Albert Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Version 2.12 of the excellent Atari 2600 emulator z26 has been released. This version adds a fair number of controller-related changes, adds support for the "EF" type bankswitching (to be used by Paul Slocum's upcoming Homestar Runner RPG), as well as support for the Stelladaptor 2600 to USB Interface. You can read the complete list of changes here, and download the latest version of z26 here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze_ro Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 I really wish this emulator would go open source someday so that us Linux people, and Mac people could enjoy it. Stella is good and all, but z26 seems to be the 2600 emulator of choice these days. --Zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 27, 2004 Author Share Posted March 27, 2004 Yes, OS X really needs an updated Atari 2600 emulator. MacStella is a carbon version of Stella 1.2 so it will not run many newer games, and it does not support USB controllers so the Stelladaptor (or any other USB devices) cannot be used with it. I've already offered to send a free Stelladaptor to the first person who updates MacStella to the latest Stella source and adds HID (Human Interface Device) Manager support. Of course, a nice Cocoa port of z26 (with a nice front-end) would also make me happy. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 I really wish this emulator would go open source someday ... That's not the problem (I am sure John and Eckhard wouldn't mind if somebody ported it to another platform), but since the emulator uses a lot of assembler, this is not as easy as porting C/C++ code Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroK Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 I did submit this news almost a week ago!! Why did you not add it?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 27, 2004 Author Share Posted March 27, 2004 I did submit this news almost a week ago!!Why did you not add it?? Because we were busy attending PhillyClassic 5 this past weekend, did not get home until late Tuesday, and are still catching up on things. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroK Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Ok, I understand Then I will keep submitting things when I see them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 27, 2004 Author Share Posted March 27, 2004 Ok, I understand Then I will keep submitting things when I see them. Thanks. Also, z26 we were well aware of because we worked closely with Eckhard Stolberg to update this version of z26 to add Stelladaptor support (not that I would have expected you to know that). This is one of the reasons z26 2.12 was released Monday (the Stelladaptor went on sale at PC5 last Saturday), so people who purchased the adaptor at the show could take advantage of the new paddle and driving controller support. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Eckhard announced this himself in the 2600 forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 27, 2004 Author Share Posted March 27, 2004 Eckhard announced this himself in the 2600 forum Whoops, my bad, I should have looked there before starting a new thread in the Emulation forum about it. Figures, as I usually do announce z26 in the 2600 forum, but this time decided to post it here in the more neglected Emulation forum. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze_ro Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 since the emulator uses a lot of assembler, this is not as easy as porting C/C++ code Nasm seems to do a good job. Although it's been a while since I did any assembly, I can't imagine it would be that hard to get it to work with nasm. Of course, that still doesn't help Mac users... but oh well. --Zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 We considered using NASM when we chose the environment for the Windows version of z26. But we decided against it, because it required so many changes that it would have almost been a complete rewrite. Now that computers have gotten so fast (and more importantly now that I have finally gotten a faster computer myself ) it's more likely that we will rewrite routines in C code whenever something needs a bigger change. I have already done this in the newest version with the controller handling code. But since we are making bigger changes only very seldomly, it might take a really long time before this leads to a fully portable source code for z26. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Ok, Just got my stelladaptor and downloaded the latest z26 executable file. I have the STelladaptor installed and whenever I try to run z26 I get a dialog box saying '-j option not valid' - I tried putting the -) and -)JS options in the command window with no luck - Any ideas? This is on WinXP Pro that Im trying to run this! The previous version worked fine when I dropped .bin's on z26! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 This sounds like you might have accidentally created a Z26.CLI file in the past. It's either in the z26 install directory or in your ROMs directory. z26 creates this file when you start the emulator with command line options but without a filename. This is to allow you to make z26 remember command line options that you always want to use, like your favourite video mode. If you find a Z26.CLI file in your z26 directory or your ROMs directory, you can either open it with a text editor and remove the -j command line option, or you can delete the file right away and have z26 create a new one for you when you always want to use certain command line options. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 That was it - so I can still use this with 2.12? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 Yes you can. I only removed the -j command line option and a couple of others, because they were no longer needed after I changed the controller handling code. If you want to swap both virtual controller ports, you can now use the -w command line option. And if you want to disable the the PC-joystick input, you can now use the -iJ command line option. This also allows you to disable keyboard, mouse or Stelladaptor input with K, M or S instead of or added after the J. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ze_ro Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 it might take a really long time before this leads to a fully portable source code for z26. Well, if nothing else, I hope you'll keep portability in mind during any future changes. Not only does it help out us non-Windows people, but it could also lead to neat things like Dreamcast, X-Box, or Palm Pilot ports. --Zero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwh Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 I have downloaded the new version and all it does is open a small box that says"version 2.12".I have it loaded into a Windows 98,anyone else get it to work for W98? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 The Windows version of z26 works fine under Win98. But for the time being it doesn't have a build-in GUI anymore. Therefore you have to use it from a DOS command line window. There is some information about using z26 from a command line in the manual, which is called README.TXT. If that doesn't help you, you might want to use an external GUI front end for z26. There is a link to x26 on the z26 homepage. Also there is a new article about setting up z26 and x26, which you can find from the AtariAge frontpage. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 ...or just associate the .bin extension to open with Z26. If it's not already being used, just double-click a .bin file and Windows will ask you what program you want to use to open files with that extension (or shift-right-click the file and you will be given the choice "open with...". Then just browse over to where Z26.exe is and select it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 I'm trying to get Z26 installed on my new laptop. I extracted the Z26 zip file to its own folder. Every attempt to click on the executable results in a very small window which says, "Version 2.13-X86_CORE" and OK. Nothing else. Help? Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Help? That's exactly what it is expected to do. Try something like z26.exe combat.bin on the command line Or register the .bin extension to z26 and start any game by double-klicking on the game. Or install x26. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 I've found that with Z26 I can't take snapshots unless I run it from a dos prompt. Has anyone else had this problem? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Hi there! I've found that with Z26 I can't take snapshots unless I run it from a dos prompt. Has anyone else had this problem? Uhm you mean screenshots, or? I can do some with the new versions, it's only that it seems to store them in "random" directories. I find them most of the time in C: or C:Windows for example, but very seldom in the directory where Z26 is located. Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 I've found that with Z26 I can't take snapshots unless I run it from a dos prompt. Has anyone else had this problem? They are stored in your current directory. And if you start z26 by linking the extension to it, then they should be the directory of the game. Tip: Write a small batch file which changes the directory (e.g CD C:z26") and then starts z26.exe, put it into the same directory and link the extension to the batch file instead. Then the screenshots should be in the z26.exe directory. IMO z26 really needs some central ini file or registry entries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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