PiTrex - Baremetal FAQ V1.0 (16th April 2021) 1) Where do I get roms for the arcade emulations? 2) Where do I put roms for the arcade emulations? 3) I have a no Buzz vectrex - anything special? 4) I have a Buzz vectrex - anything special? 5) Vectors do not align correctly - can I do something? 6) Can I change orientation of the output? 7) What is "speedy" vectrex? 8) What is "exact" vectrex? 9) XXX - emulation is awfully slow, can I do something? 10) XXX - I here no sound, what can I do? 11) Some sounds are really soft, what can I do? 12) Sometimes single vectors in a group are "off", what can I do? 13) Can I change the selection of games, or add favorites? 14) Can I change the Vectrex BIOS? 15) Where can I put my own vectrex roms/binaries? 16) Which games support highscore saving? 17) Which games have sound? 18) What is supported with AAE? 19) What is supported with Cinnematronics? 20) What is supported with Atari? 21) How do I enter settings? 22) How do I enter DIP switch settings? 23) Can I configure different input settings for emulator XXX? 24) Can I prevent settings menu/DIP Switch settings? 25) Can I configure settings for games individually? 26) What are ini files, which emulators support ini files? 27) Are there special ini settings for emulator XXX? 28) Some more words on Settings! 29) Does it support Bluetooth 30) Does it support WiFi? 31) Does it support USB? 32) Can I calibrate or change the output of the vectrex emulators. 33) Finishing a Vectrex game (4 button to the menu) crashes - a black screen appears, whats ups? 34) How do I load a saved state with Vectrex emulators? 1) Where do I get roms for the arcade emulations? ################################################# For the arcade emulations !NON! AAE. ------------------------------------ The files are EXACTLY from the current MAME 229 version. (Which are the same versions as at least 3 years back, I checked MAME 201). If you need checksums of any sorts - pls look at MAME! The only thing which might be a little confusing is asteroids, because the SBT was done with the ROM set that is now called "asteroid2". To my knowledge there are three kinds of MAME rom sets: a) split Here each zip file only contains files which are different from the main driver. I support split roms, but than you must have asteroid.zip (7kB) AND asteroid2.zip (4kB) b) merged Here one zip file contains ALL derivates of a driver. For asteroid and its derivates it is called asteroid.zip (56kB) I do not support this version. c) non merged Here each individual game has one zip file, which contains all the game needs (also the redundant files, which are already included in the main driver). This is supported and needs a file asteroid2.zip (7kB). For the arcade emulations AAE. ------------------------------ I have not "unified" the roms for AAE yet. And I don't know what version they must be. The thing is the aae source code included all roms, so I never had to look for them. If you find the sources for AAE in the internet - THAT are the roms you need :-). Reply 5 might have an answer: https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=106287.0 Also, there are rumors of a french site that support different Raspberry releases: https://rpiteam.carrd.co/ 2) Where do I put roms for the arcade emulations? ################################################# - Non AAE emulation roms go into the directory /roms - AAE emulation roms go into the directory /roms/aae 3) I have a no Buzz vectrex - anything special? ############################################### Yes. I have not implemented calibration for no Buzz vectrex. Please leave the settings: CALIBRATION at 0! Also - all digitized sound output will be very soft. This is a hardware thing and I cannot change it! 4) I have a Buzz vectrex - anything special? ############################################# No, not really! 5) Vectors do not align correctly - can I do something? ####################################################### You can enter the settings menu and change different settings. "In general" alignment issues might be corrected using the CALIBRATION settings. 6) Can I change orientation of the output? ########################################## Yes, in general within the settings you can change orientation. You can change also orientation individually for each game by entering the ORIENTATION configuration to the emulators ini file. like: ; orientation rotated clock wise 0=normal, 1 = left, 2=up, 3 = right ORIENTATION = 0 7) What is "speedy" vectrex? ############################ Speedy Vectrex is a "special" emulation mode for vectrex games. The games usually run about 30%-50% faster than the original. This is either recognizable by the pure speed of the game (Dark Tower), or noticable by the fact, that output is done in 50Hz. 8) What is "exact" vectrex? ########################### The Vectrex is emulated by the PiTrex as exact as known by the author. Most games should run as well as on a "normal" vectrex. Known exceptions: 3d-Imager games (VIA interrupt is not supported) 9) XXX - emulation is awfully slow, can I do something? ####################################################### Probably not. As of now nearly all emulators are implemented the "classic" way, meaning not as static binary compiles - this is sometimes quite slow (e.g. Star Wars). Also depending on the sheer amount of vectors some emulators output, the output can be very flickery. The goal of the author is it, to sooner or later approach each emulated game seperately and optimize performance per emulation. As of now this has only been done for: - Vectrex - Tailgunner - Asteroids - Battlezone That being said, using the settings, you can squeeze a little bit of vector performance out of your individual PiTrex/Vectrex pairing. Here you have to experiment. A good calibration will e.g. display all above emulators in 50Hz and without any wobble or slowdown! 10) XXX - I hear no sound, what can I do? ######################################### Sound is only implement for: - Vectrex - Tailgunner - Asteroids - Battlezone First stages of a pokey emulation started for "Atari" emulators, but these are only singular sound pieces - and/or more disturbing than helpful. For Star Wars TMS 5220 emulation started to sampled sound output, but since emulation is to slow, the output is also rather choppy. 11) Some sounds are really soft, what can I do? ############################################### This might be caused by you using a so called "no buzz" vectrex, which plays "digitized audio" very soft. 12) Sometimes single vectors in a group are "off", what can I do? ################################################################# It might be you have a vectrex, which I call "cranky", certain setting values might help, namely: DELAY AFTER YSH DELAY B BEFORE A MAX STRENGTH For all these settings: - lower -> faster output - higher -> better display with cranky 13) Can I change the selection of games, or add favorites? ########################################################## No, not yet, you need to recompile the loader. If you are into that (not too complicated), instructions can be found at: http://vide.malban.de/ (pitrex menu) 14) Can I change the Vectrex BIOS? ################################## Yes, the "vectrex.ini" file provides a setting for BIOS, example: ROM_FILE = bios/7ADB.bin 15) Where can I put my own vectrex roms/binaries? ################################################# The exact vectrex emulator can load roms from the SD card, the roms must be placed into folder: "/vectrex" and should have the "bin" extension. 16) Which games support highscore saving? ######################################### asteroids and Battlezone. 17) Which games have sound? ########################### - Vectrex - Tailgunner - Asteroids - Battlezone First stages of a pokey emulation started for "Atari" emulators, but these are only singular sound pieces - and or more disturbing than helpful. For Star Wars TMS 5220 emulation started to sampled sound output, but since emulation is to slow, the output is also rather choppy. 18) What is supported with AAE? ############################### Loading and (slowly) playing of: (rom loading takes a few seconds!) Star wars (Button 1 AND 2 insert a coin) Major Havoc Asteroids Deluxe (no input configured) Cinnematronics can be loaded, but there are no controls configured yet - so these are unplayable. 19) What is supported with Cinnematronics? ########################################## I would not really recommend any of the current implementations, all are lacking in some way, best are: - Tailgunner, Starhawk, Barrier Although Armor Attack and Warrior work good - the missing overlay makes them nearly unplayable. 20) What is supported with Atari? ################################# Working good: - Battlezone Working Ok: - Black Widow (no sound, due to many vectors a tad slow) - Red baron (no sound, not my game - does it play ok?) - Lunar Lander (no sound, not my game, seems to be working, due to many vectors a tad slow) - Gravitar (no sound, due to many vectors a tad slow) - Space Duel (no sound, upon high score entry jumps into the internal debugger, if you have a terminal and type go - it continues normally) - Tempest (no sound, due to many vectors a tad slow/distorted) Not Working OK - Asteroids - Asteroids deluxe 21) How do I enter settings? ############################ In the main menu go left - if you change settings here, they are saved! During game execution press Button 2 on Joystick 2 - here you can change all settings, and they are used within the game, but the settings are NOT saved. The access via Button 2/Joystick 2 can be configured in the vectrexInterface.ini to be disabled! 22) How do I enter DIP switch settings? ####################################### The only games using Dipswitches at the moment are: Asteroids and Battlezone To enter the dipswitch settings press Button 1 and Button 4 at the same time. With asteroids this can be changed within the "asteroid_sbt.ini" file. 23) Can I configure different input settings for emulator XXX? ############################################################## At the moment the only emulator you can change input settings for using the ini file is asteroids. 24) Can I prevent settings menu/DIP Switch settings? #################################################### Settings: In the vectrexInterface,ini file you can disable the in game setting with: IN_GAME_SETTINGS = 0 Dip Switch: With asteroids this can be changed within the "asteroid_sbt.ini" file. ENTER_DIP= BUTTON_1_1|BUTTON_1_4|BUTTON_AND With Battlezone at the time being that can not be changed. 25) Can I configure settings for games individually? #################################################### Yes, each game (not within AAE yet), can have individual ini files. But these must be created manually. Each of these ini files can have the same "command set" as the vectrexInterface.ini file. Settings in the individual ini files - overwrite settings found in the vectrexInterface.ini - overwrite internal default values for each emulator 26) What are ini files, which emulators support ini files? ########################################################## See answer to #25. 27) Are there special ini settings for emulator XXX? #################################################### Vectrex: ROM_FILE = bios/7ADB.bin HANDLE_STATES = 0; (1 == default) on start load, on 4 button "end" save state of the current vertex Asteroids_sbt: ROTATE_LEFT = BUTTON_1_1|BUTTON_2_1|JOYPAD_1_ANALOG|JOYPAD_2_ANALOG|JOYPAD_LEFT ROTATE_RIGHT = BUTTON_1_2|BUTTON_2_2|JOYPAD_1_ANALOG|JOYPAD_2_ANALOG|JOYPAD_RIGHT THRUST = BUTTON_1_3|BUTTON_2_3|JOYPAD_1_ANALOG|JOYPAD_2_ANALOG|JOYPAD_UP FIRE = BUTTON_1_4|BUTTON_2_4 HYPERSAPCE = JOYPAD_1_ANALOG|JOYPAD_2_ANALOG|JOYPAD_DOWN START1 = BUTTON_1_3|BUTTON_1_4|BUTTON_AND START2 = BUTTON_2_3|BUTTON_2_4|BUTTON_AND ENTER_DIP= BUTTON_1_1|BUTTON_1_4|BUTTON_AND AST_DISW_LANGUAGE = ENGLISH ; ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH, SPANISH AST_DISW_LIVES= 4 ; 3 or 4 Battlezone: YATES_INPUT = 0 ; or 1 ONLY_ONE_JOYSTICK = 1; 28) Some more words on Settings! ################################ Many explanations are included in the vide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buAxW5p1g9c 29) Does it support Bluetooth ############################# This is strictly baremetal: No - and it never will! 30) Does it support WiFi? ######################### This is strictly baremetal: No - and it (probably) never will! 31) Does it support USB? ######################## This is strictly baremetal: No - perhaps it will support keyboard and mice, but probably no other devices, e.g. once with interrupt capabilities. 32) Can I calibrate or change the output of the vectrex emulators. ################################################################## No. The output of these emulators go directly to the VIA, there is no "in between" where one could change the values (easily). 33) Finishing a Vectrex game (4 button to the menu) crashes - a black screen appears, whats ups? ################################################################################################# Exiting Vectrex games with a 4 button press (if configured) saves the state of the current emulation. There are SD-cards where this is done in 1/2 a second, so that you don't notice it. But I have reports, that on some other SD cards saving can take up to 20 seconds. While saving the screen remains blank and the vectrex seems to hang. To disable state saving, you can enter in the vectrex.ini: HANDLE_STATES = 0; (1 == default) on start load, on 4 button "end" save state of the current vertex 34) How do I load a saved state with Vectrex emulators? ####################################################### Starting a Vectrex game with button 1 instead of button 4, loads the last saved state.