Recommended Atari Emulators?

MethodGit · 22 October 2009, 03:12

No, you're not seeing things!

While it's pretty easy to know which to plump for in regards to Amiga emulation, I've been troubled by what I feel to be one fault too many in many of the oft-bigged-up ST emulators such as STeem and SainT.

I mean STeem...... while it clearly does a lot of good things indeed, I really, really detest the way it forces new file associations on you without a choice, and while it offers a "remove file associations" option, it's always greyed out! Hence I have to adjust my registry everytime I've finished with the program. Not cool.
That, and it appears to be four/five years since the last update, with no more on the horizon.

SainT - Clearly aimed at authenticating the original experience as much as possible, it's a shame it's so grossly limited still (no hard disk support etc).

Hatari - Not very user-friendly at all (to me at least). And it seems a bit more buggy somehow.

So yeah....... where is the Atari community's answer to Toni Wilen when they need one?

Galahad/FLT · 22 October 2009, 04:38

STEEM, no question.

22 October 2009, 07:28

STEEM too.. although WinSTon was also a good emulator in it's day..

StingRay · 22 October 2009, 09:14

STeem for me too. SainT isn't bad either though, specially when you're interested in ST demos it sometimes is the better choice.

musashi5150 · 22 October 2009, 09:37

I love Steem too and if you get the debug version it has a nice monitor etc as well

StingRay · 22 October 2009, 09:38

Oh yes, STeem's 'Boiler room' rocks!

alexh · 22 October 2009, 11:27

Hatari is the only one actively developed. If you find a bug and can write a proper bug report the two devs can usually identify the issue and get the fix into the next release.

Galahad/FLT · 22 October 2009, 13:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by StingRay

Oh yes, STeem's 'Boiler room' rocks!

Yeah I use that too, not as complicated as it looks.

Makes cracking ST copy protection rather easy!

Kitty · 22 October 2009, 15:38

I use winston for st emulation, seems to work just fine for disk games, never tried hd emulation though, may have a look at other options now, thanks for jogging my memory

shame there isnt an amiga port of super sprint thats mainly what I use winston for!

musashi5150 · 22 October 2009, 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitty

shame there isnt an amiga port of super sprint

Indeed

Adropac2 · 22 October 2009, 16:35

I like how Steem is set out visually and it brings the whole expeience of playing a better one - some emulators feel very cold with little thought to how the various options are presented, and in this respect Steem, goes out of it's way it seems

Mind you i'm going by what is no doubt an older version so maybe it's a little different now

Winston or Stew now isn't it? has less compatiblity i found but who knows?

MethodGit · 22 October 2009, 16:46

STew is basically a fork of WinSTon but apart from that I'm not sure what's different about it. It's about as old as the original though.

And as I thought, STeem is the one everyone recommends - it's just a shame about that evil registry association problem!

alexh · 22 October 2009, 17:52

Hatari is the successor of WinSTon.

MethodGit · 22 October 2009, 18:21

Shame it didn't adopt its GUI then!

I have mixed feelings about Hatari I guess - I tried to get Pinball Dreams (Falcon) running on it one time, but it was too buggy. :-P

Ian · 22 October 2009, 20:26

I guess if you really cannot put up with STEem's file assosiations (although I cannot see what the problem is as it only does it for ST file types) then SainT is the one I would reccomend although they should really work on the file selection bit as it's clunky and takes ages to open huge TOSEC directories then has to do the same every time you change disk as it treats zips as folders.

Gibbersan · 22 October 2009, 21:07

I tend to prefer STeem, but it's a shame there's no more development for it. Also keep SainT up-to-date as well.

alexh · 23 October 2009, 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by MethodGit

Shame it didn't adopt its GUI then!

How could it? The GUI was written for Windows using Microsoft Foundation or something like that! The hatari coder had to write a multi-platform GUI starting from scratch. As with all linux coders the gui took a back seat. It is certainly not it's strongest point but it isn't terrible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MethodGit

I tried to get Pinball Dreams (Falcon) running on it one time, but it was too buggy. :-P

It's not really a falcon emulator (yet), just a WIP demo. Certainly better than nothing.

Qube · 23 October 2009, 21:33

Steem Debug - good fun for making up your own hacks and cheats on the fly. Wonder when/if another Steem update will be released tho..

SainT - good also, some demos may need this one too. Arnaud keeps this one up to date.

Hatari - promising indeed and should be good for porting about the place.

All fun

prowler · 23 October 2009, 23:18

No one's mentioned ARAnyM yet!

Benighted · 26 October 2009, 13:28

*Slightly OT*
Did a quick Google. Steem and Hatari seem to only emulate ST(E) systems. Is there a good common emu for the Atari 8 bit systems like the 2600, 800, 7800, XE/XL? Or do you have to use seperate emulators for the different systems, like Stella?
Have any1 used a Jaguar emulator with success?
*/Slightly OT*

22 October 2009, 03:12	#1
MethodGit Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: The Streets Age: 40 Posts: 2,731	Recommended Atari Emulators? No, you're not seeing things! While it's pretty easy to know which to plump for in regards to Amiga emulation, I've been troubled by what I feel to be one fault too many in many of the oft-bigged-up ST emulators such as STeem and SainT. I mean STeem...... while it clearly does a lot of good things indeed, I really, really detest the way it forces new file associations on you without a choice, and while it offers a "remove file associations" option, it's always greyed out! Hence I have to adjust my registry everytime I've finished with the program. Not cool. That, and it appears to be four/five years since the last update, with no more on the horizon. SainT - Clearly aimed at authenticating the original experience as much as possible, it's a shame it's so grossly limited still (no hard disk support etc). Hatari - Not very user-friendly at all (to me at least). And it seems a bit more buggy somehow. So yeah....... where is the Atari community's answer to Toni Wilen when they need one?

22 October 2009, 20:26	#15
Ian Global Moderator Join Date: May 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 46 Posts: 2,299	I guess if you really cannot put up with STEem's file assosiations (although I cannot see what the problem is as it only does it for ST file types) then SainT is the one I would reccomend although they should really work on the file selection bit as it's clunky and takes ages to open huge TOSEC directories then has to do the same every time you change disk as it treats zips as folders. Last edited by Ian; 22 October 2009 at 21:25.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Atari ST emulators for Amiga	commie1974	request.Apps	200	22 August 2023 19:16
Love Emulators? - Dgen & Hatari emulators	Paul	News	18	14 January 2023 20:56
8bit Atari emulators (winXP/AmigaOS)	ppill	Nostalgia & memories	30	01 September 2018 22:26
Atari ST HardWare emulators	Retro1234	support.Hardware	75	07 December 2017 16:50
Atari ST game collections, menu disks and C64 emulators	Bloodwych	Retrogaming General Discussion	44	24 February 2013 00:11

22 October 2009, 04:38	#2
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 9,016	STEEM, no question.

22 October 2009, 07:28	#3
zeropolis79 Posts: n/a	STEEM too.. although WinSTon was also a good emulator in it's day..

22 October 2009, 09:14	#4
StingRay move.l #$c0ff33,throat Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Berlin/Joymoney Posts: 6,863	STeem for me too. SainT isn't bad either though, specially when you're interested in ST demos it sometimes is the better choice.

22 October 2009, 09:37	#5
musashi5150 move.w #$4489,$dff07e Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Norfolk, UK Age: 42 Posts: 2,351	I love Steem too and if you get the debug version it has a nice monitor etc as well

22 October 2009, 09:38	#6
StingRay move.l #$c0ff33,throat Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Berlin/Joymoney Posts: 6,863	Oh yes, STeem's 'Boiler room' rocks!

22 October 2009, 11:27	#7
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,461	Hatari is the only one actively developed. If you find a bug and can write a proper bug report the two devs can usually identify the issue and get the fix into the next release.

22 October 2009, 15:38	#9
Kitty Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: London UK Posts: 1,532	I use winston for st emulation, seems to work just fine for disk games, never tried hd emulation though, may have a look at other options now, thanks for jogging my memory shame there isnt an amiga port of super sprint thats mainly what I use winston for!

22 October 2009, 16:35	#11
Adropac2 Zone Friend Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kent Age: 51 Posts: 1,079	I like how Steem is set out visually and it brings the whole expeience of playing a better one - some emulators feel very cold with little thought to how the various options are presented, and in this respect Steem, goes out of it's way it seems Mind you i'm going by what is no doubt an older version so maybe it's a little different now Winston or Stew now isn't it? has less compatiblity i found but who knows?

22 October 2009, 16:46	#12
MethodGit Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: The Streets Age: 40 Posts: 2,731	STew is basically a fork of WinSTon but apart from that I'm not sure what's different about it. It's about as old as the original though. And as I thought, STeem is the one everyone recommends - it's just a shame about that evil registry association problem!

22 October 2009, 17:52	#13
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,461	Hatari is the successor of WinSTon.

22 October 2009, 18:21	#14
MethodGit Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: The Streets Age: 40 Posts: 2,731	Shame it didn't adopt its GUI then! I have mixed feelings about Hatari I guess - I tried to get Pinball Dreams (Falcon) running on it one time, but it was too buggy. :-P

22 October 2009, 21:07	#16
Gibbersan Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Posts: 30	I tend to prefer STeem, but it's a shame there's no more development for it. Also keep SainT up-to-date as well.

23 October 2009, 21:33	#18
Qube Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: England Posts: 218	Steem Debug - good fun for making up your own hacks and cheats on the fly. Wonder when/if another Steem update will be released tho.. SainT - good also, some demos may need this one too. Arnaud keeps this one up to date. Hatari - promising indeed and should be good for porting about the place. All fun

23 October 2009, 23:18	#19
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	No one's mentioned ARAnyM yet!

26 October 2009, 13:28	#20
Benighted Amiga = Metal! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Stavanger / Norway Posts: 92	Slightly OT Did a quick Google. Steem and Hatari seem to only emulate ST(E) systems. Is there a good common emu for the Atari 8 bit systems like the 2600, 800, 7800, XE/XL? Or do you have to use seperate emulators for the different systems, like Stella? Have any1 used a Jaguar emulator with success? /Slightly OT

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)