Amiberry (Amiga) help

g0nz0uk

@nemo93 I think you mention you did Hammerfist, I've downloaded the latest whdload_db.xml, but still see it in a box.

Did I do something wrong?

Thorr69

@Thorr69 hello :-) There was a bug due to some invalid characters inside the XML itself. This prevented Amiberry to update the file. Both Amiberry and the XML have been updated now to prevent this from happening again. Did you try to update the XML recently?

I installed amiberry from source on the 4.6 system I built this week. I tried to do the XML update 2 minutes before making my comment. It didn't work, which is what I expected, and thus I made my comment. It always says "No internet connection". I am always hooked up with a wired connection. In the past I have disconnected the ethernet and switched to WiFi to try to make it work. Still hasn't. I've really been hoping that Dungeon Master's save problems have been fixed, but without the update function, I'll never know.

nemo93

@g0nz0uk hello :-) thanks a lot for submitting these new games. Please keep doing that the exact same way you did (one issue per game with the lha name is ok). Also keep in mind not all games can run "full screen". Chaos Engine or Hammerfist for instance support a 200 height resolution and as such will almost "fill" the screen. Yet many other games don't support such resolution (eg. Flashback, Exile, Settlers, etc) and they will "fill" only the middle of the screen. That's why I've marked some of your issues as "won't fix". You can still change that from the Amiberry GUI and set another Display resolution.
=> the update process of "whdload_db.xml" is not straightforward and won't happen in 5mn! @HoraceAndSpider on Github explained how often the file is updated. Just be patient and within a few days you'll get everything updated :) You did nothing wrong!

@Thorr69 sorry to hear that. We got no such feedback since the fix. @g0nz0uk here is also fine updating the file. I can only suggest 2 things:

check for user rights on the following directories and ensure pi user is properly assigned. Then try updating the file again:

$ sudo chown -R pi:pi /opt/retropie/configs/amiga
$ sudo chown -R pi:pi /opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/game-data (to be sure :))
$ sudo chmod 644 /opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/game-data/whdload_db.xml

That's how my system looks like:

pi@retropie:/opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot $ ls -l
total 836
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 692922 May 17 17:32 boot-data.zip
drwxr-xr-x 2 pi pi   4096 May 14 19:22 game-data
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi    297 Oct 31  2018 hostprefs.conf
drwxr-xr-x 6 pi pi   4096 May 13 10:27 save-data
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 144732 May 17 17:32 WHDLoad
pi@retropie:/opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot $ ls -l game-data/
total 9332
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 4779891 May 17 20:22 whdload_db.xml

if the above doesn't solve yoiur issue please try the last resort alternative. Get the XML from there (right-click + Save as) and copy it to /opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/game-data. Then try updating from Amiberry GUI once again.
Dungeon Master is running like a charm here and I could see a save data folder (/opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/save-data/Savegames) :-)

Hope this helps.

g0nz0uk

@nemo93 Thanks!

I've getting my gamelist.xml all done now, a long manual update but worth it then I want to tackle the screen sizing/checking.

One question I do have, I ran Speedball2 CD and there is no music, how does the lha files handle the CD based games?

nemo93

hey @g0nz0uk I see you've kept yourself busy :) Lha versions of CD32 games do not include CDDA/CD music tracks. For some CD32 games (eg. Akira, Roadkill) that's no issue as those don't have CD music anyway hence it's fine to keep relying on the lha. However for games with CD tracks you're only option is to get your hands on a CD32 "bin/cue" (cd dump).

Amiberry does support CD32 games and Retropie will set everything up for you. Just make sure to add .cue to the list of supported extensions (next to .lha) in your Emulationstation setup and update your <path></path> element accordingly in the gamelist.xml. Please note you'll have to set the display/options by yourself using the GUI as CD32 "cd" versions are not part of the XML file! It should be fine by default though.

Speedball 2 is such a classic that it deserves to be played in the original version :-)

g0nz0uk

Hello,

How do you deal with games that have 2 disks like Xenon2 with regards to inserting the second disk when required and with the show in the lists of roms view in Emulationstation?

Thanks

nemo93

hey @g0nz0uk for Xenon 2 specifically I do rely on the 1 disk lha version => Xenon2_v1.12_1Disk_2234.lha. It works the same as the 2 disks version, same (wonderful) music etc. Anyhow if you have a "2 disk" version of a lha (eg. Xenon2_v1.12_2Disk_0297.lha) most of the time the disk swap is automatic. The worse case is you may have to press "fire" in some games but the goal of lha package is to automate things to make our lives easier. Isn't it great? :)

FYI I just pushed another round of fixes for more games. In a week or so everything should be up-to-date!

Thorr69

@nemo93 said in Amiberry (Amiga) help:

@Thorr69 sorry to hear that. We got no such feedback since the fix. @g0nz0uk here is also fine updating the file. I can only suggest 2 things:

check for user rights on the following directories and ensure pi user is properly assigned. Then try updating the file again:
$ sudo chown -R pi:pi /opt/retropie/configs/amiga
$ sudo chown -R pi:pi /opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/game-data (to be sure :))
$ sudo chmod 644 /opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/game-data/whdload_db.xml
That's how my system looks like:
pi@retropie:/opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot $ ls -l
total 836
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 692922 May 17 17:32 boot-data.zip
drwxr-xr-x 2 pi pi   4096 May 14 19:22 game-data
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi    297 Oct 31  2018 hostprefs.conf
drwxr-xr-x 6 pi pi   4096 May 13 10:27 save-data
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 144732 May 17 17:32 WHDLoad
pi@retropie:/opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot $ ls -l game-data/
total 9332
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 4779891 May 17 20:22 whdload_db.xml
if the above doesn't solve yoiur issue please try the last resort alternative. Get the XML from there (right-click + Save as) and copy it to /opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/game-data. Then try updating from Amiberry GUI once again.

Dungeon Master is running like a charm here and I could see a save data folder (/opt/retropie/configs/amiga/amiberry/whdboot/save-data/Savegames) :-)

Hope this helps.

Ok, so, I did everything in step 1 first. I matched up my screen with your own screenshots and the permissions lined up. I have the update a go, same result as always. (Instant pop-up saying 'No Internet Connection')

I then decided to switch from wired to WiFi. Since this is a new installation, I had to set the Country. I disconnected the wired connection, set the WiFi country to US, connected to my WiFi network, and then went to a command line interface to test. I pinged yahoo.com to check the connection and it was fully successful. I then went into Amiberry and clicked the update button and once again go thte same result - No Internet Connection.

All of this is the same behavior I have had on all 3 of my RasPies for the last 2 years.

My installed version of AMiberry is v3.1.4.0 beta (installed from source). I did Dungeon Master again just to see if the problem had been fixed, but it still fails the same way it always has. (The issue is very similar to this one, but not quite identical - https://github.com/midwan/amiberry/issues/358 . For me, the library doesn't seem to be missing, but it returns the same Disk.2 warning about XPK. The rest is "Detected in function 'resload_SaveFileOffset'. WHDLoad failed return code 144" My version of Dungeon Master shows as v1.2_0833.

My next step will be to manually copy the xml db.

I have manually updated the xml and I get the same behavior from Dungeon Master. Oh well. I will try to find another copy in hopes that it's just my own bad version.

passionforpins

@Thorr69 I have the same problem with "no internet connection found" when I try to click the update whdload_db button while in a game. However, I discovered if I open Amiberry itself, ie, NOT within a game, it does update! Try that and see if it works for you

Thorr69

@passionforpins said in Amiberry (Amiga) help:

@Thorr69 I have the same problem with "no internet connection found" when I try to click the update whdload_db button while in a game. However, I discovered if I open Amiberry itself, ie, NOT within a game, it does update! Try that and see if it works for you

Good tip. I'll try it as soon as I get back home.

g0nz0uk

@nemo93 great I will try the different lha file for xenon2.

I haven’t tested more games for the screen size, I will do it this week.

How do you normally test it though? Do you go into a game and see that it’s not full screen then go into the menu and change it to see if it’s better?

If so I will do that and then mention it in github.

Oh and have you managed to bind joypad buttons to things like load and save state before?

Thanks

nemo93

@Thorr69 @passionforpins the update can be achieved while the emu is running/in a game, that's how I do here. Your Amiberry version is a bit old as we're now on 3.2 beta. The fix about the bug preventing the update of the XML has been pushed on May the 4th (be with you). Please check your version is not older than that. Or compile it again from source to get to the latest 3.2 revision. While you're at it check your system packages and Retropie setup are all up to date. Do you run on a Pi3/4 on Stretch/Buster? If unsure please type on your pi the following commands and report back:

$ uname -a
$ cat /etc/debian_version

For sure DungeonMaster_v1.2_0833.lha is running fine for at least 6 months with Amiberry. If you open the xml and look after DungeonMaster_v1.2_0833 you'll see this element below:

<game filename="DungeonMaster_v1.2_0833" sha1="64fe90194025cbe189949216450c00cacf400c71">
	<name>Dungeon Master</name>
	<subpath>DungeonMaster</subpath>
	<variant_uuid>b7652305-8c12-53cb-a22b-a2930cd15dab</variant_uuid>
	<slave_count>1</slave_count>
	<slave_default>DungeonMaster.slave</slave_default>
	<slave_libraries>True</slave_libraries>
	<slave number="1">
		<filename>DungeonMaster.slave</filename>
		<datapath/>
	</slave>
	<hardware>
	PRIMARY_CONTROL=MOUSE
	PORT0=MOUSE
	PORT1=JOY
	SCREEN_CENTERH=SMART
	SCREEN_CENTERV=SMART
	SCREEN_HEIGHT=200
	Z3_RAM=16
	</hardware>
</game>

Check for that line: <slave_libraries>True</slave_libraries>. If you don't have it or with another value something is really fishy. You could check the sha1 of your lha file as well to be sure. Your lha sha1 must match the one listed above.

@g0nz0uk hey! The XML has been updated yesterday pm. Please update it once again and this time it should be fine with vast majority of games. For testing I do exactly what you say as I haven't found a better way. It takes me quite a lot of time even if for some games I use my old memory. It's best to play a little bit to the game as for instance Unreal will have different resolutions at different levels. Then I always pick the resolution based on the gameplay (not on the intro/credit screen). The screen has to be filled to the max height possible without cutting off important info like HUD, energy bars and stuff. Thanks in advance for your contribution!
Regarding the joy binding I don't use that myself but I'm pretty sure the Custom Controls panel from the GUI will come in handy :-) Also the doc.

hope this helps.

Thorr69

I updated Retropie Setup and then re-installed from source which brought me up to 3.2. I started up Amiberry without a ROM after that and I was able to update the XML successfully. So, one problem solved.

As far as DungeonMaster goes... I verified my SHA1 as identical. Save still fails. So, I removed the files related to dungeon master (the autoboot and the UAE config I had). I fired it back up and now it doesn't load at all. I've tried to remove all the associated files for Dungeon Master to make it rebuild them like a fresh new ROM, but nothing is working. I remember having to modify the autostart before, but it looks like the autostart it generates now is pretty much correct.

So... 1 step forward, two steps back, I guess.

nemo93

hey @Thorr69 ok thanks for confirming the xml update problem has now been solved. That's good news. Regarding Dungeon Master my next suggestion would have been to remove the autoboot script but you've done that already. I do confirm there's no need to edit the autoboot script for that game.

When you say it doesn't load at all what do you mean exactly? Crash and you're back at Emulationstation? What frontend do you run right now Emulationstation or another? Also can you please remove the line Z3_RAM=16 from the xml in the DungeonMaster_v1.2_0833 element (see my previous post) to see if that helps?

Thorr69

@nemo93 said in Amiberry (Amiga) help:

hey @Thorr69 ok thanks for confirming the xml update problem has now been solved. That's good news. Regarding Dungeon Master my next suggestion would have been to remove the autoboot script but you've done that already. I do confirm there's no need to edit the autoboot script for that game.

When you say it doesn't load at all what do you mean exactly? Crash and you're back at Emulationstation? What frontend do you run right now Emulationstation or another? Also can you please remove the line Z3_RAM=16 from the xml in the DungeonMaster_v1.2_0833 element (see my previous post) to see if that helps?

I am away from it currently, but it basically never starts and goes right back to EmuStation. Since my message, I removed everything DM related from the Pi, then deleted it from the gamelist. I rebooted, then pu the rom back on the Pi (and restarted ES again to get it back on the list). I then tried to fire it up and it worked. I tried the Save function it failed with the same error as always. And then to top it all off, it fails to even start up again.
So I repeated the process. I deleted everything again and removed it from the gamelist. But this time when I put it back on the Pi and fired it up, it still crashes out immediately.

When I say Crash, I mean that it gives me the runcommand popup, turns black, shows a small mouse pointer in the upper left for about 1 second and then exits straight to ES again. I've since been trying to see if I can get a log output but to no avail. The runcommad doesn't have a Verbose setting for amiga. I can't get amiberry to output a log file either. I've put a log output in the default amiberry configuration but still get no log output (no matter what directory I send it to).

When I get back home again I will try and muck with the xml as you suggest.

passionforpins

@nemo93 said in Amiberry (Amiga) help:

@Thorr69 @passionforpins the update can be achieved while the emu is running/in a game, that's how I do here. Your Amiberry version is a bit old as we're now on 3.2 beta. The fix about the bug preventing the update of the XML has been pushed on May the 4th (be with you). Please check your version is not older than that. Or compile it again from source to get to the latest 3.2 revision. While you're at it check your system packages and Retropie setup are all up to date. Do you run on a Pi3/4 on Stretch/Buster? If unsure please type on your pi the following commands and report back:

I'm on 3.2(beta from source) and running Buster 10 on my 3B+, all updated including dependencies. Amiberry ONLY updates the whdload xml when I do it from within amiberry itself- NOT while in a game. I'm ok with that though as long as it works within amiberry by itself.
Much thanks again!

g0nz0uk

Got my 80 games all setup now with box art and preview videos. The games I have tested all work, well load and I can play the first 20 seconds.

If any are not or have screen sizing issues I'll post on the github.

Great work guys!!!!

Off to build my C64 on Retropie now, wish the emulator was as good as this one and the support.