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 .cgenius launch 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.

  • systems/cgenius.txt
  • Last modified: 5 weeks ago
  • by wizzard