C64 emulation on MESS

[slip81]

Okay, I just got M.E.S.S and a bunch of C64 ROM's, and I have a problem, I don't know how to play C64 games. I've never used a C64, so I'm not really sure how to get a game started in the first place let alone get one to work on an emulator. I'm new to the C64 in general and really don't know anything about it so if anyone could help to get me started and explain to me how I run the games in MESS, and what to do at the C64 command promt screen it would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[Jorpho]

MESS is an exercise in frustration. You're probably better off with CCS64, or maybe even VICE.

Many other emulators type in the commands automatically for you, but otherwise I think you can use
LOAD"*",8
RUN
Remember, on the C64 keyboard, quotes are accessed through Shift-2.

[Flack]

I can recommend WinVice. I use it for C64 emulation and really like it.

.d64 images are disk images (a snapshot of a floppy disk). In WinVice you can click on "open image" and it will show you all your .d64 files. Click on it once and then it will show you all the files in the .d64. Double click on one of those files and it will load it for you automatically.

The Commodore 64 computer had 2 joystick ports. Half of the games want the joystick to be in port one, the other half want it to be in port two. In any C64 emulator, you'll have to figure out how to toggle joystick ports.

If you're stuck with MESS for the time being, you can do the following.

To get a directory type:

load "$",8
list

To load a file type

load "filename",8,1
run

You can also use wildcards (*). To load the first file on a disk:

load "*",8,1
run

(That's how you would load more store bought programs.)

Good luck! The C64 is my favorite computer system of all time. Once you get it up and running, come back, let us know, and have us recommend some games!

[Ze_ro]

You're best off using VICE. I don't know about the Windows version, but in Unix, you can just load a .d64 file (and .t64 and .prg files I think), and it will automatically load and run it without having to enter basic commands.

And no really mentioned this, but if you're dealing with a tape image (.t64), all you have to do is type LOAD on it's own to load the first program on the tape, and then RUN to run it. Simple.

In case you're curious about what these commands actually do, the ",8" tells the C64 to load the program from device #8, which is the first disk drive (If you just did LOAD"program", it would attempt to load from the tape drive instead). the ",1" tells the C64 that it's loading a machine language program, so it should be relocated accordingly. This isn't always necessary depending on the program, and in some cases you're actually not supposed to use it. If using ",8,1" doesn't work properly, try again with just ",8" instead.

Oh, and don't use ",1" when loading a directory... it'll display a bunch of garbage on the screen and won't give you a directory listing at all.

--Zero

[slip81]

Okay I got VICE and started using that, got the games to work fine but now I have another problem, what buttons on the keyboard control the games? It seems to be different for each game I play, is there anyway I can set the controls so they are the same for everygame? I also have a USB controller, would I better off using that?

[Ze_ro]

Well, since the C64 is a computer, most of your keyboard will probably translate into C64 keys. VICE should let you configure something to act as the joystick though. You're probably better off using the joystick, since there are some games that still require you to hit stuff on the keyboard (like Contra, which uses the space bar to jump). There are other games though, like the Ultima games, that rely on keyboard control alone.

--Zero