ColecoDS - Improved

[CrashMidnick]

 

[wavemotion]

Just checked in 6.2c with support to save back the ADAM disk or tape image (both represented by a cassette icon). A few other smaller fixes are included as well.

Many of the images out there will have previous high-scores filled in... for any Coleco ADAM game you can type 9-8-9 on the high-score screen to clear them out and start your own...

Release 6.3 will be coming later today or tomorrow.

 

[avery217]

Just keeps getting better! Not a lot of good Adam games (I suppose because of the great video game crash of '84) but some really good titles.......Thanks Dave

 

[wavemotion]

Version 6.3 is released! https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/ColecoDS

V6.3: 12-Mar-2022 by wavemotion-dave

• ADAM Computer support is added! Play .ddp and .dsk games (requires eos.rom and writer.rom).
• Other minor cleanups and fixes as time permitted.

Our Vision is Your Vision - now with ADAM Computer support!

To load .ddp (Digital Data Packs) and .dsk (Adam Disk Images), you will need two new BIOS roms EOS.ROM and WRITER.ROM placed in the same directory as your other BIOS files for the emulator.

Now that this beast has support for many systems... here is a pic of a system that is fully capable of playing the entire spectrum of games (Coleco, ADAM, MSX, Sord-M5 and SG-1000/3000):

Please note: ADAM tape/disk loading can be a little finicky - just like the real system! If your game doesn't load, hit RESET and try again. Most likely it will load up on the next try.

Also note: the Save/Load state files for ADAM are larger than any other formats... due to the large amount of data that needs saving (including 128K of RAM ... 64K internal RAM and 64K expanded RAM). I think the Save/Load state file is like 320K. Not silly-large but you've been warned

And more notes: The Digital Data Packs (.ddp) and Disks (.dsk) files won't auto-write back to the SD card. You have to press the little Cassette icon (even if a disk image is loaded... I don't swap icons). That will write the image back to the SD card. If you don't do this, and turn the DS off... you will lose your progress in the game.

Please try some homebrews like Adam Bomb II - well worth the effort!

Time for a nap.

 

[andreiarturo]

can you point us to where to get the requires eos.rom and writer.rom, please?

 

[wavemotion]

can you point us to where to get the requires eos.rom and writer.rom, please?

Everything for the ADAM should come from the well-curated Adam Archive (.org).

You will need to rename the longer file named versions you find there.

 

[andreiarturo]

Everything for the ADAM should come from the well-curated Adam Archive (.org).

You will need to rename the longer file named versions you find there.

could be these?
ADAM IDE Hard Disk System v5.0 - Boot Driver (2014) (MicroFox Technologies)
ADAM's Desk Top V1.1 (1991) (Walters Software Co.)

 

[wavemotion]

EOS = Elementary Operating Sysyem
WRITER = Smart Writer.

Both are in the Adam Chipsets area.

 

[andreiarturo]

Everything for the ADAM should come from the well-curated Adam Archive (.org).

You will need to rename the longer file named versions you find there.

could be these?
ADAM IDE Hard Disk System v5.0 - Boot Driver (2014) (MicroFox Technologies)
ADAM's Desk Top V1.1 (1991) (Walters Software Co.)

EOS = Elementary Operating Sysyem
WRITER = Smart Writer.

Both are in the Adam Chipsets area.

thank you!!!!

 

[avery217]

Never ever thought I'd be playing Coleco Adam games on my Nintendo DSi.........amazing!!!!!

 

[wavemotion]

Maybe... I didn't think I'd get this far in 2 hours, to be honest.

 

[CrashMidnick]

Z80 power !!!

 

[wavemotion]

It lives! Not every Memotech MTX game loads/runs, but about 70% do and many are playable on the older DS-LITE/PHAT despite the CPU being clocked faster (at 4MHz) than most of the other 'Coleco-like' systems. There are at least a solid half-dozen fun exclusives on this system (about 100 games overall).

I should have a release out in a day or so. It will support .MTX (digitalized tape format) and .RUN (memory loaded) formats.

 

[wavemotion]

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/ColecoDS

V6.4: 29-Mar-2022 by wavemotion-dave

• Memotech MTX support added (.mtx and .run files only)
• Better load file handling so more games are recognized correctly.
• Other minor cleanups and fixes as time permitted.

Another big release! And new emulation is available for the Memotech MTX.

This beautifully crafted machine was available starting in 1983 but due to a deal which fell through, Memotech went into Receivership (bankrupcy) in 1985. A bit more than 100 games were produced for the system - including many arcade clones as they didn't generally have the rights to any of the arcade 1st party titles.

The interesting thing here is that the Zilog Z80A is clocked at 4MHz - about 10% faster than the Colecovision and kin. The emulation I've added takes this into account.

Not every game runs perfectly - the TOSEC floating around out there has some bad dumps... and it's not easy to find good working versions of all the games. Your best bet is to find a copy of the MTX emulator MEMO which comes with a solid selection of games that tend to work fairly well.

The emulator supports both .MTX (tape format) and .RUN (memory loadable format) games. Since I was only able to get in a very basic tape loader, the .MTX files are hit-and-miss... if it loads and runs, it will run fairly close to perfect. If it doesn't load... you're out of luck and you will need to try to find another dump. If possible, you should prefer .RUN files as those are setup to run directly from memory without a loader of any kind.

Once the game is loaded into memory you will be sitting at the BASIC prompt:

At this prompt you need to LOAD "" (if .MTX) or RUN the game (if .RUN). I've made this simple - just hit the DS START key to enter the proper command automatically.

If a game doesn't run, try reloading... sometimes a 2nd load works.

There are some great games on the system... that don't generally appear elsewhere. I'd give my recommendations to trying:

ASTROPAC
AGGROVATOR
ARCAZION
DRIVING THE Cee5
CHAMBERIOIDS
ESCAPE FROM ZARKOS
FATHOMS
FIREHOUSE FREDDY
LITTLE DEVILS
SON OF PETE
SURFACE SCANNER
SMG (Some Maze Game!)
SUPER MINEFIELD
KNUCKLES
OBLOIDS
OBLITERATION ZONE (my new fav!)
PHAID
QOGO and QUGO2
QUAZZIA
REVEAL
ROLLA BEARING


I'm proud of where this emulator got to... it's jam-packed with Z80/TMS9918 gaming goodness!

 

[wavemotion]

I went back through my notes for this emulator and here is roughly were it stands in terms of compatibility of playing games:

Colecovision    97%   - Just about everything runs perfectly including all Super Game Module stuff.
SG-1000         97%   - No BIOS here and very simple memory map - just about everything runs perfect.
ADAM            90%   - Single tape/disk games generally run quite well with the ability to save back to tape/disk.
SORD-M5         90%   - CTC chip emulation not perfect so sound not perfect. Many of the non-running games are bad dumps.
MSX1            85%   - So many different mappers but all the common stuff is supported. Lack of support for tape / SCC chip.
MEMO MTX        70%   - Only simple tape loader stuff works but that's still a fairly high number of games.

Given that this is, primarily, a Colecovision emulator - this is very reasonable! I was able to get more than 1000 games (across all emulated platforms) running.

 

[CrashMidnick]

I need to go to Paris tomorrow, that means for me 2 hours of CollecoDS in the train It will be a good oppourtunity to test the last features !

Thanks Dave for all the time spent on this emulator.

 

[wavemotion]

I think this will be the last Z80/TMS9918 "Coleco-like" addition to this emulator.

BIOS, Sound and Video are hooked in... need to emulate the cassette interface next.

 

[wavemotion]

https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/ColecoDS

V6.5: 02-Apr-2022 by wavemotion-dave

• Spectravideo SVI (328) support added (.cas files auto-detected format)
• MSX Cassette support added (.cas files auto-detected format)
• Overhaul of full keyboard to support another row of characters and shoulder-button for SHIFT
• Increased config database to 1400 entries (from 700 - this version will auto-update)

In addition to adding Spectravideo SV-328 emulation, I've also added .CAS format support for the MSX bringing a bunch of cassette-only games into the fold. I've also unified the keyboard handlers so it's one generic full keyboard for all systems except ADAM which has a unique layout. I still need to make use of that little cassette icon for MSX, SVI and Memotech MTX cassettes so support rewind, tape flip/insert and writing of cassettes back to the SD card. Probably will be in the next version. For now, you can use the START and SELECT buttons to auto-insert the most basic cassette loader commands (bload and run).

So play Spectravideo SVI games, you will need svi.rom BIOS in the usual places. "out there" I've seen 3 versions - you should prefer the svi110.rom or svi111.rom (just rename the one you want to use as svi.rom).

 

[CrashMidnick]

It is working great even on old HW

Alien 8 and maybe few others will require 1/2 FS (old HW), I did not test the fullset roms. DK is not working on my side, crash on loading cassette (bad dump ?).
Thanks Dave !

 

[wavemotion]

Coolness! Yeah, some dumps are bad but more often than not, I'm finding that cassette loading is fiddly. Even with emulation. I randomize memory when RESET is pressed - and sometimes the cassette loads fine and sometimes it doesn't. Often just pressing reset and trying to reload works. Sometimes I have to try 3 or 4 times. But only with some games - other games load every time perfectly. I don't know what it is with some games - they might rely on the memory being in a certain state that isn't perfectly emulated.

In any event, if you're taking about the MSX DK - I was able to get this one to load. By the way, I checked in version 6.5a with a little mini-menu on pressing the CASSETTE icon on the keyboard... you can do some tape-related things including entering the more common commands which really saves typing and time!

As always, I appreciate the feedback!