Custom firmware for Atari Gamestation Pro

[AT-ATari]

Just want to preface this by saying you guys are all wizards. I'm still rolling with the copy/paste for roms and titles, etc. I spent a lot of this weekend adding Genesis, GBA and SNES games. There's over 100 in the category. (I kept the Piko games so far as well) I've put them all in the "16-bit" category. The issue I'm encountering is that the thumbnails dont show up past a certain point. I can still move and select them, and when I do, it will bring up the title screen and screenshot i added, but they don't pop up in the GUI "menu" for the 16-bit bonus game category. Is there a way to have them all visible? 

Edited September 16 by AT-ATari

[big_guitar]

19 hours ago, Mr_T said:

Except the Pac-Man atr bundled on spanner's PCUAE

I don't use PCUAE, and can't speak to what others are promoting or bundling together.

[big_guitar]

9 hours ago, AT-ATari said:

but they don't pop up in the GUI "menu" for the 16-bit bonus game category.

If you mean to say that some images won't display after selection, that is the nature of how the GUI application on the GSP was designed.  Certain class types will not display all the possible images.

For example, when the class_type is '12', only the logo/title (gamename_title.png) and the screenshot (gamename.jpg) will display after selecting from the GUI menu list. 

I believe this category type also will not display a custom menu image, but will resize the screenshot to display as the menu item.

Edited September 16 by big_guitar

[Mr_T]

10 hours ago, AT-ATari said:

Just want to preface this by saying you guys are all wizards. I'm still rolling with the copy/paste for roms and titles, etc. I spent a lot of this weekend adding Genesis, GBA and SNES games. There's over 100 in the category. (I kept the Piko games so far as well) I've put them all in the "16-bit" category. The issue I'm encountering is that the thumbnails dont show up past a certain point. I can still move and select them, and when I do, it will bring up the title screen and screenshot i added, but they don't pop up in the GUI "menu" for the 16-bit bonus game category. Is there a way to have them all visible? 

Hi AT_ATari

Welcome.

I presume you are on firmware 1.30c, it sounds like it.

I would suggest creating a "Games" folder on the SD card for the Navigation menu, and creating subfolders of systems which then get populated by the system's Roms.

Creating on the Games.db file using the latest GSP_Games is great for a few items, but not for over 100.

The AGSP menu is also not the most ergonomic of GUIs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AT-ATari]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I probably should have been a little more specific. 

 

Yes, I am using 1.30c. I have had success adding numerous 2600, 5200, 7800, NES, GB, GBA, Genesis, SNES and Game Gear games and up until this latest batch I added, they were all displaying properly. Now the images and titles are all there up until I get to the "T"s (in alphabetical order). If I select the last visible title, it'll pop up and I can move the stick left to see the games that are on here but won't display on the big menu. 

 

Does the GSP GUI just run out of room? It looks like it just creates pages as I add them, but somewhere along the line it stops showing the games. 

 

I hope I was a little more clear. If you need more info, let me know and I'll take a picture of the issue. Thanks again for all you guys do! 

Edited September 16 by AT-ATari

[big_guitar]

27 minutes ago, AT-ATari said:

If I select the last visible title, it'll pop up and I can move the stick left to see the games that are on here but won't display on the big menu. 

Which menu specifically are you looking at where this happens?  "All Bonus" ?   "All Atari" ?  Something else?    Can you share a screenshot or two?  

27 minutes ago, AT-ATari said:

Does the GSP GUI just run out of room?

I've not heard of that happening, but it's a possibility that there could be some corruption or duplicate data in your games.db file.  That can definitely have a negative impact on how the menu displays the game entries.

Edited September 16 by big_guitar

[AT-ATari]

@big_guitar thanks for checking in to this for me.

 

So here's a few screenshots.

 

This first one is just to establish that I have the 16 bit folder set up. You'll see the games I've added. Everything is in alphabetical order and they all work. 

Here's where things start to get wonky. There's plenty more games that I've added after Superman there that just don't show up. You'll notice there's an addition 2 "dots" up top to indicate there's more games.

 

When I move the cursor over to the right again, this is what shows up:

Just blank. However, the cursor still moves (can't see it but it makes the noise). If I push A it will select whatever game the cursor is on. 

 

If I run through the games one at a time, they all pop up. Here's a pic of Superman, the last visible game and then the ones that won't pop in the menu right after:

 

There are more games than that but I didn't want to inundate you with screenshots. Sorry in advance for the pictures, it's bedtime for the kids so everything is dark! 😁 

[Boots01]

Gee, you've got more pages than I do (in the BONUS section) ... maybe create a temp folder and copy to the 8bit tab to see if it happens the same there.

Maybe you found some limits there since there are less images and ABOUT and CONTROLS section boxes displayed.

[big_guitar]

11 hours ago, AT-ATari said:

Just blank. However, the cursor still moves (can't see it but it makes the noise).

Thanks for sharing that. 

While it's possible there's a memory issue going on, or a limitation in the built-in GSP 'game' application, I'd want to check out the games.db file, which you are welcome to send to me via DM if you want me to check it out for something possibly out of place (this can happen of course).  Another thing could be something funky about one of the screenshot files making the menu page unhappy, perhaps the screenshot entry immediately after "death and return", or even that image itself, although it does display.

I believe if there is no matching image file, the interface will just typically display some other game image in the menu that's available instead.  But the blank entries are a curiosity.

Edited September 17 by big_guitar

[AT-ATari]

11 hours ago, Boots01 said:

Gee, you've got more pages than I do (in the BONUS section) ... maybe create a temp folder and copy to the 8bit tab to see if it happens the same there.

Maybe you found some limits there since there are less images and ABOUT and CONTROLS section boxes displayed.

Yeah...I think I may have gone a little overboard...😁

 

But there are still more games I want to add! 

[AT-ATari]

1 hour ago, big_guitar said:

Thanks for sharing that. 

While it's possible there's a memory issue going on, or a limitation in the built-in GSP 'game' application, I'd want to check out the games.db file, which you are welcome to send to me via DM if you want me to check it out for something possibly out of place (this can happen of course).  Another thing could be something funky about one of the screenshot files making the menu page unhappy, perhaps the screenshot entry immediately after "death and return", or even that image itself, although it does display.

I believe if there is no matching image file, the interface will just typically display some other game image in the menu that's available instead.  But the blank entries are a curiosity.

Thanks @big_guitar I'm going to DM it to you in a minute. I'm also having trouble with 2 Arcade additions: Mario Bros. and Metal Slug X. Mario Bros. does exactly what you said- the GSP is putting random images there and it won't start. Metal Slug just doesn't even show up. I appreciate your expertise!

 

[Mr_T]

Is there a way of using a USB stick on 1.30c instead of an SD card.

I presume we start with an SD card that then remaps to the USB stick if it is plugged in, and then we put everything there.

I see PCUAE manages to do this to some extent.

 

 

[big_guitar]

[windows update]

 

v 0.6.3 

• export/import game or trigger records (JSON)

• updated SD Card Validator (now includes trigger record references for trig-CFG, trig-CORE, trig-ROM files)
  + peek missing results; + available from Trigger Tools menu

• Trigger form enhancements; allows to local file select or optionally deploy a local core or cfg file

• add trig id search on trigger file management 

• bulk deletions for trigger records

• trigger query updates

• misc fixes & improvements

 

 

 

gspgames-063.zip

Edited September 18 by big_guitar

[big_guitar]

I just realized the previous file was missing some changes I included for the file validator module, latest version below. 

Note, currently this version cannot be used without enabling the db enhancements for triggers. 

If you want to use this only as a games record editor without enabling the db enhancements, you should use a previous version. 

 

gspgames-063b.zip

Edited September 18 by big_guitar

[big_guitar]

On 9/17/2024 at 9:21 AM, AT-ATari said:

I'm also having trouble with 2 Arcade additions: Mario Bros. and Metal Slug X. Mario Bros. does exactly what you said- the GSP is putting random images there and it won't start. Metal Slug just doesn't even show up. I appreciate your expertise!

This was due to corruption in your games database, caused by a missing double-quote in the ini file for [mario] (using Brad's ini update method).

Even after correcting the db for mario and metal slug x, I still encountered the missing image issue with your db under 16-bit, not displaying images after #64 (death of superman), but I'm still checking things out.

 

Using your db, only the BONUS section has the image issue when entries are beyond #64 (using "ALL" or "16-bit"), as the Atari sections display menu images well beyond 64 games.

Edited September 18 by big_guitar

[big_guitar]

OK, I do believe, at least based on my testing so far, that there are some issues with the BONUS section where it does not load the images in the menu beyond #64 of any BONUS pages.

 

I do see some tests against 0x40 (64) where loading images are associated (decompiled), although I can't say for certain what is being tested since I'm not looking at the actual source code. It's hard to say if something similar is happening with anything under the "Atari" pages, but we know it's not limited to 64.  I don't believe a similar numerical test is happening there, but it's possible.

 

As I have typically used the "Atari" pages for class types, even with non-atari cores, I haven't come across this as a limitation, but I can test this later with dummy records.

  

The "Bonus" sections do not allow for as many images to be displayed upon selection (other than the one screenshot I think), and whenever I wanted to update the menu, I used as many images as possible, thus I used Atari class types (typically class_type "4") 

 

[Update] So the GSP itself as purchased seems to come with 63 Bonus entries.  There is code that literally checks if a value is less than 64 related to loading images.

 

Pondering this further, although MyArcade provided a way to allow for games to be added to the SD-CARD, they DID NOT provide a way to update the menu.  The ability to update the games.db file (used for the menu) was made possible via 1.30c, as established by Brad.  

Edited September 18 by big_guitar

[Boots01]

Oh darn, there's that dreaded word system  'limit'

Apparently MyArcade didn't design this as a universal "Game Box", thats why it has the Atari logo on top.

That's what those other boxes do AND MORE!!! Like Super Console X2, X3, X4, and Kinghank, and Retro Monster, plus DIY TV boxes.

 __ Just be satisfied that ColecoVision has been conquered.

Edited September 18 by Boots01

[big_guitar]

1 minute ago, Boots01 said:

Oh darn, there's that dreaded word system  'limit'

Apparently MyArcade didn't design this as a universal "Game Box", thats why it has the Atari logo on top.

That's what those other boxes do AND MORE!!! Like Super Console X2, X3, X4, and Kinghank, and Retro Monster, plus DIY TV boxes.

... or the 'classic' mini consoles, PS, SNES, Genesis.  While those are older, there were bigger/better development teams involved to implement community changes to those systems, and I don't know of any related limitations (although there could be a usb size limit), for some of the minis you can add extra pages or folders for the GUI, or use Emulation Station.

 

While we probably won't be able to get Emulation Station running on the GSP, you can change the launch script to just run Retroarch (a different version from the built-in one), and then select all the files from RA, but it's not as pretty.  😜

 

It would be interesting if we could use OTG usb + wifi adapter on the GSP, but other mods would be required to support networking on the GSP I believe.  I anticipate that we might see MyArcade's next iteration in October.

 

[big_guitar]

So I added 1000 extra class 4 games to a test database,

for a grand total of 1121 type 4 games, and they all displayed in the Menu for Atari Arcade. 

Of course, I don't have images for most of these, so it just displays whatever, and seems to even change going back and forth. 

But you see the yellow selector icons

 

 

The one weird thing about the "ATARI ALL" page though, it did have one blank page, for some reason it did not display my zzgame1000,

although it did display 1300 total out of 1301... 

At this point, I'm not certain if that's a hard Atari limitation (see update below).  I may add a few others just to see if the current "ALL" in-between page displays anything.

That page where zzgame1000 would reside is blank (not selected, no box), but there's only one game on that page.

 

 

 

 

[UPDATE]

So I added 3 more game records for zzgame1001 to zzgame1003... this is no issue for the ARCADE page of course.

But for the ALL page, what happens is the LAST GAME won't be displayed in the menu but all the others have the yellow selector... 

So previously, the last game, zzgame1000 would not display under ALL... now it does, because it's no longer the LAST entry.

This image below has zzgame1003, which is the LAST entry, but all the other entries display properly, and 1003 is not visible, but it is there.  zzgame1003 does display on the last ARCADE menu page.

 

 

 

Edited September 18 by big_guitar

[Mr_T]

I found another source for Atari 8 bit games for my The400Mini project for AGSP.

 

Yoomp - left off, issues.

Seven Cities of Gold - missing ROM

Battlezone - requires 64K - may need XL/XE mode.

ElektraGlide - Not working

MULE - couldn't start the game.

 

20 out of 25 appear to be working.

As I don't have a THE400Mini console please could some-one check the working ones are correct versions.

Any help with testing or sourcing appreciated.

 

 

The400Mini.atr THE400MINI.docx

[unaigalder]

What is the best joystick to play with analog games like Arknaoid?

[big_guitar]

6 hours ago, Mr_T said:

20 out of 25 appear to be working.

I see there is a slightly newer version of the dir2atr tool out there that will for example, create a MyPicoDos406, not sure if that will make any dif with any of your concerns, I've never used that tool before.  But it seems at least from what I've seen, if you have the individual rom in ATR format, there might be a better chance of success otherwise for the ones that aren't working.

[big_guitar]

I had one remaining test for enabling the GSP paddle for anything other than 2600 roms.
The unfortunate thing about it is that for those non-2600 games, the MyArcade game application is only targeting specific zip files (by filename from the core product) to enable device settings that allow the usage of the paddles, and it is undetermined as to a means to duplicate that via script, as it may be targeting unique device addresses that would not be consistent per system (but recognized/determined at runtime).

 

At any rate, I created a trigger for the built-in existing "avalnche.zip" file, which is one filename that the app specifically enables the paddle for.

So, although Intellivision was never designed to use paddles, I attempted to get Stonix to work with the paddle, and it did work using said trigger, with the GSP-paddle being able to move the horizontal game paddle object in both directions. However, when you turn the dial, the object you are controlling continues to move until it can move no more, meaning you can't stop it once the object starts moving.  Moving it in the opposite direction will stop the momentum from the original direction, but it will continue on in the new direction without stopping until the horizontal limit is reached in the direction it is moving. So in this specific case, it was not an ideal usage for the game.

Reasons for this behavior in this case might be:

1) INTV movement is designed for the digital disc not analog paddles; 2) the available CORE is not designed to consider paddle devices or paddle emulation either.

 

This test does show that it is likely possible for other cores & roms to "trick" the system into using the paddle by making similar trigger records for the existing paddle-files hard coded into the game app.  There are other configuration concerns to battle through where you might have to use a modern controller in addition to the GSP controller if the game requires d-pad specific tasks as well, and some RA cfg settings to make sure the buttons still work as desired.

Edited September 23 by big_guitar

[Mr_T]

The 400 mini project - progress

 

"retroarch-core-options.cfg" goes in the racfg folder on the SD card.

This sets the machine as 130XE and PAL with fast booting enabled.

 

Disc image

Added Yoomp - issue was 64K required - PAL and NTSC xex's separated, as yoomp.atr containing both wouldn't boot.

Battlezone - issue was 130K required

 

 

 

 

The400Mini.atr retroarch-core-options.cfg

[big_guitar]

On 9/20/2024 at 11:27 AM, unaigalder said:

What is the best joystick to play with analog games like Arknaoid?

I tried to get this to work with the GSP paddles using the method I mentioned in my last post, but it's just not ideal.  

I tried adjusting the analog deadzone and sensitivity and also used FBNeo core to set the analog speed, but the paddle control was just too erratic regardless of the combination of settings I attempted.

 

Outside of the GSP paddle, I would think using the left or right analog on either an xbox or ps controller would work best.