Release of Atari800DC .77 (5200 emu for Dreamcast)

[doctorclu]

Hello Doc Clu,

 

I've just released version 0.77 of Atari800DC

 

You can find it here

 

 

The changes from 0.76 are

 

* enable basic R: device emulation with the DC Coder's Cable (no

modem controls; fixed to 8n1; baud rates 300 - 9600)

* use Atari800 2.0.3 code base

* use KOS svn code base version 560

* add possibility to switch X and Y axes of controller input

* ability to disable either the D-Pad or the Joystick of the

controllers (in "Controller Configuration" menu)

* ability to disable or enable Bienias' sound improvements. They

are too heavy for the DC and therefore disabled by default.

0.75

had them disabled, 0.76 had them enabled, now it's selectable.

* when saving or restoring state display a "please wait" since

accessing the VMU is very slow. This was already in 0.75 but

got

lost in 0.76.

 

Please spread the news and thanks for your help.

 

regards,

Christian Groessler

Edited May 23, 2008 by doctorclu

[phonedork]

Hello Doc Clu,

 

I've just released version 0.77 of Atari800DC

 

You can find it at

ftp://ftp.groessler.org/pub/chris/dreamca...77/atari800dc-0

.77-bin.tar.gz

 

The changes from 0.76 are

 

* enable basic R: device emulation with the DC Coder's Cable (no

modem controls; fixed to 8n1; baud rates 300 - 9600)

* use Atari800 2.0.3 code base

* use KOS svn code base version 560

* add possibility to switch X and Y axes of controller input

* ability to disable either the D-Pad or the Joystick of the

controllers (in "Controller Configuration" menu)

* ability to disable or enable Bienias' sound improvements. They

are too heavy for the DC and therefore disabled by default.

0.75

had them disabled, 0.76 had them enabled, now it's selectable.

* when saving or restoring state display a "please wait" since

accessing the VMU is very slow. This was already in 0.75 but

got

lost in 0.76.

 

Please spread the news and thanks for your help.

 

regards,

Christian Groessler

 

 

How hard is it to convert these files to be used in Dreamcast Factory?

[82-T/A]

Hey Bubsy, I've got a Dreamcast, but I've never actually plugged it in or played it. What would I need to do to be able to play 5200 games on my Dreamcast? That would be pretty cool.

[edweird13]

Hey Bubsy, I've got a Dreamcast, but I've never actually plugged it in or played it. What would I need to do to be able to play 5200 games on my Dreamcast? That would be pretty cool.

I will try it out. Thanks for the DC support. I think the DC does it so well.

[doctorclu]

Hey Bubsy, I've got a Dreamcast, but I've never actually plugged it in or played it. What would I need to do to be able to play 5200 games on my Dreamcast? That would be pretty cool.

 

You take this program, like a lot of emulators for the 5200 you get the system roms for the 5200, 800, XL, basic.. etc, put them in a folder of their own.

 

You load all the 5200 game cartridge images in the rom folder, and you can load disk images for the 800/XL/XE in the disk folder.

 

You take a program like Dream Boot to compile it It looks at a folder, asking you what the boot binary is, and makes a disc juggler or nero image for you.

 

Then you load disc juggler, make a CD, and you're done. Took me about six tries before I got a working disc, so if the first few don't work, don't feel bad, there is a slight learning curve.

 

However now I take my Atari800DC folder, and when there's an upgrade, I just bring over the existing files and with minor tweaking have a new disc.

 

And like Edweird13 said, the Dreamcast does a GREAT job at 5200 emulation. And I was even able to hack a 2600 controller to the Dreamcast to have more fun on the Atari 5200 high score club.

 

I'm starting to set up an impressive actual 5200 setup, but there are times I wonder if the Dreamcast is all I need? Well anyway, if I don't have a 5200 cart, I just play the image on the Dreamcast.

 

Let me know how this goes for you.

Edited May 24, 2008 by doctorclu

[doctorclu]

How hard is it to convert these files to be used in Dreamcast Factory?

 

What is Dreamcast Factory?

[Lord Helmet]

This is awesome!

 

I didn't realize this was still being developed. Off to burn a new CD

[TimsterAA]

Hey Bubsy, I've got a Dreamcast, but I've never actually plugged it in or played it. What would I need to do to be able to play 5200 games on my Dreamcast? That would be pretty cool.

 

You take this program, like a lot of emulators for the 5200 you get the system roms for the 5200, 800, XL, basic.. etc, put them in a folder of their own.

 

You load all the 5200 game cartridge images in the rom folder, and you can load disk images for the 800/XL/XE in the disk folder.

 

You take a program like Dream Boot to compile it It looks at a folder, asking you what the boot binary is, and makes a disc juggler or nero image for you.

 

Then you load disc juggler, make a CD, and you're done. Took me about six tries before I got a working disc, so if the first few don't work, don't feel bad, there is a slight learning curve.

 

However now I take my Atari800DC folder, and when there's an upgrade, I just bring over the existing files and with minor tweaking have a new disc.

 

And like Edweird13 said, the Dreamcast does a GREAT job at 5200 emulation. And I was even able to hack a 2600 controller to the Dreamcast to have more fun on the Atari 5200 high score club.

 

I'm starting to set up an impressive actual 5200 setup, but there are times I wonder if the Dreamcast is all I need? Well anyway, if I don't have a 5200 cart, I just play the image on the Dreamcast.

 

Let me know how this goes for you.

 

Forgive me me going somewhat off-topic, but this was the first time I'd seen directions on how to create a burned disc to use in a Dreamcast. I'd seen a number of places where I could download disc-images, but I tried just burning one with Nero one time, and not surprisingly it didn't work.

 

When I read this, I searched for and got the BootDreams utility. I used that to burn a couple .CDI images I had on my hard drive. Unfortunately, my DC couldn't read these either. Is this all I should have to do? The only other thing I could think of was the media I'm using, which are CD-Rs (minus R's). Should they be compatible, or should I be using CD+Rs or something? Any input appreciated. Thanks!

 

--Timster--

[doctorclu]

Couple of factors at this point.

 

First, is your Dreamcast from 1999 or 2000... it should be able to work.

 

If from 2001 it will need modification.

 

When creating an image in Bootdreams it will ask if you need to have the bootrom you select changed. I believe the answer would be yes to make it work,

 

Need to build one from scratch again to get the best advice for you, but these are other things to think of.

[edweird13]

I burned it and had the 5200.rom in the root of the cd and it said it couldnt find the bios file. I used the cfg file that you supplied.

[doctorclu]

I burned it and had the 5200.rom in the root of the cd and it said it couldnt find the bios file. I used the cfg file that you supplied.

 

Were you able to hit a button to get to the main menu? You might need to get the disc to select a OS and then point it to the directory where the 5200 OS rom is.

 

I have just started understanding the text file for configuring (I got to use it when it originally came with PAL format instead of NTSC, had to set that for a later burn) My guess is, if you have it where the disc comes up to tell you the bios is missing, you have a workable disc, just need to manually select a OS rom.

[doctorclu]

Ok, currently working on building a new disc for the new 7.7 build of this.

 

I first took at look at the folder that it came with...

 

And I looked at my folder from a previous build...

 

So this will give you an idea of what was needed and where things needed to be.

 

Also here is the config file that I tinkered with in wordpad. As you can see you can set all sorts of information here, like the different between PAL and NTSC, and even let the program know where they can find t he OS rom files, and in this case, it is on the root folder of the disc.

 

More in a bit...

 

Atari 800 Emulator, Version 2.0.1

 

OS/A_ROM=/cd/atariosa.rom

 

OS/B_ROM=/cd/atariosb.rom

 

XL/XE_ROM=/cd/atarixl.rom

 

BASIC_ROM=/cd/ataribas.rom

 

5200_ROM=/cd/5200.rom

 

H1_DIR=/cd

 

H2_DIR=/cd

 

H3_DIR=/cd

 

H4_DIR=/cd

 

HD_READ_ONLY=1

 

PRINT_COMMAND=lpr %s

 

SCREEN_REFRESH_RATIO=1

 

MACHINE_TYPE=Atari XL/XE

 

RAM_SIZE=64

 

DEFAULT_TV_MODE=NTSC

 

DISABLE_BASIC=1

 

ENABLE_SIO_PATCH=1

 

ENABLE_H_PATCH=0

 

ENABLE_P_PATCH=0

 

ENABLE_R_PATCH=1

 

ENABLE_NEW_POKEY=0

 

STEREO_POKEY=0

 

SPEAKER_SOUND=1

 

ATARI_FILES_DIR=/cd

 

SAVED_FILES_DIR=/vmu/a1

 

[doctorclu]

Ok, just created a good disc, and here's how I did it...

 

1) Open Dreamboot

2) Select (hit browse) the folder that you are making an image of...

3) Hit Process, it will ask if you want to create a Disc Juggler image... yes.

4) It will ask if you want to select the main binary, which would normally be "Atari800.bin" and then afterwards it will ask if you want to scramble it. I noticed that there is already a "Atari800.scrambled" but the same is too long. So I renamed it "Atari800.scr" and then selected that when I got to this screen. Again, I did not select what I show here...

5) It will ask if you want the headers fixed on ip.bin, I said yes.

 

It will process a cdi image with the name of the fodler you selected.

 

Open disc juggler, go to open file. It will not be looking for for .cdi files at first (at least not my version), you will have to drop down the selections like this...

After that when you select burn it will let you know that if can only burn a 700 mb disc on a unregistered version. This is fine since it is generally under 660 mb for a CD-R. (Disc Juggler I have a had tons of success with, so the registration is worth it... especially for emulator discs like this one). So hit yes, it burns a disc for you.

 

You load up the Dreamcast, might have to set the date settings if your DC has been unplugged for a while, and then select a game disc when you get the menu. It will restart.

 

If all goes well, you will get a Sega and Atari 800/5200 boot up screen. It will bring you to the XL test menu. Hit the forward left button on the controller

-Once on the main menu select system, hit the "A" button for selections, once there select the 5200 rom.

-Once back on the main menu, select cartridge... select an image, then select standard 32 bk 5200 cartridge.

-Once again back at the main menu, hit reboot (cold start).

 

And it will load the game.

 

The B key starts the typical 5200 game. If you need keypad numbers entered, I believe the right front key pulls up a virtual 5200 keypad... select your number and it will return you back to the game.

 

I believe hitting the front left button will return you to the main emulator menu so that you can select other games, turn on other options, reset the machine, etc.

 

Hopefully you'll see that the Dreamcast can make an excellent 5200 system! Great to have around for the Atariage high score club when you want to get involved but haven't got a particular game for the 5200 yet.

 

And I just tried Captain Beeble, one of Atarimax (I believe) conversions from the XL game and it worked! That was kinda cool. Will need to try that later.

 

(The Atarimax XL conversions for the 5200 can be found in the 128-in-1 forum at Atarimax.com)

 

Let me know if you stuck in any of this. Or if it works, and then I would love to hear how you like this.

Edited May 27, 2008 by doctorclu

[edweird13]

I got it working the only problem is it starts the emulator in PAL. Thats ok on my flat screen cause i can read it enough to adjust it to NTSC. But on my 13 inch tv there is no way to change it. I have the tv mode in the config file set to NTSC but it doesnt help. I looks great on the flat screen the colors are a little off. But otherwise works great. Trying to play JumpMan Jr with the 5200 controllers is near impossible. And I am finally able to beat Super Cobra. Thanks!!!

[doctorclu]

I got it working the only problem is it starts the emulator in PAL. Thats ok on my flat screen cause i can read it enough to adjust it to NTSC. But on my 13 inch tv there is no way to change it. I have the tv mode in the config file set to NTSC but it doesnt help. I looks great on the flat screen the colors are a little off. But otherwise works great. Trying to play JumpMan Jr with the 5200 controllers is near impossible. And I am finally able to beat Super Cobra. Thanks!!!

 

Really glad you are enjoying this. You are one disc burn away from perfection.

 

You'll see a .cfg (of a config) file. Below is what you'll find if you bring it up in a text editor. Change the item in bold from "pal" at the end to "ntsc" like I did below. Save the file, go through the process with dreamboot and all again, burn a new disc, and now you will have the NTSC version.

 

I had to go through that once.

 

 

 

Atari 800 Emulator, Version 2.0.1

 

OS/A_ROM=/cd/atariosa.rom

 

OS/B_ROM=/cd/atariosb.rom

 

XL/XE_ROM=/cd/atarixl.rom

 

BASIC_ROM=/cd/ataribas.rom

 

5200_ROM=/cd/5200.rom

 

H1_DIR=/cd

 

H2_DIR=/cd

 

H3_DIR=/cd

 

H4_DIR=/cd

 

HD_READ_ONLY=1

 

PRINT_COMMAND=lpr %s

 

SCREEN_REFRESH_RATIO=1

 

MACHINE_TYPE=Atari XL/XE

 

RAM_SIZE=64

 

DEFAULT_TV_MODE=NTSC

 

DISABLE_BASIC=1

 

ENABLE_SIO_PATCH=1

 

ENABLE_H_PATCH=0

 

ENABLE_P_PATCH=0

 

ENABLE_R_PATCH=1

 

ENABLE_NEW_POKEY=0

 

STEREO_POKEY=0

 

SPEAKER_SOUND=1

 

ATARI_FILES_DIR=/cd

 

SAVED_FILES_DIR=/vmu/a1

[edweird13]

I have the DEFAULT_TV_MODE=NTSC in my cfg file but it still comes up as PAL.

Here is a copy of my cfg file

atari800.zip

Edited May 29, 2008 by edweird13

[doctorclu]

I have the DEFAULT_TV_MODE=NTSC in my cfg file but it still comes up as PAL.

Here is a copy of my cfg file

 

Looked over your file and made a change to it. But you are also welcome to use my cfg file (just remove

the "-dc" on the name before you use it.

atari800.zip

[edweird13]

That did the trick. Thanks!!