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Apple II GS emulator: what do you suggest?


legolas119

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HI

 

i would like to install an Apple II GS emulator and use it with launchbox. What do you suggest? I'm trying to use MAME but i have a lot of problems, some games doesn't work and i don't know why...

is there a quite easy emulator to set uP?

thanks!

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As far as I know (and I'll be very happy to be proven wrong) MAME is still the best choice when it comes to IIGS emulation. As for some games that don't work, a bunch of games aren't actually bootable so you need a HD setup with the OS installed or a boot disk with ProDOS on.

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22 hours ago, legolas119 said:

HI

 

i would like to install an Apple II GS emulator and use it with launchbox. What do you suggest? I'm trying to use MAME but i have a lot of problems, some games doesn't work and i don't know why...

is there a quite easy emulator to set uP?

thanks!

AFAIK you have two options:

1. Mame: If you are able to set it up correctly, the games will book. However, last I tried I had difficulties setting up a jopad within mame to be used on Apple IIGS. When I finally managed to do it, The cursor moved on it's own, as if it had too small of a dead zone. Could never fix this issue, so I moved on. This was a few years ago, so things might have changed.

2. eXoAppleIIGS: eXo has released a curated set of pre-configured AppleIIGS Games. Haven't tried it in depth, yet, so I cannot say what the pros and cons are here. But eXo's stuff is usually pretty great.

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10 hours ago, SiriusVI said:

2. eXoAppleIIGS: eXo has released a curated set of pre-configured AppleIIGS Games. Haven't tried it in depth, yet, so I cannot say what the pros and cons are here. But eXo's stuff is usually pretty great.

eXo's IIGS set is using MAME, GSPort and GSPlus depending on game and if want it "all setup" that is advantage with his packages as he addresses things like needing ProDos operating system to play or eases multi disk games (Bard's Tale as example).

MAME is the way to go for most part if not using eXo setup.  See this thread on MAME setup. 

The issue is like with most computer emulation is more complicated than cartridge setups.  Many of the other emulators besides MAME like KEGS haven't been updated in many years.

Edited by sundogak
corrected exo statement, uses two other emulators
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thanks.

In the past i configured MAME as emulator in order to play my 20 games Apple II collection. Later, i deleted the folder by mistake to i configured again it using MAME 0.259. Now, only 6 of my 20 games correctly start. The others games have the same issue and i don0t know how to solve it... Every time i run one of them, MAME freezes...it continue to appear a strange sound (tac-tac-tac-tac-tac) and the game doen't start. Sometimes it appears the Title screen but then the MAME freezes, others times the game doesn't start at all and it appear a screen like this:

Cattura.png

In particular i have issues with all my 2 disks games and with some of my 1 disk game:

1) Alien Mind, Cosmocade, The Gate, Gnarly Golf, Space Queste II, Task Force, Tower of Myraglen: they are 2  disks game. I configured them in this way and it worked in the past with my previous mame configuration:

Cattura1.png

Cattura2.png

Cattura3.png

 

2) Dualtris, Future Shock 3D: they are a 1 disk game but they need the system disk too. SO inconfigured them in this way:

Cattura4.png

 

Cattura5.png

Cattura6.png

3) Geat Wester Shotout, Thexder, Warlock, Zany Golf: they are normal 1 disk game, but they have the same issue, with the blue screen and the sound "tac-tac-tac-tac" and the MAME is freezed

4) Out of this world: it is a 2 disk game but in addition in requires the system disk. So i configured it in this way:

Cattura7.png

Cattura8.png

Cattura9.png

I have only 5 games with 1 disk that correctly work and 1 2 disks game (Rastan), configured in this way:

Cattura10.png

Cattura11.png

Cattura12.png

I really don't know how to fix this issue...do you have any idea?

 

thank you very much!

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The sound is just MAME simulating the sound of the floppy drive reading the disk. This command works fine for me which is basically what you are telling LB: 

mame apple2gs -flop3 "path_to_your_disk\System.DiskIIGS_604.po" -flop4 "path_to_your_disk\Dueltris.2mg"

The loading process will go to the blue screen, then eventually to the loading screen to the Systems 6.04 (approximately 60 seconds to get to screen). 

You should also delete any saved states for your games in your ..\MAME\sta\apple2gs\  if you are having issues as may be corrupted.

Beyond that, if you are crashing at loading window then you should check you have a complete rom set for MAME as the bios files are in the full Arcade set.

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hi, thanks.

I don't have any MAME\sta\apple2gs\ folder...

Cattura.png

into the roms folder i have the apple2gs.zip bios...i suppose it is enough...is that correct?

Cattura2.png

I really don't knwo why they don't work anymore...in the past with a previous MAME version they worked fine...but i don't remember if i configured some specific setting into the emulator...i think i have configured everythign as in the past... :(

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Looks like you were unfortunate enough to choose a MAME version that broke IIGS emulation. I tried 0.259 and had exactly the same problems as you. It works with 0.251 (which is what I was using), and I've just updated it to 0.262 and it works in that as well.

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2 hours ago, legolas119 said:

hi, thanks.

I don't have any MAME\sta\apple2gs\ folder...

Cattura.png

into the roms folder i have the apple2gs.zip bios...i suppose it is enough...is that correct?

Cattura2.png

I really don't knwo why they don't work anymore...in the past with a previous MAME version they worked fine...but i don't remember if i configured some specific setting into the emulator...i think i have configured everythign as in the past... :(

As stated in other thread, you shouldn’t be moving any BIOS files.  You point your Mame.ini to the full set Mame Roms directory which if a full set will have all the needed files. 

Edited by sundogak
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yeah, with MAME 0.262 it works again! Many thanks!

I only have 3 games that still have stange issue. 

Alien Mind: strangely it doens't save the 2nd disk game and i don't know how to save it again. I tired to add 2nd disk both in Read only or read-write mode,

Alien-Mind.png

but after the title screen, there is the sound "tac-tac-tac" for some seconds and then black screen...if i reboot the game, the 2nd disk game is still missing:

Aline-Mind-2.png

 

2) Future Shock 3D: in order to run the game it is necessary to double click on FS.SYS16 

Future-Shock-3-D.png

but now i'm not able anymore to retunr to the previous screen...:

Future-Shock-3-D-2.png

3) Out of this world: it requires both the System Disk image anche Disk 1 and DIsk 2. But i don't know how to set up the 2nd disk:

Cattura7.png

Cattura8.png

Cattura9.png

thank you!

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On 2/13/2024 at 3:41 PM, legolas119 said:

yeah, with MAME 0.262 it works again! Many thanks!

I only have 3 games that still have stange issue. 

Alien Mind: strangely it doens't save the 2nd disk game and i don't know how to save it again. I tired to add 2nd disk both in Read only or read-write mode,

Alien-Mind.png

but after the title screen, there is the sound "tac-tac-tac" for some seconds and then black screen...if i reboot the game, the 2nd disk game is still missing:

Aline-Mind-2.png

 

2) Future Shock 3D: in order to run the game it is necessary to double click on FS.SYS16 

Future-Shock-3-D.png

but now i'm not able anymore to retunr to the previous screen...:

Future-Shock-3-D-2.png

3) Out of this world: it requires both the System Disk image anche Disk 1 and DIsk 2. But i don't know how to set up the 2nd disk:

Cattura7.png

Cattura8.png

Cattura9.png

thank you!

For #2 question, that game looks to have system files (ProDos and System folder) so should boot without a system disk. At least for me, if you run with MAME and get a blue screen with "Error=$ 002E" then you need to switch the Apple IIGS Rom from 3.0 to 1.0.  To do this, where you have this in your custom command line

apple2gs

 change that to

apple2gsr1

When it boots up the blue screen should say "ROM 1.0" on bottom instead of 3.0

Note you won't be able to play this game to control ball as it required a special "Future Pad" controller.  There is a hack version of the game floating about that bypasses it and uses keyboard (the Exo Apple IIGS pack has it).

For #3 question, that is limitation of IIGS just like a real computer of the time.  The IIGS by default has two 5.25" drives (-flop1 and -flop2) and two 3.5" drives (-flop3 and -flop4).  Thus, you have to use the MAME interface to swap out Game Disk1 in Flop4 with Game Disk 2 and then let it load.  More than likely it will ask for Game Disk 1 again and have to load that back into MAME interface.  An alternative is to use a hard drive image with system files to boot instead of a floppy image. Then the two floppy drives are available.  You can search for a HD image if do Google search for "System 6.0.1 Hard Drive Image ~13.3meg".  It will have a "HDV" extension.  For hard drive images you have to change the command to run MAME with hard drive to:
 

apple2gs -sl7 cffa2 -noautosave -gameio joy -ramsize 8M -hard1

 

Edited by sundogak
fixed error in command
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hi, thanks!

#2: well, i don't find the hacked version yet...as mine version isn't playable, i can delete it, it is useless for me... In any case i tried to change the command line as suggested, but it doesn't start, there are several pop up messages like those:

Cattura.png

Cattura2.png

Cattura3.png

I added the apple2g1.zip file into the roms folder:

Cattura4.png

but it seems it doesn't work...

 

thanks!

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7 hours ago, legolas119 said:

hi, thanks!

#2: well, i don't find the hacked version yet...as mine version isn't playable, i can delete it, it is useless for me... In any case i tried to change the command line as suggested, but it doesn't start, there are several pop up messages like those:

Cattura.png

Cattura2.png

Cattura3.png

I added the apple2g1.zip file into the roms folder:

Cattura4.png

but it seems it doesn't work...

 

thanks!

I had typo in command above.  Should be:

apple2gsr1

Also do not rename any MAME roms.  The Apple2GS.zip is all that is needed.

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On 2/16/2024 at 3:07 PM, legolas119 said:

thanks, i modified the command. Now i have this error:

errore.png

errore-2.png

i don't know why...

It says right in the error you posted you are missing files.  You don't have a complete romset and/or you are not pointing to your full arcade MAME rom set within your MAME.ini.

Edit:  If you are using a MAME merged set the files will be here:

Screenshot2024-02-18173730.png.757f8a85f757e6a3578f3f5ded7944f6.png

If you are using a MAME split set the files will be here:

Screenshot2024-02-18173900.png.7b6dddd85732b5241c7353fd7aefa14f.png

But again, your repeated issue based on errors above is that you are moving roms around rather than just pointing to your main MAME arcade roms directory with full set of correct roms or you do not have a complete set to begin with. 

Edited by sundogak
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4 hours ago, legolas119 said:

thanks! now it starts. But it appears this message:

Cattura.png

and if i push INITIALIZE, it appears this:

Cattura2.png

what i can do?

 

thank you!

It's having issues with your second disk which I assume is you game disk.  It doesn't recognize the disk so wants to format it (erase it).  So would try a different disk image or make sure using files from MAME Software List set. 

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now it works! I didn't change anything... and i can control the ball with mouse!

Now i have only to solve the issue with Alien Mind: it doens't save the 2nd disk game and i don't know how to save it again. I tried to add 2nd disk both in Read only or read-write mode,

Cattura.png

but after the title screen, there is the sound "tac-tac-tac" for some seconds and then black screen...if i reboot the game, the 2nd disk game is still missing:

Cattura2.png

Do you know how i can fix it?

thank you!

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/11/2024 at 12:41 PM, legolas119 said:

thanks.

In the past i configured MAME as emulator in order to play my 20 games Apple II collection. Later, i deleted the folder by mistake to i configured again it using MAME 0.259. Now, only 6 of my 20 games correctly start. The others games have the same issue and i don0t know how to solve it... Every time i run one of them, MAME freezes...it continue to appear a strange sound (tac-tac-tac-tac-tac) and the game doen't start. Sometimes it appears the Title screen but then the MAME freezes, others times the game doesn't start at all and it appear a screen like this:

 

I find it way too amusing that youre this into Apple II gaming and have played dozens of games and dont know that the tac tac tac sound is just the emulated hardware sounds accessing the data from the emulated floppy  😅

 

Goodluck to everyone trying to do this. Someday Apple II emulation will be as easy as some of the other computer platforms on retroarch mame.

Edited by Paultimate
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