ZEsarUX is a new ZX
Spectrum emulator from developer Cesar Hernandez Bano. What I like
about ZEsarUX is the out of the box support for game controllers. In
this tutorial, I will guide you through setting up ZEsarUX in RetroPie and
playing your first Spectrum games.
First, a quick word about the developer. Cesar Hernandez Bano
is the active developer of ZEsarUX (ZX Second-Emulator And Released for UniX ), so much so that he added SDL support at my request so Spectrum games using
ZEsarUX could be run from EmulationStation.
If you like the emulator or would like to ask any questions, then please give your feedback to Cesar at
the project home or at the
thread at the Raspberry Pi forum.
Even though ZEsarUX is included in the experimental section of RetroPie version 3.0 RC1, there have been some tweaks made to the
scriptmodule since the release of the image. The first thing to do, regardless of which version of RetroPie you are running, is to update
the RetroPie script.
To install, restart the RetroPie script and select the ZEsarUX option
in the experimental section.
If you are using a Raspberry Pi 1, I would suggest disabling Dispmanx and overclocking your Pi to medium to make sure you get decent audio.
If you are using a Raspberry Pi 1, I would suggest disabling Dispmanx and overclocking your Pi to medium to make sure you get decent audio.
ZEsarUX configuration
Upon loading,
ZEsarUX reads a configuration file, .zesaruxrc, which is located in
the home directory. The config file allows for the same options to be
passed in the command line for every game.
The default config
file reads as below:
;ZEsarUX sample configuration file;;Lines beginning with ; or # are ignored;Run zesarux with --help or --experthelp to see all the options--disableborder--disablefooter--vo sdl--ao alsa--hidemousepointer--smartloadpath $romdir/zxspectrum --joystickemulated Kempston;Remap Fire Event. Uncomment and amend if you wish to change the default button 3.
;--joystickevent 3 Fire
As you can see, the default joystick emulated by ZEsarUX is Kempston as this is the most widely supported
by Speccy games.
The default game controller mapping for a PS3 controller in ZEsarUX is given below.
The default game controller mapping for a PS3 controller in ZEsarUX is given below.
| Event | Button |
PS3 Controller
|
| Up | -1 |
Left Analogue up
|
| Down | +1 |
Left Analogue down
|
| Left | -0 |
Left Analogue left
|
| Right |
+0
|
Left Analogue right
|
| Fire | 3 |
Start
|
| EscMenu | 0 |
Select
|
| Enter | 8 |
L2
|
| Smartload | 9 |
R2
|
| NumSelect | 2 |
R3 (press right stick)
|
| NumAction | 1 |
L3 (press left stick)
|
By default, the event Fire on the PS3 controller is the Start button which is not ideal for gameplay. This can be fixed by changing the last line of the config file.
Run the following command to edit the config file.
sudo nano ~/.zesaruxrcUncomment the last line (delete the semi-colon) and change the default button number 3 to the desired one. For the PS3 controller, I prefer the X button (button 14) so the last line becomes:
--joystickevent 14 FireSave and exit.
If you wish to remap any other event in the table above then you can add further parameters in the config file in the form below:
--joystickevent but evtwhere but is the joystick button number and evt is the event.
Playing Games
Cesar, the developer, has suggested that TAP versions of the tape should be used wherever possible.
A good game to try first is Manic Manier. You can get the TAP file from the World of Spectrum. Unzip it to the zxspectrum folder in the roms folder.
A good game to try first is Manic Manier. You can get the TAP file from the World of Spectrum. Unzip it to the zxspectrum folder in the roms folder.
To
start playing once the game has launched, press Enter
(button 8 or R2 on
PS3 controller). In
game, use the left
analogue stick to move and Fire (X button) to jump.
To exit the game, press Select (button 0) to bring up the ZEsarUX menu (below).
To exit the game, press Select (button 0) to bring up the ZEsarUX menu (below).
Use the left analogue stick to
navigate to Exit emulator and press Fire (X)
to exit back to EmulationStation.
In some games such as Deathchase, you will be asked to enter a number to be able to play with the Kempston joystick. To do this, press NumSelect (button 2) once and an overlay will confirm that the key selected is 2 (see screenshot below). On the PS3 controller, you need to press right stick once though it is possible do this by moving the right stick in any direction. If you accidently skip past 2, then keep pressing NumSelect to cycle though the numbers back to 2.
Next press NumAction (button 1 or press left stick on PS3 controller) to enter and play.
If you use NumSelect to cycle through the numbers you will see a blank between 9 and 0. This key represents the spacebar, useful for bypassing menus in games such as Myth: History in the Making.
In the next tutorial, I will show you how to map the keyboard to your game controller for games that don't support the Kempston joystick.
In some games such as Deathchase, you will be asked to enter a number to be able to play with the Kempston joystick. To do this, press NumSelect (button 2) once and an overlay will confirm that the key selected is 2 (see screenshot below). On the PS3 controller, you need to press right stick once though it is possible do this by moving the right stick in any direction. If you accidently skip past 2, then keep pressing NumSelect to cycle though the numbers back to 2.
Next press NumAction (button 1 or press left stick on PS3 controller) to enter and play.
If you use NumSelect to cycle through the numbers you will see a blank between 9 and 0. This key represents the spacebar, useful for bypassing menus in games such as Myth: History in the Making.
In the next tutorial, I will show you how to map the keyboard to your game controller for games that don't support the Kempston joystick.
