New Libretro Atari 800 Core (lr-atari800): Compiling from source. Who is maintaining the Libretro ATARI 800 for retropie?

retox

Hi there again,

yesterday I compiled the new version and noticed a strange behaviour of the ATARI 800 emulator. It seems that this version runs at "full speed" it's almost impossible to make changes entering with F1 (on the physical keyboard) into the emulator menu. Ingame music runs much to fast, although the game speed seems quite normal. I'm also not able to change the system to PAL. Display color changes are saved (Presets) but the PAL switch is not alterable. Onscreen game speed only shows "0%".

Would it be possible to program joystick switches in order to enter the Emulator setup and putting SELECT, OPTION and START on the controller, too? I mean it's nice to leave the emulator with the Hotbutton + START, but for beginning a game you need to use the keyboard in most of the titles (F2 for OPTION, F3 for SELECT and F4 for START).

By the way, great work and big thanks to all associated programmers ...

tuf

I'm experiencing the same thing. About a 3 second delay to any keystroke in the F1 emulator options menus. The games seem to run ok, or at least at full speed (ish).

future.child

I'd suggest opening an issue here: https://github.com/r-type/libretro-atari800 but am not sure about the level of support.

Luke2100

Any progress on this issue? Atari 8bit emulation is quite important to me on Pie :(

ps. i think that the emulator config saves are also broken
ps2. it seems that the older (but working), "non libretro" version of this emulator is no longer available in Pie

retox

@luke2100

Luke, what I noticed concerning the speed problem is: When I changed the setting to PAL (I live in Germany) the speed issues were no longer present. I changed these settings inside the libretro (retroarch) menu. But you are right, the configuration within the atari800 emulator are still present. I don't know if you are aware of the mist project?

http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=201

https://github.com/mist-devel/mist-board/wiki/HowTheMinimigCoreWorks

This is NO emulation: It's an FPGA machine which can programmed with different cores which are available for various platforms. Just check the videos and follow the links.

I will buy a mist soon (the mist plus also as a midi interface for running notator and midi other sequencer software). This is the real deal besides using the original hardware.

But I love the Atari 800 emulation on the retropie just for playing a quick game M.U.L.E on my TV.

Best wishes from Berlin

retox

Luke2100

@retox

No, I wasn't aware of this "Mist-project"... But i already have two Atari's 8bit machines (800xe and 130xe with sio2sd)) so, i don't think that i need another hardware in my home. I just love my raspberry pi 3, it's capabilities, size etc. and of course Atari 8bit games, sooo.. i wish that the only (?) available emulator on it is not broken, like it is now

Best wishes from Stettin, Poland :)

mediamogul

@luke2100 said in New Libretro Atari 800 Core (lr-atari800): Compiling from source. Who is maintaining the Libretro ATARI 800 for retropie?:

it seems that the older (but working), "non libretro" version of this emulator is no longer available in Pie

Are you sure about that? It's still listed as being active and the scriptmodule is intact. I'm not around to check further, but if available, it's a much better choice than the libretro core, which lacks certain options and peripheral emulation that many games need to function.

future.child

@Luke2100
In my opinion Atari800-Libretro is not yet finished and has replaced the original Atari800 too soon in retropie.
Having fiddled with the source of Atari800 in my "improved joystick support" fork i doubt it will ever be finished without an extensive rewrite.

You may want to try kat5200 as an emulator
It can be installed with zerojay 's retropie-extra collection.
Is has a qui for menu so you'll need a keyboard/mouse to configure, but it let's you configure just about anything and allows for specific controller configurations to be assigned to rom-crc.
It does however lack an entry for A800 in retropie but editing /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg will fix that

you can find instructions to install the retropie-extra collection here.

Luke2100

@mediamogul said

Are you sure about that?

I've checked again and You're right - it is still available. I don't know why i couldn't install it few days ago...

@future-child
Thank You!

mediamogul

@luke2100

If Atari 800/5200 games are really important to you, it might be worth your time to key-map a controller to better accommodate the systems. I use an external joystick mapping for the Atari800 software that universally controls all game play and emulator functions, as well as having keypad input mapped to the right thumbstick and mouse input mapped to the left thumbstick for full analog control in games that need it. I even have 'start+select' mapped as exit to match the RetroArch cores. The learning curve for this is admittedly somewhat steep, but I've made a guide detailing every step here. If you do happen to be interested, I'll post my mapping as a reference below.

sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv \
	--evdev /dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.2:1.0-event-joystick \
	--detach-kernel-driver \
	--force-feedback \
	--dpad-as-button \
	--trigger-as-button \
	--deadzone-trigger 15% \
	--deadzone 4000 \
	--device-name "Logitech Rumblepad 2 (xboxdrv)" \
	--silent \
	--axismap -Y1=Y1,-Y2=Y2 \
	--buttonmap tl^toggle=tl \
	--buttonmap tr^toggle=tr \
	--evdev-absmap ABS_X=x1,ABS_Y=y1,ABS_Z=x2,ABS_RZ=y2,ABS_HAT0X=dpad_x,ABS_HAT0Y=dpad_y \
	--evdev-keymap BTN_THUMB2=a,BTN_THUMB=b,BTN_TOP=x,BTN_TRIGGER=y,BTN_BASE3=back,BTN_BASE4=start,BTN_TOP2=lb,BTN_PINKIE=rb,BTN_BASE5=tl,BTN_BASE6=tr,BTN_BASE=lt,BTN_BASE2=rt \
	--ui-axismap X1=KEY_KP4:KEY_KP6,Y1=KEY_KP8:KEY_KP5 \
	--ui-axismap X2=KEY_1:KEY_2,Y2=KEY_3:KEY_4,lt+X2=KEY_5:KEY_6,lt+Y2=KEY_7:KEY_8,rt+X2=KEY_9:KEY_0,rt+Y2=KEY_KPASTERISK:KEY_EQUAL \
	--ui-buttonmap b=KEY_RIGHTCTRL,a=KEY_F2,x=KEY_EQUAL,y=KEY_KPASTERISK,lb=KEY_UNKNOWN,rb=KEY_UNKNOWN,du=KEY_KP8,dd=KEY_KP5,dl=KEY_KP4,dr=KEY_KP6,start=KEY_F4,back=KEY_F3,lt=KEY_UNKNOWN,rt=KEY_UNKNOWN,tl=KEY_UNKNOWN,tr=KEY_UNKNOWN \
	--ui-buttonmap back+x=KEY_F1,back+start=KEY_F9,back+b=KEY_F5 \
	--ui-buttonmap rt+a=KEY_ENTER,rt+b=KEY_ESC,rt+du=KEY_UP,rt+dd=KEY_DOWN,rt+dl=KEY_LEFT,rt+dr=KEY_RIGHT \
	--ui-axismap tl+x1=REL_X:15,tl+y1=REL_Y:15 \
	--ui-buttonmap tr+b=BTN_LEFT,tr+a=BTN_RIGHT \
	--ui-buttonmap lt+a=KEY_A,lt+b=KEY_B,lt+x=KEY_X,lt+y=KEY_Y,lt+lb=KEY_L,lt+rb=KEY_R,lt+du=KEY_UP,lt+dd=KEY_DOWN,lt+dl=KEY_LEFT,lt+dr=KEY_RIGHT,lt+start=KEY_T,lt+back=KEY_E \
	--ui-buttonmap guide=void \
	&

Luke2100

Does anyone else experience the same problem as tuf? Ie. very slow keyboard operation in the F1 menu and also in games (for example in Universal Hero)? I'm taking about "non libretro" atari800 emulator.

mediamogul

@luke2100

I haven't noticed anything myself, no. Do you know of anything that may be running in the background?

Luke2100

@mediamogul No, i don't think so. I even set up new, clean version of RetroPie with only this emulator.

mediamogul

@luke2100 said in New Libretro Atari 800 Core (lr-atari800): Compiling from source. Who is maintaining the Libretro ATARI 800 for retropie?:

I'm taking about "non libretro" atari800 emulator.

Just to be completely clear, are you talking about the default version of Atari800 that can be installed via the RetroPie-Setup, or the modified version being discussed in this thread?

Luke2100

@mediamogul I'm taking about atari800 not about lr-atari800 (default in retropie 4.4).

But i've managed to find a problem - there is some incompatibility between my custom made arcade stick and atari800 within retropie. When i use my bluetooth controller, there are no slow downs.

spimfurt

I think i have similar problem. i can't change type of the machine and TV standard.
I always endup with Atari 800, 48k, NTSC.
If screen mode of my Pi Zero is 50Hz i have difficulity with the keyboard, like it running on max speed. Only game i have and can run with this setup is Jet Set Willy. Music is obviously at 60Hz sync and scroller have drops due to 50Hz screen and 60Hz emulation interference.

Changes made in emulators menu (F1) are saved properly. But the emulator never respect them. Or some of them. Because paths to ROM files and BIOS files are used so as the color settings.

Am i missing somehting obvious? It's seems to be caused by something in emul. execution parameters witch overrides the cfg values. I don't know. And i want my Draconus, believe me.

What i have already done:
Downloaded and installed the retropie twice.
Updated system and retropie
Changed, rewrited, downloaded from other people and saved from emulator. Config file Atari800.cfg.
Changed the rasberry screen mode to 50Hz and back.
Changed ROM specific (a button during game launch) config to 50Hz, added MACHINE_TYPE=Atari XL/XE, DEFAULT_TV_MODE=PAL
and... nothing.

thanx guys.