TI-99/4a GameBase

[.mad.]

Texas GameBase v3.03

Decided to release this GameBase "as is".

It's not finished, but most things are working quite well in Classic99 or MAME220.

It requires GameBase v1.3 installed (windows only)

 

All the Hebdogiciel games are in loose TI files (FIAD).

This makes it much easier to fix the countless number of typos by pasting text into classic99.

so none of those are running in MAME at the moment.

 

Enjoy!

[+mizapf]

Did you experience any issues with post-0.220 MAME releases with the game base, or is that just the release you tested on? Just asking, because there were some changes in the last 3 years since 0.220 (https://www.ninermame.org/info/releases).

 

[.mad.]

A 32bit version of MAME 250 is included in the gamebase, and was heavily tested with the cartridge games.

*I know RPKs have broken many times over the years due to updates in the layout.

 

All other testing was done with MAME 220 (compiled for x86 32bit machines).

so it just made sense to use and include it as the default.

 

just change the link in the emulators.ini if you want to use 250 (32bit) or any other newer (64bit) version of MAME.

As long as the command line functions are the same.

 

EmulatorPathFile=C:\GameBase\TI99-4A\Emulators\MAME\texas250.exe

EmulatorPathFile=C:\GameBase\TI99-4A\Emulators\MAME\mame252.exe

 

Edited March 11 by .mad.

[+mizapf]

OK, many times - I think twice - the last time the RPKs had to be changed was with version 0.174, seven years ago. 🙂

 

I'd just like to mention that if you include an older version of MAME in your distribution, this may make life easier for you but somewhat harder for me, because people may hit old bugs that were long fixed by me, and some features were not yet there. As an example, the TIPI support was added with 0.242. This is, admittedly, always a problem with software that still evolves.

 

Maybe users should be made aware, that's all.

 

[.mad.]

Fair enough.

 

The gamebase has been going 12 years and was first released with MESS 150???...

Thanks to you and Tursi, emulation has improved greatly since then.

 

my reasoning is...

if someone downloads the gamebase in a few years, it will still work with the included emulator.

but may not with a newer build, without the end user having to rewrite the scripts and update the GEMUS.

 

But when/if it's updated again, it will always include the latest version of the emualtor at the start of the testing.

[+OLD CS1]

Am I missing instructions on how to use this?

[+Retrospect]

33 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

Am I missing instructions on how to use this?

download it and scour through what's in the folders.  Ther'es mame, classic99 , loads of games , it's quite big tho

[+OLD CS1]

34 minutes ago, Retrospect said:

download it and scour through what's in the folders.  Ther'es mame, classic99 , loads of games , it's quite big tho

I assumed there was a front-end or some interface run by the Access database included.  I will have to check it out, later.  I gots no time, today.

[+Retrospect]

10 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

I assumed there was a front-end or some interface

ther is , if im not mistaken you have to use the prefouis version for the front end

[+pixelpedant]

13 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

I assumed there was a front-end or some interface run by the Access database included.  I will have to check it out, later.  I gots no time, today.

 

For me, placing the /TI99-4A/ folder contained within the archive in the GameBase folder (for the GameBase frontend as previously distributed) and simply running the GameBase frontend executable results in the option to select the GameBase v3.03 distribution:

 

 

And I can confirm that selecting that option, I do get the new games list, with a couple games released in the last year. 

 

Great work on this, incidentally!  GameBase is an incredible resource!

 

[Fritz442]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

Am I missing instructions on how to use this?

Yes, install this gamebase frontend v1.3, then extract the GAMEBASE_TI99-4A[v303] into the installed folder. 

gamebase-setup-v1.3-full.zip

Edited March 11 by Fritz442

[+OLD CS1]

@Fritz442 Thanks.  That is what I was missing.  I tried installing it to my shared drive on my NAS, which worked for one machine, but another is having issues with running the program.  I assume it is whatever I saw got put on the C:\ drive.  Not really an issue.

[bradhig1]

when I press alt + 6 for function 6 in mame nothing happens.  Did the function key get channged?

[.mad.]

6 hours ago, bradhig1 said:

when I press alt + 6 for function 6 in mame nothing happens.  Did the function key get channged?

No.

press TAB to enable UI controls

then press ` (the key under ESC)

enter input menu for this machine

you will see FCTN is mapped to ALT (this is Left ALT not AltGr)

 

you can re-map the FCTN key to whatever you want from that menu.

[OX.]

Just need Tursi to update Classic99 so we can play ZQX-ONE 😉

[Tursi]

2 hours ago, OX. said:

Just need Tursi to update Classic99 so we can play ZQX-ONE 😉

Won't happen if you don't bother to tell me what's wrong with it.

 

(Ooooh, the F18A graphics modes. Gotcha )

 

 

Edited March 12 by Tursi

[OX.]

Thanks Tursi 😀

[Serafini Lapo]

Grazie!! Io ho installato il gamebase su una usb, scompattato la cartella Ti99/4 come c'era scritto nel post precedente e mi funziona a meraviglia!

Tutta la libreria Ti99/4 a portata di.. penna!👍🏻

[+arcadeshopper]

i couldn't get mame to run in this  just errors out and the window closes too fast to read it

.. classic99 works fine

[.mad.]

10 hours ago, arcadeshopper said:

i couldn't get mame to run in this  just errors out and the window closes too fast to read it

.. classic99 works fine

This normally happens if the command-line has an error or it can't find the correct BIOS file.

 

It could be the location where you installed the Gamebase front end.

i would only recommend installing to the root of a drive.

c:\gamebase\

e:\gamebase\

 

then the rezip path will also be at the root of the drive (NOT a networked drive).

c:\gbgame\

e:\gbgame\

 

if the rezip folder path has a SPACE, it will break the command line.

e:\my emulated games\gbgame\

you can check that rezip path in the gamebase.ini

[Paths]
GBGame=C:\GBGame

 

When GameBase reads a ZIPPED DSK file it extracts it here...

c:\gbgame\0\

then the DSK file is attached to the commadline from that path.

 %gamepathfile%

 

When the floppy is zipped, it's the same as typing this.

MAME -flop1 c:\gbgame\0\diskfile.dsk

 

any version of MAME over 220 should work.

so you can point to your working MAME install path in the emulators.ini

 

[MAME]
UseShortFilenames=0
UseDefaultTypes=0
SupportedTypes=dsk;rpk
EmulatorPathFile=C:\my working mame\mame.exe
ScriptFile=MAME.txt
WaitFinish=0

 

 

[+mizapf]

I just tried the GameBase in a virtual Windows 10 installation, and the packaged MAME emulator is extremely slow (48%), while the normal MAME that I have runs at full speed. Where did you get the exe files from? This looks like a non-optimized build (e.g. for debugging). Or maybe this is because this is a 32bit binary, but I'm going to try it on my native Windows installation now...

 

Edit: Ran it in a native Windows 11, and it is surely much faster than in the virtual boxed Win 10. But still, the MAME performance is worse than my native builds, as you can see in the screenshot.

[+jetset]

I wish an emulator can be made to just run, and open a file and not have to be a computer science major.   

[oddemann]

7 minutes ago, jetset said:

I wish an emulator can be made to just run, and open a file and not have to be a computer science major.   

Yes... slowly getting somewhere... But still not getting it to work... Re-reading stuff here and slowly progressing...

[oddemann]

#1 Download and Install this gamebase frontend v1.3 - Zip file previous post!
#2 Download and Unzip - GameBase v.3.03 - Zip file previous post!
#3 In the GameBase v.3.03, copy the "TI99-4A" folder and replace it in the installed GameBase frontend v1.3 (C:\GameBase, if you did not change destination) - There is already a "TI99-4A". Just replace the old with the v3.03 - TI99-4A folder.
#4 That gave me a new result! More testing to see if it works now 😛

[.mad.]

36 minutes ago, jetset said:

I wish an emulator can be made to just run, and open a file and not have to be a computer science major.   

That's a good reason to use GameBase, if ever i heard one.

just click the game name and play.

 

let the scripting do the science stuff. 😁