Systems like Amiga, C64 and Spectrum
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Guys, I'd like to emulate those systems on my Pi. Is it possible playing their emulation just using a controller or a keyboard is mandatory?
I'm in interest only on games, not on apps or generic tools -
@Chuck_B said in Systems like Amiga, C64 and Spectrum:
Guys, I'd like to emulate those systems on my Pi. Is it possible to playing their emulation just using a controller or a keyboard is mandatory?
It's possible with just a controller, but often less than optimal.
For the C64 & Spectrum you basically have two choices: vanilla VICE/lr-vice & vanilla FUSE/lr-fuse.
In lr-fuse and I believe also lr-vice (someone correct me if I'm wrong), you can assign keystrokes to gamepad buttons on a per-game basis. However, in my experience this is an incredibly buggy feature and I've rarely had the fortune of getting it to work properly. In lr-fuse and lr-vice you have the problem that multi-tape/multi-disc games are very poorly supported (you can't change medium easily), and multi-load games are a massive problem even in individual files.
With vanilla VICE, you can assign keystrokes to gamepad buttons using VICE's virtual keyboard, but this is a general setting that you will have to reconfigure for each individual game. RetroPie's joy2key mapping also interferes with this function. Vanilla FUSE does not support this.
On the Amiga, you'll be using Amiberry. Amiberry - like WinUAE - does let you assign keystrokes to gamepad presses. However, I've found this also to be a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to getting it to work and for each game you will need to create a profile within Amiberry. I'm not sure if Emulation Station will detect these UAE files if located in your ROMs folder but I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be too difficult to reconfigure under the hood. While Amiberry does theoretically have a function to autoload config profiles upon loading certain disk images, I've never got it working.
Edit: I will say, if you're planning to play a lot of these KB&M based systems, it's not a bad idea to invest in some kind of integrated wireless solution. I've had good experience with both the VicTsing wireless keyboard/touchpad for more active keyboard gaming from the sofa and the eSynic mini-keyboard/touchpad for occasional inputs from menus and the like. Most are available for €10-20.
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@ChaosFox thank you for the infos. I'll reflect on what to do
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@ChaosFox I have a question on vanilla VICE in Retropie you might be able to answer...
Is there a way to move the virtual keyboard display from the very top/center of the screen. I'd like to pull it down to the bottom as it covers over any questions asked if using a cracked/trainer version of the game. I have to constantly close the display, read the question, re-open...answer.. and repeat.
Other than that, vanilla VICE and a wireless setup is definitely the way to go .
Thanks!
JR
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