XArcade Tank Stick Issues

caver01

@mbrett Hmm. Getting closer. . . I can see you have the RetroArch hotkeys DISABLED, and you have exit hardcoded to "escape". I doubt your tankstick can send an escape key given that you are using a driver that transforms it into two virtual gamepads.

What about the contents of opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads, as I am thinking that your "joysticks" are auto-configured, as the inputs in your retroarch.cfg are basically just the default keyboard maps.

By the way, are you using the standard image from this site, or one you downloaded from X-Arcade (where they warn you NEVER to do an update)?

mbrett

@caver01 That's odd. When I configure Tank Stick in ES and it comes to HOTKEY, I can't choose select because I've already chosen it. So I leave it blank. A window comes up and asks me if I want to have Select key as default HotKey. I say yes.

I am using the standard image from here. I didn't use the XArcade image.

Contents of retroarch-joypads are:
USB GAMEPAD USB GAMEPAD.cfg (N64 controllers)
USB. 2axis 8 button gamepad.cfg (bak file too)
Xarcade-to-gamepad device 1.cfg (bak file too)
Xarcade-to-gamepad device 2.cfg

caver01

@mbrett Ok, so your actual button mapping is very likely in those Xarcade device files. According to Retroarch documentation, explicit mapping listed in the retroarch.cfg file will override mapping in the retroarch-joypads. This is why a setting like:

input_enable_hotkey = "nul"
input_exit_emulator = "escape"

will supercede similar mapping in your joystick configs. I would start by commenting out these two entries in opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg and then look inside the Xarcade files to see how you have everything mapped in those files to ensure, for example, that your hotkey and exit is mapped to buttons you expect.

Once we have established a working retroarch config (could test with lr-mame2003) we will need to understand why FBA seems to ignore it. You said roms are in different folders which answered my question above, but which folders are you using? Assuming one of them is FBA, we will need to use RUNCOMMAND to find out which FBA you are launching. If it is PiFBA, that would explain a lot, as that one is standalone and ignores all of the mapping we do in Retroarch.

Finally, you mentioned AdvanceMAME .94. That one also ignores the RetroArch configs, so it is best to try mapping with the GUI menu when you launch a game with it. I would start by configuring General controls for all games. A graceful exit should save to the .rc file for that version of AdvanceMAME.

mbrett

@caver01 I'm using lr-fbalpha. ROMs are in fba folder.

I don't have any idea what you said about AdvanceMAME .94.

I commented out those two lines, and I can now exit of out of mame2003! Yes! One issue settled.

caver01

@mbrett We will get to Advancemame and it will make more sense when we do.

Now what's in your xarcade-to-gamepad device config files?

Theoretically, if you are indeed launching your neogeo games with lr-fbalpha, it should be using the same configuration as lr-mame2003 (lr-anything should be using the same).

mbrett

@caver01 fbalpha is magically working! So, everything now working except the 6 Golden Tee ROMs.

mbrett

@caver01 I spoke too soon. Don't get me wrong, I just whooped the snot out of 1941: Counter Attack. The Tank Stick is great! But, tried Arkanoid....and no trackball. I play Arkanoid in fbalpha. So, that's a bummer.

caver01

@mbrett I don’t think I can help with analog in FBA. Going to have to use lr-mame2003 or AdvanceMAME.

mbrett

@caver01 OK, this is what I'm getting when I did your advmame-0.94.rc corrections:

Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/advmame-0.94/bin/advmame "arkanoid"
Invalid argument 'mouse[0.x] mouse[1,x] mouse[2,x] mouse[3,x]' for option 'input_map[p1_trackballx]'.
Invalid integer '0.x] mouse[1'.
Valid format is [-]joystick[JOYSTICK,STICK,AXE]/[-]mouse[MOUSE,AXE]/[-]joystick_ball[JOYSTICK,AXE].

caver01

@mbrett You have a period, not a comma in there.

mbrett

@caver01 I moved them to libmame folder. I have Arkanoid working. Need to find different Centipede ROM. I have every Golden Tee working with libmame 2010. But no trackball support. So close...

caver01

@mbrett No need to give up on advancemame. You just need to eliminate the syntax errors in your .rc file. GT roms work great in AdvanceMAME3.x--better even than they did in AdvanceMAME1.4.

Did you go through this how-to?

mbrett

@caver01 Really odd. I've corrected the advmame-.98.rc. But now Golden Tee '97 says this. And I had it working last night:

Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/advmame-0.94/bin/advmame "gt97"
AdvanceMAME - Copyright (C) 1999-2003 by Andrea Mazzoleni
MAME - Copyright (C) 1997-2003 by Nicola Salmoria and the MAME Team
gt97prm0.130 NOT FOUND
gt97prm1.130 NOT FOUND
gt97prm2.130 NOT FOUND
gt97prm3.130 NOT FOUND
gt_nr.u88 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.0_0 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.0_1 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.0_2 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.0_3 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.1_0 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.1_1 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.1_2 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.1_3 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.2_0 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.2_1 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.2_2 NOT FOUND
gt97_grm.2_3 NOT FOUND
gt_srom0.nr NOT FOUND
gt_srom1.nr NOT FOUND
ERROR: required files are missing, the game cannot be run.

Is it possible to just get MAME-2010 to see the trackball? The GTs all work perfectly in that, except trackball.

Also, this advMAME 3. you talk about I can't find anywhere. I appreciate the help, but the bread crumbs are getting frustrating. Yes, I've read everything.

caver01

@mbrett When you install AdvanceMAME you get three versions: 0.94, 1.4, and 3.x (latest). The version 3 is just plain AdvanceMAME. The advmame.rc file is for 3.x. They have left the dot version number off because it has been getting frequent updates. From the emulators.cfg:
advmame = "/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/bin/advmame %BASENAME%"
AdvanceMAME3.x (and 1.4) requires romset 0.106 which is obviously different than the set required for 0.94.

The error you noted above is MAME thinking you are missing ROM files. I can't explain what you might have changed between then and now.

Are you using runcommand to pick the different versions?

As for MAME2010, I don't know if that one has mouse support. I don't use it. MAME2003 is by far the most developed in terms of working features among the libretro cores, and AdvanceMAME3 is the most versatile.

mbrett

@caver01 [Faceplant] Nope. I can't do it. I can't download another ROMset of 60gb just to get six damn ROMs. So ridiculous. Oh well. I guess I'll try to get MAME 2010 to work or just fuck it, and do Golden Tee on PC. So frustrating.

caver01

@mbrett Sorry you are frustrated. It is the way MAME has always been, and it is always an important moment when users finally realize this. You'd be surprised how much time is spent trying to troubleshoot and educate people about MAME ROMs who don't read or comprehend the documentation.

That said, you might actually try the ROMs you have. It's not a supportable technique, obviously, but while ROMs have changed in step with MAME's development, many have not required updates. You may well have ROMs that will 'accidentally' work with several versions of MAME.

mbrett

@caver01 Huzzah! I have MAME 2010 working like a champ.

/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-core-options.cfg
mame_current_mouse_enable = "enabled"

Bingo!

caver01

@mbrett How's the performance? 2010 has always been a little sluggish on some things, but maybe on GT it doesn't matter. I might switch over to it. I am using AdvanceMAME for GT roms.

If you like vector games, I recommend getting Advmame running. They look much better in Advance than any of the lr-cores.

mbrett

@caver01 '97 worked great. That's all I tested. If I didn't have to dl an entire new ROMset, I'd be all over advMAME for vectors. As it is, I don't have that many vector games, so, as the GTs, it would probably not be worth it.

caver01

@mbrett I just tried GT2K in lr-mame2010 and the opening music was stuttering and animation got sluggish. I noticed the Pi was struggling and overheating which is rare for me. Quit and relaunched and selected AdvanceMAME and immediately noticed a difference. Smooth music and no slowdowns or overheat.

It might be recent development on Advmame 3 that is making it run better on the Pi. I know it was always a little sluggish, especially with the music on 1.4.

Anyway, I thought I would share my results.