Need Help With The Latest Atari 800 Build


T

TelcoLou

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Okay, I've done the following:

Installed 'atari800.gpe' in the root.
Installed '.atari800.cfg' in the root. (NOTE: I had to use programmer's notpad to allow me to rename the file with a "." at the beginning)

All other files are in:
roms > a800 > disk (all the .atr files in here)
roms > a800 > exe
roms > a800 > menu (has the following: 5200.men, 5200bel.men, dave.men, default.men, nightmis.men, rof.men, starraid.men, ui.men, upper.men)
roms > a800 > os (has the following: 5200.rom, ataribas.rom, atariosa.rom, atariosb.rom, atarixl.rom) And yes, I renamed them with lower-case letters ;)
roms > a800 > rom (5200 roms in here)
roms > a800 > state (currently empty)
roms > a800 > util (has the following: cpu_speed.sh, cpu_speed_light.gpe, ramdisk.sh, rd.o)

I load up the emu, get to the main menu, choose to play an atari game, choose the game from the 'disk' sub folder, then get the following messages:

Code:
Unable to load input cfg, need
ui.men(UIMENU in cfg)


default.men(MENU in cfg)



Used built in defaults" 

 "Sorry, this program needs a real Atari/OS"

It worked fine before this build, so I'm sure it's just my old brain not working right ... but damn, it's maddening!! :lol:

Thanks in advance :)
 
I got that too. Plus I noticed that the gamma was high causing washed out grey instead of black backgrounds. I went back to the old version.
 
Whew. At least I'm not the only one :lol:

I was looking forward to trying out this new feature:

"* Added 16-way input and simple speed control for 5200"
 
You're close to getting it working.

Go into the Emulator Configuration menu inside a800

Go to UI INPUT: point it at your ui.men file (/mnt/sd/roms/a800/menu/ui.men)
Go to INPUT: point at your default.men file (/mnt/sd/roms/a800/menu/default.men)

Make sure all the ROM: paths are set

i.e.

OS/B ROM: point at your atariosb.rom file (/mnt/sd/roms/a800/os/atariosb.rom)

You can also go into Configure Directories and add the "Directories with Atari software" path

Then be sure to "Save configuration file"

I know - seems a bit complicated - but the ability to make custom keymaps for individual games now is WELL worth it :)

EDIT: Forgot to add - go into "Display Settings" and you can change the screen brightness. The default setting - Normal - is too high on the GP2X
 
Well figured out. I was really thinking I should write some more docs but just wanted to release the thing!

Interesting you had to set the ui.men, default.men and roms etc again since those should be the default paths if you put it in as ".atari800.cfg". Perhaps I got that bit wrong... I think you can run it as atari800.gpe -config foobar.cfg

If you select "Black" in the screen brightness then that is direct pass through what the a800 devs specified for the real palette. I just thought it was too dark, as it deinitely was on GP32, so I added several scaling values. "Normal" was too bright in the last version so I tweaked it darker in this, just not enough! Anyway there are loads of command line options to tweak the raw palette. e.g. give atari800.gpe -black 0 a try. Can even pass in a whole palette file. So you can pass some sensible defaults for that and use "Black" to avoid my scaling. If you find something good let me know and I'll set it as the default in the next build.

There are a shedload of options for this version, as in the original. I'd stripped them out in the GP32 one since you can't really pass options. So worth looking at if you like tweaking stuff.

Thanks,

Mark

You can
 
TelcoLou posted on Feb 7 2006 at 12:48 AM said:
Installed 'atari800.gpe' in the root.
Installed '.atari800.cfg' in the root. (NOTE: I had to use programmer's notpad to allow me to rename the file with a "." at the beginning)
That sounds correct. But everything else is consistent with it not loading a config file. Perhaps its looking somewhere else. I'll have to check mine.

All other files are in:
roms > a800 > disk (all the .atr files in here)
roms > a800 > exe
roms > a800 > menu (has the following: 5200.men, 5200bel.men, dave.men, default.men, nightmis.men, rof.men, starraid.men, ui.men, upper.men)
roms > a800 > os (has the following: 5200.rom, ataribas.rom, atariosa.rom, atariosb.rom, atarixl.rom) And yes, I renamed them with lower-case letters ;)
roms > a800 > rom (5200 roms in here)
roms > a800 > state (currently empty)
roms > a800 > util (has the following: cpu_speed.sh, cpu_speed_light.gpe, ramdisk.sh, rd.o)
You don't actually need such a rigid structure now. I just haven't recreated it yet. The 5200.men and 5200bel.men should no longer be needed - default.men does a reasonable 5200 job, though should probably be customised further.

For the os roms it must match the config file. But case shouldn't matter on vfat anyway.

"Sorry, this program needs a real Atari/OS"[/code]
This second error means it failed to load the ROMs. SOME things will work without. The other error about ui.men means it failed to load input config files. This used to make it freeze on the menu, so I added defaults and an error screen:)

It worked fine before this build, so I'm sure it's just my old brain not working right ... but damn, it's maddening!! :lol:
Yeah its all changed, I need better docs!

Good luck,

Mark
 
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foft posted on Feb 7 2006 at 02:38 AM said:
Well figured out. I was really thinking I should write some more docs but just wanted to release the thing!
No worries - it is a fantastic release - Many thanks!! :D
 
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Once you use the internal interface to "point" the emu to the right directories it works just fine. There are two places you can save your options. My favorite "Save as default startup". :D

A couple comments

1. Something is wrong with NTSC mode. I'm not sure if it is skipping frames, but it is most obvious with sound (try playing boulder dash or Mr. Do). Every so many seconds the sound "skips".

2. I set it to show disk use and actual atari speed and nothing seems to happen.

3. It'd be nice if the overclock options showed the corresponding overclock "speeds".

4. There does not seem to be any way to bring up the keyboard overlay when specifying the name of save states.

5. Use of a DOT at the beginning of a filename is a big no no in my book. Windows explorer does not accept it so the only way to fix it is thru the DOS command line. Something which may not be OBVIOUS to some people.

6. Keep up the good work! I grew up on the atari 8-bit and it's nice to see it get some much needed loving. A highly neglected computer when it comes to console/handheld emu's.

Between this, stella, and the lynx emu I'm in hog heaven. Now if they could only fix the super response speed in the stella menu system. :lol:

L8r
 
Hi,

Only just spotted this feedback. Some good comments. I'll go through one at a time...

1) Checked this and you are right. Even happens on the plain system diagnostics stuff. Think I'm not filling my sound buffer enough for 60Hz.
2) Yep, I don't see anything with them. I'll have a look at this.
3) These are shown down the bottom of the screen, as you hover over the menu. Or do you mean permanently show it?
4) Oops. You can press Right/Left shoulders. However it enters the directory selector since right shoulder is also tab! You can press the escape key to get back to the selector where you can type again. I suggest reconfiguring the keyboard in ui.men so that Y is tab or something like that.
5) Its a unix thing. Means it doesn't get shown by default. This is actually the official emulator default. I use Linux so didn't spot that you can't rename to that. But good point anyway. I'll change the default in the next one. For now you can pass it the command line option "-config foo.bar" to use anything for the config file.
6) Though it does have two great Emus. atari800 (official) is fantastic. Also Thor (very bright guy) has done great work on Atari++, though there is still some animosity with that atari800 developers I think.

I'll add a couple of my own:
i) black should be real black - reported by Dave C. You can run with -black 0, but it makes everything too dark. Too much hassle to make custom palettes and pass on command line.
ii) In the menu diagonals get taken as a direction. So I always end up jumping back to the top.
iii) After a while I noticed some stuff stops working. e.g. bitter reality refuses to boot with disk error. A restart fixes it but...

Any other suggestions for 0.10?

Thanks,

Mark
 
I found out why the default config file does not work for anyone else (Thanks to Sascha)! By default it loads it from the users homedir/.atari800.cfg. For my GP2X that is /root which is a symlink to /mnt/sd. For most others it is the directory /root on the NAND! So if you copy to /mnt/sd as I instructed it won't work...

Obviously I'll change this in the next one.

Thanks,

Mark
 
thanks for the response. I noticed the clock speed being displayed at the bottom later. I'll modify the ui.men. Was there a reason TAB was mapped? I don't remember it being used much on the Atari.

The only thing I can think of is implementing Dave C's case C joystick mappings so diagonals are less likely to be hit. I've been having too much fun with this to really notice anything else.

iii I just attributed to the freaky GP2X joystick. :lol:
 
Tab was mapped in the ui for selecting which directory to use. You can set up several directories for atari programs and switch between them you see. I've changed the default ui.men to Y for tab. Have to think of something else for GP32 version when I get round to it...

I implemented case 2 joystick. Remind me which case c is!

So far I've done 1,4,5 and ii. 3,6 are not issues. That leaves i,iii and 2!

Thanks,

Mark
 
OK, got 2 done.

Now just (i),(iii) and (iv)

iv) Merge my old pokeysnd with the latest without breaking Centipede and many other games. I want the end game sound in Bandits. Or get the new Pokey working.

Then I can release it...

Thanks,

Mark
 
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