STILL NEED HELP: Where do I put 5200.rom so Atari 5200 works with MESS

[unclet]

I tried to start a BIN game from a command prompt and I get an error indicating the MESS emulator can not find the "5200.rom" file.

I placed this file in the Roms folder it did not work
I placed this file in the root directory C:\ and it did not work
I placed this file in the MESS directory where the mess.exe is located, did not work.

What is the deal?

[ArcadEd]

I believe it goes in the BIOS folder.

[unclet]

I placed the 5200.rom file in the "bios" folder  and still did not work.   I renamed the file to 5200.bin while still in the "bios" folder and it still did not work.

Here is the what I am executing at the command prompt:

mess a5200 -cart C:\Emulators\RomFiles\Atari5200\asteroid.bin

I keep getting a "5200.rom    NOT FOUND" error

[ArcadEd]

Try making it a zip file, or leaving it zipped.

I remember something wacky about this when I tried using MESS.

[Fat_Trucker]

Rename your unzipped rom file extension to Asteroids.a52, put it back in your roms folder and it should be ok.

Also just double check that you def have the correct a5200 bios rom in the bios folder.

[unclet]

I do not have anything in the bios folder currently.   When you state "a5200 bios rom" ... are you referring to the "5200.rom" file or is there an additional file I might need to make this work?

I use to use jum52 as an emulator for Atari 5200 and the games worked so I believe I have the correct "5200.rom" file.

Do I need to rename the "5200.rom" to "5200.bin" or "5200.a52"?

I am at work now, so I can not test anything right now

[ArcadEd]

What is the error you are getting?

Is it saying it's missing the bios file?

[unclet]

As I mentioned earlier ...

I am executing the following at the command prompt:

mess a5200 -cart C:\Emulators\RomFiles\Atari5200\asteroid.bin

...and I get the following error:

"5200.rom    NOT FOUND"


NOTE:  I have not done what Fat_Trucker recommended yet since I am "working" right now.   I will try it tonight.   Although if you use M.E.S.S. for your Atari 5200 emulator then maybe you can tell me definitely where your 5200.rom file is located and what the exact name of this file should be (ie: 5200.rom, 5200.bin or 5200.a52).

[unclet]

I placed the "5200.rom" in the bios file, renamed the "asteroid.bin" to "Asteroid.a52" (I also tried naming it "Asteroids.a52" as well) , but it did not work.

I tried ZIP'ing the "5200.rom" into a "5200.zip" file and placed that in the bios file and that did not work.   I tried placing the "5200.rom" and "5200.zip" files in the MESS directory (where the "mess.exe" file is located) but that did not work either.

Any ideas? 

Does anyone actually have Atari 5200 via M.E.S.S working ... if so how?

[Fat_Trucker]

I have all the Atari Systems working in MESS. You should have a bios folder in your mess folder. In that folder should be a zipped Atari5200 bios file. The zip should be called a5200.zip and the bios rom inside it should be called 5200.rom

You should create a new folder in your main mess folder and call it 5200 or whatever and drop any game roms in there.

Strictly speaking then you should simply use the commandline to point mess at the game you want to run and MESS should work.

If you are running via a Frontend like mamewah you will need an ini file.

If you get really stuck PM me and I'll send you my MSN username and I'll walk you through getting it working.

Sounds like your main prob though is that your bios rom zip folder is incorrectly named. Again it should be a5200.zip containing 5200.rom

Not sure about your actual game roms but all mine are labelled .a26 .a52 and .a78 for the 2600, 5200 and 7800 respectively.

[juggle50]

Interesting,

Fattucker, I do things a bit differently.

Create a new folder within the bios folder and name it a5200 and extract the zip file in there (should be called 5200.rom like you said)

In the software folder create a new folder and name it a5200 and put all your roms in there.  Mine are all zipped.

Hope that helps

[unclet]

Thanks for the information .... I never tries a file called a5200.zip before so I am anxious to get home tonight and try it out.

I planned on keeping my Rom files outside of the MESS directory structure.  Do you see a problem with this?   I am using MameWah as a front end which will explicitly state the complete path of the Romfile when executing the mess.exe application

For example:

 mess -a5200 -cart C:\Emulators\RomFiles\Atari5200\Asteroids.a52


Would you agree that my rom placement will be fine ....?


Also, I am assuming there will be a "7800.rom" file (for Atari 7800) which I shall treat the same way.... correct?

[juggle50]

I use the mess gui so I couldn't help you to run anything out side the mess software structure.  However,  I remember someone giving instructions on that in this forum real recently so I would do a search here.

Also, like I said all my rom files are zipped but within the zip file their extensions are .bin and they work fine.  So try them first in their native extension before you change everything to .a52

[unclet]

Ok, that sounds good ..... I am hoping that all I might need to do is to create a a5200.zip file which contains the "5200.rom" file.

[juggle50]

Yeah that should work fine.  I just tested it on my system.  If you have any troubles though, like I said, you can just make a new folder called a5200 and put 5200.rom in there.  That will work as well.

here is the link to get mamewah to work with mess specifically with atari 5200

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=48342.msg469380#msg469380

I can't verify that it works because I don't use mamewah.

Hope you like MESS, I think it is ideal for all console and computer games in arcade cabinets as it is based on the mame code and alows all the features that mame does.  I use it exclusively for all console and computer games.

[unclet]

When I start the 5200 emulator from the command prompt (ie: no Mamewah usage yet) I get the "Atari" intro screen but then I get the following exception error and then get sent back to the command prompt:

-----------------------------------------------------
Exception at EIP=1011FB19: ACCESS VIOLATION
While attempting to read memory at 0118FFEC
-----------------------------------------------------
EAX=00000060 EBX=00001818 ECX=000027E8 EDX=0003FFF3
ESI=FFFCE7E8 EDI=01CB7CCC EBP=01090020 ESP=0022F394


What the deal?

I am using "messv104b"

[reko19]

I am having exact same problem, missing 5200.rom and 7800.rom message.  My zipped BIOS files are under c:\mess\bios.  Please help.

[SGT]

I can't help with mess, but kat5200 works well for me for 5200 emulation.