The JZINTV for Android app

[halfiepint]

Hi there, I have the JZINTV for Android working perfectly on my phone. Every game loads fine.

 

However I have tried to install it on three different tablets with the exact same configuration and it does not work on any one of the tablets.

 

Is there something special you're supposed to do, to get it to work on tablets? because I only get a black screen every time I try to load a game. The same game, same files, same cfg files, work perfectly on my phone.

 

Help?

[+Lathe26]

This probably won't be too much help, but it works fine on my Nexus 7 tablet. The only question I can think of is whether you remembered to copy the EXEC and GROM files (I forget the exact filenames these need to be).

[halfiepint]

OK so I just now copied them, and it's still not working. maybe reboot the tablet, I don't know. where do you store your roms? that might make a difference although I have it pointing to the right directory.

[+DZ-Jay]

This also won't help, but I just received notice from someone who has been playing on his Kindle Fire.

 

I think that's awesome!

 

-dZ.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Hi there, I have the JZINTV for Android working perfectly on my phone. Every game loads fine.

 

However I have tried to install it on three different tablets with the exact same configuration and it does not work on any one of the tablets.

 

Is there something special you're supposed to do, to get it to work on tablets? because I only get a black screen every time I try to load a game. The same game, same files, same cfg files, work perfectly on my phone.

 

Help?

What phone (and which version of android) are you using. If you're using a different version on android on tablets, it could be that.

[halfiepint]

The phone is samsung galaxy s4 running 4.3 which is I believe the bridge between jelly bean and kitkat.

 

the tablet is Asus Memo pad and is 4.2.2 which appears to me like an upgraded ice cream sandwich, even though they say it's Jelly Bean, it's more like ice cream sandwich to me, maybe with a few jelly bean features.

[+Lathe26]

OK so I just now copied them, and it's still not working. maybe reboot the tablet, I don't know. where do you store your roms? that might make a difference although I have it pointing to the right directory.

 

I just remembered something else that might be causing the problem (I ran into this issue). Maybe you are running into the same issue.

 

In a nutshell, there are 4 files that the emulator can use in addition to the game file. The files are exec.bin, grom.bin, ecs.bin, and ivoice.bin. When the emulator loads the game, it also looks for these files in the same directory and loads them as well (if it finds them there). The problem is that there are a handful of games that are incompatible with ecs.bin and ivoice.bin being loaded and can cause the black screen you are seeing.

 

The majority of games were only designed to work with the main console. Stick them in a directory with only exec.bin and grom.bin.

 

A handful of games were designed to work with the ECS and/or Intellivioce. Stick these games in a different directory with exec.bin, grom.bin, ecs.bin, and ivoice.bin.

 

So why do we see this incompatibility between some games and ecs.bin and ivoice.bin but not see this same issue with same real games and the ECS and Intellivoice? Well, at least for the Intellivioce, the Intellivioce looked at a couple pins on the game cartridge hardware and if they were not grounded, then the Intellivioce hardware knew it was connected to a compatible game and would then activate the rest of the Intellivoice hardware (otherwise, the Intellivoice left itself deactivated and out of the way of non-Intellivoice games).

[+JasonlikesINTV]

The phone is samsung galaxy s4 running 4.3 which is I believe the bridge between jelly bean and kitkat.

 

the tablet is Asus Memo pad and is 4.2.2 which appears to me like an upgraded ice cream sandwich, even though they say it's Jelly Bean, it's more like ice cream sandwich to me, maybe with a few jelly bean features.

I had been using android 2.3 FOREVER, but my new phone has 4.2.2. I just checked and saw I had a new Software Update. After the update, I checked the version.....still 4.2.2. :-( Is Kitkat out yet? I heard (from Verizon) that my phone is supposed to get it soon.

 

I installed the emulator on my phone today, but still need to load the roms.

Edited December 28, 2013 by JasonlikesINTV

[TrekMD]

I wasn't aware of this emulator for Android! It looks like it is superb!

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

Cool I have a few Android tablets / devices, definitely checking this out..........

[tacrec]

I just downloaded this, works great, except every time I tap the disc, my tablet vibrates like it's playing a sound, even when the sound is up. Kind of annoying.

[+Lathe26]

You can go into Options menu -> Vibration and change the settings there.

[tacrec]

Cool, thanks.

[S1500]

I really want to play Intellivision on a tablet. This emulator seems extremely lacking. Right from the get-go, it switches you to portrait mode with a ROM select file open dialog, and probably not where I stuffed my roms. After finally loading a ROM(forgot which one), it didn't respond to my controls.

 

Wish this thing was more polished, like ColEm, or MAME.

[+Lathe26]

Do to the games at least run in jzintv4droid (i.e. the copyright screen displays)? When you say it didn't respond, do you mean it responded to nothing you did or that it responded poorly (ex: fired shots inconsistently)? Lastly, to ask a lame question, do you have exec.bin and grom.bin downloaded into the same folder as the game ROMs?

 

At present, I have it running fine on my phone and tablet. It is a little bit of work to get it configured right the first time. After that, you'll be good.

[S1500]

Do to the games at least run in jzintv4droid (i.e. the copyright screen displays)? When you say it didn't respond, do you mean it responded to nothing you did or that it responded poorly (ex: fired shots inconsistently)? Lastly, to ask a lame question, do you have exec.bin and grom.bin downloaded into the same folder as the game ROMs?

 

At present, I have it running fine on my phone and tablet. It is a little bit of work to get it configured right the first time. After that, you'll be good.

 

I just tried it a minute ago, and frog bog at least works. It might be some of the homebrews that aren't working, or are just acting a bit weird. Still, even the exit app dialog takes up the whole width of the screen, which is odd. It also looks like it runs the whole app at a lower resolution.

[freewheel]

I installed it and played some of my games on my tablet in a matter of seconds. I hardly had to configure a thing beyond telling it where my ROMs were.

 

Of course actually using a touchscreen for this sort of thing is a horrific experience in fad user interfaces gone amuck, but to each their own. I guess it's still better than an INTV II or Coleco FB controller.

[intvnut]

I really want to play Intellivision on a tablet. This emulator seems extremely lacking. Right from the get-go, it switches you to portrait mode with a ROM select file open dialog, and probably not where I stuffed my roms. After finally loading a ROM(forgot which one), it didn't respond to my controls.

 

Wish this thing was more polished, like ColEm, or MAME.

 

Fine. We'll give you a full refund.

 

Or, you could contact the guy who wrote the wrapper around jzIntv and help him improve it with constructive feedback.

Edited December 26, 2014 by intvnut

[+BBWW]

Just wondering how these are or have evolved. I'm thinking I would actually buy an Android Tablet just for game emulation.

 

Anyone still playing these?

[+Lathe26]

I still fire up jzintv4droid on my Note 4. I think it works fine on my Pixel C tablet other than the 10" screen makes the controls a little big.

[Flojomojo]

Just wondering how these are or have evolved. I'm thinking I would actually buy an Android Tablet just for game emulation.

 

Anyone still playing these?

The Intellivision emulator was last updated in December 2013, but it worked well enough when I tried it in a Nexus 7. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.libsdl.jzintv4droid

 

I don't think a touchscreen is appreciably worse for Intellivision games than the original disc controls, but it's nice to get a little tactile feedback. Most Android tablets can run emulators well, even the $50 Kindle Fire, but you'll want to use an external controller.

[+BBWW]

Let me know. It would be a fun thing to have, good to know what the right size screen would be.

I still fire up jzintv4droid on my Note 4. I think it works fine on my Pixel C tablet other than the 10" screen makes the controls a little big.

[+Lathe26]

Let me know. It would be a fun thing to have, good to know what the right size screen would be.

 

I took it for a spin on my Pixel C tablet. It mostly worked fine. The only issue was that the top row of buttons the app draws overlap with the lower part of the "video screen" screen of the game. For example, I had to tap in the location where my Astrosmash lives were displayed to fire my shots and it was difficult to see my score. It wasn't too bad once I changed the layout to have semi-transparent buttons. I might contact the app's author about this (I think he's calculating the tablet's screen size incorrectly).

 

I have not seen this issue on other phones or on my Nexus 7 (before I sold it to someone).

[+BBWW]

Thanks.

 

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[atarifan88]

You can go into Options menu -> Vibration and change the settings there.

 

I have the same issue on my phone but do not see options to turn off vibration. Is this within the jzintv emulator? No other app does this on my phone.

 

EDIT: Checked the app info and it controls the vibration of the phone. My phone only has an option to turn off vibration during calls. So is there a options menu within jzintv for android and how do you get to it?

Edited October 19, 2016 by atarifan88