Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

The TI-99/4 is a home computer released in 1979. It retailed for $525 USD, which is equivalent to $1,490 after adjusting for inflation (in 2020)! Partially due to its exuberant price and lack of software support, it only sold around twenty-thousand units.

The TI-99/4A is an incremental upgrade to the original TI-99/4, at half the price of the original unit. Needless to say it was much more successful, selling around three million units.

Support for this system was introduced with Batocera v33. Does Batocera support emulating both models? Good question! FIXME

Quick reference

  • Emulator: MAME
  • Folder: /userdata/roms/ti99
  • Accepted ROM formats: .rpk, .wav, .zip, .7z

BIOS

Requires the MAME BIOS file ti99_4a in ZIP or 7Z format. The BIOS file can be placed in any one of the following locations:

  • roms/ti99/ti99_4a.zip
  • roms/ti99/ti99_4a.7z
  • bios/ti99_4a.zip
  • bios/ti99_4a.7z

ROMs

Place your TI-99 ROMs in /userdata/roms/ti99.

Cartridges need to be in *.rpk format and unzipped. The MAME software list files (*.bin) will not run properly.

Emulators

MAME

MAME, the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, is a multi-purpose emulation framework which facilitates the emulation of vintage hardware and software. Originally targeting vintage arcade machines, MAME has since absorbed the sister-project MESS (Multi Emulator Super System) to support a wide variety of vintage computers, video game consoles and calculators as well. MAME doesn't use an individual “core” for each system like RetroArch does, instead the ROM itself usually contains the necessary information to accurately emulate it, thus making it specific to the version of MAME it was made for. Overall it's a very complicated subject, we have a guide specific to arcade just for it.

MAME configuration

MAME offers a Menu in-game ([HOTKEY] + South button (B SNES) or [Tab] on the keyboard). This can be used to manually adjust inputs or game settings. If you're having issues with a specific game, check the MAMEdev FAQ for that game here. For MESS systems specifically, you might find more information on MESS's wiki. All options can also be edited by opening the mame.ini file.

Standardized features available to all versions of this emulator: ti99.videomode, ti99.decoration, ti99.padtokeyboard

ES setting name batocera.conf_key Description ⇒ ES option key_value
Settings that apply to all versions of this emulator
GRAPHICS BACKEND ti99.video Choose your graphics rendering
⇒ BGFX bgfx, Accel accel, OpenGL opengl.
BGFX BACKEND ti99.bgfxbackend Choose your graphics API
⇒ MAME Detect automatic, OpenGL opengl, OpenGL ES gles, Vulkan vulkan.
BGFX VIDEO FILTER ti99.bgfxshaders Apply a particular visual effect
⇒ Off None, Bilinear default, CRT Geom crt-geom, CRT Geom Deluxe crt-geom-deluxe, Super Eagle eagle, HLSL hlsl, HQ2X hq2x, HQ3X hq3x, HQ4X hq4x.
CRT SWITCHRES ti99.switchres CRT monitor SwitchRes support
⇒ Off 0, On 1.
TATE MODE ti99.rotation Rotating display to vertical mode rendering
⇒ Off None, Rotate 90 autoror, Rotate 270 autorol.
ALT DPAD MODE ti99.altdpad If the D-Pad does not work properly
⇒ Off (Default) 0, DS3 Orientation 1, X360 Orientation 2.
Settings specific to ti99
MEDIA TYPE ti99.altromtype Type of ROM file (Cartridge default)
⇒ Cassette 1 cass1, Cassette 2 cass2, Cartridge cart.
UI KEYS ti99.enableui Hotkey + D-Pad Up or Scroll Lock to toggle in game
⇒ Off at Start 0, On at Start 1.
CUSTOM CONFIG ti99.pergamecfg Enable per-game custom configuration via MAME menu
⇒ On 1, Off 0.

Controls

Here are the default TI-99's controls shown on a Batocera Retropad:

Troubleshooting

Further troubleshooting

For problems with MAME specifically, there are some tips on the troubleshooting section on MAME's system page.

For further troubleshooting, refer to the generic support pages.

  • systems/ti99.txt
  • Last modified: 16 months ago
  • by atari