BBC Micro Launcher for LaunchBox

[launchretrogirl2562]

 BBC Micro Launcher for LaunchBox - Setup Guide

This launcher provides BBC Micro emulation with automatic file type detection, optimized control schemes (work in progress), and game-specific configurations for MAME.

Features

• Automatic file type detection
  Floppy Disks: SSD, DSD, FSD, ADS, ADL
  Cassette Tapes: UEF, WAV 
  ROM Cartridges: ROM
• Smart control scheme mapping (A/Z/Comma, Z/X/Star, Cursor keys, QAOP)
• Game-specific boot handling (EXEC vs RUN, TAPE CHAIN commands, special cases)
• Dual emulator support (MAME standalone + RetroArch/MAME core)
• Hardware-accurate configurations (acorn1770, wd1770, adfs130)
• Complete MAME setup (configs, artwork - credit to Mega_bezel project from Duimon, BIOS files included)

Installation Steps

1. Extract the Launcher Package

1. Download the BBC_Micro_Launcher.zip BBC_Micro_Launcher.zip
2. Extract contents to your MAME directory (e.g., D:\Emulators\MAME\) (THIS WILL OVERWRITE YOUR OWN BBCB.INI and BBCB artwork...so make a backup if you have an existing BBC Micro setup)
3. The package contains these components:
   📁 Root Files:
   • bbcb.ini → MAME configuration for Electron
   📁 artwork/bbcb/:
   • bbcmicro.png → System artwork
   • default.lay → Screen layout
   • bbcb.cfg → Artwork configuration
   📁 cfg/_bbcmicro/:
   • default.cfg, bbcb.cfg → Main control configs
   • azcomma/ → A/Z/</> control scheme configs
   • zxstar/ → Z/X/*? control scheme configs
   📁 launchers/:
   • bbc_micro_launcher.bat → Main launcher script (for use with official MAME Software lists)
   • bbc_micro_launcher_tosec.bat → Main launcher script (for use with custom romsets like TOSEC)
   📁 luascripts/:
   • bbc_cass_new.lua → Cassette fast-loading
   • bbc_advanced_disc.lua → Auto-launches BBC Micro ADFS floppy gamesAuto-boot detection
   • bbcb_rom_new.lua → rom games
   • bbc_double_sided_disk.lua → Doublesided disk games
   • bbcb_flop_new.lua → Manual boot script
   📁 roms/:
   • BBC Micro BIOS files

2. Update Launcher Paths

1. Open mame\launchers\bbc_micro_launcher.bat and mame\launchers\bbc_micro_launcher_tosec.bat in a text editor
2. Update these paths to match your system:
   set "RETROARCH_PATH=D:\RetroArch"          ← Your RetroArch path (not important if u have no retroarch, as it is not used in this launcher with FORCEMAME=1)
   set "MAME_PATH=D:\Emulators\MAME"          ← Your MAME path
   set "LUASCRIPT_PATH=D:\Emulators\MAME\luascripts"  ← Your lua scripts path

3. Update Rompath (bbcb.ini)

1. Open mame\bbcb.ini in a text editor
2. Update the rompath to match your system:
   rompath                   "roms;D:\Games\BBC Micro"   ← Change D:\Games\BBC Micro to whereever your own bbc micro roms are located

4. Launchbox - Add new Platform (BBC Micro)

1. Open Launchbox
2. Go to Tools → Manage → Platforms
3. Click 'Add'
4. Enter Platform Name : BBC Micro
5. For 'Scrape as:' also choose BBC Microcomputer system
6. Click OK
   

5. Launchbox - Add new Emulator

1. Go to Tools → Manage → Emulators
2. Click 'Add'
3. Emulator Name → Enter any name of your choosing (Because I have several Launcher_ bat files, I name mine Launcher_BBC_Micro
4. Application Path → Browse to your MAME\Launchers folder and pick the bbc_micro_launcher.bat (if u are using the official MAME SOFTWARE LISTS zips) or pick the bbc_micro_launcher_tosec.bat (if u are using an unofficial romset like TOSEC)
5. Leave all other settings default and you should have the following setup
   
6. Click on the second menu 'Associated Platforms' and add your BBC Micro platform and set it as 'Default Emulator'
    
7. Click OK

6. BBC Micro roms

1. Go to Tools → Import→ Rom Files → Single Platform
2. Browse to the location where your BBC Micro games are located
3. Either Add them 'By Folder' or 'By files'
   
4. Choose the correct platform 'BBC Micro'
   
5. Choose the newly created 'Launcher_BBC_MICRO'
   
6. Choose your desired option to either copy, move or current location
   
7. After this it is basically clicking NEXT 4 times and FINISH
   

Should be good to go from here on to launch the games.

In testing I used roms from following MAME SL folders

Extra details

The launcher tells you what it is doing, which filetype it has, which lua it runs, etc...
The launcher is also well documented so if u spend a few minutes to read the comments, it should be pretty straightforward to understand.
Each game should be in a ZIP file containing one of the supported formats. (SSD, DSD, FSD, ADS, ADL, UEF, ROM, WAV)
Cassette games (UEF, WAV) use a fastload luascript to speed up the loading time. 

With the launcher, it basically runs every type of game u throw at it. Again, of course I haven't tested all bbc micro roms from the mame software lists.

But the launcher can be further customised to add certain games (by romname), for instance if u encounter other FLOP games that require certain commands besides LOAD or SHIFTBREAK...u can add them by editing the lua files. BBC lua files that have a local GAMES setting can be further customized and added to.

For the most part however, I already did most of the work to get this system up and running.
Is the launcher able to launch every bbc micro roms...I wouldn't be able to say unless I actually tested it with each and every rom.
From my tests, I think it should launch most of them without any further hassle or configuring. The remaining 10-20% will be handled by adding them as exceptions as described here above in any of the lua local games lists.

TOSEC vs. OFFICIAL MAME SOFTWARE LISTS (mame SL is recommended)

Official MAME software list zips have short names and no other characters beside A-Z 0-9 _

TOSEC, has longer filenames and special characters in the filename()#!

Especially the filenames with an exclamation mark (!) cannot be run with this launcher.
So if u are using a TOSEC set, it's best to rename any rom name which has exclamation marks in it.

Blast! (1989)(Audiogenic).zip  → should be renamed to  → Blast (1989)(Audiogenic).zip

Control Schemes (for controller mapping)
This is still a work in progress.
Basically, most games will fall in this category:
- AZCOMMA_GAMES - For A/Z/</> controls
- ZXSTAR_GAMES - For Z/X/*? controls  
- CURSOR_GAMES - For cursor key controls
- QAOP_GAMES - For Q/A/O/P controls

Idea is, when u find a game which for instance uses A/Z/</> controls, u only need to configure them once, copy the fully configured config files to the \MAME\cfg\_BBCMicro\azcomma directory and just add any new games u find to the AZCOMMA_GAMES list


Same goes for the other types of control schemes. But it is time consuming work, so I haven't finished this part yet. Of course, keyboard always works...

Hope this launcher will at least take away some of the hassle of getting this system up and running and open up the BBC Micro games to more users.

Final words

Of course it goes without saying that it is recommended to use the official mame software list in combination with the bbc_micro_launcher.bat because it has less quirks.
If users find any of their own exceptions, or games that do not boot, or make improvements themselves. Please let me know so I can improve the launcher.

These launchers are now in a working state, depending on requests or need I might make separate posts for them. Just shout out.

@fromlostdays @ancient_mu_mu @jamz

Happy gaming

 
Changelog

v1.0 - First release

 

Edited yesterday at 02:03 AM by launchretrogirl2562