MiSTer 2.1: Amstrad CPC

This is a quick guide on how to simulate the Amstrad CPC on the MiSTer platform.

The Amstrad CPC core on the MiSTer is just a joy to use. It’s simple, the timing is spot on, as you’d expect (remember, this is platform simulation, not emulation!), and as with other platforms, the audio benefits greatly from being able to use modern speakers. Displaying native low-res screenmodes on a modern HD screen brings it’s own plusses and minuses, but on the whole it’s a wonderful experience.

In terms of support, it can currently handle .dsk disk images and .cdt tape images. It cannot yet handle .cpr cartridge images.

Setup

Setting up the Amstrad on the MiSTer is one of the simpler tasks. After carrying out the system setup update outlined in previous posts, almost everything you need is already there. You will, however, need Amstrad firmware and games.

If you navigate to https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Amstrad_MiSTer/tree/master/releases, you’ll find the firmware:

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Grab the amstrad.rom file and either download it to your PC or direct to your \\mister share. You want it to end up in \\mister\fat\games\Amstrad and also renamed from amstrad.rom to boot.rom

This is also the same directory you want to dump your Amstrad games into

At this point, as far as setup goes, you are pretty much done! You now have a working Amstrad ready to go. Go over to your MiSTer and grab your controller or keyboard.

Configuration

Once switched on, navigate to the Amstrad menu entry and select it

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Press F12, or your favourite remapped joypad button, and bring up the menu for this system. The menu is very self-explanatory, and other than a small graphical change from the defaults, I have not changed a thing.

Select Mount, or Load depending on if you are going to run a disk or tape image, and a list based on the contents of the games\Amstrad directory will be displayed:

Note that the boot.rom file does not appear, and neither do the cartridge image (.cpr) files I dropped in as a test. Selecting an image will mount it in the system.

Note that at this point you can also simulate an expanded Amstrad, so should you wish to have a CPC6128 with internal disk, external disk, and an external tape drive, that is perfectly configurable; just rack up all the disk and tape mount options with whatever you like.

Once you have mounted your image you’ll be returned to the prompt. Type CAT or |DIR to list the contents of the disk, in this case:

As can be seen above, there is an obvious ‘executable’. In this case it has no three letter filetype, but is probably a small .BAS file of some sort. Most of the time, both on a real CPC and here, simply typing run” or run”disc will run the program. In this case for just this game for whatever reason neither worked for me, so as a backup you can also type run”<filename> and the program should start.

If you have also mounted a tape, you can select the tape drive using |tape. That first | is a command bar like you would normally find using Shift+\ in Windows or Linux. In this case, the Amstrad keyboard also seems to be simulated to some degree, but instead of the original Shift+@ you will need Ctrl+[. So you will be typing:

Ctrl+[ TAPE

and similarly |disc to switch back.

For those of you who used, or maybe still use, the original hardware, Ctrl+Shift+Esc also still works for reset, and was a surprisingly instantaneous retro trip when I tried it and it worked!

So your game should be loading at this point:

A quick note about graphics. There are a few CRT emulation modes that introduce artificial black lines to simulate something like an old style CTM664. But for my money, they were either still too harsh and defined to make it feel like the original for me, or the higher CRT levels were too dark and increasingly further away from the the original screen. Overall, I preferred the HQ2x mode:

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The jaggy edges are a little softened, and while it might not look completely true to the original, it felt the most like it. The options can be found in the F12 menu.

So that’s about it. There are other options, such as expansion ROMs that I’ve not seen a reason to play with yet. Should I do, I will write an addendum here. But to play games, that really is all you need, and also about all you need to relive your glory-days in BASIC