Stella Question

[JZSlenker]

Is there any way to disable the TIA keys in Stella. I keep getting Palette changes and Console restarts when I play two player games. Since Control-F and Control-R happen when using the standard MAME keymapping I need to disable this. How do I do it? Thanks so much.

[e1will]

Is there any way to disable the TIA keys in Stella. I keep getting Palette changes and Console restarts when I play two player games. Since Control-F and Control-R happen when using the standard MAME keymapping I need to disable this. How do I do it? Thanks so much.

 

As a workaround you could remap the buttons that currently map to the F and R keys (and any other keys that have unwanted interactions with the control key.)

 

--Will

[JZSlenker]

well I could do that, but I don't want to as I would have to change I-pac and then all other mame settings. I need R and F. I just can't believe there is not way to disable that. I guess I'll have to dump stella for a far less accurate emulator that will let me use the control key. Something like MESS.

[+stephena]

It can't be done right now in release 3.0, but I can add it for the next release. I never considered it before, because I mostly only play 1-player games in testing Stella. And even when I do test 2-player games, it's normally with actual joysticks.

 

Just a note that you can also use the spacebar as the fire button instead of Control. But I agree that the best solution is to be able to disable the Control-x key combos entirely.

[JZSlenker]

ok, thanks for getting back to me. I'll eagerly await the change in the next version. Using the space bar would certainly work if I was willing to change my I-Pac mapping but I don't want my front end to have to continually change the hardware programming depending on the game (type) selected. I'll just set MESS as the emulator for the two or three games that i have that are 2 player simultaneous play and keep stella for the rest as it's much better. Thanks again.

[+stephena]

ok, thanks for getting back to me. I'll eagerly await the change in the next version. Using the space bar would certainly work if I was willing to change my I-Pac mapping but I don't want my front end to have to continually change the hardware programming depending on the game (type) selected. I'll just set MESS as the emulator for the two or three games that i have that are 2 player simultaneous play and keep stella for the rest as it's much better. Thanks again.

I can provide you with a test build that has this functionality, It's actually quite easy to do; just a few extra lines of code. Let me know if you want a test build, and what version (Linux, OSX, Windows, 32 or 64-bit).

[chrispitude]

Thank you for adding the -ctrlcombo option to resolve this problem! I've got an upright cabinet for gaming:

 

http://www.recroommasters.com/x_arcade_p/rm-xt-arc-t.htm

 

and the Tankstick uses the MAME default key bindings. I changed the path in my Stella shortcut to

"C:\Program Files\Stella\Stella.exe" -ctrlcombo 0

(with the option outside the quotes) and it works perfectly.

 

I have another problem I'm battling, this time in the launcher. Tankstick's key events are causing the game list to snap to that character. I tried mapping the left joystick to up and down and the right joystick to page-up/page-down. But, the '8'/'2' and 'r'/f' keyboard events are causing the game list to snap to that character.

 

How can this "jump-to-character" feature be disabled in the launcher?

 

I am 41 years old now, but six-year-old me thanks for a wonderfully nostalgic emulator! (Edit: my four-year-old son is finding it fun too!)

Edited December 24, 2014 by chrispitude

[+stephena]

It should be easy enough to add an option to disable 'list-snapping'. In fact, the code itself already allows to do this, but it hasn't yet been exposed as a setting.

 

Also, that ctrlcombo thing should really have a GUI option to change it. I'll look into that too.

[chrispitude]

It should be easy enough to add an option to disable 'list-snapping'. In fact, the code itself already allows to do this, but it hasn't yet been exposed as a setting.

 

Also, that ctrlcombo thing should really have a GUI option to change it. I'll look into that too.

 

If you provide me with a test build, I'd be happy to test it!

Edited December 24, 2014 by chrispitude

[+stephena]

OK, the following build enables both options in the UI. The 'listdelay' command can now be set to 0 (or 'disabled' in Options -> UI Settings -> Misc -> List quick delay). Note that this is a global feature; it disables list-skipping in all lists.

 

Also, the 'ctrlcombo' option is now available through the UI, at Options -> Input Settings -> Devices & Ports -> Use Control key combos.

 

[Links removed: Download Stella 4.5 directly]

[chrispitude]

OK, the following build enables both options in the UI. The 'listdelay' command can now be set to 0 (or 'disabled' in Options -> UI Settings -> Misc -> List quick delay). Note that this is a global feature; it disables list-skipping in all lists.

 

Also, the 'ctrlcombo' option is now available through the UI, at Options -> Input Settings -> Devices & Ports -> Use Control key combos.

 

http://minbar.org/Stella-4.5_beta2-windows.zip

Thanks stephena!

 

I'm not sure the "List quick delay" is doing what I need. It seems to affect how/if keypresses are seen as subsequent letters within a title, but it doesn't let me turn off that feature completely. If I set the "Up" and "Down" UI events to "R" and "F", pressing R or F still snaps the list to titles that begin with that letter instead of moving the current selection up/down.

 

Side note - even with "List quick delay" set to Disabled, if I hold the controller up or down, it causes the "R" or "F" key event to repeat, and the repeated key events seem fast enough to still be interpreted as within a quick delay window. But that's just a side note, as what I need is to disable list snapping completely.

 

If this is not clear, let me know and I'll take a video of what it's doing. Thanks again for the great support!

[+stephena]

Sorry, I can't duplicate what you're seeing. This is what I do:

1. Disable 'List quick delay' and exit/restart the app.
2. Map 'Move Up' to 'r', and 'Move Down' to 'f'.
3. When I press 'r' or 'f' in a list, it now moves up or down, just as if the cursor keys were pressed.

If this still isn't working, I need to see your stella.ini file and a video showing exactly what you mean.

[chrispitude]

Sorry, I can't duplicate what you're seeing. This is what I do:

1. Disable 'List quick delay' and exit/restart the app.
2. Map 'Move Up' to 'r', and 'Move Down' to 'f'.
3. When I press 'r' or 'f' in a list, it now moves up or down, just as if the cursor keys were pressed.

If this still isn't working, I need to see your stella.ini file and a video showing exactly what you mean.

 

Ugh, user error. Once I exited/restarted, it worked perfectly!

 

Thank you SO much for the holiday gift! I'll be putting in some good quality time playing games with my son tomorrow.

 

All the best,

 

- Chris

[+stephena]

OK, good to hear that it's fixed. I'm logging of now; that's enough work on Stella for today