Snes9X and its front-end (Snes9X 1.34a / FE 1.10 / Port pre1.5)
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This is a front-end for SNES 9X, designed to simplify using the Snes9X emulator to make playing games, erm, fun!!!

To use, copy to the directory you want it in. That's it!

Next, you'll want some ROMs. OK - download the ROM image, and call it something meaningful. For example, I cunningly call my Chuck Rock image, erm, 'ChuckRock'.

OK - not in any pain so far? Right - now double-click on the !Snes9X icon to open the main window. When you run Snes9X you must also make the Next slot bigger - preferably more than 2Mb. This is a problem with the current version of Snes9X (not correctly allocating its own memory) which will hopefully be fixed for a later release. To get this sorted, write to David McEwen and send him really complimentary e-mails. Normally works for programmers anyway - makes them feel appreciated, and if nothing else boosts their egos.

Next you must install your ROMs. Drag your ROM image to the iconbar icon or the main window. It will now appear in the ROM Images pop-up menu in the main window. Now, do this to all of your ROMs. Your ROM is automatically copied into the Snes9X emulator, so you can delete the copy once you've done (uncertain people can look in !Snes9X.ROM for confidence!) It doesn't matter if they aren't filetyped - it's not neccessary. If you drop something which isn't a ROM or doesn't work, go into !Snes9X.ROMs and delete it.

So then, you're set up. Onto playing. Well - select your ROM from the menu. Got that? Now click on OK.

Playing the games
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Keys are :

  Cursor keys control movement

  [SPACE]  - SELECT button   
  [A]	   - A button
  [B]	   - B button
  [Z]	   - Z button
  [X]	   - X button
  [Q]	   - Q button
  [W]	   - W button
  [RETURN] - START button
  [ESC]  - Exit


Advanced options
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So, you've played a game or two. You're now quite happy and even a little impressed. So - let's play around a bit.

Click on options on either the iconbar menu or the main window. This presents a series of options. By default, Snes9X uses optins which tend towards slower machines. However, the StrongARM is capable of a bit more than this, and presumably a Kinetic SA should manage quite well indeed.

The trick is to experiment - the worst that wil happen is you get an extremely slow game!

So - the first up are the graphics enhancements. You can turn bilinear filtering on, and pick from any number of options which smooth the picture. The result is normally an extremely attractive image at full height.

More options will follow on subsequent releases as David tidies things up and I work out which optons should be supported.

Distribution (IMPORTANT)
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Given that one of the e-mails between David and I concerned people who distribute things commercially without permission and how irritating it is, the following rules apply :

- You can distribute this product for free. If you choose to do this via the internet though, it would be a Good Idea (TM) to link directly to David's site, so that Internet copies are always up-to-date.

- You CANNOT distribute this product if you make ANY charge (ie. even for the cost of the disc, P&P etc.) without permission. Normally, permission involves e-mailing one or other of us, and sending us BOTH a courtesy copy of the disc, CD, magazine, etc. This isn't much to ask - we've spent many more hours on this than it did for you to put it on a disc image! Failure to do this could result in one or both of us getting quite, ahem, upset :o). 

- If this is to be distributed on a coverdisc or other semi-commercial/commercial offering, it MUST contain at the top of this text file additional text saying, for example, 'SPECIAL DISTRIBUTION ON AUCD 95' or suchlike. This signifies that you have understood and complied with the above.

Contact
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Depends upon who you're after. If it's a front-end issue, contact me (Andrew Hill) on :

e-mail : drew.hill@tesco.net

If (more likely,) you're speaking to the emulator-meister, you'd want :

email : david@acornemus.freeserve.co.uk (Home)
	davidm@argonaut.com (Work)
Website : http://www.lizjay.demon.co.uk/david

All donations, flowers, praise etc. to be sent to David as writing front-ends is monkey work. Please excuse me whilst I remove the fleas from my colleague...