Release Notes for CD-i Emulator, version 0.5.3-beta4

This version of CD-i Emulator is the fourth beta release for version 0.5.3.

This is not a public beta release; please do not distribute this version.
The next public beta release will appear shortly.

This beta release can be used standalone or you can install it over an
existing version 0.5.2 installation (both limited and unlimited editions).

To avoid overwriting the existing wcdiemu.exe file, the executable of
this release is named wcdiemu-v053b4.exe; it will co-exist alongside an
existing version 0.5.2 executable.

The files cdiroms.ini and cditypes.rul are updated versions of those
shipped with version 0.5.2; most files in the sys directory have also
been updated. All other files are either new or identical to their
version 0.5.2 counterparts, except for this RELNOTES file.

These Release Notes expand but do not supersede the Release Notes for
CD-i Emulator version 0.5.2 and earlier 0.5.3-beta versions. You can
find these in the RELNOTES-v052 file and various RELNOTES-v053b* files.

This beta executable is essentially a limited edition: CD-i emulation
is limited to three minutes between CD-i player resets unless you have
already activated an unlimited edition v0.5.2 on your machine or you're
using a Philips Mono-I player system ROM (200 F1, 210 F1, 220 F2).

The Mono-I exception is mainly intended to allow for full compatibility
tests against the MESS CD-i driver; I haven't decided yet for how long
this exception will be maintained.

With this beta executable you cannot save the contents of NVRAM such as
high scores and other CD-i title settings.

There will be no separate unlimited edition of beta releases and
you cannot activate such releases. You can achieve the same effect by
activating an unlimited edition of version 0.5.2, however.

When the beta cycle is over a seperate unlimited edition of the final
version 0.5.3 version will be made available.

The beta executable will not register itself with Windows; as a
consequence the Options | Associations menu is not useful (it will
associate file extensions with the version 0.5.2 executable if one
exists on your system).

On Windows Vista and newer registering and associating file extensions
would not work correctly anyway because they require UAC elevation.

The following changes have been made between the version 0.5.3-beta3 and
this version 0.5.3-beta4 release:

- The built-in expiration date has been updated to 2019/01/01.

- CD-i 180 emulation is now supported.

- Audio can now be saved in the native sample rate ???

- A faster and more flexible video combiner has been implemented;
as a result there may be some new video emulation bugs.

- A small number of minor bugs have also been fixed.

- Many more internal changes...

There are a number of known issues in this version:

- CD-i 180 pointing device emulation does not work (it did before).

If you have bug reports, comments or suggestions please post them on
the CD-i Emulator Support Forum at http://www.cdinteractive.co.uk/forum
(you will need to register) so that other people can also find the
information. 

Have fun!