Hi. Ever consider JzIntv to Libretro?

Libretro Cores
#1

I’m new to the forum, and looked over the conditions. A few of us from the Atari Age/Intellivision forum were wondering if there would be a port of JzIntv to libretro? JzIntv works great once it’s setup, but completely lacks all the little extras that you get from being ported. No menu to choose extra options, or ability to use filters and shaders… also to make any changes at all, it’s all through config files and tweaking esconfig.

We’re hoping there would be a chance it could see the same attention as Stella got.

Thanks!

JR

1 Like
#2

This is the first I’ve heard of it. Sounds pretty great, though, and potentially a good candidate.

What would be best is if we could work with the author to get libretro as an official, upstream interface rather than maintaining our own fork of it and trying to keep up with upstream updates.

1 Like
#3

I’ve never heard of this. Everyone always just talks about Nostalgia when I bring up Intellivision. Honestly this is the only system pre-PS2 (PCSX2) that I don’t have running in RetroArch.

I think it would be great to get intellivision running in RA without having to use MESS/MAME lol

#4

There are only 2 true stand-alone Intv emulators… JzIntv and Nostalgia. However, JzIntv might be better suited for the port as it’s still supported and in many opinions, slightly more accurate.

I’ll try and reach out to the original author of JzIntv and see if this can happen.

Thanks for showing interest. I agree… this is something many of us were hoping for.

JR

1 Like
#5

Howdy everyone! I’m the “jz” in “jzintv.” jzIntv is actively maintained. Currently, it targets SDL; however, I have factored the SDL dependencies out to separate files to allow jzIntv to target other backends.

I’d be happy to slurp a libretro backend into mainline. I don’t have a lot of time to develop and test such a backend, though.

If someone here is willing to work on that, I’d be happy to guide them.

I probably do need to refactor some of the jzIntv core logic that ended up sucked into the SDL code. But, I can tackle that as-needed.

I plan to post the latest jzIntv source soon. It’s undergone a lot of little changes over the past year or so. (The diffstat since 1/1/2017 says “405 files changed, 72128 insertions(+), 63533 deletions(-)”, which seems a bit mindboggling. I’m not sure I entirely believe it.)

So, what’s the next steps? Do I need to mirror jzIntv over on github for you to be able to pull it?

4 Likes
#7

I’m happy to beta test as I have no knowledge of programming. However I can help, let me know.

#8

OK, so I’ve uploaded the latest jzIntv version here:

http://spatula-city.org/~im14u2c/intv/

I’ve included the latest source code.

I haven’t yet set up a github mirror of top of tree. But, if anyone wants to look through the source code I’ve posted, please feel free.

1 Like
#9

That’s great, thanks so much! I’ll start poking around in it this week/end and try to assess what’s ahead of us :slight_smile:

#10

Hey Joe! Good to see you over here! I can try to help with the jzIntv port if needed, as this system is sorely missing on RetroArch!

-Thom

1 Like
#11

This would be awesome!

#12

hello all,

Any news on bringing JzIntv to a new home? I am super excited about this!!

#13

Bump… any progress? We’re all hoping this could be done.

Thanks,

JR

#14

It would be great to have a jzintv core, but one development is that there is a new native libretro Intellivision core called FreeIntv.

FreeIntv doesn’t have as much functionality as jzintv yet, but it does have a really great new approach to mapping the Intellivision controller to and modern gamepads.

#15

Hey Guys,

Is the idea of bringing jzintv over to libretro a lost cause since freeintv?

I have to say, at the moment jzintv is superior in terms of game play accuracy.

For example issues with freeintv I’ve seen:

Frogger has major graphical issues Snafu has graphics issues. Triple action has graphics issues… Tanks are invisible is game mode 3 for example.

Also there is no intellivoice support so no B17 bomber or bomb squad.

I will say that the ability to use the onscreen gamepad with freeintv makes it very nice. So playing without a keyboard is now possible.

Anyway, hoping some work is being done to give intellivision some love with jzintv updates.

#16

It’s not a lost cause, but there are some other cores that are higher up in the queue, namely Daphne and Supermodel. Dunno if jzintv will happen after them or if something else may come up.

#17

I hope not. I only wrote it to try out the onscreen keypad idea. I didn’t expect it to generate as much interest as it has. While I try to work on it when I can, I have other interests and projects that limit my time. It really needs more developers.

While I can only hope I didn’t stifle interest, I can say with certainty that I didn’t poach any potential contributors!

The Libretro JzIntv project here has the same problem – too few developers. As far as I can tell, it never really got started. If it’s going to happen, someone needs to take the lead.

1 Like
#18

Thanks for the info. I wish I could help, unfortunately I don’t have the programming chops to offer much other than good will. I would make a financial contribution if there was a vehicle for such funding.

#19

There is bountysource. You could create a bounty for it and others could pitch in. There’s no guarantee that anyone would take it up, though.

1 Like