Homebrew StellaDS V1.2 (DSi Entry)

[BassAceGold]

- adding load argument with BassAceGold tip (which menu uses it, your menu ?)

BAGPlug and iMenu use it, arguments are an nds standard within devkitarm so any possible future menus could also use it.

 

[alekmaul]

Ok, thanks BassAceGold. Just added it in my release, will try to add more things before doing an update of the post ^^

[EDIT] Another World, please tell me which games from your homebrew pack hangs with strange sound, i can't find it
All games work for me, some of them can't be played because of paddle lack support (like pong, you can use RESET or SELECT but nothing else).

 

[Another World]

hi alek,

the #/# games thing.... when i am in my main root directoy i see 0001/0032 games. there are no games here just 32 directories. i think making this say 0001/0032 directories would make more sense and when the program actaully sees a .a26 or .bin then it would display 0001/0023 games. -- if i describe it that way does it make more sense?

dpad/button combinations: i think the buttons on the touch screen should be mapped to the buttons because not everyone has a working touch screen, not everyone wants to click the touch screen, etc. i understand that this isn't something you have to add nor is it something that needs to be added, i just thought it would be nice to have a choice of using either the stylus or dpad/buttons to navigate and load roms.

the starcharger games that hang are the retail ntsc and pal games. the homebrew games all seem to work, and i only linked to them so that people would have some choices when testing your emu. i don't expect everyone to run out and try to pirate an a26 collection when there is homebrew available. sorry for the confusion!

you mentioned that paddle controls are not yet implemented, i was also thinking about Indiana Jones and Star Raiders. indy requires two controllers for some parts and star raider used the Video Touch Pad. it would be great to see these included in the emulator at some point. i'd love to play star raiders on the go, i think the bottom screen could double as the video touch pad when this game is launched.

here is more info on the touch pad: http://www.atariage.com/controller_page.ht...;ControllerID=5

most of the same speed issues i had with the first stellaDS port are still here. i find it odd that the atari 2600 can't be emulated at full speed, i do understand that this is a first release and that you are aware that it needs a speed increase (according to the readme). games like pitfall II are all but unplayable. i'm curious what can be done to increase the speed and if you will be able to do much more? would the emu benefit from running in dsi-mode?

cheers,
-another world

 

[Buleste]

One other thing I have noticed is when you click the power off button in the emulator you get a horrible screeching noise. Is it possible to fix this?

 

[alekmaul]

@Buleste: yes, will remove it.
@Another world :
* the #/# games thing ok, understood, will change that to avoid confusion.
* Starcharger games : ok, i will try commercial games then.
* dspad : ok, will map all the screen triggers
* indy / star raiders : hum, ok put on todo list but not fior next release

About speed, well it's near full speed on DSi, yes, i tested it with a DSi of a friend. I will try to increase it more but it is not simple ...
I think it's faster than TheChuckster release but far for a full speed thing ...
I will try to find a way to see where the slowdown are the more important.

Also, next release before then end of this week with your suggesitons, thanks all !

 

[Another World]

i've been playing ET and it plays pretty smooth on the ds lite. i'll have to try out the emu on my ievo to see if there is a speed increase.
i'm also curious to see how pitfall II plays on the ievo. that is one of my favorite games but i actually enjoy the 5200 version more than the 2600 version.

do you plan to add a way to change the A/B difficulty switch setting that was found on the back of the old a2600? i'm not 100% sure but i think it was a hardware switch and not a Boolean for something in the cart itself.

playing all of these games again is taking me back to my childhood. the 2600 was the first system my parents bought. thank you for giving me back that feeling i had when playing these games as a kid =)

-another world

 

[Another World]

alek has your project been optimized to run on the dsi and are you entering it as a "dsi homebrew" or are you going to enter as a "ds" homebrew?

-another world

 

[mysticwaterfall]

Great work around, much better then the other version we had... unfortunately, speed issues are still there on my 3 favorite games (frostbite, seaquest, yrs revenge). But an awesome first version, looking forward to the next one Love your colecovision emu too.

EDIT: Seaquest actually seems okay. Must have been thinking of something else.

 

[Another World]

i did some dsi mode testing with the ievo and the speed increase is noticable but not all games are yet playable. i hope you can tweak it so that pitfall II runs at full speed. i've wanted to play that game on my ds handhelds for years!

the sound engine is sweet, especially on the dsi. it takes me right back to sitting infront of the black and white tv in my PJs at 8pm in 83' =P.

the indy game that needs the second controller for part of the game is "raiders of the lost ark".

one final suggestion, add a way to page through the directory listing. holding "right" on the d-pad or something to skip every 10 files.

cheers,
-another world

 

[alekmaul]

one final suggestion, add a way to page through the directory listing. holding "right" on the d-pad or something to skip every 10 files.

Just try R and L ;-)
Will try to improve speed but it will not be easy :/

 

[mysticwaterfall]

Will try to improve speed but it will not be easy :/

Understandable

I don't want to come off ungrateful in my previous post, there are a good amount of games that have playable speed that I do enjoy (For instance, SeaQuest, MegaMania, Pitfall, Fast Eddie, Cosmic Ark, etc) that play much better then they did with thechuckster version. Frostbite and Yar's just happen to be near and dear to my heart

 

[mysticwaterfall]

I hope you can tweak it so that pitfall II runs at full speed. i've wanted to play that game on my ds handhelds for years!

As long as your not particularly caring its the 2600 version, the Colecovision version works just fine on Aleks emu for that.

 

[alekmaul]

I fixed lots of things but i have pb with paddle and breakout.
Don't know why but i can't start a game, does someone know how does it work , how can we begin a game ?

 

[Buleste]

I fixed lots of things but i have pb with paddle and breakout.
Don't know why but i can't start a game, does someone know how does it work , how can we begin a game ?

If you look at the version on Atari Greatest Hits Volume 2 you use the fire button to serve and begin the game (I personally think if you're going to use the touchscreen to emulate the paddle then it should be configurable shoulder buttons (L if you're right handed and R if you are left handed).

BTW I've noticed that .bin files are quicker and the whole screen is displayed but .a26 files are slower and the bottom part of the screen is cut off (Defender is a prime example). I'll provide a picture when I can get my camera working properly.

EDIT: Sorry about the quality of the images but all my cameras didn't want to create a decent image so I had to use a crappy phone camera.

Defender .BIN

Defender .A26

 

[Another World]

I hope you can tweak it so that pitfall II runs at full speed. i've wanted to play that game on my ds handhelds for years!

As long as your not particularly caring its the 2600 version, the Colecovision version works just fine on Aleks emu for that.

the atari good set (cowering's tool) only included the activision version. what is the name of the file? is it in the goodsets? this is the one i found "Pitfall II - Lost Caverns (1983-84) (Activision).col" can i rename it to .bin or .a26?

this is the one i'm using:
Pitfall II - Lost Caverns (1984) (Activision) [!].a26 [097CE7AD]

-another world

 

[mysticwaterfall]

I hope you can tweak it so that pitfall II runs at full speed. i've wanted to play that game on my ds handhelds for years!

As long as your not particularly caring its the 2600 version, the Colecovision version works just fine on Aleks emu for that.

the atari good set (cowering's tool) only included the activision version. what is the name of the file? is it in the goodsets? this is the one i found "Pitfall II - Lost Caverns (1983-84) (Activision).col" can i rename it to .bin or .a26?

this is the one i'm using:
Pitfall II - Lost Caverns (1984) (Activision) [!].a26 [097CE7AD]

-another world

I meant you could play it on his Colecovision emu. Sorry for the confusion...

 

[Buleste]

@Another World

You should try a .bin version of Pitfall II. I've noticed that some .a26 files are not displayed correctly (Defender, Defender II, Pacman I haven't gone through them all) and are slightly slower than .bin files. Pitfall II.bin will still run slowly but still slightly faster than Pitfall II.a26.


EDIT: Just gone through my .bin and .a26 Pitfall II files and the .a26 file displays correctly and is the same speed as the .bin file. Sorry.

 

[Another World]

the .bin files seem harder to come by. i found a tosec set but those are never complete sets. the goodset has the converted .a26 files. from what i've read about cowerings tools they are just renaming not actually changing anything. but you guys are right, the .a26 files are indeed cut off at the top.

-another world

 

[Boriar]

the .bin files seem harder to come by. i found a tosec set but those are never complete sets. the goodset has the converted .a26 files. from what i've read about cowerings tools they are just renaming not actually changing anything. but you guys are right, the .a26 files are indeed cut off at the top.

-another world

Far as i know, all old consoles with one or few emulators use .bin format (binary in raw format) because the lack in his time of dumpers (equipment, not teams, excepting nes and snes). Some programs used to manipulated the roms had the ability to put a kind of "header" on front or rear of the rom file, but both are basically the same. Cowering rename all to some easy recognizable one for each console to avoid confusions with many bin ones for several consoles.

About of bin and a26 are basically the same i'm completely safe because i have near complete set af all ones in both formats and check it one by one (yeah). If one emulator on PC don't recognize one format I rename it and work. May be some exceptions but i suppose garbage.

 

[Vigilante]

Good job.
Emulators are the best types of homebrew.

Thank you for pretty much improving the old stella emu.