Neo Geo X Build

Hankola

@ruckage I know this is perhaps yet another request on top of a pile of requests... but do you think when you have the time you could throw together the Capcom/Neogeo overlays with scanlines to fit games like 1942/Avengers/Ikari Warriors in that vertical style? I use these almost exclusively these days. I tried to make my own and its super apparent that it is no where near this quality.

tophunter99

question, the marquee layer is behind video preview, so it's only half displayed when video is playing, is there any way to fix this?

ruckage

@Hankola said in Neo Geo X Build:

@ruckage I know this is perhaps yet another request on top of a pile of requests... but do you think when you have the time you could throw together the Capcom/Neogeo overlays with scanlines to fit games like 1942/Avengers/Ikari Warriors in that vertical style? I use these almost exclusively these days. I tried to make my own and its super apparent that it is no where near this quality.

Hi. I can have a look but I can't guarantee how clean it will look as you need to cram in more scanlines as the image is rotated and scaled for those games.

@tophunter99 said in Neo Geo X Build:

question, the marquee layer is behind video preview, so it's only half displayed when video is playing, is there any way to fix this?

Hi. It's do do with the video player you are using. You must be using OMX player which is hardware accelerated but doesn't support layering so is always rendered on top.

To disable OMX player in EmulationStation open the option menu.
Choose 'Other settings'.
Find the option for OMX player and make sure it's switched off.

The video should then play behind the marquee.

tophunter99

@ruckage good to know, thanks!

kentarosan

Hi there! Been trying this theme and is awesome. But have a problem with the games' logos:

alt text

How can I fix that problem with the logos size?

ruckage

@kentarosan
Hi. You need to use the pack of marquees specifically designed for this theme. There is a link to download the marquee pack in this post along with some other assets that may be useful.

Synthesis

@ruckage I made my account for the sole purpose of asking questions, so hopefully I don't embarrass myself.

Disabling OMX works, but all the preview video is blue tinted. I cursory glance at the forums seems to suggest this is codec related...maybe. This isn't just my first time with your great theme, it's my first time with RetroPie in general, so I'm stumped. Could anyone else comment on the inverted (I think) colors?

mitu

@Synthesis said in Neo Geo X Build:

Disabling OMX works, but all the preview video is blue tinted. I cursory glance at the forums seems to suggest this is codec related...maybe

It's a bug with the vlc packages included in Raspbian. There's a fix pending, but not yet released. It's not a codec related problem. You can either downgrade your VLC packages, switch to OMXplayer (which might interfere with the theme's layout, as you noticed) or wait for the updated packages to be released.

Synthesis

@mitu Thank you for clarifying. I think I read something similar, but you've done a much better job explaining than elsewhere. As you noted, OMX reproduces the colors properly, but does not support layers (as mentioned just a few posts above). Normally I'd err on the side of patience, but simply as a learning experience, could you outline how to downgrade the internal VLC software? Toggling it does seem as simple as disabling OMX, and I'm not too worried about overheating (given the preview resolution and since my Pi is just sitting on a table top currently).

mitu

@Synthesis I'd rather wait for the packages to be updated. I have an image that has some desktop components and that pulled a few more packages for vlc that might not exist on your system.
However, as a learning experience, if you have used apt/apt-get before, the steps involved would be:

determine which vlc packages are installed with

dpkg -l | grep vlc

For each package, run the downgrade command

sudo apt-get install <package_name1>=3.0.3-1-0+deb9u1 <package_name2>=3.0.3-1-0+deb9u1

Ex.

 sudo apt-get install  libvlc-bin=3.0.3-1-0+deb9u1

Synthesis

@mitu said in Neo Geo X Build:

@Synthesis I'd rather wait for the packages to be updated. I have an image that has some desktop components and that pulled a few more packages for vlc that might not exist on your system.
However, as a learning experience, if you have used apt/apt-get before, the steps involved would be:

determine which vlc packages are installed with
dpkg -l | grep vlc
For each package, run the downgrade command
sudo apt-get install <package_name1>=3.0.3-1-0+deb9u1 <package_name2>=3.0.3-1-0+deb9u1 
Ex.
 sudo apt-get install  libvlc-bin=3.0.3-1-0+deb9u1 

Thank you. I'll try and learn from example at least--I guess I picked a less-than-optimal time to start this pet project (the actual physical wiring of everything seems easy by comparison, but maybe I just suck at basic coding).

In the meantime: figuring out loading screens (as a perfect example of how these things work for me, I followed the basic instruction of universal loading screens....and they didn't work, and the screens passed too fast for any human being to read what might've gone wrong on my end). Pretty much how I've learned everything so far, heh.

Earthworm James

Nothing to add but I'm glad I found this thread - another Neo Geo freak checking in :)

The conversion of the X looks great.

abo-hana

Great work 👏👏👏 ... waiting for complete Theme sporting / arcade / mame / neogeo pocket / neogeo color / retropie sitting... many thanks to all of you 😊

Synthesis

@mitu said in Neo Geo X Build:

@Synthesis I'd rather wait for the packages to be updated. I have an image that has some desktop components and that pulled a few more packages for vlc that might not exist on your system.

@mitu I meant to ask: I'm generally familiar with how to update RetroPie via the Retro-Config (or one of the other names for it) interface. I've done it before. I also know how to install optional and even experimental modules (mostly). But how will I update VLC whenever the fix is released (I guess I should also ask, "How will I know?" except I guess I'll hear via word-of-mouth). If you'll excuse the expression, updating Linux-derived software is the wilderness for me, and I'm assuming just generally updating RetroPie itself won't do it.

Again, thank you for all your patience and help with this. Like a lot of people probably, I severely underestimated the difficulty of setting up my own Neo Geo-themed front end in RetroPie rather than just relying on an existing image.

mitu

@Synthesis said in Neo Geo X Build:

I guess I should also ask, "How will I know?" except I guess I'll hear via word-of-mouth

You'll just use the update script and update also the OS packages along, just like you did so far.

I severely underestimated the difficulty of setting up my own Neo Geo-themed front end in RetroPie rather than just relying on an existing image.

What are these 'difficulties' you're speaking of ? So far your only post here in the forum is in this topic, for a bug which has no precedent so far and is not in RetroPie. If you want to detail your problems, please do so in a separate topic, instead of clobbering this topic, which is dedicated to the theme.

Synthesis

@mitu said in Neo Geo X Build:

What are these 'difficulties' you're speaking of ? So far your only post here in the forum is in this topic, for a bug which has no precedent so far and is not in RetroPie. If you want to detail your problems, please do so in a separate topic, instead of clobbering this topic, which is dedicated to the theme.

Sorry, I didn't want to speak out of turn. They mostly came down to learning how to 1) Load the theme correctly (actually pretty straightforward), configure the SS scraper to work (a little harder), replacing the 2D graphics with the supplied ones from Ruckage (a little harder), figuring out this issue with video images (a little harder still). I'm in the process of figuring out how to individualize loading screens next (which is partially a RetroPie thing, partially related to this theme, though more the former). There are other RetroPie specific issues (before I even started loading these theme), but I try and avoid bringing those up.

I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything. For a neophyte in RetroPie, this is kind of daunting (but Ruckage even warned as much that this was a complicated theme). I didn't mean to clobber this topic.

Synthesis

@ruckage (or anyone who's gone through the physical process of actually routing the power through the Neo Geo X dock). Hopefully this isn't the wrong place to ask, but I couldn't really see of anywhere else:

Have you gotten constant undervoltage alerts? Considering I'm using a Gowoops 5V 3A dual USB charger, and the fourth USB to barrel jack cable I've test (I've also tested a PSP Charger which actually performed better then one other USB chargers)...I imagine the constant undervoltage warnings I receive from the kernel are coming from the $9 cable kit (MicroUSB splitter, etc.) I bought from AliExpress. Serves me right, in that sense.

But could anyone recommend good cables for running from the dock's MicroUSB to the Pi's power and USB ports?

FlyingTomahawk

@Synthesis

I had also under voltage warnings on my Famicom build. Usually happens with microUSB extension cables. Still haven't found any suitable extension cable that can handle the right voltage.
Ended up pluging in the USB power cable directly and have it dangle out so that I can plug it in my USB PSU.

Ruckage did a few builds like NES, SNES and NeoGeo X and he seems to have no issues at all. He might have some insides as to how to extend the power cable without voltage loss.

Synthesis

@FlyingTomahawk I see, thank you. Yeah, the other example I found had the person encountering the same issues, and ignoring them. Thank you for weighing in. Considering my current level of expertise, I can probably rule out attempting to bypass the Neo Geo X's power supply in any way that isn't kind of a mess.

ruckage

@Synthesis @FlyingTomahawk

Hi. When I make my builds I don't use usb extension cables as they're usually only designed for data and not for supplying the power needed by the rpi.
I always use the official power supplies as they're fairly cheap and work well and I actually cut off the usb end with enough wire to reach from the barrel socket to the RPI inside the console. I then solder this to the barrel connector on the inside of whatever console I'm modding. Finally I solder a barrel plug onto the cut end of the power supply (making sure the polarity is correct first) and it's ready to use. Doing it this way I've never had an under voltage warning. I hope that makes sense.