Apple ][ Emulator?

[JesterDev]

I was just curious if perhaps there is an Apple II emulator laying around that I've missed? Did a forum search and came up with about 200 posts, but nothing relevant. Or really any pre-mac apple emulator for that matter.

 

[rooster]

Have you tried MESS?

http://archive.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,5,1128

 

[nubie]

I was just curious if perhaps there is an Apple II emulator laying around that I've missed? Did a forum search and came up with about 200 posts, but nothing relevant. Or really any pre-mac apple emulator for that matter.

I think the closest you are going to get is GP2XMESS.

File archive:
http://www.gp2x.de/cgi-bin/cfiles.cgi?0,0,0,0,5,1128

Homepage:
http://users.adelphia.net/~bsturk/gp2x.html

I haven't tried it, so I don't know how it will work.

 

[JesterDev]

Thank you for the information. It's a little buggy, but I got it working.

 

[gates007]

Thank you for the information. It's a little buggy, but I got it working.

Hi All,

I just got the GP2X a few weeks ago and have been trying to get the APPLE II (MESS) emulator running.

I got the bios in the bio folder and have checked they are the correct bio.

The folder strucuture of the program is

/games/gp2xmess/ ---> with all main *.gpe files
/games/gp2xmess/bios ---> with apple2e.zip / apple2c.zip and apple2.zip files in it

My questions are:
1) Do I need to put gp2xmess folder in the root directory?
2) the in cfg folder --> I do not have a cfg file for apple (i see there is one for ti99_4a.cfg). Do I need a cfg file for apple? If so, how do I create it or where do i create it.
3) I read a thread that any directory for roms is workable. Is this true?

Thanks for your help in advance!

gates

 

[Blah]

Try unzipping the bios files.

 

[gates007]

Try unzipping the bios files.

I tried and it did not work. The instruction is also very specific about having it in zip form. Thanks tho.

gates

 

[telengard]

Thank you for the information. It's a little buggy, but I got it working.

Hi All,

I just got the GP2X a few weeks ago and have been trying to get the APPLE II (MESS) emulator running.

I got the bios in the bio folder and have checked they are the correct bio.

The folder strucuture of the program is

/games/gp2xmess/ ---> with all main *.gpe files
/games/gp2xmess/bios ---> with apple2e.zip / apple2c.zip and apple2.zip files in it

My questions are:
1) Do I need to put gp2xmess folder in the root directory?
2) the in cfg folder --> I do not have a cfg file for apple (i see there is one for ti99_4a.cfg). Do I need a cfg file for apple? If so, how do I create it or where do i create it.
3) I read a thread that any directory for roms is workable. Is this true?

Thanks for your help in advance!

gates

Hi there,

To (attempt to) answer your questions....

1) Nope, no requirement about where it lives on the disk, doesn't have to be in the root
2) The cfg files are only for those systems necessary for mapping buttons a certain way. There is no default apple2 cfg file and no need to create one.
3) Yep, any directory for games etc is fine. When you select a disk just traverse there to pick the .dsk etc.
However, system roms *have* to be under the bios subdirectory. This directory is set explicitly in the .gpe file

I saw in a different thread you were having issues running it. What exactly is happening? Is it not launching via the apple2.gpe?

~telengard

Try unzipping the bios files.

I tried and it did not work. The instruction is also very specific about having it in zip form. Thanks tho.

gates

yep that is true. the BIOS roms have to be zipped, under the bios directory, and have the correct name.

~telengard

 

[gates007]

Hi Telengard,

Thanks for your reply. Yes - Mess for apple II, IIc and IIe were failed to launch. I run the gpe files and the screen goes black and boot back to the gp2x menu. There are many people who have successfully run it but I can not even boot it. Just wondering if there is a step by step installation guide or someone can help with to figure out what I did wrong. I do not hear any apple boot sound, all bios have been working in other apple emulators and bios are zipped in placed in the bios directory.

Any suggestions?

Gates

 

[telengard]

Hi Telengard,

Thanks for your reply. Yes - Mess for apple II, IIc and IIe were failed to launch. I run the gpe files and the screen goes black and boot back to the gp2x menu. There are many people who have successfully run it but I can not even boot it. Just wondering if there is a step by step installation guide or someone can help with to figure out what I did wrong. I do not hear any apple boot sound, all bios have been working in other apple emulators and bios are zipped in placed in the bios directory.

Any suggestions?

Gates

Hi again,

When this happens 99.9999999% of the time it's an incompatible BIOS format. There was either a file rename or CRC mismatch. Mame and mess change the contents of supported BIOS zips around a lot as I can attest to each release upgrading my mame cabinet.

Any easy way to test is by running the windows version of mess of the same version with that BIOS zip. It may only need a file renamed etc. The Win32 MESSGUI should say if it's OK or not.

Also, if you add this to the end of the first line that calls gp2xmess it will leave a file that you can look at to see what went wrong. This is without the quotes. Also if you edit this on Windows *be sure* that your editor can save in UNIX format (linefeeds) or at least preserve the ones in there.

" > a2.txt 2>&1"

hth,
~telengard

Hi Telengard,

Thanks for your reply. Yes - Mess for apple II, IIc and IIe were failed to launch. I run the gpe files and the screen goes black and boot back to the gp2x menu. There are many people who have successfully run it but I can not even boot it. Just wondering if there is a step by step installation guide or someone can help with to figure out what I did wrong. I do not hear any apple boot sound, all bios have been working in other apple emulators and bios are zipped in placed in the bios directory.

Any suggestions?

Gates

Hi again,

When this happens 99.9999999% of the time it's an incompatible BIOS format. There was either a file rename or CRC mismatch. Mame and mess change the contents of supported BIOS zips around a lot as I can attest to each release upgrading my mame cabinet.

You mentioned other emulators. You need MESS compatible BIOS rom zips. Taking the ones that come with something like AppleWin I do not believe will work unless you fiddle a lot with them.

Any easy way to test is by running the windows version of mess of the same version with that BIOS zip. It may only need a file renamed etc. The Win32 MESSGUI should say if it's OK or not.

Also, if you add this to the end of the first line that calls gp2xmess it will leave a file that you can look at to see what went wrong. This is without the quotes. Also if you edit this on Windows *be sure* that your editor can save in UNIX format (linefeeds) or at least preserve the ones in there.

" > a2.txt 2>&1"

hth,
~telengard

 

[gates007]

Just want to say thank you to Telengard for his assistance! I got it working... keep up the good work on the Mess Port!

~gates

 

[alterdimension]

It is a great emulator. Many games work except for oregon trail....

 

[gates007]

Alterdimension,

Yes, that is unfortunate, especially OT is a great game. I am wondering if you can try Shadowkeep and see if it works... I got it booted but when I come to the Selection screen (ie. Start a new game, initialize game disks, etc...), it crashed back to the GP2x menu.

Do you have the same problem?

It would be ashame as Shadowkeep is one of the best innovative (at the time) adventure/RPG game for Apple II!

P.S. I tried it on MESS and it worked so it appears it is a GP2X issue.

~Gates

 

[alterdimension]

hey. I tried bad dudes and carmon sendiego and they worked. I agree with you that it probabley a gp2x problem. also, one of my favorite games on the tandy emulator, dungeons of daggerath, and love it but it doesn't work And everybody's favorite oregon trail doesn't work. It's a great emulator just needs more work. It might be a porting problem. But I do not posess the skills to fix it.

 

[telengard]

It is a great emulator. Many games work except for oregon trail....

Hi Alterdimension,

I finally got around to trying out my Oregon Trail image and it played fine for me using the apple2c driver. Does your dsk image work with other emulators like Applewin?

~telengard

 

[blakespot]

Sadly, Apple II emu under MESS is slow. I long for a full speed (hey, it's a 1.02MHz 6502...) emulator for the II to appear one day, for the GP2X.



blakespot

 

[telengard]

Yep, it is slow at the moment. MESS is quite slow being generic in design. That's the big tradeoff. They also go for accuracy of emulation over speed. And even though it's CPU is only 1Mhz or so, *everything* is emulated, the entire system not just the main CPU. I'm willing to bet that a dedicated, tuned a2 emulator would run much faster though.
The beauty of xmess is all the great building blocks to add new systems to it, much like MAME.

All that said however, I've gotten some decent speed ups by disabling the Mockingboard support. It's on all the time even if not used. Was using up a lot of cpu. I can only think of a few games offhand which use it. I tried to conditionally disable it but that doesn't seem possible without major gutting of xmess.

A2 is now running at around 75% where it was in the low 50s if I recall correctly. Some smaller changes also helped. I'm hoping to try it with overclocking to 248Mhz to see how much better it is but I'm having difficulty with cpu_speed.

Now if I could just nab that virtual keyboard bug that pops up when I'm playing Oregon Trail!

~telengard

 

[gates007]

Curious if anyone has tried ShadowKeep with the new GP2XMESS? Can someone test to see if it is working? I don't have my gp2x with me but I will check once I have it back. Thanks!


Gates

 

[gates007]

Hello Telengard,

Greetings and a big thank you to continually supporting gp2xmess! Your help and dedication is much appreciated.

I have tried ShadowKeep with the April 1 edition (0.12) of GP2Xmess. It went a little further but not much. It still crash at the "Press S to start new game" screen. However, it went a little further than before. I am 90% sure it is due to the virtual keyboard within GP2X mess. The game does not response to small cap letter when entering option. When I CAP it or SHIFT the key to select game option (ie CAP "S" to start new game) the game crash almost immediately. I think if you can look into the virtual keyboard bug it may help both Oregon Trail and ShadowKeep!


Thanks in advance for your help!

Gates

 

[telengard]

Hello Telengard,

Greetings and a big thank you to continually supporting gp2xmess! Your help and dedication is much appreciated.

I have tried ShadowKeep with the April 1 edition (0.12) of GP2Xmess. It went a little further but not much. It still crash at the "Press S to start new game" screen. However, it went a little further than before. I am 90% sure it is due to the virtual keyboard within GP2X mess. The game does not response to small cap letter when entering option. When I CAP it or SHIFT the key to select game option (ie CAP "S" to start new game) the game crash almost immediately. I think if you can look into the virtual keyboard bug it may help both Oregon Trail and ShadowKeep!

Thanks in advance for your help!

Gates



Hiya gates007,

Yep I do believe there is a bug there. Haven't been able to track it down yet. I'm working on it though. I do believe it's a time related thing. The longer it is up, the more apt it is to crash. The next version I release will have sped up Apple ][ emulation.

~telengard