What's new in Visual PinMAME:
-----------------------------

Version 1.55 (March 30th, 2007)
-------------------------------
- ChgGI(x, 1) now returns different values for WPC GI string dimming (Steve Ellenoff)
- Added support for "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!"
- Happy 6th anniversary VPinMAME!

Version 1.54 (December 23rd, 2006)
----------------------------------
- Off Level corrected for display brightness dialog
- Happy 35th birthday Steve!

Version 1.53, (June 1, 2006)
----------------------------
- added display rotation for the vpm window
- added the code from Jarez Bienz which allows you to set the display dd3 surface
- fixed a bug in the paths dialog (the first three weren't displayed anymore after a game was started)
- If you execute Controler.Run without a parent window VPM will now search for a running VPPlayer-Window and
  if it's found it's used
- just before the VPM window becomes visible it is checked if the parent window is present and visible. If it's
  not visible VPM will wait until it becomse visible (or a timeout of one second times out). Once the
  parent window is visible it will be set as the active and foreground window
- selecting the vpm display and pressing escape will cause an error - known issue
  
Version 1.52 (August 1th, 2005)
-------------------------------
- Added an easter egg screen: THANK YOU GUYS!
- Controller.Hidden fixed

Version 1.51 (January 11, 2005)
-------------------------------
- New properties for the Controller object:
    - Controller.Game: An abbreviation for Controller.Game(Controller.GameName).
      It returns the game object for the current game. It's now a bit easier
      for a script to make game specific settings. You don't have to use the "GameName".
      Example: Controller.Game.Settings.Value("dmd_pos_x") = 20
    - Controller.MechSamples(bool): Enables the samples for mechanical devices (flippers, bumpers etc).
      Sound-board specific samples will still be played (if not disabled by dip switches for the game).
      This setting is not sticky and will be reset to "false" when a new game name is set.
      An assignment will only have an effect if done before "Controller.Run".
- New methods for the controller object:
    - Controller.GetWindowRect(hWnd): Returns an array of four integer values (0-3)
      which holds the coordinates (left, top, right, bottom)
      of the window with the handle 'hWnd' in screen coordinates.
      If 'hwnd' is absent or an invalid window handle the coordinates of the screen will be returned.
    - Controller.GetClientRect(hWnd): Returns an array of four integer values (0-3)
      which holds the client area coordinates (left, top, right, bottom)
      of the window with the handle 'hWnd' in screen coordinates.
      If 'hwnd' is absent, or an invalid window handle, the coordinates of the screen will be returned.
- New method for Game.Settings:
    - Game.Settings.SetDisplayPosition x, y, hWnd: Moves the display to position (x:y).
      If "hWnd" is present and a valid window handle, the move is relative to the client position of the window.
      Otherwise it will be positioned relative to the upper left corner of the screen.
- Controller.SetDisplayPosition is fixed and works as desired now.
  Nevertheless, this method is deprecated, so please use the function as described above!
- The display window can be moved to every x position by now (not just to multiples of 16 pixels as before)
- While moving the display, it made short jumps if the title and/or the border was visible; this bug is gone now.
- Changed the warning message on the "Game Info" dialog:
  When starting a game, the sound processor(s) will be disabled if a sound rom is missing;
  the new warning message will reflect this behaviour.
- Switching from full-screen mode back to windowed mode (Alt+Enter) will restore the desktop background.
- Improved initializing of the VPM display:
  It will always become visible at the right position, and will always be the topmost window
- If a valid handle to the "parent" window is added to Controller.Run,
  this window will be set to the foreground on VPM startup

Version 1.50 (November 1, 2004)
-------------------------------
- Updated Visual PinMAME to 1.50 release of PinMAME Source Code.
- Please see "whatsnew.txt" for PinMAME version 1.50 enhancements!
- It's now possible to run sets with missing roms as well, just as if you were running PinMAME.
  Note this will *not* work on newer Stern games which have been released in the last 3 years!

Version 1.32 (May 1, 2004)
--------------------------
- Updated Visual PinMAME to 1.32 release of PinMAME Source Code.
- the controller dislay will be moved to position where it is fully visible after a game was started
  (prevent not visible controller windows after a game has set the location to a position out of the desktop)
- added Controller.Hidden (bool) property to hide the controller window. The value is not persitent, hence
  will not stored in the registry and resets to 'visible' on every call to Controller.GameName (set only)

Version 1.30 (October 1, 2003)
-----------------------------
- Fixed the bug in the VPM-Setup-Program where the "Test" feature crashed under w9x
- Default synclevel is now 0 since many people are getting newer faster computers.
- Rom Aliasing: Older romset names will internally be converted to new romset names for backward compatibility

Version 1.21 (March 31, 2003)
-------------------------------------
The most prominent feature this time should be Tom's "SyncLevel"(TM),
which is a most delicate and interesting way of synchronizing two separate
Windows applications from one thread only!
In other words: Visual PinMAME decides how fast any other application
running in the same graphical environment will update its view...
need I say more?

- Added "SyncLevel" feature:
  'Controller.Games(Controller.GameName).Settings.Value("synclevel")'
  This will help to keep the Emulation in sync with any other thread
  running at the same time (like your favorite Pinball simulation software) ;)
  This should boost game performance even on lower-end PCs...
- went back to the orange display color everybody loved so much

Version 1.20 Alpha (August 24, 2002)
-------------------------------------
- switched to link zlib 1.1.4 instead of 1.1.3
- changed to use the mame .59 core and most of the mamew code (with some slight modifications)
  ("Not an ordinary change, but an ordinary bunch of work")
- added the 'Controller.ChangedLEDs' property
- added 'Game.Settings' property including the "settings"-object you receive
- added 'Controller.Settings property including the "settings"-object you receive
- by using Controller.Settings and Game.Settings access to nearly all MAME settings is available
  ('Settings.Value("name")=value' 
- the emulation thread is running at a slightly higher system priority now
- the display can be resized to every size you like

Version 1.12.1 (April 14, 2002)
-------------------------------
- Nothing, the interface works fine

Version 1.12 (March 29, 2002)
-----------------------------
- Updated Visual PinMAME to 1.12 release of PinMAME Source Code.
- Added IObjectSafety interface (VPinMAME now states that it's "safe for scripting")
- Added a class to created customizable dialogs from the script
- The Splash dialog will now cycle through 4 different images. A big "thank you" to:
    Steve Ellenoff (who else?), Stein (winner of the contest), and Forchia (Tomaso Forchiassin)
    for the images
- The vpinmame.dll is now compiled using the MS C++ compiler v13.0 (VS.NET)

Version 1.11 (February 3, 2002)
-------------------------------
- Updated Visual PinMAME to 1.11 release of PinMAME Source Code.
- Removed the need for the zlib.dll
- Added Controller.Games property which enables you to get much more information about the supported games
  and also enables you to make a more detailed rom check
- Updated Installer program to use the new .games property to display enhanced game informations

Version 1.10 (December 23, 2001)
---------------------------------------
-Updated Visual PinMAME to 1.10 release of PinMAME Source Code.
-Updated Installer program with new TEST feature built in.
-Removed VPinMAMETest.exe, use the new TEST feature of the Installer (Setup.exe) instead.
-Updated the Installation Guide to illustrate new TEST feature.

Version 1.0 Beta 2 (September 28, 2001)
---------------------------------------
-Updated Visual PinMAME to 1.0 Beta 2 release of PinMAME Source Code.
-Removed need to have MSSTDFMT.DLL for VPinMAMETest.exe to work!!
-Improved Rom Checking Dialogue, now displays the type of rom (CPU or SOUND).
-Games can now be played even if the sound roms are missing.
-Added warning message for games that have Imperfect, but emulated sound (Centaur is an example)
-New interface function .Mech() which allows users to create mech handlers from script.
-New interface function .NewSoundsCommands() which allows users to track sound commands and play external sound files from the script.
-Added protection so that newest Stern games (currently Only Austin Powers) cannot be played, to avoid any issues from Stern.


Version 1.0 Beta 1 (July 31, 2001)
------------------------------------
-Updated Visual PinMAME to 1.0 Beta 1 release of PinMAME Source Code
-Errors reading zipped roms(wrong compression for example), are now reported to user.
-Corrected occasional problems when dragging window with mouse.
-New Compact DMD Option added to Game Options
-New Double Size DMD Option added to Game Options


-New Anti-Alias % DMD Option added to Game Options (only works for Williams WPC games)
-New HTML Installation Guide included with distribution.
-Microsoft MSSTDFMT package included with distribution for users missing this file.


Version 0.99 Beta 3 (May 04, 2001)
------------------------------------
-Updated Visual PinMAME to 0.99 Beta 3 release of PinMAME Source Code
-Updated installer, now v1.02
-New Right Mouse Click, Context/Drop Down Menu, for selecting options and window settings
-New Left Mouse Click & Drag the window to reposition it.
-New Version Property to allow scripts to check for a minimum Version #.
-Fixed Display Bug with games using a very wide display layout, such as Harley Davidson
-Fixed Crashes on games that failed the CRC Check
-Fixed Initial path information showing in the old 8.3 format instead of long filenames


Version 0.99 Beta 2 Rev A (April 23, 2001)
------------------------------------------
-Adjusted ROM Mismatch dialog to allow user to try and load roms that are reported as incorrect.
-Improved Installer/Setup program to identify which version is being installed.

Version 0.99 Beta 2 (April 22, 2001)
------------------------------------
-Updated Visual PinMAME to 0.99 Beta 2 release of PinMAME Source Code
-New Visual PinMAME Setup/Installtion Program
-New Dialog for troubleshooting missing roms and bad configurations
-Rom + Configuation Paths only need to be set once, rather than for each individual rom.
-New Interface Web Page for easier reading of the interface properties!
-Many New Interface properties for controlling Visual PinMAME: 
  (See interface.html for more info)
  Controller.GetMech
  Controller.SampleRate
  Controller.ShowFrame
  Controller.BorderSizeX / Controller.BorderSizeY
  Controller.WindowPosX / Controller.WindowPosY
  Controller.DoubleSize
  Controller.SetDisplayPosition
  Controller.LockDisplay
  Controller.Antialias
  Controller.CheckROMS

-Updated test program to show off some of the new interface features
-F12 Screenshot functionality added.
-New configuration directory for screenshots.
-Controller.Switches() bug fixed.. now returns true/false properly.


Version 0.99 Beta 1 (March 31, 2001)
------------------------------------
-Updated Visual PinMAME to 0.99 Beta 1 release of PinMAME Source Code

Version 0.99 Beta (March 30, 2001)
----------------------------------
- Welcome to the first official release of Visual PinMAME!
