Old Computer Appreciation Thread

Folly

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@Folly Tried your .m3u method, it works a treat.

Good job,
Now the bulk one ?

Zering

@folly Yes I noticed that, but I don't think there are any exclusives that would justify optimising the setup for tape, especially if they take as long to start up as tapes do on FM7.
I think I definitely have to look at the BIOS anyway, that sound issue I'm having has to be related because I've tried every other setting and it changes nothing. I'll see if I can't dig up a more recent version of the x1 BIOS.

Edit : I'll get to the bulk one very soon, I'm going through the thread in order, it will come up soon. Learning tons.

ecto

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

Thanks for all the recommandations! I'll add them all to the top post. Are there any games that were released on DOS that are better on Amiga?

Yeah, I'd say most of the games from the late 80s to the early 90s. As sound cards weren't so widely spread on the pc at the beginning, Amiga was way ahead. There were games with really great soundtracks / samples on the Amiga while the pc was still beeping away with its internal speaker.

AdamBeGood

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@ecto Exult is how I played Ultima 7, although it was on a desktop computer. Come to think of it, Ultima 7 is one of the games I can't get to run on the Pi through DOSBox, something about needing to take out my expanded memory? I'll try Exult. That game is worth many headaches, from what I've played it seems like a strong runner for best computer RPG of the early nineties. Ultima 6 runs beautifully in DOSBox. I think I've even got 8 running although I've heard nothing but horrible things about it.
Thanks for all the recommandations! I'll add them all to the top post. Are there any games that were released on DOS that are better on Amiga?

@Folly Tried your .m3u method, it works a treat.

I told you fiddling with EMS setting in the config works for some games, that is probably what you need to do with Ultima 7!

@ecto I'm familiar with most of those games, but never tried Blood. I'll give that a try! Thanks.

Folly

@ecto said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

Thanks for all the recommandations! I'll add them all to the top post. Are there any games that were released on DOS that are better on Amiga?

Yeah, I, say most of the games from the late 80s to the early 90s. As sound cards weren't so widely spread on the pc at the beginning, Amiga was way ahead. There were games with really great soundtracks / samples on the Amiga while the pc was still beeping away with its internal speaker.

Yes Amiga had quite good specs for those days.
I still have a 500 with a separate CDTV cdrom drive.

We played allot pinball dreams and pinball fanasies.

How do you run amiga games on the pi ?

Zering

@adambegood Ooooooooooh right of course! It didn't occur to me that EMS and Expanded Memory were the same thing. Thanks! Having said that using .sh files in the way you described didn't work for me, I got booted back to ES. I'm probably doing it wrong.

@ecto Ah yeah I looked it up and I see that the Amiga was first released in 1985, from what little I've seen the Amiga games from that period blew DOS out of the water in terms of graphics and sound. I always thought the Amiga was later, like early nineties.

I think I may make it a point to make sure my next PC game is an Amiga game. Thanks.

@Folly It seems the latest MAME 0.226 software list bios for X1 is the same as the MESS 0.151.
For Amiga, using amiberry with .lha files is easy and the results, from what I've seen, are pretty great.

Folly

Have to go now.
Will catch up later.

Zering

I've just done a sizeable edit, added an Amiga and FM-7 section, made several changes under DOS, X1, X68000, PC88, PC98 and Misc, and added a heap of recommended games. Enjoy.

Edit : @Folly, tried the .m3u batch command. It worked perfectly. Thanks! It's now in the first post.

Edit 2 : While editing my first post to cover the graphical issues with Final Crisis, I noticed the MD5 sums for the BIOS which allowed me to resolve my problem are not included in your new PC88 documentation. Would it be possible to include those?

Folly

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

I've just done a sizeable edit, added an Amiga and FM-7 section, made several changes under DOS, X1, X68000, PC88, PC98 and Misc, and added a heap of recommended games. Enjoy.

Edit : @Folly, tried the .m3u batch command. It worked perfectly. Thanks! It's now in the first post.

Cool

Edit 2 : While editing my first post to cover the graphical issues with Final Crisis, I noticed the MD5 sums for the BIOS which allowed me to resolve my problem are not included in your new PC88 documentation. Would it be possible to include those?

Yes, If you make a post about what I have to change I can put it in.

Folly

@Zering

Just got the idea!
We can generate all the scripts for all those systems that still have no valerino script. (I think there are literally hundreds)
Today i will try to make a bulk lr-mess-<system>.sh generator.

Most, if not all systems can be listed with the standalone MAME emulator with.

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listmedia

This will output all supported media for x1

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listmedia x1

This wil output full information about all:

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listdevices

This wil output full information about x1 only:

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listdevices x1

So if i use the output I can bulk generate.

Isn't that a magnifisent idea ;-)

(EDIT : I see now that the outputs are not what I hoped they would be, will give it a shot anyway.)

Using mame to play, for example x1, is also a possibility in the future.

AdamBeGood

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@adambegood Ooooooooooh right of course! It didn't occur to me that EMS and Expanded Memory were the same thing. Thanks! Having said that using .sh files in the way you described didn't work for me, I got booted back to ES. I'm probably doing it wrong.

Let's talk through an example of yours at some point then.

Folly

This is also a great game :

Amiga500 : Magic Serpent (1991)(Software 2000)

Zering

So if i use the output I can bulk generate.

Isn't that a magnifisent idea ;-)

(EDIT : I see now that the outputs are not what I hoped they would be, will give it a shot anyway.)

Using mame to play, for example x1, is also a possibility in the future.

It is a magnificent idea!
Why are the outputs not what you hoped they would be?

I'm adding your Amiga recommendation to the list.

Yes, If you make a post about what I have to change I can put it in.

It's not so much a change as it is an addition. The MD5 sums for PC88 bios :

d675a2ca186c6efcd6277b835de4c7e5 N88EXT0.ROM
e844534dfe5744b381444dbe61ef1b66 N88EXT1.ROM
6548fa45061274dee1ea8ae1e9e93910 N88EXT2.ROM
fc4b76a402ba501e6ba6de4b3e8b4273 N88EXT3.ROM
cbcade0d0057bb9eee79a6b370b4dd3a N88JISHO.ROM
d81c6d5d7ad1a4bbbd6ae22a01257603 N88KNJ1.ROM
41d2e2c0c0edfccf76fa1c3e38bc1cf2 N88KNJ2.ROM
2ff07b8769367321128e03924af668a0 N88N.ROM
4f984e04a99d56c4cfe36115415d6eb8 N88.ROM
793f86784e5608352a5d7f03f03e0858 N88SUB.ROM

@AdamBeGood Here is the .sh file I did for Fallout.

#!/bin/bash
/opt/retropie/emulators/dosbox/bin/dosbox -conf "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/INTRPLAY/FALLOUT/FALLOUT.conf"

When I launch the game using the .sh file, I get booted back to ES.

AdamBeGood

@zering Can you pastebin the .conf please?

Zering

@adambegood Of course.

Here

AdamBeGood

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@adambegood Of course.

Here

Hmmmm, looks okay. Try putting C: back in at the start of the autoexec, just in case?

Zering

@adambegood It's still booting me back to ES, sadly.
I'm wondering - are you using dosbox or dosbox-svn?

@Folly Made some progress on the FM Towns. Finally implemented your change and solved the horizontal movement on the mouse.
Also, I think I know why I couldn't play the Ultimas - they require a user disk on top of the .chd.

Edit : Nope, no luck. The user disks come on .hdm and mess wants nothing to do with them.
As the games come on CD I'm not even sure that's relevant anyway. But Ultima 1-2-3 and many other games say 'Drive is not ready' or some such when trying to start the game.

AdamBeGood

@zering I use dosbox.

It is frustrating not being there.

I presume you don't have to mount a CD? My version does.
put the mount c /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc line back in at the start of [autoexec]
just double-check all capitalisation, etc in filenames is right.

Zering

@adambegood I've done a full install, so I haven't needed the CD since. Mounting the CD and running the game crashed every time for me.

I'll try those steps now.

Edit : You're a genius! Putting the mount command in did it. Now to see if it loads...

AdamBeGood

@zering said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@adambegood I've done a full install, so I haven't needed the CD since. Mounting the CD and running the game crashed every time for me.

I'll try those steps now.

Edit : You're a genius! Putting the mount command in did it. Now to see if it loads...

I'm not a genius - I thought it did that by default... :| Let me know!