MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Making new hash files for MAME (ZX Spectrum)

> It's literally impossible for one person to do all this work, at least if you're
> looking at the cassette side of things; there are more tapes than somebody could
> actually load up and properly test in a lifetime.
>
> The only way it's going to get done is if somebody does bulk convert a lot of it,
> then a bunch of people refine it over time, replace dumps with better ones, document
> all the different loader schemes used etc. It's a lifetime project for a whole group
> of interested people.

Thank you. Even though I don't think much refinement will be needed for the +3 softlist, the cassette list is very likely going to be something else, indeed.
Right now there's just a few cassettes added and many of them seem to be the same release in a different file formats (TZX and TAP), which isn't optimal either even if it's been done manually without a batch conversion. I think the way to go would be to add all known TZX files (current TOSEC) and work from there, adding new releases and any TAP exclusives that may be found.

> To get people interested in refinements the Spectrum emulation probably needs to be a
> lot more solid however, that patch posted on bannister.org did do wonders for that,
> but the way it was implemented was definitely questionable. MAME also faces
> competition from things that simply HLE all the loading, which is a problem I don't
> think much can be done about, but does make it less favourable to people which might
> mean less people want to help out.

Well, I was told the other day that somebody was working on the cycle-by-cycle Z80 emulation so there's hope for that. I just want to have a good fraction of the system's library available right away when it happens.

I'm currently streaming Spectrum games using MAME on weekends and still get the occasional comments of people who didn't have a clue that MAME could emulate computers, but I can see some interest very slowly building up. Of course I can only show them old games that don't do any fancy tricks yet

(I wish I could show them games like Cobra, but that will have to wait).