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Zaparoo Core v2.2.0 released

· 7 min read
wizzo
wizzo
Lead Developer
BossRighteous
BossRighteous
Developer

Zaparoo Core v2.2.0 is now available! This release includes many features like new MiSTer core support, new UI and added capabilities for ZapScript. Enjoy!

My favourite part of this release is all the people that have contributed to it. Thank you to:

And a special thanks to gdamore of the Go tcell library, who implemented an option just for us to support the new TUI.

Download​



As usual, Core will also be automatically updated on MiSTer via Update All.

New MiSTer Core Support​

  • Agg23's Game and Watch core is now automatically detected and supported.
  • NeoGeo CD now works correctly thanks to mrchrisster.
  • Amiga CD32 is now supported thanks to mrchrisster.
  • Support for GroovyMiSTer .gmc files added. See below.
  • CD-i core is now supported.
  • Jaguar core is now supported.
  • MSX1 core is now supported.

GroovyMiSTer GMC Proxy​

The GroovyMiSTer core already supports GMC files as a means to launch PC games from the MiSTer core. BossRighteous has provided optional Zaparoo utilities to the enable GMC scanning and launching of these defined PC-emulator titles over the network along with the GroovyMiSTer core. This enables Zaparoo-MiSTer NFC and API loading of Groovy enabled emulators including MAME, RetroArch, Mednafen, and Dolphin.

Text User Interface​

A new text-based interface has been created and included in Core, thanks to work by Asturur and davasi. This UI is similar to the old TapTUI script, but is now built into the Core application itself and cross-platform. While the App and Web UI will remain the primary interfaces for Zaparoo, the TUI will be kept up-to-date with most essential/basic features.

People have requested a way to manage Zaparoo using a controller and there are some cases where a TUI is more accessible than a phone or web interface, so we want to start accomodating that. It will also mean it's possible to get started with Zaparoo again using nothing but a MiSTer, controller and NFC reader which is cool!

The TUI is available by running the zaparoo entry in the MiSTer Scripts menu and selecting the Config button on the status screen. This UI isn't as fully featured as the original TapTUI script, but over time it will be improved to reach the same level. Feedback is welcome!

Zaparoo Online​

I have been working on a new service called Zaparoo Online. I'm not ready to announce it properly yet, but it requires some new features added to Core which will be available right now. All features I'm adding for Online will be optional, and in most cases possible to self-host, so calm ya farm ok.

The new features are still in development and undocumented, but you're welcome to try them out or ask me about them. Please keep in mind the API is not final.

Remote ZapScript​

ZapScript can now be loaded on-the-fly from a remote URL. Write a single URL to a token which serves a special JSON payload, Core will fetch and execute it. There is no special allowlisting or anything for this feature, it just relies on the URL serving a valid payload and using the MIME type application/vnd.zaparoo.script. There are some limitations set on this right now, specifically the input.keyboard and input.gamepad commands are disabled when running remote ZapScript. This is to prevent malicious scripts from interacting with the system in unexpected ways. They may be re-enabled in a safe way later but for now fully blocked!

The "special JSON payload" brings us to...

ZapScript as JSON​

Over time Core will support an alternate format of the existing ZapScript format, which would allow ZapScript to be defined as a JSON object. For most people this means nothing, but it will make it much easier for applications to generate and parse ZapScript, for ZapScript to be validated and for complex arguments to be defined.

The JSON format is not final yet but initial setup is included inside this release for a migration path. The new format will map 1:1 with the existing format, so people can choose to use either format. They are interchangeable.

The remote ZapScript feature requires payloads to be in this format, for example:

{
  "zapscript": 1,
  "cmds": [
    {
      "cmd": "launch",
      "args": {
        "path": "/path/to/some/game.bin"
      }
    }
  ]
}

UI Widgets​

In order to give feedback and choices to users, Core will now start supporting various UI widgets that can be triggered via ZapScript. Currently they're only available on MiSTer, but the plan is to make them work the same/similar on all platforms.

UI widgets are supposed to be non-intrusive. They will always be dismissable and later simply disabled if desired.

Notice​

A simple text box displayed on screen with a message. Can be dismissed by the user or closed programmatically.

Loader​

Same as a notice, but includes an animated spinner to show something is happening.

Picker​

Displays a list of items on screen which can be selected by the user. Once an item is selected, it's forwarded to the Core API to be run. Each item has associated ZapScript.

This one is actually awesome! It adds a lot of capabilities to Zaparoo. It can be used to select from a list of games or any other command supported by ZapScript.

Remote Media Install & Launch​

Another really cool addition, Core can now install media from a remote source. This feature is still very much in beta and MiSTer-only, but I'll be fleshing this out for other platforms too.

For example, serve a JSON payload with the MIME type application/vnd.zaparoo.media like this:

{
  "zapscript": 1,
  "cmds": [
    {
      "cmd": "launch",
      "args": {
        "name": "Some Game",
        "system": "Genesis",
        "url": "https://example.com/path/to/media.bin"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Let's say this is hosted on https://example.com/media.json and you've written that to an NFC tag. Once you scan, Core will automatically download the media from the URL and launch it locally. Once it's installed, Core will use the local version only. This feels wicked in person!

Windows Improvements​

System Tray​

I've made some small UI improvements to the Windows version of Core. Now when the app is launched, it will no longer show a command line window and instead just live in the system tray. The system tray menu also has direct links to things like the built-in web UI, config folder, etc.

A small change but it's made the thing feel a lot more polished and native already. It also means you can set Core to run on startup in the background.

LaunchBox Config​

The LaunchBox launcher can now have a custom install directory set via the config file. This was a long-standing issue since LaunchBox doesn't have a default location. You can set it by adding this to your config.toml file:

[[launchers.default]]
launcher = 'LaunchBox'
install_dir = 'C:\\Users\\wizzo\\CustomLBDir'

This change has also generally allowed configuration of launchers, so more options may be added in the future for various cores and emulators.

Other Changes​

  • Core will now notify Super Attract Mode if it launches a game, so they won't conflict with each other.
  • Arcade games will now send a "started" notificiation over the API on launch.
  • New API method run.script added to support ZapScript JSON migration. It may not be permanent.
  • New evaluate command added to ZapScript to support JSON migration. It may not be permanent.

Known Issues​

  • Sometimes the script version of the UI widgets will not display and show an error about a file not being found. Please let me know if you see this too!