Atarixlbox v7 for the Xbox released

[NE146]

By the way if anyone is looking for 8bit disk images feel free to request them from me. I might just have it....

[NE146]

One thing I'm noticing on the new build is if I try to play Montezuma's Revenge (5200), it only gives me the cart type option of "None".. and thus doesn't play. Same goes for Super Pacman

 

Anyways... Read the cart comments in (parenthesis). If it is an ATARI title then most likely it is a one chipper, if it is an ATARI prototype or a third party game then it will be a two chipper. Prototypes would include games like asteroids, millipede, Jr. Pacman, Super Pacman. Pretty much anything that was never officially released.

 

It doesn't seem to be so hard set for me and often times seems the opposite. For example, first party 5200 titles like Dig Dug, Joust, Ms. Pacman, Pacman, Qix, etc. all need to be 2 chip "third party" in order to work.... so do games like Popeye & Stargate. Millipede however requires the 1 chip and so does Missile Command.. Super Pac like I said above, I cant choose anything.

 

Other than that it's still looks great One thing I also noticed is you still have to set the controller type to "5200 stick" for 5200 games. I think that'd be another thing that'd be nice to have preset as well.

[mimo]

Mod chip is now fitted, just need to flash the bios, install big HDD, load on apps and new dashboard

Hopefully by the weekend this will all be up and running

[Shannon]

One thing I'm noticing on the new build is if I try to play Montezuma's Revenge (5200), it only gives me the cart type option of "None".. and thus doesn't play. Same goes for Super Pacman

 

Anyways... Read the cart comments in (parenthesis). If it is an ATARI title then most likely it is a one chipper, if it is an ATARI prototype or a third party game then it will be a two chipper. Prototypes would include games like asteroids, millipede, Jr. Pacman, Super Pacman. Pretty much anything that was never officially released.

 

It doesn't seem to be so hard set for me and often times seems the opposite. For example, first party 5200 titles like Dig Dug, Joust, Ms. Pacman, Pacman, Qix, etc. all need to be 2 chip "third party" in order to work.... so do games like Popeye & Stargate. Millipede however requires the 1 chip and so does Missile Command.. Super Pac like I said above, I cant choose anything.

 

Other than that it's still looks great One thing I also noticed is you still have to set the controller type to "5200 stick" for 5200 games. I think that'd be another thing that'd be nice to have preset as well.

 

Drat. I was hoping someone wouldn't say that. I'm trying to think of a way to auto change the controller type without interfering if the user manually changes the controller configuration himself. Any ideas? Or just the heck with it and do it.

 

Leave it to NE146 to come up with the weird stuff. Kinda weird it's doing that. Well I guess your gonna have to send me Monte and Super Pac as well as one of the other ones (dig dug maybe?). That way maybe I can figure out what the deal is. BTW Popey is 3rd party (two chip) and Stargate is considered a prot (two chip). My Millipede is one chip as well, although it was considered a prototype.

 

I always suspected there were two different sets of 5200 ROMS out there. Maybe this is the case. But I always figured maybe the second set was CART types which should have the cart info imbedded. Hmmm. So yeah just send the three I requested and maybe I can figure out what the deal is.

 

Mimo.. if you have any questions concerning the software side of things just ask. I'm more familar with that aspect. In fact anyone here oughta be able to answer most questions.

 

Also you guys may wanna consider going into Configuration -> Video Options from the main menu and set 10x11 Pixel Aspect Ratio to Yes. This corrects a few odd "quirks" in the display output of Atari games.

 

Oh and I fixed a bug where games that used player/missile detection would freak out in fast forward mode. Actually not so much a bug as a built in "default" of the emulator core.

Edited January 23, 2008 by Shannon

[mimo]

If anyone can tell me how to get the BIOS onto a DVD-R that would be cool

[mimo]

BIOS flashed, HDD installed, Emulators in place, just need to put some romz on it now

[Shannon]

Been busy havn't we??

 

Yeah putting stuff on there can be the biggest pain since the filename limit for FATX is like 42 characters and alot of sets are named with more characters than that.

[mimo]

Yep, when I get my mind made up, I pretty much keep going until it is done/I fall over

[Shannon]

lol. Well don't get so caught up in all your shiny new toys (emulators that is) and forget to give atarixlbox a spin. ok?

[NE146]

Haven't had a chance yet to check out the new version.. but with the weekend here I got some time coming up for sure. I think it's great you're updating this by the way.. are you going to notifity the xbox "sk3n3" at all when you're done? I think this is something that needs to get out there beyond just us enthusiasts.

[eegt97]

Leave it to NE146 to come up with the weird stuff. Kinda weird it's doing that. Well I guess your gonna have to send me Monte and Super Pac as well as one of the other ones (dig dug maybe?). That way maybe I can figure out what the deal is. BTW Popey is 3rd party (two chip) and Stargate is considered a prot (two chip). My Millipede is one chip as well, although it was considered a prototype.

 

I always suspected there were two different sets of 5200 ROMS out there. Maybe this is the case. But I always figured maybe the second set was CART types which should have the cart info imbedded. Hmmm. So yeah just send the three I requested and maybe I can figure out what the deal is.

Don't know if this is of any value to you or not, but here is the list I know of for one chip images. In kat5200, I have these come up as one chip and any other 16k come up as two-chip unless the user overides it.

 

     crc == 0xc8f9c094 ||     /* Blaster           */
     crc == 0x35484751 ||     /* AE                */
     crc == 0x9bae58dc ||     /* Beamrider         */
     crc == 0xbe3cd348 ||     /* Berzerk           */
     crc == 0x0624E6E7 ||     /* BluePrint         */
     crc == 0x9ad53bbc ||     /* ChopLifter        */
     crc == 0xf43e7cd0 ||     /* Decathlon         */
     crc == 0xd3bd3221 ||     /* Final Legacy      */
     crc == 0x18a73af3 ||     /* H.E.R.O           */
     crc == 0x83517703 ||     /* Last StarFigtr    */
     crc == 0xab8e035b ||     /* Meteorites        */
     crc == 0x969cfe1a ||     /* Millipede         */
     crc == 0x7df1adfb ||     /* Miner 2049er      */
     crc == 0xb8b6a2fd ||     /* Missle Command+   */
     crc == 0xd0b2f285 ||     /* Moon Patrol       */
     crc == 0x4b910461 ||     /* Pitfall II        */
     crc == 0xb5f3402b ||     /* Quest Quintana    */
     crc == 0x4252abd9 ||     /* Robotron 2084     */
     crc == 0x387365dc ||     /* Space Shuttle     */
     crc == 0x82E2981F ||     /* Super Pacman      */
     crc == 0x1187342f ||     /* Tempest           */
     crc == 0xe80dbb2  ||     /* Time Runner (Conv) */
     crc == 0x0ba22ece ||     /* Track and Field   */
     crc == 0x47dc1314 ||     /* Preppie (Conv)    */
     crc == 0xF1E21530 ||     /* Preppie (Conv)    */
     crc == 0xd6f7ddfd ||     /* Wizard of Wor     */
     crc == 0x2959d827 ||     /* Zone Ranger       */
     crc == 0x38F4A6A4 ||     /* Xmas (Demo)       */
     crc == 0xa4ddb1e     ) { /* Super Pacman      */

-Brian

[Shannon]

Hey, thanks for the info brian. I've been actually working on some type of CRC system just havent fully implemented it yet. But at least that gives me an idea. I know you tried to design your emu to be as 5200 specific as possible.

 

But it's a start. I might start off with config files (with the CRC in the name) in a "config" directory and have the emulator check in there for them. At least until I can implement a better system. I wanted to do something simple so I wouldn't waste too much time releasing this thing to the wild.

 

Yeah NE146 I do eventually plan on releasing this monster once I'm satisfied enough with it. I'm trying to N00B protect it as much as I can first. Once I add in a few more things and get the menu's straightened out halfway decent. To be honest over at xbox scene everytime this emu was released there never seemed much reaction to it.

 

That's why I'm trying to get some support over here so I can get a little feedback. The biggest thing is the core update. I wanna make sure it didn't majorly change any behavior. Overall I think the two biggest things was locking when wrong cart type selected (fixed), and it does not properly unload all devices when exiting so I'll probably have to do an Unload command for every conceivable media.

 

Other than that maybe a name change. I'd love to redo the default skin as well, but that kind of thing can be time consuming especially for a graphic disadvantaged guy like me. I also would like to add .SAP file playback and maybe incorporate sometype of gamebase support. Although the gamebase support will most likely come later after I release it. Ooops almost forgot. I was gonna try to activate light gun support. I think there are about 4 XEG lightgun games. But I really do not have a light gun for testing. So unless someone here has one....

 

I also have a few "minor" plans for the WinstonX, Lynx, and Intellivision emulators.

 

Forgot to mention. I really like using the analog stick with the 5200 games. With the exception of a handful of games it's pretty sweet and has kinda got me spoiled. Well that and the rewind function (I'm entertained by simple things).

Edited January 26, 2008 by Shannon

[NE146]

As per request.. 5200 Roms. And a couple of nice little extras!

5200.zip

[Shannon]

No-intro set eh? They finally got around to doing the 5200!

 

Thanks... I'll check em out and add them to the database.

[NE146]

No-intro set eh? They finally got around to doing the 5200!

 

Thanks... I'll check em out and add them to the database.

 

If you want the goodset just let me know.. I'm sure I got it somewhere and a search outta find it.

[Shannon]

Well just glancing at the files you posted pretty much everything you listed has a different CRC than my sets except for montezuma's revenge. Anyways I'll load the ones that are different up, configure em, and upload them to the website for now.

 

I'm pretty sure I know why rewind locks up when rewind is on and Atari 130xe or higher is selected. The buffer allocated is to small (65535). Although considering how memory intensive this thing is I may have to force some type of cutoff (maybe 130xe and below). Anything higher will likely lock the xbox anyways. I'll have to do some testing. Actually after testing it seems to have something to do when the extra RAM is stored by the rewind.

 

Here are the conversions/hacks that I've managed to accumulate so far.

 

I've yet to get anyone to cough up anymore.

 

Just noticed this old message from Classics...

Most of the roms for these are available in the forum here somewhere. Some are unreleased or were only available as single carts or on the rom multi-cart.

So I suppose the ones I do not have are "unavailable". Ah well..

 

Ran into a game that uses odd keyboard mapping (shift 1 and shift 2). So I changed the controller mappings so that they are mappable to the controller. I probably should go ahead and do the other keys JIC.

Conv_Hacks.zip

Edited January 28, 2008 by Shannon

[NE146]

OK I finally got around to testing it this morning.. first thing right off the bat, Montezumas Revenge still doesn't work. Neither the goodset versions or the no-intro versions. Basically it doesn't allow you to choose cart type. Is that in the queue to check out?

 

More testing as the day goes on

[Shannon]

OK I finally got around to testing it this morning.. first thing right off the bat, Montezumas Revenge still doesn't work. Neither the goodset versions or the no-intro versions. Basically it doesn't allow you to choose cart type. Is that in the queue to check out?

 

More testing as the day goes on

 

It has something to do with the zipfilename being over 42 characters in size. I'll take a look at the unzippy routine and see why it is not unzipping the file.

You using samba?

 

Well the rewind lockups in 130xe mode seem to happen when it tries saving the extra RAM, that much I know. Just gotta decide what to do about it.

 

I think we may have lost mimo to mame. j/k

 

Update: I think I got the 42 character zip file issue squared away. Made some changes just need to compile and test. While I was at it I fixed the space as the last character when trimming to 42 character bug that has been around for who knows how long. Just have on minor thing to do for that elusive space character and that sucker should be nailed.

Edited January 28, 2008 by Shannon

[NE146]

OK I finally got around to testing it this morning.. first thing right off the bat, Montezumas Revenge still doesn't work. Neither the goodset versions or the no-intro versions. Basically it doesn't allow you to choose cart type. Is that in the queue to check out?

 

More testing as the day goes on

 

It has something to do with the zipfilename being over 42 characters in size. I'll take a look at the unzippy routine and see why it is not unzipping the file.

 

Ah ok that makes a lot of sense since the xbox file system can't handle over 42 characters in a filename. I went ahead and unzipped it then made sure the filename was in compliance and lo and behold, I got the select cart type to work. Montezumas works great!

 

My next goal is to do a proper A / B with this and an actual 5200 and check out if there's any large noticeable discrepencies (color, sound, etc.) but so far it seems great

 

Update: I think I got the 42 character zip file issue squared away. Made some changes just need to compile and test. While I was at it I fixed the space as the last character when trimming to 42 character bug that has been around for who knows how long. Just have on minor thing to do for that elusive space character and that sucker should be nailed.

 

Well I'll be waiting for that one. One thing is I actually realized sometimes I forget to rename the atarixbbox.xbe to default.xbe and so I probably was testing out the older version now and then . That's all squared away though, but let me know when you release the newer version. By the way is there an option to disable the analog controller values on the top left? Just wondering.

 

Also are there things you want us to be trying? I've fiddled with the rewind stuff a little (in Donkey Kong 5200) but the controls are still pretty foggy to me. If you could lay out all your changes in a single place (rather than checking the various prvt msg's) it'd be something nice to reference

Edited January 28, 2008 by NE146

[Shannon]

Ah ok that makes a lot of sense since the xbox file system can't handle over 42 characters in a filename. I went ahead and unzipped it then made sure the filename was in compliance and lo and behold, I got the select cart type to work. Montezumas works great!

 

My next goal is to do a proper A / B with this and an actual 5200 and check out if there's any large noticeable discrepencies (color, sound, etc.) but so far it seems great

Yeah I think for the most part it is ok, but a couple colors seem like they may be just a little "off" (1st lvl ms. pac, opening screen of monte?). But it's hard to say. A slight adjustment of the tint may say otherwise.

 

Well I'll be waiting for that one. One thing is I actually realized sometimes I forget to rename the atarixbbox.xbe to default.xbe and so I probably was testing out the older version now and then . That's all squared away though, but let me know when you release the newer version. By the way is there an option to disable the analog controller values on the top left? Just wondering.

np. I was just trying to avoid overrunning everyones mailbox. I still have one change a a few tests to try on the .zip file fix. I was thinking of removing the analog values anyways. It kinda gets in the way and I have not had much use out of them. I was hoping they would provide some insight on misbehaving games. I still have a few tweaks I wanna try first though.

 

Also are there things you want us to be trying? I've fiddled with the rewind stuff a little (in Donkey Kong 5200) but the controls are still pretty foggy to me. If you could lay out all your changes in a single place (rather than checking the various prvt msg's) it'd be something nice to reference

Nothing in particular, just look for any oddities or misbehaviour. Since I upgraded the core it's possible something got foobared in the process. Try more unusual games, games in different formats (cas, disk, basic), or games that may make use of any new feature. I'd particularly like feedback on simplifying the config options menu which is a little quirky and crowded. Do the new features make sense, are they easy to understand, do they work?? Is there anything missing or that needs to be added. Most of all, just have fun. Last few days or so I've probably been spending more time just enjoying the thing than trying to tweak it.

 

I was gonna change the default stick to "Atari Joystick". Have it revert to 5200 when the user selects 5200, Atari joystick when they pick a computer (unless they use the "configure control" option). I was thinking of changing the autodetect to just a yes/no option. Then when the user leaves it at yes on exit of the config screen it will autoupdate the media type and pass the game to the emulator as an "autodetect file". Autodetect just seems a little redundant in the way it is implemented at the moment.

 

If you take a look at the first few messages of this thread (usually the first two). I usually update them with any changes/bugs that come up or are noticed.

 

Thanks for your support!

Edited January 28, 2008 by Shannon

[Shannon]

Ok after tweaking around with the analog stick settings some more I got the following results and made some observations.

 

Adventure and River Raid now function properly! Yeah!!

 

Some games seem to have some "drift" for a lack of a better term.

 

Starwars seems to be about -12 on the x&y axis.

Kaboom has about +24 on the x axis.

 

I believe that the computer version of Kaboom tries to take into account paddle jitter so one cannot help but wonder if they are trying to do something here.

 

Pengo freaks out whenever both the x and y axis are greater than 0 (no diagonals!!). As long as you stick to strictly cardinal directions it works fine.

 

Now it is just a matter of deciding whether it is worth it trying to accomodate those three exceptions.

 

Oh and missile command is still practically impossible to control.

[mimo]

Nope, you lost mimo to catching up with real life (and Outrun coast to coast)

I tried to load MAME from an .iso that I accidentally down loaded from a bay with a load of Pirates, but cant get it to work from a DVD, should I just ftp it?

 

It is a shame that missile command is unplayable, I guess the 8bit version is ok?

Edited January 29, 2008 by mimo

[Shannon]

If you can find em there is some DVD torrents out there for something called "The Big Ass Emulator Disk". It is a three disk set contains all the emu's plus some other stuff I won't mention. The emu's are probably behind, but it's the other stuff that's worth getting, if you know what I mean. Nudge, nudge. Anyways the mameset is pretty complete minus a few Atari titles and midway games (centipede, defender, joust, etc). How the guy missed those classics is beyond me. I just copied all that stuff onto my hard drive and added the missing sets.

 

There is a program out there (name slips my mind at the moment) that will read xbox .iso files and FTP them over I'll have to look it up.

 

Yeah missile command can be played but the stick is like super sensitive. So unless you got real quick reflexes!! I'll have to mess with it on a real 5200 and see how it is supposed to behave.

 

Did you guys just want me to rename my atarixlbox.xbe to default.xbe? I pretty much consider it stable enough to do that. I only keep the old one around myself for reference (and comparison). But I can see where it would lead to confusion.

Edited January 29, 2008 by Shannon

[NE146]

Did you guys just want me to rename my atarixlbox.xbe to default.xbe? I pretty much consider it stable enough to do that. I only keep the old one around myself for reference (and comparison). But I can see where it would lead to confusion.

 

Yeah man.. you've definitely improved on xport's last release so who'd want the older version in the first place. It'll just save us all a step. Xport's will always be available publically anyway.

[mimo]

yep, change it, not going backwards now.

 

Can anything be done to change the skins? music?