Commodore Vic 20 2-Rom Cartridge Files > Launch from a D64 image

Create a Commodore Vic 20 D64 Image That Launches (2) ROM Cartridge Images

This is a guide to create a Commodore D64 floppy drive image that you can load into your Commodore Vic 20 to run 2-Rom Cartridge files.
Feel free to use this guide and replace the games in the examples with those of your choosing!

Download your favorite 16k Commodore Vic 20 cartridge images. I’m assuming these are public domain and I’m not the host of these files.
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/vic20/roms/16k/index.html

Download & Install a D64 editing program.
The one I recommend is DroiD64 because it’s java and can run in Windows/OSX/Linux.
http://droid64.sourceforge.net/

Download the CBM Filebrowser.

Download & Install Vice on your computer.
https://vice-emu.sourceforge.io/index.html#download

Gather your
*CBM Browser D64 file
*Favorite Vic 20 16k Cartridge Files

Open your
*DroiD64 java program
*Vice program

In example, we are going to create a D64 image with several 16K Cartridges.
For the example, we are going to add”
“Jungle Hunt”
“Moon Patrol”
“Centipede”
“Lode Runner”
“Seafox”
“Skyblazer”
“Mountain King”
“AE”

To get these games to run, first we have to write little programs that tell the Vic 20 (the real thing, an emulator or the Mister FPGA!) to combine both ROM images togther in memory, then do a reset.
What is the secret program that allows us to do that?!!?!
Believe me, I’ve searched the net and came up with nothing. I had written something several years ago and searched my retro gaming stash in the garage for it. After a while, I tracked it down. There was a file on a pi1541 SD card that had a D64 image with the secret sauce!

First, create a new D64 image using droiD64:
In the menu, select Disk1, then D64 as ‘image type’ and “2-ROM CARTRIDGES” for the name. Then OK
Save to your folder with the downloaded ROMs.
Second, open your CBM Filebrowser D64 image by finding in in the second pane on droiD64.
Refer to the image below for clarity.

Create a new D64 image using droiD64

Right click the “FB20-8k” file in the second pane, then select ‘copy file’.
Now, eject the disk in the second pane by selection the little folder with the up-arrow in the right corner of the second pane.
Navigate to where you have all of your ‘prg’ cartridge images. Hold ‘ctrl’ key and select all the images. Then copy over to the D64 image you created in the droiD64 first pane.

We now have the D64 menu and all of the game images on our D64 images.
Now we need to create our launch program using the Vice Vic 20 emulator.

With the Vice Vic 20 emulator, select ‘create and attach an empty disk image’ in the menu.
Name it ‘2-ROM D64 Menu.d64’ and hit ‘save’. Probably convienent to save this into the folder with your ROMs.

Go back to your Vice Vic 20 window, and from the menu, Edit/Paste the contents of this text:

1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”jungle hunt-6000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”jungle hunt-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

After the ‘sys64802’ on the last line of text (in the Vic 20 emulator), hit enter.
Then:
save “junglehunt”,8,1

You have saved the first launch program to the new disk.
Now you will have to follow the same idea with each of the other Cartridge images.

Make sure everything is in lower case!

“moon patrol”
1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”moonpatrol-6000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”moonpatrol-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

“centipede”
1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”centipede-2000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”centipede-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

“lode runner”
1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”lode runner-6000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”lode runner-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

“seafox”
1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”seafox-6000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”seafox-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

“skyblazer”
1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”skyblazer-6000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”skyblazer-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

“mountain king”
1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”mountain king-6000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”mountain king-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

“ae”
1 onagoto4,5
2 dr=peek(186)
3 a=1:load”ae-6000″,dr,1
4 a=2:load”ae-a000″,dr,1
5 poke37138,0:poke37139,0:poke37154,0:poke37155,0:poke37150,127:poke37166,127:sys64802

Once you have finished, eject Disk 2 in droiD64, and open your new ‘2-ROM D64 Menu.d64’ Disk image with all of the new launch files.

[droiD64_2.png]

Now copy those over to Disk 1. You can use droiD64 to move the files up using the “Up” button in the bottom menu (optional).
At this point, your D64 image is done!

Copy game launchers over to Disk 1

Feel free to transfer to a real floppy image using a Zoom interface or by opening it with Vice Vic 20 emulator -or- the Mister Vic 20 Core.
Note: You will have to expand your Vic 20 memory.
The Windows & OSX version of Vice may vary but this is the RAM expansion option for Linux:

Expand Vic 20’s RAM with Vice (Linux version shown)

To launch the disk and auto-start the menu, select File/Smart Attach, then click on the “Autostart” button.

Auto-start the CMD File Browser

Advertisement

Setup a DIY Retro Gaming device with all of your favorite games

Using a Raspberry Pi, create a Retro Gaming device that can connect to a TV or computer monitor (HDMI or RCA).
Equipment needed:
*Raspberry Pi 3 B+ or Raspberry Pi 4 with Power Adapter
*Micro SD Card & Reader
*PC to setup the SD Card
*USB Keyboard
*HDMI Cable or 3.5MM Video AV Component Adapter

Use Retrode device to dump your own game cartridges for emulators

Commodore 64 used to communicate with the Space Station

This is incredible.

Install Retropie on Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04.03

I found a nice guide to installing Retropie on Ubuntu 18.04.03 at a website called markontech and it works brilliantly.

sudo apt-get install -y git dialog unzip xmlstarlet

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git

cd RetroPie-Setup

sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

Once the Retro-Pie install script is running, you will want to do a Basic Install and then navigate back to the menu and install the desired optional packages.

One thing I have learned: if you copy the retropie directory to a thumb drive (once it’s setup) each time you have a new setup, if you plug the thumb drive in, the computer will automatically copy the roms and bios files to the new install when emulation station is running. 🙂

Connect a PC to a Commodore 1541/1571 drive

Did you ever want to transfer files from your old Commodore 1541/1571 drive between your computer and a real drive? Did you also want to use a real Commodore floppy drive with the VICE emulator? Me too! 😉 Both of these things are possible with the zoomfloppy device being offered by Retro Innovations. You can download basically anything you want from arnold.c64.org (or any other commodore software source) and transfer it right to your floppy device so it can be used on a real Commodore 64 or Vic 20.

This device is unlike other solutions that only worked with specially built cables and DOS. You simply plug a USB cable between your zoomfloppy and your computer and then the serial cable between the zoomfloppy and the floppy drive. Once the physical connections are made, you simply run the OpenCBM software to transfer files or backup disks.

Here’s how to install a zoomfloppy device to your Ubuntu computer.

sudo apt-get install libusb-dev build-essential linux-headers-generic git

Install the CC64 Compiler:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/cc65/cc65.git
cd cc65
make
sudo prefix=/usr make install

Compile and install OpenCBM

cd ~
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/opencbm/code opencbm
cd opencbm/opencbm
make -f LINUX/Makefile
sudo make -f LINUX/Makefile install install-all install-plugin-xum1541
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/libopencbm.so.0 /usr/lib/libopencbm.so.0

Add udev rules for the ZoomFloppy hardware itself:

sudo pico /etc/udev/rules.d/45-opencbm-parallel.rules

Add this to the bottom of the file, then save and quit:

SUBSYSTEM!="usb_device", ACTION!="add", MODE="0666", GOTO="opencbm_rules_end"
# zoom floppy
ATTRS{idVendor}=="16d0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0504", GROUP="users", MODE="0666"
LABEL="opencbm_rules_end"

Restart udev:

sudo service udev restart

Check the ZoomFloppy and IEC device status:

cbmctrl detect

Bonus: Get VICE to use the zoomfloppy interface to utilize a real 1541 Commodore Floppy Drive!

1. Settings -> Peripheral Settings -> Device #8 -> Enable IEC Device
2. Settings -> Peripheral Settings -> Device #8 -> Device Type -> Real Device Access

Commodore 64 (Vic 20, Pet, etc) emulator from Raspberry Pi Raspbian

I can confirm this install method (source) worked with a Raspberry Pi 4 using Raspbian Buster.
Compiles Vice and installs into /usr/local/bin. Initial launch reports a sound issue. If you go into settings (F12), there’s a sound configuration you can change to “Alsa”.
…

# get dependencies – this may take a long time and ~ 1.5 GB
sudo apt install autoconf automake build-essential byacc dos2unix flex libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libgtk2.0-cil-dev libgtkglext1-dev libmp3lame-dev libmpg123-dev libpcap-dev libpulse-dev libreadline-dev libswscale-dev libvte-dev libxaw7-dev subversion texi2html texinfo yasm libgtk3.0-cil-dev xa65 libsdl2-dev

mkdir -p src
cd src
svn checkout https://svn.code.sf.net/p/vice-emu/code/trunk trunk
cd trunk/vice
./autogen.sh
./configure
make -j4
sudo make install

8bitdo Sega Genesis Receiver Review

The 8bitdo Genesis Receiver allows your Sega Genesis or Mega Drive to use a modern gamepad such as the PS4, PS3, XBox or Wii U (pictured) as well as a wide assortment of Bluetooth controllers. Also pictured on the right is another device used in a similar way for devices that accept USB such as the Nintendo Switch, the Mini Playstation, PCs, etc.

Podcast:

Youtube video:

Sega Master System

If you are unfamiliar with the 8-Bit Sega Master System, the game system that Sega sold before the 16-Bit Sega Genesis – you are in for a treat. This third generation video game system debuted in 1985 in Japan as the Sega Mark III.  The name wasn’t very well revived so when it debuted in 1986 in North America, it was relabeled the Master System. The system competed with the Nintendo NES, which debuted a year earlier. In Japan and North America, the system was far less popular than it was in Europe and Brazil. The incredibly popular Sega Genesis followed in the market two years later, making the Master System a footnote outside of Europe and Brazil. Despite this, many great games were created. I put together a list of the best games, though there are many more. If you are interested in checking out what the system offered, check out the titles below. Also, just for fun check out this embeded youtube video with 25 popular Master System titles.

A Sega Master System console will run you around $50 on ebay. Just like any other retro game system, the game cartridges can run anywhere from $10 to $300 depending on the rarity, condition, desirability, and completeness (box, manual, etc.)

If you have a gen 1 or gen 2 Sega Genesis, you can use a “power base converter” (which ranges between $50-100 on ebay) to play Sega Master System games.

Another option is to buy a Mega EverDrive X7, which will allow you to load up Master System, 32X and Genesis cartridge roms. Don’t ask me for roms or where to find them!

Another interesting option is to emulate the system with a Raspberry Pi using RetroPie. There are plenty of youtube videos around to show you how to do this. Essentially, you are going to install an OS image onto a micro SD card, put it in your Raspberry Pi, then install your rom images to the rom directory. This is a great option and highly encourage!

Good luck and happy gaming!

[table id=4 automatic_url_conversion=true /]

Manually Install RetroPie over Raspbian Stretch

If you are enjoying a full or lite install of Raspbian on your Raspberry Pi, you can also manually install RetroPie rather than work off of a RetroPie SD image.

It’s advisable to first tell your Pi to boot into console mode at boot. 

pi@raspberry:~$ sudo raspi-config
Choose (3) Boot Options
B1 Desktop/CLI
B2 Console Autologin (optionally, you could select B1 to log in)
<Finish>

Install RetroPie manually

Start by updating your system:

pi@raspberry:~$sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Verify your local settings for a smooth installation.

pi@raspberry:~$sudo update-locale LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"

Now we install the packages needed by the installation script:

pi@raspberry:~$ sudo apt-get install git lsb-release 

Download the RetroPie setup script using git. If you don’t have git installed:

pi@raspberry:~$sudo apt install git-all

then:

pi@raspberry:~$ cd
pi@raspberry:~$ git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.git 

Now run the script:

pi@raspberry:~$ cd RetroPie-Setup
pi@raspberry:~$ chmod +x retropie_setup.sh
pi@raspberry:~$ sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

The installation dialog appears:

Choose the basic install and then optional packages, settings and drivers. Once you are done, reboot and launch with:

pi@raspberry:~$ emulationstation