the ZX Spectrum emulator
Why build an emulator ?
The obvious reason is to emulate...
Our reason of why we built this emulator is pretty much twofold...
Firstly: the nostalgia we all remember the classic ZX Spectrum (if not your going to love it, now that's a guarantee !) warts-n-all the Spectrum was for many very entertaining and for many the first home computer - being homebred here in the UK it was hugely successful, Clive Sinclair was a british hero, rightly so.
The games where amazing (in the 80's - remember) and although the graphics were less colourful than its closest competitors namely the C64 (which allowed more than 2 colours to be displayed in a 8x8 pixel square) it didn't stop it from being very popular...
Secondly: and completely off subject we wanted to learn the latest Microsoft .net frame work and accompanying languages and in order to see what it could do we needed a project...
Viola... here we are
ZX Spectrum emulator for .net (you get it yet, hmm sad huh...)
What can it do
Currently the emulator already has the ability to emulate the original 16/48k rom plus others, Screen (wouldn't be much good without it) inc. correct timing and borders -( Vectron, Arkanoid ), Sound, Memory delays, load tape files and snap shot files inc. tzx tap z80 sna wav - original analogue tape via external cassette deck and sound card, or even mp3 player, plus Joystick interfaces Kempston, Sinclair. Its pretty much a complete 48k ZX Spectrum.
For more up to date info check the History column on this page or just download the emulator and see for yourself.
We've played lots of games, loaded programs, written machine code and basic ... removed bugs, all is well, but there are so many programs (countless over10,000s known tapes) all with possibilities for error so without spending months on testing we wont find them all..
that's where you feed back any bugs you may have found
What can't it do
At present mainly on the side of hardware, We've not yet added 128k+ and its extended hardware, the AY-3-8192 sound chip, etc... We intend to add these plus others and other spectrum related tools... work, work, work...
Installation ( NO install, NO registry garbage, NO DirectX, NO Mess )
1) Download the ZXSpectrum4.zip
2) Unzip the contents to a folder of your choice and run the 'ZXSpectrum4.exe'
and away you go!
Removal
NO uninstall required, Just delete the files and its gone.
How to use the emulator ?
TV Screen |
||
|---|---|---|
 |
A- Main Spectrum TV Screen | |
| B - Minimise Emulator | ||
| C - Change TV Size | ||
| D - Close Emulator | ||
| E - Show Pop-up Menu | ||
| F - Show Tape Deck Window | ||
| G - Show Spectrum Keyboard | ||
| H - Mute Spectrum Sound | ||
| I - Spectrum Emulation Turbo Mode on/off | ||
| J - Pause Spectrum | ||
Tape Deck |
||
|---|---|---|
 |
K - Minimise Tape Spectrum Tape Deck | |
| L - Loaded Cassette Tape Information | ||
| M - Progress of Current Tape Block | ||
| N - Bytes/time Remaining on Tape | ||
| O - Record (for future use) | ||
| P - Play Tape | ||
| Q - Pause | ||
| R - Previous Block (Rewind) | ||
| S - Next Block (Fast Forward) | ||
| T - Rewind Tape To Start | ||
| U - Eject Tape / Load New Tape | ||
Loading a Game or Program
The simple Way
Although you can still follow the path below there's a much quicker way to load games, drag and drop your games on to the TV screen and the emulator will do the rest!!!
The traditional method
To get started first press button at F on the TV screen and the tape deck window will appear.
On here press the button at U and the browse window will open to allow you to select your tape or snapshot file you want to open.
If you select a .tzx or .tap file go to the TV Screen and type: Load "" ( to do this on your keyboard first press the keys j then holding down CTRL press p twice, now press Enter) and the inserted tape will now begin to play.
GAMES!
We've now included a couple of games in different formats to help those non-techie get started.
Requirements
Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 Possibly others
(let us know)
Microsoft .net framework (Vista and Windows 7 has this built in)
If you like the site, emulator or any of the tools or just the ZX Spectrum then please link to us, help us climb the Google
Thanks for reading, please if you can help out do so - Enjoy ZXSpectrum4.net Team.
Key Points
history
Emulator Diary
2010
May
Added port emulation for old 16/48 Issue 2 and later 48 Issue 3 keyboards, Change under: Menu | Controllers
March
Been busy!
ALL core timings checked and tested against real hardware (more info soon)
Undocumented flags tested against real hardware.
Poke facility can be found under the 'Tools' Menu.
2009
December
Dual Joystick Support! - Kempston & Sinclair (USB/MIDI).
New Keyboard with some help added.
November
Menu system updated.
Drag & Drop Loading.
October
Microsoft Windows 7 compatible.
Accelerated tape loader "edge detection"- thanks again to
Woody - Author of the excellent SpecEmu
September
Windows 64bit fixed loading issue.
August
New version few adjustments on the file loading routines, more to do, keep watching.
July
Work has been on tzx tape image scanner
check Spectrum cassette tapes page
June
Optional "fast load .tzx" for standard block tzx files, manic miner loads in 1 second! opposed to 3 minutes.
Added auto save emulator configuration
May
Emulate tape from a wav file.
Loading live tape from external cassette or mp3 player via a sound card input.. not yet enabled - (wip)
Upgraded sound to 44100hz.
April
Screen draw routines and timing rebuilt.
Memory delays added and tuned.
Extra menus added.
Screen shot added.
March
Basic sound, No support for .net windows api's were used to avoid any MS Direct(mess)!!!
Borders drawn at full speed.
Saving file support, sna.
Loading file support, tap, .tzx.
Tape deck screen added for file information and progress.
Screen graphics added and buttons.
February
Start the ZXSpectrum4.net project!
Working model of z80 and spectrum 48k rom.
Memory and screen memory to windows.
Loading file support, sna, z80.
How Does it work
Want more info ? Information
we need your help!
ZX Spectrum Cassette Database
In order to maximise the database we need to find as many cassettes as possible, from unknown ones to ones known but we are unable to locate.
If you can help us with any old cassettes you may have in the loft you no longer want or know someone that has then please contact us and give them to a good home, If we can't get there in person we can get them collected by courier - please don't throw them!
If you have a tzx of any ZX Spectrum cassette which we are missing please contact us and send it across.
Don't worry if you have no old cassettes or hardware donations to help purchase others for sale are welcome, every bit helps.
A big "THANK YOU!" to everyone the has donated, time, money, knowledge, tapes and hardware we are truly grateful - ZXSpectrum4.net Team.
emulator
ZX Spectrum Emulator for Microsoft Windows, developed under Microsoft .net framework.
The emulator currently supports 48k rom, tzx tape file and tape deck emulation, Sound, Border (loading boarders), Basic, Snapshot saving and more ...other supported file formats include sna, z80, tap
The ZX Spectrum emulator was the result of getting to know the .net environment a little better, and since staring have found ourselves up against barriers within the environment leaving no choice but to use some existing native windows calls, thanks Microsoft.
GAMES!
We've now included a couple of games in different formats to help those non-techie get started.
Requirements
Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, Possibly others
(let us know), 32bit and 64bit.
Microsoft .net framework (Vista and Windows 7 has this built in)
NO install required, and NO registry garbage.
Download the ZXSpectrum4.zip
Latest Version 1.0.3784 Build: 26497