hepcat
Member
Is there a FAQ out there for this emulator? The documentation that comes with it is virtually unreadable and I can't find anything online.
Atari 800 Emulator
- Thread starter hepcat
- Start date
frolik
Bass Invader
What game are you trying to run? What format are the games in? What FXE are you running?
Try loading an EXE format game, they seem to work pretty well, make sure you're using a 133Mhz version or your GP32 might crash. I haven't got my GP32 here to walk you through it so be more specific and maybe we can help.
Try loading an EXE format game, they seem to work pretty well, make sure you're using a 133Mhz version or your GP32 might crash. I haven't got my GP32 here to walk you through it so be more specific and maybe we can help.
Hwrd
Member
This is my favourite emulator, but I had a bit of difficulty launching Atari 800 software at first. For me, I think it was partially due to the 'free design' of all the different emulators on the GP32. I think it's great, but certainly was confusing.
Offhand (my GP32 isn't nearby), make sure you have your BIOS ROM's in the correct location, and load a disk file. You have to "back out" with the B button I believe, and then the software loads. (hey, what I am writing isn't very readable either).
Once you get the hang of it, it makes sense, and is very Atari 800'ish...
Post again if you are still having difficulty and I will write down the actual steps this evening...
Offhand (my GP32 isn't nearby), make sure you have your BIOS ROM's in the correct location, and load a disk file. You have to "back out" with the B button I believe, and then the software loads. (hey, what I am writing isn't very readable either).
Once you get the hang of it, it makes sense, and is very Atari 800'ish...
Post again if you are still having difficulty and I will write down the actual steps this evening...
Flip & Flop
Still Fresh
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2003
- Messages
- 39
I'm not the brightest bulb on the xmas tree, but this is what I did...
put the 2 .fxe files and the A800 DIR in the GPMM folder of your SMC.
run GP32 and select one of the Atari icons that show (I use the first one), when it loads select Disk Management and then pick one of the games from the list (my emu came with a few games already in the right DIR's). (if there are no games, you need to transfer some into the GPMM/A800/DISK DIR of your SMC, disk images use the .ATR extension), then reload the emu.
when you have selected the game you want to run (Flip & Flop or Rainbow Walker to name but 2) click the left shoulder button twice and the game should load. with any luck a few hours later your GP will begin to crash, this tells you that you have been playing far to long as your batteries are going down
put the 2 .fxe files and the A800 DIR in the GPMM folder of your SMC.
run GP32 and select one of the Atari icons that show (I use the first one), when it loads select Disk Management and then pick one of the games from the list (my emu came with a few games already in the right DIR's). (if there are no games, you need to transfer some into the GPMM/A800/DISK DIR of your SMC, disk images use the .ATR extension), then reload the emu.
when you have selected the game you want to run (Flip & Flop or Rainbow Walker to name but 2) click the left shoulder button twice and the game should load. with any luck a few hours later your GP will begin to crash, this tells you that you have been playing far to long as your batteries are going down
hepcat
Member
OK, I guess I was a little vague in my first post about the problems I’ve been having so I decided to try again last night. This time I took some notes, hopefully that will make it easier for someone to help me.
A link from the GP32 File archive led me to the emulator. I downloaded the larger version that comes with the OS roms and a few games. Opening the Winrar archive created two folders “doc” and “gpmm.”
Gpmm contained a800e165.fxe and a800l132.fxe. I didn’t know what the difference was between the two, so I installed both. One of them didn’t work at all, one did, unfortunately, I’m not sure which is which. I guess I could uninstall one of them later and figure it out by process of elimination if you think that would help. (Based on what happened next, I suspect the one that worked was a800l132.fxe.)
When I turned on the Fxe that did work, I got a screen that says:
Atari 800 Emulator, Version 1.3.2GP0.7 Then the following options:
Disk Management
Load State
Save State
Manage State
Cartridge Management
Run Bin file directly
Load Tape image
Atari settings
Select System
PCX Screenshot
GP32 Settings
Reset (Warm Start)
Reboot (Cold Start)
Exit (Reboot GP32)
About the emulator
I think the first thing I tried was “Run Bin file directly.” All I got from that was a screeching noise and colors on the screen, almost as if I had tried turned on an Atari without putting a cartridge in.
Then I tried “Select system” and Atari 5200 (16Kb) since I was trying to play a rom from that system. Then I went to Disk management and eventually found a folder called exe. This folder contained:
dropzone.cas
liquid.xex
river.cas
zybex.cas
The exe folder also contained several roms I’d downloaded from another site. These were actually a couple hacks of Atari 5200 Pacman. They had worked on the Atari800Win emulator on my computer when I put them in the exe folder, so I assumed I should do the same thing here.
However, none of the files in this exe folder would work. No matter what else I did or which game I tried, I always got this message: “The Atari computer has crashed. Code $22 (CIM) at address $0007"
I got the same error when I tried to load a game by going to the Cartridge Management folder. (I tried both the “Extract ROM image from cartridge” and the “insert cartridge” options.)
The only game I ever got to run last Sunday night was Pitfall II. I can’t remember how I got that one to run, and I couldn’t get it to run last night.
Also in the GPMM folder was a folder called Atari 800 that contained several directories. I couldn’t copy these directly to the GP32 so I created the same directory structure on the SMC and copied the files manually just as they came in the WINrar archive. The only exception was the documentation files which came the “Doc” folder I mentioned earlier. I couldn’t get those to copy to the GP32. Two of them were text documents, but when I opened them on my computer, they made no sense at all. Another was called Readme.GP32. Obviously that file might have helped, but I couldn’t get it to open on my computer either and it wouldn’t copy to the SMC.
Ok, hopefully that will give someone a little more to work with. Any ideas? :unsure:
A link from the GP32 File archive led me to the emulator. I downloaded the larger version that comes with the OS roms and a few games. Opening the Winrar archive created two folders “doc” and “gpmm.”
Gpmm contained a800e165.fxe and a800l132.fxe. I didn’t know what the difference was between the two, so I installed both. One of them didn’t work at all, one did, unfortunately, I’m not sure which is which. I guess I could uninstall one of them later and figure it out by process of elimination if you think that would help. (Based on what happened next, I suspect the one that worked was a800l132.fxe.)
When I turned on the Fxe that did work, I got a screen that says:
Atari 800 Emulator, Version 1.3.2GP0.7 Then the following options:
Disk Management
Load State
Save State
Manage State
Cartridge Management
Run Bin file directly
Load Tape image
Atari settings
Select System
PCX Screenshot
GP32 Settings
Reset (Warm Start)
Reboot (Cold Start)
Exit (Reboot GP32)
About the emulator
I think the first thing I tried was “Run Bin file directly.” All I got from that was a screeching noise and colors on the screen, almost as if I had tried turned on an Atari without putting a cartridge in.
Then I tried “Select system” and Atari 5200 (16Kb) since I was trying to play a rom from that system. Then I went to Disk management and eventually found a folder called exe. This folder contained:
dropzone.cas
liquid.xex
river.cas
zybex.cas
The exe folder also contained several roms I’d downloaded from another site. These were actually a couple hacks of Atari 5200 Pacman. They had worked on the Atari800Win emulator on my computer when I put them in the exe folder, so I assumed I should do the same thing here.
However, none of the files in this exe folder would work. No matter what else I did or which game I tried, I always got this message: “The Atari computer has crashed. Code $22 (CIM) at address $0007"
I got the same error when I tried to load a game by going to the Cartridge Management folder. (I tried both the “Extract ROM image from cartridge” and the “insert cartridge” options.)
The only game I ever got to run last Sunday night was Pitfall II. I can’t remember how I got that one to run, and I couldn’t get it to run last night.
Also in the GPMM folder was a folder called Atari 800 that contained several directories. I couldn’t copy these directly to the GP32 so I created the same directory structure on the SMC and copied the files manually just as they came in the WINrar archive. The only exception was the documentation files which came the “Doc” folder I mentioned earlier. I couldn’t get those to copy to the GP32. Two of them were text documents, but when I opened them on my computer, they made no sense at all. Another was called Readme.GP32. Obviously that file might have helped, but I couldn’t get it to open on my computer either and it wouldn’t copy to the SMC.
Ok, hopefully that will give someone a little more to work with. Any ideas? :unsure:
hepcat
Member
Wait, OK I did manage to start a few games with the .atr extension after attaching the files under the Disk Management option. Most them just started with garbage on the screen however.
Still no luck at starting any .bin files.
Still no luck at starting any .bin files.
frolik
Bass Invader
you should use the 132 version as the other one is overclocked and it sounds like your GP doesn't overclock that high.
I've not used bin files, but the readme says they are cartridge images that should go in ROM folder
Try to find some EXE format games as I know these work fine, and but them in the EXE folder
Here's the homepage: http://www.scrameta.net/a800.html
Keep trying, it sounds like you just haven't got good roms/disks.....
I've not used bin files, but the readme says they are cartridge images that should go in ROM folder
Try to find some EXE format games as I know these work fine, and but them in the EXE folder
Here's the homepage: http://www.scrameta.net/a800.html
Keep trying, it sounds like you just haven't got good roms/disks.....
hepcat
Member
I had much better luck getting games working on this emulator after reading this quick guide that Hwrd wrote up for me. He said I could post it in here where it might help someone else. Thanks again!
--Jason
================================
To Run A Disk Image:
1. leave cursor at DISK MANAGEMENT press A button
2. cursor now at (W)D1: press A button
3. choose the disk image press A button
4. cursor now at (W)D1: disk-name press L shoulder button
5. at main menu press L shoulder button
The game should start after a brief period of time
Notes on disk images:
- pretty much all game disk images should run on an Atari800 with 48K
(you can change the system type at step #1 noted below)
- some games are preconfigured for more convenient controls
(you can check this at step 3# noted below)
- to run another disk image without rebooting your GP32:
go through steps 1-4 as above, then
#5. at main menu, move the cursor to REBOOT (COLD START),
then press A button
- this cold restart is something that generally had to be done when
using a real Atari 800 also. Sometimes a shutdown was required,
which on the GP32 would be to reboot the actual machine.
To Run A 5200 Cartridge:
1. move cursor to SELECT SYSTEM press A button
2. move cursor to ATARI 5200 press A button
3. move cursor to LOAD KEYBOARD MAP press A button
4. move cursor to 5200.MEN press A button
5. move cursor to CARTRIDGE MANAGEMENT press A button
6. move curor to INSERT CARTRIDGE press A button
7. choose your cartridge press A button
8. basically guess a cartridge type press A button
9. oops, forgot to write what the menu is press L shoulder button
Notes on cartridges:
- not all the steps are necessary,
what I wrote is more of a foolproof guide.
you will notice if you start at step #5-6, the SYSTEM TYPE
is probably chosen but probably not the KEYBOARD MAP
- the "basically guess a cartridge type" is not that bad,
I loaded MILLIPEDE for the 5200 while writing these notes and there was
only one choice for 5200 cartridges. You will get the hang of it.
- some cartridges have to be loaded under the "RUN BIN FILE DIRECTLY"
menu choice. I experienced this with STARGATE for the 5200 and
NECROMANCER for the Atari 800
Good luck!
--Jason
================================
To Run A Disk Image:
1. leave cursor at DISK MANAGEMENT press A button
2. cursor now at (W)D1: press A button
3. choose the disk image press A button
4. cursor now at (W)D1: disk-name press L shoulder button
5. at main menu press L shoulder button
The game should start after a brief period of time
Notes on disk images:
- pretty much all game disk images should run on an Atari800 with 48K
(you can change the system type at step #1 noted below)
- some games are preconfigured for more convenient controls
(you can check this at step 3# noted below)
- to run another disk image without rebooting your GP32:
go through steps 1-4 as above, then
#5. at main menu, move the cursor to REBOOT (COLD START),
then press A button
- this cold restart is something that generally had to be done when
using a real Atari 800 also. Sometimes a shutdown was required,
which on the GP32 would be to reboot the actual machine.
To Run A 5200 Cartridge:
1. move cursor to SELECT SYSTEM press A button
2. move cursor to ATARI 5200 press A button
3. move cursor to LOAD KEYBOARD MAP press A button
4. move cursor to 5200.MEN press A button
5. move cursor to CARTRIDGE MANAGEMENT press A button
6. move curor to INSERT CARTRIDGE press A button
7. choose your cartridge press A button
8. basically guess a cartridge type press A button
9. oops, forgot to write what the menu is press L shoulder button
Notes on cartridges:
- not all the steps are necessary,
what I wrote is more of a foolproof guide.
you will notice if you start at step #5-6, the SYSTEM TYPE
is probably chosen but probably not the KEYBOARD MAP
- the "basically guess a cartridge type" is not that bad,
I loaded MILLIPEDE for the 5200 while writing these notes and there was
only one choice for 5200 cartridges. You will get the hang of it.
- some cartridges have to be loaded under the "RUN BIN FILE DIRECTLY"
menu choice. I experienced this with STARGATE for the 5200 and
NECROMANCER for the Atari 800
Good luck!
carlgeorge
Active Member
just to add another note:
If your files have the extension .COM then you need go through 'run bin file directly' on the main menu to run it.
If your files have the extension .COM then you need go through 'run bin file directly' on the main menu to run it.
