LessNick Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Hello there o/ STORY Today I want to tell you about a small my project — Altirra Middle Runner (amr). It all started with the fact that looking through a huge number of programs for atari, I had to constantly switch configurations of the Altirra emulator. Some programs required BASIC, others asked to remove the cartridge. The third required a different version of rom - OS-B, the fourth needed more memory than was selected in the default profile. All this tired me out, because the only thing I would like is to click on the icon with the image of a disk or cassette in windows and immediately get a running emulator with the necessary parameters, and not waste precious time figuring out once again why the program freezes or crashes the emulator with error. If anyone does not know, there is such a standard for describing file parameters - TOSEC. You may have seen how the names of the files, along with the name of the program, file has additional information in square brackets, describe the required hardware necessary to run it. For example: Anti-Sub Patrol (1983)(Roklan)(US)[BASIC][OS-B][cr CSS].atr You can read more about the TOSEC specification on the Internet, and we are interested in two parameters here: [BASIC] and [OS-B]. First, the [OS-B] parameter tells us that we need an earlier Atari 800 with "OS-B" firmware. And secondly, the [BASIC] parameter says it is necessary to insert a cartridge with "Atari Basic rev B.rom", since it was inserted separately. Now it is enough for us to specify the arguments when starting the emulator, so that the program we have chosen will be successfully loaded. And here comes my program. What it does? The file name is passed to the amr program as an argument, then it is analyzed and the parameters of the necessary hardware are determined. After that, the launch line with the emulator arguments is already formed and all this is transferred to altirra.exe. To prevent these parameters from overwriting the main settings of the emulator, the "/tempprofile" argument is used. This is a test version of the program and it will be improved in the future, but at the moment it successfully detects and allows you to correctly launch the emulator with the following settings: [BASIC] [OS-A] [OS-B] [XL-OS] [req 8K] [req 16K] [req 24K] [req 48K] [req 52K] [req 64K] [req 128K] [req 256K] [req 320K] [req 320KCOMPY] [req 576K] [req 576KCOMPY] [req 1088K] (PAL) (NTSC) At this stage, this is quite enough to run most programs, but in the future the list will certainly grow. Another thing that haunted me was the automatic loading of "Turbo 2000" cassettes. Altirra does a great job with this task, but I would like to run such files with a single click. Luckily for me, Altirra is able to work with VFS (Virtual File System) and in particular with files inside zip archives. As a result, the idea arose to pack a wav file with an audio recording in the "turbo 2000" format with name "data.wav" into a zip archive, change the file extension to t2k and set associations for the correct launch. The only caveat is that in order to load such cassettes, you must first run the T2000 loader. INSTALL To correctly install amr, just unpack the archive inside the Altirra folder. So that amr64.exe is located next to Altirra64.exe Next, you need to run "make_reg.bat". It will generate an association file for the windows registry - "amr.reg". This file will use icons from the "icons" folder and current path to associate amr64.exe to the following file types: atr atx bas car cas dcm pro rom xex xfd t2k. If necessary, this list can be expanded by adding new file types. Now we doubleclick on the amr.reg file and confirm the changes to the windows registry. At this stage installation is completed. The only thing that needs to be done is to place the file with the firmware "Atari Basic rev B.rom" in the "roms" folder. This file is critical and necessary to run programs requiring "OS-B". RUN If you did everything right, now just click on the atari-file in windows explorer. Since everything is in test mode, a console window will open, which will describe the parameters that could (or not) be determined, as well as the startup arguments line for Altirra. In the future, of course, this window will not be needed and don't show. To run the "Turbo 2000" cassettes, it is also necessary that the loader file "T2000 loader.xex" be located next to amr64.exe. After starting the emulator, the inscription "T2000" will appear on the screen. After play sound signal you must press the "return" (enter) key. After the flickering of black and gray stripes, the name of the program will appear and you must press "return" (enter) again. Your further participation is not required and in a minute you will see the result of the loading. amr64.7z 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 There's one little problem with the TOSEC stuff, it's badly named in many cases and a lot of the files were not gold standard checked. I like what you have done, will try it later, but its going to hit snags Paul.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 4 minutes ago, Mclaneinc said: There's one little problem with the TOSEC stuff, it's badly named in many cases and a lot of the files were not gold standard checked. I understand that TOSEC is not a panacea and everyone can use the parameters at their own discretion, but in any case, erroneous data can be corrected, and not select the emulator configuration again and again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Seems like a handy idea to me. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 A small additional script for the mass consciousness of t2k files. Unzip the archive to a location convenient for you. Copy your wav files to the turbo2000 folder. Run make_t2k.bat At the root of the folder you will get your turbo 2000 files packed in t2k. make_t2k.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Very nice, I don't blame you for TOSEC issues, and in fact maybe TOSEC will finally get a critical review and get it's act straightened out. Who knows, this could lead to an improved system once it's completed. Hopefully the wrinkles will get ironed out across the software and conventions involved. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 4 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said: I don't blame you for TOSEC issues Here, rather, the problem is not in TOSEC, but in the fact that here, like wikipedia, everyone can write what they think is necessary. On the other hand, your archive of atari programs is only yours, and even if there is a mistake in the name TOSEC, it is enough to fix it once and that's it. In any case, my way is more convenient, at least in the fact that after six months you won’t have to remember the emulator settings and puzzle over why the program doesn't run. Human beings are very lazy by nature. And that's why I also want to set it up once and forget it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Still not tried it, hopefully it will not need everything to be pathed to the root of Altirra or if it is at the moment, this can be changed in a later revision. Cluttered root dirs are a huge pain.. Tosec has been a known pain since it's creation, I used to chat with them on IRC along with some of the content creators. The biggest issue was time taken and keeping themselves interested. Manually testing 4,000 games sounds ok, but to be the only person doing it and giving each game a PROPER test ended up with mistakes and even wrongly working versions. There's a c64 collection that matches tosec for dud files, it's called the High Voltage Collection (not to be confused with the High Voltage SID file collection). The collection was mostly the work of a cracker called Bod, he was a scene guy, but his collection was riddled with duff games, part working stuff and wrongly named stuff. I don't think Darren actually planned on releasing it, it just sort of happened. Wonder what he's up to now, last time I saw his was at a show, and he's got a job with Demon Internet (many years ago). Used to use his feet to press keys on his Amiga..And yes, the keys DID smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 5 hours ago, LessNick said: at the moment it successfully detects and allows you to correctly launch the emulator with the following settings: You might add these, particularly BASIC Rev.A is important: "BASIC Rev.A" "turn off write-protect" (and in turn change the default mount mode from VRW to R/O) Btw.: To all the doubters: A8 Preservation uses TOSEC naming as well and we try to have the tags correct. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 No doubter here, the naming convention is sound, it was the human intervention that was the issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Yes because algorithms have gotten us to such a nice place, with humans creating and guiding them... what could go wrong ? But robots will be robots, and in the end it might not be good for those humans please return to your domiciles for your protection! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 15 hours ago, Mclaneinc said: Still not tried it, hopefully it will not need everything to be pathed to the root of Altirra or if it is at the moment, this can be changed in a later revision. Cluttered root dirs are a huge pain.. I myself really do not like to litter the root directory, so all my rom files are stored in a separate directory. The location of the executable file next to Altirra.exe is due to the fact that it is easier to get a working directory where all the necessary files are located. Purely hypothetically, you can create a couple of global variables in windows, like %ALTIRRA% and %ATARI_ROMS%. Then there are no problems at all where to place my project, the script will generate all the necessary reg-files. 15 hours ago, Mclaneinc said: Manually testing 4,000 games sounds ok, but to be the only person doing it and giving each game a PROPER test ended up with mistakes and even wrongly working versions. The problem is that people are lazy and do not like to do boring and tiresome work. And as a result, errors are possible. The only option that I see is to partially automate the process. Make a script that will take a file from a directory and run the emulator with various configuration options. After each launch, the user will be asked one single question whether the launch was successful or not. All this is recorded in a log file, and then, based on this data, additional information will be added to the file name. But even here you need to understand that the program name, year, creator, etc. must initially be set correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 (edited) 14 hours ago, DjayBee said: You might add these, particularly BASIC Rev.A is important: "BASIC Rev.A" No problem. Is there any example of a program with such requirements that I could test this combination? 14 hours ago, DjayBee said: "turn off write-protect" (and in turn change the default mount mode from VRW to R/O) Very slippery moment. If a floppy disk with data is screwed up, no one won’t say thanks for it. But I'll think about it. Edited January 31, 2023 by LessNick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 (edited) 58 minutes ago, LessNick said: No problem. Is there any example of a program with such requirements that I could test this combination? A number of Crystalware games for instance. 58 minutes ago, LessNick said: Very slippery moment. If a floppy disk with data is screwed up, no one won’t say thanks for it. But I'll think about it. For some programs, this is a requirement, not an option. Edited January 31, 2023 by www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 1 hour ago, LessNick said: No problem. Is there any example of a program with such requirements that I could test this combination? Crypt of the Undead (1982)(Epyx)(US)(Side A)[f][BASIC Rev.A] Early Games - Music (1983)(Counterpoint Software)(US)[BASIC Rev.A] Early Games - Piece of Cake (1982)(Counterpoint Software)(US)[BASIC Rev.A] Haunted Hill (198x)(Softsmith)(US)[BASIC Rev.A][OS-A] Imperial Walker (1981)(Crystalware)(US)[f][a][BASIC Rev.A] King Arthur's Heir (1982)(Epyx)(US)[BASIC Rev.A] Nightmare, The (1982)(Epyx)(US)[m][BASIC Rev.A] Trivia Trek (198x)(Softsmith)(US)(Side A)[!][BASIC Rev.A] Warlock's Revenge (1982)(Synergistic Software)(US)(Disk 1 of 2)[m][BASIC Rev.A] Paint (1982)(Reston Publishing)(US)[BASIC Rev.A][OS-B] Snooper Troops - Case #1 The Granite Point Ghost v1.0 (1982)(Spinnaker Software)(US)[BASIC Rev.A] Snooper Troops - Case #2 The Disappearing Dolphin v1.0 (1983)(Spinnaker Software)(US)[BASIC Rev.A] Trivia Trek (1982)(Swifty Software)(US)(Side A)[!][BASIC Rev.A][810 only] 1 hour ago, LessNick said: Very slippery moment. If a floppy disk with data is screwed up, no one won’t say thanks for it. But I'll think about it. First: VRW does only write to the Altirra's cached copy in RAM. The bigger drawback of this mode is when people work on their disks and forget to intentionally save their work back to the ATR. The next time they boot the image, every change is gone. (Altirra fortunately warns before exiting but people often click OK on any popup window.) Ashido (1990-12)(KE-Soft)(DE)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Beneath the Pyramids (1982)(Crystalware)(US)[BASIC][turn off write-protect] Bridge Master (1982)(Dynacomp)(US)[m][BASIC][turn off write-protect] Catacombs of Baruth (1982)(Surrealistek Software)(US)[BASIC-A][turn off write-protect] Dredis (1989-12)(KE-Soft)(DE)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Fantasyland 2041 A.D. (1981)(Crystalware)(US)(Disk 1 of 3 Side A)(Disk I Congoland)[m][BASIC][turn off write-protect] House of Usher (1982)(Crystalware)(NTSC)(US)[f][BASIC][turn off write-protect] Hyper-Space (1992)(Powersoft)(DE)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Oblitroid (1989-10)(KE-Soft)(DE)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] S.S. Achilles (1983)(Beyond)(GB)[!][turn on write-protect] Zebu-Land (1990-09)(KE-Soft)(DE)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Flak (1984)(Funsoft)(US)[turn off write-protect][f] Gemstone Warrior (1985)(SSI)(US)[m][turn off write-protect] In Search of The Most Amazing Thing v1.0 (1983)(Spinnaker Software)(US)(Side A)[f][BASIC][turn off write-protect] KE-BASE (1991)(KE-Soft)(DE)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Kids Say the Darndest Things... to Computers v4.1 (1983)(HomeComputer Software)(US)[BASIC][turn off write-protect] Operation Blood (1992)(A.N.G. Software)(NL)(FW)[a Lightgun release][turn off write-protect] Operation Blood (1992)(A.N.G. Software)(NL)(FW)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Operation Blood (1992)(Micro Discount)(GB)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Operation Blood (1992-03)(Mirage Software)(PL)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Rear Guard (1981)(Adventure International)(US)[!][BASIC][turn off write-protect] Tactic (1992)(Sonix)(PL)[req 64K][turn off write-protect] Tecno-Ninja (1990-04)(KE-Soft)(DE)[!][req 64K][turn off write-protect] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 2 hours ago, LessNick said: The problem is that people are lazy and do not like to do boring and tiresome work. And as a result, errors are possible. It depends on the person, me personally, I've done the beta tester thing most of my retrogaming time, if you look at the credits of things like Altirra, Atari800Win and a few other non atari emulators, you will find my name in there like many others on various forums who spend their time testing games and the emulators. It is boring, but if we want the best emulation we must give the writers a hand and the only way that works is if the reports we pass on are as detailed and correct as possible. Sure, we get some wrong where we have not used an available feature etc, but in general they are useful. Just saying that there are folks who do the job as well as possible, it's always been my work ethic, if you take on the job then do it the best you can and see it through to the end. So yes, the weak point in this are the human interactions, but to be fair, most of them are valid with only a minority of mistakes, the worst case is when a person takes on a job that they have not thought through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 23 hours ago, www.atarimania.com said: A number of Crystalware games for instance. OK. I will test the new combination and post it as soon as possible. 23 hours ago, DjayBee said: VRW does only write to the Altirra's cached copy in RAM. Okay, then I'm calm. It remains to figure out how to correctly set the arguments for starting Altirra. 23 hours ago, DjayBee said: Tecno-Ninja (1990-04)(KE-Soft)(DE)[!][req 64K][turn off write-protect] Such a long description “[turn off write-protect]” bothers me a little, it’s clear that this was done for a human, but can we get by with a shorter “[RW]”? It's just that already very very long file names are also poorly perceived, I would like something more concise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 22 hours ago, Mclaneinc said: It depends on the person Well, I think it's useless to even argue. 22 hours ago, Mclaneinc said: Just saying that there are folks who do the job as well as possible, it's always been my work ethic, if you take on the job then do it the best you can and see it through to the end. We are all different, but often life's difficulties develop in such a way that, with all the desire, it is not possible to complete the projects that have been started. But in any case, thanks to people like you, there is an incentive and desire to move and develop further, thank you very much for your work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 1 hour ago, LessNick said: Such a long description “[turn off write-protect]” bothers me a little, it’s clear that this was done for a human, but can we get by with a shorter “[RW]”? I know but this is the way Farb has defined it for the A8 Preservation Project. I don't know if he took it from some TOSEC standard definition or if it was just an arbitrary decision by him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LessNick Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 10 minutes ago, DjayBee said: I know but this is the way Farb has defined it for the A8 Preservation Project. I don't know if he took it from some TOSEC standard definition or if it was just an arbitrary decision by him. OK, thanks. It just seems to me that, along with the requirements for memory [req 64K], a short notation like [req RW] would also be quite understandable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 1 hour ago, LessNick said: Well, I think it's useless to even argue. We are all different, but often life's difficulties develop in such a way that, with all the desire, it is not possible to complete the projects that have been started. But in any case, thanks to people like you, there is an incentive and desire to move and develop further, thank you very much for your work. Ah, forget me, I do very little now due to illness, but we are lucky with the preservation team, Allan with documents, the many kind souls who dump stuff and all the many others who spend time and effort (obviously it includes you too) on this little thing we all love. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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