VICE LIBRETRO

Port of VICE, the Versatile Commodore Emulator 3.8

Source base: https://sourceforge.net/projects/vice-emu/files/releases/vice-3.8.tar.gz

Supported platforms: Linux, Windows, Apple, Android, emscripten, Switch, Vita

Default controls

RetroPad button	Action
D-Pad	Joystick
Left Analog	Mouse/paddles
B	Fire button 1 / Handle
A	Fire button 2 / Base
X	Space
L2	Escape (RUN/STOP)
R2	Enter (RETURN)
Select (Short)	Toggle virtual keyboard
Select (Long)	Toggle statusbar
Select (Hold)	Fast-Forward

Keyboard key	Action
F12	Toggle statusbar
RControl	Switch between joyports
End	Reset

Virtual keyboard controls

Button	Action
B / Enter	Keypress
A	Toggle transparency
Y (Short)	Toggle ShiftLock
Y (Long)	Quick map button
Y (Very long)	Quick clear button
X	Press Space
Start	Press Return

Long press for sticky keys. Stickying the third key will replace the second.

Joyport control

Older C64 games tend to use joystick port 1 and newer ones tend to use port 2 for player 1. There are several ways to switch ports in this core:

• Use the core option: Quick Menu > Core Options > RetroPad Port
• Bring up the virtual keyboard with Select button, and press the key labeled JOYP
• Press the default keyboard shortcut Right Control
• Assign Switch Joyport to any RetroPad button under Quick Menu > Core Options
• Rename the game, eg. Bruce_Lee_j1.tap or Bruce_Lee_(j1).tap for port 1, and similarly Bruce_Lee_j2.tap or Bruce_Lee_(j2).tap for port 2
• Add -j1 or -j2 parameters in custom command line .cmd

M3U support and disk control

When you have a multi disk game, you can use a M3U playlist file to be able to change disks via RetroArch "Disc Control" interface.

A M3U file is a simple text file with one disk per line (Wikipedia).

Example:

Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems).m3u

Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 1 of 3 Side A)(Game).d64
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 1 of 3 Side B)(Surface).d64
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 2 of 3 Side A)(Dungeon).d64
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 2 of 3 Side B)(Populace A).d64
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 3 of 3 Side A)(Populace B).d64
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 3 of 3 Side B)(Populace C).d64

Path can be absolute or relative to the location of the M3U file.

When the game asks for it, you can change the current disk in the RetroArch "Disc Control" menu:

• Eject the current disk with "Eject Disc"
• Select the right disk index with "Current Disc Index"
• Insert the new disk with "Insert Disc"

By default, RetroArch will display the filename (without extension) of each M3U entry when selecting a disk via the Current Disc Index drop-down menu. Custom display labels may be set for each disk using the syntax: DISK_FILE|DISK_LABEL. For example, the following M3U file:

Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems).m3u

Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 1 of 3 Side A)(Game).d64|Game
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 1 of 3 Side B)(Surface).d64|Surface
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 2 of 3 Side A)(Dungeon).d64|Dungeon
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 2 of 3 Side B)(Populace A).d64|Populace A
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 3 of 3 Side A)(Populace B).d64|Populace B
Ultima VI - The False Prophet (1990)(Origin Systems)(Disk 3 of 3 Side B)(Populace C).d64|Populace C

...will be shown in RetroArch's disk selection menu as:

1: Game
2: Surface
3: Dungeon
4: Populace A
5: Populace B
6: Populace C

If DISK_LABEL is intentionally left blank (i.e. DISK_FILE|) then only the disk index will be displayed.

For games that require a dedicated save disk, one may be generated automatically by entering the following line in an M3U file: #SAVEDISK:VolumeName. VolumeName is optional and may be omitted. For example, this will create a blank, unlabelled disk image at disk index 5:

Elite (1985)(Firebird Software).m3u

Elite (1985)(Firebird Software).d64
#SAVEDISK:

Although one save disk is normally sufficient, an arbitrary number of #SAVEDISK:VolumeName lines may be included. Save disks are located in the frontend's save directory, with the following name: [M3U_FILE_NAME].save[DISK_INDEX].d64.

Save disks generated by the #SAVEDISK: keyword are automatically assigned the label: Save Disk [SAVE_DISK_INDEX].

Extra features

• #COMMAND:<commands>
  • Pass arguments to VICE (place first, core name can be skipped)
• #SAVEDISK:<label>
  • Create a save disk in saves
• #LABEL:<label>
  • Alternative label for the next entry
• <disk>.d64:<prg>
  • Load a program instead of "*"
• <disk>.d64|<label>
  • Set a friendly name (shown in "Disc Control")
• <disks>.zip#<disk>.d64
  • Specify a disk inside a ZIP with multiple disks (not needed with single file ZIPs)

M3U playlist supports disks, tapes, cartridges and programs.

ZIP support

ZIPs are extracted to a temporary directory in saves, bypassing the default frontend extraction. The temporary directory is emptied but not removed on exit. ZIP is not repacked, which means saves and highscores are lost.

This allows:

• Automatic M3U playlist generation of all files
• The use of zipped images in M3Us

JiffyDOS support

External ROM files required in system/vice:

Filename	Size	MD5
JiffyDOS_C64.bin	8 192	be09394f0576cf81fa8bacf634daf9a2
JiffyDOS_SX-64.bin	8 192	f0d3aa7c5a81d1e1d3e8eeda84e9dbbe
JiffyDOS_C128.bin	16 384	cbbd1bbcb5e4fd8046b6030ab71fc021
JiffyDOS_1541-II.bin	16 384	1b1e985ea5325a1f46eb7fd9681707bf
JiffyDOS_1571_repl310654.bin	32 768	41c6cc528e9515ffd0ed9b180f8467c0
JiffyDOS_1581.bin	32 768	20b6885c6dc2d42c38754a365b043d71

Custom vicerc

Custom configs can be used globally and per-content for accessing VICE options that do not exist as core options.

Config files are processed first found in this order:

1. saves/[content].vicerc
2. saves/vicerc
3. system/vice/vicerc

All available options are dumped in system/vice/vicerc-dump-[corename] for copy-pasteing to actual config.

Options must be after the correct [corename] block, for example x64 fast:

[C64]
GMod2FlashWrite=0

Command file operation

VICE command line options are supported by placing the desired command line in a text file with .cmd file extension. The command line format is as documented in the VICE manual.

Using this you can overcome limitations of the GUI and set advanced configurations required for running problematic files.

VIC-20 Mega-Cart can be launched via .cmd:

xvic -cartmega "/path/to/rom/mega-cart-name.rom"

VIC-20 Mega-Cart is supported automatically with NVRAM file directed to saves.

VIC-20 memory expansion can be set via .cmd: -memory (3k/8k/16k/24k/all) / (0/1/2/3/5) / (04/20/40/60/a0):

xvic -memory 1 "/path/to/rom/some-8k-game.d64"
xvic -memory 8k "/path/to/rom/some-8k-game.d64"
xvic -memory 20 "/path/to/rom/some-8k-game.d64"

VIC-20 memory expansion can be set with filename tags or directory matching:

• some game (8k).prg or some game [8k].prg or /8k/some game.prg
• vicdoom (35k).d64

Latest features

• Automatic Zoom & Auto-Disable Zoom
• Automatic Load Warp
• Paddles in both joyports (4 paddles total)
• Automatic VIC-20 Mega-Cart support (with NVRAM)
• Automatic NIB->G64 conversion
• Region (PAL/NTSC) filepath tags for C64 & VIC-20
• Memory expansion filepath tags for VIC-20
• JiffyDOS support
• Paddles & mouse
• Zoom mode
• Savestates
• Keyrah joystick maps
• Drive Sound Emulation (1541 & 1571 only)
• Reset Type (Autostart, Soft, Hard, Freeze)

Build instructions

Currently working EMUTYPEs:

• x64
• x64dtv
• x64sc
• x128
• xcbm2
• xcbm5x0
• xpet
• xplus4
• xscpu64
• xvic

Remember to run make clean EMUTYPE=x or make objectclean EMUTYPE=x first before make EMUTYPE=x when building different EMUTYPEs.

x64 is the default when EMUTYPE is not defined.

Linux & Windows

make

Win64 (crossbuild)

make platform=wincross64

Android standalone toolchain Build

export path to your standalone toolchain like

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/standtc/bin

make platform=androidstc

Android ndk Build

cd jni
ndk-build

VICE readme

VICE 3.8 Dec 2023

             _______________
            |      ||      ||
            |      ||      ||____________________________
            |      ||      ||    ||         ||          ||
            |      ||      ||    ||    |    ||    ______||
            |      ||      ||    ||    |----||          ||
            |      ||      ||    ||    |    ||    ------||
            |              ||____||_________||__________||
             \            // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              \          //
               \________//   Versatile Commodore 8-bit Emulator

---

We are still looking for dedicated maintainers for the Windows port, if you want to help improving these and/or want to provide binaries, please get in touch.

---

This is version 3.8 of VICE, the multi-platform C64, C128, VIC20, PET, PLUS4 and CBM-II emulator. This version can be compiled for Win32, macOS, Haiku and for most Unix systems provided with the X Window System version 11, R5 or later.

The following programs are included:

• x64sc, a C64 emulator focused on accuracy;

• xscpu64, a C64 emulator with a SuperCPU cart;

• x64dtv, a C64 Direct-to-TV (DTV) emulator;

• x128, a C128 emulator;

• xvic, a VIC20 emulator;

• xpet, a PET emulator;

• xplus4, a PLUS4 emulator;

• xcbm2, a CBM-6x0/7x0 emulator;

• xcbm5x0, a CBM-5x0 emulator;

• vsid, a SID player;

• c1541, a stand-alone disk image maintenance utility;

• petcat, a CBM BASIC de-tokenizer;

• cartconv, a C64/C128 cartridge conversion program.

• x64, the old and less accurate C64 emulator, is no more built by default and only included if explicitly enabled at configure time;

Moreover, the following documents are provided in both source and binary distributions:

• README, this file;

• NEWS, list of user-visible changes between this and older versions of VICE;

• COPYING, the GNU General Public License under which VICE is distributed -- please read it before using the program;

The following documents are provided in the source distribution:

• in the doc directory:

  • vice.texi, the complete documentation; documentation in various different formats may be generated from it (vice.txt, vice.pdf)
  • iec-bus.txt, overview of the VICE IEC bus emulation;
  • CIA-README.txt, overview of the VICE CIA emulation;
  • coding-guidelines.txt, description of VICE coding style
  • Documentation-Howto.txt, information on how to edit the documentation
  • Doxygen-Howto.txt, how to generate doxygen documentation
  • Release-Howto.txt, some hints and reminders on how to create a release tarball (for maintainers) are supported on the various platforms.

• in the doc/readmes directory:

  • Readme-GTK3.txt, GTK3 specific documentation;
  • Readme-SDL.txt, SDL specific documentation;
  • Readme-SDL2.txt, SDL2 specific documentation;

• in the doc/building directory:

  • Android-Howto, how to compile the Android SDL port
  • FreeBSD-GTK3-Howto.txt, hints on compiling the GTK3 port on FreeBSD
  • GTK3-cross-build-setup.md, (incomplete) instructions on how to set up a windows crosscompiler on linux
  • GTK3-debian-frankenvice.md, instructions on how to set up a windows crosscompiler on debian using precompiled fedora mingw packages
  • GTK3-Fedora-cross-build-setup.md, (incomplete) instructions on how to set up a windows crosscompiler on Fedora linux
  • Linux-GTK3-Howto.txt, how to compile the GTK3 port on Linux
  • macOS-Distribution-Howto.txt, how to build the macOS binary distribution
  • macOS-Howto.txt, how to build on macOS (might be deprecated)
  • macOS-Xcode-Howto.txt, how to build the macOS port(s) using Xcode
  • NetBSD-Gtk3-Wowto.txt, hints on compiling for NetBSD with Gtk3
  • NetBSD-howto.txt, hints on compiling for NetBSD
  • SDL-Howto.txt, how to compile the SDL port on various platforms
  • Windows-MinGW-GTK3-Howto.txt, how to compile the Windows port using MingGW/MSYS2

For the latest news, have a look at the VICE home page:

 http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/

Also some information that was previously included in the distribution has been moved into our wiki at sourceforge:

• The TODO list, http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Todo#New_Features

• The list of known BUGS, http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Todo#Known_Issues

New versions are made available usually once per year, so please stay tuned.

You may also check out the automatic nightly builds, which are kindly provided by the pokefinder crew: https://vice.pokefinder.org/

Have fun!

Feedback

It's always nice to receive feedback and/or bugreports about VICE, but please read these few notes before sending mail to anybody in the team.

• Please don't send any HTML mail (we really hate that!). Please make sure you turn off the "rich text" (HTML) feature.

• Please don't send any binaries without asking first.

• Please read the following documents carefully before reporting a bug or a problem you cannot solve:

  • the VICE documentation (you should have received it with the main distribution--if not, tell us); Online version - http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/vice_toc.html

  • the VICE wiki at http://vice-emu.pokefinder.org/

• Before reporting a bug, please try a recent nightly build and check if your issue is already fixed. You can fine nightly builds for windows here: <SF-uploads via Travis-CI?>

• When you report a bug, please try to be as accurate as possible and describe how it can be reproduced to the very detail. You should also tell us what machine you are running on, what operating system you are using as well as the version of Vice.

• Please don't ask us how to transfer original C64 disk or tapes to your PC. To transfer disks, you can use the Star Commander (http://sta.c64.org/sc.html).

• Please don't ask us where to find games for the emulator on the Internet.

• Please don't ask us when the next version will be out, because we really don't know. We are trying to make at least one release per year, around christmas.

• Please write in English.

In any case, we would be really glad to receive your comments about VICE.

The central place for bug reports is the bug tracker at sourceforge: https://sourceforge.net/p/vice-emu/bugs/

At sourceforge you can also submit feature requests: https://sourceforge.net/p/vice-emu/feature-requests/

The email address for feedback is: [email protected]

Thanks!

Copyright notice

VICE, the Versatile Commodore Emulator

Core Team Members:
1999-2023 Pottendo
2005-2023 Marco van den Heuvel
2007-2023 Fabrizio Gennari
2009-2023 Groepaz
2009-2023 Errol Smith
2009-2023 Ingo Korb
2010-2023 Olaf Seibert
2011-2023 Marcus Sutton
2011-2023 Kajtar Zsolt
2016-2023 AreaScout
2016-2023 Bas Wassink
2017-2023 Michael C. Martin
2018-2023 Christopher Phillips
2019-2023 David Hogan
2020-2023 Empathic Qubit
2020-2023 Roberto Muscedere
2021-2023 June Tate-Gans
2021-2023 Pablo Roldan

Inactive/Ex Team Members:
2011-2016 Stefan Haubenthal
2015-2016 BSzili
1999-2016 Andreas Matthies
2007-2015 Daniel Kahlin
2012-2014 Benjamin 'BeRo' Rosseaux
2011-2014 Ulrich Schulz
2011-2014 Thomas Giesel
2008-2014 Antti S. Lankila
2006-2014 Christian Vogelgsang
1998-2014 Dag Lem
2000-2011 Spiro Trikaliotis
2007-2011 Hannu Nuotio
1998-2010 Andreas Boose
1998-2010 Tibor Biczo
2007-2010 M. Kiesel
1999-2007 Andreas Dehmel
2003-2005 David Hansel
2000-2004 Markus Brenner
1999-2004 Thomas Bretz
1997-2001 Daniel Sladic
1996-2001 Andre Fachat
1996-1999 Ettore Perazzoli
1993-1994, 1997-1999 Teemu Rantanen
1993-1996 Jouko Valta
1993-1994 Jarkko Sonninen

Translation Team Members:
2009-2017 Mikkel Holm Olsen
2000-2017 Pottendo
2011-2017 Manuel Antonio Rodriguez Bas
2004-2017 Paul Dube
2006-2017 Czirkos Zoltan
2006-2017 Karai Csaba
2001-2017 Andrea Musuruane
2011-2016 Jesse Lee
2005-2017 Marco van den Heuvel
2011-2017 Jarek Sobolewski
2010-2017 Michael Litvinov
2000-2017 Peter Krefting
2008-2017 Emir Akaydin

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

The ROM files in the 'C128', 'C64', 'CBM-II', 'DRIVES', 'PET', 'PLUS4' 'PRINTER' and 'VIC20' directories are Copyright C by Commodore Business Machines.

The ROM files in the 'C64DTV' directory are Copyright C by Commodore Business Machines, as well as Mammoth Toys, a division of nsi ltd., Digital Concepts DC studios inc., Ironstone Partners ltd., and Toy:Lobster company ltd.

NIBTOOLS

(C) 2005 Pete Rittwage and the C64 Preservation Project team

It is based on MNIB which is copyrighted (C) 2000 Markus Brenner