Commodore 64 Emulation Guide - CCS64

Commodore 64 emulation will be discussed here using the
CCS64 V3.0 Beta 1.6 emulator.
CCS64 Homepage
I choose this emulator and Win32 version because it runs on XP. However there are some other emulators or different versions of this emulator too. Such as CCS64 V2.0 B for Win 95/98/NT and CCS64 V2.0 B again for DOS.

*Beware that this is a BETA release. Which means it may not work on your system or furthermore may damage your system!*

Now with the basics:
*System Requirements
WIN32 version:
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP with DirectX v9.0 or later
Pentium processor or better
16 Mb of internal memory
SVGA graphics.
*Additional support:
Windows compatible sound card.
Windows compatible joystick.
Windows compatible mouse.
HardSID sound add-on card.

*Compability rate for CCS64 V 3.0 Beta 1.5: %99 (as told by the author)

*Usage:
Just unzip all the files in a folder and then double click CCS.EXE to start the program.
Press F9 to get access to the menu. First of all you should set the keys. Scroll down to "options" with cursor keys hit "enter" (or use right cursor key) then down to "input" and on the next screen set "control port 1" to "Joystick" and "mode" to "Key-Set 3" (use right or left cursor keys to change the values), default keys for Key-Set 3 are, cursor keys for movement and right control for fire button 1 (it is the most common used setting by most games) but if you like you can define keys yourself. Scroll down to "define joystick keyset" hit "enter" to do it.
You can also use your PC joysticks or original Commodore 64 joysticks with an adapter.
When done with keys hit "escape" to go back to previous menu. You may change video, sound, speed and other settings if you want to.
After that you are ready to play very old and crappy Commodore 64 games, just kidding, i did play my very first game on a Commodore 64, it was a miracle machine back then .

Now go back to the first menu screen where you see

"1541 Device 8...
1541 Device 9...
etc..."

(Dont you just love that blue screen :))

To emulate the machine you need "disk images" of 5 1/4" disks used with Commodore 64 or "tape images" of real tapes (duh!).

*If you have disk images (most likely you have disk images with .D64 extensions) go over "1541 Device 8..." on the top of the menu and hit "enter". browse your directories to find unzipped .D64 files and you will see some options at the bottom of the screen "Examine", "Boot (Normal)", "Boot(Fast)" and "Select Disk".
-If you hit F1 or "E" [Examine] key you will see the contents of the file.
-With F3 or "N" [Boot (Normal)] you will open the file just like on a real Commodore 64. It will take some time (15-20 seconds) to load and when it says "ready" type "Run" and hit "enter", program will start.
-With F2 or "B" [Boot (Fast)] again it will load the file but (supposedly) faster this time and again when its ready type "run" and hit "enter" to start.
-With F4 or "S" [Select Disk] you will not have to wait for the program to load. so use it if you are interested in just playing games but not real Commodore 64s or nostalgia.

*If you have tape images with most likely .TAP, .T64 extensions then go to "Tape Device 1" on main menu screen and hit "enter", find the file and hit either "enter" or F1/"R" of "Run" to wait for program to search and load the file or use F2/"S" of "Select Tape".

*Features:
*Save/Load State: To use it hit "F9" to bring up menu and go to "state" sub-directory and choose your option. (Still under development)
*Cartridge emulation. (which i do not know about)
*Taking Screenshots. You may use "Print Screen" to take screenshots.
*Multiplay. Use Kaillera client to play multiplayer games. (which i dont know about)
To use this feature browse to your folder with disk images or tape images just like you are opening a file in the interface and when you are in the folder with your images scrool down to the "<Dir> . " and you will see "Start Multiplay" option at the bottom, hit F3 to create a game or join an existing one.
*Commodore 64 Keyboard emulation. So if you think your keyboard is screwed using the emulator, its not. It is just acting like a real Commodore 64 Keyboard. Go see the documents about keyboard layout in the emulator folder.
*Making wave files from your image files. To use this feature go to menu > options > sound > sound sampling. Sound will be recorded until you turn it off.
*Pause mode. You can single-step screen frames for interlaced pictures.
*And some other stuff i do not care much bout.

Well thats about it i guess.
Enjoy!

Head over to Snesorama for thousands of kickass C64 games!