DICE (Discrete Integrated Circuit Emulator)

[DirtBagXon]

I've started playing and porting DICE to SDL2 and QT5.

https://adamulation.blogspot.com/

Note: It requires a X11 environment for QT5.

Also a YouTube video showing in operation.

It's a little GUI-Centric, but running with dice pong throws games up in an SDL fullscreen.

Note: Not all games require a ROM, but others need sprite ROMS for correct emulation.

[Swampy]

@DirtBagXon Great! Unfortunately, I was never able to compile "Dice" on my Linux system. It could only run through "Wine". Maybe there is already a source code from you?
Great that you take it up, it's really worth it!

[DirtBagXon]

@Swampy said in DICE (Discrete Integrated Circuit Emulator):

@DirtBagXon Great! Unfortunately, I was never able to compile "Dice" on my Linux system. It could only run through "Wine". Maybe there is already a source code from you?

I've just finished what I was aiming for and pushed to a repo here:

https://github.com/DirtBagXon/DICE

No idea on interest in this emulator, it will probably need work to get running in RetroPie and ES environments. But I've leave that to those who are interested, I'll review any PR's that come to the repo and perhaps create an ES fork. Discussions are open on the repo.

There is a current requirement for X11.

By default it's a GUI driven interface, but starting dice with a game name as an argument will throw it to a SDL fullscreen (i.e.):

dice sharkjaws

The supported games are on the repo and main project site, but will list here for info:

    GAME( "Pong",               pong,            "Atari",              1972 ),
    GAME( "Pong Doubles",       pongdoubles,     "Atari",              1973 ),
    GAME( "Rebound",            rebound,         "Atari",              1974 ),
    GAME( "Gotcha",             gotcha,          "Atari",              1973 ),
    GAME( "Space Race",         spacerace,       "Atari",              1973 ),
    GAME( "Stunt Cycle",        stuntcycle,      "Atari",              1976 ),
    GAME( "TV Basketball",      tvbasketball,    "Midway",             1974 ),
    GAME( "Breakout",           breakout,        "Atari",              1976 ),
    GAME( "Anti-Aircraft",      antiaircraft,    "Atari",              1975 ),
    GAME( "Attack",             attack,          "Exidy",              1977 ),
    GAME( "Shark Jaws",         sharkjaws,       "Atari",              1975 ),
    GAME( "Quadrapong",         quadrapong,      "Atari",              1974 ),
    GAME( "Jet Fighter",        jetfighter,      "Atari",              1975 ),
    GAME( "Crash 'N Score",     crashnscore,     "Atari",              1975 ),
    GAME( "Crossfire",          crossfire,       "Atari",              1975 ),
    GAME( "Pin Pong",           pinpong,         "Atari",              1974 ),
    GAME( "Clean Sweep",        cleansweep,      "Ramtek",             1974 ),
    GAME( "Wipe Out",           wipeout,         "Ramtek",             1974 ),
    GAME( "Hi-Way",             hiway,           "Atari",              1975 ),
    GAME( "Steeplechase",       steeplechase,    "Atari",              1975 ),
    GAME( "Indy 4",             indy4,           "Atari",              1976 )

Have fun.

Maybe this thread should now be moved to "Ideas and Development" - If there is interest.

[Swampy]

Works with my Ubuntu 24.04. Thank you. Integration in RetroPi would of course be a dream.

[DirtBagXon]

@Swampy said in DICE (Discrete Integrated Circuit Emulator):

Works with my Ubuntu 24.04. Thank you. Integration in RetroPi would of course be a dream.

Well I wasn't aware at the time I was porting this, but there is a libretro core that is being worked, started in Nov 2024.
Chatting with the guy writing it, it's still a work in progress. But this would be the way to go in RetroPie.

But I wanted a Desktop standalone option, which is what my port gives, glad that's working for you :)

Apparently the old Windows .exe from the SourceForge site has issues on modern Windows OS's, but there is a Windows port of the core too.

The libretro port is here: https://github.com/mittonk/dice-libretro

The hard part of bringing this software up-to-date is the OS native OpenGL GUI frameworks.
With a libretro core, that frontend element is thrown to RetroArch so the only consideration is the engine, which is very portable.

But getting the multitude of config options in these games into RetroArch, that is the hard part there.