retroarch in retropie

vol.2

am i correct in assuming that i don't have to mess with the retroarch settings at all in retropie?
the roms it emulates will just pop up on the main screen under their respective systems and that's all, right?

GoldManSex778

@vol-2 For the most part you are correct, your question is a bit vague. Are you putting roms in their folder and they aren't showing up?

dankcushions

almost. retropie is essentially a series of programs that act as a launcher and auto-configurer for retroarch (and a few other stand-alone emulators).

for some specific thing you may have to go into retroarch settings, but not for basic use. however i think almost everyone finds some kind of specific thing they want to do that involves messing with settings.

vol.2

@dankcushions

Ok. Thanks for the reply.

I asked this because the game I was testing with, Phantasy Star for the JP version Sega masters, didn't show up to play. The rom works fine in Retroarch on my PC and on the Pi in Lakka, but it doesn't make the Sega Mark III (or the SG-1000) device appear. I tried manually dropping the file into retropie and it still wouldn't show up.

Because I'm completely new to retropie, I wasn't sure what I needed to mess with or didn't, and there are a ton of over-lapping options that look like they could screw stuff up if you do something wrong.

mitu

@vol-2 said in retroarch in retropie:

. I tried manually dropping the file into retropie and it still wouldn't show up.

What's the other method ? I mean, you have to copy the file in the proper place and it has to have the proper extension - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Master-System/. Did you restart Emulationstation after you copied the file to the right folder ?

vol.2

@mitu it's a sega mark 3/ sg-1000 version (japanese) so i put it in the sg-1000 folder. i can try master system, but i know it won't run with the master system emulator in the PC version of retroarch, and it only runs with the sg-1000 emulator in lakka, so i never thought of putting it in what i am assuming is the wrong folder. but i'll try it!

mitu

@vol-2 Ok, so what's the exact name of the ROM ? The SG-1000 emulator in RetroPie is lr-genesis-plus-gx and it's installed by default, so you'd only need to copy the file to that folder and it should show up.

vol.2

@mitu it's..... ps1jert102.sms

It's in the correct folder. Same emulation folder that it goes in Lakka and in Retroarch which, as I've mentioned, works fine for me. It's just not working. (also the "other method" i was referring to is the usb stick file system method)
I'll try some other consoles to see If I have any luck, but I think it's just a borked install or something.

Thanks

Thorr69

So, humor me a second. Let's just verify you took the following steps:

Turned on Pi (duh, of course..)
copied the file ps1jert102.sms to the folder roms/mastersystem (not sg-1000) either by network share or by USB transfer
restarted emulationstation or rebooted pi (required after copying new roms to the pi!!!!!)

Once the reboot happens, the initial boot process will update the rom list for the system. The Master System console should then show up as an option on the console list and the rom should then show on the rom list for that system. (The SG-1000 and the master system have the same emulator and share the same file format, so putting it in the master system folder should be just fine.)

Yes, this is super simple and I am not being condescending here. I am just verifying that you did the basic proper steps. It's possible that you disabled the boot-up rom scan and that's preventing it from showing.

Thorr69

Just to confirm what the OP is trying to do, I put my copy of Phantasy Star (J) in the roms/SG-1000 directory and restarted ES. I now have SG-1000 as a choice in my system list and was able to run the game immediately.

mitu

@vol-2 said in retroarch in retropie:

I'll try some other consoles to see If I have any luck, but I think it's just a borked install or something.

Can you offer more details about your installation - as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first ?

If you copy a .sms file in the sg-1000 folder, it won't appear, since the .sms extension works only for the Mastersystem platform - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/SG-1000/. The extension of the file suggests it's not a SG-1000, but a Mastersystem ROM.
It incidentally works in Lakka because it uses the same emulator - lr-genesis-plus-gx, but Emulationstation will not show it because of the extension (as I said in my first post).

Thorr69

@mitu said in retroarch in retropie:

If you copy a .sms file in the sg-1000 folder, it won't appear, since the .sms extension works only for the Mastersystem platform

Just to confirm, my test rom worked because it was zipped. When I unzip it and place the sms file in the directory, it no longer appears. You won't have the same problem if you put it in the mastersystem folder.

vol.2

@Thorr69 i had already tried rebooting when I started this thread. thanks for the idea though. sometimes ppl forget that stuff!

vol.2

@mitu

I started from scratch, and now the SMS shows up. unfortunately, it plays without the FM sound. I've been advised that I need to go into the retroarch settings and turn on FM sound, and to only use the GX emulation core.
I'll try that out tonight.

Thanks for you help, I guess something was just off about my first install, tho can't imagine what!

mitu

@vol-2 said in retroarch in retropie:

@mitu

I started from scratch, and now the SMS shows up. unfortunately, it plays without the FM sound. I've been advised that I need to go into the retroarch settings and turn on FM sound, and to only use the GX emulation core.

It's part of the Core options - https://docs.libretro.com/library/genesis_plus_gx/#core-options

Thanks for you help, I guess something was just off about my first install, tho can't imagine what!

What image did you use for installation ?

vol.2

@mitu first time i used sudo apt-get retropie. second time i used the pi 2/3 image from retropie page

thanks, I'll try out the fm stuff tonight! looking forward to PS with good sound. it makes such a difference in those low early RPGs

Thorr69

@vol-2 Oi, Phantasy Star is one game where the FM sound definitely was not better (IMHO). The author of the FM version didn't properly truncate notes and the bass line is nearly inaudible. FM sound is decent many other games, but not Phantasy Star.