Old Computer Appreciation Thread

Folly · 15 Sept 2021, 16:31

I used mame for "Mad Stalker" but it freezes and therefor is not playable.

I was thinking maybe you have a better version.

I read that fmtowns hash tables are improved in mame 0.235 .
This should mean better game compatibility.
We should test this in the future.

AdamBeGood · 16 Sept 2021, 07:03

@folly I'll give it a go again but my version wasn't even getting that far...

More compatibility is always good!

testudo · 30 Nov 2021, 17:32

@folly said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@adambegood

I used mame for "Mad Stalker" but it freezes and therefor is not playable.

I was thinking maybe you have a better version.

I read that fmtowns hash tables are improved in mame 0.235 .
This should mean better game compatibility.
We should test this in the future.

Bump. Finally got both Mad Stalker versions I have to fully boot, but encountering the freezing issue you mention. I hope to have some time to get back to exploring more of these retro games and systems, if work slows down enough over the holiday time...

Folly · 1 Dec 2021, 12:14

@testudo

Great, I like to hear about your tests ;-)

AdamBeGood · 1 Dec 2021, 12:14

@folly said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@testudo

Great, I like to hear about your tests ;-)

Seconded! Good work.

Folly · 1 Dec 2021, 21:50

@adambegood @testudo

Finally I got MAD STALKER working.
Tested with fmtmarty, but should work with fmtowns too.

In :
/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/hash/fmtowns_cd.xml
You can find that the mouse on port 2 has to be disabled with this game.

So you can use a game specific runcommand emulators.cfg line.
Then disable the mouse in the mame gui.
After that the game-specific config is written after quitting the game.
Next time it will use this config if the game is booted with the game-specific line again.
(It works with both mame and lr-mess)

AdamBeGood · 2 Dec 2021, 00:12

@folly Great effort! I'll try this out when I get the chance. Brilliant detective work.

AdamBeGood · 4 Dec 2021, 08:41

@adambegood I've had a go now but I get a black screen when the game shoud lanuch. I'm using mame fmtowns -6m

I'll have another try in a bit.

Folly · 4 Dec 2021, 08:47

@adambegood

-6m is not needed with this game it works with the default (2m).
-6m is not bad though ;-) .

Make sure you load with game-specific, otherwise, when you edit the mouse setting, other games will have no mouse.

Good luck !

I use these files (running the .cue with fmtowns) :
pi@raspberrypi:~/RetroPie/roms/fmtmarty $ sha1sum M*
876ab6b804a0f3da6fd1cbeb1a7d2230e2adfcc3 Mad Stalker.ccd
24807473d74f384bc130400fa7287803812c0012 Mad Stalker.cue
05280e943e6fd90c64a495e4c8e3c65df6a3481d Mad Stalker.img
f2883a900489beef51f3880ff697b1635e72eaa5 Mad Stalker.sub

AdamBeGood · 4 Dec 2021, 08:54

@folly Hmmmm I have a .chd, maybe the file is bad then. I'll look for your version.

Folly · 4 Dec 2021, 09:02

@adambegood

Btw
You should use frameskipping,
It can take a while before the game starts.
It takes about 30 seconds, on my end.
With a CHD it can take longer because it's CHD is compressed.

You can check your mailbox.

AdamBeGood · 4 Dec 2021, 09:23

@folly said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@adambegood

Btw
You should use frameskipping,
It can take a while before the game starts.
It takes about 30 seconds, on my end.
With a CHD it can take longer because it's CHD is compressed.

You can check your mailbox.

I left it for ages...

I've actually found it myself but I'll check my mailbox. I have to go out now but I'll try the Folly version later! :)

Folly · 4 Dec 2021, 09:24

@adambegood

I have to out too.
I hear it later.

Good luck !

AdamBeGood · 4 Dec 2021, 13:03

@folly said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@adambegood

I have to out too.
I hear it later.

Good luck !

I'm still seeing black screen, I presume I just run the .cue yep?

Should I update my MAME core?

Hope you're having a good day.

Folly · 4 Dec 2021, 16:04

@adambegood

I had to work, thankfully no rain.

It's good to update mame.
The binary is equal or higher than 0237.

But I think it's something else.
Do other games run ?
Does lr-mess work ? (or is it the same story ?)

Check your runcommand.log.

Btw:
Autoframeskipping doesn't work that good over here.
With F9 you have to press until it's on frameskip 10 to get almost fullspeed.

AdamBeGood · 4 Dec 2021, 19:11

@folly Let me have a play and report back. I'll have a look at the log.

Other games do work on MAME for FM Towns. lr-mess is the same story.

Edit: is this the island postie job? Glad you didn't get rained on.

Folly · 4 Dec 2021, 19:46

@adambegood said in Old Computer Appreciation Thread:

@folly Let me have a play and report back. I'll have a look at the log.

Yes you should check that.

Other games do work on MAME for FM Towns. lr-mess is the same story.

Strange !
If this works than it looks like the files of Mad Stalker are wrong somehow.
I tested the version I recommended, unzipped and running the .cue should work.

Edit: is this the island postie job? Glad you didn't get rained on.

Not today, but I still do that, often, twice a week.

AdamBeGood · 5 Dec 2021, 09:50

@folly It was the version of MAME. Updated from Source and the game works fine! Thanks so much for all the help.

I was very surprised when it loaded up!

Folly · 5 Dec 2021, 11:19

@adambegood

Nice,

Now we have to play, after all the effort involving ;-)
Let me know how it goes.

With mame we can (we can pause first with P) :

save states with : shift-left + F7
load states with : shift-right + F7

Can you defeat this one, in stage 1 ? :

AdamBeGood · 5 Dec 2021, 17:17

@folly I didn't have time to properly play but I'll let you know when I get a chance to play - probably tomorrow. It seems quite hard from a quick play!

Thanks for the save state help also!