BBC Micro emulators for Windows

BeebEm BBC Micro emulator

Play Elite with BBC Micro emulator: BeebEm.BeebEm is the best BBC Micro emulator we have found to play BBC Micro games on a Windows 11 or Windows 10 and older computer.

  • Latest version 4.19 (1 May 2023)
  • Works on Window 11, Windows 10 and older (32/64 bits)
  • Emulates the BBC Micro and Master 128
  • Supports .ssd, .dsd, .ad, .img, .adl and .adf disk image files
  • Comments: works out of the box, has sufficient documentation
  • Project website http://www.mkw.me.uk/beebem/index.html

Play BBC Micro games with the BBC Micro emulator on Windows 11 or Windows 10

So, what do you need to do to play BBC Micro games (like Elite) on Windows with the BeebEm emulator?

Download and install BeebEm

  • Download the BeebEm zip file (BeebEm4xx.zip) for Windows. Note that you can also download the installer (BeebEm4xx.exe), but you have less control over file locations then.
  • Copy the contents of the zip file to a folder of choice, for example c:\Emulators, you'll end up with c:\Emulators\BeebEm
  • Create a Games folder in the BeebEm folder, in this example c:\Emulators\BeebEm\Games
  • Create a Data folder in the BeebEm folder, in this example c:\Emulators\BeebEm\Data

Start and configure BeebEm

  • Start BeebEm by double clicking the BeebEm.exe file
  • If the program asks you to create a data folder, select No
  • Click on Options, hover on Preference Options and select Select User Data Folder and navigate to the Data folder in the BeebEm folder you've created, in this example c:\Emulators\BeebEm\Data and choose Yes when the program asks to copy missing files. Please note that the files from the UserData folder will be copied to the Data folder. If you want to revert to default settings, copy all the files from UserData to Data and allow to overwrite.
  • Click on Options, hover on Preference Options and click on Autosave All Prefs
  • Click on Options, hover on Preference Options and click on Save Disc/State/Tape Folders
  • Click on Options and choose Default Keyboard Mapping
  • Click on Hardware, hover on Second Processor and make sure none is selected (if one is selected, click on it to deselect). Note that some games need a second processor, like the tube enhanced version of Elite. However, most games won't work properly when you have a second processor enabled.

Play games with BeebEm

  • Start BeebEm by double clicking the BeebEm.exe file if it's not running
  • Search for and download a BBC Micro game file like Elite and copy the contents of the zip file to the games folder you've created, in this example c:\Emulators\BeebEm\Games.
  • In BeebEm, click on File and choose Run Disc
  • Navigate to your games folder and choose your game, in this example c:\Emulators\BeebEm\Games\Elite.ssd
  • If a game doesn't work:
    • Check if the correct BBC model is selected, try different models at Hardware - BBC Model
    • Check if your game needs a second processor (or definitely not) by enabling/disabling one of the second processors at Hardware - Second Processor

Help! I can't find a BBC Micro key on the keyboard

When using default keyboard mapping, most keys will work like you'll expect them to. Keep in mind though that the mapping is based on a British keyboard layout, which means you'll find that the keys close to Enter will have different characters. There are however some general exceptions:

  • F10 and F11 keys on your keyboard correspond with the f0 key on the BBC Micro keyboard
  • F12 key corresponds with the break key
  • End key corresponds with the copy key
  • Looking for ", use Shift+2 on your keyboard
  • Looking for @, use Shift+~ on your keyboard

You can find more information in the Help section of BeebEm.

I need additional help!

Navigate to the BeebEm help folder and double click index.html, in this example c:\Emulators\BeebEm\Help\index.html, or just click on Help and choose View Help in the BeebEm menu.

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