Sega model 3 #segamodel3

mechafatnick · 25 Jun 2021, 15:22

Sorry that was round about way of saying it wasn't it?

Yes that's exactly right. If we can gather the 'correct' nvram settings together in the source code we can just copy them into the emulators nvram folder at build time

I've already erm tweaked a lot of mine :D

Folly · 25 Jun 2021, 15:37

@mechafatnick said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:

Sorry that was round about way of saying it wasn't it?

Yes that's exactly right. If we can gather the 'correct' nvram settings together in the source code we can just copy them into the emulators nvram folder at build time

I've already erm tweaked a lot of mine :D

Perfect !

Good idea !
(but I have to accommodate the module-script for that)

We can do the same with the initial save-states idea from my post 104
Gather them too and add them in the Saves directory as an initial starter too speed things up.
(I have to change the module-script a bit, because it now searches in the root supermodel rom directory)

mechafatnick · 25 Jun 2021, 15:45

@folly :D

Folly · 25 Jun 2021, 19:53

@mechafatnick @DTEAM

I have made all the changes to the module-script.
I will have to do some tests tomorrow, when I think it ready I will push it to github.
Changes :

moved the emulator binary to /opt/retropie/emulators/supermodel-mechafatnick
reduced the run-lines, removing the path to the emulator binary, now ./supermodel
removed the -no-dsb in the underclock run-lines
it will preserve the changes made in Supermodel.ini when emulator is reinstalled
it will move the NVRAM and Saves directories from the source code to /opt/retropie/emulators/supermodel-mechafatnick
the initial save state uses now the %BASENAME%.st in /opt/retropie/emulators/supermodel-mechafatnick/Saves

An example of the initial save state is:

you make a savestate from, for example, scud.zip, it will become scudau.st0
then rename it to scud.st
on next game boot scud.st will be loaded as initial state

So basically if all NVRAM.nv and all Saves.st files come in the source-code.
No settings will have to be made and we can skip the initial boot sequence, for the roms with a slow startup.

How does this sound ?

mechafatnick · 26 Jun 2021, 05:38

@folly WIll people want to skip the initial boot sequence? That might be part of the fun. Hmm.

I've been thinking about your approach of putting everything into the ini and i think this is the right approach. Going forward I think we should:

-have two ( or three?) options in emulator.cfg:

supermodel (which will be at native res)
supermodel high-res (800 x 600)
supermodel very high-res (1024 x 768)

Then, we can handle the settings for the individual games in supermodel.ini (so whether to enable the DSB, how far to underclock CPU.) That way we'll have optimal settings for each game without the user having to alter anything. Sound good? I've made sections for each game in the ini file. I think i might be developing carpel tunnel...

EDIT: Ok! We can all chip in!

Add these lines to the global section of supermodel.ini (under your controls:)

;Our non input settings...
EmulateDSB = 0
MusicVolume = 60
SoundVolume = 60
Stretch=1
VSync=0
Throttle=0
GameXMLFile= /opt/retropie/emulators/supermodel/bin/Config/Games.xml
New3DEngine=0

now, in emulators.cfg we only need to set the res in the command line (if you want to have different options)

Supermodel = "XINIT:/opt/retropie/emulators/supermodel/bin/supermodel %ROM%"

Now all we need to do, as a group, is come up with the optimal settings for each game as a group. I've made a start below (copy this into supermodel.ini - below the global section)

;daytona 2 power edition
    [ dayto2pe ]
;daytona 2: battle to the edge
    [ daytona2 ]
  ;Dirt Devils (Export, Revision A)  
	[dirtdvls]
;Dirt Devils (Australia, Revision A)
    [ dirtdvlsa ]
;Dirt Devils (German)
    [ dirtdvlsg ]       
;Dirt Devils (Japan, Revision A)  
	[ dirtdvlsj ]
;Emergency Call Ambulance (Export)
    [ eca       ]
;Emergency Call Ambulance (Japan)	
    [ ecaj      ]
;Emergency Call Ambulance (US location test?)	
    [ ecap      ]
;Emergency Call Ambulance (USA)	
    [ ecau      ]
;Fighting Vipers 2 (Japan, Revision A)	
    [ fvipers2 ]  
;Fighting Vipers 2 (?)    
    [ fvipers2o ]
;Get Bass (?)    
    [ getbass ]
;Harley-Davidson and L.A. Riders (Revision B)	
    [ harley ] 
;Harley-Davidson and L.A. Riders (Revision A)   
    [ harleya ]
;L.A. Machineguns: Rage of the Machines (Japan)    
    [ lamachin ] 
;Le Mans 24 (Revision B)	
    [ lemans24 ]
 ;The Lost World (Japan, Revision A)   
    [ lostwsga ]
;The Lost World (Original Revision)	
    [ lostwsgo ]
PowerPCFrequency = 30
;Magical Truck Adventure (Japan)    
    [ magtruck ]
;The Ocean Hunter (?)   
    [ oceanhun ]
;Scud Race (Australia, Twin)	
    [ scud ]
PowerPCFrequency = 35
MusicVolume = 200
EmulateDSB = 1
;Scud Race (Export, Twin)	
    [ scuda ]
PowerPCFrequency = 35
MusicVolume = 200
EmulateDSB = 1
;Scud Race (Japan, Deluxe)	
    [ scudj ]
PowerPCFrequency = 35
MusicVolume = 200
EmulateDSB = 1
;Scud Race Plus (Revision A)	
    [ scudplus ]
PowerPCFrequency = 35
MusicVolume = 200
EmulateDSB = 1
;Scud Race Plus (?)  
    [ scudplusa ]
PowerPCFrequency = 35
MusicVolume = 200
EmulateDSB = 1
;Ski Champ (Japan)	
    [ skichamp  ]
;Spikeout Final Edition (?) - too slow on pi	
    [ spikeofe  ]
PowerPCFrequency = 45
EmulateDSB = 1
;Spikeout (Revision C)	
    [ spikeout  ]
PowerPCFrequency = 35
EmulateDSB = 1
;Sega Rally 2 (?)	
    [ srally2   ] 
;Sega Rally 2 (Prototype)	
    [ srally2p  ]
;Sega Rally 2 (Prototype Version A)
    [ srally2pa ]
;Sega Rally 2 (Deluxe)	
    [ srally2x  ]
;Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (Revision A)
    [ swtrilgy  ]
;Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (?)	-not working on pi
    [ swtrilgya ]
;Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (?)   -not working on pi
    [ swtrilgyp ]
;Virtua Fighter 3 (Revision D)
    [ vf3       ]
PowerPCFrequency = 40
;Virtua Fighter 3 (Revision A)	
    [ vf3a      ]
PowerPCFrequency = 40
;Virtua Fighter 3 (Revision C)
    [ vf3c      ]
PowerPCFrequency = 40	
;Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle (?)	
    [ vf3tb     ]
PowerPCFrequency = 40
;Virtual On 2: Oratorio Tangram (Revision B)
    [ von2      ]
PowerPCFrequency = 30
;Virtual On 2: Oratorio Tangram (Ver 5.4g)	
    [ von254g   ]
PowerPCFrequency = 30
;Virtual On 2: Oratorio Tangram (Revision A)	
    [ von2a     ]
PowerPCFrequency = 30
;Virtual On 2: Oratorio Tangram (?)	
    [ von2o     ]
PowerPCFrequency = 35
;Virtua Striker 2 (Step 2.0) - no special settings    
    [ vs2       ]
;Virtua Striker 2 (Step 1.5) -  no special settings 
    [ vs215     ]
;Virtua Striker 2 (Step 1.5, older) -  no special settings 	
    [ vs215o    ]
;Virtua Striker 2 '98 (Step 2.0) -  no special settings 	
    [ vs298     ]
;Virtua Striker 2 '98 (Step 1.5) - no special settings 
    [ vs29815   ]     
;Virtua Striker 2 '99 (?)	
    [ vs299     ]
;Virtua Striker 2 '99 (Step 1.5)	
    [ vs29915   ] 
;Virtua Striker 2 '99 (Revision A)    
    [ vs299a    ]
;Virtua Striker 2 '99 (Revision B)	
    [ vs299b    ]
;Virtua Striker 2 '99.1 (Revision B)	
    [ vs2v991   ]

I'm gathering initialised nv ram too :D

Folly · 26 Jun 2021, 08:00

@mechafatnick said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:

I will have to take some time to process this information.

@folly WIll people want to skip the initial boot sequence?

Not for fun.
I think they do want it, especially for lemans24, because it will take 1 minute to get the first good screen and be playable.
I think there will be more.
We don't have to put all save states in there, only the ones with slow startup :D

Folly · 26 Jun 2021, 08:34

@mechafatnick

We should take it step by step.

Can you put your collected NVRAMs into the source code and add an empty Saves directory ?
Then I can test the module-script.
From there we can take more steps.
Agreed ?

Btw. adding the optimal game options into the Supermodel.ini sounds very good ;-)

DTEAM · 26 Jun 2021, 13:56

@folly said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:

@mechafatnick said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:
I will have to take some time to process this information.

@folly WIll people want to skip the initial boot sequence?

Not for fun.
I think they do want it, especially for lemans24, because it will take 1 minute to get the first good screen and be playable.

for the purist it can be frustrating to cut the scene at the beginning..

I don’t know. If you save after that scene and load your savestate the next time. It could be ok?

Folly · 26 Jun 2021, 14:28

@dteam said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:

@folly said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:
@mechafatnick said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:
I will have to take some time to process this information.

@folly WIll people want to skip the initial boot sequence?

Not for fun.
I think they do want it, especially for lemans24, because it will take 1 minute to get the first good screen and be playable.
for the purist it can be frustrating to cut the scene at the beginning..

I don’t know. If you save after that scene and load your savestate the next time. It could be ok?

Perhaps I am not clear, no scenes are cut.
Only the menu saying it is "single" etc. and booting the rom that produces strange screens etc.

DTEAM · 26 Jun 2021, 15:35

@folly
Ok, now i understand. Good idea!
If you do that, can you set the good country to switch japanese to english when it’s available.

Folly · 26 Jun 2021, 17:50

@dteam said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:

@folly
Ok, now i understand. Good idea!
If you do that, can you set the good country to switch japanese to english when it’s available.

👍

We have to test, don't know.
But I think that can work.

Folly · 26 Jun 2021, 17:55

@mechafatnick

I made a fork of the source-code.
That way I can do some push-requests if needed.

I am still learning with that part so perhaps we can learn from each other about :

syncing/fetching upstream
do pull requests
etc.

Folly · 26 Jun 2021, 19:27

@mechafatnick @DTEAM

I just found that we don't need the NVRAMs if we don't want to.
I made some save-states and booted with them, removing the NVRAMs before the boot made them boot directly without the need of a nvram file.

Something to take into account.

mechafatnick · 26 Jun 2021, 21:40

That's good to know! worth noting that save states are 30mb each though so i'm not sure we should deploy them when we don't have to (i've used one with Skichamp though, to get round an annoying drive board error)

I've updated my repo with the Nvram files and Save state i've created so far + my ini file with my collection of game-related settings (I use Visual Studio Code for source control if that helps)

DTEAM · 27 Jun 2021, 01:37

@mechafatnick @Folly
Maybe you should create a new thread like we did for Development of module-script generator for lr-mess and mame standalone . Like this, you could start with a small crash cours on how to install and use the script and continue with showing where you are in the developpement process.

Because, right now, you don't have the control of the first post in this thread.

Do you think it's a good idea?

Folly · 27 Jun 2021, 08:28

@mechafatnick said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:

That's good to know! worth noting that save states are 30mb each though so i'm not sure we should deploy them when we don't have to (i've used one with Skichamp though, to get round an annoying drive board error)

Indeed we could just do those that are only problematic.
Others can have just the NVRAMs.

I've updated my repo with the Nvram files and Save state i've created so far + my ini file with my collection of game-related settings (I use Visual Studio Code for source control if that helps)

Will have a look at that.

Folly · 27 Jun 2021, 08:29

@dteam said in Sega model 3 #segamodel3:

@mechafatnick @Folly
Maybe you should create a new thread like we did for Development of module-script generator for lr-mess and mame standalone . Like this, you could start with a small crash cours on how to install and use the script and continue with showing where you are in the developpement process.

Because, right now, you don't have the control of the first post in this thread.

Do you think it's a good idea?

I think that's a good idea.

mechafatnick · 27 Jun 2021, 08:39

@folly

Right, just uploaded a load more default NVRAMs (covering everything i think) along with a .ini with settings for a load more games.

Shocking find of the morning: the Pi can handle the PPC clocked at the real 66hz and beyond. This means we're able to have the sound in games like Spikeout and Daytona with minimal slowdown.

N.B,

Sega Rally loses the menu if you insert coin before the demo mode. SWA won't load the game (iof you wait till Darth Vader appears it works)

Folly · 27 Jun 2021, 10:03

@mechafatnick

Can you rename nvram to NVRAM ?
Can you rename *.st0 to *.st ?
(gamename of the .st has to be like the zip)

Otherwise I it won't work.

Folly · 27 Jun 2021, 13:47

@mechafatnick @DTEAM

I added the module-script to github
link_to_commit

Isn't tested yet on NVRAM and Saves, as the source doesn't have the proper NVRAM directory yet.
If it doesn't find the correct directory, It will install though, but without copying those directories.