Issue 22: Aug 2002
Features
- | Foreword
- | xTOS Developer Meeting
- | ColdFire-Talk
- | ATSF-Talk
- | IConnect Tutorial
- | Tip of the day
- | STiK Tutorial
- | Atari Emulation - Part 4
- | Atari in the USA 2002
- | Algorithmic Jewels
- | MiNT Basics
Review
- | Warlords
M@ilbox
News
| Matthew Preston puts his trouble-shooting hat on Welcome, this month let's take a look at trouble-shooting your emulator. Unfortunately as good as emulators are, you may find that some software will just not run, it is the case with all emulators, even commercial ones costing hundreds of pounds. It is also true to say that a great deal of problems are down to human error, for example can you remember if the software you are trying to use needs BASIC on or off? I will not be able to cover every piece of software in my collection here, but I will cover most of the common problems that you will come across setting up and using your emulation software. Initial setting up Most of you will have a working emulator by now, if you haven't, one of the early problems you may encounter is a corrupted ROM file. If you have made a ROM file from your own Atari - as I showed in the last article - then you should have little problem at all in replacing a corrupted ROM file and trying again. However if you have borrowed a ROM from another emulator then it may not work, not all ROMs on the internet are complete and may have been patched in some way by the author. You can check your ROM in Atari800WinPLus by clicking on the Info button in the ROM selection menu. This will check the ROM and let you know exactly what it is, if it does not match the correct profile then the emulator will tell you. All emulators use some kind of batch file in order to run, this contains your preferences for running the software. If this becomes corrupted then your emulator will not run either. You may have to write the file again by hand with a text editor or reset the emulator.
Checking memory settings within Atari800WinPLus.
You get a second chance, after you reset you will have to re-enter where the ROMs are and any other preferences you may have. All being well your Atari should at least boot into BASIC, or self test. Using virtual disks and DOS As explained in an earlier article, virtual disks are an exact copy of an original Atari disk, some include additional headers and other information. What is important to know is that every emulator will only work with certain types of virtual disk; this is because emulators developed over time and there is no true standard format. For example you may find files with extenders such as '.atr' '.xfd' '.dcm' '.atr.gz' '.atz' or '.xfz'. The first three are the common ones; the last three being zipped formats of virtual disks. Later emulators usually recognise more than one type, in fact Atari800WinPLus will accept all of them. Now you are sure which virtual disk to use, how big is the file? Single density disks will be 91 KB, Enhanced density will be 131 KB. Early emulators will not understand double density virtual disks at all. When booting into a DOS environment remember to have BASIC switched on in your emulator if you need it. This may sound obvious, but remember the old days loading cassettes, when you forgot to press [Option] and it crashed halfway through loading. The same can happen here, without BASIC you will only get the DOS menu just as a real Atari. When accessing other virtual disks from within your emulator, remember to check that it is compatible with the DOS you are using. Not all versions of DOS are compatible with each other, so you may have to convert the disks within the emulator. Most though are in DOS 2.5 or MyDOS format. Have you got enough memory? To have a DOS 2.5 disk loaded, you needed 128 KB of RAM in a real Atari, the same is true in an emulator. Check your settings to see what is loaded.
Checking memory settings within Atari800WinPLus.
Is the software you have loaded compatible with European Ataris? Eh? Not all games will work at the correct speed when set to a PAL clock, the reason for this is because of the timing differences between the NTSC and PAL television systems. Software that did not check for timing values and was preset in software will appear to run very slowly on the PAL systems. If you have problems running a demo or game in your emulator try changing the video system settings in your emulator.
Selecting a video format in Atari800WinPLus.
That covers most of the common problems; others may be specific to your emulator. Always refer to the help files that came with your emulator they may contain last minute information, check the web site of the author as there may be an update. I keep several versions of my emulators; sometimes software will run on an earlier emulator, you just have to keep trying. Emulators are a compromise; you can't beat the real thing! Remember if you are still having real problems then try the MyAtari forum, someone will be able to help. m.preston@myatari.co.uk
Useful links
Home of the Atari800Win PLus software (Remember to click on the Union Jack for an English translation) www.a800win.atari-area.prv.pl MyAtari forum www.myatari.net/forum.htm
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