hansolo77

Same to you and yours and everybody else here! BTW Drac, didn't you post this video before a year or more back? Seems pretty familiar, unless I've just got those kinds of friends who shared it with me on Facebook lol.

Shouldn't have any trouble with most of those. N64 is a tricky beast, with all computers too. For the most part, if you have your controller mapped correctly it will work fine out of the box. Batocera provides a nice interface for tweaking almost everything. If a system has more than one emulator (usually RetroArch, but some have standalone versions) you can select which one to use on a per system and even a per game basis. You might have better compatibility and experience with a standalone emulator, but RetroArch is nice because it offers a much easier and uniform backend system. RetroArch also supports retroachievements, which I think is the greatest thing to come out of emulation in a long time!

Happy remembrance of the day we slaughtered helpless birds to feed us during an epic snow storm the first year we invaded and took over a land belonging to a non-english speaking indigenous people.

I haven't bought many VCS games so I don't know what all is available to link. And so far, besides my brother, you're the only other VCS user to get Batocera, so there's not much support there. I can help from my experience. The way I did my setup, I installed Batocera on the M.2. The VCS has it's own dedicated storage, so there's no risk of losing it unless you're not paying attention and install on the wrong drive. I also configured the boot order in the BIOS to load the M.2, and basically disabled the the other drives so the VCS doesn't try to load itself. At the time, 2tb was the max size M.2 I could find, so I also added an external 4tb USB hard drive. I also have my home server, so I link to a shared folder on that for things like foreign CD/DVD roms (full libraries, a lot more games available in Japan than were released in US,.. etc...). It's a mess, but it works. The problem is that my setup requires accessing the root filesystem and editing the `fstab` (file system table) to add a line that will mount the external hard drive before EmulationStation loads. I also had to create a script that will mount the network share. Every time the devs release a new version, I have to go back and add in those modifications. It's not that big a deal but annoying to have to do. You mentioned setting up controllers. It should be fairly easy. The VCS gamepad worked right away for me. Mapping follows the SNES controller layout, so A & B are reversed. But I think Batocera is moving towards using a picture of the layout rather than specific button letters. All you have to do is plug it in. If you don't have any other input devices connected, it will prompt for the controller to be mapped on start up. Just hold down any button and it will bring up the configurator. If you add any other controllers, you just need to go into the START menu of Batocera and access the controller menu and start another assignment. So far, I've been able to map the VCS game pad, the VCS joystick (twist function doesn't work quite right), different versions of the 8bitdo controllers, an xbox360 dongle will map up to 4 controllers including guitars, the built in bluetooth on the VCS will allow for Xbox One (not series s/x) mapping. I don't own a ps3 to check if that will map, but i'm sure it will since it's a standard bluetooth. I've also mapped a 6-button sega genesis controller using a Mayflash adapter. Basically, anything with a USB should be capable of being setup. If you use the VCS gamepad, you might want to map it while plugged in and not; it will work wirelessly! When wireless, Batocera will recognize it as an Atari Gamepad. If wired, it will be an Atari Gamepad if the Atari Logo LED is on, and a Microsoft Xbox gamepad if the LED is off (hold Start+Select to swap). Xbox mode is only available while wired, but it's good if you want to have rumble in games for PSX/PS2, etc. Also, you can map the Atari Logo button as your hotkey, which is nice. It needs playing around with though - Future Pinball only works in Atari mode because the Xbox mode doesn't supply enough configurable buttons for some reason... Clone Hero requires all other controllers disconnected except the dongle or it doesn't map the guitar when the game loads. Something else you can play around with is DOS and Windows games. I've added a few, like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Quake 3. My brother wants to try adding WOW, but I'm like "figure it out yourself I don't want to mess with that" lol. Batocera added flatpak in the latest release, so you can add some native Linux games through that. Unfortunately for me, the 2 or 3 games I tried to install had no sound, which they said was a problem during the beta but should have been fixed; I created a github ticket for them but it might not get resolved quickly since none of the devs HAVE a VCS to test with. Hit me up if you hit some snags and need help! Of course, this thread is fine too, I still check daily.

I would much rather have GameEx on it But honestly, Batocera is a great system. I'm getting a lot of use out of it. Just got Clone Hero installed, been playing a lot of it lately. The Atari as an emulation system is amazing. I've got all old systems running, up to Dreamcast, GameCube, PS2. Batocera supports Xbox and PS3 but I've not tried setting them yup yet. PS2 can run at 2x resolution. I had Wii working, but without working wiimotes, it's kind of pointless. Batocera also has integrated Kodi. And the best part about being on the VCS.. if you want to play the VCS side of things you just have to go into the BIOS and swap it over. "Some" of the VCS games will run natively through Linux, so you can link to them inside the Ports menu, and still be able to play them without access the BIOS. All good.

Because that's how Atari works.. with no brain.

I'm upset I've not seen it yet. I don't know how much longer it'll be available in theaters. Hopefully I can get in there and see it in 3D.

Hey guys! I've not played around with pinball in a while. I felt the urge and then realized I had lost my setup from years ago. To that end, I acquired Future Pinball, as well as a collection of tables. Not going to discuss where or anything, but I do have a question.. Has anybody written a script, or a utility, that will help extract the *.fpt tables and any required *.fpl files? I'm looking for a quick and easy way to extract the latest version of tables, since the collection I have seems to contain multiple versions of a lot of the tables. Doesn't make any sense to have 10 versions of the same table, where the author made minor (or major) changes, when you really only need just the 1 final table to play. If such a thing does not exist, I'd be willing to fork out a few bucks via Paypal or some other method if somebody with some skill could write one. I just don't have the time any more to sit through and extract the latest version of a table, when there are probably +20k files to comb through. So yeah, hope everybody is doing good. Covid be damned. Live Long and Prosper. May the Force Be With You. Etc etc.

Sorry. but.. Hell Fuckin' Yeah.

I thought it ridiculous that they would include Sonic 1 and 2 but not 3, like wtf.

I got one, modded it and put lots more roms on it.

Miss ya'll too. I still visit daily to see if anybody posts any new scores. Just hasn't been the same since things like Covid impacted. I'm still good and healthy, never been infected. Hope you and everybody else is doing well too!

I've not experimented with others. I had a few free ones that just suck. Speeds were terrible, etc etc. I'm using IPVanish right now. I do a lot of online gaming and video streaming. So far, they've been a good choice, but that might just be because they're not free. There may be better ones out there. I went with IPVanish for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason was because it came highly recommended by Leo Laporte on a number of his talk shows, and it was offered at the time with a substantial lifetime discount. Another reason is they brag about their security, with no collection of data, etc The speed is decent, although it does take a noticeable hit when you have it on versus off; but definitely faster than those free ones. Another cool feature is that I can use it with my FireStick, so if I want to watch something from a foreign country I can easily turn it on and magically appear in Japan to watch some Anime streamed that otherwise isn't available.

Looks cool. I wish I could try it. I've actually never played anything VR. When it was first coming out main stream I read reviews that people with glasses can't really use the visors, and a lot of people complained about headaches. I suffer from very frequent migraines, AND wear glasses. So yeah, I've not even bothered to try it. Perhaps some day, if somebody I know like my brother or somebody gets a VR set I'll try. But I don't see myself running out to Chuck'E'Cheese or Dave&Busters to play this. I'm more interested in playing a Battle Pod actually.

The dev teams need to mature the software quite a bit before it's released full public. They need to relax their restrictions if they want people to use it the way they advertised it. The Discord channel was flooded with people complaining about Antstream and the login process. At the time, the devs insisted we use the cell phone "companion" app. The only solution that works is a keyboard, but even then not all keyboards work. The whole system is flaky at best. That's why I like using the "sandbox" mode with a mature OS. I was all fine with the delays if they released the console polished with maybe a few bugs, but this system is a Jenga mess with more than half the pieces missing.

Yeah the way they designed the system it will boot the AtariOS always, unless you have a bootable USB drive in place (that's is compatible with Secure Boot). Then it will direct boot the USB on power up. If you have an OS that isn't Secure Boot compatible, you're required to access the BIOS, disable Secure Boot, and change the boot order directly. I took it a step further, and disabled the other boot devices, so it would only boot the M.2 drive. This way it will always boot whatever is installed, and I can go back into the BIOS and change it back if I ever want to boot AtariOS. My concern was that the BIOS password was changed, and it would have prevented me from going back in and setting it back the way I have it after I update. And the update may or may not fix my problem, so I've been hesitant to do anything feeling that it's fine the way it is. At least now I know and can confirm that the latest BIOS does work with the password, so I should be able to do it. None of this would have been a problem if A] Atari used all the same hardware instead of going the cheaper/quicker route when supplies became limited and B] If Atari didn't force SecureBoot as requirement for "any" OS. The hardware is rock solid for it's use. They are ramping up their market with more games in preparation for the full public release (they always said they would) and they have a few AA (not AAA) games on the way, including some stuff that's not Indie or super pixelated. If you don't want to use AtariOS and their offerings; as a standalone PC, it's got a lot of good stuff under the hood. I upgraded the RAM and added a 2tb M.2 drive. Installing Batocera, I can emulate anything up to PS2, GameCube, Wii, Saturn, Dreamcast with perfect frame rate, and some are 2x-4x resolution. I'm happy I can use it this way, as it gives the system a lot more functionality and the performance is top notch. I just wish those asshats weren't a bunch of idiots and saw the potential and value in their pre-release user base.

So the guy who has been "trying" to help me with my support ticket about my ethernet controller just replied back again. This time, he didn't say anything about accessing the BIOS being a warranty breach. In fact, he gave me the password. It matches the one I posted a few posts back. So that's a plus. At least I know it's legit and not something somebody just made up. I'm still hesitant to update though, just because if it DOESN'T work, it will put me back to where I was before. If @Draco1962or anybody else who got a VCS could check and confirm they can access the latest BIOS with the new password, I'd be more comfortable going forward. All you have to do is hold down the ESCAPE key when you power up, and it'll come up. There is a menu that prompts for the boot device (that's how you have to choose if you want to access PC Mode, as the AtariOS doesn't actually reboot into it). On that menu there should be an option to access the settings. It's been a while, I don't remember the exact words. But if you select it, it'll prompt for the password. If the new password works with the latest version (you'll have to update first of course!), I'll try and it see if it fixes my problem. Pretty lame I had to somewhat threaten the Atari support guy with not advertising their product. I was so upset hearing that accessing the BIOS would void the warranty, given that I'd been doing it since I first got the console. Especially maddening was that they advertise the VCS is YOUR console, and you can install any OS you want, just to find out you can only install OS's that are Secure Boot compatible. I'm a tinker, I like Linux. Projects like RetroPie are not Secure Boot compatible. To say I can install anything I want, and then block that capability behind a password that when used voids your warranty is blatant false advertising. Even worse is that I paid money to be a Day One backer, and was given higher privilege than a standard consumer by becoming a field beta tester, and they treat me like I'm some inferior nobody. I still hope the console succeeds but if this is how they treat their beta testers, I almost want to see it fail. Anyway, rant over.

Got your score added. Thanks for waking up the competition a bit! Gonna have to let @Cynicasterknow you beat his #1 spot. Updated OP, DB, RSS

It's been a few months since I've done it. I believe the key you want to use is ESC. When you power on the VCS, just hold that down, you don't need to rapidly press it.

I see your post. I had to replace my main PC a while back and don't have the software we used to manage the high scores. I'm sure I have it somewhere, but it's not currently installed. I will look for it when I have the chance and make your submitted score official soon. EDIT - Found it! Added your score. Congrats on taking first place!

I haven't. The password I posted was the last one I heard about. Hopefully it's still working with the latest version of the BIOS.

Happy Belated! Never got a chance to login yesterday. Hope it was a good one!

Hey @Draco1962, would you mind testing something on your Atari VCS for me? I got a password for the BIOS but I'd like to know if it works with the latest version of the OS/BIOS before I try to update mine. If you can just confirm the password works, and you can get in to disable Secure Boot, that's all I need. Atar!C3l3br8te$50Ye4r$ Thanks man!

Nice!

I installed Batocera on it. Runs great. I'm still not ready to install Windows 10 and learn it to install GameEx on. But Batocera, for what it's worth, runs everything OLD up to PS2, Wii, GameCube, Dreamcast, and Saturn. They also run stuff like Windows games if you feel the need. Batocera is an offshoot of RetroPie, with it's own dedicated Linux distro. The downside is that you have to have Secure Boot disabled. So that means you MUST have BIOS access to disable it. In the latest updates, they changed the password, which now blocks that ability. I'm especially upset with my situation. I received a console that suffers from a bad ethernet network controller. The chip they used is inferior, and they KNEW it was inferior but used it anyway. It'll be chugging along at full speed, then drastically drop from the 1 gigabit speed to about 2 kilobit, literally slower than dial-up speeds, and become completely useless. When I first reported it, the techs told me it was a KNOWN problem, explained they had to outsource some chips for a small percentage of the consoles (like 30%), and the programming needed to be updated to work correctly with the alternate chipset. This, as I said, was a KNOWN issue and I was told a fix was in the works. Nothing has happened yet. I've reached out a second and a third time, and was ignored for MONTHS. Then I get a response from somebody asking me to update the console to see if it's fixed. I told them I can't update it unless they provide me with the BIOS password so I can disable Secure Boot. WEEKS go by, and he replies back saying they are unable to provide to password because it will void the warranty. He then urged me once again to try updating the console, and if it doesn't work I can RMA it. This makes me very upset. The console is advertised "install ANY OS you want", and I want to install an OS that requires Secure Boot disabled; and this violates some warranty term I never agreed to. So my options are, use a faulty console, or update it and not be able to ever use it how I want, or update it and find out it doesn't fix the problem and RMA it for a replacement - which will probably NOT be one of the first run, limited batch, numbered Collector's Edition models. Really crappy. Knowing that they have piss poor customer service, and that they WILLINGLY sell faulty inferior products, I cannot endorse buying the console. With the chip shortage effecting all electronics at the moment, you can bet ALL consoles they ship will now have this problem. Nope, they need to mature a bit more before I start giving them a proper advertisement.