problems with intellivision homebrew roms in MAME

[Swami]

Hi guys,

Can anyone tell me why certain homebrew games like UpMonsters, Deep Zone and Christmas Carol do not map the controller correctly in the Intellivision MAME emulator while all the retail games work fine? For instance, in UpMonsters, I have to set all the left controller joystick direction to "None" except have left set to down, then have all the right controller directions set just to get left and right working. In Christmas Carol, with the controls set normally, the disk and button for start don't work (I have to use ctrl for start, even though it is not mapped to anything) and the directions are mapped weirdly to keypad buttons on the controller (0 is left, 2 is down, 4 is right, 8 is up, 1 is redundant for one of the directions). Christmas Carol came with a xmascarol.cfg file, but don't know where to put it. It did not help in the cfg folder or to put the rom, bin and cfg files in the same folder. When in the cfg folder I could not start the rom at all and bin always gives black screen.

 

Upmonsters and Deep Zone move around with the disk and fire works on dz but the directions are all screwy with both.

 

I am using the Visiondapter with the standard inty 1 controller.

 

I should add, I tried using both analog and digital setting in Machine Config.

 

UpMonsters works in Nostaglia and jzintv, but Christmas Carol only sort of works in MAME and does not load in the other two. Generally, I think I like MAME, for ease of controller setup, generally, and I find the motion is a lot smoother in MAME vs Nostalgia, like in pumpkin master.

[+fdr4prez]

I've not used MAME for Intellivision games. I am curious why are you not using jzintv?

 

typically the BIN and CFG files go into the same folder. At least they do for jzintv.

 

Or you can convert the BIN/CFG pair into a single ROM format. There is an app, or tool, for doing the conversion that comes with jzintv

[mr_me]

Mame does not map intellivision controllers differently per cartridge. It can only have one mapping per emulator. In mame, Ctrl is usually mapped to the top side button.

 

The intellivision doesn't have a start button. Each cartridge/rom can be programmed to use different controller buttons to start a game. There's no consistency unless the developer implemented a standard. For example mattel electronics had a standard where disc starts at standard speed, kp1-slow, kp2-slower, kp3-slowest. Imagic used completely different keypad buttons to start games and that wasn't always consistent.

 

The intellivision controller consists of a twelve button keypad, three side action buttons, and a directional disc/pad. The game instructions will tell you which intellivision button starts a game. Mame will tell you which computer key is mapped to that intellivision button.

 

The cfg file that comes with intellivision cartridge rom files are memory map files.

They should sit in the same folder as the cartridge rom file. If it's not there the rom won't start unless the rom uses the Mattel standard memory map.

 

Edit:

Christmas Carol uses kp-enter or the top side button to start the game.

 

Upmonsters uses the disc to control left/right; there's no up/down control. For whatever reason keypad 4/5/6 also moves right and keypad clear/0/enter moves left. Not sure if that was intended by the programmer. But upmonsters should be controlled by the disc. In mame you can use the keyboard left/right arrow keys or a game controller once the game is started. You shouldn't have to remap anything.

 

The intellivision disc and keypad share some signals. If the programmer is not precise in interpreting the signals than the keypad can input disc directions.

Edited January 24, 2019 by mr_me

[mr_me]

In mame machine config always use analog.

[Swami]

I've not used MAME for Intellivision games. I am curious why are you not using jzintv?

 

 

 

So far:

1. It does not load Christmas Carol while MAME does

2. I cannot figure out how to make it full screen

3. The controller setup is not very clear, so I can only use the keyboard

[Swami]

Mame does not map intellivision controllers differently per cartridge. It can only have one mapping per emulator. In mame, Ctrl is usually mapped to the top side button.

 

The intellivision doesn't have a start button. Each cartridge/rom can be programmed to use different controller buttons to start a game. There's no consistency unless the developer implemented a standard. For example mattel electronics had a standard where disc starts at standard speed, kp1-slow, kp2-slower, kp3-slowest. Imagic used completely different keypad buttons to start games and that wasn't always consistent.

 

The intellivision controller consists of a twelve button keypad, three side action buttons, and a directional disc/pad. The game instructions will tell you which intellivision button starts a game. Mame will tell you which computer key is mapped to that intellivision button.

 

The cfg file that comes with intellivision cartridge rom files are memory map files.

They should sit in the same folder as the cartridge rom file. If it's not there the rom won't start unless the rom uses the Mattel standard memory map.

 

Edit:

Christmas Carol uses kp-enter or the top side button to start the game.

 

Upmonsters uses the disc to control left/right; there's no up/down control. For whatever reason keypad 4/5/6 also moves right and keypad clear/0/enter moves left. Not sure if that was intended by the programmer. But upmonsters should be controlled by the disc. In mame you can use the keyboard left/right arrow keys or a game controller once the game is started. You shouldn't have to remap anything.

 

The intellivision disc and keypad share some signals. If the programmer is not precise in interpreting the signals than the keypad can input disc directions.

 

Like I said, I can set up MAME so it works perfectly with retail games and pumpkin masters, it's just these several homebrews that the controller is suddenly all screwy, even in analog.

[mr_me]

Are you saying you can use the disc to play pga golf but not upmonsters? Mappings don't change because you loaded a different rom. Note that upmonsters isn't programmed to start with the disc. Press kp-enter or a side button to start.

 

I just tested carol and upmonsters in mame. They control correctly using whatever mapping was there.

 

Edit: In case we are using different versions of upmonsters, the one i tested is from here.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/283921-and-the-winners-are/?p=4132289&do=findComment&comment=4132289

Edited January 24, 2019 by mr_me

[Swami]

Are you saying you can use the disc to play pga golf but not upmonsters? Mappings don't change because you loaded a different rom. Note that upmonsters isn't programmed to start with the disc. Press kp-enter or a side button to start.

 

I just tested carol and upmonsters in mame. They control correctly using whatever mapping was there.

 

Edit: In case we are using different versions of upmonsters, the one i tested is from here.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/283921-and-the-winners-are/?p=4132289&do=findComment&comment=4132289

 

Okay. Not sure where the problem was, but it is working now. I think there was maybe a conflict in one of the entries. I cleared everything and started over and now it works. I think there may have been some issues with left and right controller. I found out in some of my reading the left or right controller may be the one you use and sometimes both controllers have function at the same time. I have them both identical now. I have buttons, keypad and analog X and Y mapped, but none for inc or dec mappings. Thanks for your help!

 

I think games that use both controllers at the same time, like Swords and Serpents may be a point of confusion, but I'll fiddle with that later.

[+fdr4prez]

 

So far:

1. It does not load Christmas Carol while MAME does

2. I cannot figure out how to make it full screen

3. The controller setup is not very clear, so I can only use the keyboard

 

I am glad to hear it is working, but I am curious what version of jzintv you are using. It should work with Christmas Carol.

 

The controller setup is a bit tedious as you need to create a text file that will map out the controller buttons you have available into the desired Intellivision controller functions. If you are using a Flashback Intellivision controller, or a real Intellivision controller, then the needed mapping file should readily be available out there from the vendor of the USB adapter (or ask around on here). If you are using a particular gamepad, please let us know and maybe someone has already made the hackfile for it.

 

When jzintv launches you can point it to this hackfile and indicate the desired resolution that you want - allowing it to be full screen.

 

If you are interested in pursuing this with jzintv, please let us know.

[mr_me]

In mame dec/inc are usually mapped to the keyboard arrow keys. Analog is mapped to the game controller.

 

Yes, depending on the cartridge, intellivision might take input from the left controller only, right controller only, or both. Most cartridges use either or the left controller. There are a few that need the right controller, e.g

World championship baseball. Unless you have two controllers this can be an issue.

 

There is a way to map your controller to a name using "mapdevice" in the mame controller cfg. If you create two controller cfg files each mapping the controller to a different name, you can select the controller by selecting a different controller cfg before starting the intellivision emulator.

 

An easier workaround is to setup the mame "intv" emulator to use the right controller, and the "intvoice" emulator to use the left controller. And only use "intv" for games that need the right controller.

Edited January 25, 2019 by mr_me

[Swami]

In mame dec/inc are usually mapped to the keyboard arrow keys. Analog is mapped to the game controller.

 

Yes, depending on the cartridge, intellivision might take input from the left controller only, right controller only, or both. Most cartridges use either or the left controller. There are a few that need the right controller, e.g

World championship baseball. Unless you have two controllers this can be an issue.

 

There is a way to map your controller to a name using "mapdevice" in the mame controller cfg. If you create two controller cfg files each mapping the controller to a different name, you can select the controller by selecting a different controller cfg before starting the intellivision emulator.

 

An easier workaround is to setup the mame "intv" emulator to use the right controller, and the "intvoice" emulator to use the left controller. And only use "intv" for games that need the right controller.

 

Thanks. As far as intvoice, I have the intv_voice and intellivoice bios zip files. I have them in the roms and the INTV folder of mame. I can get the intellivoice roms to play sound, but I don't see a separate emulator for intellivoice in the MAME GUI machine list, only one for intellivision. BTW, these zip files each have a different file in them. One is intellivoice bios.int and the other is sp0256-012.bin

 

Same for INTV_ecs and Entertainment Computer System Exec - Basic zip files. I can get Mindstrike to load but can seem to get it to start, emulated keyboard may or may not be functioning, but there is no separate ECS emulator in the MAME machine list. The intv_voice zip has files ecs_rom.e0, ecs_rom.20 and ecs_rom.70 and the other zip has a *.int file same name as the zip folder.

[mr_me]

Mame has six intellivision emulators: intv, intvoice, intvecs, intvkbd, intvsrs, intv2. Intvecs supports both the ecs computer and intellivoice. You can either put the corresponding zip files in the roms folder or extract the contents to the intv subfolder. If you use zip files you may have to rename them because mame looks for the roms in specific container names.

 

Without intellivoice the games will play with sound but no speech. Mind Strike will start without an ecs computer but you won't get passed the titlescreen without an ecs keyboard.

 

What mame gui are you using. Using standard mame 203, if I type intv i get all six emulator variations. Make sure there is no filter set.

 

Edit:

Your two intellivoice rom files might be identical. I don't think mame cares what the actual rom filename is, only the container name, e.g. zip name or subfolder name is important.

Edited January 26, 2019 by mr_me

[Swami]

Mame has six intellivision emulators: intv, intvoice, intvecs, intvkbd, intvsrs, intv2. Intvecs supports both the ecs computer and intellivoice. You can either put the corresponding zip files in the roms folder or extract the contents to the intv subfolder. If you use zip files you may have to rename them because mame looks for the roms in specific container names.

 

Without intellivoice the games will play with sound but no speech. Mind Strike will start without an ecs computer but you won't get passed the titlescreen without an ecs keyboard.

 

What mame gui are you using. Using standard mame 203, if I type intv i get all six emulator variations. Make sure there is no filter set.

 

Edit:

Your two intellivoice rom files might be identical. I don't think mame cares what the actual rom filename is, only the container name, e.g. zip name or subfolder name is important.

 

Okay. Well, I seem to have gotten everything working now. I moved the intellivoice bios.int containing zip and entertainment computer system exec-basic.int containing zip file to the roms directory and Intellivoice showed up in the menu and worked with voice, but still no ECS. So, then I did what I've been loathing to do, since MAME does not seem to have an update system, and installed MAMEUI64 0.205 (I was using MAME64 0.183). I have resisted since it is a bit of guess-work what to copy over from the old mame folder to the new one. But, once, I got it installed properly (I think), I was able to see the ECS in the menu with the others, as you had said. It did not load because it could not find sp0256-012.bin, so I copied that out of the intvoice.zip file to the INTV folder and Presto. The emulated keyboard for the ECS is still a bit of a puzzle, but I should get it figured out, as you can look up the mapping in the "Input(this machine)" display.

 

I read somewhere in mametesters that the ecs soccer game was not working properly. Have they got that working properly now. Also, are all, what, 12 released and unreleased games working right in MAME's ECS emulator?

 

Thanks for your help!

[mr_me]

Mame rom files can be a little different than other emulators. Other intellivision emulators will merge individual chip roms together where Mame generally keeps them seperate. The mame ecs emulator roms are actually made up of three files.

 

Not sure about world cup soccer but nasl soccer had some issues with the mame intellivision emulator.

 

When I install a new mame, I copy over files from the cfg folder, which is the machine specific control mappings, and files from the ctrlr folder, which are general control mappings. I don't move any rom files. I leave those in a common folder and add that location to the mame.ini file.

 

One tip with any computer keyboard emulator in mame; pressing sroll-lock toggles the keyboard emulation on/off. When off you can press tab to get at the settings menu.

Edited January 27, 2019 by mr_me

[Swami]

Mame rom files can be a little different than other emulators. Other intellivision emulators will merge individual chip roms together where Mame generally keeps them seperate. The mame ecs emulator roms are actually made up of three files.

 

Not sure about world cup soccer but nasl soccer had some issues with the mame intellivision emulator.

 

When I install a new mame, I copy over files from the cfg folder, which is the machine specific control mappings, and files from the ctrlr folder, which are general control mappings. I don't move any rom files. I leave those in a common folder and add that location to the mame.ini file.

 

One tip with any computer keyboard emulator in mame; pressing sroll-lock toggles the keyboard emulation on/off. When off you can press tab to get at the settings menu.

 

NASL was the one I was referring to.

[Swami]

 

I am glad to hear it is working, but I am curious what version of jzintv you are using. It should work with Christmas Carol.

 

The controller setup is a bit tedious as you need to create a text file that will map out the controller buttons you have available into the desired Intellivision controller functions. If you are using a Flashback Intellivision controller, or a real Intellivision controller, then the needed mapping file should readily be available out there from the vendor of the USB adapter (or ask around on here). If you are using a particular gamepad, please let us know and maybe someone has already made the hackfile for it.

 

When jzintv launches you can point it to this hackfile and indicate the desired resolution that you want - allowing it to be full screen.

 

If you are interested in pursuing this with jzintv, please let us know.

I seem to have jzintv fully operational now, including controllers, except just need to set up configuration files for what of the 60 games not from INTV lives or rocks that need config files matched up. I could also use a graphic sheet showing the ECS keyboard function key match-ups for my modern keyboard for jzintv and MAME.