New Arcade (MAME) issue. Lockup (Little rectangle)
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This might be helpful. The normal es_log shows this:
Mar 11 23:50:08 lvl2: Attempting to launch game...
Mar 11 23:50:09 lvl2: /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS arcade /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/bagman.7z
Mar 11 23:50:22 lvl2: Creating window...
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: Created window successfully.
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: GL vendor: Broadcom
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: GL renderer: V3D 4.2
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: GL version: 2.1 Mesa 19.3.2
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: Checking available OpenGL extensions...
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: ARB_texture_non_power_of_two: ok
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: Added known joystick Generic X-Box pad (instance ID: 16, device index: 0)
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl1: requested mismatched theme type for [video.md_lastplayed] - expected "datetime", got "text"
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl1: requested mismatched theme type for [video.md_lastplayed] - expected "datetime", got "text"
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: Added/Updated 9 entities in '/home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/arcade/gamelist.xml'
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: Saved gamelist.xml for system "arcade" in 0 ms
Mar 11 23:50:23 lvl2: Added known joystick Generic X-Box pad (instance ID: 16, device index: 0)
Mar 11 23:50:33 lvl2: req sound [detailed.launch]
Mar 11 23:50:33 lvl2: (missing)
Mar 11 23:50:34 lvl2: Attempting to launch game...
Mar 11 23:50:35 lvl2: sudo /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/retropie_packages.sh retropiemenu launch /home/pi/RetroPie/retropiemenu/runcommand.rp </dev/tty >/dev/tty
Mar 11 23:50:53 lvl2: Creating window...
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: Created window successfully.
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: GL vendor: Broadcom
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: GL renderer: V3D 4.2
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: GL version: 2.1 Mesa 19.3.2
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: Checking available OpenGL extensions...
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: ARB_texture_non_power_of_two: ok
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: Added known joystick Generic X-Box pad (instance ID: 17, device index: 0)
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: Added/Updated 2 entities in '/home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/retropie/gamelist.xml'
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: Saved gamelist.xml for system "retropie" in 0 ms
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl1: requested mismatched theme type for [detailed.md_lastplayed] - expected "datetime", got "text"
Mar 11 23:50:54 lvl2: Added known joystick Generic X-Box pad (instance ID: 17, device index: 0)
Mar 11 23:51:16 lvl2: req sound [basic.launch]
Mar 11 23:51:16 lvl2: (missing)Note that it loaded bagman just fine, but when I went to load pacman it instead seems to have tried to launch runcommand.
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It seems I have the wrong ROM which is fine, but why can't I exit out of this screen as normal?
Not sure why
lr-mamebugs, but I would recommend usingmameproper (it's also in the experimental section) if you wish to run the latest MAME.I had installed Launch Images and I've uninstalled it now, but it still is "running" as the launch images it created are still showing even after a reboot. Why did I just remove it? Because I found that with it running I cannot reach a runcommand menu when I hit a button during load. The rom just loads (or fails to load).
When you enable launch images, the runcommand menu can be activated for a shorter period, right after the launch image disappears.
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@mitu I actually tried Mame and had poor luck with it. I'll give it another shot.
Regarding launch images, did I misunderstand something basic here? From the text it puts on the images, it suggests that hitting a key will still bring up the runcommand menu. Your solution will work, but seems like it would be unnecessary if the first piece worked as described.
What do you make of that final bit of the system trying to run pacman and, instead, running runcommand (and failing)? I see this in logs where it bombs and I didn't hit a button to trigger it.
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@agrajag said in New Arcade (MAME) issue. Lockup (Little rectangle):
It seems I have the wrong ROM which is fine, but why can't I exit out of this screen as normal? The pi still seems to be running as I can SFTP into it, but can't find a key combo to get off this screen. I had to resort to turning on Verbose logging for all launces to be able to get this one.
i don't know, but remember that lr-mame is an experimental, unrecommended emulator. a lot of time has been spent testing and improving the recommended arcade emulators. the rest may have known/unknown issues. but to be honest, bad romset shouldn't be a deal breaker - getting the right is fundamental, and should be step 1 before attempting any arcade emulator.
Note that it loaded bagman just fine, but when I went to load pacman it instead seems to have tried to launch runcommand.
no it didn't, the logs are just from two different POVs. one is a log of emulationstation launching runcommand, and the other is of the emulator being launched by runcommand. your es_log for both scenarios should look similar.
Regarding launch images, did I misunderstand something basic here? From the text it puts on the images, it suggests that hitting a key will still bring up the runcommand menu. Your solution will work, but seems like it would be unnecessary if the first piece worked as described.
due to the slightly hacky nature of the runcommand images, the window where you can trigger the runcommand is weird. basically just mash the trigger button until it appears...
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I fully get that what I'm using is experimental. The whole ROM things is, of course, dodgy to begin with so I try to do what I can with what I already have. Unfortunately that has its own challenges. Going back to 2003 seems drastic, but that does seem to be the mame version that has the most support in Retropie. Ultimately I'll want hiscores and the ability to auto-load save states (to by-pass each game's POST test) along with support for overlays and sound packs. It appears most of the newer versions seem to lack a lot of that.
Thanks for pointing out the distinction in the logs. Still wish I could find out what that little rectangle said (looks like the screen is just so scrunched for some reason) and to find out why it can't be exited from normally, but that's ultimately just a waste I suspect.
Lastly, thanks for the info on runcommand images. I suspect I'll just turn it off until it's more evolved. One would assume someone is, or will be, working on it.
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Mame2003 is very stable and works well. Though, this is also why cores like mame2003-plus exist. They aim to blend the compatibility and lower hardware requirements with newer fixes, game support, and features that leaves the user with a good experience.
Both support nearly 5000 games, and most of the iconic goto games people want are available.
A compatibility project I created under libretro shows a lot of what to expect from mame2003, mame2003-plus, mame2010, and mame2015.
Without a doubt, newer isn't always better here. As stated before, both 2003 cores have nearly 5000 games....but wait, mame2015 has 29,000 games? However over 20,000 of those are listed as not working....that's a lot of extra space for nothing.
Here's the lists I created for each core so far. Have a look and search for the games you're looking to play. https://buildbot.libretro.com/compatibility_lists/
Note that these lists are as accurate as they can be, but still imperfect. Part of this project is to flush out these imperfections.
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@agrajag said in New Arcade (MAME) issue. Lockup (Little rectangle):
I fully get that what I'm using is experimental. The whole ROM things is, of course, dodgy to begin with so I try to do what I can with what I already have.
it’s up to you of course, but i would always recommend picking emulator first and obtaining romset second. the romsets for those recommended ones (and even most of the others in retropie) are trivial to locate, let’s say.
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Okay, great info and argument. I took my list of MAME games (about 250) and started checking the Mame2003 compatibility chart. I gave up at letter F as everything but one title (Dr. Micro) showed up as supported (and Dr. Micro just didn't show so maybe it even works).
Given that I really want hiscores to work, overlays (Star Castle, Asteroids Deluxe), bezels (for games like Lunar Lander where it helps to have the instructions there) and sound packs (Armor Alley) to all work, which MAME core would you recommend? I notice, for example, that 2015 includes Dr. Micro as working (and this is a game I'm curious about, but haven't even played so it wouldn't be a show-stopper). However, I've read that 2015 lacks other features. Much of what I read is dated and suggests that overhead for newer MAME cores is a problem, but mainly on older Pi's. The 4 seems to run every MAME core I throw at it, well.
Thanks so much for doing that work!
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To be honest, accessibility was one of the issues, but it sounds trivial. In the end it's just another platform. I've always been a bit confused on why different versions of MAME require different ROM sets. It's not like the ROM from the 1984 Pac-Man keeps changing over the years. It's the same ROM, no? So why 10 different versions?
Would I be better of tracking down say, the correct set or using something like clrmamepro which I think can just take current rom sets and create older ones?
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@agrajag known issue : https://github.com/libretro/mame/issues/158
Give it the proper romset and it'll work.
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@barbudreadmon Thanks for the explanation. That answers that. At least it's a known issue.
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@agrajag said in New Arcade (MAME) issue. Lockup (Little rectangle):
To be honest, accessibility was one of the issues, but it sounds trivial. In the end it's just another platform. I've always been a bit confused on why different versions of MAME require different ROM sets. It's not like the ROM from the 1984 Pac-Man keeps changing over the years. It's the same ROM, no? So why 10 different versions?
MAME explain this pretty well: https://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/FAQ:ROMs
Would I be better of tracking down say, the correct set or using something like clrmamepro which I think can just take current rom sets and create older ones?
no - to do that you would need to start from the current mame romset and the full rollback set, which would be fairly massive download, and then you'll have to learn clrmamepro. just download the romset you need - so much easier and quicker.
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@agrajag said in New Arcade (MAME) issue. Lockup (Little rectangle):
It's not like the ROM from the 1984 Pac-Man keeps changing over the years. It's the same ROM, no? So why 10 different versions?
You have a big misunderstanding here, for obvious reasons if you read https://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/FAQ:ROMs i doubt there is a romset that was redumped 10 times, and that's definitely not the case of pacman, afaik pacman was dumped only once. Your issue here is that you are using a split pacman romset, however pacman is a clone, so you'll need its parent (puckman) if you are using split romsets, or you'll need a non-merged pacman romset, whatever you prefer. If you don't know what i'm talking about, read https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Validating%2C-Rebuilding%2C-and-Filtering-ROM-Collections/ , if you didn't read https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Validating%2C-Rebuilding%2C-and-Filtering-ROM-Collections/ yet, then read it anyway. As i'm always saying, clrmamepro is your friend.
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@barbudreadmon @barbudreadmon Thanks. It's been a while since I was into MAME on my PC so I'd forgotten about split vs merged, etc.
Got it.
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@agrajag mame romsets change versions because they become more complete as time goes. So where pacman has always been the same, our copies of the roms, proms, and eeproms from the hardware maybe incomplete. When the chips were dumped initially they could have been corrupted or missing from the board all together. There may be newer revisions from certain games found later on, etc.
What core would I recommend? As a mame2003-plus developer, I'm biased. I use mame2003-plus in my arcade cabinet build for all the mame games I personally use. It works very well.
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Just an update for anyone watching.... I grabbed a reference 2003-plus set and started dropping in some roms to test. Working GREAT and already this is better. I automatically seem to be getting hi-scores. Nice!
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@agrajag yes, high scores are auto installed. Not every game supports high score saving though. These are essentially hacks to reload the memory and are made custom for each game that doesn't natively support saving.
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Is there a good source site for backdrop art already set up for 2003 Plus?
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Artwork isn't my department but @Riverstorm might be able to give you some tips.
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@mahoneyt944 Thanks again. Everything is working fine post-skyscraper scrape. Had an issue with about half the video snaps not working, but a trip to Youtube for an hour fixed it all.
Now to decide if I should hack my Mayflash to add a spinner to it or just pick up a controller that has one (and maybe a trackball). I miss Tempest, Front Line real Wild Western and Arkanoid.
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