PiTrex - Baremetal FAQ V1.1 (27th July 2022) Questions (18 - 20) are in relation to emulation "cores". In baremetal at the moment there are following emulation cores are available: Cine (Zonn Moore: http://zonn.com/Cinematronics/emu.htm). Tailgunner (Graham Toal/Zoon Moore) VecSim (Eric Smith: http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/software/vecsim/) AAE (Tim: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=106287.0) SBT Asteroids (David Welch: https://web.archive.org/web/20050309061138/http://www.dwelch.com/ipod/source.htm) SBT Star Wars (AAE + Graham Toals 6809 SBT) 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 Cine? 20) What is supported with VecSim? 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? 35) Vectrex exact emulation: Sometimes the text is displayed "Flickery" - what can I do? 36) PiTrex does not run my "bin" file and starts with Minestorm instead? 37) Trouble with Port 2? 38) Entering/Exiting Vectrex games leads to a black screen... 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 :-). 2) Where do I put roms for the arcade emulations? ################################################# - Non AAE emulation roms go into the directory /roms Sim / Cine / standalone roms are: Directory \roms 02.03.2021 11:07 11.989 wotw.zip 02.03.2021 08:31 27.123 boxingb.zip 02.03.2021 09:58 27.400 bwidow.zip 02.03.2021 09:52 4.143 barrier.zip 02.03.2021 10:45 4.773 spacewar.zip 02.03.2021 10:07 8.037 speedfrk.zip 02.03.2021 10:24 20.209 spacduel.zip 02.03.2021 09:11 8.003 starcas.zip 02.03.2021 10:05 16.122 demon.zip 02.03.2021 09:20 27.911 qb3.zip 02.03.2021 09:48 13.077 solarq.zip 02.03.2021 11:11 11.523 llander.zip 02.03.2021 10:26 17.371 redbaron.zip 02.03.2021 08:46 7.264 asteroid.zip 02.03.2021 10:53 10.848 astdelux.zip 02.03.2021 11:08 7.828 warrior.zip 02.03.2021 08:50 26.320 gravitar.zip 02.03.2021 08:46 3.610 asteroid2.zip 02.03.2021 09:58 14.534 bzone.zip 02.03.2021 10:34 35.559 cchasm.zip 02.03.2021 10:18 8.171 ripoff.zip 02.03.2021 10:30 8.237 sundance.zip 02.03.2021 08:51 4.664 starhawk.zip 02.03.2021 11:07 10.296 armora.zip 02.03.2021 09:27 7.969 tailg.zip 02.03.2021 11:05 20.623 tempest.zip 26 Files - AAE emulation roms go into the directory /roms/aae AAE Roms are: Directory \roms\aae 26.05.2021 21:34 21.054 alienst.zip 11.01.2007 19:10 53.246 alphaone.zip 02.11.2006 16:34 9.968 armora.zip 10.11.2007 08:22 10.742 astdelu1.zip 10.11.2007 08:23 10.741 astdelu2.zip 11.02.2006 11:13 10.755 astdelux.zip 11.02.2006 11:14 7.664 asterock.zip 11.02.2006 11:14 6.963 asteroi1.zip 11.12.2005 19:24 7.044 asteroib.zip 11.02.2006 11:14 7.020 asteroid.zip 11.02.2006 11:14 7.020 asteroidb.zip 14.10.2007 14:48 6.978 astropal.zip 11.02.2006 11:19 4.107 barrier.zip 11.02.2006 11:37 27.024 boxingb.zip 14.01.2006 06:59 14.636 bradley.zip 27.12.2005 21:52 27.160 bwidow.zip 15.09.2007 13:26 14.424 bzone.zip 16.11.2007 21:23 16.221 bzone2.zip 27.10.2007 15:17 14.128 bzonec.zip 14.01.2006 06:36 16.871 bzonep.zip 17.09.2006 18:09 5.390 clowns.zip 01.01.2006 16:31 17.779 deltrace.zip 11.02.2006 12:28 16.028 demon.zip 12.01.2007 17:54 22.258 elim2.zip 12.01.2007 17:54 22.036 elim2a.zip 12.01.2007 17:54 22.398 elim2c.zip 12.01.2007 17:54 23.443 elim4.zip 12.01.2007 17:54 23.662 elim4p.zip 11.02.2006 14:03 5.553 gmissile.zip 24.12.2005 17:44 52.975 gravitar.zip 11.02.2006 16:21 8.741 invad2ct.zip 17.09.2006 18:09 8.320 invaddlx.zip 09.01.2006 20:00 5.364 invaders.zip 17.09.2006 18:09 8.769 invadpt2.zip 11.02.2006 16:22 7.490 ipminvad.zip 12.01.2007 17:55 10.188 llander.zip 25.05.2021 21:23 16.401 llander1.zip 17.09.2006 18:08 9.836 lrescue.zip 11.01.2007 19:10 19.606 lunarba1.zip 11.01.2007 19:10 20.828 lunarbat.zip 11.02.2006 18:40 11.297 lupin3.zip 12.02.2006 02:19 6.981 meteorts.zip 11.01.2007 19:10 69.003 mhavoc.zip 12.01.2007 19:29 69.175 mhavoc2.zip 11.01.2007 19:10 66.360 mhavocp.zip 12.01.2007 19:29 71.107 mhavocrv.zip 12.02.2006 02:23 15.386 milliped.zip 12.02.2006 02:23 10.728 missile.zip 01.01.2006 16:31 15.277 omegrace.zip 22.11.2007 17:12 65.283 quantum.zip 22.11.2007 17:12 65.283 quantum1.zip 12.02.2006 15:12 46.544 quantump.zip 15.09.2007 15:19 17.142 redbaron.zip 02.11.2006 08:10 7.396 ripoff.zip 13.02.2006 06:11 5.721 sicv.zip 17.09.2006 18:08 6.009 sitv.zip 13.02.2006 10:19 12.998 solarq.zip 02.02.2005 14:06 19.992 spacduel.zip 13.02.2006 14:55 4.750 spacewar.zip 12.01.2007 20:51 27.917 spacfura.zip 12.01.2007 20:51 28.113 spacfurb.zip 12.01.2007 20:51 28.152 spacfury.zip 13.02.2006 14:57 7.999 speedfrk.zip 13.02.2006 15:35 7.971 starcas.zip 13.02.2006 15:36 7.183 starcas1.zip 02.11.2006 08:10 7.228 starcas3.zip 13.02.2006 15:36 7.186 starcase.zip 13.02.2006 15:36 7.198 starcasp.zip 02.11.2006 16:36 7.531 starcast.zip 02.11.2006 16:35 4.043 starhawk.zip 12.01.2007 20:58 43.595 startrek.zip 12.01.2007 20:58 46.615 starwar1.zip 11.01.2007 19:11 46.293 starwars.zip 02.11.2006 16:36 7.757 sundance.zip 13.02.2006 15:43 3.821 suprmatk.zip 12.01.2007 21:01 34.045 tacscan.zip 02.11.2006 08:10 7.194 tailg.zip 12.01.2007 21:04 20.156 tempest.zip 12.01.2007 21:04 20.209 tempest1.zip 12.01.2007 21:04 20.248 tempest2.zip 12.01.2007 21:04 19.176 tempest3.zip 06.04.2008 07:25 161.171 tempestm.zip 12.01.2007 21:04 20.211 temptube.zip 26.05.2021 21:34 17.954 vbreak.zip 19.08.2006 07:57 23.196 vortex.zip 14.02.2006 06:36 10.860 warlords.zip 02.11.2006 16:35 7.344 warrior.zip 24.02.2006 19:52 11.960 wotw.zip 12.01.2007 21:43 44.699 zektor.zip 89 Files 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 - StarWars (configurations have been added to display less vectors -> faster output) 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 - StarWars (place holder sounds) 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. 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 - StarWars 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. 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 Armor Attack and Warrior are working, virtual overlays have been added. ... and many others (see loader) 19) What is supported with Cine? ########################################## 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 VecSim? ################################# 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! Individual settings for games/emulations can be configured in the ini file for that program. 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? ######################## At the moment only keyboard is supported (GSBASIC and Elite). 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. 35) Vectrex exact emulation: Sometimes the text is displayed "Flickery" - what can I do? ######################################################################################## This is where the "EXACT" is needed. In the vectrex.ini file change or add a line like: CYCLE_EQUIVALENT = 666 Changing this value will straighten the text (try in single steps, either more or less). Each step changes the vectrex emulation internal timing for 1 nanoSecond. (this is 1000ths of 1000ths of 1000th of a second!!!) 36) PiTrex does not run my "bin" file and starts with Minestorm instead? ######################################################################## PiTrex as of yet (Dec 2021 release) does not handle filenames longer than 39 chars. If the name is longer, it can not load the file and starts Minestorm instead. 37) Trouble with Port 2? ######################## 1) In Version: (Dec 2021 release) In the menu (and only there) Button 1 on Joystick two will reload and reset the loader. This means if you use any periphal in port 2 while in the menu - it is likely that PiTrex will reset. (VecVox, Paddle, Trackball ...) If you want to use these - for now plug them in AFTER the Vectrex bin file started! 2) Button 2 on Joypad 2 is used to enter an in game calibration mode. For some periphals this might also trigger when plugged in. This behaviour can be switched off, see question #24. 38) Entering/Exiting Vectrex games leads to a black screen... ############################################################# See also #33. It appears some SD-cards not only take a long time - but "never" return. Please try another (kind) of SD-card when saving.