Nexen v1.4.40

Nexen v1.4.40 is released. Nexen is a multi-system emulator (NES, SNES, GB, GBA, PCE, SMS/GG, WS) based on Nexen2 with significant enhancements: a full-featured TAS editor with undo/redo and greenzone support, an infinite save state system with visual picker, a ZIP-based movie format with multi-format import/export, 🌼 Pansy metadata export for integration with the Flower Toolchain disassembly pipeline, and active development of Sega Genesis, Atari 2600, and Fairchild Channel F support.

DOSBox-Staging Changelog:
Nexen v1.4.40 is a high-churn integration checkpoint that bundles major Genesis parity work, startup-compatibility hardening, naming cleanup, and release-pipeline stabilization. This release is intentionally published for artifact and CI verification, not for end-user validation.
🌟 Release Title
Nexen v1.4.40 - Thunder Before Bloom 1.5.0
🧭 Scope Of This Build
Area Outcome
🎮 Genesis hardware parity Large multi-issue parity wave across TMSS, controller protocol, DMA/FIFO timing, byte-lane behavior, and startup sequencing
🧪 Regression depth Expanded Genesis startup and VDP parity tests, including mixed control/data sequencing edge cases
🧹 Repository consistency Continued Mesen-to-Nexen naming normalization and workflow/script cleanup batches
📦 Release infrastructure Release metadata, README version links, and workflow-driven artifact production prepared for v1.4.40
🛡️ Stabilization pass Low-risk warning cleanup in active test surfaces and coarse-seek guard initialization in audio code
🔥 Major Change Themes Since v1.4.39
🎮 Genesis parity and startup convergence
Continued aggressive Genesis parity batches across issues, including startup/logo timing, TMSS behavior, bridge/MMU windows, and bus arbitration semantics.
Added and expanded deterministic startup compatibility gates and stress coverage to catch ordering-sensitive regressions early.
Hardened VDP behavior around control/data pending sequencing and DMA/FIFO status windows.
Finalized 3-button versus 6-button controller protocol gating and associated parity tests.
🧪 Test expansion and reliability
Increased targeted Genesis test coverage for startup transitions, delayed unlock states, mixed command ordering, and read/write lane interactions.
Added parity-focused tests for stale high-byte latch behavior when full-word writes occur on VDP data/control paths.
Preserved green targeted regression runs for active Genesis suites after each stabilization pass.
🧰 Tooling, scripts, and diagnostics
Extended startup diagnostics and trace-capture workflows used for cross-emulator parity triage.
Continued script and artifact naming consistency passes to reduce ambiguity during automation and manual triage.
Improved release-oriented workflow hygiene for repeatable build and artifact publication.
🧹 Warning and stability adjustments in this release prep
Removed signed/unsigned assertion mismatches in Genesis VDP parity tests.
Fixed a potential uninitialized local warning path in seek_to_sample_coarse by initializing the probe struct.
Eliminated prior corrupted-PDB linker warning storms via clean rebuild and output stabilization.
✅ Validation Summary For v1.4.40 Prep
Release build gate passed locally for Release x64.
Core targeted Genesis regression filter passed:
GenesisControlManagerTests.*
GenesisVdpDmaStartupLatencyTests.*
GenesisVdpReadPortParityTests.*
Result: 50/50 tests passed.
📦 Expected Release Assets (v1.4.40)
Nexen-Windows-x64-v1.4.40.exe
Nexen-Windows-x64-AoT-v1.4.40.exe
Nexen-Linux-x64-v1.4.40.AppImage
Nexen-Linux-ARM64-v1.4.40.AppImage
Nexen-Linux-x64-v1.4.40.tar.gz
Nexen-Linux-x64-gcc-v1.4.40.tar.gz
Nexen-Linux-ARM64-v1.4.40.tar.gz
Nexen-Linux-ARM64-gcc-v1.4.40.tar.gz
Nexen-Linux-x64-AoT-v1.4.40.tar.gz
Nexen-macOS-ARM64-v1.4.40.zip
📣 Notes For Testers
This build is intentionally labeled as a bad testing release.
Use it only to verify release artifact plumbing and packaging paths.
For meaningful gameplay or parity validation, wait for v1.5.0 in June.

Download: Nexen v1.4.40 x64
Source: Here