Steem SSE 3.5.2
-----------------


Steem Engine, by Anthony & Russell Hayward
--------------------------------------------

Steem is a well known Atari ST emulator. It used to be the best ST emulator.
Its development was stopped in 2004, at v3.2. The Steem authors probably got
sick of all the lamers.
Since then, it has remained the best ST emulator with respects to "gameplay",
but other ST emulators like Hatari and SainT are trying to usurp Steem´s
throne.
In 2011 the Steem authors (Hayward bros) released the source code for further
development.


SSE
-----

Steem SSE is a new version of Steem based on this release. It incorporates
new features and emulation improvements, some of them based on the Hatari
emulator, some on various internet discussions and documentation.

Steem SSE aims to become the #1 STF/STE emulator. There´s no limitation in
the original Steem structure that would make that goal unreachable.

´SSE´ stands for ´Steven Seagal Edition´. Steven Seagal is a well known
Aikido grandmaster, action movie star, musician and playboy.
This is also my silly handle at http://www.atari-forum.com.


Available builds
------------------
Both the regular ("user") and the Boiler ("debug") builds are available,
in two versions each, one built with Visual C++ 6, the other with Borland C++
(BCC).
The Boiler may produce interesting Asserts (alert boxes in case of error) and
Traces (check file TRACE.txt).
The main build is ´Steem SSE 3.5.1´.
A Linux build (XSteem) is available too. It trails behing the Windows version
and contains fewer features. All emulation improvements work as well in Linux,
however.


Steem SSE Features
--------------------

- F12 starts/stop emulation, like in most other emulators (in general, not just
ST). The odd Steem key combination was confusing, and dangerous!
Imagine your boss barging in and you don´t know how to stop your virtual ST!
Your own F12 shortcut (for previous versions of Steem) will not operate.
This is not optional, I want nobody fired because of Steem.
The old combination still works too.

- Drive led: green for reading, red for writing, yellow for hard disk.

- Steem won´t run at once anymore when going fullscreen, it will wait for your
orders. (v3.4)
It´s because it would always stutter anyway, at least on all computers I´ve
tried. Way to lose a life.

- Record to AVI (v3.5)
To use this feature, you need to assign a shortcut key combination (eg right
control + V), then use this shortcut to start & stop recording (toggle).
The video will be saved in Steem´s directory as ´SteemVideo.avi´, erasing the
previous file if necessary.
If the MPG4 codec is in your system, it will be used, if not the MSVC codec
will be used.
Neither video nor sound, nor sync are great. Sound isn´t compressed.
Apparently some computers record the full screen! No idea why.
Certainly there´s room for improvement. We don´t use DirectShow yet.
Windows-only.

- RAR archive support (v3.5)
Using the free Unrar.dll plugin by RAR labs. You need to have this DLL in
Steem folder or in any system path, just like unzip32.dll.
Windows-only.

- Save screenshot as NEO (v3.5)
Hopefully with the correct palette. Some programs change it all the time, so
it´s better to take the screenshots while the emulation is running, or you
could a black screenshot. Even so, the risk exists.
I made this for the demo included with Steem SSE 3.5.
Note that Steem can also use ´FreeImage´ library for various formats
(PNG etc). Not my doing, was in v3.2.
Windows-only.

- indicate Pasti is in charge on disk manager (v3.5)

- nuked WinSTon import, it´s outdated (v3.5)

- nuked update process (v3.5)

- Match TOS with ST type: refresh in TOS list (only TOS1.02 and 1.06)


New options
-------------

Some new options are available, most of them regrouped in a new ´SSE´ tab
(I hope everybody will recognise the icon, I made it myself!).

- Option ´Display Size´
´Original´ is what you had in Steem 3.2, and is fine for most programs.
It´s also close to what a real Atari SC1224 monitor showed.
´Large´ adds some pixels and is the max for fullscreen in straight
blit mode (800 pixels width), a pleasant experience if you have the right
monitor. This mode uses a trick in DirectX, so display when emulation is not
running could be wrong, and flip mode won´t work in fullscreen (don´t worry,
Steem will switch for you).
There are two settings with a small difference in the number of scanlines.
Generally, 275 is the best, I think (but I´m not sure) that it´s the max
number of lines that could be fetched from the ST video RAM.
´Very Large´ (412x280) displays all the ST could possibly display, but most
users didn´t see it all due to the monitor.
The width was reputed to be 416 pixels but the overscan technique caused the
loss of the first 4 pixels.
This mode could reveal some trash in programs as coders didn´t see all
either. Note that part of the trash may be emulation issue (D4/Nightmare).
You can even change those options while the emulation is running.

- Display: new option ´scanlines interpolated´, mixing ´stretch´ mode with
scanline. That way the picture resembles more the display of a colour
monitor on a real ST. (v3.5.1)
The option is available in both low and medium resolutions.
The option is not in the SSE option tab but in ´Display´, it works
(or should) for both windowed and full screen modes.
Like some other SSE features, it´s more a hack than anything.
Please don´t change while emulation is running, it could crash Steem.
Windows-only.

- Floppy drive: new option to display current drive, side, track and sector.
Yes kid, admit it, it was your fantasy, now it´s true! (v3.5.1)
The option is not in the SSE option tab but in ´On Screen Display´.

- Disk image name scrolling (same option tab). (v3.5.1)

- Option ´Capture mouse´

- Option ´Hacks´
This option covers two kinds of things:
- Convenience hacks, like for TOS1.06 medium resolution fix, or fitting the
window size in Best Part of the Creation
- Emulation hacks, when emulation of some feature isn´t perfect yet we want
the programs to run. Since we don´t understand everything in the feature,
those hacks could break something, hence the option.
In the current version (3.5.1), it mainly covers some "shifts" when
the program writes in the video counter registers (STE mode).
It is recommended to disable ´Hacks´ only if you meet problems (please
report).

- Option ´Emu detect´
v3.4
When you disable this option, Steem won´t cooperate with programs trying
to assert if they run on an emulator. It may be useful if there are still
incurable hardware fanboys around producing worthwhile code that refuses
to run in emulators (I know of no case though), or if some hacker fixed
the program to adapt it to an emulation issue that has since been improved
(eg Sentinel by Klapauzius).

- Option ´ST Model´
This is the long awaited STF/STE switch in Steem.
This switch is a departure from the original STEem, which endeavoured to
emulate only the STE.
The STE was the better computer but most programs were coded with the older
STF in mind.
Emulating the differences between STF and STE is not so hard and makes a lot
more programs, some I find important, run in Steem.
You can change this option during emulation but at your risk.
Even if some STE programs may work in TOS 1.02, it´s better to use TOS 1.06
or 1.62.
The emulator won´t compel you, but will try to match a default compatible TOS
when you change the option.
It only looks for 1.02-STF, 1.06-STE, because they seem to be the most
compatible TOS.
The STF won´t boot with TOS 1.06, 1.02 or 1.04 is recommended, though 1.00
may be necessary for older programs.
The Mega STF option gives you the blitter and 4MB, that´s all it does, it´s
for fun (and we do this for fun, right?)

- Option ´HD6301V1 true emu´
Using code by Arne Riiber and doc by Stephane Catala - Belzebub / ST
Connexion), Steem features CPU-level emulation of the IKBD chip since
v3.4.
The main goal was to be able to run some demos reprogramming that chip
without copying Hatari code, but it does more than that, being better than
fake emu in some cases, worse in others. When you change this option, you
normally should reset the ST, but Steem won´t force you.
For this option to work, copy the (supplied) IKBD rom ´HD6301V1ST.img´ into
your Steem folder.
To reduce code footprint, removed hack that has demos Dragonnels,
Froggies, Transbeauce 2 running without ´true 6301 emu mode´ in v3.5.1.

- Option ´Keyboard click´
This option reflects the state of bit 1 of address $484 in the ST, that
is checked by the OS to know if it must produce that annoying click or not
when you press a key. It´s like on the GEM Control Panel, but always
available.It was often requested and is at last available in this Steem
build. It would be most useful for playing the Pasti version of The Pawn,
for example.
Use this switch only when you want to get rid of clicks. Many programs
overwrite this memory zone, and changing some byte could crash the ST.

- Option ´PSG Filter´
Disable to get the original Steem 3.2 filter of the YM2149 soundchip,
enable for another filter, more open (and in fact simpler). This is very
subjective, I prefer PSG sound like this, including samples.

- Option ´STE Microwire´
STEem being an STE emulator, it was about time to add support for this
rarely used feature of the STE, the ultra-cheap Microwire tone controller.
We use simple 3rd party DSP code by Maverick (Fabio Bizzetti) to add
control over volume, balance, bass & treble in those rare cases.
I´m sure it doesn´t exactly sound like on an STE, but I doubt they sounded
that great anyway.

- Option ´Wake-up state´ (v3.5)
This is a very technical point, the ST´s processor and the video circuit
share the RAM bus qnd this is a huge liqbility.
Wake-up state means which chip gets the first cycles each time.
It is determined somewhat randomly (depending on temperature for example!)
at power-on on a true ST.
Emulation of this is partial.
You may generally ignore this option, it is useful only to check the
display of some demos: Death of the Left Border, Omega Full Overscan,
Overdrive/Dragon, Forest...

- Option ´Pasti only for STX´ (v3.5.1)
This makes Pasti handle only STX images, Steem being in charge of the rest.
Interesting possibilities: you may try and copy STX images on a ST disk
image. No guarantee!
Windows-only.


Emulation features
--------------------

- Some CPU exception fixes (Beyond, Phaleon, Transbeauce 2...) which have
brought Steem on the same level as Hatari for protected demos.
In v3.5.1, value of PC (program counter) in some provoked crashes now
based on Motorola microcode analysis!
No more vulgar opcode-based hacks in Steem baby (Blood Money, European Demos,
Phaleon, Transbeauce 2, War Heli...)
- CPU prefetch. It was good enough but while trying to fix some problems,
I remade it all, enforcing ijor´s rules; now it´s there in any case. I think
Steem has the best prefetch of all ST emulators.
- CPU prefetch timing: removed the shifter counter hack made necessary by
premature cycle counting. You won´t notice any difference but it´s a huge
internal change, and for this too Steem leads the way.
- CPU DIV timings from ijor (Dragonnels, Pandemonium, proving they´re correct!)
- CPU fetching in IO zone

- More shifter tricks handled: 0-byte line, STE +20 line, 4bit hardscroll...
(v3.3)
Much taken from Hatari, also from Atari-forum discussions, doc by demo makers,
etc.
- STE hardscroll in medium resolution (v3.4)

- Disk drive slow mode: bug fixes and improvements (Disk manager option
"Accurate Disk Access Times", snails appear on disk icons), mainly inspired
by Hatari, Kryoflux, technical documentation about controller and disk
format (gaps).
Steem is now closer to the hardware.

- Pasti: toggling Pasti on/off in the disk manager will not force a reset
anymore.
Smarter disk manager, setting pasti on/off as needed, displaying all
images.

- IPF support (disk format of images saved by Kryoflux hardware) (v3.5)
You need CAPSimg.dll in Steem´s directory. It´s available here:
http://www.softpres.org/download
To use this feature, just run an IPF disk. There´s no option like for
Pasti because CAPS only does IPF.
We use the low-level WD1772 included in the DLL, so it´s a matter of
integrating emulations, a bit like for the HD6301 emulation.
The real work was done by István Fábián and The Software Preservation
Society.
IPF support is as good as that emulation. Some features are not implemented
(write commands).
Windows-only.

- Timings: more precise STE CPU frequency, more precise STE DMA sound frequency,
more precise MFP timers for shorter intervals (HWTST001.PRG). (v3.5.1)

- ACIA emulation making a more explicit use of the chip´s registers, with
some improvements (MIDI: Notator) (v3.5.1)

- Attempt to reduce aliasing, eg Star Trek - nog very good! (v.3.5.1)
If you´re annoyed by cracks in samples caused by the filter, uncheck DSP or
Microwire.

- TOS106 medium resolution bug hack (desktop.inf will work!)

- STE auto set RAM to 2MB, STF to 1MB, for better compatibility. Of course
you can still change it at your convenience. (v3.5.1)

- Various other fixes: MMU, Blitter (v3.4)...


Improvements of v3.5.2
------------------------

- Bugfix options ´Drive track info´, ´Pasti only for STX´ on/off (Win32)
- Drive track info: no sector when fast mode
- Infobox will display SSE readme and FAQ; new font and size
- More screenshots (100,000 instead of 1,000)
- Bugfix CPU: Aladin, Fuzion 77 78 84
- MFP: some improvements/refactoring inspired by Hatari (IACK, IRQ delay)
- Blitter: writing 0 in #lines register translates into 65536.
- Bugfix line -106 bytes shifter trick threshold (Just Buggin´)
- Shifter trick STE line +20, shift display (Riverside)
- Bugfix read SDP: Mindbomb/No Shit (vs. SNYD/TCB)
- Internal: new method for demos that destablise the shifter (option
"STF wake-up state 2")
- Some ACIA bugfixes and improvements (High Fidelity Dreams, Overdrive Demos,
Brataccas)
- Floppy disk: handle when there´s no disk in drive (European Demos)
- Sound: renounce for now anti-aliasing attempts


Programs working better in Steem
----------------------------------

If you don´t get it working read hints here below. Maybe you should (un)check
option ´Hacks´ or select anohter ST type or TOS, slow drive, etc.

Games
--------

- Blood Money STX+IPF (CPU) (3.5.1)
- Enchanted Land (shifter counter) (STF/STE) (3.3)
- The Final Conflict (3.3)
- Hyper Force (STF) (3.3)
- International 3D Tennis (STF) (3.3)
- Jumping Jackson (Auto): no menu; useless as I know of no good disk image (3.4)
- Leavin´ Terramis (60hz overscan) (3.4)
- Live & Let Die (STF) (3.3)
- Manchester United: mouse control (3.4)
- Microprose Golf: drive (slow) (thx Petari) (3.5.1)
- Mortville Manor (hiss, probably was already in released code) (3.4)
- Nightdawn (STF) (3.3)
- No Buddies Land (smooth vertical scrolling) (3.3)
- Rainbow Island (auto 231) (STF) (3.3)
- The Sentinel (mouse, 3.4) (Auto001, 3.5.1 slow disk)
- Seven Gates Of Jambala (Timer B - from Hatari) (3.3)
- Trex Warriors (Timer B - from Hatari) (3.4)
- Titan STE mode (CPU exception) (3.3)
- Titan STF mode (thx Petari) (3.5)
- Ultimate Arena STF (thx Petari)(it quits instead of crashing, yeaaaah)(3.5)
- Warp STX (CPU) (3.5.1) - use correct image on SSE site or Petari´s (2D)
- X-Out (mouse, HD6301) (3.4) + HD version (3.5.1)

- Demos
---------

We fix more demos than games just because demo programming was edgier.
Note that STE demos are tested with TOS106.

- 36.15 Gen4 by Cakeman (STF) timings,not 100% (3.3)
- 36.15 Gen4 by ULM: timings - torn scroller (3.4)
- 4pixel Rasters: prefetch - raster size (3.3)
- Beat Demo (STE): sound controls (Microwire) (3.4)
- Beyond: Loader (CPU); Pax Plax Parallax STF (3.4)
- Big Wobble (STE): shifted pic (´Hacks´) (3.4)
- Blood by Holocaust: disk (3.5)
- Cernit Trandafir (STE, 4MB): CPU timings, 2nd screen (3.5)
- Cool STE: terrible flicker, unreadable & jerky scrollers (3.4)
- Corporation Megademo (STE): keyboard (´Hacks´) (3.4)
- Dangerous Fantaisy: credits (STE): flicker (´Hacks´) (3.4)
- Death of the Left Border (STF2) (3.3)
- Delirious 4 (STE): Loader (FDC), NGC, Nightmare, Tekila (´Hacks´) (3.3,
3.4)
- Dragonnels: Loader (CPU), Menu (IKBD), Rainbow Wall (Borders),
Unlimited Bobs (IKBD) (3.3)
- E605: planet (STE)(option Hacks) (3.4)
- European Demos: Loader (3.3), Disk B (´Hacks´) (3.5.2)
- Extreme Rage (STE): guest screen overscan (3.4)
- Forest aka shforstv.exe in STF1 (3.4), STF2 (3.3), STE (3.4) modes!
- Froggies Over The Fence: Menu (3.3)
- Golden Soundtracker (STE): wrong background colour (3.4)
- Imagination/Roller Coaster (STF) (3.3)
- Japtro STF (3.3); STE (3.5.1)
- More or less Zero (STE, 2MB) (3.3)
- The Musical Wonder 91 (STF) (3.4)
- No Cooper: Greetings (3.3)
- Nostalgia: Lemmings (STF, STE) (3.3)
- Omega Full Overscan Screen (STF2) (3.3)
- Overdrive: Loader (3.5), Dragon by Ghost (STF2, Hacks) (3.4)
- Pacemaker credits (STE) (´Hacks´) (3.4)
- Pandemonium Demos: Loader (CPU) (3.3)
- Phaleon: Loader (CPU) (3.3)
- PYM: Best Part of the Creation, ST-CNX (STF) (3.3)
- Revolution (larger display) (3.3)
- RGBeast by Aggression (STE): mush, overscan (3.4)
- Riverside by DHS (STE) (3.5.2)
- SoWatt: Menu, Sync (STF) (3.3)
- Sphere by Sunny (STE): jerky scroller (3.4)
- ST-NICCC 2000 Final by Oxygene (STF+STE version): drive speed (3.5.1)
- Summer Delights (STE) #1, #11, #14 (3.3), #5, #7 (3.5)
- Super Neo Demo Show (all RAM configs) (3.3)
- Swedish New Year Demo/TCB (STF, hacks) (3.3)
- SNYD2/Sync fullscreen (F5) (STF) (3.4)
- Transbeauce 2: Loader (CPU exceptions), Menu (IKBD) (3.3)
- Ultimate GFA Demo boot screen (STF) (3.4)
- Union Demo: Menu, Fullscreen (STF) (3.3)
- V8 Music System: keyboard (3.3)

- Menu intros
---------------

- Automation 168 (STF) (3.3)
- BBC 52 (overscan) (3.3)
- Lemmings 40 (STF) (3.3)

- Applications
----------------

- Aladin: (crash on load)
- Atari Diagnostic Cartridge (3.5.2)
- NEOchrome: mouse speed? (HD6301 emu) (3.4)
- Notator: tempo, stalling (3.5.1)
- ProCopy: Analyze (3.5.1) - What da ya say, useless?
- Spectrum 512 painting program: jitter (ACIA) (3.4)


And countless other programs!


Patches
---------

There are also new patches included with the archive.
Some are useful only with older versions of Steem.


Bugs
------

Please report bugs, especially broken programs, here:
http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=94&t=25093
(Steem SSE 3.5 post-mortem thread)

No more email/PM please, the more activity on the Atari forum the better.

Please read this file and the SSE FAQ, the answer to some questions are already
in there.

Please try different settings before reporting, not all programs are supposed
to work with all versions of TOS, or on a STF, STE, etc.



Steem SSE Web sites
---------------------

https://sourceforge.net/projects/steemsse/

http://ataristeven.t15.org/Steem.htm (all builds, ST programs, pics, doc)

http://code.google.com/p/steem-engine/ (source v3.3, Subversion)

https://steemsse.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/steemsse (source v3.4 & up,
Subversion)


Release history
-----------------

Steem SSE V.3.3.0, 28/02/2012
Steem SSE V.3.4.0, 22/09/2012
XSteem SSE V.3.4.0, 06/10/2012
Steem SSE V.3.4.1, 14/11/2012
Steem SSE V.3.5.0, 27/02/2013
XSteem SSE V.3.5.0, 02/03/2013
Steem SSE V.3.5.1, 11/06/2013
XSteem SSE V.3.5.1, 13/06/2013
Steem SSE V.3.5.1 OPT, 15/06/2013
Steem SSE V.3.5.2, 04/08/2013
XSteem SSE V.3.5.2, 04/08/2013