Project Carousel - A game changer for the C64 Maxi (and mini)

[eightbit]

I do not recall anyone here mentioning this so if it is mentioned somewhere I apologize:

 

https://thec64community.online/thread/501/project-carousel-usb

 

I tested this on my C64 Maxi last night. This is NOT a firmware flasher and does not touch the firmware inside of TheC64 (or mini). It contains a "fake" firmware flasher that you run and it reboots TheC64 into an alternate carousel mode with hundreds of games across various pages. It also has other neat things like shortcuts to switch from 60hz to 50hz, shortcuts to run the various Vice emulators directly, and much more.

 

And, it all runs from a flash drive. Unplug the drive and start TheC64 and it functions as normal (stock).

 

I've been messing around with this half of the day and I have to say this is truly a game changer in terms of ease of use and functionality. There are hundreds of C64 games and a page of 199 (iirc) Vic-20 games (this only works on The C64 Maxi and The Vic20). All of the games have a thumbnail just like the original 64 built in games and they all have a description of the game and screenshot as well. And of course it was really nice to switch to true 50hz mode. My TV handles this but TheC64 never gives me the option to switch it. Now I can confirm it is running truly at 50hz and the TV reports it as such. Nice!

 

Just unzip it to a FAT32 formatted flash drive, run the "fake update" and you are off and running. The one warning they do mention is to never flash a stock firmware while you are in this alternate carousel mode. Just shut down, take the flash drive out, boot into the normal stock firmware and then you can perform whatever update...when they are available.

 

Very useful tool!

Edited January 25, 2021 by eightbit

[Shannon]

I just discovered this over the weekend a whole year after you posted.  Although the latest version ( 2.0.0b7) doesn't work on my mini for some reason.  I was able to use 1.9.2b9 but it's kind of limited.. I can't switch lists and other stuff.  I posted in the forums over there so hopefully someone can help me figure out how to get 2.0.0b7 to work. 

[Shannon]

I'm finally getting the hang of 1.9.2b9... it took me a while to figure out how to switch lists but I finally did.  I'm currently tinkering around with setting up custom controls for games... etc.

 

[Shannon]

Well I lucked out and the guy that works on this "Spannernick" was able to fix the issues I had with the menu and then promptly fixed a few more that I picked up.  So for now I'm in full business!  I created a custom controller config for my Firestorm Dual Analog 2.  I'm currently tinkering with Vic-20 games.  Even added 5 by myself.  At some point I want to try out the mode packs and see how that goes.  But for now I'm enjoying C64 and Vic-20 goodness.