Atari 5200: New version of Atari800 (Beta): two triggers (Moon Patrol!!!), hat start and exit buttons

kruuth

I got kat5200 to run but I have a logitech USB joystick and I can't seem to find the start/select combo on my pad. I can play games though. How do I set these two buttons?

future.child

@kruuth since v0.8.0 start+select are no longer hardcoded to exit the emulator.

You can manually assign the start/select combo in the menu.
Using keyboard/mouse: press 'ESC" -> Options -> user interface -> choose 'exit' and assign a combo input to it via auto-detect.

kruuth

Thank you future.child, but there's a problem. When I go to set it, the emu exits. If I try to go back in, then it's not set again so I go to set it, and I feed it the combo command on the joystick, and it exits...lather, rinse, repeat.

Is there a config file I can play with to set this?

future.child

@kruuth The config is written in a database file , you can see it's name and location in the bottom of the screen when you enter the menu. Directly editing this database is not advised however unless you've spent some time understanding it's structure.

When you set it and the emu exits, do you mean immediately (which would mean a permission issue or missing database key), or the function works as intended but is not saved (not written to database) ?

Do you save the settings to the default profile using the "saveas" button prior to pressing ok ?

kruuth

When I set it, the emulator exits immediately, but then when I restart the emulator again, it has lost the functionality.

future.child

@kruuth ok, then the emulator is probably crashing upon setting up the button combination (assuming you did not press ok yet).
Do you 'point and click' the button assignment or have the emu detect the input ?

Could you also supply me with the following information:
Which version of kat5200 are you running.
How was it installed, with my script, zerojay's extra's or manual.
What database file is used (please upload it).
Can you start the emulator from a command shell too see if there are any diagnostic messages when it quits.

kruuth

I installed from zerojay's extra's. Should I use yours instead?

When I launch kat5200 and try to assign combo keys, I get a flash of a window and then nothing happens. The game seems to work fine though....

Here's my db file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w66x0dlz6ej2knd/kat5200.db3?dl=0

future.child

@kruuth It makes no difference if my script or zerojay's is being used as in both only the debugger key has been removed.
I'll have a look at the database later today.

future.child

@kruuth I had a look at the database and i see a "J0 - Logitech Logitech Dual Action" configured to have buttons 10 and 11 serve as combo input to exit the emulator upon pressing the buttons.
As far as i can tell this should work as advertised (i would expect to see button id's 8 and 9 for start and select though).

Can you confirm this is the joystick you are trying to configure and see if the button id's 10 and 11 are correct.
If needed it's also possible to compile a binary with the start + select buttons hard coded to quit the emulator.

kruuth

@future-child said in Atari 5200: New version of Atari800 (Beta): two triggers (Moon Patrol!!!), hat start and exit buttons:

@kruuth I had a look at the database and i see a "J0 - Logitech Logitech Dual Action" configured to have buttons 10 and 11 serve as combo input to exit the emulator upon pressing the buttons.
As far as i can tell this should work as advertised (i would expect to see button id's 8 and 9 for start and select though).

Can you confirm this is the joystick you are trying to configure and see if the button id's 10 and 11 are correct.
If needed it's also possible to compile a binary with the start + select buttons hard coded to quit the emulator.

Yes, that's the proper controller.

kruuth

Ok scratch that one. Apparently it's working now. I reinstalled everything and now it's working. Odd.

EvilDindon

Hey dudes,

Apparently I missed important things since my last connection on here.

Is kat5200 the way to go now ? Better than the modified atari800 emu ?

Can you link me to the post that announces the port of kat5200 to retropie ?

Cheers,

Mike

future.child

@evildindon I personally believe the Kat5200 offers more functionality in controller configuration over atari800 like per rom configs, flexible input mapping and fixes for specific roms.

I abandoned my modification to atari800 as it would take too much effort changing from polling to a event driven input handler and polling causes too much lag for comfort. The retroarch port of atari800 offers no real improvement to this either.

Kat5200 was announced here, as unofficial/experimental.
Initially i just wrote a small script too have it installed under retropie with a few modifications, lateron zerojay added it to his extra's menu, which is now my preferred way of installing.

@future-child said in Atari 5200: New version of Atari800 (Beta): two triggers (Moon Patrol!!!), hat start and exit buttons:

@keithmason The instructions for zerojay's extra's can be found here.

Step one is to install the extra's menu:
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/zerojay/RetroPie-Extra.git
cd RetroPie-Extra/
./install-extras.sh
Step two is to run the extra's menu:
cd ~
cd RetroPie-Extra/
git pull origin
./install-extras.sh
You should be able to find kat5200 under emulators and install it from there.

Step three is to place you roms and bios files in their proper folders, after rebooting the roms should be listed and be able to launch kat5200.
First start of kat5200 should begin with a configuration wizard for which you need keyboard/mouse.

If you want Atari800 as a menu option as well you could modify the /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg and /opt/retropie/configs/atari800/emulators.cfg files.

cloudlink

What do I put in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg and /opt/retropie/configs/atari800/emulators.cfg files if I want Kat5200 as a menu option?

future.child

@cloudlink

you can use the following as a guide:

es_systems.cfg :

<system>
    <name>atari800</name>
    <fullname>Atari 800</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari800</path>
    <extension>.a52 .bin .7Z .A52 .BIN</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ atari5200 %ROM%</command>
    <platform>atari800</platform>
    <theme>atari800</theme>
  </system>

/opt/retropie/configs/atari800/emulators.cfg:

kat5200 = "/usr/local/bin/kat5200 %ROM%"
default = "kat5200"

kruuth

So far I'm pretty happy with Kat5200. I've gotten things running and things play fine with a digital controller. I was planning on using the analogue stick but I haven't been able to get it to work right. Other than that, it's great.

EvilDindon

Ok, thanks future.child for links. Will try it later.

cloudlink

@future-child thank you! This works great!

hansolo77

I've still not messed much with Atari 5200/800 stuff. I was waiting to see what the results were with lr-atari800, and this kat5200 emulator. Has anybody got any recommendations/suggestions? Is the LibRetro core the way to go, or is this one, with all the mods, fully up and running? I'm sure a future addon to the LibRetro core will be the eventuality of cheevos, so I'm leaning towards that. But I've not bothered installing anything as yet.

mediamogul

@hansolo77

There's always the original Atari800 emulator as well. Once it's set up, it'll run the largest portion of the Atari 8-bit library. it'll also emulate all the various control schemes unique to the system that are missing in most other emulators.