Virtual Super System Tutorial

by Tim Warner (timandsusan@comcast.net)

Part Two: Installing and Configuring Virtual Super System/Regal Beagle 2000

Introduction

This tutorial will get you up and running in no time flat, playing Atari 5200 Super System games on your Microsoft Windows-based computer by using Dan Boris' Virtual Super System emulator and Todd Lawrence's Regal Beagle 2000 front-end application.

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Part One: Obtaining the Necessary Files

To play Atari 5200 games on your PC, you'll need the following files:

Virtual Super System (VSS80.ZIP): As of this writing, the most recent version of Virtual Super System is 0.80.
Regal Beagle 2000 (RB2000.ZIP): This is a Windows-based front-end to accompany Virtual Super System, which is an MS-DOS program.
Atari 5200 BIOS ROM (5200.BIN): This file is required to run the emulator.
Atari 5200 Game ROMs: Atari 5200 game ROMs have the extension .BIN.

Here is a link to the official Virtual Super System home page:

http://atarihq.com/danb/a5200.shtml#emulator

I found a link to Regal Beagle 2000 at the following Web site:

http://www.atarihq.com/5200/

I found the Atari 5200 BIOS ROM and game ROMs at the following Web site:

http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libarary's/Emulation/Atari5200/Bin_Roms/Bin_roms_summary.htm

You should first use WinZip (www.winzip.com) or another ZIP file-management utility to unpack all of your files. Next, you should create a folder on your hard drive for your emulator (call it VSS, perhaps). In your VSS folder, create a folder named ROMs and place your game ROMs inside. Don't run the Setup.exe program for Regal Beagle 2000 yet. At this point your VSS folder should look like the following:

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Part Two: Installing and Configuring Virtual Super System/Regal Beagle 2000

Navigate to the folder that contains your Regal Beagle 2000 installation files and start Setup.exe.

In the first screen of the Regal Beagle 2000 beta1 Setup dialog, press OK to continue.

This is important: in the second screen of the Regal Beagle 2000 beta1 Setup dialog box, make sure you click Change Directory. You need to ensure that you install Regal Beagle 2000 into the same directory as your Virtual Super System files.

In the Change Directory dialog box, browse to the location of your Virtual Super System files and click OK.

Press Continue to...er, continue. :)

To start Regal Beagle 2000, click Start => Programs => Regal Beagle 2000 beta1 => Regal Beagle 2000 beta1.

In the Search portion of the Regal Beagle dialog box, select a the drive that contains your game ROMs from the Choose a Drive drop-down list box. Next, select the ROMs folder from the Folders: list box. You should see your Atari 5200 ROMs in the Choose a BIN or A78 file list box.

I have found that the games run much too quickly on my 2.4 GHz computer. If you own a fast computer, then you should select the Speed Limiter radio button in the Display portion of the Regal Beagle dialog box.

In the Control portion of the Regal Beagle dialog box, select a control type. For simplicity's sake, you might just want to select Keyboard for this option.

Make sure you save your settings! Click Settings => Save to save your Regal Beagle settings.

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Part Three: Playing Atari 5200 Games

To play an Atari 5200 game ROM, open Regal Beagle and double-click a game ROM in the Choose a BIN or A78 file list box. The following dialog box appears: