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[fluxit]

I saw some strange results with my v1.8? Thrust cartridge and the R77 with Stella 6.6.  With a flashback Atari joystick in front port 1, and controllers set to autodetect, the R77 would 'detect' a genesis controller in port 1, which would result in the game starting immediately, and the ship thrusting continuously.  Setting the first controller to 'joystick' fixed the problem.

 

I've not seen this issue with other cartridges on the R77 with Stella 6.6.

 

Running Thrust 1.27 from the SD card did not exhibit this problem.  In that case controllers could be set to autodetect without the game starting immediately, and the game played normally with the same joystick.

 

------

 

On another note, the Atari Gamestation Pro joystick works with the R77, at least the stick and buttons work.  I've not SSH'd in to see why the paddle doesn't seem to be providing any input.  The GsP paddle works on my Linux computer FWIW.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, fluxit said:

I saw some strange results with my v1.8? Thrust cartridge and the R77 with Stella 6.6.

Yes, the same thing happens with the 2600+. Please try to switch to B&W. That should fix the problem, right?

 

The reason is a bit complex. There are multiple factors involved:

1. The latest Thrust version not only supports the Omega Booster Grip, but also the Genesis controller
2. Since both controllers use the same signal for the 2nd button (but reversed), the Color/B&W switch is used to define the controller used (B&W = Genesis)
3. Now, if the switch is in the wrong position, the game will permanently assume the 2nd button is pressed (and thrusts).
4. For the released Thrust ROM, Stella has properties which default to Joystick as controller. 
5. There are no properties for cart ROMs, only for released ones.  
6. Because the checksum, which is used for selecting these properties, varies for each dump, so the properties cannot be not used anyway.
7. Finally, Stella's auto detection assumes a Genesis (and thrusts).

@fluxit I hope I remember this right. Please confirm that switching to B&W solves your problem.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[fluxit]

2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Yes, the same thing happens with the 2600+. Please try to switch to B&W. That should fix the problem, right?

 

The reason is a bit complex. There are multiple factors involved:

1. The latest Thrust version not only supports the Omega Booster Grip, but also the Genesis controller
2. Since both controllers use the same signal for the 2nd button (but reversed), the Color/B&W switch is used to define the controller used (B&W = Genesis)
3. Now, if the switch is in the wrong position, the game will permanently assume the 2nd button is pressed (and thrusts).
4. For the released Thrust ROM, Stella has properties which default to Joystick as controller. 
5. There are no properties for cart ROMs, only for released ones.  
6. Because the checksum, which is used for selecting these properties, varies for each dump, so the properties cannot be not used anyway.
7. Finally, Stella's auto detection assumes a Genesis (and thrusts).

@fluxit I hope I remember this right. Please confirm that switching to B&W solves your problem.

It doesn't seem to work for me.  I tried the Color/BW button on the back of the Retron, followed by the Reset button.  There was no change, still Stella detected Sega Genesis on port 1, and thrust was continuous.  The same was true if I changed to BW in the configuration, and hit Reset, or if I did a cold boot after setting BW.  It seems as though it worked for me one time, but it consistently *hasn't* worked, so it makes me wonder if I imagined it, or I did something subtly different that one time that I didn't notice.

 

Renaming my stella directory resulted in no change of behavior.  Switching to BW still doesn't make a difference for the cartridge.  Just in case, I also switched both difficulty switches- it did alter the games behavior, but didn't stop the genesis detection and continuous thrust.

 

Just to be clear, both Color and BW settings act the same for me with the Thrust 1.8 cartridge.

Edited December 3, 2023 by fluxit
clarification

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Sorry, I just realized that your version is 1.8 does not support the Genesis controller. There is no switch support in 1.8, so forget what I said about it.

 

However, Stella still detects a Genesis, because it uses the same signal as the booster grip. Like you already found out, you have to manually change the controller setting to "Joystick". And most likely you have to do that each time you boot the cart, because the dumps differ and no saved properties can be used.

 

This is not the case when you load from SD-card. Therefore that game can use the properties, which default to "Joystick".

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[atarifan88]

Does anyone know how to get double shots on Space Invaders using Stella with the Retron 77?

[MrChickenz]

Anyone know How to create Retron 77 rom dump file.  sys/settings DUMP_TO_SD=y

 

is it a config file? I’m not sure how to put it on the sd card.

Edited January 11 by MrChickenz

[fluxit]

1 hour ago, MrChickenz said:

Anyone know How to create Retron 77 rom dump file.  sys/settings DUMP_TO_SD=y

 

is it a config file? I’m not sure how to put it on the sd card.

Create a /sys folder on your SD card if it doesn't  already exist. 

Create a text file named settings(no file extension) in that folder, if the settings file does not already exist. 

Add a line to that file, DUMP_TO_SD=y

 

That's it.

Edited January 12 by fluxit

[MrChickenz]

44 minutes ago, fluxit said:

Create a /sys folder on your SD card if it doesn't  already exist. 

Create a text file named settings(no file extension) in that folder, if the settings file does not already exist. 

Add a line to that file, DUMP_TO_SD=y

 

That's it.

That worked! I didn’t realize to create the file without a file extension. I truly appreciate your help fluxit! Thank You!

[MrChickenz]

On 12/3/2023 at 8:05 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Sorry, I just realized that your version is 1.8 does not support the Genesis controller. There is no switch support in 1.8, so forget what I said about it.

 

However, Stella still detects a Genesis, because it uses the same signal as the booster grip. Like you already found out, you have to manually change the controller setting to "Joystick". And most likely you have to do that each time you boot the cart, because the dumps differ and no saved properties can be used.

 

This is not the case when you load from SD-card. Therefore that game can use the properties, which default to "Joystick".

 

 

 

I have Stella 6.6 installed on my Retron 77. I’m not sure if my issue has anything to do with this issue.the Retron detects the Genesis controller but it’s not usable. The Genesis controller works but it seems as if the right direction on D-Pad is mapped twice it acts as a fire button also in all the games I try. Example Asteroids when you turn the ship right it also fires at the same time

[MrChickenz]

On 12/3/2023 at 7:40 AM, fluxit said:

It doesn't seem to work for me.  I tried the Color/BW button on the back of the Retron, followed by the Reset button.  There was no change, still Stella detected Sega Genesis on port 1, and thrust was continuous.  The same was true if I changed to BW in the configuration, and hit Reset, or if I did a cold boot after setting BW.  It seems as though it worked for me one time, but it consistently *hasn't* worked, so it makes me wonder if I imagined it, or I did something subtly different that one time that I didn't notice.

 

Renaming my stella directory resulted in no change of behavior.  Switching to BW still doesn't make a difference for the cartridge.  Just in case, I also switched both difficulty switches- it did alter the games behavior, but didn't stop the genesis detection and continuous thrust.

 

Just to be clear, both Color and BW settings act the same for me with the Thrust 1.8 cartridge.

Something similar happened to me. I plugged in two Atari controllers open up the menu that detects the controller but use the  controller in port 2 to select port 1 setting. Not sure what happened but it stopped detecting the Atari controller as a genesis controller.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

4 hours ago, MrChickenz said:

I have Stella 6.6 installed on my Retron 77. I’m not sure if my issue has anything to do with this issue.the Retron detects the Genesis controller but it’s not usable. The Genesis controller works but it seems as if the right direction on D-Pad is mapped twice it acts as a fire button also in all the games I try. Example Asteroids when you turn the ship right it also fires at the same time

I suppose that's because the front ports of the R77 do not support the extra button. 

[MrChickenz]

2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I suppose that's because the front ports of the R77 do not support the extra button. 

That explains it. Thank You! So the paddles and Genesis work off the back port with a splitter?

Edited January 12 by MrChickenz

[Thomas Jentzsch]

7 minutes ago, MrChickenz said:

That explains it. Thank You! So the paddles and Genesis work off the back port with a splitter?

Yup.

[Atariboy]

If I wanted to share my button mappings with a friend when using an arcade stick via OTG cable, is there a file that I could share with them from my micro SD card that they could copy over? Or do they have to manually set it all up themselves?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

4 minutes ago, Atariboy said:

If I wanted to share my button mappings with a friend when using an arcade stick via OTG cable, is there a file that I could share with them from my micro SD card that they could copy over? Or do they have to manually set it all up themselves?

All settings (not only for the controller mappings) are in the .sqlite3 files. You could copy them. 

[Stab]

So will Stella 6.7 ever be released on the Retron77?

Edited February 18 by Stab

[thebiggw]

Has anyone got Zaxxon to work on the Retron 77? Also where can I get the latest firmware and stella version that works for sure.