IV/PLAY 2.8.12 FEATURES
• HBMAME support improvements. IV/Play reads hbmame.ini for HBMAME, identifies it in the title bar and F1 About, and lets F4 link differently named emulator executables.
• Driver-name and Boolean search improvements. Plain words such as model2 also match the exact driver filename, while quoted phrases stay text-only. Boolean searches preserve typed operator order; words alongside an OR group restrict the whole group. See Appendix 1 for examples.
• Filter comparisons now ignore capitalization everywhere. One comparison type still matched case, so a query that differed only in capitalization could return nothing.
• More accurate platform labels and family grouping for software lists. Host-machine resolution was reworked so a platform’s canonical parent is chosen correctly, fixing cases where a clone could become the family node or a peripheral’s software was mislabeled.
• Fixed custom playlist export so machine entries are written in a form MAME can load. Earlier builds could emit an unusable composite line for machines that own multiple software lists.
• F4 and F5 keep the Full or Available list in use and return to the selected game if it is still listed. When F4, F5 or a cache rebuild leaves the Available list out of date, it is rebuilt before it is shown. F8 also resets the cfg, so press F12 again if Available asks for it afterwards. Software favorites, artwork, HiScore entries and Ctrl-B benchmarks are keyed by software list and item (a2600/pacman), even when the item launches on a differently named machine.
• F1 now fits smaller work areas with scrollable settings and a fixed footer, applies newly selected icon sources on OK, and keeps the highlighted game when it remains available. Art selection follows its folder through sorting and removal instead of drifting with a list position.
• Steadier DAT peek rendering. Navigating to a new game while the peek is open no longer briefly blanks the text, and the media-type column now reads consistently. Removed filter-term highlighting inside the DAT peek. It added little once the peek gained its own in-text find (Ctrl-F), and the two were unrelated.
• During an icon cache rebuild the gamelist now keeps the icons already on screen and lets the new ones appear as they land, instead of dropping the whole list to generic placeholders for the length of the build. A machine the previous cache had never seen shows the correct generic icon and then pops to its own when the rebuild completes.
• Window width is now checked the same way as height: an implausible width is neither saved at exit nor applied at startup, so one bad value can no longer keep reproducing itself.
• Live monitoring changes now appear on screen at once. Removing a ROM or editing favorites.ini outside IV/Play had updated the lists in the background but left the old view until the next refresh. A favorite whose ROM is missing now stays visible whatever the F1 hide settings, and after F4 links a different executable, F1’s command-line suggestions come from the new one.
• The mouse Back button closes overlays, such as the DAT peek, the F2 log, the F3 cfg and the benchmark window, as ESC does.
• SQLite updated to 3.53.4. When upgrading, replace e_sqlite3.dll together with IV-Play.exe; the F2 log names the SQLite version actually loaded.
IV/PLAY 2.8.14 FEATURES
• Refined Arcade Only list. Restored video games that were unintentionally excluded and improved filtering of gambling, medal, quiz and photo-booth machines. Inclusion and exclusion exceptions now handle related clones more consistently.
• More consistent Arcade results at startup. Category information from catlist.ini is loaded before the Arcade list is filtered, and loading is retried if the file was not yet available.
• More accurate Available list. Games that need a CHD are listed only when their CHD folder is present, and in a merged collection a game is listed only when its BIOS archive is present too. Boards whose ROMs all come from their BIOS, such as the Neo Geo MV-1, are listed from the BIOS archive, and in a split collection a clone needs its own archive. A ROM or disc that MAME marks as never dumped is not required. Detection still reads names only, never file contents. When IV/Play cannot tell how a collection is organized, it lists the game rather than demanding a separate BIOS archive.
• Keep browsing during F5 refresh. When a rebuild finishes, IV/Play keeps the game you most recently selected, provided it remains available, rather than returning to the selection from when the refresh began.
• Internal maintenance and regression checks. Continued work on correctness and automated checks supporting these improvements.