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

Riverstorm

@UDb23 - Thanks, that's ok, you probably don't want a bunch of variations floating around. I am ok with setting it 1.0 as it looks good. It was just an FYI because anything less than 1.0 will start to show bleed through at various levels which leaves no brightness setting basically. That scenario didn't dawn on me at all until I actually started the game but I have no idea how a person would handle it and still allow user brightness options.

UDb23

@Riverstorm The other option is to create a "cropped" backdrop (cropped by the boundaries of the game windows of the bezel). But also this is not ideal; would not be good for people wanting to use just the backdrop.

Mmm.
One more option: full screen backdrop (as current) with a (separate and optional) black overlay (black mask) on top, with the exact layout of the bezel. In other words the RA bezel would have a black "underlay" so you can change the opacity without bleeding.
Having the .art system managing 2 images (bd+black mask) probably could be taxing in terms of performance on Pi.

Riverstorm

@UDb23 - I did test a cropped BD and it does work fine. I just used Photoshop and cropped the canvas width vs any image resizing so it kept the full 1080 height but I think that overlay uses integer scaling so I would need to get the correct dimensions as the height would need to be adjusted a little too.

I like the second option but not sure quite how to make a black overlay to test performance but if you think that's pushing the performance boundary maybe just going with the first option is better.

Right now I have Omega Race and Space Invaders that use BD's but I have a total of around 100 overlays from all the repositories but mainly from yours.

UDb23

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

how to make a black overlay to test performance

I can easily make it.. just a matter of finding the time..
you could then do the testing...

Riverstorm

@UDb23 - Thanks and take you time.

I was checking out Gorf. Now that's some hard positioning. The art in the zip looks clear and crisp but in game it's blurry. I think it has something to do with positioning coordinates. I messed with it a bit but not sure how it works to make the overlays clear. They use negative (under 0%) for the left panel and positive (over 100%) for the right panel.

It looks like they make an "all on" panel and an "all off" panel and then just use a black overlay mask with holes for what button is lit which is neat.

hhromic

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

Basically I can't see any messages like loading overrides, when I increment a save slot, screenshot, pause, etc. but everything does work correctly.
I am on RetroPie 4.4.4 and RA 1.7.5 on a Pi 3 using Plus commit 8ff5a43.

You can also adjust the font size, colors and the position of the RGUI messages in RetroArch, so you can move them inside the game area instead of the default position and therefore the overlay won't occlude them. This way you don't need to change the overlay opacity.

Check the relevant options for retroarch.cfg here:
https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/blob/master/retroarch.cfg#L250-L270

Because is RA's config, you can do this on a per-core/system basis too of course :)

Btw, great job you are doing with the backdrops guys! Looks amazing.

Riverstorm

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

You can also adjust the font size, colors and the position of the RGUI messages in RetroArch, so you can move them inside the game area instead of the default position and therefore the overlay won't occlude them. This way you don't need to change the overlay opacity.

Thanks for the reply. It's actually inside the game area now and is working properly.

If you set the opacity to 50% I see the text faint but clear. Once you set the opacity to 100% it covers the on-screen display (OSD). Basically it looks like the OSD is a "layer" below overlays but above backdrops.

Normally I set my overlays to 50% but with the backdrops filling the screen I set them to 100% opacity to cover the portions of the screen that are covered with overlay to avoid bleed through.

I like that backdrops can fill the screen if you're not using an overlay. I think UDb23 is going to create a mask for testing performance. With updates Nayslayer did a while back there's some games with artwork masks that seem to work fine and performance is good I've tested yesterday/today. Gorf, Lunar Lander & Turbo all seem to work with multiple masking layers to give the effect of informational lighted overlays that look incredibly neat.

I wasn't able to get high enough to see Gorf or Lunar Lander change my mission/rank lighted panel from the starter light but Turbo has a speedometer with actual red "clock" style numbers and a green bar speed gauge that is probably a great example of what's possible with LED style overlays.

Riverstorm

Here's a pic of what's happening as it probably shows it better. This is an overlay set to 50%. If set to 100% it's completely covered.

SI OSD.png

hhromic

@Riverstorm yes that's exactly what I thought is happening :) No confusions :)

What I suggested in my previous post is to re-position the OSD messages further up and right, so they are not covered by the overlay/bezel. Instead the OSD messages can be positioned in the transparent "game area" window of the bezel.

I haven't tried it myself (no access to an RPI right now) but these options mentioned allow to position the OSD messages wherever you want in the screen.

I hope it's clearer :)

Riverstorm

@hhromic - Ah ok, I see what you're saying.

That would put messages floating in the middle of the game area for some larger games. It would basically require me finding the overlay with the highest bottom right corner edge so the OSD is visible in all games with overlays.

I guess I prefer it down in the lower left corner of the screen for all games if possible as only about 1/3 of the games I run (around 100) have overlays. I think it would only require a change in layer order. I think OSD's should always be on top but maybe there's a situation where you don't want messages on top. Anyway I opened an issue on the RetroArch Github page.

hhromic

@Riverstorm yes I just saw your issue in the RetroArch repository and I definitively agree with you that ideally the OSD should be on top of everything. These messages should always be visible. Hopefully it is just an overlook by the RA developers and they change the z-order of the OSD :)

A Former User

I still cannot map ANY custom controls, in this version of MAME.
In MAME 2003, you can just press tab to bring up the main menu, goto the 2nd option and map controls specifically for that game. Take Robotron, I can map the 4-way fire to my second stick. In 2003+, I bring up the Retroarch menu, goto controls, and I can't do anything, only change the gamepad for each player. If I scroll down to the buttons, I can't do anything.
Why didn't you just leave it the way it was ? It worked perfectly in Mame 2003, so I don't get this new way.

robertvb83

@John_RM_70 Just start robotron and press your hotkey to access retroarch menu. Go to options and enable the dual joystick option

This will map the player 2 joystick to control fire directions. This is a special feature only for the few dual joystick games

This is a retroarch core option, the mame menu is not used here

For other games of course you can change the buttons game or core specific within the controls menu of retroarch. You do not ever need the "old" mame menu in mame2003+. HOWEVER if you still want it, go to options and enable "display mame menu". This way the mame tab menu will be shown

A Former User

@robertvb83 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

@John_RM_70 Just start robotron and press your hotkey to access retroarch menu. Go to options and enable the dual joystick option

This will map the player 2 joystick to control fire directions. This is a special feature only for the few dual joystick games

This is a retroarch core option, the mame menu is not used here

For other games of course you can change the buttons game or core specific within the controls menu of retroarch. You do not ever need the "old" mame menu in mame2003+. HOWEVER if you still want it, go to options and enable "display mame menu". This way the mame tab menu will be shown

My joystick is a keyboard controller style joystick, so it's not seen as 2 controllers, it's seen as one single keyboard, so the "map player 2 joystick to fire buttons" doesn't work - this was the first thing I tried.

Also this
"For other games of course you can change the buttons game or core specific within the controls menu of retroarch."
Doesn't work for me, I simply cannot do anything in that menu while a game is running.

go to options and enable "display mame menu"

Yeah, I saw that last night, but it was too late to try it. I thought this was the newer, more simpler, Mame menu ?

Riverstorm

@John_RM_70 - If you're familiar with the old 2003 way. Goto Quick Menu -> Options and set Input Interface to Simultaneous and Legacy Remapping to enabled. Then Tab will work/look like 2003. I use both RA and Tab for NOT mappings, etc. so I leave mine set to simultaneous but I like the dual stick option Robert pointed out too. There's some nice features you just have to poke around in the options and you should be able to get things configured like you want.

A Former User

@Riverstorm Cheers, I'll take a look in a minute.

Edit: This worked for me

Input Interface = Mame (Only had Retropad, Mame, Keyboard)
Legacy Remapping = enabled

JesseBlue

Just to make sure it's not an issue with my romset: Cotton.zip still does not work. Is that correct?

A Former User

Just to add to not working, at least for me.

Turbo Outrun. A older rom set works great in FBA, and MAME 2010. But with a CLRMamepro-verified rom set, I just get a screen full of characters, in Mame 2003plus. If I use the older set, in Mame2003plus, I get taken back to ES.

Riverstorm

@John_RM_70 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

Input Interface = Mame (Only had Retropad, Mame, Keyboard)

When you update from source or the next RP release mame will change to simultaneous under Input Interface. After the update you'll have to go into the options and change it back to simultaneous due to the recent input changes will reset it to retropad. Also you might want to check your TAB Input (general) settings as a few things get reset when Input changes happen.

A Former User

Cheers for the reply. I think my build is about 2 weeks old, so when I get the time I will update via source.