CoolCV emulator for Mac OS X, Linux, Windows and Raspberry

[Itchy Scratchy]

I really love this emulator because it helps me speed up development along with TNIASM.

 

Although I know that this is not being updated on a daily schedule I am hoping that you could take a suggestion or two whenever you find time.

 

One would be to have it save it's size and position on screen for the next time it is run.

 

Second would be the weirdest bug.

Using Windows 10 x64 when I open the calculator it exits CoolCV.
please do not ask me why what one has to do with the other but it happens.
 

Either way, great work.

[Ikrananka]

5 hours ago, Itchy Scratchy said:

Second would be the weirdest bug.

Using Windows 10 x64 when I open the calculator it exits CoolCV.
please do not ask me why what one has to do with the other but it happens.

Wow - just tried that myself and opening the calculator does indeed close CoolCV.  Must be a Halloween effect ?

Edited October 31, 2020 by Ikrananka

[CrazyBoss]

I tried to install Coolcv at an older laptop, running windows xp sp3. But it failed to run. Together with help from Oscar I tried to get it work but until now no luck.

 

Also tried to install C++ distributables.

 

I need to use windows xp, cause my eprom programmer run on windows xp only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by CrazyBoss
pictures attached

[CrazyBoss]

Solved after download the right package:

"The Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86) installs runtime components of Visual C++ Libraries required to run applications developed with Visual C++ on a computer that does not have Visual C++ 2008 installed."

 

 

18 hours ago, CrazyBoss said:

I tried to install Coolcv at an older laptop, running windows xp sp3. But it failed to run. Together with help from Oscar I tried to get it work but until now no luck.

 

Also tried to install C++ distributables.

 

I need to use windows xp, cause my eprom programmer run on windows xp only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NamcoPlayer]

Hi there nanochess. The emulator I'm using on is the latest version of CoolCV on Windows, but it's so slow. I even shrinked the window. What do I do?
 

Sincerely, NamcoPlayer

[digress]

I've noticed occasional slowdowns with coolcv. I have found it went away after a computer restart. Might be interference with norton or something.

[OrangeKryptonite]

Any chance that you can create a Libretro core for this emulator? Would like to use it on the AT Games Arcade Legends Ultimate so I can play ColecoVision Super Games on it natively.

[+bhall408]

3 minutes ago, OrangeKryptonite said:

Any chance that you can create a Libretro core for this emulator? Would like to use it on the AT Games Arcade Legends Ultimate so I can play ColecoVision Super Games on it natively.

What does it run under the hood? Is it open for loading your own software on it? Or only stuff via their ecosystem?

[+nanochess]

On 12/30/2020 at 8:12 PM, NamcoPlayer said:

Hi there nanochess. The emulator I'm using on is the latest version of CoolCV on Windows, but it's so slow. I even shrinked the window. What do I do?
 

Sincerely, NamcoPlayer

I'm in the dark. In some Windows machines the emulator plays really well, and in others it has slowdowns.

 

On 12/30/2020 at 10:43 PM, digress said:

I've noticed occasional slowdowns with coolcv. I have found it went away after a computer restart. Might be interference with norton or something.

I've saw that also.

17 hours ago, OrangeKryptonite said:

Any chance that you can create a Libretro core for this emulator? Would like to use it on the AT Games Arcade Legends Ultimate so I can play ColecoVision Super Games on it natively.

I'll think about it.

[pango]

On 1/7/2016 at 12:12 AM, intvdave said:

The rollerball support (enable Roller Controller) is the spinner. CoolCV supports the steering wheel, rollerball, and SA controller. I have tested all of these with the Ultimate Interface.

How did you manage to get the roller controller to work? I use the latest version of CoolCV with the Ultimate Interface, but the ball doesn't work (only the fire button). Of course. I enabled it by pressing F5.

The regular coleco controller works well.

 

Thanks

 

[Jfarn]

On 6/16/2020 at 10:18 PM, nanochess said:

I suppose you are this guy:

 

  

 

 

I've added a "neg" setting to the "joystick_1_vert" and "joystick_1_horiz" lines, so you now can reverse directions, run CoolCV v0.6.8 one time (download at top), then just change the zero to one in "neg", and you should be running

 

BTW, sorry for taking so long. ?

 

Edit: BTW2, OH MY! Currently I'm unable to compile the Pi version.

 

 

I saw V0.6.9 had a Pi executable, so I've been working with the coolcv_pi from the 6.9 download.  I copy it to /opt/retropie/emulators/coolcv, make it executable, but I'm getting an error.  I too am after the ability to invert the joystick directions (both horizontal and vertical).  I have a RetroPie box running and two DragonRise USB controllers (arcade box).  It works well over all but the joystick directions are inverted.  It sounds like V0.6.8+ is the key, along with the proper coolcv_mapping.txt, but I can't seem to get V0.6.9 working.  Also, an example of what the "neg" setting looks like in the coolcv_mappings.txt would be very helpful.  Where does the 'neg = 1' go?  Thank you very much!  

 

Here is the error I get when running: coolcv_pi69: coolcv.c:3210: init_ogl: Assertion `((EGLBoolean)0) != result' failed.

[pango]

double post, sorry

Edited January 5, 2021 by pango
double post

[Ikrananka]

On 1/1/2021 at 12:08 PM, pango said:

How did you manage to get the roller controller to work? I use the latest version of CoolCV with the Ultimate Interface, but the ball doesn't work (only the fire button). Of course. I enabled it by pressing F5.

The regular coleco controller works well.

 

Thanks

 

Did you follow the instructions on the Ultimate PC Interface website?  In particular, the Rollerball switch must be set to "Rollerball" and not "Joystick".  Also, ensure that you follow the Autosense procedure for the particular version of the PC Interface that you have.

[pango]

On 1/5/2021 at 1:00 PM, Ikrananka said:

Did you follow the instructions on the Ultimate PC Interface website?  In particular, the Rollerball switch must be set to "Rollerball" and not "Joystick".  Also, ensure that you follow the Autosense procedure for the particular version of the PC Interface that you have.

Yes, I did follow the instruction for the V3 on the PC Inerface.. And the roller was set to Roller. I have two questions though :

1- Must both Coleco controllers be plugged into the Roller Controller?

2- Which button must I hold while triggering the Autosense? Keypad 0 on the first Coleco controller attached to the rollerball? Or the top left red button on the roller controller?

 

Thanks for your time

 

 

Edited January 7, 2021 by pango

[Ikrananka]

17 hours ago, pango said:

Yes, I did follow the instruction for the V3 on the PC Inerface.. And the roller was set to Roller. I have two questions though :

1- Must both Coleco controllers be plugged into the Roller Controller?

2- Which button must I hold while triggering the Autosense? Keypad 0 on the first Coleco controller attached to the rollerball? Or the top left red button on the roller controller?

1. My understanding is that you need both controllers plugged in.  I believe one controller handles y-axis movement and the other the x-axis.
2. You press keypad "0"

Let me know if you're still having problems and I'll dig out my Roller Controller and try it with my V3 interface.

[Swami]

On 12/31/2020 at 5:44 PM, OrangeKryptonite said:

Any chance that you can create a Libretro core for this emulator? Would like to use it on the AT Games Arcade Legends Ultimate so I can play ColecoVision Super Games on it natively.

You can see if the Lilith emulator for ColecoVision works for what you want. It is made by the company Silicon Sex. 

[pango]

On 1/7/2021 at 4:20 PM, Ikrananka said:

1. My understanding is that you need both controllers plugged in.  I believe one controller handles y-axis movement and the other the x-axis.
2. You press keypad "0"

Let me know if you're still having problems and I'll dig out my Roller Controller and try it with my V3 interface.

Still no success... I would appreciate if you could test it yourself when you have time.

 

Two more observations, maybe they are irrelevant...

The two DB9 connectors are labeled A and B. When I connect only one regular Coleco controller, I have to connect it to B if I want it to work. So B is for player 1 and A for player 2.

The roller controller connectors are labeled 1 and 2. Should 1 go to A on the PC interface and 2 to B? Or doesn't it matter?

 

What does the mapping (COOLCV_MAPPING.TXT) look like after you successfully plug the roller controller?

[+fdr4prez]

48 minutes ago, pango said:

What does the mapping (COOLCV_MAPPING.TXT) look like after you successfully plug the roller controller?

I could be wrong, but it is my understanding that *you* modify the file and the emulator will use it as-is.

 

The emulator does not update the file itself.

 

But that's my understanding of the mapping file

[pango]

On 1/9/2021 at 8:17 PM, fdr4prez said:

But that's my understanding of the mapping file

It was mine understanding too, until I note that :

Before

Quote

' CoolCV mappings for Colecovision controllers to keyboard and joystick
fullscreen    yes
joystick_1_vert    joy0
joystick_1_horiz
joystick_2_vert    joy1
joystick_2_horiz
up_1    key1073741906

[...]

 

After autosense

Quote

' CoolCV mappings for Colecovision controllers to keyboard and joystick
fullscreen    yes
joystick_1_vert    joy0    axis1    neg0
joystick_1_horiz    joy0    axis0    neg0
joystick_2_vert    joy1    axis1    neg0
joystick_2_horiz    joy1    axis0    neg0
up_1    key1073741906

[...]

 

[Draxxon]

So, does the Legends Flashback 2019 have the CoolCV emulator or the blueMSX one?

I'm guessing blueMSX because SGM is not supported???

Edited January 11, 2021 by Draxxon

[Ikrananka]

On 1/9/2021 at 5:24 PM, pango said:

Still no success... I would appreciate if you could test it yourself when you have time.

 

Two more observations, maybe they are irrelevant...

The two DB9 connectors are labeled A and B. When I connect only one regular Coleco controller, I have to connect it to B if I want it to work. So B is for player 1 and A for player 2.

The roller controller connectors are labeled 1 and 2. Should 1 go to A on the PC interface and 2 to B? Or doesn't it matter?

 

What does the mapping (COOLCV_MAPPING.TXT) look like after you successfully plug the roller controller?

Sorry for the long delay - been busy.  So I finally dug out my Roller Controller and Ultimate PC Interface (v3), and have confirmed what you need to do to get it working.

 

1. Reset Controller Order (only if A=2 and B=1) 

 

One of the nasty quirks of Windows is that it can easily mess up the ordering of the Ultimate PC (UPC) controllers, swapping them around so that one day you may find that A maps to controller 1, while another time it will map to controller 2.  This changing of controller order can generally be avoided by plugging the UPC into the same USB port every time.  If however the controller order is wrong (A=2 : B=1) then you can reset them back to normal (A=1 : B=2) by doing the following:

• Connect your UPC to you computer.
• In Windows Device Manager expand the Human Interface Devices section.
• Right-click on one of the two "HID-compliant game controller" entries and select "Uninstall device".  Repeat this for the other one.
• Right-click on any other entry and select "Scan for hardware changes"

This should now have added back both "HID-compliant game controller" entries but this time they'll be in the correct order.

 

2.  Setup Roller Controller

• Ensure that you Roller Controller is NOT plugged into its power source.
• Connect BOTH standard controllers into the Roller Controller and set the "Joystick-Roller" switch to Roller.
• Plug the Roller Controller 9-pin connectors into the UPC, making sure that connector 1 plugs into 'A' on the UPC and that connector 2 plugs into 'B' on the UPC.
• Ensure that you ColecoVision power supply is connected to the Roller Controller and then turn it on.

3.  UPC Auto Sense

 

Now we'll use the UPC auto sense feature to detect each of the controllers, one at a time.

• On the standard controller that is plugged into the Roller Controller 1 port, press and HOLD the 0 key on the keypad.
• Briefly press the black autosense on the UPC while still holding down the 0 key on the controller's keypad.
• When the UPC red LED starts to flash again (normally within a fraction of a second), release the 0 key.
• Repeat the above three steps but this time holding down the 0 key on the standard controller plugged into the Roller Controller 2 port.

You should now see that moving the Roller Controller trackball around also moves the mouse pointer in Windows.  If not, or if it only moves along one axis, then repeat the UPC Auto Sense steps above.

 

4.  Set CoolCV to Roller Controller Mode

 

Now, start CoolCV, drag in a rom file of a game to play and then press the F5 key to enable Roller Controller mode.  The trackball, keypads and red fire buttons should all now work.

[pango]

On 2/3/2021 at 4:43 PM, Ikrananka said:

Sorry for the long delay - been busy.  So I finally dug out my Roller Controller and Ultimate PC Interface (v3), and have confirmed what you need to do to get it working.

 

No problem for the delay, man. I was busy too in the last couple of weeks. I read your instructions only this evening.

 

And it worked!

 

I already reset the UPC, so this was not a problem anymore.

 

Two things I do differently from you :

1. The roller controller was plugged in the power supply before I plugged the 9-pin connector into the UPC;
2. I only use the auto-sense on the roller controller 1...

 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain everything in details.

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by pango
typo

[Ikrananka]

@pango Glad you got it working.  With regard to autosense it may have been that the UPC had previously detected a standard controller on port 2 and was already configured for that.  Sometimes I find that I have to do the autosense on only port 1 and sometimes only port 2 and sometimes both.  It just depends on what each port was last detected as being the last time the UPC was used.

[zzip]

I'm having trouble getting the Raspberry Pi version to work.   This is version 0.6.9 on Raspbian 10.    I get the same error no matter what I try, but the same steps work on the PC Linux version.

 

[Swami]

On 2/3/2021 at 3:43 PM, Ikrananka said:

Sorry for the long delay - been busy.  So I finally dug out my Roller Controller and Ultimate PC Interface (v3), and have confirmed what you need to do to get it working.

 

1. Reset Controller Order (only if A=2 and B=1) 

 

One of the nasty quirks of Windows is that it can easily mess up the ordering of the Ultimate PC (UPC) controllers, swapping them around so that one day you may find that A maps to controller 1, while another time it will map to controller 2.  This changing of controller order can generally be avoided by plugging the UPC into the same USB port every time.  If however the controller order is wrong (A=2 : B=1) then you can reset them back to normal (A=1 : B=2) by doing the following:

• Connect your UPC to you computer.
• In Windows Device Manager expand the Human Interface Devices section.
• Right-click on one of the two "HID-compliant game controller" entries and select "Uninstall device".  Repeat this for the other one.
• Right-click on any other entry and select "Scan for hardware changes"

This should now have added back both "HID-compliant game controller" entries but this time they'll be in the correct order.

 

2.  Setup Roller Controller

• Ensure that you Roller Controller is NOT plugged into its power source.
• Connect BOTH standard controllers into the Roller Controller and set the "Joystick-Roller" switch to Roller.
• Plug the Roller Controller 9-pin connectors into the UPC, making sure that connector 1 plugs into 'A' on the UPC and that connector 2 plugs into 'B' on the UPC.
• Ensure that you ColecoVision power supply is connected to the Roller Controller and then turn it on.

3.  UPC Auto Sense

 

Now we'll use the UPC auto sense feature to detect each of the controllers, one at a time.

• On the standard controller that is plugged into the Roller Controller 1 port, press and HOLD the 0 key on the keypad.
• Briefly press the black autosense on the UPC while still holding down the 0 key on the controller's keypad.
• When the UPC red LED starts to flash again (normally within a fraction of a second), release the 0 key.
• Repeat the above three steps but this time holding down the 0 key on the standard controller plugged into the Roller Controller 2 port.

You should now see that moving the Roller Controller trackball around also moves the mouse pointer in Windows.  If not, or if it only moves along one axis, then repeat the UPC Auto Sense steps above.

 

4.  Set CoolCV to Roller Controller Mode

 

Now, start CoolCV, drag in a rom file of a game to play and then press the F5 key to enable Roller Controller mode.  The trackball, keypads and red fire buttons should all now work.

Those adapters are damn expensive on eBay. $230. Is there a cheaper source for them?