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Daphne

daphne_logo

Laserdiscs were predecessors to the DVD. The first laserdisc game was released in 1982. Laserdisc games function much like interactive fiction where you choose your own story and the video adapts to the path you choose to take.

Emulator Rom Folder Extension BIOS Controller Config
Daphne daphne .daphne none /opt/retropie/configs/daphne/dapinput.ini
Hypseus daphne .daphne none /opt/retropie/configs/daphne/hypinput.ini
lr-dirksimple daphne .ogv none /opt/retropie/configs/daphne/retroarch.cfg

Emulator: daphne, hypseus, dirksimple

daphne was developed by Matt Ownby. For the best replication of Laserdisc games check out his Dexter project HERE
hypseus is a SDL2 fork of the Daphne codebase. This version includes Singe game support. DirkSimple is a FMV/laserdisc game player. It uses the original footage from the supported games but not their ROMs. The game logic has been implemented from scratch in Lua. It currently supports 2 games: Dragon's Lair and Cliff Hanger. RetroPie includes the Libretro core version, not the standalone emulator.

ROMS

Accepted extensions: .daphne and ogv

Place your Laserdisc roms in 

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/daphne

The file structure is like so:

Daphne

roms
|-- daphne
|    |   (The folder below holds a laserdisc...".daphne"
|    |   tells emulationstation to add this to the menu,
|    |   and "dle21" tells daphne to use that game engine)
|    |
|    |-- dle21.daphne     
|    |    |-- dle21.commands  (Optional extra command-line params!)
|    |    |-- dle21.txt       (Framefile)
|    |    |-- lair.m2v
|    |    |-- lair.ogg
|    |
|    +-- roms                 (All roms go into this roms folder)
|         +-- dle21.zip

Singe

Only supported in hypseus. Ensure the main .singe file matches the game directory name. 

roms
|-- daphne
|    |
|    |-- timegal.daphne
|    |    |
|    |    |-- timegal.commands  (Optional)
|    |    |-- timegal.txt       (Framefile)
|    |    |-- timegal.m2v
|    |    |-- timegal.ogg
|    |    |-- timegal.singe     (Main LUA Singe file)
|    |    |-- *.*               (Other peripheral files)
|    |
|    +-- roms                   (No Singe data but required)
|

DirkSimple

The Libretro core supports playing from an .ogv file, which is an Ogg-Theora video created from the original Daphne DVD MPEG files. To create the .ogv file from a standard Daphne/Hypseus .daphne game folder (see above), the ffmpeg is needed utility is needed, installable by running sudo apt install -y ffpmeg).

Run the commands:

cd $HOME/RetroPie/roms/daphne

# for Dragon's Lair
ffmpeg -i dlair.daphne/lair.m2v -i dlair.daphne/lair.ogg -codec:v libtheora -qscale:v 7 -codec:a libvorbis -qscale:a 5 -pix_fmt yuv420p lair.ogv

# for Cliff Hanger
ffmpeg -i cliff.daphne/cliff.m2v -i cliff.daphne/cliff.ogg -codec:v libtheora -qscale:v 7 -codec:a libvorbis -qscale:a 5 -pix_fmt yuv420p cliff.ogv
Check that the ogv files are correctly placed in the $HOME/RetroPie/roms/daphne after the conversion with ffmpeg, then restart EmulationStation for the new game entries to appear. Choose the lr-dirksimple libretro core as the emulator for the new files using the [runcommand launch menu](https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Runcommand/#runcommand-launch-menu.

More info about the ogv format understood by DirkSimple can be found at https://github.com/icculus/DirkSimple#how-do-i-use-this.

Controls

daphne

/opt/retropie/configs/daphne/dapinput.ini

hypseus

/opt/retropie/configs/daphne/hypinput.ini

Default Keyboard Controls:

Key Action
ESC Quit the game
5 and 6 Insert Coin (Coin chutes)
1 Player 1 Start
2 Player 2 Start
Arrow Keys Directional Movement
Left CTRL Button #1 (Primary trigger)
Left ALT Button #2 (Alternate trigger)
Space Button #3 (Secondary trigger)
W Cadet skill level (Space Ace)
I Captain skill level (Space Ace)
K Space Ace skill level (Space Ace)
P Pause game (laserdisc player must be playing)
T Tilt game (just a gimmick, only works in a few games)
9 Go into service mode (used in Dragon's Lair 2)
F2 Go into test mode (similar to service mode)
0 Reset/reboot game
F12 Take screenshot (VLDP only)

Default dapinput.ini 

# Daphne cutom keyboard and joystick mapping
#
# Each input is mapped to 2 keyboard keys and one joystick button.
# A joystick's first analog stick is also automatically mapped.
#
# The first two numbers are SDL keyboard codes (or 0 for "none")
# Find keyboard codes here:
# http://www.daphne-emu.com/mediawiki/index.php/KeyList
#
# The third number is the joystick button code (or 0 for "none")
# Since 0 is reserved for special meaning, joystick button 0 is identified
# as 1 here.  Button 1 is identified as 2, and so on.
# 
# Find the button you want to map by running:
# jstest /dev/input/js0

[KEYBOARD]
KEY_UP = 273 114 5
KEY_DOWN = 274 102 7
KEY_LEFT = 276 100 8
KEY_RIGHT = 275 103 6
KEY_BUTTON1 = 306 97 14
KEY_BUTTON2 = 308 115 15
KEY_BUTTON3 = 32 113 16
KEY_START1 = 49 0 4
KEY_START2 = 50 0 0
KEY_COIN1 = 53 0 1
KEY_COIN2 = 54 0 0
KEY_SKILL1 = 304 119 0
KEY_SKILL2 = 122 105 0
KEY_SKILL3 = 120 107 0
KEY_SERVICE = 57 0 0
KEY_TEST = 283 0 0
KEY_RESET = 284 0 0
KEY_SCREENSHOT = 293 0 0
KEY_QUIT = 27 113 17
END

Default hypinput.ini

As of version v2.10.1 of Hypseus Singe you are able to use the SDL_GameController API for configuration.
This is enabled via the -gamepad argument.

# To use: Rename this file to hypinput.ini and use -gamepad
#
# Hypseus uses SDL2 Keycodes and SDL_GameController
# SWITCH = Key1 Key2 Joy (Axis)

# Available AXIS MACROS
#
# AXIS_LEFT_UP
# AXIS_LEFT_DOWN
# AXIS_LEFT_LEFT
# AXIS_LEFT_RIGHT
# AXIS_RIGHT_UP
# AXIS_RIGHT_DOWN
# AXIS_RIGHT_LEFT
# AXIS_RIGHT_RIGHT
#
# Available BUTTON MACROS
#
# BUTTON_A
# BUTTON_B
# BUTTON_X
# BUTTON_Y
# BUTTON_BACK
# BUTTON_GUIDE
# BUTTON_START
# BUTTON_LEFTSTICK
# BUTTON_RIGHTSTICK
# BUTTON_LEFTSHOULDER
# BUTTON_RIGHTSHOULDER
# BUTTON_DPAD_UP
# BUTTON_DPAD_DOWN
# BUTTON_DPAD_LEFT
# BUTTON_DPAD_RIGHT
# AXIS_TRIGGER_LEFT
# AXIS_TRIGGER_RIGHT

[KEYBOARD]
KEY_UP = SDLK_UP 0 0 AXIS_LEFT_UP
KEY_DOWN = SDLK_DOWN 0 0 AXIS_LEFT_DOWN
KEY_LEFT = SDLK_LEFT 0 0 AXIS_LEFT_LEFT
KEY_RIGHT = SDLK_RIGHT 0 0 AXIS_LEFT_RIGHT
KEY_COIN1 = SDLK_5 0 BUTTON_BACK
KEY_COIN2 = SDLK_6 0 0
KEY_START1 = SDLK_1 0 BUTTON_START
KEY_START2 = SDLK_2 0 0
KEY_BUTTON1 = SDLK_LCTRL 0 BUTTON_A
KEY_BUTTON2 = SDLK_LALT 0 BUTTON_B
KEY_BUTTON3 = SDLK_SPACE 0 AXIS_TRIGGER_RIGHT
KEY_SKILL1 = SDLK_LSHIFT 0 0
KEY_SKILL2 = SDLK_z 0 0
KEY_SKILL3 = SDLK_x 0 0
KEY_SERVICE = SDLK_9 0 0
KEY_TEST = SDLK_F2 0 0
KEY_RESET = SDLK_0 0 0
KEY_SCREENSHOT = SDLK_F12 0 0
KEY_QUIT = SDLK_ESCAPE 0 0
KEY_PAUSE = SDLK_p 0 0
KEY_CONSOLE = SDLK_BACKSLASH 0 0
KEY_TILT = SDLK_t 0 0
END

Traditional Joystick API configuration is still default:

# The first two entries are SDL2 keyboard codes or names (0 for "none")
#
# Find SDL2 keyboard code information here:
# https://github.com/DirtBagXon/hypseus-singe/blob/master/doc/keylist.txt
#
# Hypseus Singe supports configuration on multiple joysticks
# First joystick is defined as 0, second joystick as 1 etc.
#
# IMPORTANT: Find the joystick button and axis by running:
#
# Use the 'hypjsch' tool to help configure this file
# https://github.com/DirtBagXon/hypjsch
# With this tool, you do not need to perform the +1 detailed in this file.
#
# Alternatively:
# jstest /dev/input/js0 || jstest /dev/input/js1
#
# The third number in config is a joystick button code (or 0 for "none")
# Since 0 is reserved for special meaning, joystick button 0 is
# identified as 1. Button 1 is identified as 2, and so on.
#
# Defining 001 (or 1) identifies first joystick(0) button 0
# Defining 111 identifies second joystick(1) button 10
#
# The fourth number in config (if specified) is the joystick axis
# configuration (or 0 for "none"). Since 0 is reserved for
# special meaning, joystick axis 0 is identified as 1.
# Axis 1 is identified as 2, and so on.
#
# Only the first four switches are defined (SWITCH_UP->SWITCH_RIGHT) for axis
#
# Defining -001 (or -1) identifies first joystick(0) axis 0 in negative direction
# Defining +102 identifies second joystick(1) axis 1 in positive direction

# KEY_BUTTON3 Turns scoreboard on/off in lair/ace

[KEYBOARD]
KEY_UP = SDLK_UP SDLK_r 5 -002
KEY_DOWN = SDLK_DOWN SDLK_f 7 +002
KEY_LEFT = SDLK_LEFT SDLK_d 8 -001
KEY_RIGHT = SDLK_RIGHT SDLK_g 6 +001
KEY_COIN1 = SDLK_5 0 1
KEY_COIN2 = SDLK_6 0 0
KEY_START1 = SDLK_1 0 4
KEY_START2 = SDLK_2 0 0
KEY_BUTTON1 = SDLK_LCTRL SDLK_a 14
KEY_BUTTON2 = SDLK_LALT SDLK_s 15
KEY_BUTTON3 = SDLK_SPACE SDLK_d 16
KEY_SKILL1 = SDLK_LSHIFT SDLK_w 0
KEY_SKILL2 = SDLK_z SDLK_i 0
KEY_SKILL3 = SDLK_x SDLK_k 0
KEY_SERVICE = SDLK_9 0 0
KEY_TEST = SDLK_F2 0 0
KEY_RESET = SDLK_0 0 0
KEY_SCREENSHOT = SDLK_F12 0 0
KEY_QUIT = SDLK_ESCAPE SDLK_q 17
KEY_PAUSE = SDLK_p 0 0
KEY_CONSOLE = SDLK_BACKSLASH 0 0
KEY_TILT = SDLK_t 0 0
END

Command Parametres

Example Dragon's Lair Commands file in

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/daphne/lair.daphne/lair.commands

-nocrc -noissues -nolog -noserversend -latency 950 -x 640 -y 480 -bank 1 00110111 -bank 0 10011000

See here for more daphne cmdline parameters. hypseus has extended parameters defined here.

Troubleshooting

If you have issues with black screen, try deleting the .dat file as it is generated the first time you parse the video files. If you transferred the .dat file from another system it may not work, so just leave the .dat file out.

It is also case sensitive so if it's not working try making the extensions in the .daphne file lowercase.