rmetzger Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 I have the games downloaded and some work, others just sit there. I made a 2nd copy of retroarch, called the folder retroarch 2 as I have the 5200 running on my primary retroarch. Atlantis, I can boot up, hit the fire button and play the game with no problem. Frogger/Berzerk, the game boots up but I can't start a game. Every button I hit does nothing, not sure if there is a certain way to start this or not. Demon attack, I boot it up, a splash screen comes up that says demon attack and no matter what button I hit it does nothing. Ideas on how to get this to work? One thing I see could be an issue is that the emulator seems to use F4 for the start button, however I have servosticks and F4 turns it to a 4 way joystick. Not sure if this is part of my issue or not. Any help would be appreciated. I never owned an Atari computer and would love to get these games working to play and to compare to the atari 2600/5200, arcade systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundogak Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 (edited) There are several threads on this but check that you: 1) Have the correct Atari 800 Roms 2) Changed the core option settings for Atari System (if doing from front end) from "5200" to one of the Atari 800 options. If doing from the configuration files in RA you should see a setting called "atari800_system =" More than likely that is still set to 5200. atari800_system = "400/800 (OS B)" Edited June 29, 2021 by sundogak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmetzger Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share Posted June 29, 2021 It is set to altar 400/800 as a few of the games work. Atlantis and another game I started with no problem. Problem seems to be how do you start a game. Atlantis I just pushed the fire button and it worked. Another game I hit the fire button, it said hit trigger button, and it worked. Other games like frogged and berzerk sit at the start screen but won’t let me start. I’m hitting my “start” button on my control pad but nothing. Must be something else I need to don. Also not sure what you mean by the “correct Atari 800 roms” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundogak Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 (edited) My reference to Atari roms was that you have the appropriate machine bios roms required. The path to those is determined by the file .atari800.cfg which is usually in your root Retroarch directory. If you have some games launching, then likely not the issue. There also can be some challenges with cartridge based Atari 800 games in that the some sources didn't have the proper headers to tell the emulator what type of cartridge was being used. Some emulators have a built in database that use a checksum to determine how to launch cart, but that isn't always foolproof (i.e., won't run). Unfortunately, there is a mish mash of images floating around and hard to tell. Usually if you see an extension with ".car" then the header should be intact should likely run fine. Similarly, if an ATR extension should run since those are floppy disk images and don't have any header issue. If extension is "rom" or "bin" then it may or may not have the right header. There are two useful tools to help with carts: Atari ROM Maker which takes BIN and ROM cartridge images and applies a header and Atari ROM Checker which just gives information as to if the file does or doesn't have header (search via Google with those names). If controls issue then when launch the game open up RA settings window and check your controller type is set to Atari Joystick for things like Frogger. Lastly, the RA core works well enough for 5200 but the core that RA uses is an old version of Atari 800 (3.1 vs standalone 4.1), so can also be issues there as well. Edited July 1, 2021 by sundogak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkAmiga500 Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 On 6/29/2021 at 12:12 AM, sundogak said: There are several threads on this but check that you: 1) Have the correct Atari 800 Roms 2) Changed the core option settings for Atari System (if doing from front end) from "5200" to one of the Atari 800 options. I have somes roms but the RA (with correct core/bios detected) say the rom is for use with a real Atari did i need special "Retroarch roms set" or its me that dont understand something ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundogak Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 (edited) @MarkAmiga500 Not sure where it would pop up with the note "for use for a real Atari". But overall, there is no "Retroarch rom set". Most of those cores are based on standalone emulators like the Atari 800 emulator. The Retroarch core for this uses an older version of the Atari 800 emulator and info on the setup for Retroarch specifically is here. As noted at the RA page you have to have the appropriate BIOS file (ROM) for the Atari 5200 and Atari 800 to run games from them. Check that your BIOS files have the same exact MD5 checksums noted in the RA page. It sounds like you said this isn't the issue and if that is the case then the issue is either a setup file issue in RA (Atari 800 is not easiest to setup), or the game files are not readable to the emulator. Game files have to be in format that Atari 800 emulator can read. Typically, it will be an xex, atx, atr, bin, or a52 (5200 cart) file. You may also see a "*.car" extension (bin files natively) on some which are Atari 800 series cartridge games with the appropriate header to tell the emulator automatically what type of cartridge setup to use. If it is a cartridge game and no header, then Atari 800 emulator will pop up asking for which "type" at boot up. If atr file then a floppy disk image and no header issues to worry about. Typically, once get into floppy and cassettes then Altirra standalone is easier to manage. If your bios file and game images are seemingly okay then not sure without a screen snap and example of what you are trying to run. Edited January 16, 2023 by sundogak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkAmiga500 Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 23 hours ago, sundogak said: @MarkAmiga500 Not sure where it would pop up with the note "for use for a real Atari". But overall, there is no "Retroarch rom set". Most of those cores are based on standalone emulators like the Atari 800 emulator. The Retroarch core for this uses an older version of the Atari 800 emulator and info on the setup for Retroarch specifically is here. As noted at the RA page you have to have the appropriate BIOS file (ROM) for the Atari 5200 and Atari 800 to run games from them. Check that your BIOS files have the same exact MD5 checksums noted in the RA page. It sounds like you said this isn't the issue and if that is the case then the issue is either a setup file issue in RA (Atari 800 is not easiest to setup), or the game files are not readable to the emulator. Game files have to be in format that Atari 800 emulator can read. Typically, it will be an xex, atx, atr, bin, or a52 (5200 cart) file. You may also see a "*.car" extension (bin files natively) on some which are Atari 800 series cartridge games with the appropriate header to tell the emulator automatically what type of cartridge setup to use. If it is a cartridge game and no header, then Atari 800 emulator will pop up asking for which "type" at boot up. If atr file then a floppy disk image and no header issues to worry about. Typically, once get into floppy and cassettes then Altirra standalone is easier to manage. If your bios file and game images are seemingly okay then not sure without a screen snap and example of what you are trying to run. @sundogak ok thank you i will make somes testing and take pictures if necessary and will get back to you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulStranger Posted January 18, 2023 Share Posted January 18, 2023 Hi. I'm joining this thread with a similar problem - Atari 800 games won't launch. WIn 10 (64). LaunchBox v.13 with RA v.1.14 BIOS files are located in the RA "system" folder. MD5 values are correct. Note: As far as I understand, games for Atari 800 are emulated with core, named "Atari - 5200 (Atari800)" Atari 800 games after import are placed in the "Computers" LaunchBox section. Atari 2600/5200/7800 games are placed in the "Console" section, and emulated without problems. When I run different Atari 800 games, the emulator core works differently. Sometimes a message appears stating that the real Atari/OS is required. Sometimes a critical error message appears. Sometimes the emulator closes itself without notice. Sometimes the game will show the title page with sound effects, but nothing else will happen. In the message, where the requirement to use the real Atari/OS is indicated, there is a link to the original developer of the emulator - atari800.atari.org (forwarding to atari800.github.io). The current version of the emulator is 5.0.0. At the same time, the RA operates an outdated version 3.1 So, do you have any ideas about the problem with Atari 800 games not working correctly through LB+RA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundogak Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) On the Atari OS issue that is due to the emulator not knowing location of the Atari BIOS file. Check your .atari800.cfg file for the correct paths in the RA directory. Example of my paths in my CFG. Spoiler Atari 800 Emulator, Version 3.1.0 ROM_OS_A_NTSC=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\REVANTSC.ROM ROM_OS_A_PAL=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\ATARIOSA.ROM ROM_OS_B_NTSC=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\ATARIOSB.ROM ROM_OS_AA00R10=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\REV10.ROM ROM_OS_AA00R11=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\REV11.ROM ROM_OS_BB00R1=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\REV01.ROM ROM_OS_BB01R2=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\ATARIXL.ROM ROM_OS_BB02R3=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\REV03.ROM ROM_OS_BB02R3V4=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\REV04.ROM ROM_OS_CC01R4= ROM_OS_BB01R3= ROM_OS_BB01R4= ROM_OS_BB01R59= ROM_OS_BB01R59A= ROM_5200=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\5200.rom ROM_5200_A= ROM_BASIC_A= ROM_BASIC_B= ROM_BASIC_C=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\ATARIBAS.ROM ROM_XEGAME=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\REV04.ROM ROM_400/800_CUSTOM=G:\Emulators\Retroarch\system\ATARIOSB.ROM ROM_XL/XE_CUSTOM= ROM_5200_CUSTOM= ROM_BASIC_CUSTOM= ROM_XEGAME_CUSTOM= OS_400/800_VERSION=AUTO OS_XL/XE_VERSION=AUTO OS_5200_VERSION=AUTO BASIC_VERSION=AUTO XEGS_GAME_VERSION=AUTO ATARI_FILES_DIR=G:\Emulators\Atari 800\roms As to the crashes, hard to say since can be a variety of things. Like I mentioned earlier, the RA version is ancient and suspect some may be due to older version such as the crashes on title page. Also, I have seen crashes like the "address" error, if attempting to launch a binary file that is a cartridge-based game that you don't select the correct header type, or a mis-headered *.car file (cartridge based game). For the binary cartridge files missing a header this tool here helps with converting them to *.car files so don't have to worry about selecting header and/or having wrong one and crashing. Note that only applies to cartridge games and not floppy disk versions (ATX for example). RA for any computer system in my view is more pain that worth so I stick with Altirra or the Atari800 standalone emulator for anything computer disk based. Edit: ETA Prime has an older video for the RetroPie that might be helpful. The emulator itself is the same. Starting at 7:24 is discussion on the missing OS and way to do it without direct edit to CFG file. Also gives some pointers on the emulator that may be useful as well. Edited January 19, 2023 by sundogak Added Youtube Video link 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulStranger Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 (edited) Hello Sundogak! Thank you for the extended answer! 11 hours ago, sundogak said: On the Atari OS issue that is due to the emulator not knowing location of the Atari BIOS file. Check your .atari800.cfg file for the correct paths in the RA directory. Example of my paths in my CFG. Regarding BIOS files... you have more BIOS files in the list than required for the emulator in RA. I have the standard BIOS files (5) located correctly: Spoiler Atari 800 Emulator, Version 3.1.0 ROM_OS_A_NTSC= ROM_OS_A_PAL=D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\RetroArch\system\ATARIOSA.ROM ROM_OS_B_NTSC= ROM_OS_AA00R10= ROM_OS_AA00R11= ROM_OS_BB00R1= ROM_OS_BB01R2=D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\RetroArch\system\ATARIXL.ROM ROM_OS_BB02R3= ROM_OS_BB02R3V4= ROM_OS_CC01R4= ROM_OS_BB01R3= ROM_OS_BB01R4= ROM_OS_BB01R59= ROM_OS_BB01R59A= ROM_5200=D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\RetroArch\system\5200.rom ROM_5200_A= ROM_BASIC_A= ROM_BASIC_B= ROM_BASIC_C=D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\RetroArch\system\ATARIBAS.ROM ROM_XEGAME= ROM_400/800_CUSTOM=D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\RetroArch\system\ATARIOSB.ROM ROM_XL/XE_CUSTOM= ROM_5200_CUSTOM= ROM_BASIC_CUSTOM= ROM_XEGAME_CUSTOM= OS_400/800_VERSION=AUTO OS_XL/XE_VERSION=AUTO OS_5200_VERSION=AUTO BASIC_VERSION=AUTO XEGS_GAME_VERSION=AUTO About Atari ROM Maker - this program only converts two types of files: .BIN and .ROM And this is the main problem of games for Atari 800 and outdated core in RA - almost 95% of all games that are available for download on the Internet have a typical .ATR / .CAS / .XEX extensions. Among several large Atari 800 game rom sets, I found no more than 15-20 games in .ROM and .BIN. I successfully converted the game data to the .CAR (via Altirra emu) and successfully added to the RA, they are successfully launched. I wonder if there are available methods for converting .ATR to .CAR? Edited January 19, 2023 by PaulStranger clarifications have been made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundogak Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 The adding header issue only applies to cartridge binaries. Cassettes and floppy disk images don’t need the header so that tool doesn’t apply to that media. The Atari 8 bit series had a cartridge slot and ability to connect a cassette player and a floppy drive. Many games were made in multiple formats. However some were only in one format. On bios only need two typically which would be a Basic bios and a Pal/NTSC. I have the others from stand-alone emulator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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