Atari 800 - Best Game Pack : Releases

[Ray Gillman]

I missed that old gauntlet game.  Excellent with an Xbox controller as a joystick in A8 jukebox - fun I am lazy so I play hit and run mode so I can run to the next screen.

My biggest gripe has always been playing MULE on an XBOX homebrew because the computer gets what feels like more time than players.  Actual original hardware human players could easily complete two plots and had slight chance at a third.  All of the emulations seem to make it go too fast and humans can's hardly complete a second plot.

[_The Doctor__]

52 minutes ago, Ray Gillman said:

I missed that old gauntlet game.  Excellent with an Xbox controller as a joystick in A8 jukebox - fun I am lazy so I play hit and run mode so I can run to the next screen.

My biggest gripe has always been playing MULE on an XBOX homebrew because the computer gets what feels like more time than players.  Actual original hardware human players could easily complete two plots and had slight chance at a third.  All of the emulations seem to make it go too fast and humans can's hardly complete a second plot.

The problem is two fold, emulation plus display input lag (monitor image delay matters)

[Mclaneinc]

Yup, input and display lag are a royal pain, hence I love to use a crt rather than an LCD / LED. I'm sure if you pay BIG bucks you will find a monitor with super fast transistor switching (if that is even still used). If you are playing on the original Xbox then the emulator won't be fully optimised (and lacking many features). I used to load up my Xbox with emulators but, as always the one's on the PC were superior.

 

I can't speak for the other emulators but I do know that Phaeron is constantly trying to get Altirra's latency down and is doing a wonderful job, but we will always have some latency lag via emulation but I have to say it's not very noticeable on Altirra, unlike when I swap on to my C64 from the two emulators I use, you can feel the difference..

Edited December 15, 2022 by Mclaneinc

[magnusfalkirk]

On 8/20/2022 at 7:56 AM, Mclaneinc said:

UPDATE

 

The original link for the download has now died, here is my own copy. I can't update the main page as it was composed by Starwindz. Both me and Starwindz took a step back from the project because I had / have health issues, and he was / is a very busy team leader in South Korea.

 

https://mega.nz/file/0xQn2BgQ#piHWwHpSjqXqImAGAXAkXT949ywvtDyqagxeNgW4F0g

 

Have fun with it..

 

Paul..

Thank you for posting the link to your own copy of this. I'm primarily an Apple II guy, but was given an Atari 400 by a friend a few months ago and have since bought an Atari 800xl. I saw this thread and decided to check it out. Tried links on the main post and most of them went to some Asian language site. Decided to look towards the end of the thread and that's when I ran across your link. Just finished downloading the .rar. So thanks again am looking forward to seeing what all is in this.

 

magnus

Edited January 5, 2023 by magnusfalkirk

[Mclaneinc]

My pleasure, it's a very nice little thing If I may say so...

[RetroSteven]

On 1/5/2023 at 4:06 PM, magnusfalkirk said:

Thank you for posting the link to your own copy of this. I'm primarily an Apple II guy, but was given an Atari 400 by a friend a few months ago and have since bought an Atari 800xl. I saw this thread and decided to check it out. Tried links on the main post and most of them went to some Asian language site. Decided to look towards the end of the thread and that's when I ran across your link. Just finished downloading the .rar. So thanks again am looking forward to seeing what all is in this.

 

magnus

Hello, I have version v1.2.0 Beta 3. Is the link provided a more upto date version?

Thanks!

[RetroSteven]

I went a head and downloaded the file and it is a more up to date version. Thanks!

 

Here's a full collection -Atari 8bit BIOS for various emulators.

Atari 8bit BIOS Full pack for Altirra etc

 

List of latest emulators for various systems

[Mclaneinc]

2 hours ago, RetroSteven said:

I went a head and downloaded the file and it is a more up to date version. Thanks!

 

Here's a full collection -Atari 8bit BIOS for various emulators.

Atari 8bit BIOS Full pack for Altirra etc

 

List of latest emulators for various systems

My pleasure.. Have fun with it..

[chad5200]

Just trying this out now.  Every time I try to PLAY a game, it opens up Altirra and shows this:

 

If I go into System, Configure System, Firmware... I see this:

 

 

I have found that if I set Operating System to Altirra OS 3.34 for XL/XE/XEGS, the game will run.  But it's not keeping this so next time I run a game, it's the same thing again where there is no Operating System selected.

 

Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

Thanks!

 

[.mad.]

On 2/17/2023 at 11:09 PM, chad5200 said:

I have found that if I set Operating System to Altirra OS 3.34 for XL/XE/XEGS, the game will run.  But it's not keeping this so next time I run a game, it's the same thing again where there is no Operating System selected.

 

Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

Thanks!

 

If you have another version of Altirra installed or using one at another path.

the new ROM path needs to scanned with the firmware manager so they are verified and stored in the Altirra.ini.

C:\gamepack\emul\altirra\Altirra.ini

 

download and put the BIOS files in the rom folder, and scan the gamepack path.

C:\gamepack\emul\altirra\rom\

800XL.ROM

BASIC-A.ROM

BASIC-B.ROM

BASIC-C.ROM

OSAPAL.ROM

OSBNTSC.ROM

 

 

this will be written to the ini file...

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Specific]
"XLOS rev 2" = "92f8813549cf78e9"
"BASIC rev A" = "a3f3935cb75bc8c5"
"BASIC rev B" = "c750c865a241a674"
"BASIC rev C" = "aadb4f57ff225133"
"OS-B" = "b1e0bb5c64ac7bf1"

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Available\EAA4231039DEACB2]
"Name" = "Atari XL/XE OS ver.3"
"Path" = "rom\\800XE.ROM"
"Type" = "kernelxl"
"Flags" = 0

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Available\92F8813549CF78E9]
"Name" = "Atari XL/XE OS ver.2"
"Path" = "rom\\800XL.ROM"
"Type" = "kernelxl"
"Flags" = 0

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Available\A3F3935CB75BC8C5]
"Name" = "Atari BASIC rev. A"
"Path" = "rom\\BASIC-A.ROM"
"Type" = "basic"
"Flags" = 0

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Available\C750C865A241A674]
"Name" = "Atari BASIC rev. B"
"Path" = "rom\\BASIC-B.ROM"
"Type" = "basic"
"Flags" = 0

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Available\AADB4F57FF225133]
"Name" = "Atari BASIC rev. C"
"Path" = "rom\\BASIC-C.ROM"
"Type" = "basic"
"Flags" = 0

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Available\CB71011655049B3D]
"Name" = "Atari 400/800 OS-A PAL"
"Path" = "rom\\OSAPAL.ROM"
"Type" = "kernel800_osa"
"Flags" = 0

[User\Software\virtualdub.org\Altirra\Firmware\Available\B1E0BB5C64AC7BF1]
"Name" = "Atari 400/800 OS-B NTSC"
"Path" = "rom\\OSBNTSC.ROM"
"Type" = "kernel800_osb"
"Flags" = 0

 

then it should start to work.

[danwinslow]

On 2/7/2023 at 4:29 AM, RetroSteven said:

I went a head and downloaded the file and it is a more up to date version. Thanks!

 

Here's a full collection -Atari 8bit BIOS for various emulators.

Atari 8bit BIOS Full pack for Altirra etc

 

List of latest emulators for various systems

Got a trojan warning off of the first link.

[DFELD2021]

Maybe take a look at the vast array of helpful BIOS files for Atari 800 and many other computer & game consoles.

https://github.com/archtaurus/RetroPieBIOS

 

[Ray Gillman]

This is the same A8 system which seems to work fine. You can edit the MDB database crudely with Microsoft Access. But some of the games (which launch with Altirra may or may not be relevent) the xbox360 USB joystick works for a couple of minutes then quits. If I launch the same game directly with Altirra instead of through the A8 menu system the joystick works fine as long as needed.

Edited August 20, 2023 by Ray Gillman

[Ray Gillman]

On 8/20/2023 at 2:50 PM, Ray Gillman said:

This is the same A8 system which seems to work fine. You can edit the MDB database crudely with Microsoft Access. But some of the games (which launch with Altirra may or may not be relevent) the xbox360 USB joystick works for a couple of minutes then quits. If I launch the same game directly with Altirra instead of through the A8 menu system the joystick works fine as long as needed.

I think I figured out why the xbox360 USB controller is quitting more quickly - it draws a lot of power and when it loads through a USB hub with a power booster charger it seems to behave better for longer - fewer issues

[DFELD2005]

Hyperkin Trooper 2 Premium Controller for PC/Mac - PC; Mac; Linux

This joystick works really well with Altirra and a lot of other emulators for PC.

Available on Amazon (and many other sites) for around $20.00

[Ray Gillman]

On 10/1/2023 at 9:34 AM, DFELD2005 said:

Hyperkin Trooper 2 Premium Controller for PC/Mac - PC; Mac; Linux

This joystick works really well with Altirra and a lot of other emulators for PC.

Available on Amazon (and many other sites) for around $20.00

 

Is that joystick cable like 4 inches long?  Very nice work done on this A8 mostly nine years ago.  But how do we edit the database?  MS Access seems to be able to get into it but the interface needs something to make it possible to add - I can't even delete but I can edit like strip poker because I'd rather not have to explain why the resolution is so bad it's more really kinky than actual porn (some old 8 bit stuff should maybe be allowed to go die- true).  I'd like to delete that!

And this is not star raiders - not sure what it is (image) but looks more like star trek - actual star raiders would be excellent... I'd try to fix it but back to my first point about MS Access.

[Ray Gillman]

On 6/29/2014 at 2:01 PM, felicemaggie said:

I hope the games can still run on an ordinary 800XL setup, with the 1mb Ultimate upgrade and SIO2SD device - this is the setup I have which Lotharek kindly upgraded at Sillyventure 2k13 in Poland Is it just a case of copying the game images onto the SD card ?

I'd like more info on what this felicemaggie member is talking about here. I'd love for a way to put A8 menu engine (collection of ATR's) to work with the 800XL via either SIO2PC or SDrive. Any ideas on this? My first thought was how about instead of launching with Altirra the A8 on my laptop backdoors the AspecQT to plug in the game name on D1: so I could chose the game from the menu then try to boot it with the 800XL?

 

OK I stand corrected on the Star raiders thing.  Had to press START on the xbox360 USB controller and then the clever Star Trek splash screen goes away and it falls into StarRaiders. Must be an XEX file with the new way to make a Splash screen merged XEX file?

Edited November 9, 2023 by Ray Gillman

[_The Doctor__]

31 minutes ago, Ray Gillman said:

I'd like more info on what this felicemaggie member is talking about here. I'd love for a way to put A8 menu engine (collection of ATR's) to work with the 800XL via either SIO2PC or SDrive. Any ideas on this? My first thought was how about instead of launching with Altirra the A8 on my laptop backdoors the AspecQT to plug in the game name on D1: so I could chose the game from the menu then try to boot it with the 800XL?

APE remote does this, it can also provide the directory of what is on your PC/laptop hard drive and you select it along with booting and mem lo usage with it's full suite of utils.

Respeqt is my go to for PCLINK use with sparta these days, that is Respeqt killer app/driver!

 

[Ray Gillman]

22 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

APE remote does this, it can also provide the directory of what is on your PC/laptop hard drive and you select it along with booting and mem lo usage with it's full suite of utils.

Respeqt is my go to for PCLINK use with Sparta these days, that is Respeqt killer app/driver!

 

If you get time to elaborate, I'd love to know more about this. Thanks. I'm familiar with Aspeqt but not Respeqt. I have an APE set here somewhere but it is the old 9 pin serial kind from a previous life if I can even find it.

[DFELD2005]

The picture of the Hyperkin Trooper Controller cable is definitely misleading. The actual length of the cable is > 9 feet long.

In addition to the two red buttons (can be assigned to A, B). There are 4 side buttons (two on front and two in rear).

I have successfully used this USB controller on my Win 10 PC (with Altirra) and with many other game emulators (PC and Android).

 

[Ray Gillman]

On 11/9/2023 at 7:09 PM, DFELD2005 said:

The picture of the Hyperkin Trooper Controller cable is definitely misleading. The actual length of the cable is > 9 feet long.

In addition to the two red buttons (can be assigned to A, B). There are 4 side buttons (two on front and two in rear).

I have successfully used this USB controller on my Win 10 PC (with Altirra) and with many other game emulators (PC and Android).

 

One thing I noticed on the 7800 games is they seem to use more of the buttons on the xbox360 USB controllers which is an upgrade from 800 8-bit games who are all using the 9 pin joystick form-factor single button single 8 direction stick.

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Ray Gillman

[Ray Gillman]

Any way to get four joysticks on an 800XL for four way MULE?

[Mclaneinc]

I don't come on here much these days but wanted to give a small update with the Gamepack. Mine and Starwindz contributions stopped a long while back, but there is a good friend working on the gamepack and has made good progress on the content. Now this may or may not come to fruition as he has a very busy time himself. If it does happen it will be a content only increase, the front end will remain as it is.

 

So it's not totally dead in the water, there are some paddles still slowly turning, but it's NOT a definite update, hence I'm not saying who it is, but I will say he has a great track record...

 

Paul..

 

Long live Altirra and all the Atarians on here..

[Ray Gillman]

On 2/7/2024 at 7:00 AM, Mclaneinc said:

I don't come on here much these days but wanted to give a small update with the Gamepack. Mine and Starwindz contributions stopped a long while back, but there is a good friend working on the gamepack and has made good progress on the content. Now this may or may not come to fruition as he has a very busy time himself. If it does happen it will be a content only increase, the front end will remain as it is.

 

So it's not totally dead in the water, there are some paddles still slowly turning, but it's NOT a definite update, hence I'm not saying who it is, but I will say he has a great track record...

 

Paul..

 

Long live Altirra and all the Atarians on here..

If he can switch the database format to opensource LibreOffice it would be better in the long run because Microsloth has been slowly slitting it's own wrists pushing people off their Office platform and off of Windows 10/11 with the gradual march of forced updates, eventually all Access MDB files will be dead in the water.

[JihemB]

Hi.

 

I tried 3 times on different computers (to be sure) and it seems to me the mega.nz file link provided by Mclaneinc leads to a corrupted .rar file that I'm not able to repair.

Can someone please share a link to an integrated version of the file ?

Thanks in advance.