This is the third ALPHA VERSION of Retrocade for OS/2.
Use it at your own risk, though I appreciate your feedback on it.

NEW/FIXED THIS VERSION!:
   * FULL SCREEN GRAPHICS using Scitech's MGL
   * Mouse support
   * Partial vector game support (will be fixed/sped up for next release)


Things to be aware of:
1] This version *requires* use of the TIMER0 device driver.
   Most people already have a working version of this on their systems
   but you should be aware that it can disrupt operations in concurrent
   DOS and Windows applications.

2] DART is *required* for now.  Your sound card must support DART otherwise
   this version of Retrocade will not have sound.  Future releases will
   support the standard MMPM/2 interface as well.

3] DART audio buffers are set to a minumum of 1K.  Some sound drivers may
   need a bigger audio buffer and may not work with this version of 
   Retrocade.  This will be adjustable in future releases.

4] This version requires the installation of SDDHELP.SYS build 69 or later.

5] OS/2 believes that it is in a full screen text mode while Retrocade is
   running.  If a fatal error is encountered, such as a SYS3175, a full
   screen popup error will appear.  Note however, that OS/2 is not aware
   that you are in a graphics mode and may not be able to display such
   popup messages correctly.  If Retrocade blanks out and you are left with
   a stagnant black screen with no sound playing, press ENTER a few times
   and then type "MODE CO80" to restore text mode.

6] If you need to break out of Retrocade in a hurry, you can try using
   CTRL-C.  It should exit immediately with the message "Unhandled
   exception."

7] If you wind up back at your desktop while Retrocade is running (by
   accidentally hitting CTRL-ESC or something), Retrocade will still
   assume it has control of the display and will do interesting
   things to your desktop.  (Don't worry, no damage will be done.)
   You can fix things up by going back to the full screen session
   and hitting ESC if you are in the middle of a game (in other words,
   do something to make Retrocade change the screen mode and it will
   be fine).  Future versions of MGL will fix this problem.

8] Due to a small problem I'm having with MGL, the PAUSE key is not
   functioning.  I have assigned the PAUSE key functionality to the
   F12 key until this issue is resolved.

9] Since Retrocade is now full screen, there is no more reliable console
   output.  All of the debug info that used to be displayed on the console
   of the PM version of Retrocade will now be recorded in a file named
   OS2Retro.Log located in the from which Retrocade was run.

10] This version will produce core files when a problem is encountered.

   IF YOU ENCOUNTER A PROBLEM:  First check the list of known deficiencies 
   below.  If your problem is listed, then there's obviously no need to tell
   me about it.  If your problem is not listed, e-mail me a *text message*
   describing the actions leading up to your problem and whatever you can
   read from the console window.  SAVE YOUR CORE FILES!  If you find a 
   problem and write to me about it, I may ask you to zip up the core file
   and e-mail it to me.  This will be extremely helpful in solving the problem.

11] Known deficiencies:
   * Some vector games don't work properly.
   * Dig Dug 2 and possibly other Mappy-based games are not properly 
     emulated -- this is a Retrocade core problem and will likely be fixed
     when I update to the latest version of the Retrocade core.
   * Williams games like Joust, Defender, and Blaster do not always work 
     properly -- this is also a Retrocade core problem and will likely be
     fixed when I update to the latest version of the Retrocade core.
   * Nintendo based games like Donkey Kong Jr. / Donkey Kong / Mario Bros.
     will cause a GPF or lockup -- again this is a Retrocade core problem.
   * Joystick is not currently supported.  This will be addressed
     in the next release.
   * If you had sound problems before, they're probably still the same now
     because I didn't touch the sound code.  I'll tackle that one next 
     release.
   * I have seen an occasional SYS3175 on exitting.  If this occurs for you
     please try to describe *precisely* what took place during the 
     Retrocade session leading up to the problem.
   * Some of the performance statistics (F5 during a game) are slightly
     bogus.


Getting Started
===============

** YOU NEED EMX TO RUN RETROCADE **  Download it (EMXRT.ZIP) from Hobbes or 
your favorite OS/2 software archive.

Just unzip the main Retro.Zip file (which you've undoubtedly already done).
Then grab whichever PAK files you want to use and place them in the same
directory as the executable or a subdirectory named PAKS.  I suggest grabbing
all of the PAK files to get the full Retrocade experience.  ;-)

Make sure you have installed and booted up with build 69 or higher of
the SDDHELP.SYS device driver from Scitech.  Build 69 is included in this
archive, however, you should *NOT* install it unless your version is
older.

Next, you're ready to run Retrocade for the first time.  If you have a
directory with ROM files from other emulators, such as MAME, you can tell
Retrocade to use that directory as follows:

retro -romdir x:\rom_directory

(obviously replacing x: with the proper drive and rom_directory with the
proper directory)

From there, you'll be in the Retrocade GUI which is powerful and easy to use.
In the future I'll include more documentation on the Retrocade GUI itself, but
for now, you should be able to get around it without much difficulty.

Note that once you use the -romdir parameter once, you don't need to use it
again, as this information will be stored in the Retrocade registry 
(Retro.Reg).

Please give me feedback if you are having graphics compatibility problems.

I hope you all enjoy this!

Send your feedback and bug reports to mamedev@stny.rr.com.  Keep your eye on
http://emuos2.vintagegaming.com for the latest in Retrocade and MAME news.

