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

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:

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.
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.
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.

jamrom2

@rkoster will do. Thank you!

jamrom2

@rkoster Hiya.

I had this working fine. Not sure what I changed... but now I can't seem to run anything without the artifacting on. Every game has it on, and I seem to be locked into CITA no matter what I select

I tried starting from scratch, but no help.

So no matter what mode I in the Launch menu, I get this in lr-atari800's menus.

In the lr-atari800 core ... under Options - "Hi-Res Artifacting" is "ON"
In the lr-Atari800 emulator menu (F1) - Display Settings - Video Art*: old NTSC
NTSC artifacting mode: CITA

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Here's my runcommand.log

atari800
lr-atari800-gtia
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari800/Drol (1983)(Broderbund).zip
Launching with GTIA artifacting.
Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-atari800/atari800_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/atari800/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari800/Drol (1983)(Broderbund).zip" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg
[libretro-atari800]: Got size: 336 x 240.
[libretro-atari800]: Got size: 336 x 240.
[libretro-atari800]: Got size: 336 x 240.
[libretro-atari800]: Got size: 336 x 240.
Using Atari800 config file: /home/pi/.lr-atari800.cfg
Created by Atari 800 Emulator, Version 3.1.0

Core init
First retrun to main thread!
port(0)=513
port(1)=513
port(2)=1
port(3)=1

rkoster

@jamrom2 I haven't had to mess with this in some time -- and I have not updated my Retropie either.

That said -- didn't I see that there was an update recently to lr-atari800 that moved the location of the atari800.cfg file? If so, my script may need to be updated.

jamrom2

@rkoster yes, there has been. It's using lr-atari800.cfg in the same folder...

but I still can't figure out how I am locked into one setting no matter what I choose. It there something that over-writes?

Also, I noticed something odd... when I open the file above.. the statement ARTIFACT_NTSC_MODE=NONE keeps getting changed to "0ONE" with a zero instead of an "N".

So trying to figure this out, I'm looking for the path that everything follows. What reads first to tell lr-Atari800 what to do, then where does your script fit in?

Somewhere in that chain it's broken and not displaying what is being asked of it.

rkoster

@jamrom2 My script basically looks at the filename of the ROM before you load it, and modifies the atari800.cfg on the fly to match what the filename wants. Then it ends and launches the emulator, which loads the way it would normally -- but of course, its settings were changed out from under it.

The fact that your .cfg is changing means something else is writing to it. Do you by any chance have "save on exit" enabled in the Retroarch menus, or something?

jamrom2

@rkoster yes, that could be it. I'll look at that as well.

I can see the script is working, the emulator is somehow passing over the final graphics selection.

I'll start there and keep playing with it. It's most likely something very simple somewhere . The games work, it's just the video that's the problem.

jamrom2

@rkoster so after a serious amount of testing and tweaking this morning. I have the reason why this is not working, but I can't seem to fix it.

The retroarch-core-options.cfg file is not updating to reflect the request of the script.

The script works fine. It posts the "echo" command in the runcommond.log as it's supposed to. Runs the correct mode, and updates the "ARTIFACT" settings area in lr-atari800.cfg to the requested mode. So I see whatever mode I select in the game fine.... until I don't want it on.

But the first line of retroarch-core-options.cfg never changes when you select the default lr-atari800 mode. It always says "enabled" unless I manual change it to "disabled", then of course it stays disabled until I change it manually again.

I've lowered the permissions of the folder and file to 777, so it's able to work with it. I see the time-signature change as if it's looking at the file, but the information remains the same. No changes.

I didn't have this issue before lr-atari800 was updated... so something has changed... or I have a permission wrong. Not sure what I missed.