First on the agenda an apology or two.
1) Yes ok so I said the new version would be out over a month ago. Very sorry about that, a few critical bugs were found and needed fixing at the same time as me having a lot less time to so any emulation. Progress has been made though and a release IS imminent.
2) Pook, Ploggy, Tommy C, Vectra. Very sorry to those layout designers who have been waiting on me to send out resources and updated emulator copies to allow them to prep layouts. Ploggy in particular has spent many days on skype with me until stupid o'clock in the morning whilst I sort out bugs and get him to thoroughly test things. These guys deseve a medal for their patience!
Next, some bad news (good news for some possibly)
At the end of the month I will be stepping away from the emulator for a while. I have to concentrate on setting up a new business venture and I imagine pretty much all my time will be spent on that with little time for anything else. That's not to say I will disappear completely, but any major updates or new techs will be put on hold indefinately at the end of the month.
FME has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me, so a big Thankyou to all who have helped Project Amber (and previously FMEF) get to where it is today. I am very proud of what has been achieved and hope you will be too, when it finally gets released.
Which brings me on to some better news...
Between now and the end of the month there WILL be a release of Project Amber with at least 7 techs in it.
Barcrest MPU3 and MPU4.
Maygay M1
Bell Fruit System 83, System 85, Scorpion 1, Scorpion 2.
My To-Do list is now down to the last 15 or so items, most of which should be finished off in short order. The last major obstacle being MPU3 sound. The moment it is all done I will release it with a full installer and a quick setup guide.
Documentation will be a bit sparse but I should still be able to give pointers, and Ploggy now has a decent handle on the emulator and its workings, so you can bug him for help (very sorry for this comment Ploggy mate, you should have seen it coming though 
).
Graphically I think it will qualify as the most advanced fruit emulator to date (best get it out before Killcrazy's emu just in case). Stability wise it has advanced a lot in recent months and I hope that will still be the case at release time.
I have until the end of the month to get everything done and dusted, and all being well you will see a release later this week/early next week.
All the existing layouts for Project Amber will be mildly broken by the new update, which should see the layout format changed for the final time. I will personally be updating all the layouts and re-releasing them to account for that.
And at the risk of dangling a carrot, *IF* all goes to plan, 3 more techs are in the pipeline. Namely Castle Rev1E, Castle Rev2A and Ace Coin sp.ACE tech. More details will follow, if its done by the end of the month it will be released, if not it will be put on hold until I have the time to complete them.
Lastly, if anyone out there feels they could handle taking on updating the emulator I would be willing to pass source code on at the end of the month if it means it would progress further. If not I will get round to it again, eventually.
Guitar.
P.s. Is anyone preparing artwork for Wipeout, Fortune and Glory, Mario Kart, or London Underground, for KillCrazy's epoch emulator. I can't wait to give them a thorough thrashing.
