Pole Position question for Atari 5200 Emulator

[ikura17]

I've got an Atari 5200 emulator working on Linux (Ubuntu) -- simply compiled the Atari800 source code with target=sdl.

 

My question is: I sort have got Pole Position up and running but I can't shift into hi-gear and I can't recenter the car after steering left or right. The directions say to move the joystick forward/backward to downshift/upshift but that doesn't work. Any help getting the car into hi-gear or recentered after steering would be great! Thanks in advance!

 

p.s. -- I've noticed that Pole Position is one of the games that is listed as "not working" under the VSS emulator. While this is the Atari800 emulator, does anyone know if this is what is meant by "not working"?

[slampam]

Atari800WinPlus4 shifts numpad 7 for High and 1 for Low. You have to use the (ball) mouse to simulate the analog joystick or it won't turn back and forth correctly. 5200Kat shifts with the up & down arrow keys and maybe also 7 and 1 since it's the same engine. And yes, forget VSS for Pole Position. Not sure if these work any differently for you: Top Racer 5200

[Shannon]

The a800 emulator does not send the proper information when a 5200 game "initializes" the analog sticks so the game (if it supports it) ends up thinking a trackball is attached. Hence pole position is running in "trackball mode". I found this little "quirk" while adding analog stick support to the atarixlbox emulator. Since you compiled it I could probably tell you what change you could make to get it out of "trackball mode", but then it might not be very playable after that. I'm not really sure.

[ikura17]

The a800 emulator does not send the proper information when a 5200 game "initializes" the analog sticks so the game (if it supports it) ends up thinking a trackball is attached. Hence pole position is running in "trackball mode". I found this little "quirk" while adding analog stick support to the atarixlbox emulator. Since you compiled it I could probably tell you what change you could make to get it out of "trackball mode", but then it might not be very playable after that. I'm not really sure.

 

Thanks for the response. I've poked around the source code (atari_sdl.c in particular) and haven't seen any obvious quirk in the way the 5200 is being initialized. Can you point me in the right direction for getting it out of "trackball mode"? No need for super-specific instructions -- just the right .c file to look at would save me lots of time. Thanks very much!

[Shannon]

Sorry I didn't reply to this. For some reason I overlooked it. I thought about submitting this to the a800 team at some point. Changing the following code in "input.c" should fix the issue. Here is the original code. The easiest and cheapest thing to do is change the number 228 to 114.

 

#ifdef DREAMCAST
extern int Atari_POT(int);
#else
#define Atari_POT(x) 228
#endif

 

The right way to do it would be to change it to something like this (I'm not sure if this is correct but you should get the idea).

 

#define Atari_POT(x) machine_type == MACHINE_5200 ? 114 : 228

Edited August 5, 2008 by Shannon

[ikura17]

Shannon,

 

Better late than never! Thanks for the reply!

 

Thy

 

Sorry I didn't reply to this. For some reason I overlooked it. I thought about submitting this to the a800 team at some point. Changing the following code in "input.c" should fix the issue. Here is the original code. The easiest and cheapest thing to do is change the number 228 to 114.

 

#ifdef DREAMCAST
extern int Atari_POT(int);  /* My xbox changes, support 5200 analog */
#else
#define Atari_POT(x) 228
#endif

 

The right way to do it would be to change it to something like this (I'm not sure if this is correct but you should get the idea).

 

#define Atari_POT(x) machine_type == MACHINE_5200 ? 114 : 228

[Shannon]

NP. In a way my little "fix" is incomplete. But since a800 does not "officially" support the 5200 trackball it will do. If it supported the trackball than accomodations would have to be made to take that into account. Oh, and the above changes would not have any effect on the dreamcast version.

 

But I think for your purposes it should work just fine.

 

Ughhh. I forgot to remove that xbox comment. That isn't really needed. In fact in the xbox source I commented out the #ifdef dreamcast. I really need to properly change that code at some point.

[roadrunner]

I'm having the same problems that the guy who started this thread. Once i turn my car, it will never be straight again. The car is always turned left or right, even after i crash. It takes awhile to get used to pressing keys 7 and 1 to change gears. Instead of pressing up or down on the controller.I'm not doing to good at this game. I can qualify no better than 7th. And can only get to lap 2 of the Malibu Gran Prix.

I'm using the Atari800winplus to play this game.

Edited February 22, 2009 by roadrunner

[bohoki]

I'm having the same problems that the guy who started this thread. Once i turn my car, it will never be straight again. The car is always turned left or right, even after i crash. It takes awhile to get used to pressing keys 7 and 1 to change gears. Instead of pressing up or down on the controller.I'm not doing to good at this game. I can qualify no better than 7th. And can only get to lap 2 of the Malibu Gran Prix.

I'm using the Atari800winplus to play this game.

 

 

anybody know what signal the tracball sends to tell the system it is a tracball?