mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support

Clyde

@grant2258 Do I have to update mame2003-plus first if my last update was yesterday morning?

I'm asking because in mame2003-plus from yesterday morning, delete does not work and double-esc will only set a binding to none in Input (general), but copy the general binding in Input (this game). See my test results from friday.

Has anything changed in this behaviour since yesterday morning?

edit: changed friday to yesterday morning when I did the test.

grant2258

yes change your input mode to mame. it equivalent to mame simultaneous. You guys are choosing to talk about the tab menu unstead of the new implementation so i dont know what to say. Its impossible to anser any questions unless your on the latest commit.

grant2258

can you start a new top somewhere on the latest version and we can take it from there so people interested can look at it if they feel like it. This is just bloating this thread with advance setups most people wont use

Clyde

@grant2258 I'm updating right now and report back in a new thread.

grant2258

@Clyde thanks that way we can deal with what your asking

Clyde

@grant2258 Done. :)

grant2258

thanks for that clyde helps us keep different issues that need delt with

UDb23

@grant2258 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

best to do an issue on github

done. thanks.

grant2258

well the whole ipac fix thing went to the background on the noise with the tab menu its in another thread if anyone can share there reasons for this there

hhromic

@grant2258 thanks for the PR for the new approach!. I will try it as soon as I can and report back.

I saw you re-enabled the old input_interface core option. Now it can be set to either retroarch or mame. Does this mean we can choose what input the core will listen too exclusively? In other words, to be clear:

input_interface = retroarchwill make the core only listen to RetroPad input and ignore the raw keyboard input?
input_interface = mame will make the core only listen to the raw keyboard input and ignore RetroPad input?

Is the above correct? Of course, when in retroarch mode we can make use of all of RA's input binding system, and with mame mode all bindings are done with the internal TAB menu, no?

If all the above is correct, then I think is a very good solution as will totally eliminate double-input and will please both kind of users, the ones that need more advanced mappings (TAB menu) and the ones that are fine with the simpler retroarch system.

Thanks again for the quick response and support. Great stuff!

grant2258

nearly there @hhromic

input_interface = retroarchwill make the core only listen to RetroPad input and ignore the raw keyboard input? -< yes it will only listen to retropads

input_interface = listen to keyboard and retropad and the nasty binds as well (double inputs)

the solution mam mode is use game focus

grant2258

I can add a keyboard only option as well if you want that but the underlying issue of double binding is still there but the option can be added if you see any good reason for it. The bad in this is all retropads are disabled in the old keyboard mode

however mame mode with game focus will give you full keyboard access and your normal retropads(controllers will work fine)

hhromic

@grant2258 ahh I see.

For my case the retroarch mode will save the day and is enough. However, pure mame keyboard (non-simultaneous) may be useful for other users. Also would make the configuration options more complete (pure-retroarch, pure-mame, mixed). If there is no interest from others, then I don't think is needed.

Thanks again and as soon as I can test it I will report back to confirm. Cheers!

grant2258

@hhromic the thing is mame simultaneous mode with game focus mode on is the same as the old keyboard only difference is you can use your original joypads as well.

the ipac will only send keycode because game focus mode turns all retroarch bindings off including retropads. Hope this clears things up

hhromic

@grant2258 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@hhromic the thing is mame simultaneous mode with game focus mode on is the same as the old keyboard only difference is you can use your original joypads as well.

the ipac will only send keycode because game focus mode turns all retroarch bindings off including retropads. Hope this clears things up

Sounds good. I agree that "retroarch + game focus = mame only".
But, what about the case of people who want the "old keyboard" without the hassle of having to enter game focus mode every time?

That's the use case I can see where having a "mame only" mode along the other ones is handy. I think is also less confusing to clearly have these three modes (retroarch-only, mame-only or simultaneous). Users will know clearly what each mode does and use what is best for them.

grant2258

@hhromic said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@grant2258 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@hhromic the thing is mame simultaneous mode with game focus mode on is the same as the old keyboard only difference is you can use your original joypads as well.

the ipac will only send keycode because game focus mode turns all retroarch bindings off including retropads. Hope this clears things up

Sounds good. I agree that "retroarch + game focus = mame only".
But, what about the case of people who want the "old keyboard" without the hassle of having to enter game focus mode every time?

That's the use case I can see where having a "mame only" mode along the other ones is handy. I think is also less confusing to clearly have these three modes (retroarch-only, mame-only or simultaneous). Users will know clearly what each mode does and use what is best for them.

We could do that I have no issues with adding keyboard only the average user is not going to understand the difference though and wonder why his/her controllers no longer work.

The good thing is you understand whats going on its a relief to be honest. As for mame mode there really is no choice but to use game focus mode if you have any keys bound to a retropad which you will if your using an ipac. This is how you would use mame2003 with an ipac without any issues assuming you mame keys are set right

just to clarify the 3 modes you are presenting.

retroarch - only send retropad bind to mame mask out the keypress because of retropad bind in ra config

keyboard - only send keyboard binds mask out all retropad binds only keys work

mame - send both (you will need to use game focus mode for this if you have any keys bound to a retropad in your ra config)

mame == simultaneous mode in the old scheme

edit: have put a pull request in for the 3 modes if its accepted consider it done :). I dropped down from a collaborator to a contributor on mame2003+ so i did not have to deal with people saying I was making the choices for myself. It makes my life easier for me not dealing with the politics

hhromic

@grant2258 I just tried your patch now, finally found some time.
It's working great now for me with mode retroarch, no double-inputs and I can map the keys from RetroArch, including hotkeys, and map per-game also using RA's system of cfg files. As I don't have any advanced controllers (just sticks with buttons), this approach is very convenient. Much appreciated.

Regarding the modes you mention, yes that is what I was talking about (retroarch, keyboard, mame modes). I think is the most flexible approach to suit every kind of users from average to advanced.

I understand one mode can be "emulated" using game focus, thus not strictly "necessary", however sometimes the game focus key is not easily accesible. For example I don't have extra buttons in my controller and I can't change the hardware mappings. In this case I would need an additional keyboard just to enter the game focus mode. With the retroarch mode none of this is necessary for such simple controller :). Again, thanks for bringing it back.

I have one final question, I noticed that the default mame mappings for retropads is this:

Config Menu: RetroPad1 L3
UI Select: RetroPad1 B
UI Cancel: RetroPad1 Y
  :
P1 Start: RetroPad1 Start
P1 Coin: RetroPad1 Select
P1 Button1: RetroPad1 Y
P1 Button2: RetroPad1 X
P1 Button3: RetroPad1 R
P1 Button4: RetroPad1 B
P1 Button5: RetroPad1 A
P1 Button6: RetroPad1 R2
P1 Button7: RetroPad1 L
P1 Button8: RetroPad1 L2
P1 Button9: RetroPad1 L3
P1 Button10: RetroPad1 R3
  :
(and similar for P2, P3, etc)

Are the mapping of P1 Button6 and P1 Button7 correct? they look like they should be swapped. I know I can map this however I like, but I'm wondering if this is a mistake in the default configuration or is meant to be like that as default.

grant2258

2003+ has more than one map classic and and gamepad(fba modern) controllers

arcade panel options
snes (6button) https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-plus-libretro/blob/master/metadata/wipcontrols/snesmapping.png

8 panel options
gamepad(fba modern)
https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-plus-libretro/blob/master/metadata/wipcontrols/modern.png

my own creation to be more ra core friendly I use this one so i will be biased towards it :(
https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-plus-libretro/blob/master/metadata/wipcontrols/10PANEL.png

pick which one you want in quickmenu-> controls

@hhromic please also clear the all files in the mame2003+ cfg directroy we had some big changes

by a quick look is say your on gamepad atm

the keyboard mode was added by me reluctantly to be honest we are trying to push the core in RA intergration but it wont do any harm

sorry had to add a few detail with the edit

hhromic

Ah didn't know there were different layouts for the retroarch gamepads.
I did start from a fresh clean mame2003-plus installation (no cfg files) and I can confirm it defaults to the 8-buttons gamepad layout as you guessed.
I have a 6-buttons per-player controller, so I will have to use the "snes" layout I think. Will try that, thanks for the pointer!

the keyboard mode was added by me reluctantly to be honest we are trying to push the core in RA intergration but it wont do any harm

I am definitively happy on moving the core more towards RA integration, that's the point of having a LR core in the first place :) The retroarch mode helps in this direction I think, the keyboard mode not so much I agree.

grant2258

make sure you save the controls else it wont remember Im glad you feeling the benefits from this. @markwkidd did most of this work. I just tidied a few bugs so he really deserves the credit for this RA integration. Feel free to pass on any issues you have or suggestions for improvements