MsxGameLauncher
This is a small program I created to launch BlueMSX with different configurations based on the filename. The main reason for this is that I used to have an MSX1 computer and I would like to play the old games again like it was on that machine. But I also wanted to play MSX2 games. These are different configurations. Also I wanted to be able to start the games by just clicking on the ROM/disk image. So I needed a program and I quickly whipped up this one.
BTW this can not be done through the normal extension mappings in windows in an easy way. First in windows Vista the "filetypes" tab in the windows explorer has been removed and replaced by another screen with less capabilities. Second; BlueMSX only accepts a limited amount of file extensions, so it is not easy to use different extensions for MSX1 and MSX2 games.
It works because of special naming conventions in the filenames. The following strings in the filename are recognised and passed to BlueMSX.
.msx1 --> Will emulate SVI-738 MSX home computer (my computer :-)
.msx2 --> Will emulate an MSX2 home computer
.rom --> when it is a rom image
.dsk --> when it is a disk image
.cas --> when it is a cassette image (untested)
Examples:
"AntarticAdventure.msx1.rom" would launch BlueMSX emulating the SVI-738
"AntarticAdventure.msx2.rom" would launch BlueMSX emulating an MSX2
Installation
Just put it somewhere on your PC and create a file association for rom/dsk/cas files with this program.
Known issues
Currently it works for me, but there are some annoyancesissues with it.
- The string detections are case sensitive, so "AntarticAdventure.MSX1.rom" will NOT work.
- BlueMSX needs to be installed in the default location, since the location is kinda hardcoded.