Spectaculator 2.5 released!

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Spectaculator 2.5 is now available to download. It boasts a number of improvements
to the emulation as well as support for zip files and cheating at via pokes!

User interface

  • Starts in full screen mode if you were last in full screen mode.
  • ‘View Cassette recorder’ and ‘Reset the Spectrum’ are available on the toolbar.
  • Poke Memory option on Tools menu.
  • Open files directly from zip archives (even zips in zips). Includes a zip browser to select a file from a multi-file archive. If the archive only contains one file Spectaculator recognises, it will open it automatically.
  • Revised border options. The Border->None option has been changed to Border->Small. This border is just big enough for you to see it whilst keeping the speed up on slower computers.
  • Cheat (.pok) files created by SGD.
  • Some shortcut keys have changed – sorry.
  • Online help revised and converted from WinHelp to HTML Help.
  • Bugfix: Open and Save As dialogs are now always visible in full screen mode.

Cassette recorder

  • Ultra-fast TZX loading (about 3x over v2.0)
  • More compatible fast loading: later versions of the Paul Owens Protection system such as Rainbow Islands now load (was an interrupt frequency problem). Latest issue of Technician Ted from the TZX Vault works as well.
  • Bugfix: The cassette recorder window can be moved when the emulation is paused.
  • Hold down shift to override auto load.
  • Auto play now works on custom loaders (e.g. Myth).
  • Auto stop stops playback if Spectrum isn’t loading (for broken audio cassette files with missing stop blocks).
  • Load programs from VOC/WAV/CSW files. The files are divided up into two second blocks so you can randomly seek and rewind, if you need to.

Emulation

  • Floating bus emulation as per Ramsoft technical docs (Sidewize and Richochet now run).
  • Multiface 1 support (includes licensed ROM).
  • High resolution border emulation (e.g. the number countdown in Starion, the scrolling message at the beginning of the Sentinel).
  • Multicolour rendering is now a tad more accurate (e.g. Shock Megademo and Overscan demos).
  • Bug fixes to the sound generation that could cause a crash on NT 4. Unfortunately, you will still get a high degree of latency due to the poor implementation of DirectSound on NT. It should no longer break up, however.
  • Lots of optimisations to the core and display rendering. CPU usage should be similar to v2.0.