219 replies to this topic

[NE146]

mimo, on Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:08 PM, said:

yep, change it, not going backwards now.

Can anything be done to change the skins? music?

oh yeah of course.. you download various skins for any of the emulatorsor make your own.

I also delete that horrible .mp3 in there as well to get rid of that crap music

[Shannon]

lol. Yep the default skin is not one of my favorites. I've been wantint to replace it for years. Maybe if I'm lucky enough I'll be able to kludge something up. Most skins people upload are incomplete, or are for the newer systems (NES and up). No love for the 'ol 8-bit.

FYI if you go into configuration->general settings you can turn on/off whether music plays while in the menu, as well as in game. Also pressing the left stick button down will bring up the "play list" you can turn it on/off there or point it to your own music!

I got something in the works for you all. Just spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what the deal was/is with the graphics not quite displaying correctly (look at the ladders in donkey kong, jumpman). The problem goes away if you bring up the on screen keyboard (press left stick down, B to make it go away). Interesting eh? It only shows up when the software filters (which look like ass for some reason) are not used.

Not 100% sure but with the way this thing was kludged together over the years by x-port (change on top of change on top of change) I think certain things just got a little out of wack. Actually more like feature, on top of feature on top of feature. There are alot of routines that are not even used anymore. Anyways in addition to the zip file and trailing space fix I got that little graphic glitch taken care of. Although I do not have a clue as to why what I did is working. Something to do with the order things are done in directX.

Edited by Shannon, Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:34 PM.

[Shannon]

 BarnyardBlaster.gif   7.23K   4 downloads  IMG_1147.JPG   1.48MB   5 downloads

Edited by Shannon, Mon Feb 4, 2008 8:56 AM.

[NE146]

Still have yet to try the new one.. but no worries. I will

[Shannon]

lol. That picture of a lightgun was not any implication that I was about to shoot somebody. It has to do with something else.

Something dealing with barnyard animals.

Well I'm quite pleased with myself today. A couple of days ago I realized the record/playback function did not work and was a bit baffled as to why. After digging around in the emulator code I managed to fix it! A change I could actually submit to the A800 team, although I doubt they'd really care.

I tell ya. It sure caused some weird behavior when using the rewind function! Certain events that occured alot of times would not happen again, etc. It was one of those things that I noticed, but didn't notice. Things are usually moving so fast it isn't always obvious. I might leave that in the rewind function because I found it easier to recover from ugly situations as a result of this little "quirk".

So I can add that to my list of changes.

Record and Playback now work correctly. Except it currently does not record analog input. Bummer. This should technically make game saves incompatible with Atari800, Atari800win, etc. But since it happens to be the last saved byte.....

Added in a "do not allow activating attract mode". Really only useful in demo's.
Autoselect media defaults to yes if no configuration file exists, so if you go to the "configure computer options" menu it will execute.

New bug... Period key sends "$". Thanks to a little fix I made so I'll need to fix THAT.

I discovered the record/playback "bug" when I was gonna make a list of suggestion of things for you guys to check out.
It's more of a "familarize yourself with typical x-port features" list than a check for bugs list.

Anyways.. Try it out. Record a session and then play it back. Be careful to turn off record or play before exiting a game though cause it currently does not do that. It's on my todo list of things to fix.

You can listen to mp3's while playing atari games, as well as even creating a playlist. So go ahead and dump some mp3's on your xbox and try it out. I usually do not use this feature but the Atari does not play a whole lot of music itself, just mostly sound effects. Just go into the options menu (press right analog stick down), then press the left analog stick down to bring up the menu.

Rewind.... Hold down the left trig and right trig at the same time. Try it after you die.
Fast Forward. Don't feel like waiting? Press the right trigger and the game will speed up.

Slow mo... Game a little to fast for you? Is your old age affecting your reflexes? Try this one. Left trigger + the B button to toggle it on/off. The speed for this can be adjusted in the general options.

If your playing a game that requires keyboard input you can press the left analog stick down to bring up an onscreen keyboard.
Wanna save a picture while browsing games? Just go into options while playing it, Utlities->save screenshot.

Gotta hi definition TV? Go into the video options and you can set the emulator to 480i/p, 720i/p, and 1040i/p. I can't remember if your dash needs to be set to match or not.

Update..

Seems my 42 character fix has a glitch in it where it actually puts a space before a filename that is exactly 42 characters and has an extension (doh). But being I don't wanna quite release my current build just yet I figured I'd just let you guys know about this odd little quirk. It has been fixed so once I finish up my next little project I'll send it.

Unless someone wants it real badly, I suppose it doesn't matter. Just being lazy.

Edited by Shannon, Mon Feb 4, 2008 8:58 AM.

[Shannon]

Well I turned on lightgun support and it works pretty well, considering.

Barnyard Blaster, Bug Hunt, Crossbow, and Special Forces play pretty well. All games unfortunately require custom parameters. The accuracy range of the 8-bit lightgun wasn't all that great. The NES zapper is a bit better.

Noticed something odd today. Super Breakout (8-bit version) does not have any sound. It does it in the final x-port release as well. This one has got me a bit baffled... I'll have to look into this more when I get a chance.

Hmmm seems there is another little bug in the emu. If you set the mouse type to anything other than "none", load a game, and then load a game where the mouse type is "none" it doesn't reset. So for example 5200 games will lose their analog control. Fixed..

Also record/playback do not work to well when fast forward, rewind, or slow motion is used. At first I was thinking of disabling them when recording is on, but I think I'll just put up a warning and leave it at that.

Edited by Shannon, Tue Feb 5, 2008 6:27 AM.

[Shannon]

Thanks to eegt97 I got some insight onto the Pengo issue, as well as Xari Arena, and Star Trek not starting. Oh and some ideas on dealing with the oversensivity of games like missile command, tennis, and I suppose even centipede.

So my previous presumption about Pengo was incorrect. Anyways Pengo happens to be working now.

And just to mess with yall's head, due to the overwhelming reaction to my lightgun pic ( j/k ). Here is another one for ya.

 Paddle_me.jpg   2.71K   5 downloads
 arkanoid_6.gif   6.35K   5 downloads

This one is gonna take some work cause apparently alot of games do not use the full paddle range...

 Kaboom.gif   2.12K   4 downloads

Seriously though don't get any grand illusions about beating any records without the real thing (baby!).

On a side note. v4 of the x-port 2600 emu switched to an alternative paddle scheme based on direct l/r trigger values as well as the analog stick. Personally I like the way A800 does it. To try it, get a paddle game. Set the mouse type to paddle and the sensivity somewhere between 1 and 3 (I like 2 myself). I suppose in the end it wont affect the values I need to put in, but it'd be nice to have some input on the current paddle handling method.

As for missile command, etc. I may end up creating something like 3 hard coded values (sensitive, super sensitive, maxed!) or something silly like that. Any ideas for word choices?

Here are some  Paddle_Me.zip   171.87K   6 downloads paddle games for you all to try. See... I did all the hard work for ya, no excuses!

Edited by Shannon, Fri Feb 8, 2008 2:54 PM.

[Shannon]

Well seems the "do not allow attract mode" causes Bounty Bob to have an out of body experience. So I suggest you only use it when running Demo's. This same "quirk" exists in Atari800win plus as well.
 Bounty_Bob_not_quite_in_the_zone_.png   7.81K   9 downloads

Thanks to eegt97 I now have 5200 Star Trek and Pitfall where they can be started now. Pengo is also playable. We also have semi decent control in Missile Command, although that still needs some work but once I'm done, other games like Tennis and even Centipede will be more controllable.

Edited by Shannon, Wed Feb 6, 2008 4:47 PM.

[mimo]

now just add steladaptor support so we can use real paddles and I can die a happy man

[Shannon]

Yeah, that would be cool. Sounds like an excuse to purchase one.

[mimo]

Shannon, on Thu Feb 7, 2008 10:41 AM, said:

Yeah, that would be cool. Sounds like an excuse to purchase one.

None left in the store
I could lend you mine if you really promise to look after it

[Shannon]

I'll have to look at the source code for the stella adapter and see if I think I could do it. If so, I may have to take you up on your offer. Although technically I'm a newb to this kind of thing (well at least C, the xbox, Direct X, etc)..

OK I updated the changes, bugs, todo lists. Since I've been kinda lazy about it.

Here is a couple nice boring entries.

Modified the select save state screen so it tells you whether your "loading" or "saving", can be a bit confusing when hot keying to that screen.

Fixed Cart save state in rewind so now rewind works properly in bank switching cartridges. Newb mistake.

[Shannon]

This guy over here created a gamebase for the 7800, and 5200 as well. May come handy for some future testing....

Edited by Shannon, Sat Feb 9, 2008 3:55 AM.

[NE146]

Hey Shannon, I just got off a really hard week of work and am ready to kick back this weekend. Is the last release the one "good" one to try out?

[Shannon]

The only quirk with the last one I sent out is if a filename (including .zip) extension is exactly 42 characters it gets a little confused (wont show game pic, when unzipping places a space in the character before the extension, and creates a new configuration file cause it thinks the old one is gone). Other than that it's pretty stable.

The latest version has major changes to the controller handling system, including the record/playback system. Which I totally reworked. So I'm not sure how stable it is.

But I do think I have a compile laying around that is somewhere between the one I sent you guys and the one I'm working on now. It was sometime after I put in the lightgun, partial paddle support, and the 5200 fixes for pengo, pitfall, and star trek, (partial fix for missile command). Oh and after I fixed the record, playback system (no 5200 analog recording in that one).

I could send that one if you wish.

[NE146]

Shannon, on Sat Feb 9, 2008 10:08 AM, said:

The only quirk with the last one I sent out is if a filename (including .zip) extension is exactly 42 characters it gets a little confused (wont show game pic, when unzipping places a space in the character before the extension, and creates a new configuration file cause it thinks the old one is gone). Other than that it's pretty stable.

The latest version has major changes to the controller handling system, including the record/playback system. Which I totally reworked. So I'm not sure how stable it is.

But I do think I have a compile laying around that is somewhere between the one I sent you guys and the one I'm working on now. It was sometime after I put in the lightgun, partial paddle support, and the 5200 fixes for pengo, pitfall, and star trek, (partial fix for missile command). Oh and after I fixed the record, playback system (no 5200 analog recording in that one).

I could send that one if you wish.

5200 Fix for Pengo??? Why yes!!! I'll try that one

[Shannon]

PM sent. Yeah... to bad there isn't a hack of Pengo with the popcorn music in it.

[Shannon]

Well I think I got the record/playback stuff squared away. This took a bit of fiddling around with the code, rearranging, reformatting, reprogramming. Some pretty big changes. Hopefully I didn't screw anything up. For a while there the timing was off by 1/60th of a second.

Anyways it now records keyboard an 5200 analog stick movements. I used gauntletak which is the current 8-bit high score club entry as a test bed (game uses keyboard for switching weapons). The analog stuff is kinda hacked in. It steals space from the normal record function. Only two issues is paddle game playback is still off and the emu starts acting funny when record time reaches about 6 minutes. So hopefully I'll get that squared away for another test release for you guys.

Paddle range support is still incomplete, but no biggy. Just need to go through the remaining paddle titles and check em out. 5200 analog speed for games like missile command, tennis, etc still needs tweaking.

Cleaned up and re-arranged the changelist section. I kinda wanted to keep everything in chronological order, but whenever I release it I was gonna do this anyways.

Edited by Shannon, Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:53 AM.

[NE146]

Been having lots of fun playing this. Got carried away playing a number of games of Pengo, Joust & Space Dungeon. I also am having fun A/B 'ing the games with a real 5200. It plays great and once you adjust the screen right, it does a nice job of looking close to the real deal. But try as I might, no matter how I tweaked the video display (filters, aliasing, etc.) I could never get it to really match the actual hardware too well aside from the size & aspect ratio. The real stuff actually has a little more detail (if you can believe that) that doesn't come out via the emulation. But oh well we knew that already.

As far as the emulation itself, I like the slow..mo. That's fun to play with The recording function is pretty cool to play with as well Using that and save states I recorded myself on a successful pterry hunt in Joust where I stabbed him in the ass

Quote

Rewind.... Hold down the left trig and right trig at the same time. Try it after you die.
Fast Forward. Don't feel like waiting? Press the right trigger and the game will speed up.

I can't get the rewind to work though and I can't remember how I did it before.. but that combo above doesn't seem to work.. it just triggers the speed up with the right trigger.

But yeah man it looks awesome. Getting Pengo and others to work decently, the dual analog support. The cool little extras, and the overall "more user friendliness" about it definitely take this a notch above in the console 5200/8bit emulation scene
Real Deal


Emulated

[Shannon]

NE146, on Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:25 PM, said:

Been having lots of fun playing this. Got carried away playing a number of games of Pengo, Joust & Space Dungeon. I also am having fun A/B 'ing the games with a real 5200. It plays great and once you adjust the screen right, it does a nice job of looking close to the real deal. But try as I might, no matter how I tweaked the video display (filters, aliasing, etc.) I could never get it to really match the actual hardware too well aside from the size & aspect ratio. The real stuff actually has a little more detail (if you can believe that) that doesn't come out via the emulation. But oh well we knew that already.

As far as the emulation itself, I like the slow..mo. That's fun to play with The recording function is pretty cool to play with as well Using that and save states I recorded myself on a successful pterry hunt in Joust where I stabbed him in the ass

Quote

Rewind.... Hold down the left trig and right trig at the same time. Try it after you die.
Fast Forward. Don't feel like waiting? Press the right trigger and the game will speed up.

I can't get the rewind to work though and I can't remember how I did it before.. but that combo above doesn't seem to work.. it just triggers the speed up with the right trigger.

But yeah man it looks awesome. Getting Pengo and others to work decently, the dual analog support. The cool little extras, and the overall "more user friendliness" about it definitely take this a notch above in the console 5200/8bit emulation scene
Real Deal

Whoops, somehow missed yer reply here.

You play on that tiny screen? Yeah that is kinda my feeling the colors are close, but just not quite there. I think overall they are more consistent than other NTSC palettes I have seen. The guy who created the palette used some color timing calculations to determine the palette values.

Rewind. Try hold left first then right (it takes a little getting used to). I think I changed those mappings after sending the first beta so first you would need to copy the ".ini" files over to the "e:\saves\atarixlbox\" directory. Then go into the game an reselect (5200 stick) so that it will load the new settings. You would have to do that with each game that is already configured (yeah, I know...) Or you could just map it yourself. (configuration->configure controllers->controller 1->change joypad mappings->change ui mappings) phew.

I never did like that convoluted system, just never took the time to think of something simpler.

Here is what I've been upto lately. Mostly record/playback related.

Quote

Should have the record/playback issues squared away. I think the 8 minute bug was more related to using an old save state. Have not seen the problem since.

If a save state has a matching record file it shows "( R )" on the save state screen.

Modified the start/stop record/playback so it reflects the current state. So if, for example, you are recording is would say "Stop recording". It also list the approx number of minutes availabe or number of minutes played back.

Added the ability to turn of analog recording if you wish. This will double the recording time in 5200 games. This is useful for 5200 games where the analog pad aint so useful (Galaga, Joust, etc). Just don't use the analog stick while recording. It's funny how adding one little feature can snowball into a fair amount of work. Hmmm hope that does not create any confusion..

Rewind and Fastforward are de-activated during record/playback mode (soon to be slo-mo as well), and it even tells you so!!

Artifact mode didn't turn off when using it and switching games.. fixed

Edited by Shannon, Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:53 AM.

[NE146]

Shannon, on Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:50 AM, said:

You play on that tiny screen?

Ahh yeah man it's the best! Especially since it's in my office. I really do prefer playing on a small screen since I can see everything at once... On the big screens, I have to move my head left & right to see stuff

Of course though if I ever feel like it, I do have several xboxes spread out amongst the tv's here.. a number of them with component outputs. So it's just a matter of going to the other parts of the house if I feel like gaming on a bigger screen...

Like here's Joust at 1080i..

ok after resizing it looks like



....But yeah. Again I prefer my tiny tv

Quote

Rewind. Try hold left first then right (it takes a little getting used to).
I think I changed those mappings after sending the first beta so first you would need to copy the ".ini" files over to the "e:\saves\atarixlbox\" directory. Then go into the game an reselect (5200 stick) so that it will load the new settings. You would have to do that with each game that is already configured (yeah, I know...) Or you could just map it yourself. (configuration->configure controllers->controller 1->change joypad mappings->change ui mappings) phew.

I never did like that convoluted system, just never took the time to think of something simpler.

I'm not sure then what I must be doing wrong as again I can hold down the L trigger all day long but once I hit the R trigger along with it, it just speeds the game up with no rewind.

I went ahead and completely deleted the e:\saves\atarixlbox directory and all the .ini files at first. But that made none of the 5200 games start unless I manually mapped the controllers myself. So I started from scratch again and copied the most recent .ini files you sent me (the last thing you gave me only had a default.xbe in it) both to the emulator root directory as well as to the newly created e:\saves\atarixlbox\ directory. Since I was forced to configure each game after launching (e.g. 5200 system, 5200 stick, etc.) I figured that should do it. But, again no rewind function using any combination of L Trigger + R Trigger, seemed to work.

..do I have the latest .ini files?

[Shannon]

In yer atarixlbox.ini there should be an entry that says...

enablerewind=1

It's under the [GENERAL] section at the beginning about halfway thru the entries before you reach [DEFAULT_CONTROLLER1]. This "enables rewind". You can set the option in the emulator menu under Configurat->General. Or you could just change the entry in the .ini file and save it. Remember the emulator looks in E:\saves\atarixlbox first.

Look in your "Atari 5200 stick.ini" and see if under [DEFAULT_CONTROLLER1] it says..

REWIND=49152

If it doesnt then change it, or go thru the long convoluted process (mentioned above) of mapping it thru the controller settings menu. Actually it's not that bad once you get used to it. It's just alot of menu hopping!

Funny. My son was playing Advance Wars on our HDTV and he was complaining about it being too large, so he actually asked me to make the screen smaller.

Edited by Shannon, Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:27 PM.

[Shannon]

Well I've been a bit busy with --> this <-- . But it seems to be a bit of a memory hog. Not sure if I'm gonna be able to use it. Poor bob just can't seem to get a break. The music is not related to the theme, just something I threw in from back in the day. Some may even recognize it!

Two problems... The box around platform Bob is a little to big. The electric machine blinks on the 1st frame for some reason.

Everyone still alive? How are things going?

Attached Files

•  new_menu.jpg   42.21K   7 downloads

Edited by Shannon, Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:45 PM.

[NE146]

I'm here still. Slow and steady wins the race I plan on playing a couple more things later tonight once I get back from valentines dinner (and anything else after that)

What I plan on doing is more 8-bit title stuff and of course checking the .ini settings for the rewind function. I'll let you know how it goes

[Kr0tki]

NE146, on Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:21 AM, said:

As per request.. 5200 Roms. And a couple of nice little extras!

NE146, this No-Intro collection you've provided contains a broken dump of Bounty Bob (unplayable in emulator), and the protos of Spitfire, Super Pac-Man and Xevious are not the latest versions found.

Now the good Bounty Bob and the final versions of Spitfire and Super Pac-Man are hosted here on AtariAge in the 5200 section. However the Xevious dump isn't, so I'm sending it here for convenience.