I’m using the vice_xvic_libretro core to run VIC-20 roms. The issue is that some games autostart and get me into the game but others say load complete and then a “ready” message stays on screen, waiting for me to type some commands.
Is there any way to make all games autostart?
Have you tried typing run, then enter, to see if the game runs ? A lot of Vic-20 games require a memory expansion to run, and because the Vic is a bit of a mess when it comes to running these old games (Trust me, I own as real Vic-20 and it’s a pain) you never know what memory expansion is required. Is it 3k, 8k, 16k, or sometimes 32k, you won’t know unless the rom filename contains the memory requirement - normally looking similar to “Andes Attack (Llamasoft) (8K)” where the (8k) means 8k memory expansion required.
I did get an out of memory error in one game.
Can i change these amounts in the core options menu?
Typing run doesn’t start the games btw
I’m also getting an “illegal quantity” error in some games
It’s a mess. So far i can only make 1 out of 4 games to work properly. Also, the joypad rarely works.
Was a while ago since I tried it, so updates to the core might have made it easier, but I found it to be less hassle and solved some troubles by using a “megacart” rom file. I believe it contains the majority of cart games and some tape/disk stuff.
I set up 2 cmd files (each for NTSC/PAL) and loaded these as needed. CMD content e.g.: xvic -cartmega C:\Gaming\mega-cart-1f0784.rom (i.e. your path)
Eliminate Retroarch by downloading and trying the standalone emulator, WinVice. Run xvic.exe, and goto settings, then “Vic20 settings” and try different memory configurations.
If your games work in WinVice, then either copy the same settings into Retroarch, or look for different roms online.
The Vic-20 isn’t the easiest system to work with, even the real thing needs to either connect a memory cartridge, or disconnect it because some games don’t like it connected. Some games want the joystick in port 1, some in port 2. The Vic was a mess in the 80s, and now in emulators, in 2020, it’s still a mess.
Tried that but some games refuse to work or autostart even with the standalone. I tried every memory setting but no dice. I think i’ll give up on this system.
List a few games that you had problems with, I will see if I have them on my HD and test them in WinVice.
Donkey Kong (USA) (part 1) - Doesn’t load
Adventure (USA) - “Error in 7”
Alien Invasion (USA) - Works but no joystick controls
Alien, The (USA) - “Illegal quantity, Error on 10”
Alien Impact (Europe) - Gives me the error in the picture i posted
Dig Dug (USA) (Part 1) - Doesn’t load
Digger (USA) - Various error messages
These are the only games i tried to load. Only one managed to get to the game but i couldn’t control it.
If those are all cartridge games then they won’t “Autostart”, from the menu.
For Dig Dug, as a example in WinVice. You need to do the following.
Goto “File”, then “Attach cartridge image…”, then “Add to generic cartridge…”, then “4/8/16 KB image at $a000” > Dig Dug-a000.prg
This is for Dig Dug that has a000 in the name. You then have to do a “Soft” reset from the menu - File, Reset, Soft Reset.
Ok so what that means is that most games may need to go through similar hoops. And that also means it’s an impossible system to deal with using the RetroArch core on a couch setup.
But anyway, thanks for the info.
Yep, I’m afraid. You could try cassette games, at least they load and run from autostart. The Vic had a large cassette library, some of the best games were on cassette. I grew up with a Vic-20, C64, Commodore 16, and the Vic was at times a real pain in the arse. You could buy a game, try to load it in and it required 8k expansion, so you plugged in your 16k cart and it didn’t work because of memory address space was wrong, or whatever, so you had to get a 8k cart expansion as well. Not all the time, the Commodore 16k expansion worked great, but there were many 3rd party expansions by many companies.
The core seems to have problems with zipped cartridges. If I load them unzipped or choose ‘Browse Archive’ instead
of ‘Load Archive’ some work. With Donkey Kong and Dig Dug I didn’t have any luck either. I tried this with Lode Runner
and it starts, but joystick doesn’t work. When I open the virtual keyboard and press the TRF button in the bottom right
corner it works. I don’t even know what TRF stands for. Swapping joysticks doesn’t make sense, because the VIC20 had only
one joystickport.
For a hassle free use of tape images with memory expansions, the core can select them if they are
in the filename like (3k), (8k), (16k). To make this work, I used a TOSEC datfile, opened it in a texteditor and replaced
all square brackets with round brackets. Then I rebuilt my set with clrmamepro.
And that also means it’s an impossible system to deal with using the RetroArch core on a couch setup.
Hold up pardner, let’s not be too hasty. Please try the current version (e6f6344 and above) to see if there are more surprises.
Also that Mega-Cart suggestion is a decent option. As it is already supported directly with the NVRAM saving included, so there is no need to hassle with .cmd-files.
Tried it yesterday and things are definitely much easier now. Thanks again for your work sonninnos.
Didn’t have any luck with this. I’m still getting many errors on many games. I think it requires a lot of manual work from the user to make them work. I don’t know if it’s worth the effort so i might as well remove the system from my setup…
Do list a few examples that still refuse to work. And make sure you really are on the latest version, because of the current buildbot hassle.
I updated my cores a few moments before my post. Still have issues with the games i already posted.
It’s probably not the core. Maybe i’m doing things wrong. Or maybe i’m asking too much, that is for games to be “plug and play” without much hassle. Maybe this system isn’t the best for such thing.
Maybe this “mega cart” solution will fix things. Like how CD-32 compilation CDs with Amiga 500 games could allow for plug+play them without disc swapping or control issues (before i discovered the Whdload packs).
I appreciate the help though. Maybe i’ll get beck to the system some other day. Now i’m spending my free time making a DOS pack, to use with the new DOSbox core.
No-Intro, TOSEC and Gamebase styled single and multipart carts should be working without tinkering currently, zipped and unzipped.
The list above sure does not look familiar at all if the names are exact, so looks like one more addition required, if multiparts are in separate zips with (Part 1) etc in it or something. What romset is it?
In this context if a game/core requires screwing around with command line stuff, the core is the one that is doing something wrong. Of course if some specific ROM can’t be loaded in standalone, it will not happen here either. But if some do work in standalone and not here, I’d like to know about it.
It’s a Hyperlist romset. I know, it’s crap. But it’s the only one i can manage to scrap a decent amount of media for it to use in frontends.
