Jump to content
IGNORED

Atari Flashback X Custom Firmware for USB roms and boxart


Recommended Posts

"That's a RocketFan question."

 

I would say no. that was the main problem getting the nexus to run on the 9s, because it needs files on the system. I know alot of menu items and such were moved to the NEXUS /emu folder so the 9s could get working, but I dont think everything runs from the card/drive. But maybe it does now. I could be wrong.

 

What part are you wondering about, bud?

Edited by Draxxon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

rocketfan was just showing me how to get the core options. I think if I turn on the developers output log of the mame core, it should spit out the possible core options. Ill give it a shot.

 

EDIT:
I dont see a list of option with this one, just the core options currently running.
I did see this:
Factor for warlord.zim= mouse: 2, spinner: 500

 

output_zim.txt

 

 

we could just try and set the setting in the libretro docs in the retroplayer.ini file and see if it takes?

Edited by Draxxon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not everything runs off the SD/thumb drive.  The Linux OS is still on the internal drive booting and in use.  Only the retromenu and retroplayer, and cores (aka the game emulation) all kind of live and have their data files all on the external drives - more and more so especially as Draxxon mentioned to make the AFB9 stuff fly. 

 

The mame2000 config files are in DRIVE/rom_arcade/data/mame2000/cfg.  IMO Warlords knows it supports paddles or at least analog controls because in HAS the Analog Controls menu in the mame config you can enter on the AFBX.  That's where you can fiddle the speed and sensitivity number I mentioned before you might want to bump way up.

 

Now you point out the "mouse: 2, spinner: 500"  I see that it is coming from the retroplayer (not the core - it's a mix in the output file) and there are references to MouseFactor and SpinnerFactor right alongside UseOSD.  So you can possibly override the defaults with lines in the [Global] section of the retroplayer.ini file for the rom folder in question.  There is also a LogLevel param that might be interesting to try.

 

I suggest add some different values and see if the text file shows the changes when you run a .zim.   Something like:

 

[Global]

MouseFactor=3

SpinnerFactor=501

 

Not clear to me how/if these relate to paddles exactly and how the interact with the mame config settings.  All you can really do is experiment with the params you can set, and see if anything changes.

 

BTW, those two core settings Draxxon pointed out may really be the only ones for the core.  Some cores have zero parameters, some a few, and some have dozens.  There is no consistency - just up to the author I guess.

Edited by rocketfan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok so... in DRIVE/rom_arcade/data/retroplayer.ini

 

If you set...

[Global]

MouseFactor=3

SpinnerFactor=501

 

The dev output file will reflect the SpinnerFactor change but not the MouseFactor change.

 

output shows...

Factor for warlord.zim= mouse: 2, spinner: 501

 

to double check I tried...

[Global]

MouseFactor=9

SpinnerFactor=505

 

I got this...

Factor for warlord.zim= mouse: 2, spinner: 505

 

 

 

output_zim.txt

Edited by Draxxon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally installed the v0.1.9 custom firmware yesterday and then the 1.2Ghz cpu update on my X.

I don't mean to bash on the X, but last night I ran into another issue.  I left the game sit for a while and when I started playing again, it was SUUUUPER choppy.  It acted like it had a memory hole.  I've not seen this happen on the 9, so I don't know if it's an issue with the X version of the emulator or what.  I'll have to play around with it more later to see when it happens again and exactly what I'm doing before letting it sit, but I wanted to check and see if anyone else had experienced this.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, Velvis said:

Shouldn't mouse only have 2 possible settings? Zero and one?

That makes sense, but changing the mousefactor number doesnt change the dev output txt.

 

i tried mousefactor 0 and 1 and it just always shows =2 on the output.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, KevinMos3 said:

I finally installed the v0.1.9 custom firmware yesterday and then the 1.2Ghz cpu update on my X.

I don't mean to bash on the X, but last night I ran into another issue.  I left the game sit for a while and when I started playing again, it was SUUUUPER choppy.  It acted like it had a memory hole.  I've not seen this happen on the 9, so I don't know if it's an issue with the X version of the emulator or what.  I'll have to play around with it more later to see when it happens again and exactly what I'm doing before letting it sit, but I wanted to check and see if anyone else had experienced this.

I haven't run into this issue, but I always have the NEXUS pack running and its using the AFB9 settings for a2600 now.

Maybe that's the difference? Thanks for letting us know, you really have a good eye for details.

Edited by Draxxon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not tried to add any .a52 files yet. I think the atari 800 core supports it, I dont know if it works in nexus. so far, the "atari 5200" games in the pack are actually games ported to the a800. you would have to edit /emulator/runcommand and add .a52 link to the a800 core:

 

   "a52")
 /usr/bin/startx /tmp/retroplayer.x ${dev}/emulator/atari800_libretro.so  $gm >/dev/null 2>&1 ;# >${dev}/output_a52.txt 2>${dev}/error_a800.txt
     ;;

 

probably also have to add the core setting per game in the /rom_a5200/data/retroplayer.ini:

 

[CastleCrisis.a52]
atari800_system=5200

 

You also need the 5200.rom bios file in the /emulator folder and the /rom_a5200 folder.

5200.rom

Edited by Draxxon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a chance to mess with it, and I'm sure it could work.

 

I added Centipede.a52. start button wouldn't start the game, so buttons would need mapped? but that core is using the X player. (no button mapping)

 

i used the on screen keyboard to start the game. exited the OSK. and joystick and button were mapped correctly. I'll leave this in for the next release so there will be an example in Nexus of how&where to add a .a52 game.

So far file extension support for .mgw (game & watch; limited compatibility due to screen resolution), .fds (famicom disk system) and .a52 (Atari 5200) have been added.

 

Edited by Draxxon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Velvis said:

Castle crisis is supposed to support paddles but they didn't spin. The button on each moved it left and right much like mame.

 

That reminds me... The FBs seem to only work with paddles for certain games, which leads me to believe they use checksums or something to know if the game is a paddle game or not. 

 

- For example, Kaboom works with paddles, but Kaboom hacks do not.

- Medieval Mayhem works with paddles (a homebrew that's been around a while and more likely to be known), but Drive! does not.

 

Has anyone looked into this, and if so, is there a feasible way to make it recognize more games to work with paddles?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
That reminds me... The FBs seem to only work with paddles for certain games, which leads me to believe they use checksums or something to know if the game is a paddle game or not. 
 
- For example, Kaboom works with paddles, but Kaboom hacks do not.
- Medieval Mayhem works with paddles (a homebrew that's been around a while and more likely to be known), but Drive! does not.
 
Has anyone looked into this, and if so, is there a feasible way to make it recognize more games to work with paddles?
Dont the paddle games on the Flashbacks also play with joysticks? Which the original roms do not. I wonder if the rom is changed or its in the Emulation.

Sent from my Surface Duo using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

has anyone ever had kaboom work with paddles one minute and the next time you try it the paddle buttons move left and right, and not the knob anymore?


i figured it was the retroplayer swapping. Im going to by honest here, even when paddles work, they are so abysmal I can't justify spending time even trying to figure them out.

It totally sucks. 

 

Edited by Draxxon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Velvis said:

Dont the paddle games on the Flashbacks also play with joysticks?

Yes, but I believe that's the emulator interpreting it. Stella works with joysticks and paddles for Kaboom and others.  You can play those games in Stella using a joystick or keyboard, but probably wouldn't want to.

 

1 hour ago, Draxxon said:

has anyone ever had kaboom work with paddles one minute and the next time you try it the paddle buttons move left and right, and not the knob anymore?
i figured it was the retroplayer swapping. Im going to by honest here, even when paddles work, they are so abysmal I can't justify spending time even trying to figure them out.

I haven't had that happen yet.

I do like using the paddles on the FB with games that are a little more delay tolerant, like Warlords, Medieval Mayhem (not great, but playable), Breakout, Demons to Diamonds, etc.  The one game that is practically unplayable though, is Kaboom.  After it speeds up a few times, it gets unplayable with the delay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't really contribute much to the paddle investigation other than to suggest someone really radically alter that SpinnerFactor on a game where the paddles already work - so you can see if it has ANY impact.  Like try changing it  to this set of values one at a time and test the change in paddle behavior: 10, 200, 800, 900, 3000.  I would do something similar with the mame speed and sensitivity settings, except I don't know if anyone has ever even observed the paddles doing anything at all in one of those mame2000 games.

 

On 4/15/2021 at 4:40 PM, KevinMos3 said:

Kaboom works with paddles, but Kaboom hacks do not.

This seems strange - Is Kaboom even one of the original built-in games? I checked the retroplayer executables and I can't find any game names in them.  I doubt anything more sophisticated is going on, but I can't really explain why that would be.  There is a "paddle game" designation in the all-games.ini - but I bet it doesn't matter other than to sort the games in the menu.  There is a (really small) chance it like causes a super-secret flag or something to be set  for the retroplayer when the game has started - has anyone checked to see if that category in all-games.ini matters?

 

BTW - 2600 Paddle games work in the 4.0+ Nexus at least as well (or badly) as in the original FW - don't they?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...