How to start a Commodore 64 Game on a modern Windows PC:
1. Download a C64 game from my website
Save the downloaded game file to a folder on your hard drive (example: c:\c64games\). If the game file is a compressed .zip or .rar-archive, you need to extract all files within the archive to a folder of your choice. This can be the same folder again or a new separate one (example: c:\c64games\pacman\). If you don’t have a zip- or rar-software yet, you can download Winzip or WinRAR, 2 free tools at www.winzip.com and www.rarlabs.com. If you are not sure how to use Winzip or WinRAR, click here for Winzip-Instructions and here for WinRAR Instructions.
2. Download and install a Commodore 64 Emulator
You can not run C64 games on modern PCs without using an emulator software. I recommend WinVICE since it has the most comfortable interface for windows users. If you want to uninstall WinVICE later on, all you need to do is to delete it's directory since it will not modify your Windows Registry at all. The following instructions are based on WinVICE. Go to the C64 Emulator Page, download WinVICE.zip and save the file to your hard drive into a folder of your choice (example: c:\winvice\). Now extract all files within the .zip file into the same folder.
3. Configure your emulator (optional but recommended)
To start the emulator, run the file x64.exe in your WinVICE folder. The following instructions will explain how you select which keys you want to use instead of a joystick to navigate within games. The keyboard will emulate the joystick movements (up/down/left/right) and the fire-buttons. Click on the following menus in WinVICE:
Settings > Joystick settings
Now set Joystick in port #1 to Keyset A and Joystick in port #2 also to Keyset A.
If you want to play against a 2nd human player, select Keyset B for Joystick in port #2.
In the same menu-window (Settings > Joystick settings) you can now configure your keysets:
Click on Config keyset A if you are the only player and select a key of your choice for north, south, east and west and the fire button. South-east, south-west, north-east and north-west are optional and usually not needed. Save your changes with OK. If you want to play against another human player, you need to configure keyset B as well now. If you already have a joystick installed on your PC, you can use it to play C64 games by selecting the joystick instead of a keyset.
To configure the size of the C64 screen, you can make the following settings:
Options > Double size (2x screen-size, recommended if you don’t use the full-screen mode)
If you want to play in full screen mode (start the game first, then switch to full screen), you can make the following settings:
Settings > Video settings > Resolution: 320x240 (Try other resolutions as well until it fits your screen)
Options > Full Screen (Exit the full-screen mode by pressing ALT+D)
4. Starting the game
C64 files usually have the extension .d64 (C64 Floppy Disk) or .t64 (C64 Cassette Tape). To start a game, do the following:
If your WinVICE is not running, start it and click on the following menus:
File > Autostart disk/tape image
Now select the folder where the .d64 or .t64 files of your game are stored (in our example c:\c64games\pacman\). Click on the game file, then on Attach (or double-click the game file). The game should start now. If you have configured the emulator already, you are ready to play.
If the game does not start automated or there is more than one game in the .d64 / .t64 file, you can try the following way:
File > Attach disk image > Drive 8
Now select the folder where the .d64 or .t64 files of your game are stored (in our example c:\c64games\pacman\). Click on the game file. Now you see a directory of all files in this .d64 / .t64 file in the "Image Contents". Select the name of the file that sounds reasonable to start your game (game title, loader, start, run, etc.) and double-click it. The file will start now. If you had no luck, try the other files in the content list.
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