lr-atari800, 5200, artifacting, BASIC, and other guidance

[pjft]

@rkoster are you sure this wouldn't deserve its own section in the documentation? It's as detailed as it gets and comparable in depth to things like the xboxdrv mapping guide that @mediamogul wrote at one point, for instance.

Certainly a link would be good, but your call, really.

[rkoster]

@pjft Oh, I’m fine with it being in the wiki. Don’t know what the process is for that though!

[pjft]

@rkoster I believe it's all on GitHub, but I imagine someone who's actually documented their own RetroPie contributions (shame on me) would be able to advise better :)

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Atari-2600

[rkoster]

@pjft Well, I added a pile of stuff to the Wiki, including stuff that isn't in the thread (BIOS info mostly).

[rkoster]

The script has been updated to handle automatically providing the correct settings for OSa games [edit: and OSb games]. This involves setting both the system to Rev. A 400/800, and setting the BASIC revision to A. You will need to find the BASIC Rev. A rom file and place it in the BIOS folder for that part to work correctly; the instructions above have been amended to walk you through that and provide the correct md5 hash for that version of BASIC.

If you installed the usual recommended ATARIOSB.ROM, you don't need to install anything for the OSb games.

It's also now on github at https://github.com/raphkoster/lr-atari800-runcommand-onstart

[rkoster]

I fixed a bug (typo, really) with the handling of OSb games. Updated script is on github.

[PCKid]

@rkoster wow this is great. Thanks. Haven’t read it through completely yet as I’m away on business. But what about games like, one of my favourites, Spelunker that require some keyboard commands like space bar for phantom blaster and keys to launch flares and dynamite. Can that be set on say my shanwan ps3 controller to use it? Basically all others work fine as Atari Joystick. I do have a Logitech wireless keyboard with mouse pad so I could use that in front of me as well for extra commands. But would be fiddly if could all be done with the controller.

[rkoster]

@PCKid Well, it's a big ask to get a computer to work fully with a controller, of course. There's no way to cover every possible mapping. The most common keys that you tend to run into include the number keys (ex: setting difficulty in Jumpman), space bar (Spelunker, as you mention), and Enter, but something like Star Raiders of course demands that you play with the keyboard, never mind all the text adventures or even just games that require that you type your name.

The mappings in lr-atari800 are:

L3 NA
R3 NA
L2 KEY SPACE
R2 KEY ESCAPE
L CONSOL_OPTION
R TOGGLE UI
SEL CONSOL_SELECT
STR CONSOL_START
A FIRE1/KEY RETURN IN GUI
B KEY RETURN
X FIRE2/KEY ESCAPE IN GUI
Y VKBD ON/OFF

So you do in theory have two keys free where you could put a couple more mappings without stomping something else. I haven't tried this, but you could go to the RGUI (Select-X) and mapping L3 and R3 to the extra keys you need, and then saving a Game Remap file (not a Core Remap, as that will map those keys for all games). But I haven't tried this to see if it works with the lr-atari800 core.

You're almost certainly still going to need a keyboard attached for a lot of games.

[roslof]

Excited about this, but confused about one section.

I downloaded the runcommand-onstart.sh script and placed it in the folder as described, but this is a new file that never existed previously, so nothing is calling/referencing this file.
So if I launch lr-atari800 or any of the new emulator options, there is nothing (I don't believe) referencing the script.

Is there a missing step somewhere?

I do have runcommand.cfg and runcommand-launch-dialog.cfg in the "all" folder. Not sure how this script is actually called.

Best!
-Ros

[roslof]

I see now that runcommand is supposed to automatically launch runcommand-onstart.sh if it exists. I added a line to the script to output a text string to /dev/shm/runcommand.log, but it doesn't appear. I don't think runcommand-onstart.sh is actually running.

I'm running the unsupported Buster version of Retropie, so maybe I stumbled on something funky. Will keep playing with this.

EDIT: I didn't change anything, but the script is suddenly working and I can see my custom string in runcommand.log. Excellent. Will tinker with my ROM filenames and see if I could get this to work.

[rkoster]

@roslof Hope you got it working! Apologies, I have been busy and not visiting the forum.

[roslof]

@rkoster I did, yes. Thank you!

There were three gotchas:

1. I had a retroarch-core-options.cfg in my atari800 config directory. The script was altering the one in configs/all. So I just tweaked the script to point to the configuration directory.

2. I had already overrode a bunch of individual files, which of course would override any changes made by the script. I nuked the manual game overrides and viola! Everything worked perfectly.

3. I figured out that your script actually calls BASIC-Rom B, which I wasn't expecting, and the Crash, Crumble and Chomp game wouldn't load. So... I took care of that.

Great stuff here!

[rkoster]

@roslof IIRC Crush Crumble and Chomp is a Basic Rev A game, along with OSa. The vast majority of games with fine with Basic B, which is the default recommended install everywhere, but there are a small handful of games that don’t work...

Do you mean the script was loading the wrong one for that game?

[roslof]

@rkoster I don't think anything was wrong. I didn't have a ROM for BASIC-B, per RetroPie guidance.

For me, I believe OSb is calling BASIC B with this line:

sed -i 's/BASIC\_VERSION=.*/BASIC\_VERSION=B/g' /opt/retropie/configs/atari800/atari800.cfg

The ATR filename I have is named like this:

Crush Crumble and Chomp (1981)(Epyx)(US)[a][req OSb][BASIC].atr

[TPR]

@rkoster Is there any way to disable the "x" key to not bring up the virtual keyboard? I know I can hit scroll lock to turn on game focus mode, but I'd like to just completely disable that or change it to another key. I can't figure how where this mapping exists so I can change it.

Thank you.

[rkoster]

@tpr I think it's hardcoded.

[jamrom2]

@rkoster Sorry to bump and old thread, but your hard work and dedication warrants it. After spending the better part of the Covid year reworking my entire build, I finally got around to sorting out the Atari 800 side.

Thank you so much for making this as easy as adding an extra BIOS file, editing 1 file and making sure the roms are named what they need to be. Wow... what a difference you made to A800 gaming. It's great to see Ultima in the correct color scheme as well as resolution as I remember playing it at a friends house back in 1984 everyday after school.

The only thing I am hoping for is a better way to swap disks... unless you've figured that out as well. LOL.

Thanks again!

[rkoster]

@jamrom2 Aw, thanks for the kind words. I did put in a lot of time, so it is always nice to get positive feedback!

Alas, there is not yet an easy way to swap disks. The built-in multidisk system in Retropie doesn't work on the Atari 8 bits yet.

[jamrom2]

@rkoster is there any kind of usable method at all? I've tried using an m3u file, that didn't work... and I can't imagine having all my games unzipped in one list. That would look like a mess.

I even tried using folders, which works good... but you can't assign graphics to a folder...so my list is blank for meta data on those titles.

[rkoster]

@jamrom2 You can do it via the emulator's own menu, which has all sorts of disk management. But there isn't a way to do it with a single keystroke.

Also, as I mention in the guide, be sure to back up your second disks, as often they have save games and get overwritten and the like.