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I Introduction 1.1 What´s MagiC64 ? 1.2 A C64-Emulator in 1995 ? 1.3 System Requirements II Quick Start 2.1 Fast Introduction III The Emulator 3.1 Copyright and Registration 3.2 Save 3.3 Graphics 3.4 Cpu & Rom 3.5 Video 3.6 Sprites 3.7 Sound 3.8 Joysticks 3.9 Keyboard 3.10 Floppy 3.11 D64 Disks 3.12 T64 Tapes 3.13 P00 Files 3.14 C64 Files 3.15 Disk State 3.16 Start 3.17 Quit IV Floppy Emulation 4.1 4.2 Supported Functions 4.3 Non supported Functions V Frequently Asked Questions 5.1 How to speed up things ? 5.2 Programs which won´t work 5.3 No feedback of the emulator ? 5.4 Where can I get games ? VI Greetings and Thanks I Introduction 1.1 What´s MagiC64 ? MagiC64 is a C64 emulator for the Amiga, which tries to emulate a real C64 in an exact manner. The emulator has the following properties: - Complete emulation of the 6510-CPU (including illegal opcodes) - Line-by-line VIC emulation - All graphics modes - Horizontal and vertical scrolling - Complete sprite emulation - Sprite-sprite collisions - Sprite-background collisions - Sound emulation with 6581sid.library (only available in the registered version of MagiC64) - ROM emulation, you can also use the original Roms - Keyboard and joystick input - Floppy 1541 emulation - Fastload and fastsave for all programs - Nearly all 1541 commands are supported - Support for the following formats: D64, T64, P00 and raw C64. - Conversion between all formats possible - Bitplane optimized graphics functions, on fast Amigas original C64 speed is possible. - The emulator is programmed OS-friendly, it runs in a fully multitasking environment 1.2 A C64-Emulator in 1995 ? This emulator was written in a time, when -in my opinion- there were no reasonable C64-Emulators for the Amiga. Prototype for MagiC64 also were the C64-Emulators for the PC, which have reached an impressive level today. As a consequence of that, MagiC64 supports the most common PC formats, because nearly all C64 programs are available in one of these formats. Another goal during the development of MagiC64 was a good speed of the emulation. That is why MagiC64 has very fast bitplane optimized graphic functions. There is no conversion from chunky to planar, which results in a dramatically improved graphics performance. Now Amiga owners have once again the possibility of using all the games and programs of a C64. Although these games and programs do not convince anymore for today´s sound and graphic standards, they often possess an amazing level of fun and excitement. Furthermore MagiC64 has the common features only emulators can offer e.g. Fastload, Fastsave and the possibility of freezing and continuing programs at any time. 1.3 System Requirements A C64 emulation is, if it works line-orientated like MagiC64, quite CPU intensive. MagiC64 needs at least a 68020 CPU, a fast 68030 or 68040 is recommended. The graphic functions are in need of some memory for lookup tables, there must be 1,7 MB of free memory available, a high Fastram access speed has a positive effect. Using an A4000 or an Amiga with a 68030- turboboard should guarantee full pleasure during the use of MagiC64. On the software side one should have Kickstart 2.04 or higher, the special features of Kickstart 3.0 with regard to screen double-buffering are used, too. Summarized: - 68020 or higher - 1,7 MB free memory - Kickstart 2.04 or higher Of course the emulator can also be used on Amigas without AGA chipset. II Quick Start 2.1 Fast Introduction The emulator can be started from CLI or Workbench. In the unregistered version there will be popped up a window, showing the copyright and registration conditions. It can be closed by clicking the OK button. After that you can see a window with several selection buttons. You can reach the C64 mode by clicking the START button, return to the emulator window by pressing the ESC key. By doing this the actual state of the emulation is frozen. To load and start a program the right format must be chosen under the point DISK & TAPE. At the same time D64 files, which are images of a 1541 disc, and T64 files, which contain several C64 programs, are supported. Finally the P00 files, which represent a single C64 program, are supported, too. Is T64 or P00 chosen all files in the actual T64 or P00 directory are scanned and the C64 names of the programs appear in a requester. Double clicking on the name of a program loads and starts it, contemporary you return to the C64 mode. If you see an empty requester you can determine the directory in which the files reside by clicking on T64-DIRECTORY or P00-DIRECTORY. The requester will be actualized automatically. If you want to use D64 files, then you should first click LOAD D64. Select a D64 file now. The directory of this disk file will appear in the requester, again you can load and start a program by double cklicking it. In the C64 mode you can cause a reset by pressing F9, which is followed by a module check, so that module programs are started again. If you press F10 a hard reset is done, which always leads to the initial message of the emulator. Has a program been started the joystick port can be changed after clicking JOYSTICKS. If in your opinion the emulator is running too slowly, you can type in a value greater than 1 under VIDEO in the requester "DISPLAY EVERY (N)TH FRAME". On an A4000 you should gain full speed for every program with a value of 3. Changing this value also helps when music sounds strangely. The most important keys: - ESC Return to emulator window - F9 Reset with module check - F10 Reset without module check III The Emulator 3.1 Copyright and Registration There are two versions of MagiC64: - The unregistered version, in which some options are disabled. You can copy and distribute the unregistered version without any restrictions. In this version you don´t have sound, you can´t save anything, too. - The registered version with all options enabled. Copying or distributing this version is forbidden. The keyfile which enables all features is valid for all updates. Copyright for both versions: Michael Kramer Im Hirschfeld 28 52222 Stolberg Germany E-Mail: michael_kramer@pop.ac-copy.com You can register at the above address or by E-Mail. The registration fee is $25 US or 40 DM, payable cash or as euro cheque. If you send the money or the euro cheque, I´ll send you the keyfile which enables all features. Please note: For sound you will need the 6581sid.library too, which is NOT part of MagiC64. This library is part of A64. A demo version of A64, which contains this library, is available on AMINET. 3.2 Save Save all settings and paths in the MagiC64.prefs file. This option is only available in the registered version. 3.3 Graphics - Display Video If you turn off this option, only a window will pop up when clicking the START button. The emulation is running in background mode now. Use this, if you run programs which have no or only some visual output. Emulation speed is very fast in this mode. - Synchronize Turning on this option means that non displayed frames are synchronized with the real display. This will result in better music and sound effects. You should turn off this option if you have a very slow computer e.g. a plain A1200. This option has no effect if the value "Display every (n)th frame" in the "Video" menue is equal 1 because every frame is displayed in this case. - Screen Mode By clicking on "SELECT ..." a standard screenmode requester will appear where you can select the screen mode for the C64 mode. The emulation is running in 320x200, so you should select a mode like PAL or DBLPAL. In other modes e.g. EURO72 you have a higher frequency, but only a quarter of the screen is used. You need Kickstart 2.1 for changing the screen mode, as standard mode you have PAL or DBLPAL. - Screen Type In this cycle gadget you can choose between "Amiga-View" and "Amiga-Screen". Because screen doublebuffering is supported first in Kickstart 3.0 with special operating system functions, you should use "Amiga-View" in lower Kickstart versions for optimum performance. Using Amiga-View you can´t use Amiga M for screen flipping. The multitasking is not impaired in other terms. "Amiga Screen" does *ONLY* work correctly in Kickstart 3.0 if you have installed SetPatch 40.14 or higher. If you don´t have, MagiC64 will crash when using "Amiga Screen". As a rule of thumb: - In OS 2.04 and OS 2.1 you should always use "Amiga View" for performance reasons. - In OS 3.0 you have to install SetPatch 40.14 or higher, otherwise "Amiga Screen" won´t work. If you haven´t installed SetPatch 40.14 or higher, choose "Kick 2 Double-Buffering" when prompted at start or use "Amiga View" instead. - In OS 3.1 "Amiga Screen" will correctly work. You can determine the version of your SetPatch program by typing Version C:SetPatch in the CLI. In some modes e.g. DBLPAL it can happen that the display is not centered or some parts are not displayed when using "Amiga View". Sorry, but this is a bug in the OS, use "Amiga Screen" in this case. 3.4 Cpu & Rom - Warning at crash opcode When the emulation executes a crash opcode e.g. $02, normally the C64 mode is left and a warning is given. A real C64 could only be restarted by Reset. As a consequence the warning requester gives the possibility of a Reset or a continuation of the emulation. Pressing the F10 key is the only action making sense in this case, when back in C64 mode. - Warning at break opcode The execution of the opcode $00 (BRK) is normally no action of a C64 program making any sense. You should switch off these warnings if you want to use monitor programs in the C64 mode. - Skip RAM Test Normally the RAM of the C64 is checked during a C64 reset. This test is switched off by a ROM patch, which speeds up the Reset remarkably. - ROM emulation / Original ROM Because of copyright reasons the original roms are not included, instead a ROM emulation is used. This emulation uses changed ROMs, if you read them out and put them into a real C64, it will not work. Whoever wants can also use the original ROMs. They must reside in the Roms directory, named BASIC.ROM, CHAR.ROM and KERNAL.ROM. 3.5 Video - Display every (n)th frame With this value you determine which frames of the emulation are really calculated and displayed on screen. The higher this value is the faster C64 programs will run because fewer processing time for the graphics is required. On values greater than 1 it may possibly happen that sprite collisions are later recognized. This is no severe effect for most programs. Recommendable values are in range 1 to 5. Also raise this value if music and sound effects are to slow. In this case the emulation can´t deliver the sound data for the sound library fast enough. - Rasterline Cycles This is a value for the VIC emulation determining how many cycles one rasterline will consume. You may change this value slightly (!) when raster interrupts cause flickering on screen. Recommendable values are in the range 60 to 66. - Badline Cycles This determines the number of cycles a badline is consuming. Badlines are rasterlines in which the CPU has fewer cycles available because these cycles are required by the VIC. Change only slightly. Recommendable values are in the range 20 to 24. - Start Cycle Determines the cycle in which the VIC will begin to fetch char data. For vertical scrolling it is important whether the scroll register is written before or after this cycle. Change this value when vertical scrolling doesn´t work properly. Recommendable values are in the range 10 to 14. - PAL / NTSC Determines how many lines the emulation is internally using. A few games only work in one of the two modes. If you use NTSC the emulation will run somewhat faster because fewer lines have to be calculated. On the other side the C64 CPU has fewer cycles per frame available. 3.6 Sprites - Display Sprites Turn on sprites. Turning off sprites speeds up the graphics, but makes no sense for most games. - Sprite-Sprite Collisions Turn on sprite-sprite collisions. If you turn off this option, graphics may speed up a little bit. Many games use their own collision detection instead of the hardware detection, so turning off this collisions can make sense. - Sprite-Background Collisions Turn on sprite-background collisions. Only few games use hardware sprite-background collision detection, so turning off these collisions may be helpful. Graphics performance is improved in this case. The above options act for all sprites together. In the individual settings options you can do the above settings for single sprites. You can construct trainer versions of games by turning off the collisions for the sprite the player is driving. This only works if games use hardware collision detection. 3.7 Sound Sound is only available in the registered version of MagiC64. For sound the 6581sid.library is required. This library is NOT part of MagiC64. A demo version of A64, another C64 emu- lator for the Amiga, contains this library. A64 is available in the Aminet, too. - Sound on Turn on music and sound effects. Turning off maybe useful in games with bad music. - Channels Turn on the three channels individually. - Loudness With this slider gadget you can regulate the maximum loudness for all three channels. 3.8 Joysticks Amiga and C64 both have two digital joystick ports. Because the Amiga uses port 0 for the mouse, you can direct the input of port 1 to the virtual ports 0 and 1 of the C64. It´s possible to direct one Amiga port to two C64 ports at the same time. If you choose these settings every game should work, independent of which port is used. There can be some strange effects if a game uses the C64 port 0 and the keyboard at the same time because at the C64 port 1 is connected parallel to the keyboard. Of course for games with a two-player mode the Amiga port 2 can also be used, but then the mouse must be taken off. 3.9 Keyboard - Original / National While the original mode is running there is the try to copy a C64 keyboard physically in a nearly exact way. In this mode are e.g. in German Y and Z exchanged, the #-key is covered with = ect. This mode makes sense for games, which depend upon a certain location of the keys on the keyboard. On the contrary in the national mode every key is treated corresponding to the national location of the keys and the key is translated into the adequate C64 key press. In both modes some keys have a special meaning: - ESC. The emulation is frozen and returns from C64 mode to the main window of the emulator. There you can change some settings, after that press START to continue in C64 mode. - F9. Reset of C64 emulation. A module check for a module at $8000 is done. If there is a module, the module program will be started, otherwise the initial C64 message will appear on the screen. - F10 Hard reset of the C64 emulation. There is no module check, the emulation always returns to power-up message. - Enter stops the emulation without leaving the C64 mode. After pressing the enter key for a second time the emulation is continued. This key is useful if you want to look carefully at a situation during a game. It is also possible to save the actual status of the screen with a screengrabber program. - Ctrl corresponds to the RUN/STOP key of the C64. - Help corresponds to the RESTORE key of the C64. - Tab corresponds to the Ctrl key of the C64. - Del corresponds to the CLR/HOME key of the C64. - The left Alt key corresponds to the Commodore key of the C64. - The right Alt key corresponds to the @ of the C64. - The right Amiga key corresponds to the ´ of the C64. - The left Amiga key starts a keyboard reset. Press this key when the keyboard is blocked. - All four Cursor keys of the Amiga cause the equivalent C64 function. 3.10 Floppy Under this point adjustments are put on, which concern the emulation of a 1541 floppy. The 1541 emulation always works on D64 files. More about D64 files in chapter D64 disks. - Floppy on Here the 1541 emulation can be switched off; subsequently the C64 emulation assumes that there is no floppy. If you enter e.g. LOAD"$",8 the computer will announce DEVICE NOT PRESENT. Switching off the floppy can be senseful when P00 or T64 files, which always have only one part, try to load some data again e.g. highscore lists. - Writeprotection Effects a writeprotection for the actual D64 file. Then this D64 file will not be changed in the memory. This option will be useful if you want to prevent that files are written or changed. - Warning at non-supported commands A real 1541 normally represents an independent computer including a processor, Ram and an operating system. Never- theless the 1541 emulation only emulates a 1541 on the commanding level. Therefore some commands, e.g. M-E (Memory-Execute), which execute some own programs in the Ram of a 1541, are not supported. Unfortunately because of that some programs, which use fastloader or execute other complex actions (copy protection) in the floppy, do not work. If you try to execute such commands, the C64 mode is left and a warning is given. With this switch you can turn off these warnings. - Write on protected disk A warning is given, if you try to write on a writeprotected D64 disc. Turn off these warnings here. 3.11 D64 Disks D64 Diskfiles are files which represent one side of a 1541 disk. This format was introduced with C64S, a C64 emulator for the PC. In the mean time it developed to one of the standard formats for C64 emulators. You can get nearly all C64 programs as a D64 file. MagiC64 loads the whole D64 file into memory, the 1541 emulation is doing all commands in memory, too. If you want to become write operations permanent, you have to save the D64 file explicitly. This Save option is only available in the registered version of MagiC64. - Selection Requester Here you will see the directory of a D64 file which was loaded into memory with "LOAD D64". The first line in the requester shows the name of the disk, followed by its ID and format sign. Clicking the first line makes no sense. The following lines show the single programs contained in the D64 file. The number on the left side of the name gives you the size of the program in blocks of 256 bytes. On the right side the type of the program is given. Doubleclicking one of these lines will lead to a reset in the background, next the C64 mode is entered and the program will be loaded and started. The last line of the requester gives information about the free blocks of the D64 file. - Load Loads a program from a D64 file into the memory. There is NO reset into the background and there is no automatic return to the C64 mode. Loading is very fast, even very big files (bigger than 200 blocks) will be loaded in few seconds. All data is loaded in the C64 memory, the I/O range is not touched during loading. Because of that it´s possible to load programs bigger than 202 blocks, on a real C64 you can´t do this without special loading functions. - Load+Run Same action like doubleclicking a program name in the selection requester. Contrary to "LOAD" a reset in the background is forced and there is automatic return to the C64 mode. - Load D64 After clicking this button you can select a D64 file in a standard requester. The directory of this D64 file will appear in the selection requester. This is the same action like inserting a disk in a 1541, so use this if a C64 program asks you to change the disk. - Save D64 A D64 file is saved. Click this button if you wish to make changes to a D64 file permanently, because the 1541 emulation will only work in memory. "SAVE D64" is only available in the registered version of MagiC64. - Save A C64 program is written to the actual D64 file in memory. The file is only changed in memory. To make the changes permanently you have to click "SAVE D64", too. Saving has the same properties like loading: High speed and it´s possible to save programs bigger than 202 blocks. - Format Formats a D64 file in memory. After klicking this button you have to enter the disk name and the disk ID. This is equivalent to the NEW command of the 1541. If you want to create an empty disk, load a D64 file with "LOAD D64", click "FORMAT" and save the file with "SAVE D64" under a *DIFFERENT* name. If no D64 file is loaded a new D64 file will be generated. This is another way to create an empty disk. - Delete After queryback a program in a D64 file is deleted in memory. This is equivalent to the SCRATCH command of the 1541. - Rename After queryback a program in a D64 file is renamed in memory. This is equivalent to the RENAME command of the 1541. - Initialize After queryback a D64 file is initialized in memory. The BAM of the disk is read into memory, so it´s possible to distinct disks with the same ID. This is equivalent to the INITIALIZE command of the 1541. - Validate After queryback a D64 file is validated in memory. All files still open are closed, the BAM is actualized. This is equivalent to the VALIDATE command of the 1541. 3.12 T64 Tapes The T64 format was introduced with C64S, too. There can be more than one program in a T64 file. - Selection Requester The contents of ALL T64 files are displayed. Double- cklicking selects the related T64 file, then the selected program is loaded in memory and started. - Load Loads a selected program from a T64 file into the C64 memory. NO reset in the background is done and there is no automatic return to C64 mode. - Load+Run Same as doubleclicking a name in the selection requester: Reset in the background, return to C64 mode, loading and starting of the program. - Save After queryback a program is saved from C64 memory into a T64 file. The name you enter will appear in the selection requester. The range given in memory locations $2B/$2C and $2D/$2E is saved. It´s possible to save programs with an end address bigger than $CFFF. The T64 file written is new, existing files are overwritten. "SAVE" is only available in the registered version of MagiC64. - T64 Path A standard requester will appear where you can select the new T64 path. If you click "OK" all files in this directory are scanned. This can take a while when the directory contains many files. The contents of the T64 files will appear in the selection requester. 3.13 P00 Files The P00 format was introduced with the C64 emulator PC64. Every P00 file represents a single C64 program. - Selection Requester The contents of ALL P00 files are displayed. Double- cklicking selects the related P00 file, then the selected program is loaded in memory and started. - Load Loads a selected program from a P00 file into the C64 memory. NO reset in the background is done and there is no automatic return to C64 mode. - Load+Run Same as doubleclicking a name in the selection requester: Reset in the background, return to C64 mode, loading and starting of the program. - Save After queryback a program is saved from C64 memory into a P00 file. The name you enter will appear in the selection requester. The range given in memory locations $2B/$2C and $2D/$2E is saved. It´s possible to save programs with an end address bigger than $CFFF. The P00 file written is new, existing files are overwritten. "SAVE" is only available in the registered version of MagiC64. - P00 Path A standard requester will appear where you can select the new P00 path. If you click "OK" all files in this directory are scanned. This can take a while when the directory contains many files. The contents of the P00 files will appear in the selection requester. 3.14 C64 Files C64 Files are files in the original C64 format. The first two bytes contain the start adress followed by program data. "Save" is only available in the registered version of MagiC64. 3.15 Disk State The curent state of the 1541 emulation is displayed. The message contains number, text, track and sector. - Read State Read the state and reset back to OK state. 3.16 Start Guess what ? The emulation is started or continued at the point it was frozen. 3.17 Quit Simply quit the emulation. IV Floppy Emulation 4.1 The 1541 floppy is emulated on file and buffer level. The 6502 CPU and the special hardware are NOT emulated. The only file type supported at the moment is PRG, sequential or random access files are not supported, but will be displayed in the directory. 4.2 Supported Functions - LOAD and SAVE of programs. The wildcards * and ? are possible. Saving to a D64 file is also possible in the unregistered version of MagiC64, but you can´t save the D64 file itself. Overwriting a file with a @ at the beginning of the name works always correct unlike to a real 1541. - Directory All file types, protected (<) and not closed (*) files are displayed. Wildcard and filetype selection while loading a directory is possible. - Direct Access It´s possible to reserve buffers in the floppy with #, some floppy commands will utilize these buffers. - Error Channel All error and state messages are supported. - Floppy Commands Scratch, Rename, Initialize, New and Validate are supported. The Copy command can´t append data to existing files, it´s only possible to duplicate files with this command. Block- Read, Block-Write, Block-Allocate and Block-Free are possible, the equivalent User commands are supported, too. The buffer pointer can be set with the Buffer-Pointer command. Memory commands will work in the buffer range. 4.3 Not Supported Functions All commands which execute their own code in the 1541 wont work, e.g. Block-Execute, Memory-Execute, the User commands 3 to 8, and the & command. So programs using their own fast loaders will run erroneous. V Frequently Asked Questions 5.1 How to speed up things ? The most important tuning facility is raising the value of "Display every (n)th frame" in the "Video" menue. If you switch from PAL to NTSC, internally only 256 instead of 312 lines are calculated, so the emulation will speed up. Many programs using sprites don´t use hardware detection for sprite-sprite or sprite-background collisions, so just turn them off in the "SPRITES" menue ! Turn off "SYNCHRONIZE" in the "GRAPHICS" menue, this will result in a reasonable speedup especially on slower computers. 5.2 Programs that don´t run with MagiC64 All programs using their own fast loaders wont run with MagiC64. Border sprites will not be displayed, the sound emulation has problems with complex sound effects. In-Line graphics effects are not displayed correctly. 5.3 No feedback of the emulator ? Maybe you have pressed ENTER. Just press ENTER again and there you go. In national keyboard mode the keyboard sometimes is blocked, in this case press the left Amiga key (this should not be necessary in version 1.1). Maybe you have changed the screen with Amiga M and have clicked into another screen. When returning to the C64 screen, once click it, and input will be recognized again. Some games require the joystick in the other port, you can change the joystick port in the "JOYSTICK" menue. In any case it should be possible to leave the C64 mode by pressing ESC, if not this would be an error in the emulator. 5.4 Where can I get games ? Ftp to ftp.ac-copy.com. In the directory pub/amiga you will find a file c64progs.lha which contains about 100 games in P00 format. All games were tested on MagiC64 and should run without any problems. You should read the newsgroup comp.emulations.cbm for further sources of C64 programs and games. VI Greetings and Thanks Thanks to: Jochen Wiedmann for Flexcat. Helmut Neumann for Beta-Testing. My sister Katja for help with the translation of the docs. My brother Markus who supported this product at any time :-) Greetings to: Amiga Technologies for re-releasing the AMIGA and offering this hightec product at unbelievable low prices. Sure everybody wants to spend $3000 for emulating a C64 =:-(