Firefox Emulation Development

Last updated 15 February 2004

Here is my attempt to get Firefox working in MAME. This is based on the work on the work I did for Mach 3.

Like Mach 3 most of the work has been done by others (Adrian Purser, smf, Chris Hardy) and I am just trying to fix any bugs in the laserdisc controller and merge in the video as MPEG/FLAC streams. Thanks to Doug Jefferys and Jed Margolin for their help in understanding the player.
Thanks to AWB for the logo.

Update 15 February 2004

Got a patch here for mame-0.79 on windows to play both MACH3 and Firefox.

Update 20 January 2004

Got a patch here for xmame-0.78.1 which allows both MACH 3 and Firefox to be played. Seeking is done differently to how the old MACH 3 patch did it and should now play the bomber game properly.
I don't claim the game is perfect, the scene where you are shown to move the yoke back to take off doesn't play correct, and the graphics flash a bit strangely, but if you have a fast enough machine you should be able to play it. My machine is an Athlon XP2000+ and it plays at around 20-30fps. I would be interested to know what spec machine can get it to play at 60fps.

Email me if you have any problems.

Sorry, but incompatibilities between licences prevent me from distributing binaries for any platform. Another sorry for Mac users - I don't have one so can't get a patch made. If anyone makes one I'd like to link to their site.

Instructions for Linux

Update 18 December 2003

Finally had some time to try and get this to a point where it could be released. A patch for xmame 0.62.2 is here. Still got bugs, and is slow, but is playable, kind of. You'll need the video and FLAC audio as well as this frame.bin.

I'll try to clear up the web site and put some instructions up, plus a windows patch this weekend.

Update 3 August 2003

Seeking is now in but needs a little adjustment. Runs way too slow, only 35% on my Athlon XP2000+. Heres a pic from playing the game:

Update 30 July 2003

Merging of the video with the computer generated backdrops is now looking OK. It blends using the bottom 2 bits of the blue. The hard work is mostly done now. Just got to get all the frame seeks out and write a program to determine their positions in the flac and mpeg files. Here is a new picture with the merging looking better:

Update 27 July 2003

Got the laserdisk controller more or less working, at least to a point where I think it will play the game. I've put in the laserdisk mpeg stuff and can now upload a screenshot from the attract mode. I haven't worked out all the seek poistions for the main game so that doesn't work yet.

I don't think any of the built in MAME artwork layers will do exactly what I want regarding merging of the mpeg with the game bitmap so I may have to code a new layer style. This is also a problem in MACH3 but less noticeable due to small er game graphics.

Older stuff

So far I have had little success in getting the laserdisc controller to work correctly but it does at least try to start. I believe the problem lies in either the status codes returned back by the player, the state of the DISK_OPR line, or a timing issue.

To do