The Ultimate Intellivision Flashback

[The Ultimate Intellivision Flashback]

 

If you don't mind using the old 4:3 ratio, change the setting of "-z1920x1080,16" to "-z1 -x1".

Thanks Dragonstomper - I'll try that, but I do like the using all that screen on a widescreen TV...just looks too good! So will using -z1 -x1 change the size of the 4:3 picture according to the television's height?

[The Ultimate Intellivision Flashback]

 

EmulationStation makes an entry for the game when you launch it or use the Options menu to edit the metadata. If you edit the gamelist.xml file by hand, be sure to do so without EmulationStation running. Otherwise your changes will be lost, as EmulationStation writes its updates to that file when it quits. You might find that the Options menu is the easiest way to assign new images to games. Good luck!

 

BTW, I followed your thinking in picking images for the Vectrex games. Not being familiar with the system, I like seeing the screen overlays so I know what the control layout is before starting.

Exactly, my bruthah - looking at the overlay before you play is quite helpful! I have a Vectrex in the closet and was looking at it the other day - at least it only has 4 buttons and a joystick to figure out, unlike the beloved Intellivision. By the way, if you haven't tried that ParaJVE emulator for the Vectrex, you should - shows a great image of the actual unit and overlays while you're playing. Not ported for emulation station, I guess...but it's a terrific emu.

 

Now if I can ask one last question, my Ultimate INTV will be perfect! I find myself carrying the unit from one TV to another, some of which are 720p, and others which are 1080p. I've changed the es_systems.cfg file to 1280x720, so it works fine on the 720p TV's but of course doesn't fill the screen on the 1080 TV's. Is there any way to have this thing sense what kind of TV it's hooked up to and change the resolution automatically to fill either screen size? Or am I dreamin? The Emulation Station splashscreen seems to do that...at least, I think it does.

[The Ultimate Intellivision Flashback]

 

The images are stored in the "downloaded_images" folder, but all of the information for a game (title, image, rom path, last played, etc.) is stored in the "gamelist.xml" file located at /home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/intellivision/gamelist.xml. That's why just adding more images to that folder doesn't change what's displayed. You can edit this file directly or use the Options menu to edit the game's metadata and define a new image to display.

 

The quickest way to swap images, however, is to replace the existing box art file with an overlay image having the exact same name. Then you won't have to edit anything. EmulationStation will pick up the change immediately.

Thanks for the info, guys. I saw that "gamelist.xml" file and wondered if the instructions for finding the files were there. The gamelist was incomplete - some games weren't even mentioned in it - Microsurgeon or Utopia, for example - but I guess I can just imitate the games that are listed and make sure I name everything correctly. Something new to try. I learn so much every time I have a problem! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

[The Ultimate Intellivision Flashback]

Maybe someone has explained this already and I missed it, but when I’m playing Intellivision games (retropie v2.60 on a pi2), the game list will show an image of the overlay for that game over on the right side of the screen for 19 games. It’s very handy and I’d like to have all the games display an overlay image like those dozen do. I find that more useful than the box art. I’ve found the jpg overlay images that are displayed (for the games that do so) at

home/pi/.emulationstation/downloaded_images/intellivision

and the images (jpgs) that actually display are all 570×770 pixels x 24bpp with file sizes in the neighborhood of 15K to 28K. I’ve found all the other overlay images and made them the same size as the ones that work, placed them in the same folder, and no dice….they don’t show up on the game list screen. Any ideas why that is and what I can do about it?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[The Ultimate Intellivision Flashback]

Just for fun...here's another splashscreen