Custom firmware for Atari Gamestation Pro

[Atari8264]

19 hours ago, Marc Fiorillo said:

I got Frenzy to work.  But now I have a bigger problem with Berzerk.  It won't load.  When I select the game, it starts to load the rom...I get that video flash (like the self test), and then the screen remains blank and nothing happens.  I've deleted the rom and reloaded it, double and triple checked that in put it in the .ini file properly, and still...nothing.  I did do as described above. 

 

Interestingly enough, this happens in the customizable firmware set up.  When I put in the text SD card menu, it works fine.

 

For Frenzy, I just changed the name of the samples zip file to frenzy.zip, and it works fine in the firmware menu.

 

Weird.

Try deleting the berzerk files in the cfg, nvram, and hi folders where the berzerk rom file is located on the SD card.  The GSP will recreate them. 

[+Torq]

 

Here's a set of screenshots, cover art, and banners/titles for the first set of Atari 5200 games I've added.  Using this set is much the same as described in this post (see the "spoiler").

 

The .INI file entries are setup for a directory called "Atari 5200_c" (the full path is "/data/Games/Atari_Games/Atari 5200_c"), so all the .JPG and .PNG files (and your ROMs) need to go there.

 

This set includes:

 

Berzerk, Choplifter, Dig Dug, Frogger, Galaxian, Gyruss, H.E.R.O., Jungle Hunt, Kangaroo, Keystone Kapers, Megamania, Miner 2049er, Pac-Man, Pitfall!, Popeye, Q-Bert, Qix, River Raid, Space Invaders and The Activision Decathlon.

 

--

 

Because the 5200 has analog Joysticks and a keypad, some 5200 games do not work/work well on the AGSP.  Make sure to read the CONTROL instructions/notes I've added as they cover resolvable issues or oddities.  Beyond that, a couple seem to have issues with the Altirra 5200 BIOS (they work fine on other emulators).  I had already added the affected games before discovering the issues, so I'm leaving them in in case a fix or workaround becomes possible in the future.

 

The titles, in bold, above are ones with either function or control issues, which I'll summarize here:

 

Frogger:

 

The 5200 version of Frogger has a bizarre control scheme.  Playing with the stick requires either pressing the fire (A) button while holding in the direction you want to hop, or pushing the Joystick in the direction you want to go, and then pressing the fire button.  On a real 5200, or an emulator with a keyboard, you can also play in "keypad" mode, which works like "normal" Frogger, but you can't switch that on the AGSP.

 

This version is also stuck in "FAST" mode, since there is no way to action the "-" key on the keypad to switch it.

 

Kangaroo:

 

Mama kangaroo will move left if you're not either ducking or moving right.

 

Miner 2049er:

 

You can't finish levels 3, 7 and 8 due to lack of a keypad.

 

Levels 3 and 7 use transporters, which require number keys.  Level 8 has a lift that requires the # key.

 

Pitfall!:

 

You can't start the game.

 

I think this is either an Altirra BIOS issue, or a problem with the ROM dump I made (but it works on other emulators).

 

AGSP 5200 Set 1.zip

[+Torq]

 

Couldn't find this mentioned elsewhere (but maybe I'm not searching thoroughly enough) ...

 

Using an Xbox Series X controller with the AGSP and 5200 games lets you call up an "on-screen keypad" (it's all in a line, rather than shaped like a number-pad), to enter "*", "+" and 0-9.  Hit the left shoulder button to call up/dismiss the keypad.  Once displayed, use the left/right controls to select the key you want, and hit "A" to "press" it.

 

This lets you play (and finish) Miner 2049er after all.  You can change the speed and game modes in Frogger.  Still can't get Pitfall! to start, however.

[Vic20Ian]

3 minutes ago, Torq said:

 

Couldn't find this mentioned elsewhere (but maybe I'm not searching thoroughly enough) ...

 

Using an Xbox Series X controller with the AGSP and 5200 games lets you call up an "on-screen keypad" (it's all in a line, rather than shaped like a number-pad), to enter "*", "+" and 0-9.  Hit the left shoulder button to call up/dismiss the keypad.  Once displayed, use the left/right controls to select the key you want, and hit "A" to "press" it.

 

This lets you play (and finish) Miner 2049er after all.  You can change the speed and game modes in Frogger.  Still can't get Pitfall! to start, however.

I think GenXGrownup had Pitfall! working, maybe drop him a PM.

[TheRingBearer]

Ok, This is my finished Atari 5200 set.  Added in several that I had missed first time.

 

Also changed all of the title art to use my marquees I had created.  I know some of you will not like that.

 

Example...

Old

 

New

Jim's Atari 5200 games.zip

[Marc Fiorillo]

On 3/21/2024 at 6:12 PM, Atari8264 said:

Try deleting the berzerk files in the cfg, nvram, and hi folders where the berzerk rom file is located on the SD card.  The GSP will recreate them. 

That did the trick!  I was deleting the cfg file, but not the other two.  Thanks!

 

Now, I have another question.  I've added arcade games to the menu, but many of them are appearing the paddle games menu as well.  Is there a setting I should be changing in the Games.ini file to prevent this?

[Stab]

One of the omissions on 1.3 was that you can't save game progress on the sd card games unlike the factory installed games. With 1.3c can you save game progress when they are added to the main menus?

[+Torq]

This is my second set of banners/titles, cover art and screenshots for the 5200 on the AGSP, as per this post.

 

The .INI file entries are setup for a directory called "Atari 5200_c" (the full path is "/data/Games/Atari_Games/Atari 5200_c"), so all the .JPG and .PNG files (and your ROMs) need to go there.
 
This set includes:

 

Astro Chase, Ballblazer, Beamrider, Beef Drop, Blueprint, Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Caverns of Mars, Congo Bongo, Countermeasure, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Dreadnaught Factor, Gorf, Joust, Pac-Man (Arcade), Scramble, Space Invaders (Arcade), Track & Field and Zaxxon.

 

The titles, in bold, above are ones with special considerations:

 

Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Jr.:

 

Both crash if using the (default) Altirra System ROM (5200.ROM).

 

If you have a set of original 5200 System ROMS, you can place them in the "Atari 5200_c folder" (or whatever you're using in its place), and the AGSP will load THAT version of the System ROMs when loading games from "Atari 5200_c" instead of the Altirra ones that are in the regular Atari 5200 folder.

 

(Using actual 5200 System ROMs also fixes the Pitfall! not-starting issue, though I was able to patch that a different way).

AGSP 5200 Set 2.zip

[Handy DG]

4 hours ago, Torq said:

(Using actual 5200 System ROMs also fixes the Pitfall! not-starting issue, though I was able to patch that a different way).

I took your recommendation and copied original (I hope) 5200 system ROMs into the "Atari 5200_c" folder, so Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. now function properly.  However, I still cannot get Pitfall! to start (it remains stuck on the title screen).  What was your patch to get Pitfall! to start?  Thanks very much for your efforts to put these libraries together!

[Handy DG]

1 hour ago, Handy DG said:

I took your recommendation and copied original (I hope) 5200 system ROMs into the "Atari 5200_c" folder, so Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. now function properly.  However, I still cannot get Pitfall! to start (it remains stuck on the title screen).  What was your patch to get Pitfall! to start?  Thanks very much for your efforts to put these libraries together!

Never mind.  I tried a hacked ROM file called "Pitfall! (Classics Fix)" that seems to have fixed the problem.

[+Torq]

1 hour ago, Handy DG said:

What was your patch to get Pitfall! to start?

I made a code change in the .a52 file.

 

(In my youth I did a LOT of 6502/Atari 8-bit programming, and am just getting back into it).

 

9 minutes ago, Handy DG said:

I tried a hacked ROM file called "Pitfall! (Classics Fix)" that seems to have fixed the problem.

Glad you found a fix!

 

I plan to create a binary patch to apply the changes I made to the original Pitfall! ROM.  Need to find a good tool, ideally cross-platform, to generate and apply that patch, however.

[+Torq]

While it is probably much easier for those interested to just track down a copy of the "Pitfall! (Classics Fix)" ROM, here's a bsdiff/bspatch file that'll take an original Pitfall! 5200 ROM and turn it into one which will start on the AGSP.

 

You'll need to download/install bsdiff/bspatch for your operating system (I run macOS, so just installed it via HomeBrew (installs both programs):

 

brew install bsdiff

 

And then, with your original rom, and the patch file in the same directory, run:

 

bspatch original_rom new_file_name pitfall_start_fix.patch

 

So, for example:

 

bspatch pitfall.a52 pitfall_fixed.a52 pitfall_start_fix.patch

 

pitfall_start_fix.patch

[+Torq]

Here's a set of screenshots, cover art, menu images and banners/titles for the first set of Arcade games I've added.  Using this set is much the same as described in this post (see the "spoiler").
 
The .INI file entries are setup for a directory called "Arcade_c" (the full path is "/data/Games/Atari_Games/Arcade_c"), so all the .JPG and .PNG files (and your .ZIPped arcade ROMs) need to go there.  These are by no means all Atari arcade games, so I suppose I could put the directory immediately under "/data/Games", but I didn't ...

 

I've varied the title/banner images a bit from the previous sets to better reflect (where relevant) the "Arcade" nature of these games and the marquees they used.

This set includes:

 

Amidar, Berzerk, Burger Time, Carnival, Defender, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Frogger, Galaga, Galaxian, Gorf, Gyruss, Kangaroo, Lunar Rescue, Mr. Do!, Ms. Pac-Man, New Rally-X, Pac-Man, Phoenix, Pole Position, Popeye, Q*Bert, Qix, Scramble, Space Invaders and Track & Field.

 

--

 

I'm only doing games I both love and will regularly play this way; the rest I just plan to play off the directory browser interface, so there's probably 30 more Arcade titles to come.  Maybe a dozen 2600 games, perhaps twenty 5200 games, and then I have to tackle the 7800.

 

I'm not planning on doing this for any other consoles ... I'm using my AGSP purely for Atari 2600/5200/7800 and a handful of non-Atari arcade games.
 

AGSP Arcade Set 1.zip

[Handy DG]

1 hour ago, Torq said:

Here's a set of screenshots, cover art, menu images and banners/titles for the first set of Arcade games I've added.  Using this set is much the same as described in this post (see the "spoiler").
 
The .INI file entries are setup for a directory called "Arcade_c" (the full path is "/data/Games/Atari_Games/Arcade_c"), so all the .JPG and .PNG files (and your .ZIPped arcade ROMs) need to go there.  These are by no means all Atari arcade games, so I suppose I could put the directory immediately under "/data/Games", but I didn't ...

 

I've varied the title/banner images a bit from the previous sets to better reflect (where relevant) the "Arcade" nature of these games and the marquees they used.

This set includes:

 

Amidar, Berzerk, Burger Time, Carnival, Defender, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Frogger, Galaga, Galaxian, Gorf, Gyruss, Kangaroo, Lunar Rescue, Mr. Do!, Ms. Pac-Man, New Rally-X, Pac-Man, Phoenix, Pole Position, Popeye, Q*Bert, Qix, Scramble, Space Invaders and Track & Field.

 

Thanks very much for continuing this project.  FYI, I noticed a few minor problems:

 

1. "kangroo_title.png" should be renamed to "kangaroo_title.png"

2. The artwork files were not included for Q*Bert.

3. When using the "poleposa.zip" MAME2000 Reference ROM for Pole Position, none of the buttons work for some reason.

 

Also, audio sample files for Berzerk, Donkey Kong, etc. should be copied to a "samples" subdirectory.

[+Torq]

33 minutes ago, Handy DG said:

Thanks very much for continuing this project.  FYI, I noticed a few minor problems:

 

Nice catch!

 

I just caught the Q*Bert issue myself, but had not spotted the "kangroo" misspelling.

 

The attached file fixes both of those issues.

 

You need to create a MAME configuration file (goes in the "cfg" folder with your Arcade ROMs) for "poleposa.zip".  I'll add one here, since I have it, but I'm just doing the artwork and .ini stuff in this process rather than building out all the other MAME subdirectories/contents (same goes for the samples).  I need to do one for Defender, as well.

 

AGSP Arcade Set 1.zip poleposa.cfg

[Handy DG]

5 minutes ago, Torq said:

 

Nice catch!

 

I just caught the Q*Bert issue myself, but had not spotted the "kangroo" misspelling.

 

The attached file fixes both of those issues.

 

You need to create a MAME configuration file (goes in the "cfg" folder with your Arcade ROMs) for "poleposa.zip".  I'll add one here, since I have it, but I'm just doing the artwork and .ini stuff in this process rather than building out all the other MAME subdirectories/contents (same goes for the samples).  I need to do one for Defender, as well.

 

Thank you!  I'm not all that familiar with MAME, so thanks for the Pole Position cfg file.

[+Torq]

Okay .. Defender is going to be a problem in Arcade mode ...

 

The standard controllers don't have enough inputs to handle what Defender needs at all (even if they were re-mappable).

 

It needs inputs for:

• Up/Down
• Reverse Direction
• Fire
• Thrust
• Hyperspace
• Smartbomb

You can do it with an Xbox (etc.) controller ... but Y winds up being Hyperspace and then triggers the Save menu, which is a bit janky.

 

As I recall, MAME used to have a "cheat" that allows you to run Defender using the Joystick to simply fly in the direction you wanted to (requires access to MAME's in-game menu), and not have to use Thrust and Reverse as separate controls, but I don't think that option exists here.

 

The alternatives would be to patch MAME itself or modify Defender's code (which will then result in a different ROM checksum and MAME will/should reject it).

 

Might have to stick to the 5200 version of Defender here ...

[Atari8264]

1 hour ago, Torq said:

Okay .. Defender is going to be a problem in Arcade mode ...

 

The standard controllers don't have enough inputs to handle what Defender needs at all (even if they were re-mappable).

 

It needs inputs for:

• Up/Down
• Reverse Direction
• Fire
• Thrust
• Hyperspace
• Smartbomb

You can do it with an Xbox (etc.) controller ... but Y winds up being Hyperspace and then triggers the Save menu, which is a bit janky.

 

As I recall, MAME used to have a "cheat" that allows you to run Defender using the Joystick to simply fly in the direction you wanted to (requires access to MAME's in-game menu), and not have to use Thrust and Reverse as separate controls, but I don't think that option exists here.

 

The alternatives would be to patch MAME itself or modify Defender's code (which will then result in a different ROM checksum and MAME will/should reject it).

 

Might have to stick to the 5200 version of Defender here ...

I made the poleposa.cfg file and posted that in forums Atari Systems -> Atari General -> Gamestation Pro.  I also made the Pole Position 2 file.  They should work on any version of the mame PP arcade games (1 or 2).

 

Also look at page 34. I made and uploaded a Defender cfg configuration file that uses up/down and all 5 buttons on the GSP Joystick #1.  Joystick 2 starts the game.

 

There are other controller config files in that topic that make other arcade games playable.  I made a TRON file too.  

Domeshtan made a two joystick must have Battlezone file posted in that topicwigich is a must read topic.
 

Edited March 25 by Atari8264

[Marky316]

2 hours ago, Torq said:

Okay .. Defender is going to be a problem in Arcade mode ...

 

The standard controllers don't have enough inputs to handle what Defender needs at all (even if they were re-mappable).

 

It needs inputs for:

• Up/Down
• Reverse Direction
• Fire
• Thrust
• Hyperspace
• Smartbomb

You can do it with an Xbox (etc.) controller ... but Y winds up being Hyperspace and then triggers the Save menu, which is a bit janky.

 

As I recall, MAME used to have a "cheat" that allows you to run Defender using the Joystick to simply fly in the direction you wanted to (requires access to MAME's in-game menu), and not have to use Thrust and Reverse as separate controls, but I don't think that option exists here.

 

The alternatives would be to patch MAME itself or modify Defender's code (which will then result in a different ROM checksum and MAME will/should reject it).

 

Might have to stick to the 5200 version of Defender here ...

Yep Defender is a Pain same with Stargate, I play the 5200 version, again thank for your files and work

[Marky316]

56 minutes ago, Atari8264 said:

I made the poleposa.cfg file and posted that in forums Atari Systems -> Atari General -> Gamestation Pro.  I also made the Pole Position 2 file.  They should work on any version of the mame PP arcade games (1 or 2).

 

Also look at page 34. I made and uploaded a Defender cfg configuration file that uses up/down and all 5 buttons on the GSP Joystick #1.  Joystick 2 starts the game.

 

There are other controller config files in that topic that make other arcade games playable.  I made a TRON file too.  

Domeshtan made a two joystick must have Battlezone file posted in that topicwigich is a must read topic.
 

Oh wow how did I miss that... going to check it out now and TY

 

[tjrtech]

I have a beta version (v0.90b) of a utility I call "AGSP Enhance" available.  It does require the Community Firmware v1.30c to work, and it should run on both MacOS and Windows (though I have only really tested it on MacOS).

It does require Python3, it does require that you know how to install Python libraries, etc, so that may make it a bit difficult for some.

Included in this package are all the curated ROMs and images needed for Atari 5200, Atari 7800 (those are complete), as well as about 500 Atari 2600 games, and a couple of Genesis and SNES games just for my testing (oh, and some MAME based Arcade games).

*** I make no claims towards owning or towards the distribution of the ROMs and images within the ZIP below as these are all freely available on the Internet ***

I will answer questions on its use here as I can.

Take a look at the ZIP file and the attached readme in PDF format:
README.pdf

agsp_enhance_v0.90b.zip

Edited March 25 by tjrtech

[Marky316]

8 hours ago, tjrtech said:

I will answer questions on its use here as I can.

Take a look at the ZIP file and the attached readme in PDF format:
README.pdf

agsp_enhance_v0.90b.zip 112.69 MB · 15 downloads

I want to thank you for this package OMG 100 times better then I was doing with the info files and titles...looks like I am going to make a new build, as I have deleted the 16 and 8 bit games added my own and just added on the 26,52,78 and arcade folders. Thank you for sharing this....and everyone who has added files and help on here TY

Edited March 26 by Marky316

[General Shakewell]

12 hours ago, tjrtech said:

I have a beta version (v0.90b) of a utility I call "AGSP Enhance" available.  It does require the Community Firmware v1.30c to work, and it should run on both MacOS and Windows (though I have only really tested it on MacOS).

It does require Python3, it does require that you know how to install Python libraries, etc, so that may make it a bit difficult for some.

Included in this package are all the curated ROMs and images needed for Atari 5200, Atari 7800 (those are complete), as well as about 500 Atari 2600 games, and a couple of Genesis and SNES games just for my testing (oh, and some MAME based Arcade games).

*** I make no claims towards owning or towards the distribution of the ROMs and images within the ZIP below as these are all freely available on the Internet ***

I will answer questions on its use here as I can.

Take a look at the ZIP file and the attached readme in PDF format:
README.pdf

agsp_enhance_v0.90b.zip 112.69 MB · 18 downloads

Not sure if this is a python error on my end or something I'm just doing wrong. I don't have much experience with using python.

 

E:\agsp_enhance>python3 agsp_enhance.py enhance
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:154: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("     /\   / ____|/ ____|  __ \             | |")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:155: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("    /  \ | |  __| (___ | |__) |   ___ _ __ | |__   __ _ _ __   ___ ___")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:156: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("   / /\ \| | |_ |\___ \|  ___/   / _ \ '_ \| '_ \ / _` | '_ \ / __/ _ \\")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:157: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("  / ____ \ |__| |____) | |      |  __/ | | | | | | (_| | | | | (_|  __/")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:158: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\_'
  print(" /_/    \_\_____|_____/|_|       \___|_| |_|_| |_|\__,_|_| |_|\___\___|\n")
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py", line 55, in <module>
    import psutil
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'psutil'

[tjrtech]

18 hours ago, General Shakewell said:

Not sure if this is a python error on my end or something I'm just doing wrong. I don't have much experience with using python.

 

E:\agsp_enhance>python3 agsp_enhance.py enhance
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:154: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("     /\   / ____|/ ____|  __ \             | |")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:155: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("    /  \ | |  __| (___ | |__) |   ___ _ __ | |__   __ _ _ __   ___ ___")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:156: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("   / /\ \| | |_ |\___ \|  ___/   / _ \ '_ \| '_ \ / _` | '_ \ / __/ _ \\")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:157: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\ '
  print("  / ____ \ |__| |____) | |      |  __/ | | | | | | (_| | | | | (_|  __/")
E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py:158: SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence '\_'
  print(" /_/    \_\_____|_____/|_|       \___|_| |_|_| |_|\__,_|_| |_|\___\___|\n")
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "E:\agsp_enhance\agsp_enhance.py", line 55, in <module>
    import psutil
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'psutil'

Hey General, I haven't been able to do a lot of testing on Windows, but if you have Python3 (not Python) installed then in the Windows command line you should be able to run:

> python3 -m pip install psutil

That will install the psutil module.  Also the "SyntaxWarning: invalid escape sequence" errors you are getting I am not getting on MacOS.  Not sure if others are getting that.  I was trying to be cute and print out a logo.

 

[tjrtech]

22 hours ago, Marky316 said:

I want to thank you for this package OMG 100 times better then I was doing with the info files and titles...looks like I am going to make a new build, as I have deleted the 16 and 8 bit games added my own and just added on the 26,52,78 and arcade folders. Thank you for sharing this....and everyone who has added files and help on here TY

Yeah, I am proud of the curation as that took some time, and the code that generates the text-based _title.png files, though the utility will use hand-curated _title.png files if they exist (like you did for all the arcade ROMs.  Oh, and I for sure am stealing some of those for a future release of curated stuff in agsp_enhance...lol).

Edited March 27 by tjrtech