Any chance for a retroarch/Libretro version of JzIntv?

[mr_me]

What's the Bluetooth android app? I am curious to check it out, even if it isn't good enough.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.threbrooks.bluetoothkeyboard

[Vindex]

Retroarch has landed on Steam! Now it would be great to play Intellivision games with remote play together! Is there no hope for Jzintv core?

[mr_me]

A Retroarch/libretto addition doesn't mean it would automatically support Netplay.  Retroatch/libretro aleady has an Intellivision emulator and it doesn't support Netplay either.  An online multiplayer Intellivision emulator would be nice.

[IMBerzerk]

11 hours ago, Vindex said:

Retroarch has landed on Steam! Now it would be great to play Intellivision games with remote play together! Is there no hope for Jzintv core?

Wow... you resurrected an old one.. lol.   

 

I can almost answer my own original post now, so I'll do my best.

 

No.  As far as it went, there was interest,  but in the end, it burned out.  New to Retropie is lr-freeintv.  It's a very good emulator built with the Libretro core in mind.  It uses all the goodies associated with Libretro cores so it's easy to use from a Retropie point of view. However, it's NOT JzIntv, which many (including me) feel is the closest to an actual Intellivision that you'll get. It's simply the best, plus it supports the Ultimate PC Interface which allows you to use real Intellvision controllers.  You can't do that with FreeINTV.  You can use pop-up menus and program buttons on your controller, but that is only good for so many games.

 

I do wish there was a bonified lr-JzIntv for Retropie as it would be very well received and used by many... but I imagine it was an uphill battle not worth fighting.

 

Almost forgot... no netplay as mr_me already pointed out for JzIntv on Retropie or lr-Freeintv

Edited September 16, 2021 by IMBerzerk

[carlsson]

As indicated by Joe in #17, he doesn't have the time nor previous experience to port it himself, but he'd be willing to assist if Someone Else is doing it. However apparently Someone Else hasn't stepped forward in the past 3-4 years which I suppose is where the problem is at. I have no idea about Retroarch or how eager people are to port/include a new emulator if a similar one already exists. Perhaps @nanochess wants a word about this, since I understand he's part of team freeintv.

[mr_me]

Unless someone were to incorporate Retroarch/libretro Netplay into the emulator port, I don't see much value in it.  Retroarch/libretro just adds another layer of complexity for the user and has some controller mapping limitations.

[Zendocon]

2 hours ago, mr_me said:

Unless someone were to incorporate Retroarch/libretro Netplay into the emulator port, I don't see much value in it.  Retroarch/libretro just adds another layer of complexity for the user and has some controller mapping limitations.

Probably the one benefit to libretro is retroachievements support.  That's something I've been wanting to see ever since I first used Retroarch.  Diner just got added a week ago, making it the 8th Intellivision game to have achievements.

[Vindex]

And remote play together not? https://store.steampowered.com/remoteplay

[+nanochess]

5 hours ago, carlsson said:

As indicated by Joe in #17, he doesn't have the time nor previous experience to port it himself, but he'd be willing to assist if Someone Else is doing it. However apparently Someone Else hasn't stepped forward in the past 3-4 years which I suppose is where the problem is at. I have no idea about Retroarch or how eager people are to port/include a new emulator if a similar one already exists. Perhaps @nanochess wants a word about this, since I understand he's part of team freeintv.

I didn't knew nothing about FreeIntv until recently, and to my astonishment it had several important bugs that made Intellivision games unplayable.

 

Had to revise it carefully, do my own research, and correct it. So finally all the games are playable. Also added save-states support and rewind support.

 

It feels good to have another Intellivision emulator working. It surprised me how Retroarch has very nice CRT filters.

 

Regarding to the core emulator, FreeIntv is as capable as jzintv, except for the keypad differences that could be cumbersome specially in games like Utopia.

 

I didn't knew about Netplay, but I could give a look. No promises. Time is scarce these days. I can understand no one steps forward in 3-4 years, it is a labor with little reward, and too much complaints from users XD.

 

Edit: Just noticed that Netplay should work out of the box with FreeIntv because I've implemented Rewind support, but currently I don't have the time to test that this is true.

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by nanochess

[mr_me]

1 hour ago, Vindex said:

And remote play together not? https://store.steampowered.com/remoteplay

From what I can see Steam Remote Play is implemented at the application program level so it should work with all Retroarch cores available on the Steam version.  Netplay is implemented in each emulator core.

 

Both Steam Remote Play and Retroarch/libretro do the same thing, online multiplayer.  But from what I understand Remote Play streams one user's video to the other while the other user sends inputs over the internet.  With Retroarch Netplay, the emulation runs local for each user; so users should see less latency. 

 

FreeIntv support for Retroarch Netplay would be good news.  If you can map all fifteen buttons then you might be able to play online multiplayer Utopia, Sea Battle, Basketball, Football, Baseball.

[Vindex]

FreeIntv has several graphical problems, for example with DK arcade 1 and 2.

[+nanochess]

2 hours ago, Vindex said:

FreeIntv has several graphical problems, for example with DK arcade 1 and 2.

Glad you mention it because I bought a ROM some years ago, I should search for it, and I can test.

 

[Mik's Arcade]

no hatred here.   I'm addicted to my homemade bartop arcade machine that runs Retropie. My username is the name of the Marquee.

 

Granted, I'm more about the 1970's, 80's and early 90's arcade games.  But, I do have a batch of Intellivision games on there, including a couple Oscar gave out or that I bought from his website.

[IMBerzerk]

On 9/16/2021 at 8:40 AM, mr_me said:

Unless someone were to incorporate Retroarch/libretro Netplay into the emulator port, I don't see much value in it.  Retroarch/libretro just adds another layer of complexity for the user and has some controller mapping limitations.

Although true...some of the Libretro based emulators do take a bit of finess to get working correctly... the end results are very good.  Most users stick with the "lr" based versions because of all the great filters and overlays you can add.  That's one major advantage to them.  The also have easily accessible core menus, with tons of options you can play with specific to the emulator.  Disk swapping is supported as well as true disk emulation that gives you the actual sounds of the drive working.  

 

I've been working with a few of the programmers on the Retropie Support forum and have had very good success getting DosBox-Staging, lr-vice, lr-Atari800 (with seperate Atari 5200 support) working individually with all the correct video filters.  I'll post some pics of my setup later today so you can see what mine look like.  I've done a lot of my own custom overlays that resemble 70s/80s style living rooms.

 

But like you said, and I have experienced, many of the MESS based emulators do not have proper keyboard/joystick mapping at this point.

[IMBerzerk]

On 9/16/2021 at 1:33 PM, nanochess said:

I didn't knew nothing about FreeIntv until recently, and to my astonishment it had several important bugs that made Intellivision games unplayable.

 

Had to revise it carefully, do my own research, and correct it. So finally all the games are playable. Also added save-states support and rewind support.

 

It feels good to have another Intellivision emulator working. It surprised me how Retroarch has very nice CRT filters.

 

Regarding to the core emulator, FreeIntv is as capable as jzintv, except for the keypad differences that could be cumbersome specially in games like Utopia.

 

I didn't knew about Netplay, but I could give a look. No promises. Time is scarce these days. I can understand no one steps forward in 3-4 years, it is a labor with little reward, and too much complaints from users XD.

 

Edit: Just noticed that Netplay should work out of the box with FreeIntv because I've implemented Rewind support, but currently I don't have the time to test that this is true.

 

Yes.   FreeIntv is, for lack of better words, a very crude emulator that was designed to grab all the goodies that the Libretro core offers.   It was well-done for what it was intended for, but the orginal designer even said that it lacks a lot of support for keybad based games.  It's not 100% accurate, and is difficult to use for games that need the keypad like AD&D, Bomb Squad, BJ&Poker...etc.  

 

If you're willing to take on the task, I'd like to help test for you.  I'm very well versed with how Retropie and the Libretro based emulators work, and how to set them up.  

 

Let me know.  I'm not programmer, but I've been known to help a lot of the designers work out many bugs with their own works.  I'm currently working with the team that is improving DosBox-Staging, and have helped with lr-vice, lr-atari800 as well.  

 

Let me know, I'm happy to help any way I can if you choose to improve FreeIntv or port JzIntv.  Either one of these really needs to have support for the Ultimate PC Interface for Classic Consoles.  

[IMBerzerk]

Having a little fun with lr-based emus on RetroPie.   Would love to see JzIntv get this treatment.

 

Atari 800 (lr-atari800)

Apple II (lr-Mess)

Commodore 64 (lr-vice). I I used my own bedroom from back in the 80's as inspiration... but if you're a fan of Ready Player One, there are references to the book in there as well.

Atari VCS (lr-Stella) Background is made to mimic Joyce Byers living room from Stranger Things.

Intellivision (lr-FreeIntv)

Apple IIgs (lr-Mess)

 

So you can see the fun you can have if JzIntv got a full Libretro port...or even if lr-FreeIntv was cleaned up and given controller support. 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by IMBerzerk

[+nanochess]

On 9/16/2021 at 2:18 PM, Vindex said:

FreeIntv has several graphical problems, for example with DK arcade 1 and 2.

Just confirmed that indeed it has problems with the title screens and some minor nuisances inside the game.

 

6 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Yes.   FreeIntv is, for lack of better words, a very crude emulator that was designed to grab all the goodies that the Libretro core offers.   It was well-done for what it was intended for, but the orginal designer even said that it lacks a lot of support for keybad based games.  It's not 100% accurate, and is difficult to use for games that need the keypad like AD&D, Bomb Squad, BJ&Poker...etc.  

 

If you're willing to take on the task, I'd like to help test for you.  I'm very well versed with how Retropie and the Libretro based emulators work, and how to set them up.  

 

Let me know.  I'm not programmer, but I've been known to help a lot of the designers work out many bugs with their own works.  I'm currently working with the team that is improving DosBox-Staging, and have helped with lr-vice, lr-atari800 as well.  

 

Let me know, I'm happy to help any way I can if you choose to improve FreeIntv or port JzIntv.  Either one of these really needs to have support for the Ultimate PC Interface for Classic Consoles.  

 

Thank you. In fact you could help me testing the base 125 games in order to rule out bugs. Or if there are bugs, to correct them.

 

I think the main problem with FreeIntv is that it was launched too soon and with many bugs.

 

I still need to study the controller logic of Libretro before thinking in anything.

 

5 hours ago, IMBerzerk said:

Having a little fun with lr-based emus on RetroPie.   Would love to see JzIntv get this treatment.

 

Atari 800 (lr-atari800)

Apple II (lr-Mess)

Commodore 64 (lr-vice). I I used my own bedroom from back in the 80's as inspiration... but if you're a fan of Ready Player One, there are references to the book in there as well.

Atari VCS (lr-Stella) Background is made to mimic Joyce Byers living room from Stranger Things.

Intellivision (lr-FreeIntv)

Apple IIgs (lr-Mess)

 

So you can see the fun you can have if JzIntv got a full Libretro port...or even if lr-FreeIntv was cleaned up and given controller support. 

 

I'm pretty proud of how I managed to correct the bugs that prevented Advanced Dungeon & Dragons from playing correctly.

 

In fact never had played before the game for so long and now I can understand why many people has a fond spot for it. The game is simply amazing.

 

[juancho]

@nanochess do I understand correctly that you are the Freeintv developer that accomplished making playing Advanced D&D so enjoyable? 

 

Man, thank you very much for your work. I have long wished for an Inty emulator that would work with Retroarch. I recently purchased a handheld (Abernic RG351M) that came loaded with Freeintv and I am surprised of how great it works and how I never heard of it before. 

 

The experience of playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons being able to use the 2 analog sticks to control movement and arrow shooting is just fantastic. I discovered this functionality by mere chance.

 

If this type of experience with the dual analog sticks working in substitution of the disc and the numeric keypad could be translated to other Inty games it would be a dream come true. I just tried Night Stalker and found it also works with the 2 analog sticks similar to AD&D. Can you tell us of other games you have fixed?

 

I will be happy to help in any way I can to support Freeintv. I am not a tech savvy guy but I can certainly help you test games for bugs and I also will be happy to contribute financially.

[+nanochess]

41 minutes ago, juancho said:

@nanochess do I understand correctly that you are the Freeintv developer that accomplished making playing Advanced D&D so enjoyable? 

 

Man, thank you very much for your work. I have long wished for an Inty emulator that would work with Retroarch. I recently purchased a handheld (Abernic RG351M) that came loaded with Freeintv and I am surprised of how great it works and how I never heard of it before. 

 

The experience of playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons being able to use the 2 analog sticks to control movement and arrow shooting is just fantastic. I discovered this functionality by mere chance.

 

If this type of experience with the dual analog sticks working in substitution of the disc and the numeric keypad could be translated to other Inty games it would be a dream come true. I just tried Night Stalker and found it also works with the 2 analog sticks similar to AD&D. Can you tell us of other games you have fixed?

 

I will be happy to help in any way I can to support Freeintv. I am not a tech savvy guy but I can certainly help you test games for bugs and I also will be happy to contribute financially.

In fact I don't have yet modified anything on controller support.

 

I solved the bugs in CPU, video, and sound that prevented some games to work, scrolling tear, or collision bugs. This corrected important bugs in Astrosmash, Frog Bog, AD&D, Tower of Doom, Stadium Mud Buggies, and several others.

[juancho]

22 minutes ago, nanochess said:

In fact I don't have yet modified anything on controller support.

 

I solved the bugs in CPU, video, and sound that prevented some games to work, scrolling tear, or collision bugs. This corrected important bugs in Astrosmash, Frog Bog, AD&D, Tower of Doom, Stadium Mud Buggies, and several others.

Thank you for clarifying. The functionality of the right analog stick came as a surprise because I was previously using an RG350M which runs on jzintv and the analog sticks dont work at all, so games like AD&D are unplayable. Also, the Freeintv GitHub does not mention anything about the usability of the right analog stick. This is a very big deal for many Inty games, I think it is worth mentioning in GitHub.

Edited September 21, 2021 by juancho

[mr_me]

On your Rg350m Jzintv, is the disc not mapped to the left analog stick by default? Can you not create your own mapping file?  With Jzintv or Mame you can map the disc to one of the analog sticks and the keypad to either the dpad or face buttons.  Nightstalker and Ad&d are only four and eight disc directions so you can map the disc to the dpad and the keypad to face buttons.

[Zendocon]

I found out while Twitch-streaming my Shark Shark achievement run, that the controls are mapped to the right controller by default.  You have to press Select to switch to the left controller.  That probably matters with Dracula, which I haven't bothered to play.

[juancho]

16 hours ago, mr_me said:

On your Rg350m Jzintv, is the disc not mapped to the left analog stick by default? Can you not create your own mapping file?  With Jzintv or Mame you can map the disc to one of the analog sticks and the keypad to either the dpad or face buttons.  Nightstalker and Ad&d are only four and eight disc directions so you can map the disc to the dpad and the keypad to face buttons.

So I did a bit more testing of jzintv on the RG350M. Here is a photo of the control settings that came pre-configured. In the case of some games like Astrosmash and Night Stalker the dpad and the left analog stick do work as the directional disk. The right analog stick is not used at all in any game. In AD&D for some reason both the dpad and the analog sticks dont work at all, so the game is unplayable. 

 

On the other hand, on the RG351M which runs on Freeintv, the dpad and left analog stick are mapped to the directional disk, while the right analog stick is mapped to the numeric keypad. This configuration works fantastic in games that use the keypad for shooting, like AD&D and Night Stalker. Freeintv also maps the X button to the last selected keypad button. So for example in Astrosmash if you call the keypad once and press button 3 (hyperspace), every time you press X hyperspace works. This also works well in AD&D to pick up arrows and tools without having to call the keypad. I think this is very smart and greatly improves the gaming experience.

 

Would it be possible to create a hackfile for jzintv in the RG350M that mimics the behavior of the Freeintv configuration described above?

 

I have no clue on how to do this, I am not tech savvy. Anyone care to help and I buy you a drink?

[juancho]

I found the way to play AD&D on the jzintv based RG350M. To move within the map you need to call the keypad and press the numbers. Once inside a mountain you use the dpad or left analog stick to move and you call the keypad when you want to shoot. Now that I recall, this is the exact way the game works with the Intellivision controller.

 

Not great in a handheld device, though. By the time you call the keypad and press the number to shoot in the desired direction you are already dead. As mentioned in my previous post, using the right analog stick to shoot works great. AD&D is a joy to play this way in Freeintv.

 

So the desired solution is to map the disc to the dpad and left analog stick, and map the numeric keypad to the right analog stick. Is this doable?

Edited September 22, 2021 by juancho

[mr_me]

Does the version of Jzintv in RG350M support custom controller mappings e.g. Jzintv hackfile?