[Tutorial] OpenBOR - the complete guide

spud11

I've got the modified commandline version of openbor working. Thanks for modifying it.

Could I ask please what version of openbor this is? Is it effectively 3400 (or at least it plays mods up to version 3400)?

With the list of mods that @BiZzAr721 has said work with openbor, what version of the mods are each of these? Thanks.

cyperghost

@spud11 Well it's a pity that there is no compatible version list out there. But to keep it simple.

If you use a addon made up to 2014 it's likely to 99% working
If you use a addon made early 2015 your changes that it is working are good
Addons made later than (mid) 2015 are very likely to crash
Forget 2016+

I used some mods from the list @BiZzAr721 and they worked all flawless. A good download location is the official side: www.chronocrash.com

I've got the modified commandline version of openbor working. Thanks for modifying it.

And it was @darknior who made the CLI inside the binary work. I just pushed support to runcommand script for a more natural emulator core behaviour.

hansolo77

I'm going to be trying to help the community here by building a spreadsheet of compatible games. I installed the MEGA app and downloaded an entire mirror of the version of games that should be 99% compatible.
http://www.chronocrash.com/forum/index.php?topic=2360.0
(and more specifically) EDIT 3
https://mega.nz/#F!28kzwQiA!l-Yh7HFUUKL5wiFsgQQJxQ
Hopefully that's not against the rules, considering it's Open Source, the forum is free to register and access, as is the link to download the games. Feel free to erase this post or edit as needed if I am in violation.

EDIT - My Spreadsheet (WIP)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQxht0_rTt1_UvaHctJaMw5snzB_3Dv7GD0DUCzBHw5LI9VyY7Z4ZYu1-LlE_mZOIcuR-iXUZ8PI9i2/pubhtml
Will continue to update as I test. Need to work out my controller issues first.

cyperghost

@hansolo77 Can you make your sheet ready for puplic access?
About the conventions.....
RED = Game crashes, no chance
Orange = Game is playable in some parts, but crashes sometimes (a good example is Streets of Rage Z 2 - It crashes in level selection but the "Keep Alive" part is working flawless)
Green = No crashes reported
Green with gamename [!] = Someone made a playthrough to the game and all went fine (= kingclass)

darknior

@hansolo77 Good idea, thanks a lot

hansolo77

@cyperghost said in [Tutorial] OpenBOR - the complete guide:

@hansolo77 Can you make your sheet ready for puplic access?
About the conventions.....
RED = Game crashes, no chance
Orange = Game is playable in some parts, but crashes sometimes (a good example is Streets of Rage Z 2 - It crashes in level selection but the "Keep Alive" part is working flawless)
Green = No crashes reported
Green with gamename [!] = Someone made a playthrough to the game and all went fine (= kingclass)

If I can figure out how, I have no problem sharing it. I like the idea of users being able to update it. I just fear having people go through and change stuff that's not legit. I've seen various N64 spreadsheets that people have tried to make with this same intent, just to have it get all messed up because of jerks or people not understanding what to do.

I will also restructure the spreadsheet to allow for notes to be added, so we can have details as to what's not 100%.

hansolo77

Here we go, have a look at this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XoRi1OXgx_fJCkfINmsvZ7SM7yXVOjykg_V1zxP-j7w/edit?usp=sharing

cyperghost

@hansolo77 I've entered some entries - I think @BiZzAr721 can enter a bunch ;)

hansolo77

Awesome. Glad to hep out the community some. :)

hansolo77

Is there a way to have the screen change back to the default when returning from a game? What I mean is, every time I exit a game and go to play something else, the last screen showing from the OpenBOR system is still showing. Like it's stuck in a buffer or something. It's a problem, because it hides theruncommand menu, and blocks you from being able to access things like setting up an emulator, resolution, netplay, etc. There needs to be something to clear out that buffered screen..

cyperghost

@hansolo77 I have no problem with a screen showing. But I don't use ES to start these games. Does this also happen if you use the selection menu from here?
Place this in Ports section and restart ES to let show it up.

hansolo77

I will test and come back. I don't really know of a good way to provide an example, unless I can set up a tripod and record a video of it happening. I remember having that same problem when I tried setting up the "loading images", to make the runcommand alert look better. It might be something specific to my setup too. I'm finding more and more that my configuration is far from the norm for some reason.

BiZzAr721

I should be sleeping, but instead a learned something new and wanted to try to see if I could get this batch file complete! This is far from a perfect solution, but I created a Windows batch file that will copy your master.bor.cfg to [game name].bor.cfg and put it in a saves folder. This is useful when you got a lot of games that you need to make a game config for and don't want to enter runcommand to copy master to game config every time.
(for example, the 181 games I have installed from when I was creating the list of working games =P)

I had a test directory on my PC where I could test without ruining the actual mod installs (which I definitely would have!) When I finally got it working exactly how I wanted, I hit another wall - new Samba security measures do not allow programs to be executed on a networked drive! I was expecting it to be just drop it in the folder and run it from a pc, but the only simple work around I found is to run it from a command prompt. I use "file menu tools" to select the openbor folder and select "command prompt from here" which will automatically open to the correct drive & directory. In the script I included how to do it otherwise. Here is the bat file. Below is the contents.

::Due to new security policy of samba, files cannot be executed through a shared drive. Open a command prompt,and type:
::"wmic logicaldisk get name" to list drives (Usually Y:) Switch to the retropie drive eg. Y: (type dir to verify content)
::Type cd ports/openbor then run the batch file from there
::A Saves folder will be created with all the game configs. Move the Saves folder to /opt/retropie/configs/ports/openbor

@echo on
setlocal
mkdir Saves
FOR /f "tokens=*" %%i IN ('dir /b *.bor') DO (
copy "master.bor.cfg" "%%i.cfg"
move "%%i.cfg" "Saves"
)
pause

@cyperghost You've already outdone yourself! Maybe in the future we can have an Ultra-Mega Gamepad Setup with an option create a game config based off master.bor.cfg for all mods installed.

cyperghost

@BiZzAr721

This is useful when you got a lot of games that you need to make a game config for and don't want to enter runcommand to copy master to game config every time.

Therefore I changed the launch script. You can directly access the usermenu from this and configurate each game ;)

Your batch file is also nice and will help people with windows systems. Can you help us in getting a nice GameList for OpenBOR?

BiZzAr721

@cyperghost said in [Tutorial] OpenBOR - the complete guide:

Can you help us in getting a nice GameList for OpenBOR?

I have the spreadsheet open in my browser so I don't forget =)

EDIT:
@cyperghost said in [Tutorial] OpenBOR - the complete guide:

Therefore I changed the launch script. You can directly access the usermenu from this and configurate each game ;)

That's a big plus, except for I launch each game individually from the ports menu using individual scripts, that's why having the option to copy master config to all game configs would be massive

PS I had that hacked together script I created to make the individual script files, but I still had to go into each file and manually erase a blank line #3 that gets created and would cause an error launching the games. I have a script created for all 181 games I tested that works. That should be compatible with most mods, with the exception of the few that may be named slightly different (which a quick edit of the script file or game folder will take care of)

I will make them available in the next day or two. Maybe you would like to add them to your git to keep everything together?

cyperghost

@bizzar721 Wow! Thank you for the swift crosscheck of the list. Yes I can upload some configs to my github account. @darknior everything all right?

BiZzAr721

@cyperghost Added a comment on TMNT Red Sky Battle with a link to a modified models.txt

It lets you select Casey Jones as a playable character. Found it when I saw in @hansolo77 's list that there was a final release of the game and I was using an old demo. Reading the game post at chronocrash while getting the final version I saw a comment about using the TMNT launcher & entering secret code "outlaw hero" to unlock as well as a Red Sky 2 demo (which works).

Took me a while of renaming setting files, copying files back & forth, even re-extracting and copying the pak file before I found it was a simple altered text file.

@cyperghost Here are those individual mod launch scripts

Also, I just started having an issue where if I press LEFT on ANY joypad - setup or not - openBOR immediately exits! I did do some organizing/cleanup. Any ideas off hand?

EDIT
From runcommand log:

Loading 'jbike' from data/chars/jimmy/jbike.txt
Loading 'jplane' from data/chars/jimmy/jplane.txt

Loading models...............	Done!
Object engine init...........	Done!
Input init...................	USB Gamepad  - 2 axes, 10 buttons, 0 hat(s)
Done!


shutdown called from leave_game

************ Shutting Down ************

OpenBOR v3.0 Build 3016, Compile Date: Jul  7 2018
Presented by Senile Team.
This Version is unofficial and based on the Senile source code.

cyperghost

@bizzar721 I will add the individual launch scripts to the first posting. I think that makes more sense then to add to github.

About your control issues. You may delete the whole content of SAVE?

EDIT:
About fixing some games. There is an issue with Golden Axe classic, the dwarf is so weak (as descriped in the sheet file) I think it's just an issue with wrong setted "strength" number or a script error. That's really annoying because you need felt 100hits to kill an easy opponent.

BiZzAr721

I will try and remove entire save directory. I tried downloading different joypad configs and even deleting the gamw configs. Even pressing left while mapping a control exits. I will try with gamepad disabled. If it still turns off then I can assume it's a bor issue.

I was trying to research but couldn't find anything. From the error I was searching to see if runcommand has a mapping for game exit. I don't even know of a exit key for openbor.

hansolo77

I know ESC will take you out of the game if you're on the menu, or take you TO the menu if you're in a game. If the game is existing while in a game, it sounds like pressing ALT+F4 in Windows, which immediately ends the task.