I cannot get the X68000 emulator to work.

[stevethefish76]

I am using a Raspberry Pi 3B v1.2. My desktop computer is Linux Mint Mate and I used Etcher to create the RetroPie SD card. I have not run any other emulator on it yet as I already can run many other emulators on my hacked Xbox. I'm just interested in playing the X68k for now.

I believe I have followed the instructions properly here:
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Sharp-X68000
I installed the X68000 emulator through the experimental section. I've ran the update utility. I obtained a zip file of every rom for the system in a big zip file on an archive site. I obtained a zip file of the BIOS files from someone uploading them to a forum somewhere.

I created this directory to insert the bios files:
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi
The Github page mentions different BIOS files to choose from, but not for what each is for. I put the iplrom.dat (BIOS) and cgrom.dat (font) files in that keropi directory.

I put several ROMS in this directory:
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/x68000

The roms are in the proper .dim format. I understand how to create .m3u files for multi-disk games.

I have sought help for this on both Reddit and the RetroPie group on Discord. Nobody is familiar with this emulator.

From the RetroPie screen, I could go into the X68000 emulator and chose a single disk game (Chourensha, for example). When I selected a game, the little disclaimer popup showed, offering to let me press a key to edit preferences. In the bottom lefthand corner, small text acknowledged my Logitech controller. Then it just hung on a black screen. I had to use the hotkey to get back out.

I then found this post from a couple of years ago, in which somebody had to put the bios files in the roms directory to get it to work.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/18664/sharpe-x68000-bios-location
So I moved the keropi folder to the roms/x68000 folder. I saw some other files in there, like a config file (I assume it was for the controller) and I deleted them to hope to start from scratch. This didn't work for me, and instead of hanging on a black screen, it just spat me back to the list of games. I moved the keropi folder back to the bios folder.

It was suggested to me (by someone with no experience with this emulator, but just guessing) that I might try using other BIOS files. I downloaded a zip file of all the bios files from an emulator wiki site, hoping to just use different files. Nothing works. It no longer gives me that tiny text acknowledging my controller, either. It has not recreated that config file and whatever else files I saw that first time I tried moving the keropi file.

That popup that displays when I try to load games tells me that an error log is created in the dev/shm folder. I have this in my computer now and I do not see any error logs. Since this is a brand new install with no other emulators to interfere, I cannot see why this is not working. What have I done wrong?

[mitu]

The configuration seems correct - bios files should go to BIOS/keropi and that's about it. I assume you're using the lr-px68k emulator (there's also a standalone emulator), hence the messages when starting the game about the controller.

Get a detailed log file by using the Runcommand launch menu to toggle verbose/debug logging, then immediately after launching the game (and getting the black screen) , get the contents of /dev/shm/runcommand.log and post it on pastebin.com.

[stevethefish76]

@mitu
I finally had the chance to try this out again. Here is the runcommand.log text file:

Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-px68k/px68k_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/x68000/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/x68000/Bleed Out Sakuretsu (1996)(Gold Cats Project).dim" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg
[CDROM] Could not open /dev/sg0, please check permissions.
Keropi Error: BIOS ROM image can't be found.

So it won't load the BIOS ROM files. They should be in the right place...

[mitu]

@stevethefish76 said in I cannot get the X68000 emulator to work.:

So it won't load the BIOS ROM files. They should be in the right place...

Post the location and checksum of the BIOS files.

[stevethefish76]

@stevethefish76 said in I cannot get the X68000 emulator to work.:

/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi

I already posted the location of the bios files.
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi
I'm not sure what a "checksum" is. Please help me out. Where does it need to go and where do I find a checksum file?

[mitu]

@stevethefish76 said in I cannot get the X68000 emulator to work.:

/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi

OK, can you show a listing of the folder ?

I'm not sure what a "checksum" is. Please help me out. Where does it need to go and where do I find a checksum file?

It's verification sum, to test if the file has the correct content. You can get a checksum from a file easily if you have 7zip installed. (video removed)

Compare the checksum you get with the one shown in the docs to make sure the BIOS file is correct.

[stevethefish76]

I appreciate you trying to help, but I've already listed the files in the /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi directory. I have cgrom.dat and iplrom.dat. This is per the github explanation page. Nothing more. Again, roms are installed in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/x68000.

I don't have 7zip since I only use Linux. The video you tried to embed won't load properly for some reason. I just installed GtkHash for Ubuntu and ran a checksum on iplrom.dat.
MD5: 7fd4caabac1d9169e289f0f7bbf71d8e
SHA1: 0ed038ed2133b9f78c6e37256807424e0d927560
SHA256: 8ead1d0f4ebb9c59a7fa118596f819e191c310442a00c56ab5ec5e9e7a189677
CRC32: 72bdf532

I've no idea if any of this will make sense to you. I've never really used a checksum before. Maybe in a college programming class 25+ years ago, but I cannot remember.

[mitu]

Here's the checksums I get for my BIOS files:

md5sum ~/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi/{cgrom,iplrom}.dat
cb0a5cfcf7247a7eab74bb2716260269  /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi/cgrom.dat
7fd4caabac1d9169e289f0f7bbf71d8e  /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/keropi/iplrom.dat

In my case, these are the same checksums from the doc page. Your checksum is for iplrom.dat and it looks ok, but you didn't post the checksum for the other one.

[stevethefish76]

It's alright now. My friend in America who gave me the RasPi3 finally installed the X68k emulator on his own system. He gave me the bios files he uses (he has all of them, not just one like Github says). He also has a boot rom put in the roms directory. It's called Sharp X68000 Boot ROM (1987)(Sharp).bin
I am not sure if I really needed this file, but I put all of his files where he said they needed to go and now I can play several games. Maybe it was the BIOS files, maybe it was the boot rom. Either way, it is working now! Thanks.

There is a YT video of a Japanese guy installing this emulator on his RasPi, but it is several years old and it isn't quite the same.

[ncc1701p]

@stevethefish76

Hi Mr the Fish. and everyone.. I'm the guy who gave stevethefish76 the retropie to start him on his fun geeking journey. He introduced me to the wonderful world of x68000 and I gotta say i am blown away. So I've started doing this also and did help Mr the Fish on this. I gave him a copy of my BIOS files and it seems to work for him. Been working with him trying to figure this stuff out. Some games load and some don't load. I'm not sure if its because of the type of rom used or its crc as I see there are multiple versions of things out there. Or if its the version of bios files that we're using. Again its a trial and test.

This is amongst the most trickiest emulation sets to get working at least on the Pi. Doing alot of google-FU and other things im surprised there isnt an all encompassing guide out there. There are bits and pieces which I assembled together to get this working which include multi-disk games.

the only thing i dont know is what exactly is Sharp X68000 Boot ROM (1987)(Sharp).bin that he referred to.

So we're working on it!

[cmdima]

Hi there! I want to try this emulator in the raspi but I can´t get it to work. I think that the problem are the Bios files.

Can anyone share the correct BIOS files to try?

I´d be very appreciated!

greetings!

[mitu]

@cmdima You can usually find the BIOS information in the Docs. Also, please don't bump ancient topics, it's bad forum etiquette.