Wii2600 v0.1 release - Atari2600 Emulator for Nintendo Wii

[wraggster]

News/release from raz0red

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Wii2600 v0.1 release README
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Ported by raz0red
[http://www.twitchasylum.com]

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What is Wii2600?
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Wii2600 is a port of the Stella 2.7.2 emulator to the Wii.

Stella is a multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator released under the GNU
General Public License (GPL). Stella was originally developed for Linux by
Bradford W. Mott, however, since its original release several people have
joined the development team to port Stella to other operating systems such
as AcornOS, AmigaOS, DOS, FreeBSD, IRIX, Linux, OS/2, MacOS, Unix, and
Windows. [http://stella.sourceforge.net].

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Current status
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Wii2600 is an ongoing work in progress. For the latest project information
please visit the following URL:

[http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/Wii2600]

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Known issues
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Wiimote paddle support is a proof of concept at this point and as such is a bit
buggy. The range of motion is currently very small. You must have the Wiimote
aligned directly with the sensor bar.

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Installation
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To install Wii2600, simply extract the zip file that this README was
distributed with directly to your SD card (retain the hierarchical structure
exactly).

Cartridge images should be placed in the roms directory (wii2600/roms).

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Tearing, Vertical Sync, PAL/NTSC, etc.
--------------------------------------------

Without the use of Vertical Sync, 2600 games that scroll (Barnstorming, River
Raid, etc.) will exhibit tearing during game play.

The first time Wii2600 is started it attempts to determine whether your Wii is
running in PAL (50hz) or NTSC/PAL60 (60hz) mode. Based on this determination it
sets a default value for Vertical Sync.

NTSC/PAL60:

If Wii2600 determines you are in NTSC/PAL60 mode (60hz) it enables Vertical
Sync by default. This should work well for both NTSC and PAL games. PAL games
run fine due to the fact that they run at a slower rate than NTSC.

PAL:

If Wii2600 determines you are currently in PAL mode (50hz) it disables Vertical
Sync by default. The reason it disables this setting is to be compatible with
both PAL and NTSC games at 100% speed. Since the Wii console is syncing at 50hz
it won't be able to maintain the required 60hz for NTSC games and as a result
you will get garbled sound and slow video.

If you still want to use Vertical Sync, you can enable it via the "Advanced"
menu in Wii2600. PAL games will run as they were intended, 50hz at 100% speed.
Wii2600 also configures another setting "Force FPS" to "50 FPS" when you enable
Vertical Sync in PAL mode. What this setting does is control the frame rate
that games run at. Essentially what it will do is force all games (NTSC or
PAL) to run at 50 FPS. In doing so it also adjusts audio buffer sizes, etc. so
that you won't experience garbled sound. The downside is that NTSC games will
now run at 50 FPS versus their intended 60 FPS, so the games will run a bit
slower.

The real answer to resolve these issues is to add auto-frame skipping to
Stella. That is definitely something I will be looking to add in an upcoming
release.

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Controls
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Wii2600 menu:
-------------

Wiimote:

D-pad : Scroll
A : Select
B : Back
Home : Exit to Homebrew Channel
Power : Power off

Classic controller:

D-pad : Scroll
A : Select
B : Back
Home : Exit to HBC

GameCube controller:

D-pad : Scroll
A : Select
B : Back
Z : Exit to Homebrew Channel

Stella emulator menu:
---------------------

Unfortunately, at this point all navigation of the Stella menu is done via
the Wiimote without the use of motion controls. Thus, the '+' and '-'
buttons allow for tabbing through the different controls. Pressing the 'A'
button operates the current control, etc.

Wiimote:

+ : Move forward through controls
- : Move backward through controls
Up/Down : Scroll (when focused on a list or slider, etc.)
Left/Right : Page through list (when focused on list control)
Left/Right : Move between tabs (when focused on a tab in a dialog)
A : Operates current control (presses button, launch rom)
B : Closes current dialog
Home : Exit to Homebrew Channel

Classic controller:

+ : Move forward through controls
- : Move backward through controls
R Trigger : (Alternate) Move forward through controls
L Trigger : (Alternate) Move backward through controls
Up/Down : Scroll (when focused on a list or slider, etc.)
Left/Right : Page through list (when focused on list control)
Left/Right : Move between tabs (when focused on a tab in a dialog)
A : Operates current control (presses button, launch rom)
B : Closes current dialog
Home : Exit to Homebrew Channel

GameCube controller:

R Trigger : Move forward through controls
L Trigger : Move backward through controls
Up/Down : Scroll (when focused on a list or slider, etc.)
Left/Right : Page through list (when focused on list control)
Left/Right : Move between tabs (when focused on a tab in a dialog)
A : Operates current control (presses button, launch rom)
B : Closes current dialog
Z : Exit to Homebrew Channel

USB keyboard:

Refer to Stella emulator documentation.

In-game (Joystick):
-------------------

Wiimote:

D-pad : Move
2 : Fire
1 : Open/close command menu (save/load state, etc.)
+ : [Reset]
- : [Select]
Home : Display Stella menu (see above)

Classic controller:

D-pad : Move
A : Fire
Y : Open/close command menu (save/load state, etc.)
+ : [Reset]
- : [Select]
Home : Display Stella menu (see above)

GameCube controller:

D-pad : Move
A : Fire
Y : Open/close command menu (save/load state, etc.)
Start : [Reset]
L Trigger : [Select]
Z : Display Stella menu (see above)

USB keyboard:

Refer to Stella emulator documentation.

In-game (Paddle):
-----------------

The paddle control support is a proof of concept at this point and as such
is a bit difficult to use. However, it is playable for quite a number of
games (Kaboom!, Night Driver, Breakout, etc.). The range of motion is
currently very small. You must have the Wiimote aligned directly with the
sensor bar.

Wiimote:

Motion : Move
A : Fire
B : (Alternate) Fire
1 : Open/close command menu (save/load state, etc.)
+ : [Reset]
- : [Select]
Home : Display Stella menu (see above)

--------------------------------------------
Wii2600 crashes, code dumps, etc.
--------------------------------------------

If you are having issues with Wii2600, please let me know about it via one of
the following locations:

[http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/Talk:Wii2600]
[http://www.twitchasylum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?=513]

--------------------------------------------
Special thanks
--------------------------------------------

RB22 : PAL testing
zodiacprime : Testing
Sputicus : Helping bug fix
Tantric/eke-eke : Audio code example
yohanes : SDL USB keyboard support
Team Twiizers : For enabling homebrew

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Change log
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02/19/09 (0.1)
--------------
- Initial release
- Wiimote/Classic/GameCube controller support
- Mouse via Wiimote for paddle games (proof of concept)
- USB Keyboard
- Audio/Video etc.
- Save/load state
- Screenshot support

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments

[sean.aaron]

I'm surprised to see this. StellaWii has already been released and seems to work well -- would it not be better for both developers to pick one project to work on together?

[raz0red]

I'm surprised to see this. StellaWii has already been released and seems to work well -- would it not be better for both developers to pick one project to work on together?

Just to be clear on this. I started my port of Stella quite a while ago (about a month and a half ago). When I saw that StellaWii was released, I stopped and then worked on porting the Atari 800 emulator.

When I finally got to looking at StellaWii I noticed that it was Linux-based, not a native libogc port. After reading comments about some of its limitations (by being Linux-based) I decide to complete the port I had started and release it.

I have no issues merging the two emulators, but that may be a bit difficult to due based on the fact that one relies on linux and one uses the libogc API directly.

--Raz.

[sean.aaron]

Awesome news on the Atari 800 emulator (will it also include 5200 support like the Mac one?).

Interesting into on the differences, I think I'll have to check out Wii2600, then before making a decision on which one to run.

[raz0red]

Awesome news on the Atari 800 emulator (will it also include 5200 support like the Mac one?).

Interesting into on the differences, I think I'll have to check out Wii2600, then before making a decision on which one to run.

Yeah, it is a port of the Atari800 emulator which supports both 5200 and 800 carts/disks/tapes.

http://www.wiibrew.org/wiki/WiiXL

--Raz.

[zillion94]

Hey Raz! Really nice work! I for one am EXTREMELY happy that I can play Atari 2600 games now as I was one of the people with issues playing Linux based emulators on the Wii. To clear things up- many of us have older TVs that cannot display the resolution(s) that Linux or Windows requires. My TV (until I upgrade) can only handle 480i.

I am insanely happy with even the 1st editions of these new batches of emulators- Lynx, Coleco, 2600, and ESPECIALLY the 800xl!!!! All at once and out of the blue! Logitech should thank these authors as now I will get the wireless USB Wii keyboard. I wish I knew coding to make emulators myself so I can't thank you enough!!

Any remaining Linux only apps would be GREAT to have native Wii editions of!!

Well, while I have the floor, may I also inquire if anyone knows what technical obstacles exist for porting the NeoGeo CD emulator from the Gamecube to the Wii ? -Zillion

[zillion94]

Oh, one technical note- on my tests of some of the new emulators (namely 2600 and XL), some of the images get cropped off the top and bottom of my screen slightly. This is nothing more than the requirement of more video modes down the road, right?

[Panini]

hooray! Finaly a true port without the need for freakin linux!

Thanks very mcuh.

now we just need mame and amiga!

[raz0red]

Oh, one technical note- on my tests of some of the new emulators (namely 2600 and XL), some of the images get cropped off the top and bottom of my screen slightly. This is nothing more than the requirement of more video modes down the road, right?

As far as WiiXL goes, it already has quite a few options for screen size that you select from via the launcher. Let me know if that doesn't address the issue for you.

Wii2600 only has two options right now (1x and 2x). I can definitely add more scaling options in an upcoming release (similar to what I did for WiiXL).

--Raz.