f205v]
  
• Barcrest MPU4: Removed Intel HEX copies of previously dumped ROMs. [James Wallace]
  
• nes.xml: Corrected Japanese titles for chestfld and touch. [killamegagiga]
  
• krz2000.cpp: Added notes. [Lord Nightmare]
  
• norautp.cpp: Marked drhla as a clone of drhl. [MASH]
  
• 3do.cpp: Corrected year and manufacturer for orbatak. [MASH]
  
• Added smartmedia to arcade build (now used by hapyfish). [MASH]
  
• Added color overlay to Yosaku to Donbei. [MASH, hap]
  
• pc98.xml updates: [r09]
  
  • Marked Brandish Renewal entries as cracks.
  • Re-labeled disks with their actual names, and changed order so they automatically mount in a logical way.
  • Added usage notes for software that requires DOS.
  • Removed images where only save game data differs, and removed user-created disks.
• tourvis.cpp: Dumped BIOS versions V4-42 and V4-51. [Ricky2001, Recreativas.org]
  
• deco0.cpp: Dumped 68705 MCU for drgninjab2. [Sean Riddle, ClawGrip, The Dumping Union]
  
• taito_f3.cpp: Verified that ROMs from a Puchi Carat Asia cartridge ROMs match the overseas version. [SEGV]
  
• system1.cpp: Document that the parent Gardia set is Sega factory conversion. [ShouTime]
  
• Removed documentation for command-line options that are no longer supported, and added preliminary documentation for new options. [Tafoid]
  
• x68k_flop.xml: Added and corrected many entries. [Wayder]
  
• Addressed some consistency issues in documentation. [Wellington Uemura]
  

Like I mentioned in other posts, I began working on a retelling of JW three years ago and at the current state, it's around 500 pages long. According to my estimations, it will be finished this summer, the french version at least (I don't think I'm bad in English so the writing of an english version is not impossible for me, it will be quite a big undertaking however and help might be needed). I've shared a link on this subreddit months ago (topic : https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/8ftjqo/a_link_to_the_first_two_thirds_of_my_novelform_jw/), where the first two acts of the story are featured (the first half of the third one have been completed on the meanwhile). Near the end of this month, I will put another link for the updated version of Act I, II and a big chunk of Act III (up to Chapter XV)
Here's are the main changes from the movie and some of its features :
- Increased length, more akin to an epic movie (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EpicMovie) than your average summer blockbuster.
- A more adult and darker tone, similar to Crichton novels or HBO's Westworld. While most of Act I is quite kid friendly with the park's visit and the characters introduction, the same can't be said for the latter parts of Act II and Act III in its entirety, espacially for some scenes of the latter due to their harsh nature.
- More accurate animals even though if the species introduced in the previous installments keep their appearence while the concept of different versions is discussed in one of the scenes.
- A larger cast and bestiary.
- A different esthetic for the park. While the most remote parts of it have a safari feel akin to what can be seen in Universal's Parks or Jurassic Park itself, the main hub is a ancient-looking city called Burroughs and whose architecture have heavy precolombian and Spanish revival style inspirations.
- Although it is mostly based on JW, it also includes some elements from Fallen Kingdom.
- A 3 Acts structure like I mentioned earlier, with a prologue set at the beginning of the construction of JW in the early 2000's and an epilogue heavily inspired by one of the original novel scenes.
​
Here's the list of the chapters :
PROLOGUE : THE END OF A REIGN
ACT I : JOHN HAMMOND'S LEGACY

• Chapter I : A Long Expected Journey
• Chapter II : The Eight Wonder of the World
• Chapter III : Panem Et Circenses
• Chapter IV : Sunset O'er Isla Nublar
• Chapter V : The Merry Iguanodon
• Chapter VI : A Dragon's awakening

ACT II : THE SHADOW OF NUBLAR

• Chapter VII : The Calm before the Storm
• Chapter VIII : From bad to worse
• Chapter IX : On the tracks
• Chapter X : A Feast for Vultures
• Chapter XI : The Ride of the Pegasus

ACT III : THE FALLEN KINGDOM

• Chapter XII : Storm over Burroughs
• Chapter XIII : The Board
• Chapter XIV : The Haunted Mountain
• Chapter XV : The Time of Wolves
• Chapter XVI : The Twilight of the Gods
• Chapter XVII : A Clash of Queens
• Chapter XVIII : Nothing will be forgotten

EPILOGUE
​
I wrote on one of the answers of another post that I will post on this subreddit summaries of the finished chapters. Today, I will publish the ones of the Prologue and Act I's chapters. The next ones should come later this month or in the next one.
But before reading them, I think it's better to have a look on this list of the characters I created for this story, to know who is who because some of them are mentioned in the summaries.
InGen Jurassic World employees Regina Powers, public relations director. Jonas, head zookeeper and curator of the large theropods. Lambert Ross, manager of the Merry Iguanodon. Neil Harrimann, control room technician. Ivan Preston, Wu’s most trusted genetician.
InGen Security (the slayers) Gregor Sherman, leader of the slayers. Damian Parker, the youngest of the slayers. Olivia Decker, Sherman's right hand woman. Paco Cortès, a Tun-Si. Nolan Olsen Reynald Faraci Kevin Leng
Board of directors Susan Lynton, vice president. Alistair Iger, public relations director and spokesman of InGen. Dominick Silverman, chief financial officer.
Grey Guard Nublar's garrison Gilbert Brunet, a french ex-mercenary who became a lieutenant in the Grey Guard. Nataliya Darbinian, the russian warrant officer of Brunet’s platoon. Leif Drekanson, a norwegian sergeant in Brunet’s platoon. Erin Laurence, an australian lieutenant. Duncan Glenmore, a scottish lieutenant. Patience Bellamy, an american sergeant in Brunet’s platoon. Julio Velasquez, a costarican recruit. Tamara Durant, an american recruit. Mei Tian, a chinese recruit. Gareth Turner, an english recruit. Ben Rahim, an egyptian recruit. Vincent Chapuy, a french corporal. Percy Baker, a jamaican corporal.
Five Death's garrisons Niall Forrester, a canadian private. Selma Forrester, a canadian private. Zhuge Yu, a chinese lieutenant.
Others Cassandra Landis, journalist.
​
Prologue : The End of a Reign
After an opening scroll describing what happened after the San Diego incident and explaining the reasons behind the construction of Jurassic World, the story opens in some misty tropical rainforest and we witness a boa constrictor being preyed upon by an harpy eagle. The bird brings its prey at the top of a large tree and begins to eat but suddenly, a helicopter emerges from the mist, flying very close to the canopy. Said helicopter is actually searching somekind of large creature in the jungle. When the shooter onboard spots its, he informs a ground team about this.
On the ground, a small group of vehicles (the same thant the one used by the hunters in TLW) drives quickly. From a cage which top one of the vehicles, Hoskins lead the operation. He orders his men to stop in a small meadow and to wait for the target which is coming in their direction. As their target, a very large animal, emerges from the jungle, he orders the activation of a ultrasound-producing box. As the animal is bothered by the ultrasound and flees, Hoskins get a glimpse of it while its tails brush past the top of the cage, their target is non other than an adult T.rex. Hoskins order his men to follow the dinosaur and to force him to head in a certain direction. A jeep gets too close to the jaws of the T.rex and angered, the animal rams the vehicle with his head and the jeep barely escape the attack but doing so, it rolls on a big root and crashes. Inside the helicopter, the hunter put darts in his rifle and aims at the T.rex as it is heading towards a field. He misses his shot the first time but as the dinosaur is now in the open, he has a clearer view and this time he succesfully manage to tranquilise the animal which roars. The vehicles exit the jungle and circles the dinosaur, preventing it to go back into the jungle and the hunters wait for the tranquilizer to act. The body of the dinosaur is then put into a large truck by a flying crane. The vehicles used in the hunt are parked next to the truck and the hunters are relaxing while a documentalist is filming them and the tranquilised T.rex. Hoskins congratulates his men for the successful capture. They leave the area, escorting the transport truck, while passing next to decaying electrical fences and driving on one of Jurassic Park’s roads, now partially covered by grass. The Convoy enter the Embrace, a large U-shaped Valley (where the Gallimimus Stampede was witnessed by Grant and the kids in JP), heading towards a tunnel dug in the mountains. They enter and the vehicle emerges in a forested area but as one part of the road was taken away by a landslide, the convoy leave the road and exit the forest. As they are crossing a hilly zone, the documentalist takes her camera to photograph the skeleton of a brachiosaur as the convoy drive past it. Another skeleton is half-sunked in a waterhole and the convoy head towards the south-east, driving past cliffs overlooking a river called the Cartago. A few minutes later, they arrives at a bridge spanning the Rio Iris gorge and pass a portal guarded by armed men. As they are heading towards their destination, they see workers building some construction at the top of a rocky spur. The convoy descends into a valley and arrives in a construction site extending over dozens of hectares where workers and cranes are being busy around the skeleton of large buildings or digging a giant mine-looking hole in the middle of the site. The vehicles split up and the transport truck heads towards a complex delimited by giants walls. While Hoskins is talking with a cheerful Masrani at the other end of the telephonic line, the T.rex is being put in a quarantine paddock connected to its future paddock, still under construction. Nothing seems to threaten Jurassic World's construction.
Night fall and work stop for the day. On a ridge north of the Rio Iris, a female proceratosaurus is watching the camp. She then journeys accross the island back to the lair of her clan, located in the decaying jurassic park visitor center. Among the labs, several nests were built and next to one of them, the mate of the proceraotsaure awaits and together, they watch the first eggs of their clutch hatch.
​
Chapter I : A Long Expected Journey
The chapter starts with Zach and Gray arrival in Costa Rica on the 23rd December 2017. They board into a bus at Juan Santamarià Airport in San José, travel to the Pacific Coast and stops at Caldera, a port near Puntarenas, where they enter into a ferry terminal owned by Ogen Cruiselines, one of Masrani’s Global subsidiaries. There, the two brothers board into the largest ship of the company’s fleet, a 200 m+ ferry named The Avalon. When it leaves the harbour, it’s around midnight and the journey to Nublar taking between six and seven hours, the boys spend the night in their cabin.
They awoke the following morning before dawn. As Gray is walking the Avalon’s promenade deck, the ship enters into a thick veil of mist and passes near huge tower-like rock formations. As passengers are gathering on the bow, Isla Nublar slowly appears. The Avalon follow the southern coast of the island northward, heading to the Ferry Terminals, between the coast and a mountain. The passengers disembarks and inside said building, they take a metro that drives them through the mountain overlooking the terminal. They exit the cave and stumble into a narrow pass between the mountain’s spurs. At the end of the pass, their way is blocked by a massive wall that looks straight out of King Kong in their eyes, with a huge gate at its center, flanked by two massive tyrannosaur heads sculpts. A recorded voice, provided in-universe by one certain famous sci-fi actress, greets the newly arrived guests as an orchestral music with choirs plays. The gate finally opens, letting the visitors enter into the park. Behind the gate is Hammond’s Plaza, whose name is drawn from the statue of John Hammond that stands at its center. While Zach meets Zara, Gray goes to the panoramic viewpoint at the end of the plaza, overlooking Burroughs and the 25 hectares lagoon around which the city was built but also giving a view on a large part of the island, including the Cartago Valley, the Misty Monts and, at the northern end of the island, Mont Sibo.
​
Chapter II : The Eighth Wonder of the World
After they drop their luggage at their aunt’s house, the boys are bringed by to the Eastern Boardwalk. Since they have to met Claire in the volcano-shaped Discovery Center, they must take said boardwalk and Richard Owen Avenue, both featuring quite a number of shops and restaurants. As they walk in the busy avenue, the crowd in front of them make way to somekind of old-fashioned tramway but instead of being drawn by horses like in Disneyland, they are by mantellisaurs. Stepping out of the mantellisaurs and carriage’s way, they proceed and reach the Obelisk Plaza, cross it and reach the stairs leading to the bronze gates of the Discovery Center, guarded by two life-size giraffatitans stone statues. Entering the building, they head to the spacious rotunda, which main feature is a huge squatch field sized model of Isla Nublar. Claire arrives, chatting with two of her colleagues about the press conference scheduled for the same morning and complaining about a certain Henry. Once the conversation is done, she greets her nephews and talks briefly with them, telling them that since she will be busy all day, she is the park director after all, Zara will watch over them.
Following Claire’s advices, the brothers begins their tour by the zoo. They visit the Children’s Zoo, encountering and feeding with a special kind of granule avimimi, kunbarassaurs, hypsilophodonts and the juveniles of the largers herbivores that populate other attractions, including young ceratopsians which children can ride like shetland ponies ; have a glimpse of a presentation show where a zookeeper feeds a dimorphodon with mice ; passes next to the pachyrhinosaurs enclosure and walks after straight ahead to the Tyrannosaur’s Kingdom. As Gray watch the T.rex feeding, he notices that Zach is texting and Zara is on her phone, seeming to not pay attention the superpredator that is in front of their eyes, underlining the idea that watching live prehistoric creatures have became an experience not too dissimlar from watching a movie in 3D or riding a rollercoaster. This serves as a good transition to the beginning of the next chapter.
​
Chapter III : Panem Et Circenses
We come back to Claire as she is in the middle of the press conference that was mentioned earlier, It’s purpose is to discuss about the future of Jurassic World, including the development of its franchise (two others parks are planned to be built in Mediterranea and Southern China) and the direction that the Isla Nublar park will take. She mentions the phenomena of the normalization of cloned prehistoric animals in modern society, explaining that millions of people have seen them live at least once in their lifetime since the opening of Jurassic World, they are all over the internet, and InGen is selling animals to zoos and aquarias worldwide. That brings her to pretend that they need something very unique for their next new attraction, a man-made dinosaur species : The Indominus rex. In a short video, the attraction name is revealed : The I.rex Colosseum, scheduled to open in July 2018. Claire turns to Wu and he answers some of the journalists questions before playing an explanatory video featuring Mr DNA and himself in which they delivers a vulgarization of the process that aims to create entirely new species from scratch. The conference proceeds and ends around 11 a.m.
Leaving the Discovery Center like all the attendants to the conference, Claire brings along with her the envoys of a potential sponsor and they drive out of Burroughs, passing near the Administration building, sitting on the top of a rocky spur like a fortress or a monastery, before entering into a canyon that leads to an helipad at the base of a tall waterfall, the same one that was used in the time of Jurassic Park. Claire and the envoys waits there for the helicopter that will take them to the Colosseum and it lands shortly after. They notice that Simon Masrani is flying the aircraft, he greets them and Claire, surprised by his unexpected visit. They take off and the helicopter then heads north-east first, flying over apatosaurs and corythosaurs drinking in the Rio Iris gorges as one of the Jungle Cruise boats floating down the river and later, in the middle of the Cartago river, a group of baryonyx feasting on the arapaimas that zookeepers on the upper deck of one of the boats are feeding to them. They then bypass the Cartago Aviary, the largest in the whole world, encompassing over twenty hectares and being 200 meters tall at the top of its geodesic dome, and housing several pterosaurs species like geosternbergia, rhamphorhynchus and tupandactylus in a spectacular lush gorge and waterfalls environment. After a passage near the northern summit of the Misty Monts, the helicopter turns west, fly over a group of therizinosaurs, and enters the Embrace (a.k.a Kaaawa Valley for those familiar with the saga’s filming locations) where they see some safari trucks and herds of several dinosaurs, including dryosaurs, gallimimi, triceratops, parasaurolophuses and two mamenchisaurs near which the envoys sees a small group of riders wearing dark green-grey uniforms and watching over the dinosaurs and groups of tourists in the trucks. Masrani turns north and flies over one of the mountainous range encompassing the valley, heading first towards Mount Sibo. As they behold the desolate landscape at the volcano’s foot, one of the envoy ask Claire if they fear the effects of an eruption. She reassure them by saying they have taken every precaution recommended by the consulted volcanologists (i.e digging trenches to prevent fluid lava flows from reaching key installations), that a minor eruption in 2006 have actually attracted people on the island, and telling them that the volcano provides over sixty pourcent of their energy through the geothermal power plant. She points the Colosseum and Masrani lands shortly after on the margins of the construction site.
They joins at its entrance Claire’s colleagues, Wu and the journalists. As they all heads towards the enclosure itself, not located in the colloseum which is only the show area but located further away, encompassing a cirque, Claire and Masrani talks about the conflicts Park Management have with the Grey Guard, saying that if they have delays it’s because of them. The group then meets with Jonas, head zookeeper and large theropods curator, and while he talks to it about the enclosure and its denizen, Claire goes to see what captain Katashi Hamada, the commanding officer of the Grey Guard’s garrison on Nublar and who was waiting for them alongside Jonas, wants from her. Once again, he ask the park director about the large security bunkers needed according to him and his colleagues in case of large-scale disaster. She tells him that they will see that after the press tour and she comes back to the group who has spotted howler monkeys in the enclosure. They are scattered away by a roar from the I.rex. The chimera dinosaur stay hidden behind the thick vegetation of the enclosure. Masrani asks about the second specimen cloned and Claire answers that she was devoured by her sister. The I.rex being the subject of some not-so pleasing surprises, Masrani worries a bit and asks her about Owen Grady’s opinion on the matter. The press tour of the colosseum concludes with a test showing. Masrani, Claire, the envoys and Wu take place in the vip lodge as the groups sit on regular bleachers. Amovible walls and roof began to move, obscurating the sunlight and plunging the arena in total darkness. A portcullis is lift up, letting the I.rex enters the arena. Spotlights project the I.rex shape on the audience.
We cut to the achillobators training scene. It plays very much like in the movie and just like in it, it’s followed by a debate between on one side Owen and Barry, and on the other Hoskins but here, informations on competition existing between InGen and other biotech companies are given (Among other things, a safari park housing animals from the ice age and situated near Toula in Russia is mentioned). During the conversation, Owen receives a text message from Claire, asking where and when she can meet him later in the evening. Again like in the movie, Leon falls from the walkway into the enclosure, albeit in a different manner, but in this version, Owen orders him to stay behind him and they slowly back away from the raptors, following behaviours and gestures that are adopted by nature guides in Africa when confronted to lions and other dangerous game. Owen and Leon manage to leave the enclosure unharmed but the former reprimand the latter, telling him to show himself more cautious the next time before asking him to pay his and Barry’s beers in the evening as a retribution. Hoskins muses about the way Grady managed to have, in his eyes, control over the achillobators.
​
Chapter IV : Sunset O'er Isla Nublar
Claire, Masrani and co returns to Burroughs where an contract with the envoys is signed. Before going back to her office, claire pass by the control room for a daily checking. She have a debate with Lowery about the I.rex and the sponsoring around her.
Zach and Gray attends the mosasaur feeding show and once it’s over, as the bleachers brought them down below the lagoon surface, they meet up with Zara and visit the oceanarium, made of not only the mosasaur lagoon but also other lagoons that together forms the big lagoon, separated from one another by barrier reefs that converges towards an underwater mountain located at the very center of the lagoon called Mount Thetis, which houses aswell the submarine tour base. After walking through subaquatic tunnels and viewing galleries, the trio goes back to the surface and passes in front of the nothosaurs enclosure. While Gray is petting henodus in a touching pool (similar in design to the ones that exists in many aquarias and marine animals parks over the world), Zach gets a phone call from their mother, Karen.
After being told by Zach that Claire is not with them, Karen phones then to her half-sister, then working in her office, and they argue about this and other family matters. They coldly ends the conversation and Claire decides to go out on the attenant balcony to relax herself, overlooking Burroughs as she drinks sips of some alcohol glass.
Near 5 p.m, Wu arrives at the hilltop Masrani’s hacienda and him and the indian billionaire talks about the day, with Masrani’s preasing the indominus and Wu’s efforts. They then sits in the terrace and drinks tea as the sun sets and dinosaurs come to drink at a nearby lake. The two soon have a conversation about Wu’s proposal to update some of the oldest species cloned by InGen and begin to slowly replace the old versions individuals by others from new and more scientifically-accurate versions (a scene which is very inspired by the version 4.4 chapter from Crichton’s novel where Wu and Hammond discusses on the same subject). Both debate, with Masrani showing himself reluctant and saying that reaching scientific accuracy is nothing but delusion since new discoveries will make current representions obsolete, making the pursuit of this ideal a never-ending race. Once their conversation on that subject is over, they drink to the park’s prosperity and the future success of the I.rex as an attraction.
In the I.rex enclosure, an old howler monkey is left behind by his troop. As he tries to flee, the I.rex catches and eat it.
Chapter V : The Merry Iguanodon
>! Night has fallen over Isla Nublar but while the animals areas had been closed for most of them, the park is not yet devoid of activity, far from it as both guests and employees goes to dine and entertain themselves in Burroughs restaurants, bars and other leisure places for the evening. Claire is dining with her nephews in the Winston’s steakhouse. While Gray is in the toilets, Claire tells Zach about her conversation with their mother. When they exit the restaurant, Claire ask Gray if he wants to go to the cinema but he declines, saying that he is tired, but the oldest of the brothers that he will stay a bit longer in the area and ask her aunt if there is some nice bar there. She recommends the Merry Iguanodon, where she have to meet Owen a bit later. As Claire bring Gray back to her house, Zach wanders around the Obelisk Plaza, the large pond east of the Discovery Center, the facilities located under the Grand Nublarian Hotel overlooking said pond (among them there is a casino and a cinema multiplex), the Eastern Boardwalk. Following Claire’s indications, he founds the Merry Iguanodon tavern and enters it. Zara bump into him there and she apologizes for the distant behaviour she had with the brothers. Lowery and Vivian, who are friends with Zara, arrives and Zara asks Zach if he wants to join them. He accept and while heading towards them, they pass next to Leon, who is telling his fellow interns his near-death experience with the achillobators. Barry appears in his back and reminds him that he must pay two beers. Leon complies, brings the beers at Owen and Barry’s table and takes his leave from them. The two zookeepers then talks about the potential reasons behind Claire’s need to talk to Owen. Claire arrives in time and she and Owen go outside, while her assistant, the two control room technicians and Zach discretly watches them. After losing a game, Zara have tell to Zach the story of Claire and Owen’s secretive but intense relationship. !<
While talking about Masrani’s request, Claire and Owen goes to the lower terrace and stops there, as a sound and light show takes place on the previously mentioned pond. They end up arguing a bit about the flingy relationship they had a couple of years earlier but they soon focuses back to the inspection requested by Masrani and agrees on a rendezvous time at the colosseum for the following morning, when the I.rex will be subject to an operation whose purpose is to implant into her a new tracking implant. They wish a good evening to eachother and Claire leaves. We come back to Zach, Zara, Lowery and Vivian as they still talk about the latter three’s boss affair with the raptor’s whisperer.
Hamada and two other guards, the Forrester couple, arrives after and go upstrair in a separated room where a non-negligeable part of Nublar’s garrison are off-duty and relaxing. While Hamada sits with the other officers and join them in their game of cards, the two Forresters go to meet the five recruits that incorporated the guard this year. One of them being the niece of a lieutenant stationed in the Five Deaths, they pass her uncle’s greetings to her. Hamada tells his colleagues that Claire informed him that it will be a no for the bunkers he recommanded. The other officers are disappointed and displeaded by the news. After a game of darts, the Forresters and the recruits sits and the couple tells them more about the Five Deaths and the reasons that push soldiers and forces of order members from all over the world to serve in the Grey Guard. The manager of the Merry Iguanodon, Lambert Ross, enters the room and asks what Hamada and the Forresters want to drink. They order but when a waiter arrives with the drinks, a tremor. Being of small to medium magnitude, it’s not strong enough to do any signficant damage and Central America being quite a geologically active region, most of the people on the island aren’t that worried despite being surprised. However, when Roberta unleashes a powerful but plaintive roar, echoeing in all of Burroughs and its valley, Hamada worries since the T.rex didn’t do the same thing before the 2006 small eruption. Sharing with the others the signs they witnessed (odd behaviour from the wildlife and the park’s denizens, worrisome readings coming from the Geothermal Power Plant…), many guards fears than a larger eruption is set to happen soon. Durant, one of the recruits, think it will be the end of the island but Glenmore reassures her by saying that the Sibo isn’t the Santorini’s volcano, Mt St Helens or the Krakatoa while another guard, an amerindian costarican who knows a lot about Nublar’s history, mentions that despite having entering into eruption several times across history, Nublar didn’t exploded or sank into the ocean, and that the only victims of the Sibo were spanish settlers who built their colony, San Fernandez, a bit too close from the volcano. Said colony was destroyed at the end of the 16th century and it being located not too far from where the I.rex Colloseum is being built, the officers fear that the trench whose purpose is to protect the attraction from any lava flows will not be completed in time, making the evacuation of the I.rex a possibility. The I.rex having a bad reputation among the guards, some states that they will let her die if that happen and rants about the Park Management desire to display the largest and viciousest beasts that they can make because they are the one who attracts people on the island. Lambert tells them that Masrani and Park Management have became too confident over time and that most park executives ignores what exactly had to be made to make Isla Nublar safe again. He reveals to the recruits that he worked before as an henchman for InGen Security. He narrates the aftermath of Roberta’s capture, stating that this event wroke havoc among the already fragile ecosystem of Nublar by allowing the smaller carnivores, whose populations were kept in check by the T.rex, to multiply and eat all the herbivores that weren’t captured before turning themselves to the most abundant kind of meat on the island, manflesh. Lambert tells that one night, a horde of proceratosaurs raided InGen’s camp, killing many people and snatching others, This attack marked the beginning of a series of conflicts opposing InGen to the feral predatory dinosaurs : The Saurian War. During that « war », Lambert was badly wounded (he limps and have one eye hidden behind an eyepatch) and spended the rest of the it in an hospital bed. His wounds were inflicted by one of the infamous three gorgons, a trio of dilophosaurs, whose venom half-blinded him. Aside from the three gorgons who were shot after weeks of tracking and some of the herrerasaurs who were captured and integrated into Jurassic World collection, Lambert ignores what happend precisely to the proceratosaurs. Some of them were indeed captured aswell to be put for the rest of their lives in the quarantaine paddocks and still lives but they were only a fraction of their population. How InGen Security dealt with the others is still a mystery and all related informations are classified. After telling his story, Lambert leaves and the guards goes back to what they were doing before the tremor.
Chapter VI : A Dragon's awakening
>! Near half past seven on the morning of Christmas Eve, Lowery goes to work on his bicycle while humming the main theme of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. He is the first of the control room’s day team to arrive and when Vivian and the rest of his colleagues arrives, he talks with her and some of them about their plans for the evening. Meanwhile, the I.rex is being tranquilised.!<
We then follows Owen as he drives north on his motorbike, towards the Colosseum. He arrives there and meets up with Claire. They enter the construction site and while theye enter the Colosseum and climbs the bleachers, they talk about the I.rex genetic composition and Owen can’t help but to make fun of many things concerning the chimera dinosaur before warning Claire about the ethical drifts that the I.rex creation can create and the fact that they don’t exactly know how her physiology works (they talk mainly about the choosen amount of tranq administrated to the I.rex with Owen stating the same thing that Muldoon says in the novel concerning the amount of tranquiliser to choose with large animals). They arrive near the entrance of the surveillance room, guarded by Darbinian, where he must join Jonas and some of the guards (Brunet, Tian and Velasquez in addition to Darbinian) to start the inspection, wish to eachother merry christmas and he heads to the room. Darbinian lets him pass and he finds Jonas and Brunet finishing their breakfast and the two forementioned recruits drinking coffee. He greets them and as he is pouring himself some coffee, Darbinian teases him about the rumors concerning his relationship with Claire. Owen then asks Jonas and Brunet how the I.rex is and they answers by listing some negative adjectives. Once they are ready, Brunet orders Darbinian to stay in the room and Tian and Velasquez to come with them. They goes down to the I.rex lair where Owen sees gnawed-on bones. Jonas explains him that when the I.rex is fed carcasses, she took them to the lair where she rapidly eat them before gnawing the bones during hours. He leaves Owen and the guards to the inspection and goes to the holding area, where the I.rex is being operated in her indoor enclosure.
The veterinarian administrate the I.rex, whose body is covered with a surgical drape, an anesthetic at the base of the neck, where the tracking device is to be implanted. But as he is ready to cut the skin and the flesh there, he notices that they left the needed hand circular saw in their ambulance. One of his two assistants proposes himself to go to the ambulance and bring it back.
Owen and the guards arrive to the enclosure wall and sees the claws marks on the wall. They tell him that the I.rex often does this, sometimes in front of the guards standing in the miradors, like if she wanted to provock them that way. They head to the wooded area of the enclosure.
As she is looking over the I.rex health record, the assistant that remained with the vet shares with him her concerns, stating that the weight she gaine and her current appetite is abnormally higher from what they expected. The vet ask her if she thinks the I.rex is pregnant before saying it’s ridiculous. They mention the eggs found in the ruins of Jurassic Park during the 1994 expedition and the consequences of the inclusion of west african frog DNA inside the dinosaurs genomes. The assistant brings the idea that the potential offspring of the I.rex might be the result of a parthenogenetic process and adds that since Wu didn’t reveal the integrality of the I.rex genomic composition, they don’t know if he made another mistake by including the DNA of some species able to reproduce itself through parthenogenesis. The vet reassures her assistant by promising her they will do the necessary tests the next month if that can take away her concerns.
In the wooded part of the enclosure, Owen finds a howler’s monkey paw and deduces that it was devoured by the I.rex. Tian wonder why the I.rex had done that since monkeys are way too small to be considered as suitable preys for a dinosaur of her size. Owen answers by stating that she doesn’t do that to feed herself, but in a distraction purpose. He then recapitulates everything they have seen until now and admits to the guards that he is against displaying the I.rex to the public. Brunet proposes him that they go the indoor enclosure to see how things are going there and he agrees.
His other assistant had return on the meanwhile with the hand circular saw on the meanwhile, the vet begin to cut the I.rex skin with but suddenly, a malfunction in the ventilation creates a strong draft that sends sheets flying all over the place. The same assistant that brought back the saw is charged by the other to pick them all. He does this but the other assistant tells him that one of the sheet had slid under the drape, next to their patient head. The assistant goes under the drap and notices that the sheet went under the jaws. He tries to lift them up and not without efforts, he manages to pull the sheet out but after he launched a scream of satisfaction, he hears the I.rex opening one of her eyes. Paralysed by fear, he tries to move or scream to warn his colleagues but can’t do it properly and the I.rex raise her upper lip, revealing her rows of teeth. He finally screams and the vet makes out for the door but a tail swing push him to the ground. One of the zookeepers that was watching the operation at the other side of the enclosure heavy railings, rushes to a panel on the wall to push an alarm button, warning everyone in the vicinity and the control room at the other end of the island. The other assistant rushes to pull out her colleague far as possible from the I.rex head but when she grabs him, the chimera closes her jaws around the lower half of his body, letting the upper half to his victim’s colleague who screams in terror and panicks. While the drap is still covering her, the I.rex stands up. The vet put himself quickly on his feet but seeing that the I.rex stands between him and the man-sized gate in the railing, he exits the enclosure right into the tunnel that connects the arena to the enclosures and taken before by the assistant when he went outside, rushing to the door at is other end. When the zookeepers came back with electroshocking ammo rifles, he is too far away to be within earshot. Grady and the guards arrive aswell and the first go inside the enclosure to get the remaining assistant out of there as Jonas and another zookeeper, standing between the gate and the I.rex, shot on the exposed body parts of the predator. She repels the two zookeepers out the enclosure with a tail blow and swiftly turns, making the medical devices attached to her flies over Owen and the assistant who are forced to crouches down to avoid getting hit, before closing the gate and ramming it with her head to break it and trap Owen and the assistant with her. The two runs to the tunnel, heading towards the same normal-sized gate to which the vet headed. The latter had arrived before it but as he is looking for the keys that open it, he reminds that he gave to the assistant who still had them when the I.rex ripped him in half. The beast roaring at the two humans that are running away from her, the vet fears for his life and through a panel, opens a larger gate in which the small one is integrated and big enough to let trucks pass through. But as he flees outside, he forgets to engage the closing process. Seeing this, Brunet contacts the control room and orders the technicians to close it but Lowery, fearing that he will trap Owen and the assistant by doing so, heavily hesitate. However, the closing process is still engaged. A CCTV footage that Darbinian has done this from the surveillance room in the Colloseum. Owen and the assistant are still running but suddenly the latter collapses on the ground, with a lot of blood pouring out of a wound on her throat. Wondering how the I.rex was able to inflict said wound from a distance, Owen accelerates and rushes out of the tunnel as the door is almost closed. Outside of the facility, a large veil of mist covers the parking and Owen goes to hide under a tipper truck as the door is about to break under the I.rex assaults. Knowing that the I.rex could easily find him because of his scent, Owen cut a pipe and pours fuel all over him. The gate finally fall and the Indominus walk on the parking but the mist is so thick that Owen sees only her feet when she passes near him. The indominus pick the vet scent, who is hiding behind the Veterinary Services ambulance, and as she silently gets closer to him, Owen has only a glimpse of her general shape. When she is close enough of the vet, she brutally throw the ambulance on its side and stand over her screaming prey before shutting up her prey by closing her monstrous jaws on him. Owen stays still under the truck, praying not to be found, but suddenly gunshots are fired, scaring away the I.rew which flees and disappear into the jungle. Once he thinks it’s safe enough to get out, Owen screams to let his presence be known and crawl away from the truck. The guards, zookeppers and J-SEC agents arrives and Brunet asks Owen in which direction the I.rex went before telling the garrison that they have work to do.
​
Don't hesitate to tell me what you think about it and I will gladly answer to any question.
​