Custom firmware for Atari Gamestation Pro

[Brad_from_the_80s]

2 hours ago, Boots01 said:

 

Limitation of the stock UI, as far as I can tell.

[crash]

Is there an existing collection or repository of artwork and screenshots that folks are using?

Thanks

[rain2591]

17 hours ago, crash said:

Is there an existing collection or repository of artwork and screenshots that folks are using?

Thanks

I'm creating mine from scratch using art from https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/ and then using gimp to create the title image 

Edited February 29 by rain2591

[jonreddick]

On 2/27/2024 at 11:00 AM, Boots01 said:

 

I believe that's right. I haven't done much with populating the ABOUT/CONTROLS, but I recall the added ability to scroll down on long CONTROLS text was added by My Arcade with FW 1.30 to address the lack of instructions.

[WhyNot57]

On 2/27/2024 at 11:00 AM, Boots01 said:

 

@Boots01, The ABOUT text needs to fit on one screen. I'll try and figure out the max characters for this field. I have created CONTROL text and the page break '*' (asterisk) does work. I've created 4 pages of game information that scrolls.

[Boots01]

23 hours ago, crash said:

Is there an existing collection or repository of artwork and screenshots that folks are using?

Thanks

For firmware 1.30c - this is a good start for 5200 and 7800 artwork.
Just add to your existing folders (skip copy/replace existing files). There are 5 pages of 5200, and 3 pages of 7800 show.
You'll have to get your own ROMS, just name them the same, and edit your 'games.ini' file.

 

--- 5200 SAMPLE ---
 
[Captain Beeble]
display_name=Captain Beeble
suffix=.a52
release_date=2004
players=1
class_type=2
game_type=12
hard=0
save=1
timer=/data/Games/Atari_Games/Atari 5200
about="KENFUZED @ Control Captain Beeble through a series of tunnels and caves by directing the thrust of his jet-pack. A light gravity effect is the only external force moving him. Exterminate enemy bugs while moving blocks to retrieve a crystal and return it to the Crystal Processing Unit. If he carries the crystal too long it explodes."
controls="HOW TO START:
- Press START to begin the game
.
SETTINGS (Press MENU button):
- GAME CONTROLS are not supported.
- SAVE MENU is not supported.
.
CONTROLS:
- Press A to move.
- Press B to --.
- Press SELECT to Pause game."
vertical=0

Atari_5200_7800_artwork_v1-3c.7z

Edited February 29 by Boots01

[crash]

This is greatly appreciated. Has anyone created a set for 2600 yet? I have the scrapes from my other systems that have screenshots and marquees, but there are about 3600 images to rename.

[crash]

Does the custom firmware support all of these platforms???

 

NES, Genesis / MegaDrive, SNES, GBA, VCS / 2600, 7800, ARCADE / MAME, 5200  / A800, 5200 / Lynx, Jaguar, PC Engine / TG16, CBM PET

Edited February 29 by crash

[Vic20Ian]

10 hours ago, crash said:

Does the custom firmware support all of these platforms???

 

NES, Genesis / MegaDrive, SNES, GBA, VCS / 2600, 7800, ARCADE / MAME, 5200  / A800, 5200 / Lynx, Jaguar, PC Engine / TG16, CBM PET

Cutom firmware is the same as stock firmware except it runs from the SD card and you can alter the UI content.

 

You can also still run SD card folder based items if you don't want to put them in the menu.

[crash]

Thanks. I saw those listed in the game_type.txt file, and thought that I may have missed a significant development.

 

I'm working on a corresponding database and collection of artwork for 2600/7800/5200 roms.

 

Cheers

[clyde]

21 hours ago, Boots01 said:

this is a good start for 5200 and 7800 artwork

Thanks for sharing! Is this artwork for games you've been able to get working on the GSP, or just a collection of art?

 

Asking as I noticed Bristles in there which doesn't seem to work for me. Neither does Bruce Lee. Granted, both of these are .bin's I renamed to .a52 which worked fine for other titles.

Edited March 1 by clyde

[Boots01]

51 minutes ago, clyde said:

 

There may be 2 or 3 games that I didn't test fully yet, Bristles  sounds like one possibility that my ROM might not work, have to look around for a different version, maybe you'll find a better copy.  Bruce Lee, I don't even see it in original mode, I know nothing about it

-->> there are no Bruce Lee artwork images in my package here..........................

Edited March 1 by Boots01

[crash]

38 minutes ago, clyde said:

Thanks for sharing! Is this artwork for games you've been able to get working on the GSP, or just a collection of art?

I haven't been playing close attention to all of these threads, but thought that someone might have already prepared a comprehensive set of 2600 screenshots, marquees, box art, and ini file for the GPS. That seems maybe to not be the case, so I was going to try to do it this weekend. This is solely for the GPS, as the artwork, shots, and photos are already up on sites like Atari Age and elsewhere. They just need to be selected, converted, renamed, and assembled in the ini file as it is specified.

Cheers

[clyde]

26 minutes ago, Boots01 said:

no Bruce Lee artwork images in my package

Yeah, Bristles was the only one in your list. I just mentioned Bruce Lee as it's another classic that doesn't seem to work on the GSP.

 

19 minutes ago, crash said:

was going to try to do it this weekend

I think a lot of people are lazily waiting (myself included) for someone to do this haha. I'm not so interested in the 2600 art, more the 5200/7800/MAME collection. There must be some tool that would scrape metadata and/or auto-insert into the GSP's .ini format. 

[big_guitar]

So I guess you have to stick with Atari "class" options in order to show extra images and control instructions (vs Bonus).

Not really an 'Arcade' game, but there's no ideal location if you want to show controller details... Entertaining to mess with 😜

[And Yes, of course the game plays! FBNeo core with CV subsystem]

Edited March 2 by big_guitar

[Boots01]

42 minutes ago, big_guitar said:

...  FBNeo core with CV subsystem

 

Hmmmmm, more clarification please. Maybe the 'games.ini' entry section would enlighten some of us for more ideas.

So you can play (some) ColecoVision games?

Edited March 2 by Boots01

[big_guitar]

34 minutes ago, Boots01 said:

Hmmmmm, more clarification please.

I had this working for CV on GSP prior to Brad's work, just using file selections from the SD card with fluxit's runme modification [details are in original GSP thread for atariage forum].

But for 1.30c adding to the graphic interface, I modified the INI is like this:

 

[rocky]
display_name=Rocky
suffix=.zip
release_date=1983
players=1 [for now]
class_type=4
game_type=18
hard=2
save=0
timer=/sdcard/Games/FBNEOC
about="Rocky - Super Action Boxing"
controls="Configured for Generic XBOX Controller
-Use D-Pad to Move
-[B Button]        Head Punch
-[A Button]        Body Punch
-[X Button]        Protect      
-[Left Analog Up]  Duck
-[Left Bumper]     #1 option
-[Select Button]   Pause"
vertical=0

 

I edited /sdcard/data/start_local_sd.sh to parse out game_type 18, to add the CORE for FBNeo to the GAME_LIB variable (stored on the SDCARD as defined), also adding a new variable for my own additional customizations...

 

  17)
    GAME_LIB=vice_xpet_libretro.so
    ;;
  18)
    GAME_LIB="/sdcard/cores/fbneo_libretro.so"
    G_OPTION="1";  # XBOX controller; Colecovision subsystem
    ;;

 

but most of the work is under /sdcard/agsp/runme.sh   [which I will limit content here to simplify]  ... (using an if statement in runme.sh to check the G_OPTION variable and pass options accordingly)

 

[NOTE, see attachment for a more complete runme file (still shortened for simplification)]
subsystem=""; 
if [ $G_OPTION == "1" ]; then
   activecfg=$xboxcfg1;  subsystem="cv";  echo "--set subsystem to 'cv'" >> $mainlog;
fi
#[...]
if [ -z "$subsystem" ]; then
  /usr/bin/retroarch -y $y_param\
   -k "$1"\
   -c $activecfg\
   -L "$libPath" "$rom1" >$retrolog 2>&1;
else 
  /usr/bin/retroarch -y $y_param\
   -k "$1"\
   -c $activecfg\
   --subsystem "$subsystem"\
   -L "$libPath" "$rom1" >$retrolog 2>&1;
fi

 

runme-min.sh

Edited March 2 by big_guitar

[big_guitar]

1 hour ago, Boots01 said:

So you can play (some) ColecoVision games?

If you want to play games that require Support Action Controller support, you have to use FBNeo, but for basic controller CV games, other cores will work like blueMSX. I don't think there are any CV games that can't be played that I can think of.

[crash]

Can anyone mention how they are generating a games.ini file from existing databases, or perhaps are people adding titles to the game.ini file manually?

 

Thanks

[big_guitar]

15 minutes ago, crash said:

Can anyone mention how they are generating a games.ini file from existing databases, or perhaps are people adding titles to the game.ini file manually?

 

Thanks

Basically, all of your answers are defined in the primary post for this thread (see the first page).

The initial INI file is generated and extracted from the primary GSP source database to your SDCARD by performing the steps as mentioned therein. 

Then, you can edit the INI file by defining a section for a new game, also which is mentioned. 

So yes, people are adding to the data/games.ini file manually, based on files they have placed on the SDCARD to provide for selecting additional games from the user interface.

[Vic20Ian]

On 2/24/2024 at 2:51 AM, jonreddick said:

Certainly. I source 90% of what I use from the LaunchBox community library. Game Media - LaunchBox Community Forums (launchbox-app.com)

@jonreddick If you have a nice setup with art and ini file working it would be great to share this here and save some time for folks who can edit out the artwork and listings they don't want to see.

There are some nice 5200 and 7800 art files shared, the ini would also help save folks some time and maybe encourage a few more to dip their toe in the CFW.

 

[Vic20Ian]

On 2/29/2024 at 9:00 PM, Boots01 said:

 

Atari_5200_7800_artwork_v1-3c.7z 14.93 MB · 29 downloads

@Boots01 Nice artwork, please could you share the ini as well?

[crash]

6 hours ago, big_guitar said:

Then, you can edit the INI file by defining a section for a new game, also which is mentioned. 

So yes, people are adding to the data/games.ini file manually, based on files they have placed on the SDCARD to provide for selecting additional games from the user interface.

Hi,

 

I'm definitely not going to be making 1000 additional entries in the INI file by hand. It has probably been 15 years since I have had to do this kind of thing, so I had forgotten the easiest way to do it. I will probably end up using an sqlite script or visual basic scripting to generate the INI file from databases.

 

Cheers

[big_guitar]

23 minutes ago, crash said:

Hi,

 

I'm definitely not going to be making 1000 additional entries in the INI file by hand. It has probably been 15 years since I have had to do this kind of thing, so I had forgotten the easiest way to do it. I will probably end up using an sqlite script or visual basic scripting to generate the INI file from databases.

 

Cheers

Well due to the limitations of how the interface is organized, I don't think I'd want to add a thousand roms anyway, just favorites.  I think the straight SDCARD folder navigation would allow for quicker selections when your getting into much higher numbers.  But still, I was thinking perhaps a simple windows app could be made to assist with appending app settings to the ini file.

[crash]

I don't necessarily intend to have 1000 games installed, but it will be easier for me to delete unwanted entries from an INI file than it is to manually enter them if I want to try other games. If I am able to come up with some way to select the games I want from a database query and then have it generate a corresponding INI file, even better. It would be nice to have an app to assist with any of this.