Custom configs for CRT using the built-in composite out

mediamogul

RetroPie is constantly being updated. The current official image is at version 4.4, while the most recent version is 4.4.4. There have even been quite a few updates and improvements since that version bump. Whenever the head developer (BuZz) feels that a milestone has been reached, or that a substantial amount of development has occurred, the version number is officially increased. Whether or not any of the most recent advancements will help with your issue is uncertain, but like @chipsnblip said, it's a good place to start troubleshooting.

polish.potato

Seems to be working now. I tested 2600, Gameboy and NES. Which seemed to work out fine. The only problem I have now (not for me but maybe someone else) is that the command screen is zoomed in and you can't see what you are typing in the beginning. Other than that it's freaking awesome! The only thing I can think of that I did wrong was that I didn't press the save button in notepad. Which is a possibility. Noob.

Sakitoshi

@polish-potato
sorry for the late reply, all the new year parties had me busy for a while.
the screen seems zoomed in because of the lower resolution.
If you are talking about the screen that says "launching system, press A to configure", you can modify the runcommand-onstart.sh file and remove "-yres 400" almost at the end of the forth line. you can also tweak the number, the original value (if you remove the option) is 480, but if you have a loading image it will also be affected and get stretched/squished.

or maybe you are talking about the login screen bug (as you say typing in the beginning) that happens when you update to raspbian stretch. you can fix that as explained here:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/154986

Sakitoshi

New update:

nec pc98 support (via libretro neko project II kai).
small adjust to pc: disabled gamma correction for that system (pc98 also has this tweak).
slight tweak to runcommand at 240p, toned down my previous change to make it bigger, is still bigger than normal to make it readable.
Not much going on since I was quite happy with what I have done, but since pc98 emulation is possible now (and I wanted to play a couple games) I looked into the matter and since I was again testing things I decided to take a look at a couple things of my previous configs.
Now that I remember I also silently changed the values of cave story to make it match its wiiware release, now it has exactly the same aspect ratio and alignment.

Sakitoshi

Yet another update:

colecovision, intellivision and msx are now supported.

tested mostly by eyeballing, msx has some titles on the wii virtual console so I could use that as a reference and get a pretty accurate look, I'm pleased with the results.
and with this I think we can say that there are configs to support every major platform the raspberry pi can emulate without problems, or at least almost every system that has a libretro core (except psp and dreamcast because those run like balls).
I know I'm missing some other systems but I really have no way to test those correctly (and some have a screen that isn't even remotely similar to a tv) and I don't want to eyeball the remaining systems without a reliable source just to support every system.

Cascote

I've been using your configs for the last few months and I must say you did an awesome job here!
I have built an Arcade using Raspberry pi 3b and a 20in CRT TV.
Games look great, no issues at all with that, but EmulationStation not so good.
I know that, inevitably, I will always have some flickering in Emulation Station since is running Interlaced, but is there any way to reduce that somehow? I tried progressive in ES, the picture doesn't have flickering, but text looks crappy as also the ES Menu UI. I tried changing emulation station resolution thru autostart.sh, trying different SDTV_MODES, different themes, modifying themes (since every existing theme is bigger than my screen), modifying colors and random stuff on the service menu from the TV... I ran out of ideas. Would you have any suggestion for me?
Thanks in advance :)

polish.potato

Hi, I have a question. How do you recommend I add the new update to the previous build? I just wanted to put it on top and skip the fresh install. Any help would be appreciated.

Sakitoshi

@Cascote that is a choice your poison situation.
480i provides full resolution and is perfect for text but it flickers. 240p is sharp and flicker free but the text wont be too legible because what essentially does is skip every other line of the 640x480 image, loosing half the vertical resolution needs bolder text and most themes don't have those (and now that I think about it it will break the force 480i option). you can lessen that by using one of the recommended themes that I mention in the github readme, but isn't perfect.

I personally prefer 480i for es because the extra resolution really helps and you spend little time staring at it anyway.

@polish-potato you can always create a backup of your current setup before copying my configs, that way if something goes bad you can just go back. but unless you have done some heavy modifications it should work with any non-fresh build.

Cascote

@Sakitoshi Thanks for your response! I also prefer 480i . I tried for a while with progressive 240p (I had to modify the line on runcommand-onend.sh to avoid force 480i when exiting games) and I couldn't get used to it.
Well, now that I know that I can't make 480i look better on ES, I can calm my OCD on it and go on with the remaining things on my list xD.
Thanks!

Sakitoshi

Long overdue update:

super gameboy borders are now used when using mgba instead of the custom border.

I was lazy on this one because I don't play gameboy very much on my raspi, but today while thinking about other things I though of an easy way to detect if a border is provided by mgba and use it instead of the generic one, so I went ahead and implemented it.
I still like gambatte more for the custom palettes, color correction for gbc and the newly added mix frames feature that emulates the ghosting of the gameboy screen.

handlolo

Hello everyone, I have registered on this page just to be able to consult you about this great addition to retropie.
I tell you my case, it turns out that I have a raspberry 1 model b that I connect through the composite cable to a commodore monitor 1084s D2 that supports NTSC through the analog RGB but not the composite cable.
I install the system correctly and without problem following the steps of installation, I have done test in Ntsc where I get the expected monochrome, and in progressive PAL where it is seen in color.
The problem is that the only systems where the games work are in Mame and Final Burn
The other systems do not work, neither Nes, nor Megadrive, Snes, Pce, the screen remains black and sound is heard in the background. Let's see if you can help me with this.
Thank you.

Sakitoshi

@handlolo it has to be your display, I've never owned a commodore so I'm not familiar with the monitor, but for what you say it seems like it has problems displaying 240p.
you say that mame and final burn work, but those systems aren't supported separately (the "arcade" system that contains both mame and fba is supported), so you are not using the configs with those systems and are displaying on 480i per default.

handlolo

@Sakitoshi It seems very strange to me, because that monitor was precisely for commodore Amigas 500/600/1200 that used 240p and other similar resolutions. Any suggestions to modify in the config files?

Sakitoshi

@handlolo Like I said, I'm not familiar with those monitors so I can be wrong, but that's where I think the problem might be. you should try using another display (an lcd it's ok too) to see if the configs are working as intended first.
you can try deleting the configs\all\runcommand-onstart.sh and configs\all\runcommand-onend.sh to force everything to run at 480i. that is no ideal but at least you should be able to receive signal that way.

handlolo

@Sakitoshi I tried again, this time with a "30" tv philips crt of 100hz and nothing, still with the same problem when loading a game of Snes and others, the screen remains black.

Sakitoshi

@handlolo the only thing that I can think off is that you have some custom configurations that are interfering with the way my configurations work, if that's the case, if you have a spare micro sd card, you can try to copy my configs to a fresh install of retropie, test if is works with that fresh install (if it doesn't then I really don't know what is at fault) and then compare both builds to find the issue.
I can't assist you with that since only you would know what values were changes.

if everything fails, sometimes a fresh install is the only "solution".

handlolo

@Sakitoshi No, I came from recalbox, I tried all this with a new installation of retropie 4.4. By the way I managed to see the games, the problem is in the archive retroarch.cfg that are in the configs folders, one option o more failed.

handlolo

I found the problem.. i change "aspect_ratio_index=23" for "aspect_ratio_index=22 (custom viewport)" and now the black screen problem it fixed. Can you explain me more about this command? Thanks for your help and for this great work.

mitu

@handlolo said in Custom configs for CRT using the built-in composite out:

I found the problem.. i change "aspect_ratio_index=23" for "aspect_ratio_index=22 (custom viewport)" and now the black screen problem it fixed. Can you explain me more about this command? Thanks for your help and for this great work.

That's because of a change in RetroArch code, where the aspect_ratio_index value that meant 'custom resolution' was bumped from 22 to 23, so the old configuration files would not work anymore - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/19598/custom-viewport-problem-retroarch-1-7-5/5.

Sakitoshi

@handlolo oh, well that is explained at the beginning of the readme, but since you are new you didn't knew better (and I completely forgot that was a thing).

since retroarch 1.7.4 the aspect_ratio_index setting changed, this configurations follow this new aspect_ratio_index setting for default. if you want to use them with retroarch 1.7.3 or older you need to run the "fix_aspect_ratio_index" script located at runcommand > user menu, that script will automatically change the aspect_ratio_index setting of every config file depending on the version of your currently installed retroarch.

vanilla retropie 4.4 has retroarch pre 1.7.4, if you do update retroarch from the retropie setup you'll end up with retroarch post 1.7.4 and the problem will come back (but a little different). just follow those instructions and you'll be fine.