Atarixlbox v7 for the Xbox released

[Shannon]

ok I tested on another xbox and yes the behavior is the same and reproduceable. Maybe I should try the analog-display version?

 

Let me know as I'm ready to jump headlong into tests (I neglected the overlay use for example the last time) and I want to be sure I'm looking for actual bugs

 

p.s. how did you like the video by the way. I love my 3l33t tv

The video doesn't do it justice!!!

 

Nah I wouldn't worry about the analog-display version although if you feel like it you could try and see if the Miner bug happens in older versions (it probably does). I think the DK one got triggered by my analog code change. It used to send joystick center 114 when the game "disables" the controllers. It's supposed to send 228 instead. Hmmm being that it is not a "true" 5200 game I wonder. I'll have to definitely "trace" that one thru. I got pretty tired towards the end of my last code run so it is possible something may be "off" about the analog changes.

 

Oh and keep up what your doing. I have a feeling that bug would not have been discovered otherwise. I'm usually distracted with testing new stuff that I've added or am adding.

[Shannon]

Well I took a look at the DK you are using and I'm guessing it's an early version of Classics conversion because it is not "initializing" the sticks like it is supposed to. Not sure what to say about it. I could "hack" around that but I would not be surprised if it has issues on a real 5200 as well.

 

Too bad I don't have one of those USB cart thingies to try it. Anybody?

Edited March 18, 2008 by Shannon

[NE146]

Well I took a look at the DK you are using and I'm guessing it's an early version of Classics conversion because it is not "initializing" the sticks like it is supposed to. Not sure what to say about it. I could "hack" around that but I would not be surprised if it has issues on a real 5200 as well.

 

Too bad I don't have one of those USB cart thingies to try it. Anybody?

 

Well heck that's good enough for me Yes I got it right out of a thread here, so maybe yours is a more recent version. Consider it closed if the one you gave works fine

 

Incidentally, I'm almost sure I'd restart Miner 2049er a number of times, each with the same result. I'll try again this morning. I'm just on a phone conference so it'll be in about an hour...

[Shannon]

Well I took a look at the DK you are using and I'm guessing it's an early version of Classics conversion because it is not "initializing" the sticks like it is supposed to. Not sure what to say about it. I could "hack" around that but I would not be surprised if it has issues on a real 5200 as well.

 

Too bad I don't have one of those USB cart thingies to try it. Anybody?

 

Well heck that's good enough for me Yes I got it right out of a thread here, so maybe yours is a more recent version. Consider it closed if the one you gave works fine

 

Incidentally, I'm almost sure I'd restart Miner 2049er a number of times, each with the same result. I'll try again this morning. I'm just on a phone conference so it'll be in about an hour...

 

No need you are right. I just tried it. So it only works properly when I "manually" create a config... Strange... I wonder how long this has been going on.

 

OK. I figured it out. Set your software filter to "none" once the game is loaded. I had disabled the software filters at some point to get more RAM but the codes #ifdefs do not completely remove all of it so the user can still select them even though they are not there.

 

I only got rid of them cause some of them screw up and there are a couple that actually slow the emu down when rewind is on. I just did a recompile (with them back in) and the Miner 2049'er problem went away.

 

I went thru all the conversions that I have and they all seem to be functioning correctly. But who knows how many "versions" are floating around out there.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Nothing much going on this week.

 

I spent a fair amount of time testing the modified cheat system. I have one more change to it I'd like to add in but may save that for after I release this to the public.

 

Tried an idea I had, didn't work out to well but there are other ways to do it, maybe later.

 

Used debug mode to trace the H: drive erros with deleting files. Unfortunatley I cannot do anything about that cause the issue has to do with how DOS communicates with the devices and how the emulator deals with these communications. Nothing to do with how I compiled some of the code (I had a few issues compling the module that contained the "delete" file code).

 

Looked over the savestate code to see if there is some way to get it to load older savestates since I modified the variables that are saved. Unfortunately the way they have it structured makes it difficult to do. So I'll just have to take the 'ol "old savestates will not load stance".

 

There is something else, but I cannot seem to remember what it was.

 

Either way I figured ya'll weren't too interested in that cheat code stuff anyways so..

 

Other than that my time was spent giving the Wii and 360 much needed love. They were getting jealous of the xbox.

[NE146]

Either way I figured ya'll weren't too interested in that cheat code stuff anyways so..

 

I wouldn't mind some simple way to enable some cheats. Unlimited lived in Joust, & Montezuma's Revenge for example would be nice.

[Shannon]

Either way I figured ya'll weren't too interested in that cheat code stuff anyways so..

 

I wouldn't mind some simple way to enable some cheats. Unlimited lived in Joust, & Montezuma's Revenge for example would be nice.

 

You can actually do that with the current cheat system, although the new one will make it easier to detect player deaths, etc in certain games.

 

For Joust create the following two codes

 

300000A80004 - plyr 1 unlimited lives

300000A90004 - plyr 2 unlimited lives

 

You can even key them into the rumble by setting it to rumble when the value changes since these change immediately after death. Activate these bad boys and your immortal!!! muahaha It'll also rumble when you get an extra life.

 

Hmmm I had cheats set up for Montezuma's revenge (a few actually) but I musta trashed them while testing.

[Shannon]

Well yesterday was mostly boring stuff . I made a list of "code cleanups" I wanted to do. Most of this is to make the changes I made to commonfuncs.cpp easier to compile in other x-port emus that I plan on "soupin up".

 

Anyways I don't plan on listing these in the "changelog" since it is internal junk. But I will list it here so yall can keep an eye out for anything unusual (when I do my next beta release). Bad things about "internal" changes like these is it is not always obvious that something is wrong so they can kinda creep up on ya.

 

• modified atari specific routines I added to commonfuncs.cpp so they will compile conditionally.. code affected (cheat codes)
   
  Changed upload/download web configuration so CRC is now a passed parameter.
   
  Had to modify the getbyte macro to take into account bounty bob addresses since the emu assumes reads from this area means a bounty bob cart is loaded. I'll probably do the same to putbyte since the user really has no business fooling with these addresses and it can cause funky things to happen like code being moved around (simulated bank switching).
   
  Some netplay code moved into atarixlbox.cpp where it belonged.
   
  Modified some routines I changed in commonfuncs to have defaults for my added parameters.
   
  The 5200 default overlay and Picodos menu are now internal to atarixlbox. Before the overlay was external and I was using the Yogi menu. Modified default overlay and numpad (used for netplay setup) to read from internal memory rather than external file.
  

 

I think that is about it, the only other thing is I'm going to modify the YesNo code so I can have two lines headers instead of one.

 

The bounty bob stuff was the toughest cause I had to modify the GetByte macro, that took a little while to figure out. Hopefully I covered all the cheat code areas because they are kinda spread around.

Edited March 27, 2008 by Shannon

[CGQuarterly]

Hi,

 

I'd like to help out with this. Xbox emulators are a definite hobby of mine.

 

Chris

[Shannon]

For Joust create the following two codes

 

300000A80004 - plyr 1 unlimited lives

300000A90004 - plyr 2 unlimited lives

 

You can even key them into the rumble by setting it to rumble when the value changes since these change immediately after death. Activate these bad boys and your immortal!!! muahaha It'll also rumble when you get an extra life.

 

Another thing you could do is add two E2 codes so that the codes only execute when lives drop below 4. In theory this would cause the controller to only rumble (if rumble is on) when you actually lose a life. Although I have not tried this. Rumble codes usually execute regardless of whether they are "activated" or not. So in theory it should skip the "30" codes unless the value drops.

 

I'll have to try it when I get the chance. If it doesn't work I may end up "fixing" it anyways cause it kinda diminishes some of the flexibity of the conditional executions. Be sure to turn "on" all the codes or they wont activate.

 

E20000A80004 - execute next code if value goes below 4

300000A80004 - plyr 1 unlimited lives

E20000A90004 - execute next code if value goes below 4

300000A90004 - plyr 2 unlimited lives

 

Jibbajaba when I get a chance I'll set you up so we can get you going. Been kinda sick lately and we all know how easter weekends can be too.

Edited March 22, 2008 by Shannon

[+remowilliams]

Okay, I'm a little late to the party but I finally got around to trying this out. Big thanks for all the work!

 

One thing I've noticed is that whenever I bring up the virtual keyboard the xbox HD starts thrashing like mad, is that a known issue? Secondly often the virtual keyboard display will start in the middle of the screen and then scroll itself up to the top and then pop back to the middle again and start scrolling up again. Like it's got a bad vertical hold. Anyone experienced this stuff?

[Shannon]

Really? I'll have to check and see if I accidently left any debug messages in there. As for the keyboard moving thing. I modified the code so the keyboard can be moved with the right stick. Seems it's a little oversensitive. Just rotate the right analog stick around a little. I don't know about anyone else but I've always found that the keyboard seems to get in the way often. So I've always wanted the option to move it around.

 

I suppose I should update the timing values cause it does the same to me. As for the hard drive thing I'll check, but that is probably what it is doing.

 

Just a quick look at the code you probably have a file in the atarixlbox directory called "xportdebug.txt" if you look in it you should see a bunch of "begin handlescreenKeyboard()." messages. I honestly forgot why that was in there. But I'll go ahead and remove it since it really isn't needed at this point. That is one thing I need to do though, remove some of the debug code since I can run the xbox in debug mode I really do not have much use for those anymore.

 

Thanks...

Edited March 28, 2008 by Shannon

[NE146]

Well i tried it out (put it on someone's xbox I'm working on).. the first thing that nailed me was there was no skin. I always install these things fresh so that threw me for a sec. Once I got it fixed i checked it out.

 

I'm debating whether I miss the old controller hacks you had before. Basically because as usual a couple of 5200 games have that need to "initialize" the movement before it starts working well.. i.e. Pengo, Jr. Pacman, Countermeasure, Asteroids etc. all require a couple of seconds of you moving around the joystick in all directions before they seem to respond properly. It's almost like a real 5200! Anyway.. I guess it's fine. However I think I really would like the hacked missile command movement back at least

 

I did encounter something odd where the words "rewind disabled" or "rewind enabled" would pop up randomly on the screen. When playing Berzerk I realized it was happening when I was pressing up on the D-Pad (which I was trying to use for movement). Anyway, after that I deleted the /E/SAVES/ATARIXLBOX/ directory and haven't seen that message again and the D-pad works normally. I dont know if they're related, but I'm just relaying what I've experienced

 

By the way.. how do I start Beamrider? For that matter how do I view the 5200 keypad overlays anymore? L thumbstick does nothing, and R thumbstick brings up the regular menu. L thumbstick still brings up the keyboard in 8bit games. But I cant figure out how to get it up in 5200 games anymore.. did I miss something?

[Shannon]

Well i tried it out (put it on someone's xbox I'm working on).. the first thing that nailed me was there was no skin. I always install these things fresh so that threw me for a sec. Once I got it fixed i checked it out.

I only avoided including my miner skin as default just to keep the size of the file down. Considering I would be sending newer revisions from time to time. So I apologize about that one. The skins are pretty large compared to the emu.

 

I'm debating whether I miss the old controller hacks you had before. Basically because as usual a couple of 5200 games have that need to "initialize" the movement before it starts working well.. i.e. Pengo, Jr. Pacman, Countermeasure, Asteroids etc. all require a couple of seconds of you moving around the joystick in all directions before they seem to respond properly. It's almost like a real 5200! Anyway.. I guess it's fine. However I think I really would like the hacked missile command movement back at least

Has it changed that much? Setting Pengo to trackball mode oughta solve the "initialize" problem. Missile command in trackball mode and about 70 for the sensitivity always seemed good to me. Is it that much different? To be honest I have not been able to really tinker with the emu as far as actually playing it. In theory setting any game to trackball mode should "fix" any changes in the initialization because really all it is doing is changing the value sent to the stick input.

 

When a game sets bit 5 in CONSOL a certain value is supposed to be sent. For example in trackball mode I send joystick center (technically it should be a different value but 114 seems to work better) which was pretty much the old way I was (unintentionally) doing it. In normal analog stick mode I send 228 so in theory that could cause the init routines to take a little longer to "synch up". So I would say try turning trackball mode on in games you think the "initialization" was better the old way.

 

Maybe authenticity is a little too much in this case? Really in a sense all this new code does is allow pole position, xari arena, and missile command to run properly. But like you said missile command is better in trackball mode.

 

I did encounter something odd where the words "rewind disabled" or "rewind enabled" would pop up randomly on the screen. When playing Berzerk I realized it was happening when I was pressing up on the D-Pad (which I was trying to use for movement). Anyway, after that I deleted the /E/SAVES/ATARIXLBOX/ directory and haven't seen that message again and the D-pad works normally. I dont know if they're related, but I'm just relaying what I've experienced

Weird I don't remember that being a default. I suppose at somepoint I'm gonna have to do a clean install and see what weird stuff creeps up.

 

By the way.. how do I start Beamrider? For that matter how do I view the 5200 keypad overlays anymore? L thumbstick does nothing, and R thumbstick brings up the regular menu. L thumbstick still brings up the keyboard in 8bit games. But I cant figure out how to get it up in 5200 games anymore.. did I miss something?

 

Buttons 1-4 which should be right analog stick up=1, left=2, right=3, down=4. Select number of players (1-4). Press up on the stick (ala dreadnaught factor style) when it's your turn to start a wave. Well I have the keypad mapped to left analog+x. But I honestly do not remember if I copied over the correct 5200_joystick.ini file.

Edited March 30, 2008 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Well I have not got a whole lot feeback regarding the old 5200 analog method vs the new method and I'm kinda stuck between being authentic to the 5200 experience and making the emu playable. So I was not really sure what to do with that.

[NE146]

Well I have not got a whole lot feeback regarding the old 5200 analog method vs the new method and I'm kinda stuck between being authentic to the 5200 experience and making the emu playable. So I was not really sure what to do with that.

 

Well hold on... I haven't tried doing the trackball mode (duh!) on those games... if it solves missile command that should be just fine. Or even if not I've thought about it and for the most part it's fine as is. You're going to get someone later down the line saying "Missile Command" doesn't control like it should So maybe you outta leave it as is. I'll try out trackball mode later today..

 

And regarding the keypad.. it's obviously not mapped in mine. Can I map that myself using the in-game menu? What's the "emulator mapping" for it called?

[Shannon]

Well I have not got a whole lot feeback regarding the old 5200 analog method vs the new method and I'm kinda stuck between being authentic to the 5200 experience and making the emu playable. So I was not really sure what to do with that.

 

Well hold on... I haven't tried doing the trackball mode (duh!) on those games... if it solves missile command that should be just fine. Or even if not I've thought about it and for the most part it's fine as is. You're going to get someone later down the line saying "Missile Command" doesn't control like it should So maybe you outta leave it as is. I'll try out trackball mode later today..

 

And regarding the keypad.. it's obviously not mapped in mine. Can I map that myself using the in-game menu? What's the "emulator mapping" for it called?

Yah. It's like controller settings->stick 1->joypad mappings->change UI mapping. Then pick "virtual mappings" it will ask you which to press the buttons you want to assign it to. No need to press them simultaneously when assigning them. I usually also "copy the config" from controller 1 to the other controllers although it's really not important if you are a solo player.

 

After you do that, make sure you save the settings to "Atari 5200 Stick". That way when you configure other 5200 games it will be set. If you are playing an already configured game you can just hop into the utilities menu and cycle thru the "default preset" options to get it to reload your newly defined settings.

 

Don't you just love all the menu's you have to jump thru to set it? That is one thing I never really liked about x-port emu's. Not really sure if there is an easier method though. Never really thought it out.

 

Oh, and yeah... Try out that trackball mode ok???

 

Yeah and you know how purists can be! Although to be honest I have a feeling not very many people that have the real thing even have a modded xbox. Most people seem to be clueless when it comes to the 5200. Even I had forgotten how missile command really plays until I pulled the thing out of storage.

Edited March 30, 2008 by Shannon

[+remowilliams]

Well I have not got a whole lot feeback regarding the old 5200 analog method vs the new method and I'm kinda stuck between being authentic to the 5200 experience and making the emu playable. So I was not really sure what to do with that.

Well whatever method you're using now seemed to be pretty good on the games I tried.

[NE146]

ok yeah Trackball mode was exactly what I was looking for on Missle Command (big DUH ). I also found out the overlays were mapped to x+L thumbstick. I changed that and it's great Lots of fun so far.. I keep finding myself playing games on like 30-60 minute binges though....

[Shannon]

ok well thanks for the help. I'm hoping paranoid will eventually chime in only cause I know he helped with the testing of kat5200 so he hopefully can tell us how atari800xlbox is running compared to kat5200's analog.

 

x+L, yeah that sounds right. Not sure what I was thinking. I picked those buttons because other combo's tend to interfere. For example assigning it to the left stick or as a combo with the white and black buttons produce undesirable results.

 

Anyways keep up the good work everybody. I'll admit the last couple weeks I've been a little distracted with other things. Really I think the only programming thing I have left is the 130xe keyboard overlay. I kinda put that off a little because I don't always program the best when I'm sick. I have other ideas but I'm gonna save them for a later release.

Edited March 31, 2008 by Shannon

[Shannon]

For those that happen to be curious. I haven't forgotton about atarixlbox. Just haven't been feeling so hot lately. Plus I been involved in other little things like compiling mednafen-NES for some people over on xbox-scene.

 

I will say though that while playing thru the 2600, 7800, and lynx emulators for the recent Ms. Pac HSC that I'm gonna have my work cut out for me. Noticed several "issues" on these emu's.

Edited April 3, 2008 by Shannon

[Shannon]

I'm still debating on whether to implement the image of the 130xe keyboard I posted earlier in this thread or just releasing this sucker to the wild. I'm just wondering if ultimately it's just an eye candy type of thing. Obviously the mapping of the 130xe keyboard is slightly different from a typical pc keyboard. But if I use it the transparency keys will no longer be useable (they adjust the transparency of the keyboard so you can see underneath it). As it is all the buttons (black, white, etc) are mapped to some functionality or another.

 

I'm so confused!!!

 

Regardless if I do decide to do the keyboard some solution regarding the transparency would have to be come up with.

 

Hmmm seems I misplaced my notes I made regarding the 130xe keyboard. This must be the week of misplacing things. I hope I can find them...

Edited April 8, 2008 by Shannon

[Shannon]

 

Where'd everyone go? Easter egg hunting?

 

Anyways I went ahead and redid my keyboard notes. Assuming my mad plan works the first iteration of the keyboard would be as follows.

 

Help, Start, Select, Option, Reset wont work just yet.

Inverse key wont stay highlighted when its activated.

Right shift key will not be completely highlighted when the cursor is moved to it.

Caps lock is not mapped to the black button anymore.. I remapped black and white to transparency.

Shift is not mapped to the white button anymore.. Remapped it to X.

 

The code is pretty complicated so I'm not really sure how well it will work out. I'm just beginning to understand why X-port didn't want to be bothered with it. Funny how that works. Because the "other" idea that I mentioned the possibility of adding (along with the overlay) is actually gonna be easier than I was originally thinking.

 

Small update. I modified the virtual keyboard so it won't "wander" around on it's own. I also plan on modifying other sections in the code where the "drifting" can occur. For example the set screen size/position screen. I also fixed the virt keyboard so it can be moved diagonally.

 

Tinkered with the rewind stuff a little more by running it in debug mode so I could at least see why it was crashing when in 130xe mode. In hindsight it was kinda a waste of time. Things slow down so much when in 130xe mode that rewind is not really worth it. But at least I have a better understanding of the rewind functions limitations. Debug mode will come handy, though, when I move to Z26 because it locks up in some cases when rewind is activated.

Edited April 8, 2008 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Well things turned out a little better then I thought :!: :!:

 

Here is a screenshot. About the only functionality is that you can move the highlighted key around.

Things I don't like.

 

Don't let the picture fool you. On a TV it is VERY hard to see the letters so I'll probably have to change them or something. What do you all think? Color 'em black?

 

I never really cared for the color of the highlight cursor. What do you all think? Any color preferences or suggestions? If so what color. I'm not exactly the most color co-ordinated person.

[NE146]

Well things turned out a little better then I thought :!: :!:

 

Here is a screenshot. About the only functionality is that you can move the highlighted key around.

Things I don't like.

 

Don't let the picture fool you. On a TV it is VERY hard to see the letters so I'll probably have to change them or something. What do you all think? Color 'em black?

 

I never really cared for the color of the highlight cursor. What do you all think? Any color preferences or suggestions? If so what color. I'm not exactly the most color co-ordinated person.

 

Functionality is more important than art I think.. although the art is nice Make the keys black.. definitely. And the highlight color, make it the brightest neon obvious color I think so there's no mistaking where it's at