How do I get started playing all these great Intellivision games?
Everything you need to get started is now packaged with Nostalgia with the exception of DirectX 9.0 (See the FAQ answer listed here.). It comes with a package of homebrew games from talented designers like Arnauld Chevallier, Joe Zbiciak and Ryan Kinnen. If you want to play the games you remember from your childhood, you'll need the proper EXEC binary. See the FAQ answer listed here. Additionally, if you want to play ECS or Intellivoice games, you will need the ECS and Intellivoice binaries, usually named ecs.bin and ivoice.bin.
What are the default key mappings?
If you go to the Tools->Controller Config menu item, you can see the current key mapping. You can always press <F1> in a game to see what the game keys are mapped to.
Why do I only see a black screen / title screen when I run my game?
Like any Intellivision emulator, Nostalgia needs the exec.bin and grom.bin files to run. These files are copyrighted, and hence NOT legally distributable. Included with Nostalgia are Joe Zbiciak's distributable versions of the exec and grom files, known as MiniExec and MiniGrom. These files allow you to play the games that come with Nostalgia. They do not work with most of the original games. You will need to obtain the original exec.bin and grom.bin files to play these games. Please do not ask me to provide you with them, as I am legally unable to.
Why do I get a meessage that says "This application has failed to start because d3dx9_32.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem"?
This is due to the fact that Microsoft decided not to package part of its DirectX SDK with the normal distribution.
You will need to download the latest update to fix the problem.
The April 2007 update is available here:
Microsoft Downloads
How do I switch between windowed and fullscreen?
Press the ALT + ENTER keys together.
You can search the Internet to find Intellivision games. Please note, due to copyright issues, it is only legal for you to have images of games you actually own.
For great legal games, check out these very talented Intellivision programmers:
Arnauld Chevallier: <a_chevallier@yahoo.com> http://knox.ac.free.fr/frameset_inty_en.htm http://intyos.free.fr
Ryan Kinnen: <ryan@pixelkitchen.com> http://www.pixelkitchen.com/ryan/intellivision.html
Joseph Zbiciak: <im14u2c@globalcrossing.net> http://sdk-1600.spatula-city.org/
How do I set the Box and Overlay images for games?
Box and Overlay images must be put in the Images folder. You can change the location of the Images folder in Nostalgia's settings.
By default, a game's Box image is the same name as the game, with either a .bmp, .jpg or .gif extension. The overlay image is the same, but with _overlay added to the end.
For the game Tron Deadly Discs, the box and overlay images would be:
Tron Deadly Discs.jpg
Tron Deadly Discs_overlay.jpg
These can be individually changed from the Game Setup tab. Image packs are available for download at:
What command line parameters are available?
All switches can use either - or / before them, and switches are NOT case sensitive.
Any filenames or paths that contain spaces must be contained in 'single' or "double" quotes.
-w:WxH : Run windowed at WxH pixels. Eg. -w:320x240, /w:640x480, etc.
-f : Run fullscreen - will override any resolution setting
-ECS : Use the ECS
-NOECS : Do not use the ECS even if available
-IVOICE : Use the Intellivoice
-NOIVOICE : Do not use the Intellivoice, even if available
-c:file.txt or
-c:"some file.txt" : Specify a file for controller options.
-m : Go immediately to Multiplayer mode (Kaillera play)
Note: cartridge name will be ignored if specified.
-p:pal.bmp or
-p:"some pal.bmp" : Specify a new palette to use (temporarily disabled)
The last thing on a command line that is not one of the above switches is interpreted as a cartridge name. For example:
Nostalgia -w:320x200 -ecs /NOIVOICE "c:\my games\inty\world series baseball.bin"
Would load Nostalgia, enable the ECS, disable the Intellivoice and run World Series Baseball in a 320x200 window.