Atari 800: I get popup launching menu, black screen, then it exits

mitu

Please use pastebin.com for large text posts.

Regarding your issue - is this the only ROM that you have problems ? Can you try running the ROM with the standalone atari800 ?

neurocrash

@mitu Hi, I'm sorry, I didn't know how to use that, and it doesn't appear that I can edit my post now.

I have tried several roms and they all do the same thing. Can you help me understand what you mean by the standalone atari800? I don't know how to launch that outside of emulation station on the Raspberry Pi.

I tested the OS and game roms in Atari800, Atari800win, and Altirra (on a Windows system), although I don't know if these products are related to the one in Retropie:

https://www.emutopia.com/index.php/emulators/item/320-atari-400-800-xl-xe/208-atari800
https://www.emutopia.com/index.php/emulators/item/320-atari-400-800-xl-xe/1180-atari800win-plus
http://virtualdub.org/altirra.html

Everything works with those, so maybe I have a problem in a config file?

Thanks

mitu

There are 2 available Atari 800 emulators - the standalone Atari800 (which you used to test the ROM on Windows) and the libretro core based on the same emulator (albeit an older version), named lr-atari800.
You're running the ROM with the lr-atari800 emulator, but you can run the game with the standalone version - you just need to install it and then use the Runcommand launch menu to choose the new emulator for your rom.
See more details about the emulators in https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Atari-800-and-5200/.

neurocrash

@mitu Hi, the problem is not any specific rom though, it's that I don't get the "you need a real os" screen.

I saw it once at the very beginning, but just exited since I didn't know to press F1. After placing the os roms, I just get an apparent crash (segmentation fault).

I feel that exciting without entering the emulator configuration may have corrupted the configuration. I've never gotten the memo pad.

Is there any way to reinstall or upgrade just lr-atari800?

Will the stand alone emulator work with electron station, or would I have to change between the two?

I was following the configuration instructions on the Atari 800 emulator page you provided, with no success.

Thanks

mitu

@neurocrash said in Atari 800: I get popup launching menu, black screen, then it exits:

Will the stand alone emulator work with electron station, or would I have to change between the two?

I assume you mean EmulationStation ? All included emulators work with it - you just need to install the standalone emulator (atari800) and you can use it by selecting it when starting the ROM from EmulationStation, from the runcommand launch menu.

neurocrash

@mitu Yes, sorry - autocorrect error.

Unfortunately the included lr-atari800 is not working with my emulation station, while the other emulators are. It worked exactly once, but since I didn't press f1 to configure it, it has not worked since, and no resetting, replacing, or editing of any of the cfg files has had any effect.

I used retropie setup to remove then reinstall lr-atari800, but this didn't work. Then, I tried installing atari800 and set it to be the default emulator in runcommand. When launching, now I get a black screen crash and have to disconnect the Raspberry pi from power before it will function again.

I'm thinking that I will have to start over.

Thanks

neurocrash

@mitu I erased the sdcard and reinstalled Retropie. lr-atari800 still does the same thing. The runcommand menu appears, the screen goes black, then it returns to the emulation station menu.

I erased the sd card again and reinstalled, this time doing nothing in emulation station other than configuring the keyboard as a controller when prompted. I put one known working rom in the roms folder, but still lr-atari800 does not work for me.

Thanks

mitu

@neurocrash Did you copy the necessary BIOS files ? Can you post your $HOME/.atari800.cfg file ?

neurocrash

I did have the BIOS files where specified, and the paths and filenames in the cfg file matched.

I'm not sure what I did between the last message, but it started working.

Thank you so much for all your help!!!!!

neurocrash

@mitu @mitu Hi, since I reinstalled to a larger sd card, even using the same configuration files and roms, the malfunction returned. When attempting to launch any rom, the screen goes dark temporarily then it returns to the Retropie menu. Here are the config files:

lr-atari800.cfg (not working)
https://pastebin.com/6YKaVEmq

retroarch-core-options.cfg (included since it has a section on Atari emulator)
https://pastebin.com/97LeGLDD

Thanks for your consideration.

neurocrash

@mitu I transplanted the configurations from a newly installed Retropie card to my existing installation, and have lr-atari800 working again.

Thanks