Difference between revisions of "C64-network.org"

General
Frodo

Author(s)	Simon Kagstrom
Type	Computer emulator
License	GPL
Links
Download
Source
Downloadable via the Homebrew Browser
Peripherals

Note to those using the Frodo/Wii network: the network connection broker requires the latest version of Frodo, so please upgrade if you plan to use the network support!

Frodo is a Commodore 64 emulator written by Christian Bauer (http://frodo.cebix.net). It was ported to the Wii by Simon Kagstrom, and many C64 games are fully playable on the Wii with it. So go ahead and beat your friends in International Karate, Boulder Dash or Bomb Jack. This version is not the same as Troy Davis implementation, but Troys work is available in a branch in the subversion tree.

The emulator works best in 480i mode. It runs perfectly fine in 576i mode as well, but does not utilize the full resolution. This is an SDL issue, and will not be fixed until SDL-Port supports it. Sound support is slightly buggy, but usable. The emulation itself is not perfect, so not all games will run under Frodo. Unfortunately, I cannot do very much about this since I haven't written the emulator - just ported it. If you have multiple versions of a game, try each of them as often at least one will work.

Usage

Put .t64, .d64, prg or p00 files in /apps/frodo/images on your SD card. The in-game menu allows you to insert disks/tapes, load them and configure the display, joystick ports etc. Saves will be stored on the SD card and the preferences are stored persistently. Wiimote 1 is by default the joystick in port 1 and wiimote 2 the joystick in port 2, but you can swap this.

In-emulator controls

				Action
				Joystick direction
				Fire button
				Configurable for keypresses in the menu
			F10	(Networking) turn on message-sending mode (send a message to the other player, >= v10)
			Esc	Enter Frodo menu

Menu controls

			Action
		Up, Down, Left, Right	Move up/down/left/right in the menu
		Pgup/Pgdown	Move one page down/up in the menu
		Enter	Select current entry
		Esc	Exit from menu

Network play

Play Bubble bobble over the network.

From version 9 onwards, Frodo/Wii supports playing games over the Internet. Traffic is completely peer-to-peer, but connections are handled through a third-party server at c64-network.game-host.org. This allows players to find each other, but also NAT-traversal. To play over the network, follow these steps:

Select Other options/Networking/Set username and choose a name so that your friends can identify you
Talk with your friend on IRC or on some instant messenger. One of you should host the game while the other connects as a client
For the one hosting the game, select Other options/Networking/Host a game. After this, you just wait for your friend to connect
For the client, select Other options/Networking/Connect as client. You will then get a list of game hosts. Select the name of your friend and you two will be connected

Some limitations:

Scrolling games are too bandwidth-hungry (bandwidth is capped)
It must be possible to configure the network via DHCP. Sorry about that.
Only the game host can type at the keyboard.
The host can select which joystick to control. The other peer will always control the other joystick

Development

To build Frodo, install devkitPro and SDL-Port and then run

make

in the source directory. You can also build for the host, which is useful to test changes which are not Wii-specific (the menu etc still works). To do this, run

make clean
make -C Src FrodoSC

The binary will be named Src/FrodoSC. I run on Ubuntu Linux, and you need to install the libsdl-ttf2.0-dev and libsdl1.2-dev packages there to build for the host. I don't know how to build it on Windows and other systems.

Reporting issues

Please report issues and feature requests in the frodo-wii issue tracker on googlecode.

Changelog

The complete changelog can be read in CHANGES.WII in subversion, these are the most important changes.

v10

Holger Eilts has improved the menu layout quite a lot
Loading separate files in a .D64 from the menu is now possible (Holger Eilts)
It's possible to store and load files in subdirectories now
By pressing F10 while in a network game, you can type in a message to the other player with the USB keyboard
Sound cracks are now gone (thanks to Tantrics new SDL work)

v9

It's now possible to start hosting a network game "in the background" and continue using the emulator while waiting for someone to connect
Networking support now works (but without sound being transferred). A broker is installed on c64-network.game-host.org.
Link with Yohanes port of SDL, modified by Danny Milo to get USB keyboards working while still having the Home key do what it should
There are sound cracks in this version, caused by the new SDL (unsure why)

v8

The Nunchuk and Classic analogue controllers now work as joysticks as well (thanks to Aaron Morris)
Some key binding problems have been corrected
Lots of networking implementation. Won't work yet...

v7

Make binding joystick directions to other buttons as well (to be able to jump with e.g., 1)
The direction buttons can also be bound to keyboard keys
Exit with SYS_RETURNTOMENU to make WAD's work
Some restructuring and minor bug fixes here and there
Lots and lots of new code which won't get executed here :-)

v6

A virtual keyboard has been implemented, both for selecting key bindings and for typing things on screen
Don't load files which are zero-sized. This helps with some disk files where the first file is not the PRG one
Some small bug fixes and pretty large code cleanup

v5

Fixed a truly embarassing bug with the HOME button on the wiimote. Unfortunately,
... It no longer links with Yohanes SDL version, which for some reason broke the menu code with the wiimote (but not the classic controller!). It's probably unrelated but I can't have it like that. Further investigation pending.

v4

Merged with the Frodo trunk and build the "SC" version. This should improve emulation somewhat (although there are cases where it's the other way around!). The palette also changes because of this.
Save prefrences together with the C64 state when saving snapshots. This is useful e.g., to have game-specific keybindings
More menu options to type common key sequences, turn on 1541 CPU emulation etc
Link with Yohanes version of SDL-Port, which perhaps brings USB keyboard support. I haven't tested, so please test and fix the code.
Fixed some key binding bugs
Misc smaller improvements here and there

v3

Fixed the buggy classic controller and allow binding all buttons on it
More speed improvements. The emulation speed is now selectable
A few bug fixes and code improvements

v2

Emulation speed has improved a bit
Keybindings have been improved and extended (commodore key, del etc) and now behave more like the real keyboard
Added support for the classic controller. Note: this is untested since I don't have a classic controller. Please test and fix bugs in this part!
Add support for loading .prg, .p00 and .s00 files. Only .prg has been tested so the others might not work.
Various glitches and small bugs (long filenames, sound in menus, frequent prefs saves etc) have been fixed

v1

Initial release

Other versions

Holger Eilts has made a version with better menu layout, alternative USB keyboard support, screenshots and the ability to load files within D64s directly. I'm working on integrating it in the trunk, but for now you can test it here:

It's based on v8 and therefore does not have network support.

Note: More up-to-date versions may be found at http://frodo-wii.googlecode.com/

Other

License

Frodo is GPLv2. I've always liked the "PostcardWare" concept though, so if someone likes the emulator, send a postcard to

Simon Kågström

Birkagatan 21A

113 36 Stockholm

Sweden

Thanks go to

Christian Bauer for the original Frodo
Wii/Gamecube SDL port for the graphics (Yohanes, Tantric)
"Tantric"'s port of FCE Ultra, which the sound support was taken from (a bit modified)
Aaron Morris for Nunchuk support
Bob Forgan for continuous testing and reporting problems

External Links

http://frodo.cebix.net: Official frodo page
http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=178591: Announcement/discussion