Stella

[Emulator Name]

Emulated Systems: Atari 2600

Emulator last updated:

Current Official Version: Release 4.7.2

Installation and Operation

Operation

Command Line

To run Stella from the commandline, use the following format:

stella [options ...] ROM_FILENAME

Options ('0' or 'false' indicates false, '1' or 'true' indicates true, others are self-explanatory):

Argument Description

-video <direct3d|opengl|opengles2|opengles|software>
Use the given rendering backend (where applicable); default is the best available mode detected.

-vsync <1|0>
Synchronize screen updates to the vertical blank period. This can result in smoother updates, and eliminate tearing.

-fullscreen <1|0>
Enable fullscreen mode.

-center <1|0>
Centers game window (if possible).

-palette <standard|z26|user>
Set the palette to either normal Stella, the one used in the z26 emulator, or a user-defined palette.

-colorloss <1|0>
Enable/disable the PAL color-loss effect.

-framerate <number>
Display the given number of frames per second. Normally, Stella will determine framerate based on number of scanlines. Setting this to 0 automatically enables auto-frame calculation (ie, framerate based on scanlines).

-timing <sleep|busy>
Determines type of wait to perform between processing frames. Sleep will release the CPU as much as possible, and is the preferred method on laptops (and other low-powered devices) and when using VSync. Busy will emulate z26 busy-wait behaviour, and use all possible CPU time, but may eliminate graphical 'tearing' in software mode.

-uimessages <1|0>
Enable or disable display of message in the UI. Note that messages indicating serious errors override this setting, and are always shown.

-sound <1|0>
Enable or disable sound generation.

-fragsize <number>
Specify the sound fragment size to use. Linux/Mac seems to work with 512, Windows usually needs 1024.

-freq <number>
Set sound sample output frequency (11025,22050,31400,44100,48000) Default is 31400. Do not change unless you experience sound issues.

-volume <number>
Set the volume (0 - 100).

-tia.zoom <zoom>
Use the specified zoom level (integer) while in TIA/emulation mode.

-tia.inter <1|0>
Use interpolation for the TIA image (results in blending/smoothing of the image).

-tia.aspectn <number>

-tia.aspectp <number>
Specify the amount (as a percentage) to scale the TIA image width in NTSC and PAL mode. Since many video modes do not use square pixels, you can reduce width until the pixels appear square. Allowable values are 80 - 120; I find 85 - 90 gives the most authentic look for NTSC, and 105 - 110 for PAL.

-tia.fsfill <1|0>
Stretch TIA image completely while in fullscreen mode (vs. an integral stretch which won't necessarily completely fill the screen).

-tv.jitter <1|0>
Enable TV jitter/roll effect, when there are too many or too few scanlines per frame.

-tv.jitter_recovery <1 - 20>
When TV jitter/roll effect is enabled, determines how long to delay recovery time (recovery spread over multiple frames).

-tv.filter <1 - 6>
Blargg TV effects, 0 is disabled, next numbers in sequence represent presets for 'Composite', 'S-Video', 'RGB', 'Bad Adjust', and 'Custom' modes.

-tv.scanlines <0 - 100>
Blargg TV effects scanline intensity, where 0 means completely off.

-tv.scaninter <1|0>
Blargg TV effects scanline interpolation, resulting in blending/smoothing of the scanlines.

-tv.contrast <number>
Blargg TV effects 'contrast' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.brightness <number>
Blargg TV effects 'brightness' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.hue <number>
Blargg TV effects 'hue' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.saturation <number>
Blargg TV effects 'saturation' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.gamma <number>
Blargg TV effects 'gamma' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.sharpness <number>
Blargg TV effects 'sharpness' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.resolution <number>
Blargg TV effects 'resolution' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.artifacts <number>
Blargg TV effects 'artifacts' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.fringing <number>
Blargg TV effects 'fringing' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-tv.bleed <number>
Blargg TV effects 'bleed' (only available in custom mode, range -1.0 to 1.0).

-cheat
Use the specified cheatcode (see Cheat section for description).

-loglevel <0|1|2>
Indicates level of logging to perform while the application is running. Zero completely disables logging (except for serious errors), while the remaining numbers show increasingly more detail.

-logtoconsole <1|0>
Indicates that logged output should be printed to the console/commandline as it's being collected. An internal log will still be kept, and the amount of logging is still controlled by 'loglevel'.

-joydeadzone <number>
Sets the joystick axis deadzone area for joysticks/gamepads. All values within the deadzone are treated as zero-axis values, while only those values outside are registered as valid input. Accepts a number from 0 - 29, and uses the formula 3200 + number * 1000. So the possible deadzone values range from 3200 to 32200.

-joyallow4 <1|0>
Allow all 4 directions on a joystick to be pressed simultaneously. Bumper Bash ignores this setting, and always allows all 4 directions.

-usemouse <always|analog|never>
Use mouse as a controller as specified by ROM properties in specific case. Always and never are self-explanatory, analog means only for analog-type devices (paddles, trackball, etc).

-grabmouse <1|0>
Locks the mouse cursor in the game window in emulation mode.

-cursor <0|1|2|3>
Set mouse cursor state in UI/emulation modes.

-dsense <number>
Sensitivity for emulation of paddles when using a digital device (ie, joystick digital axis or button, keyboard key, etc). Valid range of values is from 1 to 10, with larger numbers causing faster movement.

-msense <number>
Sensitivity for emulation of paddles when using a mouse. Valid range of values is from 1 to 15, with larger numbers causing faster movement.

-saport <lr|rl>
Determines how to enumerate the Stelladaptor/2600-daptor devices in the order they are found: 'lr' means first is left port, second is right port, 'rl' means the opposite.

-ctrlcombo <1|0>
Use control-x key combos. This is normally enabled, since the Quit command is tied to 'Control-q'. However, there are times when a 2-player game is using either the 'f' or 'r' keys for movement, and pressing Control (for Fire) will perform an unwanted action associated with Control-r or Control-f.

-autoslot <1|0>
Automatically switch to the next available save state slot after saving a ROM state file.

-stats <1|0>
Overlay console info on the TIA image during emulation.

-fastscbios <1|0>
Disable Supercharger BIOS progress loading bars.

-snapsavedir <path>
The directory to save snapshot files to.

-snaploaddir <path>
The directory to load snapshot files from.

-snapname <int|rom>
When saving snapshots, use either the internal database name or the actual ROM filename.

-sssingle <1|0>
Generate single snapshot instead of many, overwriting any previous snapshots.

-ss1x <1|0>
Ignore any scaling applied to the TIA image, and save snapshot in unscaled (1x) mode.

-ssinterval <number>
Set the interval in seconds between taking snapshots in continuous snapshot mode (currently, 1 - 10).

-rominfo <rom>
Display detailed information about the given ROM, and then exit Stella.

-listrominfo
Prints relevant contents of the Stella ROM database, one ROM per line, and then exit Stella. This can be used for external frontends.

-exitlauncher <1|0>
Always exit to ROM launcher when exiting a ROM (normally, an exit to launcher only happens when started with the launcher).

-launcherres <WxH>
Set the size of the ROM launcher.

-launcherfont <small|medium|large>
Set the size of the font in the ROM launcher.

-launcherexts <allfiles|allroms|LIST>
Specifies which files to show in the ROM launcher ('allfiles' is self-explanatory, 'allroms' is all files with valid rom extensions (currently: a26, bin, rom, gz, zip), 'LIST' is a ':' separated list of valid rom extensions.

-romviewer <0|1|2>
Hide ROM info viewer in ROM launcher mode (0), or use the given zoom level (1 or 2).

-uipalette <standard|classic>
Use the specified palette for UI elements.

-listdelay <delay>
Set the amount of time to wait between treating successive keypresses as a single word in list widgets (value can range from 300-1000). Use '0' to disable list-skipping completely,

-mwheel <lines>
Set the number of lines a mousewheel will scroll in the UI.

-romdir <dir>
Set the directory where the ROM launcher will start.

-statedir <dir>
Set the directory in which to access state files.

-cheatfile <file>
Set the full pathname of the cheatfile database.

-palettefile <file>
Set the full pathname of the user-defined palette file.

-propsfile <file>
Set the full pathname of the ROM properties file.

-nvramdir <dir>
Set the directory in which to access non-volatile (flash/EEPROM) files.

-cfgdir <dir>
Set the directory in which to access Distella config files.

-avoxport <name>
Set the name of the serial port where an AtariVox is connected.

-maxres <WxH>
Useful for developers, this sets the maximum size of window that can be created, allowing to simulate testing on 'smaller' systems.

-help
Prints a help message describing these options, and then exit Stella.


Bugs/Glitches

Support Apps for the Emulator

Game Specific Considerations

GameEx Setup

References

External Links