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Astro Fighter


PacManPlus

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Darn, the reset bug happens with the good old Atari7800X emulator for the original XBOX also. No way to update that one, so can't play this game on my emulator setup.

 

Very good on ProSystem though...

 

Now if only someone would update ProSystem so it supported XM features ... *sigh*

 

It's GPL so someone could pick up the ball and run with it if they had the skill and inclination.

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Now if only someone would update ProSystem so it supported XM features ... *sigh*

 

That already happened. It's just that some people in the community, some being the "XM team" and others in this very thread, have selfishly sat on private builds of ProSystem for years with fixes and improvements while the state of 7800 emulation stagnated:

 

1) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/160363-prosystem-developer-requests/

 

2) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/167421-super-circus-atariage-new-wip/page-7?do=findComment&comment=2115736

 

3) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213129-trouble-using-16-bit-pokey-sound-on-atari-7800/

 

4) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/214554-pro-system-emulator-windows-8/?do=findComment&comment=2793222

 

A really awful thing to do considering that ProSystem was originally open source for the benefit of everybody. Just imagine if a project such as MAME/MESS kept improvements to open source code private amongst themselves. I reached out to one of those with the "private" ProSystem builds requesting source code and was ignored. Today, you'll get a lot of hand waving from them telling you to just use MAME/MESS now that its 7800/TIA/MARIA/POKEY modules have been improved for accuracy, as if they are now off the hook for the rotten thing they did.

 

Some time ago I ported ProSystem to Libretro API (https://github.com/libretro/prosystem-libretro) so that it's playble in their cross-platform frontend, RetroArch, though still missing the improvements from Wii7800. Raz0red has his old Wii ports on GitHub now and I actually sent a patch his way for posterity's sake to fix loading of good dumps of 64K games: https://github.com/raz0red/wii7800

 

Anyway, my own port of ProSystem for OpenEmu on OS X (https://github.com/OpenEmu/ProSystem-Core) is being updated with the fixes from Wii7800. Then somebody may want to port those over to the other open source forks if they still find ProSystem usable.

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That already happened. It's just that some people in the community, some being the "XM team" and others in this very thread, have selfishly sat on private builds of ProSystem for years with fixes and improvements while the state of 7800 emulation stagnated:

 

1) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/160363-prosystem-developer-requests/

 

2) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/167421-super-circus-atariage-new-wip/page-7?do=findComment&comment=2115736

 

3) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/213129-trouble-using-16-bit-pokey-sound-on-atari-7800/

 

4) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/214554-pro-system-emulator-windows-8/?do=findComment&comment=2793222

 

A really awful thing to do considering that ProSystem was originally open source for the benefit of everybody. Just imagine if a project such as MAME/MESS kept improvements to open source code private amongst themselves. I reached out to one of those with the "private" ProSystem builds requesting source code and was ignored. Today, you'll get a lot of hand waving from them telling you to just use MAME/MESS now that its 7800/TIA/MARIA/POKEY modules have been improved for accuracy, as if they are now off the hook for the rotten thing they did.

 

Some time ago I ported ProSystem to Libretro API (https://github.com/libretro/prosystem-libretro) so that it's playble in their cross-platform frontend, RetroArch, though still missing the improvements from Wii7800. Raz0red has his old Wii ports on GitHub now and I actually sent a patch his way for posterity's sake to fix loading of good dumps of 64K games: https://github.com/raz0red/wii7800

 

Anyway, my own port of ProSystem for OpenEmu on OS X (https://github.com/OpenEmu/ProSystem-Core) is being updated with the fixes from Wii7800. Then somebody may want to port those over to the other open source forks if they still find ProSystem usable.

 

Completely agree.

 

I've been wanting to share it for years, but was told no. Yes, the person who made the changes isn't exactly the nicest person in the world :ponder: but since then the point has become moot as MESS *has* surpassed anything that was done with ProSystem, mostly in terms of accuracy. So much so that I'm waiting for a Debian port so I can use it with my Raspberry Pi. (I could compile it myself, but I've started another game, and I think my time is better spent on that).

 

*EDIT* - I must add that I don't even use ProSystem any more for debugging / testing.

 

*EDIT2* - Wait, how did this turn into a ProSystem vs. MESS thread?

 

Bob

Edited by PacManPlus
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Completely agree.

 

I've been wanting to share it for years, but was told no. Yes, the person who made the changes isn't exactly the nicest person in the world :ponder: but since then the point has become moot as MESS *has* surpassed anything that was done with ProSystem, mostly in terms of accuracy. So much so that I'm waiting for a Debian port so I can use it with my Raspberry Pi. (I could compile it myself, but I've started another game, and I think my time is better spent on that).

 

*EDIT* - I must add that I don't even use ProSystem any more for debugging / testing.

 

*EDIT2* - Wait, how did this turn into a ProSystem vs. MESS thread?

 

Bob

 

I guess that's my fault, and I apologize. I don't have a way to play 7800 roms on real hardware, since the Concerto isn't available yet. So I do most of my 7800 play testing and homebrew sampling through with RetroPi on Raspberry Pi2. When I got the Pi back in the winter, I was shocked there was no 7800 emulator available for the distribution, even through there were plenty of other 6502-based systems available (Atari 800, Apple II, Commodore 64, NES ...) I put in a request for someone to make 7800 emulation available and bam, it was there like 12 hours later! :) I have a big 20" 4:3 LCD screen for gaming and a dual-stink Arcade Tankstick for emulation - that's a fantastic setup for most games but without XM support going forward, it will be less useful for trying out new stuff than it could be.

 

There's no way in heck I want to spend forever and a day trying to figure out how to compile MESS 0.164 on the Pi2, especially when MESS is not part of RetroPi, which does everything else I want so well and integrates it seamlessly with EmulationStation.

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I didn't mean anything by that comment; I was actually just trying to be funny :)

 

...I don't understand why MESS isn't part of RetroPi, it does so many systems well now. I used to use separate emulation programs for my Apple IIc, TI99 4/A, Vectrex, Intellivision, 7800, 5200, 2600, and some others but I now use MESS for all of them. I even have a case ready to build once I get everything set up... But that's a different thread. ;)

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Is it possible to work around the bug that causes the reset on older emulators? The game starts, but about 2 seconds into it, right before any enemy appears, it resets to the title screen with the sound looping.

Edited by R.Cade
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It's actually the emulator with the timing bug. I can't see trying to code to get around an issue with an emulator when it works on the real thing and the 'fixed / correct' version of the emulator (i.e. MESS .164 & ProSystem)

 

:(

 

If it's any consolation, Trebor posted the 'how-to' for the newest version of MESS: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/241018-mame-0164-further-7800-emulation-accuracy/

 

Thanks,

Bob

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I completely understand your position... I believe the XBOX "Xport" is based on a very old version of MESS.

 

I guess if I knew what bug it was triggering I could look at the emulator source itself. Is there any way to know what in the game triggers the bug?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow - didn't see this post... Came back to post the manual.

 

sorry R.Cade :(

 

I'm not sure programmatically what triggers it, as I haven't spent much more time on it.

 

 

 

In the meantime, here's the manual (first version, until Al finds any more issues) :P :D

Astro Fighter Manual.pdf

Edited by PacManPlus
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They are two different games. :D

 

Astro Blaster

Astro Fighter

 

..Al

 

D'oh! Thanks, Al. I told you in advance it was probably a stupid question.

 

The hell of it is that I have vague recollections of both of these games in the back corners of the arcades as a kid, but not recollections strong enough (obviously) to make them stand out from one another. :)

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D'oh! Thanks, Al. I told you in advance it was probably a stupid question.

You're welcome! And others may not have known that, either, so glad you asked.

 

The hell of it is that I have vague recollections of both of these games in the back corners of the arcades as a kid, but not recollections strong enough (obviously) to make them stand out from one another. :)

I know I played Astro Blaster in arcades, but I don't think I ever saw an Astro Fighter.

 

..Al

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