Acorn BBC Micro Emulator (current?)

Lord Vek

@Folly I replaced the b-em-allegro4.sh with the new one, then from Retropie's setup I uninstalled the b-em allegro emulator, then installed it again from source. But now the emulator is hanging up, it doesn't even return back to game selection.

Folly

@Lord-Vek

I have that same issue.
I seems you have to press Alt+Return fist before you exit.
This prevents a crash.
I think that issue was there all along you probably forgot.
I updated my script again to fix some more.
I added a message about quitting before the emulator starts so we don't forget.
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/0600e67d96004925bd1b35c9e16417aa06620f57

Sadly not all perfect solutions.

Edit :
Found that the dialog msgbox creates the issue of hanging totally when not using linux desktop.
Will test some other stuff or just remove it.

Folly

@Lord-Vek

Sadly I didn't expect my changes to have an impact on the crashing before even loading the emulator.
But it seems I had so, I have removed the dialog message.

I think everything is good now :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/6b36f162832696ad5d7db0925c4dc707ca5f7c2c
(remove and install it again)
Let me know if it works for you ;-)

As a reminder here, I added this to the help :
QUIT information:

Press ALT + RETURN to quit full-screen.
(use above to prevent a crash when quitting)

Press F11 to go into the menu.
Then use the mouse or press ALT + F and press E to exit.
Or use ctrl+c instead !

Supported ROMS/MEDIA : .uef .ssd
ROMS/MEDIA have to be in $romdir/bbcmicro

Folly

@Lord-Vek

Some latest news :
I took a look again at the b-em source code.
To my surprise I was able to implement :

booting in full-screen
adding a hotkey to exit (with leaving full-screen first so the resolution is still good after quitting)

I choose the hotkey to be Alt + Esc so we still can use the Esc key.
I also found that there is an autoboot option for loading discs.
This means I can remove simulating the autoboot key presses.
Will have to see how I can implement it.
I also have to do some tests first.

Lord Vek

@Folly Yes, it is working OK now. Thanks a lot to you and mitu and be well!

Folly

@Lord-Vek

I have implemented all source code patches and I am very happy with it.
It's quite an improvement.

Can you test this update for me ?

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/757790da4a5c05b8dc61631c69a90c4cc4fce8fc

Lord Vek

@Folly Sorry I didn't see your post in time.
Yes, the new version is working well. The start in fulscreen part, and the Alt+Esc shortcut are also OK. Thanks again!

Folly

@Lord-Vek

Thanks.

duglor

@Lord-Vek Is there a very detailed step by step reading i can do from 1. obtaining the new emulator 2. installing the new emulator 3. using the new emulator?

Folly

@duglor said in Acorn BBC Micro Emulator (current?):

@Lord-Vek Is there a very detailed step by step reading i can do from 1. obtaining the new emulator 2. installing the new emulator 3. using the new emulator?

Just download my repository and copy and paste the the ones you want in the appropriate directories.
You can see how it's done over here with this module-script :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29682/development-of-module-script-generator-for-lr-mess-lr-mame-and-mame-standalone

Here are the b-em ones :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/tree/main/00-scriptmodules-00/emulators

So paste them in this folder :
/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/emulators
or place them in :
/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/ext/RetroPie-Share/scriptmodules/emulators

Run RetroPie-Setup and the should pop up in experimental packages.
Then install and check the help for information.

Remember, can be that not all module-script, in that directory, will still work,
I am confident that both b-em module-scripts should work for you.

duglor

Ok. thanks. I'll try in a day!

@Folly said in Acorn BBC Micro Emulator (current?):

@duglor said in Acorn BBC Micro Emulator (current?):

@Lord-Vek Is there a very detailed step by step reading i can do from 1. obtaining the new emulator 2. installing the new emulator 3. using the new emulator?

Just download my repository and copy and paste the the ones you want in the appropriate directories.
You can see how it's done over here with this module-script :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29682/development-of-module-script-generator-for-lr-mess-lr-mame-and-mame-standalone

Here are the b-em ones :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/tree/main/00-scriptmodules-00/emulators

So paste them in this folder :
/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/emulators
or place them in :
/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/ext/RetroPie-Share/scriptmodules/emulators

Run RetroPie-Setup and the should pop up in experimental packages.
Then install and check the help for information.

Remember, can be that not all module-script, in that directory, will still work,
I am confident that both b-em module-scripts should work for you.

Folly

@duglor

For now b-em-allegro4 is, as is.

On some installs I have noticed a permission issue not able to save cmos.bin after quitting.
And I might want to remove using matchbox if I can, however could be that xdotools doesn't work without it.

Something for the future when I want to.

Folly

Happy to announce that my b-em-allegro4.sh module script has had some fixes and changes.
And, that it's still working on the RPI5 and working more fluid then on the RPI4.
Tested OK on RPI5 with 64 bits Raspberrypi OS Bookworm assuming it will still work on older RPI's and older OSes and 32 bits OSes.

Btw :
Sadly b-em-pico-pi.sh doesn't work anymore, at least not on RPI5 with 64 bits Raspberrypi OS Bookworm and doesn't seem to be directly fixable.

duglor

@Folly b-em-allegro4.sh that you updated recently is for the raspberry pi - retropie 4.8 , correct?

Game Compatiblity list and format still mame cassette bbc xml? ssd xml?

just download the b-em-allegro4.sh for beeb-em, nothing more, correct? not the pico, etc.. on that list at
RetroPie-Share/00-scriptmodules-00/emulators?

Also, this new emulator didnt' break any of your previous lr-mess-X builds did it? x1, etc.... or which ones should i check to see if they are still working after installation?

Either way, I'm going to finally try it now, following a reply. You be well!

Folly

@duglor said in Acorn BBC Micro Emulator (current?):

@Folly b-em-allegro4.sh that you updated recently is for the raspberry pi - retropie 4.8 , correct?

My updates are not retropie 4.8 specific.
It should work on older versions too.

Game Compatiblity list and format still mame cassette bbc xml? ssd xml?

There is no compatibility list for b-em just try them out.
You can use files from mame, however they need to be unzipped as b-em doesn't recognize archived files.
Supported media is .uef (tapes) .ssd (disks)

just download the b-em-allegro4.sh for beeb-em, nothing more, correct? not the pico, etc.. on that list at
RetroPie-Share/00-scriptmodules-00/emulators?

Correct

Also, this new emulator didnt' break any of your previous lr-mess-X builds did it? x1, etc.... or which ones should i check to see if they are still working after installation?

No, it will not break.

Either way, I'm going to finally try it now, following a reply. You be well!

Good luck !
Let me know how it goes.

duglor

@Folly It went great!!!!!!!!!! Wonderful and very very happy to play on this machine i never saw in real life!! Thank you so so much!!

the tidbit questions left, if no to all, that's fine. One can only do so much!!!!!!!!!! thanks again...

Can I get a resolution higher than 800x600 in full screen, if so, how?
There is a slight darkness to my screen in full screen mode. It brightens up nicely in the little window mode. Is there a way to brighten up full screen mode?
Is there a way to enlarge window mode to the size of a full screen ?
Is there a way to use a joypad for native games that don't use joypads? If no, is there an external program for the pie that will do this?
Is there a way to just quit the emulator KER-THWAP!? without f11?
minorly, is there a way to add overlays?

That's it. That's all! Thanks much!!! I also noticed that for BOFFIN 1...the uef....it has trouble, but then i entered *TAPE and then *RUN and it was fine. I think i thought it needed *TAPE and then CHAIN"". For GRANNY'S GARDEN i had to Load"Gran1" or Load"Grand1" first , i cant' recall and then enter RUN to get that one going. the others all autoran fine!

THANKS SO MUCH

Folly

@duglor said in Acorn BBC Micro Emulator (current?):

@Folly It went great!!!!!!!!!! Wonderful and very very happy to play on this machine i never saw in real life!! Thank you so so much!!

Nice to hear.

the tidbit questions left, if no to all, that's fine. One can only do so much!!!!!!!!!! thanks again...

Can I get a resolution higher than 800x600 in full screen, if so, how?

No, can't find any options to alter the resolution.

There is a slight darkness to my screen in full screen mode. It brightens up nicely in the little window mode. Is there a way to brighten up full screen mode?

No, can't find any options to alter the brightness.
It's likely due to your monitor, see if you can change settings over there.

Is there a way to enlarge window mode to the size of a full screen ?

For me the size is full-screen.
Try changing the video mode at start, perhaps that will do the trick.

Is there a way to use a joypad for native games that don't use joypads? If no, is there an external program for the pie that will do this?

Never tried but there should be programs available for joypads that can simulate key-presses.
Btw. the readme describes joypad emulation but I just tried adding a joystick.
Nothing works except that the cursor keys on the keyboard can be used.
It might be that they call that joypad emulation, though I really don't know.

Is there a way to just quit the emulator KER-THWAP!? without f11?

The source is patched before compiling.
That way it's possible to exit with ALT+ESC.
ESC only was also possible but then you can't use ESC within the emulator so I did't do that.

minorly, is there a way to add overlays?

No

That's it. That's all! Thanks much!!! I also noticed that for BOFFIN 1...the uef....it has trouble, but then i entered *TAPE and then *RUN and it was fine. I think i thought it needed *TAPE and then CHAIN"". For GRANNY'S GARDEN i had to Load"Gran1" or Load"Grand1" first , i cant' recall and then enter RUN to get that one going. the others all autoran fine!

THANKS SO MUCH

Could be that some just don't work, most of them do ;-)

duglor

@Folly
Hello.
I've looked around the b-em sites and I cant' find a defintions or glossary file for what the default settings mean.

Can anyone tell me what the below settings for this emulator mean and what other choices i have as numeric values? or a link to the answer?

key_as = 0
vdfsenable = 0
ideenable = 0
scsienable = 0
displaymode = 3
ddtype = 0
ddvol = 2
cursid = 2
sidmethod = 0
soundwave = 0
soundfilter = 1
sndtape = 0
sndddnoise = 0
snddac = 0
sndmusic5000 = 0
sndbeebsid = 1
sndinternal = 1
tube6502speed = 1
tube = -1
model = 3
defaultwriteprotect = 1
video_resize = 0

Folly

@duglor

These config settings are representatives of the settings that can be selected in the menu when using F11.

duglor

@Folly Is this emulator in a state where it can be "libretro-ized"?

How does that usually occur? Since I got the Retropie, I don't think there has been any new lr-XXX emulators created. They were all done before I joined.

Anyway, it would be nice to be able to change screensize, add key to Joy support as one of the control options aka "keyboard". etc.

-Doug