Tutorial: Fujitsu FM Towns Marty with Lr-Mess

Zering

Sorry for the double post, but my issue persists and I can't get my head around it.

Whenever I try to load my ROM (I am using alone in the dark for testing), I get a screen that says 'Loading complete', and it hangs. I can see that lr-mess has booted up (my controller pops up in the lower left), but something's not right.

I have followed the instructions to a T.

I am using this hash : fmtowns_cd.xml
My roms directory is fmtmarty
I have the bios fmtmarty.7z (I have checked the size, it matches) in my BIOS folder, in my roms directory and in my fmtmarty directory.
I am booting the game using a blank file inside a zip (created with Notepad) named aitd.zip.

Here is my es_systems.cfg for FM Towns CD-ROMs

<system>
<name>fmtmarty</name>
<fullname>Fujitsu FM Towns CD-ROMs</fullname>
<path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/fmtmarty</path>
<extension>.zip .ZIP</extension>
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS fmtmarty %ROM%</command>
<platform>fmtmarty</platform>
<theme>fmtmarty</theme>
</system>

My emulators.cfg and retroarch.cfg are copied straight from the first post, as is my platforms.cfg, which I have placed in opt/retropie/configs.hdmi/all

I have also put my .bin and .cue files through this link https://emn178.github.io/online-tools/crc32_checksum.html to check the crc32s and have found the results satisfactory. I used CHDman to convert my .bin/.cue to a .chd.

I am not sure what I'm doing wrong, but having followed all those instructions my Pi hangs on 'Loading Complete' and I have to do a sudo reboot via SSH.
Am I doing something wrong?

zerojay

@Zering There's no need for any blank files. I'm using fmtmarty as well but I'm just directly using the .chd for launching and it works just fine. Not all games/apps actually function however (Simcity 2000 sadly doesn't seem to work for me).

Zering

@zerojay Noted. However, I've also just realized that my .chd files do not show up in my fmtmarty gamelist. (Edit : which makes sense as I've edited them out of es_systems.cfg... Ignore this)
I've tried launching the .chd from the retroarch menu (I launched a game with lr-mess then used Load content), and I got booted back to ES.

zerojay

By the way, I am not using any MAME gamelists at all, I don't even have fmtowns_cd.xml. Just the fmtmarty.zip in my BIOS directory, EmulationStation pointed at my .CHD files and it just works.

Zering

@zerojay My guess is I'm converting my .chds wrong. How do you do yours?

zerojay

@Zering Mine are already converted, they are the official MAME CHD set.

Zering

@zerojay Can I ask which version you are using?

zerojay

@Zering Pretty sure I'm on latest, 0.224 or 0.225, can't remember.

DTEAM

@zerojay

me it's 0.225 but works with 0.224

Zering

Brilliant, thanks to you both, I think I've found what I'm looking for.

While we're on the subject of MAME, can somebody explain what merged/unmerged mean?

astorga

You can find the explanation right here. According to the docs, you should stick with "full non-merged" sets.

Zering

@astorga That makes sense. Thank you.

DTEAM

If you want to play a good game on that system, try Genocide Squared. My personal recommandation.

Zering

@DTEAM I'll have to give it a go. I still haven't managed to set up the system, the chds I've found for 0.225 don't match the software lists for fmtowns_cd. But I will keep looking.

DTEAM

for those who are interested, 21 new dumps (oct 24th 2020). This hash file and games dumps are actives, to watch regularly.

Metro City

Hi, Is it normal that when I launch a game it gives me a solid white screen?

Folly

@metro-city

If you get a solid white screen then the loading procedure is not correct.
lr-mess probably can't find the bios file or you just don't use or load a .chd game that is in the fmtowns_cd.xml hash table (mame softlist).

I will advice you to use our project here :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29682/development-of-module-script-generator-for-lr-mess-and-mame-standalone

After installing fmtmarty with this project you have better loader options to run your fmtmarty games.

Metro City

@folly thank you very much, I followed the guide you posted and it works now, but I notice that with my PI3B + it slows down, do you think I can solve it with the lr-mess2015 \ 2016? Thanks again

Folly

@metro-city

Nice to hear it's working.

The specs of RPI3B are on the low side for mame and lr-mess.
Besides, fmtmarty and fmtowns are quite demanding systems to emulate, even for the RPI4.

Though there are four things you can try.

Try to use frameskipping :
F11 -> show frameskipping status
F9 -> increase frameskipping from 0 to 10 or auto

You can also try to lower the resolution if possible :
Press a key when the loading dialog comes where you can switch emulators.
Here you will find the video settings that can be changed for the used emulator.

Also try to use regular cue/bin or iso files and load them with the -cdrm runcommand.
This should give you some speed improvement because .chd are compressed files.
So using them will use some more resources from the processor.

Overclock your RPI3 on your own risk, with these settings speed should increase 5% :
arm_freq=1350
over_voltage=5
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020
sdram_freq=500
core_freq=500
gpu_freq=400
temp_limit=80
avoid_warnings=1

lr-mess2015 \ 2016 isn't supported by our script.
You would have to make it possible by manually adding these into the emulators.cfg to make use of it.
Though, I doubt lr-mess2015 \ 2016 will run faster.

Metro City

@folly Thanks for the info, I'll do some tests. Listen, I use the N30 pro from 8bitdo and it makes me use the stick instead of the dpad, I found in the options how to change the settings, but do you know how to save in order not to have to repeat the operation again?