Which is the best Atari ST emulator for pc?

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Should read instructions for Steem 3.2 - surely no problem to find.

I will write here some specific things which may be not in usual manual, instructions.

To use STX images you need to DL Pasti, copy pasti.dll in Steem DIR. It will greet you with message at every start of emulator. There are some settings too then. Like hard disk - that would be ACSI hard disk emulation (max 1GB), and you need valid image for make it work.

And there are games which are adapted for hard disks (by original developer, by me, Superior crew, but will not work from so called GEMDOS hard disk emulation (what is not real one), so may copy them in working hard disk image via Steem.

http://atari.8bitchip.info/astbegfaq.html 

There are instructions how to put those missing D , E ... icons on Desktop.  But you need to set it in Disk menu, where can set active STX (or ST, MSA, STT) floppy image.

Pause/Break for giving mouse back to Windows . And pls. folks, read usage before jumping in such adventure ?

[zzip]

17 hours ago, legolas119 said:

thanks!  I configured it in this way:

 

and I put all my st/stx image in the C folder in this way:

 

when I run the emulator I have this screen:

I can only open the C HARD DISK and it appears this (stx images aren't detected...is Atari STX supported?):

 

if i double-click on a game, it appears another windows like this:

 

but I can't play...

and at this point I can move the cursor of my mouse ONLY in the internal window of the emulator. If I want to close it, I have to push CTRL+ALT+CAN and close  the emulator...

 

It isn't clear how it works

 

Do Steem, Hatari and SainT support .stx image too?

In case you are new to the ST, you have to double-click on the application once that window opens.   In your last screenshot, it is the icon on the bottom left of the window.  The one that is half visible.

[bfollowell]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

In case you are new to the ST, you have to double-click on the application once that window opens.   In your last screenshot, it is the icon on the bottom left of the window.  The one that is half visible.

 

Yeah, that's why I was asking about the OP's past experience with STs in general. By the questions that were being asked, they seemed to be really inexperienced with STs at all, let alone ST emulators. At least that was my opinion.

 

[zzip]

10 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

 

Yeah, that's why I was asking about the OP's past experience with STs in general. By the questions that were being asked, they seemed to be really inexperienced with STs at all, let alone ST emulators. At least that was my opinion.

 

Yeah, I certainly know the "stranger in a strange land" feeling trying to get emulators working for systems I've never owned :)

[legolas119]

hi, well I have configured Steem and Steem DV following a youtube guide (I don't know if I can link it...) and now i'm able to start some games   But I need please your help for some questions:

 

1) is it available a good romset with working games? I tried some games and they don't work correctly (i.e Ghost'n goblins has a lot of graphical glitches)

2) how can I do, during a game session, to exit from the game and return to the emulator? Is it possible to map a command on the joypad in order to exit from a game? If I want to exti now I have to push CTRL+ALT+DEL and close the emulator...but in this way when I restart the emulator, it continue to play the last game that I have loaded...in this way..and I don't know how to exit and load a new game..

 

is this the right way?

 

3)  is it possible to play with Atari STX games (.stx games)?

 

thank you very much

Edited October 23, 2020 by legolas119

[zzip]

5 minutes ago, legolas119 said:

2) how can I do, during a game session, to exit from the game and return to the emulator? Is it possible to map a command on the joypad in order to exit from a game? If I want to exti now I have to push CTRL+ALT+DEL and close the emulator...but in this way when I restart the emulator, it continue to play the last game that I have loaded...

Most games from this era don't actually have an "exit" functionality.   A few do, but for the rest the best way to exit is hit the equivalent of the reset button.   I think Steem might allow you to map a joypad button to "reset"

 

11 minutes ago, legolas119 said:

3) mutiple disk

It's been awhile since I used Steem, but I seem to remember you can put multiple disks in a single zip file, and they become easier to deal with.

 

13 minutes ago, legolas119 said:

4) is it possible to play with Atari STX games (.stx games)?

STX is a special format that includes copy protection information.    See this thread about using it with Steem, sounds like it might need extra dlls

 

 

[ParanoidLittleMan]

First to say: with Atari ST it is everything but not simple.

Romset with working games ? We don't use word ROM here for floppy images. ROM is where is TOS (operation system of Atari ST) placed. And it has influence with playing games.

There are many sites online with floppy images, containing Atari ST(E) games. For instance on planetemu.net . But you need to DL them individually.

STX images are available mostly at atarimania.com   .

I already answered about STX images.  Not motivating when people ignores answers . And it is not called STX games. STX is just floppy image format. It can hold copy protection, so is used mostly for imaging original floppies (those in nice boxes, and often with nice price ? )

 

Most of games do not have exit from game - and again, you use complete wrong terminology and obviously have no clue how it works.

You are all time in emulator. When see so called Desktop of Atari ST and when running game. Usual way to exit game is to press reset button - no, not PC reset button, but reset icon of emulator ?   Forget Ctr Alt Del  .

And there is much more, but I have other things to do at moment .... Thank you for your attention.

 

[zzip]

I will just update on my answer:   Avoid STX images if possible-  they will probably just frustrate your experience.   Better to use .ST and .MSA images (or zipped versions of them).   @ParanoidLittleMan tells you where to find them.

[legolas119]

perfect many thanks, i'm solving my issues. I still have some questions, if you can help me:

1) I don't know how I can move the cursor outside the desktop of the emulator:

 

2) playing Ghost'n goblins, i can jump with the UP button of my joypad, but in this way I don't know how to goiing up the stairs...is there a way to map the joypad in order to solve this issue?

3) I can't play some games with multiple disks, as both eversion of barbarian 2. When the game ask me to enter disk 2 and push button 1, nothing happens..

 

thank you

[bfollowell]

15 hours ago, legolas119 said:

perfect many thanks, i'm solving my issues. I still have some questions, if you can help me:

1) I don't know how I can move the cursor outside the desktop of the emulator:

3) I can't play some games with multiple disks, as both eversion of barbarian 2. When the game ask me to enter disk 2 and push button 1, nothing happens..

 

thank you

 

I've never really ran games from an emulator, so I can't answer #2.

 

As far as question #1, I'm sure there is an official key-stroke or something that I'm missing, but you can alt-tab out of this app just like you can with any Windows app and go back to the desktop. Whether or not this is official, this will take you out of the Atari desktop and into Windows. From there you can select and use other apps or make selections within the emulator. The Atari emulation will be paused while you do this. Clicking back inside the emulator, somewhere on the Atari screen will restart the emulation.

 

As far as question #3, you have to alt-tab back out to Windows, go into the emulator options to where you setup the disk in Drive A and change to the second disk, then go back into the Atari emulation and press enter, or 1, or whatever key the software in question is telling you to press. If there are more disks, you would do the same thing for disk 3, disk 4, etc.

 

 

[MrMaddog]

19 hours ago, legolas119 said:

perfect many thanks, i'm solving my issues. I still have some questions, if you can help me:

1) I don't know how I can move the cursor outside the desktop of the emulator:

 

 

For Steem you have press the Pause key on the PC keyboard to move the mouse cursor back to Windows.

 

Quote

3) I can't play some games with multiple disks, as both eversion of barbarian 2. When the game ask me to enter disk 2 and push button 1, nothing happens..

 

 

Like a real ST, you have to remove Disk 1 and insert Disk 2.  On Steem you drag the Disk 1 image out of the Drive A box and drag Disk 2 in it, and then click on the ST screen to continue.

[legolas119]

many thanks. I solved the issue of the cursor

 

speaking about the multiple disk, when Disk 1 of Barbarian II needs Disk 2, I push ALT+TAB and it will appear the screen where I have all my disk image. I demoved the disk 1 and double click on disk 2. When Disk 2 is in Drive A, nothing happens...it appear the desktop of the Atari ST with a windows with some items (21 items in this case) inside...but the game doesn't continue... 

 

thank you for your help!

 

[bfollowell]

It depends on if you're just dragging the second disk image to A, or double-clicking it. I may be wrong, but I think, if you double-click on the disk image, it inserts it into drive A and reboots the machine. Therefore, it does the same thing that a real ST would do if you inserted disk #2 into drive A and booted, which is nothing, since it isn't bootable. It just opens the drive and shows the contents. You just need to boot with disk #1 in drive A then, when you're prompted for the second disk, press Pause, or alt-tab out, then drag disk #2 to drive A, then go back to the emulation screen and press whatever the program tells you to.

 

[ParanoidLittleMan]

This is what people should look when starts with Steem: http://steem.atari.st/beginners.htm

There are links to other useful sections.

 

Usually, when game is on multiple floppy disks, and when it asks for other disk, like 'Insert disk B in drive A, Press space to continue' you need to insert it - in emulator it goes with dragging icon of that disk to large icon A at top, or right click and 'Insert in drive A'. Double click resets emulated Atari, so is not for this case. Then press Space or whatever game asks. Some may not need it, will autodetect change and continue after very short time.

And all this is really trivial. There will be much harder cases with plenty of games:  game A don't work with certain TOS versions. Game B work only if no disk in drive B . Game C works only with 512 KB of RAM, with more not (yeah, sounds very stoopid, but there are such), or works with 1 MB, but not with more.  And there is more, like regional restrictions.

I guess that programmers which coded on machines like C64, Sinclair Spectrum were just lost with flexible Atari ST - variable RAM amount, storage, TOS versions, control via mouse or joystick, keyboard  ... They were used to 64 KB RAM, loading whole game at once (tape) .

 

legolas119: when you manage to use STX floppy images, I will give you link with plenty of games, where no need to bother with disk change. And there are trainers (like infinite lives), option to save game state at any moment (well, that can be done with Steem and almost any game too, btw.) . And with simple key click can exit game and return to where you were when started game.

[Keatah]

1 hour ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

This is what people should look when starts with Steem: http://steem.atari.st/beginners.htm

There are links to other useful sections.

Kinda reminds me. Anyone know where the documentation in these links are?

http://steem.atari.st/programmers.htm

..the ones in the bottom section. Archive.org doesn't having any functional captures for http://mysite.freeserve.com/antspants/st_info/

Edited October 25, 2020 by Keatah

[legolas119]

yes thanks! Now I have only one game with multiple disks that doesn't work. Barbarian II : even if I move the 2ns disk in driver A and then i push RETURN as written in the screen, the game continue to as me the DISK 2...it seems that it doesn't detect disk 2...i don't know why...

 

And I have 2 issues with other 2 games:

1) Dragon Spirit: le initial LOADING screen doesn't disappear...so the game doesn't start...

2) Dungeon master: with the mouse pointer i start the game and I open the door...but after that it is impossible to go ahead...

 

do you have any idea how to solve these issue?

thanks!

[snarkdluG]

It was years since I run Dungeon Master, but didn't it take a long time before you could play it? After you pressed the button on the door. Just wait a bit perhaps.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Here is Dungeon Master with much faster start, and some other benefits, diverse versions: http://atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/D/dungmast.php

Even STX images of originals.

 

Now, this gone off topic - should open other thread about how to play specific games, with which keys and like.

Some games need little waiting after initial screen(s), and good thing with emulator is that you can speed it up, so will wait less time. In case of Dungeon Master it can be couple minutes. What can DL on link above is way faster, max some 20 seconds.

Some need pressing of something - usually it is fire button on joystick, mouse, space key ...

And in case of Steem joystick might be deactivated - then cursor keys are Atari cursor keys. When joystick is active initial setting is mapping to cursor keys and right Ctrl for fire.  How to switch - really should find it self in joystick settings ...

So, Dungeon Master can be played with mouse, movement too, but is faster with cursor keys (non joystick mode). 

 

 

[zzip]

On 10/21/2020 at 2:05 AM, ParanoidLittleMan said:

Just to add here, that there is Linux build of Steem 3.2, and it is done very well, with GUI designed special for Linux. Unfortunately only regular Steem. There is no Steem Debugger (or Boiler) for Linux. But it is not for average user. And huh - since sources are now open, I guess that it is possible to make, with some effort. Maybe special Linux GUI is what is missing ?

I went back and booted up Steem 3.2 on Linux to remind myself why I avoid it.   It works, but most of the issues are due to its age.  It would be nice to get a new build to address these issues:

 

1.  Sound.  It has two sound output options, but both depend on the antiquated Linux OSS sound standard.  OSS can be emulated on modern systems, but what I found is sometimes the sound would work and sometimes it wouldn't, so it's not perfect

2. No built-in aspect ratio control.   Hard to believe that 4:3 CRTs were still the standard when Steem 3.2 released :)  You are at the mercy of your Video Card/Video Driver/Monitor, whether your aspect will be correct.   On my system if Steem uses 640x480, there is no aspect correction.  If it uses 800x600 there is some aspect correction, but it is still too wide.   I might be able to correct this through my nVidia settings after diving into the documentation.   But most modern emulators give a number of display options that can handle this

3. UI is so tiny on modern displays.    My display is 1440p   The UI is so small it hurts my eyes.  There doesn't seem to be a way to adjust this.

4. Have to press "play" button after launching it.   This is a minor annoyance,  but it would be nice to have an auto-play feature (unless I missed it)

 

hatari is modern, and doesn't have these issues.   Yes the Steem UI is more attractive than the generic UI of hatari,  but hatari's UI is just as functional

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Steem 3.2 is from 2004. And there are problems with screen in later Windows versions too (corrected in SSE only) - like bad work in full screen mode.

Some problems with direct X . So, yes, it's age, and some changes in video drivers, overall concept of host OS.

I really don't remember about problems with AR in Linux, and I ran it in some newer distros. Will check it later in couple years old Ubuntu.

At least setting it's window size with mouse should work ?

But since OP asked about 'best for pc' , let's assume that he is not interested for Linux v.

[zzip]

25 minutes ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

I really don't remember about problems with AR in Linux, and I ran it in some newer distros. Will check it later in couple years old Ubuntu.

I'm sure it's totally related to videocard/video driver and X settings.

 

nVidia used to have a "force aspect ratio" checkbox in their linux control panel, but they dropped it, suggesting using modelines instead in xorg.conf.    The modeline method is more powerful, but it's also more work to get working than a simple check box.

 

in my current setting, X doesn't seem to think 640x480 needs aspect adjustment, but 800x600 does.   I can probably fix it through a config change.   But I went to check why this isn't a problem with other emulators.    Seems like most emulators have options to define the target screen resolution, how the image gets stretched, some even have aspect ratio settings.   A lot of times I just tell them to use the native 1440p resolution and just stretch the screen size.  PCs are fast enough now that this doesn't cause performance issues.

35 minutes ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

But since OP asked about 'best for pc' , let's assume that he is not interested for Linux

True.   just pointing out with a few small changes,  Steem could be the perfect ST emulator for linux.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

OK, I made test with brandnew Mint Linux Cinnamon AMD 64. My Ubuntu install from some 3 years ago was destroyed by some recent Win install, and no big deal, since I barely used it. Mint install took much more time than Ubuntu (even if ISO is shorter), but seems easy to get in with. So, depacked Steem 3.2 for Linux and TOS 1.04 UK and just one floppy image - for quick test.

Aspect ratio is OK all time (monitor Full HD, HDMI conn., AMD Radeon graphic card on ASUS mainboard - that means standard HW, so better chances that it will work well) . Can not set any emulator resolution you want, but full screen is OK too - AR perfect (unlike in Win 7 and later). And bad thing - no sound at all, and playing with setting helps not. But it is 16 years from Steem 3.2 release, and many things changed. Likely it can be solved with some drivers or whatever. I would say that this is very good SW compatibility.

 

[zzip]

1 hour ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

Aspect ratio is OK all time (monitor Full HD, HDMI conn., AMD Radeon graphic card on ASUS mainboard - that means standard HW, so better chances that it will work well) .

Mine's a newer nVidia card. 

 

1 hour ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

Can not set any emulator resolution you want

Seems like if you choose  "auto borders" it does 640x480 res.  If you pick "force borders" it goes to 800x600.  Interestingly 800x600 on my card does adjust the aspect ratio, but not quite enough to look correct

 

1 hour ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

And bad thing - no sound at all, and playing with setting helps not.

There's a few ways that you might get sound to work

 

Method 1: load the OSS emulation modules, (should have been shipped with linux)  run these three commands before launching steem:

sudo modprobe snd-pcm-oss

sudo modprobe snd-mixer-oss

sudo modprobe snd-seq-oss

 

Method 2: Install OSS proxy daemon

This is the one I'm currently using, it will start when the system starts so you won't have to worry about it.

 

sudo apt-get install osspd

sudo service start osspd

 

Method 3: Use the AOSS wrapper script.

I don't think I've ever tried this method, so don't know how well it works.  Looks like you would simply run

 

aoss steem

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by zzip

[legolas119]

On 10/25/2020 at 8:18 AM, ParanoidLittleMan said:

This is what people should look when starts with Steem: http://steem.atari.st/beginners.htm

There are links to other useful sections.

thanks, great guide!

[legolas119]

On 10/26/2020 at 7:33 AM, ParanoidLittleMan said:

Here is Dungeon Master with much faster start, and some other benefits, diverse versions: http://atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/D/dungmast.php

Even STX images of originals.

 

Now, this gone off topic - should open other thread about how to play specific games, with which keys and like.

Some games need little waiting after initial screen(s), and good thing with emulator is that you can speed it up, so will wait less time. In case of Dungeon Master it can be couple minutes. What can DL on link above is way faster, max some 20 seconds.

Some need pressing of something - usually it is fire button on joystick, mouse, space key ...

And in case of Steem joystick might be deactivated - then cursor keys are Atari cursor keys. When joystick is active initial setting is mapping to cursor keys and right Ctrl for fire.  How to switch - really should find it self in joystick settings ...

So, Dungeon Master can be played with mouse, movement too, but is faster with cursor keys (non joystick mode). 

 

 

well,

1) Dungeon Master works, thanks.

2) Dragon Spirit doesn't work. I tried also the version downloaded from here http://atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/D/ but when I run the game, it appears the LOADING screen and it doesn't appear anything else

3) BARBARIAN II : THE DUNGEON OF DRAX still have the same issue: when I load the disk 2, i press RETURN as the game needs:

 

but it appears for half a second this screen:

 

and immediately after it returns this screen:

I don't know why..

 

4) Outrun: when i start the game, it appears a pop up and I don't know how to start te game...

 

thank you

Edited October 27, 2020 by legolas119