Fairchild Channel F

edmaul69

@OneSwitch you need to add that to your es_systems.cfg if you have an es_systems.cfg in /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/ then copy that info and put it there otherwise add it to /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg. Save and then reboot emulationstation. See if it shows up on your system list. Try to play a game.

OneSwitch

I've got a little further along, thanks.

An ugly "chan..." section has appeared across a white background. Games are being displayed when I go into the "Fairchild Channel F" section, including the BIOS.

When I select a game, I get no option to change the emulator from the launch dialogue box, and just the dreaded flashing cursor top left then returning to the selection screen. Nothing starts.

I'm assuming the Fairchild Channel F BIOS is misnamed, and in the wrong place, but no idea what to do with it. Any more help appreciated.

OneSwitch

I've copied sl31253.rom, sl31254.rom and sl90025.rom direct to the /opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/image/channelf/ directory.

Made no difference. Tied popping them in the retropie/bios (from //retropie) - and it made no difference either.

edmaul69

@OneSwitch you dont need those bios there. They are in the /opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/roms folder. Do you have the folder and files in/opt/retropie/configs/channelf/ on there?

edmaul69

@edmaul69 read last post. Also did you copy all the files from /opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/ ? Also did you give permissions to all those files and folders including the game roms? Also make sure you give 0777 permissions to /opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/ also make sure you copied all the files from the zip into there as well.

OneSwitch

I followed your advice point by point, but still no luck. Thanks for info on the bios. Can I just clarify with you please...

I don't need to install MESS from the optional/experimental packages area.
I don't need to place Channel F system roms anywhere (beyond the folder copying that you specified), as they'll be in the folders copied from the "ultimate console" download.
This should work with RetroPie 3.8.
It will be possible to start, play and exit the Channel F games using the joypad alone (once set-up).

Thanks again for trying. When I get time, unless nothing new surfaces, I'll try again.

edmaul69

@OneSwitch as long as you copied the folders
/opt/retropie/configs/channelf/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
And gave full permissions to all files and folders in
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/image/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/roms/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
It will work.

OneSwitch

I'm pretty sure I did, but when I have time I'll try again. Thanks again for trying to help. I'd still love a nice very easy to install version. One day hopefully.

edmaul69

@OneSwitch its better than the lr-mess. I cannot get that working on any systems and a libretro version should be easy. If i can get that figured out i will definitely let you know.

OneSwitch

:) Nice one. Thanks again. I will get onto this again. Just no time at the minute.

Pyjamarama

Tried it but no luck. Cursor blinks and returns to emulationstation

I did everything except the copy to opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/bin because I am already using adv-mame1.4

edmaul69

@Pyjamarama just add the advmess file. the files that advmame uses in bin works with advmess.

Pyjamarama

@edmaul69 Will they affect the AdvMame 1.4 emuator? I run all my MAME vector game throught it. Thank you

edmaul69

@Pyjamarama as long as you dont overwrite any of the files already on there then no. Overwriting them im not sure.

TPR

@edmaul69 said in Fairchild Channel F:

@OneSwitch as long as you copied the folders
/opt/retropie/configs/channelf/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
And gave full permissions to all files and folders in
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/image/
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/roms/ &
/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/
It will work.

So this does not seem to work anymore with the most recent version of RetroPie (I'm using 4.1) It did get me very CLOSE but it took some tweaking. For the longest time I couldn't get it to work like others had stated. Everything was in the correct folders, es_config was properly edited, all files had correct permissions.

There was an update to retropie setup that when it did the update, it mentioned changes to advmame. At that point I could get the system to work, but I couldn't get specific roms to work (the system comes pre-loaded with a couple of games.)

I replaced the newer version of advmess with the older version in this folder: /opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/bin and all of a sudden it worked.

Unfortunately, I did not document everything I did, but it would seem that RetroPie needed to make some sort of an update, but the new executable of advmess wasn't compatible with Channel F, but the old version was.

End of the day, those instructions didn't work with 4.1 but it got me to the point of being close enough to where a few tweaks made it work.

edmaul69

@TPR the advmame shouldnt affect advmess. Advmess isnt even available through the retropie setup. I have updated to 4.1.18 and all is working fine for me. Not sure what happened in your case. Are you by chance tpr from atariage?

herb_fargus

@edmaul69 AdvMESS is now part of advmame 3.0 as far as I understand it.

edmaul69

@herb_fargus alrighty. So @tpr @herb_fargus in my case it did not delete the old advmess or the emulators.cfg files for each seperate system using advmess. Absolutely no system works with the new advmame 3.1 advmess

edmaul69

@herb_fargus @tpr so i figured out the issue. the emulators.cfg file for each individual system needs the correct config. so astrocade would need this:

advmame-3.1 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/3.1/bin/advmess astrocde -cart %BASENAME%"

and the channel f emulators.cfg would need this:

advmame-3.1 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/3.1/bin/advmess channelf -cart %BASENAME%"

you would have to have these for each specific system that advmess plays as they do not work without specifying the correct system that matches the roms. also the -cart needs to be set in it as i have done. Then you need to change the default emulator to advmame-3.1

herb_fargus

@edmaul69 mess is... A mess :p we may eventually get to including the configs in a module. Down the road...

It's the longest standing issue on the issue tracker.

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/210