17 replies to this topic

[BillyHW]

Emulator programmers make me want to cry.  

It's like they don't want anybody to use their software or something.  No help files, no instructions (or badly out of date instructions), no self-contained apps.  Non-working websites.

After unsuccessfully trying to find/run an ADAM emulator on Mac, I've booted into Windows 7 (shudder) to try out MESSUI and Virtual Adam.

In MESS, even though it says Adam emulation does not work, I've actually managed to get it to boot into some typewriter program.  What I'd like to do is try to load up a sample game, I have Super Zaxxon on .dsk file, but I can't for the life of me figure out how.

In Virtual Adam (which seems to follow the Microsoft Bob school of UI design), I try to boot up the Super Zaxxon .dsk file, but I keep getting the following error message:

"This program has encountered an error in the launch routine. Error #5"

Is there anyone out there who's managed to get Adam emulation working successfully that can help me out?

[ChuckH]

I'm not sure how much I can help out as I have a PC and not a MAC.
About the only two program that will run ADAM programs are the ones that you mentioned.
  Virtual ADAM is a front end for the program ADAMem that uses DOSBox. ADAMem is an old program that is clunkly to use and VirtualADAM makes it easy. It will run almost all ADAM software without a hitch. My Super Zaxxon disk image runs perfectly and you can even save high scores. Maybe you have a bad disk image and should try a different one. Maybe Virtual ADAM doesn't work work correctly on a MAC computer running Windows mode. I don't know. I can't help you there. Virtual ADAM has a built in Help file but maybe not too helpful with error messages.
  MESSUI will run the Super Zaxxon disk image as well BUT you must have a version .141 or before. After .141 they broke ADAM emulation to try to make it more accurate and so far have not succeeded.
  Do any other disk images or cartridge images work with either program?

[BillyHW]

Well, I was trying them in Windows 7, not Mac OS X, I have a dual boot configuration on my Macbook.  Are you running Windows 7 or XP?   Do I have to install ADAMem and DOSBox separately?  I read on one website that Virtual Adam was self-contained and had these programs built-in...was that mistaken?

I was running MESS .145 I think.  I guess I will have to try to find .141 somewhere and install it.  Will I need a different BIOS ROM file too?

I will also try a different game.

Edited by BillyHW, Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:43 PM.

[BillyHW]

Oh, I almost forgot, does Virtual Adam require a Bios file?  If so, what directory do I put it in?

[TwiliteZoner]

I don't believe it needs a bios file other than the coleco one which it may come with. Very good compatibility.

[BillyHW]

Do any of you have Virtual Adam 1.03 running on 32-bit Windows 7?

Whenever I click Boot I get the error message: "This program has encountered an error in the launch routine. Error #5" That happens even if I just try to boot into WP.
I also tried just launching the AdamEm.exe that comes with the Virtual Adam install and first I get the error message "This system does not support fullscreen mode. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application." And when I click ignore on that, it tells me "NTVDM.exe has stopped working." at which point everything stops.

Do I need to put some sort of Bios rom file in the the right place for this to work?

Can anyone with 32-bit Windows 7 try installing Virtual Adam and see if they can get it working? The readme file says it should work with 2000, XP, Vista, 7.

[BillyHW]

Can anyone post a link to MESS UI 32-bit version .141?  I can't find it anywhere.

[BillyHW]

ChuckH, on Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:01 AM, said:

I'm not sure how much I can help out as I have a PC and not a MAC.
About the only two program that will run ADAM programs are the ones that you mentioned.
  Virtual ADAM is a front end for the program ADAMem that uses DOSBox. ADAMem is an old program that is clunkly to use and VirtualADAM makes it easy. It will run almost all ADAM software without a hitch. My Super Zaxxon disk image runs perfectly and you can even save high scores. Maybe you have a bad disk image and should try a different one. Maybe Virtual ADAM doesn't work work correctly on a MAC computer running Windows mode. I don't know. I can't help you there. Virtual ADAM has a built in Help file but maybe not too helpful with error messages.
  MESSUI will run the Super Zaxxon disk image as well BUT you must have a version .141 or before. After .141 they broke ADAM emulation to try to make it more accurate and so far have not succeeded.
  Do any other disk images or cartridge images work with either program?

Okay, so I managed to install MESSUI 0.141, and also to find a valid BIOS ROM for that version, but it still doesn't work right.  I can boot into WP but there are no menus like there are in 0.145.  Trying to load software from the MESS UI, Super Zaxxon does not work, nor do most other files.  It can't load .ddp files.  The keyboard doesn't work, nor is there a keyboard mapping available to look at.  I did manage to load Campaign '84 (w00t!) on .dsk but can't get past the skill selection sreen cause the keyboard doesn't work.

I want to kill myself in frustration.  

[SpiceWare]

I was trying to download MESS last week to see if I could try to get the 7800 emulator to work on my Mac, but their site had crashed(apparently a drive failed).  Looks like it's up again, but so far only the source for 0.145u5 is available in the download section.  It mentions "Temporary download page until old is resurected. Just latest u release source for now, on external link."

Hmm - you could probably run the DOS version of ADAMEM in Boxer on your Mac.

[BillyHW]

I think I've found the solution to my Virtual Adam problem here:

http://www.atariage....3-boot-problem/

I'm trying it out now.  I'll post again with an update.  I kind of feel bad now since I just wrote to the author Steve Pitman to ask about it.

[Robbbert]

http://messui.the-ch....org/howto.html

Read this page, particularly about mess.ini - you should be able to restore the menus in MESSUI 0.141

[BillyHW]

Robbbert, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 5:43 PM, said:

http://messui.the-ch....org/howto.html Read this page, particularly about mess.ini - you should be able to restore the menus in MESSUI 0.141

Oh my...I'm not sure if editing an .ini file is quite for me...but maybe I'll try later.  But why don't the menus just work by default in .141?

[Robbbert]

Back then the default was no menu.

A lot has changed since then, but you could try right-clicking on Adam, choose Properties, and one of the screens there will let you turn on 'menus' or 'Newui'. Turn that on.

[BillyHW]

Okay, I will look again.  I thought I went through ever single tab in the properties though, and I didn't see that.  

I'll probably just wait for MESS to improve and get a bit easier to use.  I've finally figured out how to use MAME, and that's pretty awesome, but MESS has quite a ways to go to catch up.

But generally speaking, all emulators are very user un-friendly to set up and use.

[Robbbert]

Ah well, sorry to hear you feel that way.

[NE146]

BillyHW, on Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:35 PM, said:

Oh my...I'm not sure if editing an .ini file is quite for me...but maybe I'll try later.  

Oh come on, you open it up in a text editor (e.g. Notepad) and type. How simple can you get?

[Mark Wolfe]

I don't suppose you have an original Xbox1 do you?  There is a wonderful emulator that works very well for the Adam as well as any other emu you'd want to run.  you need to soft-mod you xbox though. I am selling the game and memory card to do it, check my marketplace thread on the topic.

[PkK]

BillyHW, on Thu Mar 22, 2012 4:17 PM, said:

In MESS, even though it says Adam emulation does not work, I've actually managed to get it to boot into some typewriter program.  What I'd like to do is try to load up a sample game, I have Super Zaxxon on .dsk file, but I can't for the life of me figure out how.

How did you get it to work? I get a list of missing ROMS in mess 0.146:

alf #1 rev 57 e3d5.u8 NOT FOUND
alf #2 rev 57 ae6a.u20 NOT FOUND
alf #3 rev 57 8534.u21 NOT FOUND
eos 6 rev 57 08dd.u22 NOT FOUND
wp_r80.rom ROM NEEDS REDUMP
master rev a 174b.u6 NOT FOUND
keyboard.u2 NOT FOUND
tape rev a 8865.u24 NOT FOUND
printer.u2 NOT FOUND
floppy disk drive NOT FOUND (NO GOOD DUMP KNOWN)
spi.bin NOT FOUND
ERROR: required files are missing, the system cannot be run.

I suppose this means I need these ROMs to get the emulator to work. And the list includes a ROM, for which there is no known good dump? How am I supposed to use this thing short of dumping the ROMS myself?

Philipp