Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]

Zering

I'm very interested in Illusion City, even if the translation is shoddy and unfinished. It seems like it's one of those MSX RPGs that was ages ahead of most other 8-bit RPGs. I find most JRPGs from this era (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Phantasy Star...) to be difficult to get into, and Illusion City and SD Snatcher feel like they might be excellent entry points into that era of the genre.
I think I will give xboxdrv a spin. Hopefully I can get the same sort of results you're getting with MSX emulation.

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

I'm very interested in Illusion City, even if the translation is shoddy and unfinished. It seems like it's one of those MSX RPGs that was ages ahead of most other 8-bit RPGs. I find most JRPGs from this era (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Phantasy Star...) to be difficult to get into, and Illusion City and SD Snatcher feel like they might be excellent entry points into that era of the genre.
I think I will give xboxdrv a spin. Hopefully I can get the same sort of results you're getting with MSX emulation.

It's a fair shout and I do feel the same way about getting into RPGs. I will see how I get on with SD Snatcher, and hope someone refines the translation of Illusion in the mean-time.

Good luck with xboxdrv!

Folly

@Zering @AdamBeGood

Nice to hear it is all working for you both.
MSX is such a joy !!!
It was my first computer in 1985. I still have this MSX2 (SONY HB-F700P).
With friends trying to play, mostly Konami games, to the end in the weekends.
It's true that back in the day's we used the keyboard often in a game. We spend months on Metal Gear trying to play it to the end. I can remember that when you wanted to save a point in Metal Gear you had to do that on cassette. A friend of mine didn't have a cassette player. So he kept his computer on for weeks. And when he was almost at the end, his sister turned of his computer. Just imagine how angry he was :)

Read somewhere in the post that the keyboard of lr-bluemsx can't be used. The solution is to put this :
input_enable_hotkey = "tab"
in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg
So then the hotkey's of retroarch only work when the "tab" is pressed. So now you can use the keyboard. (also with other cores)

Well openMSX is really good. I suggest you all try to find the right BIOS pack. Then you all can also play with, for example, PIONEER PALCOM LASERDISC.

Zering

@Folly I didn't realize the MSX was popular outside of Japan at any time! Thanks for this bit of history. I find myself fascinated by all those old computers ; I'm growing to love the Sharp X68000 too (I should start an X68000 appreciation thread!)
Your friend's experience with Metal Gear is fairly similar to mine ; when I played through it earlier this year I had no clue about save disks and whatnot. I played through a good chunk of the game, then had to stop, only to realize I couldn't save (I can't remember why). Thankfully lr-fmsx supports save states! ^^ (I then proceeded to save and load states every time the game began to be a little frustrating, which happens a LOT towards the end ^^)

What on earth is a Pioneer Palcom Laserdisc??

Edit : Does anybody know if there's a keyboard shortcut to bring up the openmsx menu in game? I'd like to dispense with the mouse.

mitu

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

Edit : Does anybody know if there's a keyboard shortcut to bring up the openmsx menu in game? I'd like to dispense with the mouse.

Out-of-the-box, there isn't. But you can bind it to a gamepad button. I'd recommend to bind both the menu and the OSD keyboard:

bind_default "joy1 button9 down" "main_menu_open"
bind_default "joy1 button8 down" "toggle_osd_keyboard"

Press F10 to toggle the command console and then enter those commands (you'll have to find the button numbers with jstest). Make sure you save your configuration afterwards - I think by default openMSX will save your config, but you can just save the configuration to be sure.

I'm growing to love the Sharp X68000 too (I should start an X68000 appreciation thread!)

The X68000 is a great system, unfortunately the emulators present in RetroPie are not 100% 'there' - px68k-libretro has no save states and MIDI support and mame is too slow even for a Pi4.

Zering

@mitu That's excellent. By the same logic would I be able to map the F1-F3 buttons and spacebar to my controller?
Will I know how to save the configuration manually? Will it be obvious?

And yes, px68k has a few problems (lack of MIDI support is the worst offender, but I can live without save states), but it emulates the games beautifully, and it's easy to set up and convenient to use.
Do you know if the core is still being maintained?

Folly

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@Folly I didn't realize the MSX was popular outside of Japan at any time! Thanks for this bit of history.

Well it was very social, buying cartridges together (quite expensive these days (75 guilders). Swapping disks with each other. Building switches on konami cartridges to use the SCC with our "backups".

What on earth is a Pioneer Palcom Laserdisc??

It's an MSX1 with a laserdisk. (sort of DVD player). These games are MSX1 with a video background. (Just like Daphne games)

Edit : Does anybody know if there's a keyboard shortcut to bring up the openmsx menu in game? I'd like to dispense with the mouse.

If you have a windows keyboard, it's the "menu key" between R-alt and R-ctrl.

mitu

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@mitu That's excellent. By the same logic would I be able to map the F1-F3 buttons and spacebar to my controller?

Yes, that can be done, though the syntax is not so simple - see

There's a PR to enhance openMSX and create a gamepad auto-configuration automatically, but it's not merged yet.

Will I know how to save the configuration manually? Will it be obvious?

I think it's in the openMSX menu.

And yes, px68k has a few problems (lack of MIDI support is the worst offender, but I can live without save states), but it emulates the games beautifully, and it's easy to set up and convenient to use.
Do you know if the core is still being maintained?

It receives enhancements for the libretro integration, but that's about it. It's based on a standalone emulator (WinX68 I think?) that is no longer developed.

Zering

@mitu Wow, that goes right over my head. @Folly's shortcut is convenient for now, but I'll be coming back to those links once I feel more comfortable with this sort of thing. Thanks for providing them though.
Any idea when the enhancement to openmsx will be merged?

It's kind of a shame about the X68000. Are there any plans or ideas to integrate a better maintained emulator for this system?

@Folly Thanks, the menu key works fine!

mitu

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

Any idea when the enhancement to openmsx will be merged?

definitely sooner than later (™).

It's kind of a shame about the X68000. Are there any plans or ideas to integrate a better maintained emulator for this system?

As I said, there's mame (mamedev.org), but the X68000 emulation is only viable on a PC.

Zering

@mitu Do you mean that there's currently no viable X68000 emulation on the pi or that accurate X68000 emulation is impossible on the pi for technical reasons?

mitu

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@mitu Do you mean that there's currently no viable X68000 emulation on the pi or that accurate X68000 emulation is impossible on the pi for technical reasons?

Neither. px68k-libretro is running ok on a Pi and it's pretty accurate. It's not fully featured as mame, but it's accurate.

Zering

@mitu I thought you were going to tell me I've been playing these games totally wrong for a year. Phew ^^

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@Folly I didn't realize the MSX was popular outside of Japan at any time! Thanks for this bit of history. I find myself fascinated by all those old computers ; I'm growing to love the Sharp X68000 too (I should start an X68000 appreciation thread!)

Is there much on the Sharp that is exclusive? Or is it just the versions of some of the classics on that machine that you like?

I'm interested in this Palcom Laserdisc that was mentioned, I have Daphne working with some of the old shooter games with video backgrounds, and they are so deliciously retro.

Edit: After some Googling, I think a lot of the Palcom games are the same to be fair. Maybe I should just be happy with what I have set up already.

I've started SD Snatcher but only very briefly.

Zering

@AdamBeGood I think the X68000 is a fairly balanced machine! It's got a lot of improved ports from other systems (Gradius 1 and 2, and Nemesis 2 are spectacular on the X68K), but also lots of lesser known games that you only really found on NEC or Fujitsu systems like Genocide or Mad Stalker. There's a remake of Xanadu that's... interesting. There's a lot of untranslated Japanese only releases but there's still plenty of fun to be had. You might enjoy the original version of Castlevania Chronicles for example.

My favourite game on the system is Chourensha 68k, a spectacular shooter, but there's a lot I haven't tried.

I started SD Snatcher yesterday, after 4 hours I'm already on disc 2. It's a very combat heavy game, but it's got quite a bit of depth and an addictive gameplay loop, so I'm enjoying it a lot.

Folly

Tried that Sharp x68k.
I have many systems working, but never tried this one.
Actually I never heard of this computer until now.

After running a few games, it seems like a nice computer to play with. Started with Arkanoid. Seems quite the same as the MSX2 version only the sound is not so good though.

Will try Gradius and Nemesis 2 later on.

Quite excited about this. :)

Zering

@Folly Try Chourensha. It's in the same league as Blazing Lazers or Gradius 2 for me. So much fun.

You might also be interested in the X68000's predecessor, the X1, if only historically.

Folly

@Zering

That one is indeed great !

Chourensha 68K v1.01 (1995)(Famibe No Yosshin)-201101-171804.png

Did also test both gradius versions.
First Gradius2 would not load, but I found the F12 to add the second disk.

Zering

@Folly by default the disc menu is mapped to the left shoulder or trigger button on your gamepad!
For discs with two games I find it best to load both discs straight from the get go rather than wait to be prompted as sometimes the emulator will hang.
Chourensha is crazy addictive, it's literally my favourite game on the system.
What did you think of gradius? Did you try nemesis 90 kat?

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Cannot run SD Snatcher, MSX2 [SOLVED]:

@Folly Try Chourensha. It's in the same league as Blazing Lazers or Gradius 2 for me. So much fun.

You might also be interested in the X68000's predecessor, the X1, if only historically.

Yep, seems a great game. It wasn't too much trouble to set up either! Let me know if you find any other games, ideally exclusive ones rather than Arcade conversions. I'll have a look about as well. I've got some other games - Aquales and SD Fighters, but haven't played them yet.