Steem SSE FAQ
---------------

v3.7.0

Q:
What is Steem?
A:
Steem stands for STE Emulation Engine.
It's an excellent Atari STE emulator coded by Anthony and Russel Hayward.


Q:
Where are Steem authors?
A:
They tragically disappeared in the lower border never to be seen again...
Before that they released the source of their great emulator, mercifully.


Q:
What is 'SSE'?
A:
SSE stands for 'Steven Seagal Edition', a branch of Steem, and the only one
with active development and exciting new features.


Q:
How much does it cost?
A:
Steem is free software.


Q:
Is Steem really being improved by Steven Seagal?
A:
How unlikely does it sound to you? Don't you think it's more fun than
churning out crappy DTV movies just for the money?


Q:
Why use Steem and not X or Y?
A:
For the nice GUI, for very high compatibility, for some unique features.
If you're in Linux or want to emulate the Falcon, that's another story.


Q:
How does it work?
A:
To use Steem, you need a copy of the Atari ROM, called "TOS", and some 
image disk files. 
When you first launch Steem, you may indicate where they are, which you can
change later.
To get started you will find some TOS on the Steem SSE site:
http://ataristeven.t15.org/Other_downloads.htm
Disk images are easy to find. Some are also available on the site.
Legally this is still copyrighted material, and if they really wanted,
companies who own it could call a halt on emulation, but they don't.


Q:
What is TOS?
A:
This stands for 'The Operating System', also called 'Tramiel Operating System'.
Including the BIOS, the GEM graphic environment and other layers, the full OS,
except on very early models (also emulated), was printed on a ROM chip. You need
an image of one of those roms to use Steem.

To get started you will find some TOS on the Steem SSE site:

http://ataristeven.t15.org/Other_downloads.htm
or here:
http://www.avtandil.narod.ru/tose.html


Q:
What do STE and STF stand for?
A:
STE is ST Extraordinary and STF is ST Fantastic.
Seriously: 
ST=Sixteen Thirty-two, a reference to the 16/32 architecture.
STF= ST Floppy, because the floppy drive is integrated in the console.
STE= ST Enhanced, because it has more features, like hardware scrolling,
stereo sound, etc.
The STF came before the STE. The STE is better but most programs targeted
the STF for commercial reasons.


Q:
Which ST model should I select?
A:
It depends on the program you need to run. Some programs are STF-only,
others are STE-only. If you don't know, a good bet is to start with STE
since this computer had more features. 
But then again, many programs wouldn't run on a STE (so this is not always
an emulation bug if something works in STF mode but not STE).
Please check the Hints textfile where some exclusive STF or STE
programs are listed.


Q:
Aren't programs better on the Amiga anyway?
A:
Some yes, others not. Generally games were better, though some of the 
important games of the era were actually better on the ST or not even
released on the Amiga.
Generally, serious applications were better on the ST. The multitask
Amiga OS was a joke.
Demos, as strange as it may sound, were often more interesting and 
impressive on the ST.
The Atari ST is one of the contenders for best chip music. The
sound of the Amiga was impressive back then but is nothing more
than bad 8bit samples today, it was quickly outclassed by the Soundblaster.
Notice that there's no Amiga Teenage Riot.


Q:
Which TOS should I use?
A:
Generally, TOS 1.02 is the most compatible for STF mode, and TOS 1.62 for STE
mode. Steem will try to match those TOS when you switch ST model.
Some rare programs prefer another version, like TOS 1.00 for very old games.
TOS1.00 STF
TOS1.02 STF
TOS1.04 STF
TOS1.06 STE
TOS1.61 STE
TOS2.05 Mega STE
TOS2.06 Mega STF/STE
TOS3.0X TT
TOS4.0X Falcon


Q:
Shouldn't all programs work with all TOS? I prefer TOS X.YZ.
A:
No, mostly due to bad coding practices, some programs will only work with
such or such TOS. Memory option may also be important, and of course the ST
model.
I won't check reported "bugs" under an unusual TOS without knowing for sure
that it should work.


Q:
Hey my shortcut for F12 doesn't work anymore!
A:
This is by design. F12 will start/stop emulation in Steem like in other
emulators. I ignore requests to the contrary or to make it optional.
Because in case your boss barges in, such an easy key is handy.
You may also define a definitive boss key by assigning the 'Exit Steem'
function to a shortcut, but you have the guarantee that F12 will always
work.


Q:
Help! Something went wrong and now even quitting and restarting Steem 
doesn't help.
A:
Try deleting the file 'auto.sts' in Steem's directory. It can get corrupted.


Q:
Help! I reset the ST, stop and start Steem, delete auto.sts and I just get
a blank screen.
A:
Check options ST model and TOS. With STF and TOS1.06, you'll have a blank
screen.


Q:
I have problems with sound (in Windows)!
A:
Me too!
It isn't easy to fix.
There have always been sound issues on the PC. Steem authors provided some
options to help, just in case.
The options that should make the most sense are:
- Default sound driver
- Don't check 'write to primary buffer', it's a hack!
- Timing method: 'write cursor'
- Delay 20ms if your computer can handle it
- Frequency: depends on your hardware (44.1k is generally fine) and the
program (50066 may sound better for some STE programs).
- Format: 16bit stereo is generally fine.
- Volume: if you're not satisfied, it could help to set it to max and use
your Windows control panel to adjust. Though in recent versions of Steem SSE,
the volume slider has been fixed.


Q:
I have problems with sound (in Linux)!
A:
Can't help! Please join the call for some Linux maintainers.


Q:
I have some crashes that could be related to sound.
A:
Some DSP code has been added to Steem to handle Microwire emulation.
This code is primitive and its use of the math coprocessor can cause bugs
that we can't easily handle. You may try disabling option 'Microwire'. 


Q:
Emulation is crawling!
A:
It's a fact that Steem SSE is more CPU-intensive than Steem 3.2.
Partly it has to do with the large extension of "shifter tricks" emulation,
more tests are required by scanline.
Partly it has to do with parallel emulations running together, for the 
HD6301, for CAPS...
Some options may make a difference, like VSync.


Q:
Sometimes I lose keyboard control.
A:
Me too. Don't know the cause. It's not an emulation issue if quitting and 
restarting Steem gives you control back.


Q:
When Pasti is on, the red led for writing doesn't seem to work.
A:
It's because Pasti (v0.2h) doesn't attempt to emulate correct timings for
writes. The operation is instantaneous, so you have no time to catch the 
red led.
Remedying this with some hack doesn't seem worth it.
Notice that without Pasti as well, write operations are followed by seek and 
read operations, so that the led doesn't remain red all the time. In fast
disk mode, you won't see red for short operations.


Q:
Some Pasti images (STX) of games work in Hatari but not in Steem. Can you fix
that?
A:
Hatari directly handles those images, with up-to-date knowledge of drive
emulation. Steem uses a plugin, pasti.dll, that is much older and is in need
of an update.
Fortunately, those cases are rare, and we have alternatives now, like CTR
and IPF, that also use a plugin, capsimg.dll, which is up-to-date.
Who knows? Maybe one day pasti.dll will be improved.
For those reasons directly handling STX images in Steem is not planned.


Q:
Are state snapshots (.STS) compatible between versions?
A:
While there's no 100% guarantee, we try to maintain compatibility.
It's useful for me too, to quickly compare versions in case of bugs.
You could have trouble because of 'HD6301' emu in some Steem versions
(not the latest normally).


Q:
What is "wake-up state"?
A:
It is the state in which your ST booted, due to synchronisation between 
various chips. It has an influence on shifter trick timings.
You may generally ignore this option, it is useful only to check the
display of some demos. They're mentioned in 'Hints'.


Q:
A program that used to work has a wrong picture and crashes...
A:
One reason could be option "wake-up state", try with setting to 'ignore'.


Q:
Hey you claim to have fixed this or that issue with drive emulation but when
I try it doesn't work.
A:
All drive emulation improvements operate only in if the option 'Accurate Disk
Access Times (Slow)' is checked in the Disk manager, for ST, MSA, DIM disk
images.
For STW disk images, the option isn't necessary as emulation is slow anyway!


Q:
Hey, you claim you fixed file associations, but it doesn't work on my computer.
A:
For it to work you first need to manually remove the associations in the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT part of the registry, that were put by previous versions of
Steem.


Q:
Will there be a port of Steem on [fill in]?
A:
For the moment two OS are supported: Windows 32 and Linux 32.
Before considering other ports, it could be a good idea to use a portable
multimedia library working with both those systems, such as SDL or OpenGL.


Q:
What is XSteem?
A:
The Linux build of Steem. It's a reference to the Windows-like X system.


Q:
Why are there fewer features in the Linux build?
A:
It's very rare when I use Linux myself. I'm not really willing to delve deep
into all Linux particularities. In fact it's a shame for the Linux community
that nobody else did anything yet with Steem in Linux.


Q:
Is support for Falcon planned?
A:
No. To me those machines, like the TT, have no interest.
Steem SSE is strictly STF/STE.
Atari supported Falcon only for a few months, and little software was
developed. Software was so specialised in audio it is very hard to emulate,
not to mention protections.
Now nothing keeps dedicated people from starting a Falcon branch of Steem.


Q:
Hmm I think this feature is incorrect in Steem SSE, my code proves it.
A:
Oh yeah? 
I can't fix bugs without first asserting them. Please send some examples that
prove that there's a problem.
It's also better if the same program has been proved to run on a real ST.


Q:
What is the 'Boiler'?
A:
The Boiler is the amazing debugger coded by Steem authors. It is Steem with a 
parallel window where you can check code, memory, etc., just using a powerful
IDE. The name is a probable reference to 'Steam' and 'Engine'.
Of course the SSE version contains many improvements. It is Windows-only.


Q:
Doesn't the boiler icon look like a garbage bin?
A:
The icon's name is 'debug_trash.ico', so it seems it's on purpose!
Why exactly only Steem authors know.


Q:
I want to contribute some code!
A:
Please do. I like to brag about all I do myself but any help is appreciated.
Especially help with ports would be useful.
All you have to do is use subversion, and send me a message at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/steemsse/
If you don't like this versioning software, just submit your ideas at
atari-forum:
http://www.atari-forum.com/viewforum.php?f=94


Q:
I'd like to help but can't code.
A:
You can help by testing stuff and reporting bugs.

