Atari 5200 is making me lose my mind!

[RLBradders26]

Hi Guys,

I am really hoping someone can help as I have tried absolutely everything I can think of.

No matter what I do I cant get the bezel working for Atari 5200. So far this is what I have done:

• Using Kat5200 and I edited the module to draw the bezel etc however the screen was always in front of the bezel meaning the top and bottom were cut off.
• I then went to retroarch and tried using the Atari800 core, the bezel worked fine however theres no way to size the screen correctly without putting retroarch in full screen which I cant do. (This was to fix issue http://www.rlauncher.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1689.html)
• Tried using my mame setup through retroarch, worked perfect on its own but as soon as i put it through rlauncher it just crashed.
• Also tried using the retroarch overlay settings and various other emulators.

Im so close to just deleting the whole Atari 5200 system! Someone must know how to do this.

 

[dragon57]

Hi Guys,

I am really hoping someone can help as I have tried absolutely everything I can think of.

No matter what I do I cant get the bezel working for Atari 5200. So far this is what I have done:

• Using Kat5200 and I edited the module to draw the bezel etc however the screen was always in front of the bezel meaning the top and bottom were cut off.
• I then went to retroarch and tried using the Atari800 core, the bezel worked fine however theres no way to size the screen correctly without putting retroarch in full screen which I cant do. (This was to fix issue http://www.rlauncher.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1689.html)
• Tried using my mame setup through retroarch, worked perfect on its own but as soon as i put it through rlauncher it just crashed.
• Also tried using the retroarch overlay settings and various other emulators.

Im so close to just deleting the whole Atari 5200 system! Someone must know how to do this.

I am using the regular MAME, and it works great for me via rocket launcher. It even had an Atari 5200 bezel in the MAME extras pack.

 

[SupraKarma]

I'd use Altirra v 2.71 (latest version of the emu that works with the module) for 5200 - it's the best.

I couldn't get bezels to appear at all with the latest version of Kat5200 (it was updated recently with many improvements).

I had better luck with Altirra - see the attached screenshot. The \RocketLauncher\Media\Bezels\Atari 5200\_Default\Bezel Alex.ini file needs tweaked a bit to make it perfect, but it'll work.



Edit: If you need help actually tweaking that ini file, I could help you out with that, just let me know.

 

[RLBradders26]

I'd use Altirra v 2.71 (latest version of the emu that works with the module) for 5200 - it's the best.

I couldn't get bezels to appear at all with the latest version of Kat5200 (it was updated recently with many improvements).

I had better luck with Altirra - see the attached screenshot. The \RocketLauncher\Media\Bezels\Atari 5200\_Default\Bezel Alex.ini file needs tweaked a bit to make it perfect, but it'll work.

View attachment 2589

Edit: If you need help actually tweaking that ini file, I could help you out with that, just let me know.

Yes! SupraKarma you are awesome! That worked a treat, Thanks.

 

[SupraKarma]

Glad I could help.

 

[dragon57]

I just can't get Altirra to work with all of my 5200 games. It crashes on a few whereas MAME runs them all. I have tried numerous versions of Altirra too.

 

[SupraKarma]

lol that's an easy enough fix man... re-download the ROMs that do not work from a different source.

Atari 5200 is one of my favorite systems, and I made it a point to test and get every single ROM working from the official Hyperlist database, and they all do with Altirra.


Just a wild guess... the games in question are Bounty Bob Strikes Back! (USA) and Miner 2049er Starring Bounty Bob (USA), right? I remember having to specifically download special versions of those two games (that are both made by the same publisher).

MAME may run them all, but it doesn't run them all correctly. As with many MAME emulation cores, they got it working half-assed, then abandoned it. They don't have proper analog support working - in Super Breakout, when you let go of your analog stick and the stick re-centers, the paddle is supposed to recenter. In Altirra, it does - because Altirra has proper analog support. In Mame, it's totally broken, has been for years, and people have complained about it, but nothing has (and likely ever will be) done about it. Hell, for the longest time (probably a decade or more) they didn't even have both fire buttons working. And the pause/reset/start/0-9/*/# buttons are all supposed to exist for all 4 controllers, not just one set for player 1. There are situations where those buttons actually do things on other controllers.

I hate to be critical of the MAME/MESS dev team because they've done some amazing work. But if you're not going to take the time to develop the emulation for a system properly, then don't even bother. Some people believe 'half-assed' is better than nothing, but a true enthusiast of a particular system will never be on board with that kind of thinking.

 

[dragon57]

Actually I had issues with a ton more games. I have finally found versions that work now, but it took forever to add games to the "Atari 5200.ini" file. As you know, I had to manually load them from Altirra, select one of the memory mappers, then see if that mapper was correct, go back, try again, then finally update the ini file with the correct values. What a pain!

If anyone is interested in my updated ini file, post here and I'll see it.

 

[SupraKarma]

There should be a file called RocketLauncher\Modules\Altirra\Atari 5200 (example).ini. All you had to do was copy Atari 5200 (example).ini and rename the copy to Atari 5200.ini.

I didn't spend 5 minutes configuring anything, somebody else already did all the work.

It would however be nice if mention of said file was in the module notes - I got lucky and figured that out early on. If I hadn't, then yeah, it would have been a pain.

 

[dragon57]

There should be a file called RocketLauncher\Modules\Altirra\Atari 5200 (example).ini. All you had to do was copy Atari 5200 (example).ini and rename the copy to Atari 5200.ini.

I didn't spend 5 minutes configuring anything, somebody else already did all the work.

It would however be nice if mention of said file was in the module notes - I got lucky and figured that out early on. If I hadn't, then yeah, it would have been a pain.

Yes, I used that example file to start with. However my game set was more extensive than what was in the example file.

 

[SupraKarma]

I just wanted to post an update here, as I can't stand the thought of spreading disinformation - the most current version of Altirra works quite well with the existing module. I'm not sure how I came to the conclusion that you needed the older version I specified before - most likely inexperience.

I had to tinker with it a bit more to get everything to work, though. Also, for a couple of games, you have to choose less than obvious mappers in the Atari 5200.ini.

[Super Breakout (USA)]
CartType=20

[Kaboom! (USA)]
CartType=20

Edit: I'm just going to post the entire ini, in case someone else doesn't have it.

[Settings]
Fullscreen=false

[A.E. (USA) (Proto)]
CartType=16

[Adventure II (USA) (Unl)]
CartType=4

[Activision Decathlon, The (USA)]
CartType=16

[BerZerk (USA)]
CartType=16

[Asteroids (USA) (Proto)]
CartType=16

[Astro Chase (USA)]
CartType=6

[Beamrider (USA)]
CartType=16

[Blaster (USA) (Proto)]
CartType=16

[Blue Print (USA)]
CartType=16


[Buck Rogers - Planet of Zoom (USA)]
CartType=6

[Castle Crisis (USA) (Unl)]
MouseMode=Paddle

[Choplifter! (USA)]
CartType=16

[David Crane's Pitfall II - Lost Caverns (USA)]
CartType=16

[Final Legacy (USA) (Proto)]
CartType=16

[Frisky Tom (USA) (Proto)]
CartType=6

[Galaxian (USA)]
MouseMode=Paddle

[Gorf (USA)]
MouseMode=Paddle

[H.E.R.O. (USA)]
CartType=16

[Joust (USA)]
CartType=6

[Kaboom! (USA)]
CartType=20
MouseMode=Paddle

[Meteorites (USA)]
CartType=16

[Miner 2049er Starring Bounty Bob (USA)]
CartType=16

[Missile Command (USA)]
MouseMode=Paddle

[Moon Patrol (USA)]
CartType=16

[Quest for Quintana Roo (USA)]
CartType=16

[RealSports Tennis (USA)]
MouseMode=Paddle

[Robotron 2084 (USA)]
CartType=16

[Space Shuttle - A Journey Into Space (USA)]
CartType=16

[Super Breakout (USA)]
CartType=20

[Wizard of Wor (USA)]
CartType=16

[Zone Ranger (USA)]
CartType=16

 

[beavis]

I'm glad to hear Altirra 3.10 works with RL. I'd love get it working. What all the settings to get it running to run Atari 5200 roms. i tried tinkering but there is so many settings i get over whelmed. any help would be appreciated.

 

[tdalton]

I'm trying to to get Altirra 4.1 running in Rocketlauncher. It works fine when I load the app outside and boot an image. The Atari 5200.ini file is in the Rocketlauncher\modules\Altirra folder but I still get "unknown cart type, make sure you define a carttype for this game on atari 5200.ini" and I have tried games that are definitely on the list and also tried updating the ini with the list provided on this thread (thank you). Any ideas what else I can do?