M.E.S.S. - Multi-Emulator Super System Copyright (C) 1998 by the MESS team DOS/Windows How to Contact Us ----------------- The official MESS page can be found at http://www.internetter.com/titan/mess/ The current port maintainer for the DOS version is Juergen Buchmueller (pullmoll@t-online.de). DON'T SEND BINARY ATTACHMENTS WITHOUT ASKING FIRST, *ESPECIALLY* ROM IMAGES. THESE ARE NOT SUPPORT ADDRESSES. Support questions sent to these addresses *will* be ignored. Please understand that this is a *free* project, mostly targeted at experienced users. We don't have the resources to provide end user support. Basically, if you can't get the emulator to work, you are on your own. First of all, read the docs carefully. If you still can't find an answer to your question, try checking the beginner's sections that many emulation pages have, or ask on the appropriate Usenet newsgroups (e.g. comp.emulators.misc) or on the emulation message boards (e.g. http://www.escape.com/~ego/dvgc/mess). Also, DO NOT SEND REQUESTS FOR NEW SYSTEMS TO ADD, unless you have some original info on the hardware or, even better, have the technical expertise needed to help us. Please don't send us information widely available on the Internet - we are perfectly capable of finding it ourselves, thank you. Usage ----- MESS system [image names] [options] for example MESS nes zelda.nes will run Zelda on the Nintendo MESS coleco dkong.rom -soundcard 0 will run Donkey Kong on the Colecovision without sound MESS trs80 boot.dsk arcade1.dsk will run the TRS80 with two disks loaded MESS cgenie games1.dsk will run the Colour Genie with one disk iamge loaded MESS kaypro k1 will run the Kaypro 2x using a set of images defined by an alias 'k1' (see below). options: -scanlines / -noscanlines (default: -scanlines) if the default mode doesn't work with your monitor/video card (double image/picture squashed vertically), use -noscanlines or -vesa. -vesa / -novesa (default: -novesa) Decides wether to use tweaked VGA modes or standard VESA modes. Note that some hires games require VESA modes, -novesa is ignored in this case. -ntsc a 288x224 mode with standard NTSC frequencies. You need some additional hardware (VGA2TV converter) to make use of this. -resolution XxY (default: autoselect) X and Y are width and height (ex: '-800x600') MESS goes some lengths to autoselect a good resolution. You can override MESS's choice with this option. You can use -XxY (e.g. -800x600) as a shortcut. Frontend authors are advised to use -resolution XxY, however. If you get an error 'XxY not supported', you probably need Scitech's Display Doctor, which provides the 'de facto' standard VESA implementaion (http://www.scitechsoft.com) Some common resolutions are 320x200, 320x240, 400x300, 512x384, 640x400, 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768. -skiplines N since many games use a screen taller than 240 lines, they won't fit in the screen. The parameter 'N' sets the initial number of lines to skip at the top of the screen. You can adjust the position while the game is running using the PGUP and PGDN keys. -skipcolumns N same as above but moves the screen horizontally. This is rarely used since the screen usually fits in the screen. To adjust the position at run time, use SHIFT + PGUP/PGDN. -double / -nodouble (default: auto) use nodouble to disable pixel doubling in VESA modes (faster, but smaller picture). Use double to force pixel doubling when the image doesn't fit in the screen (you'll have to use PGUP and PGDN to scroll). -depth n (default: 8) Some games might need 65k color modes to get accurate graphics. You might want to use -depth 16 for that case. -vgafreq n where n can be 0 (default) 1, 2 or 3. use different frequencies for the custom video modes. This could reduce flicker, especially in the 224x288noscanlines mode. WARNING: THE FREQUENCIES USED MIGHT BE WAY OUTSIDE OF YOUR MONITOR RANGE, AND COULD EVEN DAMAGE IT. USE THESE OPTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. -vsync / -novsync (default: -novsync) syncronize video display with the video beam instead of using the timer. This option can only be used if the selected video mode has an appropriate refresh rate; MESS will otherwise refuse to start, telling you the actual refresh rate of the video mode, and the rate it should have. If you are using a tweaked mode, MESS will try to automatically pick the correct setting for -vgafreq; you can still override it using the -vgafreq option. Note: the 224x288 noscanlines mode doesn't work on most cards. This mode is used by many games, e.g. Pac Man and Galaga. If it doesn't work on your card, either use the scanlines version, or don't use -vsync. If you are using a VESA mode you should use the program which came with your video card to set the appropriate refresh rate. Note that when this option is turned on, speed will NOT downgrade nicely if your system is not fast enough (i.e.: jerkier gameplay). -soundcard n select sound card (if this is not specified, you will be asked interactively. n can be: 0 - Silence 1 - Sound Blaster 2 - Sound Blaster AWE32 3 - Pro Audio Spectrum 4 - Ultrasound Max (CS4231 Codec) 5 - Ultrasound 6 - Windows Sound System 7 - Ensoniq Soundscape You might want to change mess.cfg to match your hardware. -sr n set the audio sample rate. The default is 22050. Smaller values (e.g. 11025) will cause lower audio quality but faster emulation speed. Higher values (e.g. 44100) will cause higher audio quality but slower emulation speed. -sb n set the audio sample bits, either 8 or 16. The default is 8. 16 will increase quality with certain games, but decrease speed. This is a software setting, not hardware. The sound card will always be used in 16 bit mode, if possible. -joy n / -nojoy (default: -nojoy) allow joystick input, n can be: 0 - no joystick 1 - normal 2 button joystick 2 - dual joysticks 3 - Stick/Pad with 4 buttons 4 - Stick/Pad with 6 buttons 5 - Stick/Pad with 8 buttons 6 - CH Flightstick Pro 7 - Wingman Extreme (or Wingman Warrior without spinner) 8 - Microsoft Sidewinder (up to 4) 9 - Gravis GamePad Pro Press F7 to calibrate the joystick. Calibration data will be saved in mess.cfg. If you're using different joytypes for different games, you may need to recalibrate your joystick every time. When calibrating two analog joysticks, move both at the same time! -fm / -nofm (default: -nofm) use the SoundBlaster OPL chip for music emulation in some games. This is faster, but emulation is less faithful. -log create a log of machine startup information, illegal memory accesses and other details in ERROR.LOG The amount of output depends on verbosity defined in the drivers and is set relatively low for the release version. -help, -? display current mess version and copyright notice -list display a list of currently supported games -listfull display a list of game directory names + description -listdetails display a detailed list of drivers and the hardware they use -mouse / -nomouse (default: -mouse) enable/disable mouse support -frameskip n skip frames to speed up the emulation. For example, if the game normally runs at 60 fps, "-frameskip 1" will make it run at 30 fps, and "-frameskip 2" at 20 fps. Use F11 to check the speed your computer is actually reaching. If the game is too slow, increase the frameskip value. Note that this setting can also affect audio quality (some games sound better, others sound worse). Maximum value for frameskip is 3. -cheat The cheat system is disabled by default. Use this switch to turn it on. Read cheat.doc for more information on how to use the cheat system. -debug Activate the integrated debugger. During the emulation, press tilde to enter the debugger. -record name Record joystick input on file INP/name.inp. -playback name Playback joystick input from file INP/name.inp. -ignorecfg ignore mess.cfg and start with the default settings The following keys work in all emulators: Tab Enter configuration menu. Press Tab or Esc to get back to the emulation. ScrollLock Pause F5 Show the game graphics. Use cursor keys to change set/color, F5 or Esc to return to the emulation. F7 Calibrate the joystick F8 Change frame skip on the fly (60, 30, 20, or 15) F9 Reset the emulation F10 Toggle speed throttling F11 Toggle speed display Shift and PrtScreen Save a screen snapshot. The default target directory is PCX, you have to create it yourself, it will not be created by the program if it isn't there. numpad +/- Volume adjust Left shift and numpad +/- Gamma correction adjust Shift + F12 Exit emulator Format of the configuration file mess.cfg: This file defines general (and optionally driver specific) settings for various aspects of the emulation. It contains sections, ie. names enclosed in square brackets like [config], [directory] or [drivername]. These sections contain one or more lines of the form 'variable = value'. The value can be either text or numeric, depending on the option. Boolean options accept 'yes', 'no'. Some options accept 'auto' to let MESS decide what to choose. The following settings are recognized in the [config] section: scanlines = yes|no same as -scanlines / -noscanlines command line options double = auto|yes|no same as -double / -nodouble command line options vsync = yes|no same as -vsync / -novsync command line options syncedtweak = yes vesa = no same as -vesa / -novesa command line options ntsc = no 'yes' is the same as -ntsc command line option vgafreq = 0 same as -vgafreq n command line option depth = 8|16 same as -depth n command line option skiplines = 0 same as -skiplines n command line option skipcolumns = 0 same as -skipcolumns n command line option gamma = G set gamma correction G = 0.5 - 2.0 frameskip = 0|1|2|3 set default frame skip value soundcard = n select a soundcard (-1 always ask, 0 none, 1 - 7 set) oplfm = yes|no use soundblaster OPL chip (same as -fm / -nofm options) samplerate = n same as -samplerate n (or -sr n) command line option samplebits = n same as -samplebits n (or -sb n) command line option mouse = yes|no same as -mouse / -nomouse command line options joytype = n select a joystick (-1 none, 0 - 5 select ) cheat = yes|no 'yes' is the same as -cheat command line option debug = yes|no only for developers (same as -debug option) resolution = auto|XxY select a resolution (automatic or fixed X by Y pixels) It is possible to override this global settings for every driver in it's own section. If you want eg. the Vectrex driver to use a 1024x768 resolution, a gamma correction of 1.5 and no sound you would add a section: [vectrex] resolution = 1024x768 gamma = 1.5 soundcard = 0 Another option for the driver specific sections is 'aliases'. It allows you to specify a set of ROMs or disk images with a short name, eg.: [trs80] arcade = boot.dsk,arcade1.dsk,arcade2.dsk,arcade3.dsk Now you can call 'mess trs80 arcade' and have all four disks inserted.