z26 Controllers

[Boggle]

I have the z26 v1.57 (executable). For some reason I can't get it to recognize my joypad, though in the readme files it says about supporting the PC controllers to emulate the joysticks. So far I can only use the mouse to emulate the controllers. In the quick reference there are command lines which enable/disable certain features.

 

How do I go about getting joystick support and adjusting the sensitivity of the paddles?

 

I have a Gravis Eliminator Gamepro 10-button joypad.

[Eckhard Stolberg]

z26 detects the joysticks automaticly at the start of a game. But it only works with the old-style PC joysticks. If your joypad isn't compatible with those on a hardware level, and if there isn't a Windows driver for it to emulate joysticks for DOS programs, then your controller will not work with the DOS version of z26.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Boggle]

Is it possible to adjust the settings (paddle sensitivity, etc.) with the executable version of z26 using the command lines mentioned in the quick reference? If so, how?

[Eckhard Stolberg]

You can't adjust the the paddle sensitivity for the mouse. It only works when you are emulating the paddle with the keyboard. To set the sensitivity for that you would type the following at the DOS command line prompt:

 

z26 -p# breakout.bin

 

where # can be anything between 1 (slow) and 15 (fast).

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Boggle]

I was able to adjust the paddles; however, does the sensitivity apply to all games or just the game you specify in the DOS prompt? What's the default sensitivity?

 

If it's sensitive to just one game, how come sometimes when I type in the filename I get a "file not found" error when I have the game? Is there a way of using a wild card to come up with a match to avoid this?

[Eckhard Stolberg]

The default paddle sensitivity is 6. Overrides only work for the game you specify. However you can call z26 without specifying a binary. Then the command line parameters, that you are using, will be written to a file in the current directory called "z26.cli". If z26 finds this file at startup, it will use the command line parameters that are in it for all games. Since the paddle sensitivity parameter only affects paddle games, it would be save to store it in "z26.cli".

 

Since specifying a game name at the command line is used to start a certain game, wildcards wouldn't make much sense. But there are several front end programs out there that let you select the binary and the command line options in a GUI and then call z26 (or other emulators) with the appropriate command line.

 

I don't know why z26 doesn't find your binaries. But since it is a DOS based program, it can only handle filenames on the command line that are 8+3 characters long. If you have more complicated filenames, you have to specify the abbreviated filename that Windows list with the "dir" command.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Boggle]

The filename length was the reason why I kept getting the "file not found" error message. I checked the directory and it had a different filename than the one specified when you DL the game.

 

From what I understand you can adjust the sensitivity for all paddle games by putting in at the DOS prompt:

 

>z26 -p#.bin

 

and this will be stored in memory while the emulator is running?

 

I assume once you do an override for a particular game this universal setting is erased.

 

 

For some reason when I move the paddle to the corner of the screen on one of the games it wants to "stick" for a moment before moving again. Any way to fix this?

 

Also how do I adjust the sound volume? I went to the Multimedia section in the Control Panel and adjusted the volume to about 1/4 level and it still blares out of my headphones. I have stereo headphones as my speaker setup.

[Eckhard Stolberg]

Not quite you would type:

 

> z26 -p#

 

and then z26 should tell you that it saved your settings to the file z26.cli. If you open this file with a text editor it should contain all the command line switches that you specified (in this case only -p#). The next time you start z26 in the GUI mode it will load the z26.cli file, and behave as if you specified the command line switches in it for all the games you start from the menu. The command line switches will also be affective, if you specify a game in the command line, but don't give any switches that override the ones in the cli file. This will be the case until you delete the z26.cli file again.

 

There is no volume control in z26. You either need to find a sound driver for your sound card that lets you set the volume for DOS mode in the Windows sound control, or you'll have to buy speakers with a volume control knob.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[/b]

[Boggle]

From what I understand, other than eliminating the .bin extension when I type the z26, etc. my thinking was correct?

 

As for the "sticking", when I move my paddle in the game to the corner of the screen, it will "stick" momentarily before I can move it back in the opposite direction. Any way to fix this?

 

Also, can I adjust the volume in general by typing in commands at the DOS prompt? If so will this take care of volume levels in DOS platforms, etc. even though z26 itself has no volume control?

 

Thanks for all the help so far:)

[Eckhard Stolberg]

Your thinking seems to be correct. But your comment about "being stored in memory while the emulator is running" made it sound as if the command line settings would be disabled when you exit z26, or turn your computer off. This is not the case. The command line options stored in z26.cli will be affective everytime you play a game on z26, until you delete the .cli file manually.

 

The behaviour of the paddle is supposed to be that way. Real paddles have a certain range, and many games don't use it fully. If you turn your paddle knob further than what the game evaluates, you have to turn it back before the game will recognize any movement again. So basically you are turning your virtual paddle knob a bit too far, if an object in a game "sticks" for a moment.

 

There are no general volume control commands for DOS. In the old days some soundcards came with DOS programs to adjust the mixer settings. But I doubt they would have much effect on an emulated Soundblaster under Windows. The only think you could try is the -q command line switch in z26, which disables the sound output completely.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg