What you need to get started

What you need to play games in Nostalgia:

The Intellivision executive ROM image, and the Graphics ROM image.  These are normally named exec.bin and grom.bin, or exec.int and grom.int.  They need to be placed in the same folder Nostalgia was installed to in order for the game to run.

Game cartridge roms.  These can be in either binary or Intellicart ROM format.  They must be put in the roms folder specified in the game options.  See the cartridge roms folder help item for more information on this.

Optional to use extra features of Nostalgia:

The Entertainment Computer System ROM.  Normally named ecs.bin.  This is needs to be in the same folder as Nostalgia to enable the ECS features.

Box and overlay image files.  If you have images of Intellivision boxes and overlays, these can be displayed within Nostalgia.  See the image folder help item for more information on this one.


In Game Keyboard Shortcuts

Once the host player presses play, both players will be brought to the load cartridge screen.  Here, the host will select which game both players will play.  They can discuss this by opening a chat window with <F1>.

Once a game has been decided upon, the host player runs the game and the game will start on both players' machines.

Both players must have the same version of the games to play, and must use the same ECS and Intellivoice options, otherwise the connection will not work, or the games will go out of sync.


Introduction

Thanks for downloading...

Nostalgia, an Intellivision Emulator.

version 3.2

Check for the latest updates at:

http://www.gotmaille.com/nostalgia/

If you need any help that this file cannot priovide, if you would like to request a feature, report a bug, or just say hello, feel free to email me at:

joefish75@hotmail.com


The Images Folder

Nostalgia comes with 10 box and overlay images thanks to Steve Orth of the IntvFunhouse (http://intvfunhouse.com).  If you're looking for more images, surf by Steve's website.

To use your own images with Nostalgia, the game you are adding images for must be in Nostalgia's database.  See the "add game to database" help section for how to do this.

You add your image by putting it in the images folder and making it the same name as the game.  You will find the name of the game in games.cfg, if you want to cut and paste it.  An overlay image has the same name with "_overlay" at the end.  The files can be in BMP, GIF or JPG format, and will be scaled to fit.  Some examples:

Tron Deadly Discs.jpg

Tron Deadly Discs_overlay.jpg

Lock 'n' Chase.gif

Lock 'n' Chase_overlay.bmp


The Roms Folder

The roms folder contains all of your game cartridge images, as well as the config files required for some binary files to run.

These images must be either in Intellicart ROM format or in binary (.bin, .int) format.

If a game is in Nostalgia's database, or is in ROM format, it does not require a config (.cfg) file to run.  ROM files contain configuration information inside them, and as such need no config files.

If a binary game is not in the database, and there is no configuration file, Nostalgia will not know how to load the file into its memory.


Main Menu

This is Nostalgia's main menu.  Click on any of the selections for more information about it.

1. Load Cartridge

2. Game Options

3. Game Controls

4. Network

5. Quit


Load Cart Menu

1. Load Cartridge

The box on the left lists all of the valid games Nostalgia found in your roms folder.  If this box is blank, check out your game options to make sure you have selected the folder that contains your rom images.

Press the first letter of a game to jump to that section.  You can use arrows, page up, page down, and the mouse to navigate.  Click twice on a selection, press ENTER, or click in the image box to run the game.

On the right is the box that displays the game's box and overlay images, if they exist.  See the images folder section for more info on this.

At the bottom of the screen you may go back to the main menu, edit the options for ECS and Intellivoice emulation, and add / update the game's entry in Nostalgia's database.  Click the item you want more information about.


Game Options Menus

2. Game Options

Screen Size:

This is the resolution of the screen the game will displayed in.  It will be run full screen, but the higher the resolution you enable, the smaller the viewing screen will be.  For full screen Intellivision enjoyment, I recommend 320x200.

Cartridge ROM Path:

This is the folder in which your cartridge images are stored.  You can use the default roms folder and copy your roms in, or you can click Change... and navigate to where your roms are stored.  See the cartridge roms folder help item for more information on cartridge rom formats.

Box and Overlay Image Path:

This is the folder in which your box and overlay images are stored.  You can use the default image folder and copy your images in, or you can click Change... and navigate to where your imagess are stored.  See the image folder help item for more information on box and overlay images.


Network Menu Options

4. Network Game

These are the dialogs you will be presented with, in the order they appear:

This is the name that other players will see in the chat window.  Type the name you want to use and click Next.

This is where you will either create a game by clicking the Create button at the bottom of the screen, or join a game in progress.  To do this, enter the IP address of the person who has created a game in the box next to the Search button, then click the Search button.  You may then click on the game you want and click the Join button at the bottom of the screen.

This is the chat dialog.  You may chat with the other player in the game, and the host player may launch the game by pressing the Play button at the bottom of the screen.  This is also the dialog that pops up when <F1> is pressed while in the load cart screen.

What do I do once the host has pressed Play?


Quit

5. Quit

This will exit from Nostalgia and return you to Windows.


Controller Options Menus

3. Game Controls

This is where you can edit the control options for either the keyboard or joystick.

When you choose the keyboard or joystick, you will be presented with a screen that has pictures of the hand controllers on it.

Simply click on the control you'd like to change, click Change, then press the key you want to use for that control.

If you are editing joystick options, you can click the disc of the hand controller to select the input device you would like to use for that controller.


Add / Update Game Database Entry

The add / edit database window which is accessed from the Load Cartridge screen:

Name: The name that will be displayed in the cartridge name box on the left of the load cartridge screen.

Author: The author of the game.  Stored in the games.cfg database file for reference.

Date: The date the game was created.  Stored in the games.cfg for reference.


Finding, joining, creating a game

The two players who want to play together must first decide who will be the host and who will join the created game using ICQ, a phone, etc.

The host player (the person who will create a game) must give the other player his or her IP address so the player can connect to the game.

Once Nostalgia has been started, select the 4. Network Game option from the main menu.  Look at the network menu  help section to find out how to create or join a game.


Keyboard Shortcuts

Single play:

In the menu system:

<1...5>	Select any numbered menu

<F12>	Quit Nostalgia

At the load cartridge screen:

<a...z>	Jump to the first / next cartridge that starts with that letter

<ENTER>	Run the currently selected cartridge

In a game:

<ESC>	Quit game and return to menu

<+>	Increase frame skip by one frame

<->	Decrease frame skip by one frame

<F5>	Quick save game

<F7>	Quick load game

<F9>	Pause game

<F10>	Start/stop Sound Capture (saved as capture.wav)

<F11>	Reset game

<F12>	Screenshot (saved as display.ppm)

Network play:

In the menu system:

<F1>	Bring up / close chat dialog

<F12>	Quit Nostalgia

At the load cartridge screen:

<a...z>	Jump to the first / next cartridge that starts with that letter

<ENTER>	Run the currently selected cartridge

In a game:

<ESC>	Quit game and return to menu

<+>	Increase frame skip by one frame

<->	Decrease frame skip by one frame


Game Preferences

When you run Nostalgia for the first time, the default values for its setup parameters are loaded.  You may want to select different parameters.

These options are changed in the game options menu section.  This section is accessed from the main menu.

The default screen size is

320x200

The default cartridge rom path is

\Nostalgia\roms\

The default box and overlay image path is

\Nostalgia\images\


ECS and Intellivoice Options

ECS and Intellivoice Options Dialog

ECS

This option enables or disables the Entertainment Computer System.  It requires that the ECS rom is in the same folder as Nostalgia.  This option will be disabled if the rom file is not present, and a message will be displayed.

The three selections below it determine the type of add-on connected.  Currently, only the keyboards are supported, and there's no provision for changing the keymapping of the music keybaord.  Yet.

Intellivoice

Once I program Intellivoice support into Nostalgia, this is where you will turn it on or off.  It will also require the Intellivoice rom image in Nostalgia's directory.


Command Line Options
Command line options for Nostalgia:

You may specify the screen resolution, whether or not to use ECS, and the game to run on the command line.  If you specify a game on the command line, Nostalgia will skip the menu system and immediately run the game.

Valid Options:

-320 or /320	: Run in 320x200 resolution

-640 or /640	: Run in 640x480 resolution

-800 or /800	: Run in 800x600 resolution

-1024 or /1024	: Run in 1024x768 resolution

-ECS or /ECS	: Use the ECS if available

-NOECS or /NOECS: Do not use the ECS even if available

  The game file you specify MUST be the LAST thing on the command line.  It may be inside double quotes, "", but does not need to be, even if it has spaces in it.

These are all valid command lines:

Nostalgia -320 -ecs c:\my games\inty\world series baseball.bin

Nostalgia /NOecs /1024 "C:\emus\roms\snafu.rom"

Nostalgia c:\program files\games\my roms\atlantis.bin

Nostalgia "c:\program files\games\my roms\atlantis.bin"

Nostalgia c:\progra~1\games\my~1\atlantis.bin

These are NOT VALID:

Nostalgia c:\games\snafu.bin -640

Nostalgia "c:\my games\atlantis.bin" -noecs