Acorn Archimedes Emulator How To?

[Dreamwarrior77]

Hey everybody it's been a while since I posted but I'm back with more emulator issues and this time it's for the Acorn Archimedes emulator called RPCEmu.

I tried 2 others but not much luck and this seems to be the only one still being updated and in development as far as I know unless mame/mess supports it.

I have not yet tried that route but I have RPCEmu downloaded and a risc os 3.71 rom in my rom folder. I start up the software and it runs fine but I can not seem to figure out how to load an .adf game rom file.

I tried loading it in the cd rom slot but nothing happens.. then I thought maybe I should hit the reset button thinking it may just load on startup but no luck either.. anyone know how to run .adf roms on this emulator?

Also just wondering how we can configure a game pad there does not seem to be an option for this? I would not want to use this emulator with gamepad support is there a better way to emulate the Acorn Archimedes? Need some help with this, thanks..

Edited February 1, 2017 by Dreamwarrior77

[FRK]

bump...

[The Atarian]

Hi,

it feels strange replying to a thread that is almost two years old, but I just started experimenting with the Archimedes. 

 

In case the thread creator didn't figure it out, here is how you can run software on the RPCEmu emulator.

 

After starting the emulator go to DISC and select LOAD DISC: 0. Search and select the game you want to run by double clicking on it. It will bring you back to the main screen. In the bottom,, you will see 5 icons on the left side. The fourth starting from the left should be named :0. If you double click on it, the game should start.

What I haven't figured out is a way to mount and autostart the game directly from Launchbox. Anyone can provide help with that? Thanks.

 

[vaderag]

I actually have SOME games set up running on Arculator and some on RPC, but truthfully emulating this system is a bit of a pain

Reason i was searching is that I think i'm going to give up and actually just use different systems for the games that were on them within the Archimedes section.

However, yet to find a list of 'exclusive' Archimedes games for me to ensure i'm complete! If anyone has this let me know

[vaderag]

5 hours ago, steelcityjj said:

How'd you get the games to run in Arculator?  I keep getting a black screen when I try to run a ROM.  

Good question ?

I set it up around 3 years ago and it was a pita - pretty much needed individual config for each game.

What I can tell you is that it's done via Rocket Launcher and i have vague recollection of finding the instructions somewhere on the Hyperspin forums and doing some troubleshooting with a user called Diskmach on there, so worth heading over and checking it out!

[vaderag]

6 minutes ago, steelcityjj said:

Thanks to @vaderag I was able to get this wrapped up.  I was able to compile a Launchbox No Intro pack for Acorn Archimedes.  It's on the ArcadePunks forum and should be on the site soon.  

You're welcome

[gt46l]

I know I'm responding to a slow/old thread, but its the first that comes up and most likely to be the one others find so I figured it best to continue it than starting another. 

So I have also been trying out Archimedes emulation like the OP, and here is how far I have gotten.  I have tried both Arculator and RPCEmu, however neither will start in fullscreen (Win11 or Win10, full updates).  I've tried the obvious "alt-enter" and that does nothing, like its locked out.  I've tried multiple options to get this to work to no avail by using compatibility mode Win versions, disabling fullscreen optimizations, creating a shortcut set to start in a maximized window, etc.  You can only select full screen manually from the file menu, but you can't script that select with AHK because the file menu is missing the "alt-f" quick key(whatever thats correctly called).  There appear to be no command line options to force full screen either.  With Arculator it appears you can alter video settings to approximate your screen size, but it still won't be full screen. I have not attempted (as of yet) to contact the developer to request that functionality, though I had not found a way to do so easily through a forum. 

As to the next issue, I have not found a way with either emulator to start a program on boot.  Certainly no documentation on the emulator sites anyway.  I have found some forums discussing the technical aspects of RPCEmu and the RISC OS utilizing a "!boot" file, though not enough information on how to create one or for the emulator to use.  I did find one ADF game that had a "!boot" file on it but it complained of a missing directory, so I think I'm going to read through that to see if I can figure a way to make a game boot from floppy.  I suspect that the ADF file image itself will need this !boot file on it which would require creating a new ADF image with the game files and a custom written !boot file on it.  That wouldn't be a huge project to accomplish for a full rom set for this system if so since the Archimedes library is not too big.

One thing I have accomplished is getting RPCEmu to boot up from Launchbox with the game I clicked on present in the first floppy drive (but not directly into the game).  I've accomplished this by using the .bat file script below.  It creates a soft link to the ADF file in DOS to the "boot.adf" file in the RPCEmu directory as documented in the RPCEmu documentation.  This at least makes it easier to load the game once the emulator is up.  Just double click on the floppy drive, then when the files come up double click on the game.  Once you exit the emulator the link is destroyed. 

If RPCEmu sees the ADF in the "boot" floppy drive, then there is hope that this "!boot" file on the floppy image could potentially start the game on boot.  I know this system is not big on anyone's list for emulation, but I'm all for one-load sets.  If I can contribute by developing a process to get games on this system to load off of one Launchbox click, that would be my goal.  If anyone has experience with either of these emulators, the Risc OS, or maybe an alternate emulator that has everything I'm discussing then let me/us know.  I'm going to investigate this boot stuff further and will chime in with progress if I make any.

 

@echo on
set "EmuDir=.\rpcemu"
mklink "boot.adf" %1

".\RPCEmu-Interpreter.exe"
del boot.adf