A tutorial to getting the most out of the Intellivision with Jzintv

edmaul69

Getting the most out of the Intellivision with Jzintv
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Files needed:
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exec.bin
grom.bin
ecs.bin (to play the ecs computer games)
ivoice.bin (so you can have intellivoice games have voice. there are 4 originals and quite a few homebrews and prototypes that use it)
roms (in .rom, .bin/.cue, .int/.cue) (.roms files are the best as they have the .cue files internally in them. Not all .int and .bin files require a .cue file.)
jzintv (available in retropie setup)
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Where do i place the bios folders?
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Depending on which version of jzintv you have. They will go either in:

/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/

It is important to note that the grom.bin and exec.bin need to be in lowercase since linux is case sensitive.
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Where should i place my game roms?
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Your roms should be placed in:

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/intellivision/

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What if i want to convert my .int and .bin files to .rom files?
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For some .int and .bin games you will need the .cue file for that game.
You can download the jzintv sdk from http://spatula-city.org/~im14u2c/intv/
Using windows in the sdk will be a program called bin2rom.exe. place the .int/.cue and .bin/.cue files in the bin2rom folder and drag the .int or .bin file into the bin2rom.exe file. It will create a .rom file.
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How should i set up my /opt/retropie/configs/intellivision/emulators.cfg?
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You should set up 2 different settings. 1 for the ECS games and 1 for everything else. The best way is to have it set up like this:

jzintv="/opt/retropie/emulators/jzintv/bin/jzintv -v1 --kbdhackfile=/opt/retropie/configs/intellivision/hackfile.cfg -f1 -q -p /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS %ROM%"
default = "jzintv"
jzintvecs="/opt/retropie/emulators/jzintv/bin/jzintv -v1 -s1 --kbdhackfile=/opt/retropie/configs/intellivision/hackfile.cfg -f1 -q -p /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS %ROM%"

The -v1 enables intellivoice. This can stay activated as it has no drawbacks to games that dont use it. Then you never have to worry about it.
The -s1 enables the ECS. you dont really want this always enabled, hence the need for a second config.
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My picture looks really fuzzy and crappy. How can i make it sharp and use the full screen?
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In your emulators.cfg you can add a -z option to the configs for the resolution you are using. an example would be for a 1080p/i resolution: It would be -z1920x1080, So in the emulators.cfg file you would edit both configs like this:

jzintv="/opt/retropie/emulators/jzintv/bin/jzintv -v1 --kbdhackfile=/opt/retropie/configs/intellivision/hackfile.cfg -z1920x1080, -f1 -q -p /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS %ROM%"
default = "jzintv"
jzintvecs="/opt/retropie/emulators/jzintv/bin/jzintv -v1 -s1 --kbdhackfile=/opt/retropie/configs/intellivision/hackfile.cfg -z1920x1080, -f1 -q -p /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS %ROM%"

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Which games are for the ECS and use the jzintvecs configuration?
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Flintstone's Keyboard Fun
Game Factory
Jetsons - Ways With Words
Melody Blaster
Mind Strike!
Mr. Basic Meets Bits 'N Bytes
Number Jumble
Scooby Doo's Maze Chase
Space Patrol (for extra audio channels)
Spice Patrol (for extra audio channels)
Super Soccer (only if you want 4 players)
Super NFL Football
Ultimate Pong (only if you want 4 players)
World Cup Soccer (only if you want 4 players)
World Series MLB
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How should i set up the configuration to play the ECS games?
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Immedietly after selecting one of the ECS games, you need to press button 0 on your controller or a key on your keyboard to get into the configuration menu. now that you are in there choose the option:

Select video mode for jzintv + rom ( )

Now choose :

jzintvecs

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After this you should be getting the best out of the intellivision. If there are any mistakes please feel free to let me know so i can correct them.

ThatGuy-UNo

@edmaul69 This is an awesome tutorial on how to get Intellivision to work! Thank you so much!. Also, what helped me out and that should be covered in the wiki is that you NEED to install the emulator in the 'RetroPie Setup'. I didn't think I had to since it was not stressed as an 'Experimental Emulator' like Sega Dreamcast. That was a big key in solving my problem. Again,
Thank you so much!

mediamogul

@edmaul69

Very nice!

edmaul69

@mediamogul thank you. The intellivision is actually how i got my start on the raspberry pi and retropie. I spent most of my days on atariage in the intellivision forums. A few of us wanted to turn our intellivision flashbacks into retro consoles and its how i ended up spiraling down this rabbit hole. I even was using retropie for a couple years before i stumbled upon this site. I have really been wanting to do this guide for awhile now since i have noticed jzintv not being utilized to its greatest potential. Im sure this would be better suited in a wiki somewhere, but im not sure if i want to try to figure all that out or not. But for now, here it is.

dudleydes

@edmaul69 You can avoid any permission issues by adding -p /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS to the jzintv launch command. This is how the scriptmodule currently configures jzintv. I have tested it with the jzintv binary available from intellivision.us and the extra flag works without issue.

It's also worth pointing out that the BIOS files, exec.bin and grom.bin, need to have file names in lower case as Linux is case sensitive. Here is a thread where this was discussed. This doesn't seem to be an issue for intellivoice BIOS file. Mine is named IntelliVoice BIOS (1981)(Mattel).bin and it works fine. I haven't tested the ECS BIOS.

For anyone interested, you can see my config files and keyboard hackfiles for using a PS3 controller with jzintv here.

mediamogul

@edmaul69

Im sure this would be better suited in a wiki somewhere, but im not sure if i want to try to figure all that out or not.

It's much easier than you'd think. All that would really be necessary is to click to add a page, copy and paste what you've done here and then hit save. Scubbing bubbles take care of the rest.

herb_fargus

@edmaul69 I don't personally think we should be recommending different versions for manual install in the wiki. Rather if the version should be updated we should push for them to be updated in the script, so that should eliminate the first half of the guide as the rom and bios locations are covered in the wiki. Then the extra information that isn't yet in the wiki should be added.

mediamogul

@herb_fargus

Fer sure. I'd love to see a more recent version of jzintv be incorporated into RetroPie. There are quite a few really nice homebrew games that would benefit from the update.

edmaul69

@dudleydes done and done. thank you.

edmaul69

@herb_fargus i have edited the guide with @dudleydes suggestions, which ended up with me removing mention of intellivision.us . what do i need to have and to to get this fix added to jzintv that you guys use?

edmaul69

@mediamogul i can get all the code i need, i just need to know what to do with it.

edmaul69

@herb_fargus also as far as updating the wiki, i can fill in the needed extras. the only issue is that retropie really should use an emulators.cfg that matches what i have. it would completely eliminate that from needing to be in the wiki, then the only part that needs to be added is the part to make the picture quality look good and not all fuzzy and blurred.

mediamogul

@edmaul69 said in A tutorial to getting the most out of the Intellivision with Jzintv:

i can get all the code i need, i just need to know what to do with it.

I've been looking into the script modules here and there and doing a bit of experimentation. I haven't got a full grasp on it yet, but at first blush it looks like it might be a simple matter of changing out the URL that wget is currently using.

edmaul69

@mediamogul can you tell me what the url is?

herb_fargus

@edmaul69 that's what I'd like to know. I can't seem to find the source, all I can find are the 64 bit Linux binaries. If the source can be located then we can work on fixing up the module for the latest build.

edmaul69

@herb_fargus ok well i know some people so i should be able to find it.

mediamogul

@edmaul69

You can usually find it next to a barber pole or circus tent. No, wait. I'm thinking of Waldo.

hooperre

Can someone advise me if this seems like a sensible way of mapping my PS4 controller for Jzintv?

dudleydes

@hooperre YES! I would say that - they're my mappings. All I can suggest is to try them and see how it goes. If you're not happy, then feel free to adjust them to your liking.

Let me give an explanation of how I reached these configurations. The keyboard hackfile Arcade.kbd is the default one which I use for the majority of games where the disc on the Intellivision controller is mapped to the left analog stick on the PS3 controller, the action buttons to the face buttons, the keypad to the D-pad which you need to use with L1 and R1 to press keys 4 to 6 and keys 7 to 9 respectively. (It's called Arcade.kbd because it's the first keyboard hackfile I created for arcade style games such as Astro Smash and Lock'n'Chase. I just haven't bothered to change the name.)

This mapping makes it difficult to play games that require directional shooting such as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons:Cloudy Mountain and TRON Deadly Discs. For these, I created a mapping using xboxdrv and the keyboard hackfile hackfile.kbd so that the right analog stick can be used to shoot in the required direction, effectively making these twin-stick shooters. You can find an explanation of how this works here.

Other games that benefit from using xboxdrv are sports titles that require directional passing and shooting. These include:

Slam Dunk-Super Pro Basketball
Slap Shot-Super Pro Hockey
Spiker-Super Pro Volleyball

This mapping can be used for Night Stalker but I felt, as I only need to shoot in the four cardinal directions, it would be more precise to map shooting to the face buttons. To accomplish this, I created a keyboard hackfile Night Stalker (1982) (Mattel).int.kbd specifically for Night Stalker.

I also created specific keyboard hack files for games such as All-Star Major League Baseball where the right Intellivision controller needs to be used to play one player games and Dracula where the right controller is used to control the zombie (I've mapped this to the D-pad so it's possible to control Dracula and the zombie at the same time!). There are other titles for which I use specific mappings where I felt the default didn't work for me.

Each of these games would require a separate entry in /opt/retropie/configs/intellivision/emulators.cfg to account for the different keyboard hackfile flags in the launch command. Rather than do this, I created a script jzintv.sh which will launch games if it finds a keyboard hackfile with the same name as the rom with a .kbd extension.

As I said, give the mappings a try. I would suggest starting with the general mapping, Arcade.kbd before trying the other mappings. If there's any further info you need then let me know. If you would like copies of the keyboard hackfile for All-Star Major League Baseball, Dracula or other titles, then I'm happy to add them to the gist.

hooperre

@dudleydes said in A tutorial to getting the most out of the Intellivision with Jzintv:

@hooperre YES! I would say that - they're my mappings. All I can suggest is to try them and see how it goes. If you're not happy, then feel free to adjust them to your liking.

Let me give an explanation of how I reached these configurations. The keyboard hackfile Arcade.kbd is the default one which I use for the majority of games where the disc on the Intellivision controller is mapped to the left analog stick on the PS3 controller, the action buttons to the face buttons, the keypad to the D-pad which you need to use with L1 and R1 to press keys 4 to 6 and keys 7 to 9 respectively. (It's called Arcade.kbd because it's the first keyboard hackfile I created for arcade style games such as Astro Smash and Lock'n'Chase. I just haven't bothered to change the name.)

This mapping makes it difficult to play games that require directional shooting such as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons:Cloudy Mountain and TRON Deadly Discs. For these, I created a mapping using xboxdrv and the keyboard hackfile hackfile.kbd so that the right analog stick can be used to shoot in the required direction, effectively making these twin-stick shooters. You can find an explanation of how this works here.

Other games that benefit from using xboxdrv are sports titles that require directional passing and shooting. These include:

Slam Dunk-Super Pro Basketball

Slap Shot-Super Pro Hockey

Spiker-Super Pro Volleyball

This mapping can be used for Night Stalker but I felt, as I only need to shoot in the four cardinal directions, it would be more precise to map shooting to the face buttons. To accomplish this, I created a keyboard hackfile Night Stalker (1982) (Mattel).int.kbd specifically for Night Stalker.

I also created specific keyboard hack files for games such as All-Star Major League Baseball where the right Intellivision controller needs to be used to play one player games and Dracula where the right controller is used to control the zombie (I've mapped this to the D-pad so it's possible to control Dracula and the zombie at the same time!). There are other titles for which I use specific mappings where I felt the default didn't work for me.

Each of these games would require a separate entry in /opt/retropie/configs/intellivision/emulators.cfg to account for the different keyboard hackfile flags in the launch command. Rather than do this, I created a script jzintv.sh which will launch games if it finds a keyboard hackfile with the same name as the rom with a .kbd extension.

As I said, give the mappings a try. I would suggest starting with the general mapping, Arcade.kbd before trying the other mappings. If there's any further info you need then let me know. If you would like copies of the keyboard hackfile for All-Star Major League Baseball, Dracula or other titles, then I'm happy to add them to the gist.

Ah awesome thanks for your response. As someone who hasn't used xboxdrv before... does it automatically override my configuration settings in ESconfig? Or does it specifically need to be called in the emulators.cfg?