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In this video I have shown how download for free, install on Windows 10 PC, configure and use il CCS64, a Commodore 64 emulator, which installs on Windows 10 PCs.
Inside the video, at 13:50, there is also talk of the deputy (another emulator for different types of commodore): find all the steps in this page.
Free download CCS64: Emulator for Commodore 64
To download CCS64 it is good to look for the official website. I do not recommend downloading CCS64 from other sites, also because they may be old versions, there may be viruses or other programs that do not interest us.
This is the CCS64 official website: www.ccs64.com.
CCS64 - A commodore 64 emulator - by per håkan sundell
The download section is slightly lower than the page. The latest version is a little dated, but it works well!
How to install CCS64 on Windows 10 PC
For installation, you have to expand (unzip) the downloaded ZIP file, extracting the two files inside.
In the video at the top of the page, it is well shown how to follow all the steps to install CCS64: the emulator for Commodore 64.
First you have to to boot setup.exe, then install the additional components and the emulator itself.
I noticed that, during installation, there is a problem of versions. On the CCS64 website you download version 3.9.2. When installing the product, the version seems to be 3.9.1. The connection created in the start menu is of version 3.8!
In the end, however, the CCS64 emulator is installed in the correct version: 3.9.2.
Start and configure the emulator for C64: CCS64
To start CCS64, simply click on the icon that is formed in the start -up menu after installation.
To open programs, games and utilities for Commodore 64, with the CCS64 emulator, you can follow two modes:
- from the outside of the emulator, therefore starting from the explore file of Windows 10;
- from within the CCS64 emulator.
The emulator supports different types of files:
- programs, utilities and games in PRG, P00, P01;
- the images of the discs D64, G41, G64;
- and nastri T64 and TAP;
- cartridges and CRT interfaces;
- the memory freezes in C64.
The first file we try to open is a little program in Basic that I made myself: the one for to drive the remote-controlled machine.
We open it from the explore file. You have to press, with the right mouse button on the file to be loaded. Click with the left mouse button on Open with And then choose the mulator's program, looking for CCS64.exe in the programs folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Computerbrains C.C.S\CCS64 V3.9.1 (or the path you indicated during installation).
The first thing we have to do is to check the configuration of the emulator. In particular, to use my program in Basic, you have to connect the joystick to Porta 2. You have to emulate it with the numerical keyboard of the keyboard.
To set the joystick in CCS64, use the menus: Options, Input.
There is the possibility of emulating the joystick with Key-Set 2, which corresponds to the numeric keypad to the right of your PC keyboard.
Then, from the numeric keypad, you can press the various buttons to emulate the joystick:
- 8 forward;
- 2: back;
- 4: left;
- 6: right;
- CTRL (control): fire.
The buttons can also be pressed simultaneously: for example 8, 6 and CTRL to go forward / right and shoot.
As you can see, CCS64 is quite rich in menus with several options.
An interesting thing, for which I also opted for this emulator (and not only for the VICE), is the possibility of load and save Basic programs directly from the menu of the emulator, then without having to type the Save command, and then find the file inside an image of a virtual disk (D64). In this case it is possible to save the basic program, directly in an PRG file after making it inside the emulator.
It is also possible to upload a program from within the emulator, without going from the explosion of Windows files.
After starting the emulator, use the menu File, Load and Run…
In the video, I opened Easy Script, a video writing program located on a virtual D64 disk.
After selecting the file, the CCS64 emulator for Commodore 64 starts it directly. To see what is located inside the spot, we can give a hard reset to the machine, using the menu File, Reset, C64 - Hard.
The virtual diskette D64 remains connected to the emulator, but the Commodore is in the startup screen.
It is therefore possible to see what is inside the disk, with the classic basic commands:
LOAD"$",8 LIST
It is also possible to start the first program on the list with:
LOAD"*",8 RUN
Credits: In the video tutorial, SID music is ACE II by Rob Hubbard.