Table of Contents
Commander Genius
Commander Genius is an open-source engine that interprets the Commander Keen and Cosmos the Cosmic Adventure game series. It allows you to play the classic MS-DOS platformers by id Software (Commander Keen) and Apogee Software (Cosmos) on modern hardware with enhanced features like improved graphics filtering, widescreen support and gamepad controls. This system scrapes metadata for the “ports” group(s) and loads the cgenius set from the currently selected theme, if available. Grouped with the “ports” group of systems.
Quick reference
- Emulator: Commander Genius
- Folder:
roms/cgenius/ - Accepted ROM formats:
.cgenius
BIOS
No Commander Genius emulator in Batocera needs a BIOS file to run.
ROMs
You need the original DOS game files to play Commander Genius games. Place your game files in /userdata/roms/cgenius/games/ with each game in its own directory.
Then create an empty file with a .cgenius extension inside the game directory. This file is used to launch the game from EmulationStation and should be named to help with scraping.
Supported games
- Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars — shareware, can be downloaded from Commander Genius
- Commander Keen 2: The Earth Explodes — registered version, purchase from 3D Realms/Apogee
- Commander Keen 3: Keen Must Die! — registered version, purchase from 3D Realms/Apogee
- Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle — shareware version available
- Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine — registered version, must be purchased
- Commander Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! — registered version, must be purchased
- Commander Keen Dreams — available from Steam
- Cosmos the Cosmic Adventure — shareware Episode 1 available
Directory structure
/userdata/roms/cgenius/
└── games/
├── Keen1/
| ├── KEEN1.EXE
| ├── *.CK1 (game data files)
| └── Commander Keen 1 - Marooned on Mars.cgenius
├── Keen4/
| ├── KEEN4E.EXE
| ├── *.CK4 (game data files)
| └── Commander Keen 4 - Secret of the Oracle.cgenius
└── Cosmos/
├── COSMO1.EXE
├── *.VOL, *.STN (game data files)
└── Cosmos the Cosmic Adventure.cgenius
Some mods can also be downloaded directly via Commander Genius menus. Commander Keen 1 and 4 (shareware) can also be downloaded this way.
Saves
Save location saves/cgenius/
Emulators
Commander Genius
Standardized features available to all cores of this emulator: cgenius.videomode, cgenius.padtokeyboard, cgenius.bezel, cgenius.bezel_stretch, cgenius.hud, cgenius.hud_corner, cgenius.bezel.tattoo, cgenius.bezel.tattoo_corner, cgenius.bezel.tattoo_file, cgenius.bezel.resize_tattoo
ES setting name batocera.conf_key | Description ⇒ ES option key_value |
|---|---|
| Settings that apply to all cores of this emulator | |
ASPECT RATIO cgenius.cgenius_aspect | Choose your preferred aspect ratio. ⇒ 4×3 (Default) 4:3, 5×4 5:4, 16×9 16:9, 16×10 16:10, Disabled 0:0. |
VIDEO FILTER cgenius.cgenius_filter | Choose your preferred video filter. ⇒ None (Default) 1, Scale2x 2, Scale3x 3, Scale4x 4. |
VIDEO QUALITY cgenius.cgenius_quality | Choose your preferred video quality. ⇒ Nearest nearest, Linear linear, Best best. |
RENDER RESOLUTION cgenius.cgenius_render | Choose your preferred render resolution. ⇒ 320×200 200, 320×240 240, 640×360 360, 640×480 480. |
CURSOR cgenius.cgenius_cursor | Enable or disable the mouse cursor. Useful for CG's menus. ⇒ Disabled (Default) false, Enabled true. |
Controls
Here are the default Commander Genius controls shown on a Batocera Retropad:
| Gamepad button | Action |
|---|---|
| D-pad | Move |
 A (South) | Fire |
 B (East) | Jump |
 X (West) | Status |
 Y (North) | Pogo |
| L1 | Camlead |
| R1 | Run |
Troubleshooting
My game does not launch
- Make sure the game data files are placed in a subdirectory under
/userdata/roms/cgenius/games/. - Verify that the
.cgeniuslaunch file exists inside the game directory alongside the data files. - Check that the original DOS game files are complete (EXE + data files).
- Some registered versions require all original files from the purchased game.
Further troubleshooting
For further troubleshooting, refer to the generic support pages.