			 ColEm for Win32 0.1.2
	       ColecoVision emulator for the Win32 platform.
	  Core emulator code copyright (C) 1996  Marat Fayzullin
		   Ported to Win32 by Neal Danner

	     ColecoVision (tm) is a trademark of Coleco.

The latest versions of ColEm for Unix/X, MAC, and Win32 can be found
at http://www.freeflight.com/fms/ColEm.

ColEm is a non-profit emulator created for those individuals who were
and still are fans of the Coleco gaming era and who wish to play
thier ColecoVision games on todays operating systems.

PLEASE NOTE:  No catridge ROM images are included with ColEm due 
to the fact that most of the ColecoVision games are still in copyright
by their respective holders.  Also, Marat Fayzullin nor Neal Danner 
WILL NOT be held responsible for acts of copyright violation dealing 
with ROM image distribution.  Let me say that again, Marat Fayzullin
nor Neal Danner WILL NOT be held responsible for acts of copyright 
violation dealing with ROM image distribution.  We have not and we 
will not distrubute them and therefore we cannot be held reponsible
for such actions.

NOTE: ColEm for Win32 requires that the WinG graphics libraries and
binaries are installed on your system.  The WinG libraries are 
currently available at ftp.microsoft.com as WING10.ZIP.  If you don't
have WING installed, then you must download WING10.ZIP from 
ftp.microsoft.com and install it prior to running ColEm for Win32.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Enhancements/fixes included in version 0.1.2
------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Palette handling problems have been fixed.
2) Keyboard mapping info is provided via help menu
3) Emulator will now attempt to preset emulation speed based on 
   overall system speed.
4) Various changes to About box and menu text and menu ordering.

------------------------------------------------------------------
File(s) included in COLEMWIN.ZIP
------------------------------------------------------------------
COLEMWIN.EXE - ColEm for Win32 application executable file (run this!)
COLEMWIN.TXT - This file (your reading it!) =)

------------------------------------------------------------------
System requirements
------------------------------------------------------------------
32-bit version of Windows (Win3.1x w/Win32S, Win95, WinNT)
WinG graphic libraries (Located at ftp.microsoft.com as WING10.ZIP).

ColEm for Win32 has been tested and worked correctly
under the following Win32 platforms with WinG installed:

   Windows 3.1x w/Win32S (inc. WFW3.11 w/Win32S)
   Windows 95
   Nashville (Aka Windows 96)
   Windows NT 3.5x
   Windows NT 4.00 beta

------------------------------------------------------------------
Common Questions
------------------------------------------------------------------
Q0) Where can I get the COLECO.ROM file that the emulator requires?
    
    A0) Why, you can get it right from your ColecoVision game console
	with a screw driver and a ROM reader.  Due to copyright
	issues the ROM image cannot be distributed with ColEm for 
	Win32.  Some daring hacker will post it on the net though.
	And no, I didn't say that to indicate that "we" have posted
	it.  "We" haven't posted it and "we" will not ever.  You'll
	have to dump the one in your ColecoVision system, making 
	you a legal holder of the ROM image for which you can use
	with ColEm.  If you dump your ColecoVision ROM to disk, be sure
	not to distribute it as we are sure you understand the penalties 
	incurred for violating Coleco's copyright.
	      
	NOTE: At the time of this writing, someone had posted the 
	COLECO.ROM along with a bunch of game ROM images at 
	ftp://altair.komkon.com/pub/Coleco.  We ARE NOT in any way 
	associated with this ftp site.  We found out about
	this site by an anonymous news article posted in both 
	comp.emulators.misc and rec.games.video.classic.  Our 
	recommendation is to avoid this site entirely and for you
	to obtain the ROMs legally by dumping your original 
	ColecoVision and game catridge ROMs.



Q1) I have successfully obtained the ColecoVision's ROM (COLECO.ROM), now
    where can I get some cartridge ROM images to use the emulator
    with?

    A1) No where that we know of.  The cartridge ROM images are still
	under copyright by their respective holders.  Distributing
	the ROMs is illegal!  If you physically own some ColecoVision
	catridges, then it would be OK for you dump them and use them
	with the emulator since you truly own the game.  It would
	however, be illegal for you to distribute that ROM image to
	others who do not own it.  As can be expected, some hacker 
	probably has some ROM images posted somewhere on the net.
	This is not implying that we know where, just the fact that 
	out of millions of people on the net, someone will be daring 
	enough to post a few.  Instructions on how to dump your 
	ColecoVision cartridges will be available shortly.  If you
	can't wait, read the "NOTE" at the end of the answer for
	question #0 above.



Q2) When I try and run COLEMWIN.EXE, Windows just tosses up a dialog 
    box with an error message dealing with the WING.DLL or WING32.DLL.

    A2) Make sure that you have installed the WinG runtime libraries.
	Again these are availabe at ftp.microsoft.com as WING10.ZIP.



Q3) After playing for a few minutes, the emuator screen gets garbled.

    A3) Make sure that you don't have the "Generate NMI every xxxx opcodes"
	option set to low.  This option, along with a few others, can
	be found in the dialog displayed by selecting the File -> Setup 
	menu item.  It is however, best that you let ColEm automatically
	adjust the NMI emulation setting based on your system speed.
	You can do this by leaving "Let ColEm handling NMI emulation
	settings internally" option checked.  If this still doesn't
	fix it then uncheck the "automatic handling" option and
	bump up the NMI generation setting manually by 500 at a time
	until the problems disappears.  The problem is really caused
	by a NMI being generated before the previous NMI is finished,
	causing the emulated Z80 CPU's stack to be decremented every
	NMI, resulting in a memory wrap and overwriting the 
	cartridge ROM image in memory!

Q4) This thing is too damn slow!

    A4) First, you'll need a pretty fast machine in order to even get
	close to the ColecoVision's true speed.  A 486-DX250 or higher
	with a local-bus video card is pretty much the minimum system
	configuration.  If you have a system of that configuration and
	are experiencing slowness you may try any of the following:
		
	1) If your running a high-color or true-color video mode
	   try lowering your color-depth to 8-bit (256 color)
	   and trying it.  8-bit color (256) requires 33% less data to
	   update the screen than 16-bit color (65536) and 66% less data
	   to update than 24-bit color (16-million).  Setting your
	   display driver to 8-bit color should definately speed things
	   up.
			
	2) Uncheck the "Let ColEm handling NMI generation internally"
	   option in the File -> Setup dialog and try the following:
		
	   2a) Bump up the "Update display on every xxx generated NMI"
	       option 2 at a time and see if that helps.  If you
	       exceed 8, the display may appear "jerky".
			
	   2b) Lower the "Generate NMI every xxxx opcodes" option
	       by 500 at a time until things start to smooth out.
	       If you go to low you will see the screen garble 
	       after a few mintues.  If this is true bump the
	       value up by 500 at a time until the display garble
	       problem disappears.  When it disappears the
	       value you stopped at is the lowest you can use for
	       the "Generate NMI every xxxx opcodes" setting.
	       Details on why the garble occurs are explained in
	       question Q3 above.


Q5) This thing is too damn fast!

    A5) Pfft! Yea right!  We'll if it is, go into the File -> Setup area
	and lower the value displayed in the "Maximum opcodes processed per
	time slice" edit box.  You will probably have to go as low as 128 or
	even lower before you notice a decrease in speed.


Do you have any questions that aren't answered above?  Send your question(s) 
to Neal Danner at neald@beta.datastorm.com.

