Running Retro Pie on my RGB Commodore monitor at 240p

lakitu

Hi I would like to run my retro games on my 1084 Commodore monitor via RGB. I think I would need something like the PI2SCART in conjunction with the Pi3.

Problem is I know nothing about setting up a Pi, let alone one with the PI2SCART. I have read guides but I really don't feel comfortable setting this up with my RGB monitor.

Would it be possible to send someone the Pi3 and the PI2SCART and someone set this up for me with RetroPie or something similar if RetroPie is not suitable for RGB 240p? I would of course pay for this service.

If this is not allowed, is there anywhere else on this forum where I could post? I am desperate for this setup but after months feel like I'm not getting anywhere.

mitu

@lakitu said in Running Retro Pie on my RGB Commodore monitor at 240p:

I am desperate for this setup but after months feel like I'm not getting anywhere.

Did you get the parts needed ? Did you try to make it work or just perused the internet and reading the information available ?

lakitu

@mitu Yes I have both the PI and the PI2SCART but I cannot get it to work. I'm pretty terrible with these things but I really don't want to give up on this. I just want to play my games on a 15 kHz RGB monitor. I really don't like playing on a LCD.

lakitu

@lakitu I wonder if someone already has their Pi setup with a PI2SCART to their RGB monitor already? Maybe I could use there SD card?

mitu

@lakitu So what exactly have you tried that it's not working ?

lakitu

I have Retro Pi running but cannot figure out how to get the PI2SCART working and outputting correctly. I am not sure on what to do to get to output on the RGB monitor. Retro Pi menu etc works through HDMI.

mitu

@lakitu Don't they have instructions on how to configure it with the PI ? A cursory search indicates you need to configure the output video device and the resolutions through the config.txt file on the sdcard:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8uZtHByEHyBMkNRRmk4T2E1ZUk

lakitu

@mitu I know I have tried but nothing seems to work, I was just hoping there was someone out there that wouldn't mind me sending them the Pi and PI2SCART and them setting it up and I can gift them for their time.

mitu

@lakitu Without the same hardware, there's always a possibility that a pre-made setup wouldn't work with your monitor. I mean, people have been successfully set-up Pi2Scart, so the configuration instructions are fine - if it doesn't work for you, maybe there's something else.
Is the Pi2Scart setup working with another CRT TV - did you test it ? You should try eliminating any hardware related faults - like bad cable, bad Pi2Scart unit, etc.

Efriim

Very cool.

config.txt
The easiest way to write to this file might be to plug in the microsd to the reader/adapter on your computer

Have these added to config.txt

dtoverlay=vga666
disable_audio_dither=1
enable_dpi_lcd=1
display_default_lcd=1
dpi_group=2
dpi_mode=87
hdmi_timings=320 1 16 30 34 240 1 2 3 22 0 0 0 60 0 6400000 1

I'll look up some more timings. I think the above is 320x240
The 1084 needs to have the switch in back pressed inwards and the switch in front outwards for RGB.

or try this one

hdmi_timings=320 1 14 46 28 256 1 17 32 9 0 0 0 50 0 6400000 1 # 320:256 Amiga (PAL)

I've never used this setting ~~I think it changes the hdmi output and the target "projected" display, as far as I know the scart is purposed to convert into these things, and doesn't actually need to read timings from hdmi.~~

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/dpi/README.md

lakitu

@Efriim Thank you so much, I will try that today! Really appreciate the time you took :)

Efriim

It would be a good idea to confirm one by one, all the physical components are working, by using them separately from each other if you have the extra means to do so, and you are getting a blank display.

The text after the #(pound)key before a line break; are "commented out" meaning they wont be configured until you remove the # at the beginning of the line. Of course only use one timing at a time.

Be aware that some configurations can exceed the limits of your hardware potentially altering its function permanently especially with old hardware that is known to burn out.

# 240p from 15khz korean retro image: seven-pi.
# I think they used a scart adapter different than pi2scart but old hardware none the less
hdmi_timings=320 1 23 30 34 240 1 4 3 16 0 0 0 60 0 6400000 1

coordinated view timings
dpi/hdmi timings

If use ssh to edit the config.txt you will need to use root to be able to save the changes, you can superuser into root for your text editor by using this command
sudo nano /boot/config.txt

youxia

Did you try the official image from Arcade Forge (pi2scart seller) site? It's supposed to be working out of the box (the timings and configs are tailor made).

I wouldn't advise just throwing random timings and settings at your monitor because you may well damage it.

Try also reading this thread, we've all been through this a couple of years ago: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/8521/best-way-to-output-scart-rgb-from-pi-3/7
Apart form config.txt changes mentioned earlier here, you will also need to adjust your runcommand onstart/onend as described in the above thread.
It's a bit of work, but well worth it in the end.

Efriim

@youxia
You couldn't seriously damage the CRT with RGB specifically could you? If so I should edit my posts.

You know you're right. Especially with old hardware that is already on its last life and anyone else who is trying to apply this to that even if not with RGB, I'll try to edit my work.

youxia

@Efriim It is possible if you feed it some outlandish timings. I am not saying the ones you have posted will do that, they may well work OK, but not knowing the source and what they were intended for it's hard to say. I'm talking about the hdmi_timings ones, these can be dangerous. The config.txt is good, but I would skip the ones from your post starting with hdmi_cvt.

I'm bit busy now but will post my confirmed-working settings (for a CRT TV though) later. In any case OP should try the arcade forge image first, even if just to copy the configs from it to the official Retropie.

EDIT: my old config.tx. You can also try the "AF" and "mohl" settings (just make sure to remove #AF for example)


gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=256
gpu_mem_1024=256

disable_overscan=1
disable_audio_dither=1
dtparam=audio=on
dtoverlay=vga666
enable_dpi_lcd=1
display_default_lcd=1
dpi_group=2
dpi_mode=87

hdmi_timings=320 1 15 20 49 240 1 6 8 10 0 0 0 60 0 6400000 1

#c64hdmi_timings=336 1 10 18 46 288 1 5 6 6 0 0 0 50 0 6400000 1
#AF hdmi_timings=320 1 16 30 34 240 1 2 3 22 0 0 0 60 0 6400000 1 
#mohl hdmi_timings=320 1 10 20 54 240 1 6 8 10 0 0 0 60 0 6400000 1

This should give you a stable picture, I have used these settings on many CRT TV sets, they should work on a monitor too I think (or at least won't damage it).
problem is, this will only work for few emus in 1:1 scale, since they often used different resolutions. To handle this you need to use the high-res trick (read the thread I linked to)

For that you need to change the runcommand and then also adjust the settings in retroarch.cfg (custome aspect ratio and resolutions, or use integer ON/Off option). Unfortunately I'm not near my SCART TV sets and can't remember all these settings exactly so can't help you here. You either use the Arcade Forge image, figure it out from the resources here or post on reddit in /r crtgaming sub.

My runcommand-onstart

fbset -depth 8 && fbset -depth 16 -xres 1920 -yres 240

My runcommand-onend

fbset -depth 8 && fbset -depth 16 -xres 320 -yres 240