RetroPie forum home
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    • Register
    • Login
    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Tutorial: Fujitsu FM Towns Marty with Lr-Mess

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Help and Support
    fm towns martyfm-townslr-mess
    78 Posts 11 Posters 20.4k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • Z
      Zering @zerojay
      last edited by

      @zerojay Can I ask which version you are using?

      Z 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Z
        zerojay @Zering
        last edited by

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

        DTEAMD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • DTEAMD
          DTEAM @zerojay
          last edited by

          @zerojay

          me it's 0.225 but works with 0.224

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Z
            Zering
            last edited by

            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?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • A
              astorga
              last edited by astorga

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

              Z 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Z
                Zering @astorga
                last edited by

                @astorga That makes sense. Thank you.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • DTEAMD
                  DTEAM
                  last edited by

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

                  Z 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Z
                    Zering @DTEAM
                    last edited by

                    @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.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • DTEAMD
                      DTEAM
                      last edited by DTEAM

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

                      M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • M
                        Metro City @DTEAM
                        last edited by

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

                        F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • F
                          Folly @Metro City
                          last edited by 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.

                          M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • M
                            Metro City @Folly
                            last edited by

                            @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

                            F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • F
                              Folly @Metro City
                              last edited by 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.

                              M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • M
                                Metro City @Folly
                                last edited by

                                @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?

                                F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • F
                                  Folly @Metro City
                                  last edited by Folly

                                  @metro-city

                                  Where did you edit your controller settings ?
                                  In the RetroArch GUI, the lr-mess GUI or the MAME GUI ?

                                  M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • M
                                    Metro City @Folly
                                    last edited by Metro City

                                    @folly ehm I'm not very familiar with these things, using lr-mess I don't see the retroarch menu but the classic blu mame menu.
                                    in game, press "tab" open blu menu mame and fix setting controller, but like retroarch don't see "save or override".

                                    F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • F
                                      Folly @Metro City
                                      last edited by Folly

                                      @metro-city

                                      Ok, you are in the lr-mess menu, changing the controller settings.
                                      You should do it in input(this machine).
                                      (The controller settings done here are on top of the RetroArch controller settings)
                                      When you exit the game these settings are automatically saved, depending on what loader command you used.
                                      The basename and cmd lines will store the config here :
                                      /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/fmtmarty/mame/fmtmarty.cfg
                                      The other lines, using the media addon and the run_mess.sh script, will store it here :
                                      /opt/retropie/configs/fmtmarty/fmtmarty.cfg
                                      Once stored all other games will use the saved config.

                                      Using the game-specific loader will not use above config.
                                      If you changed something, using such a loader, it will store the config in a subdirectory with the gamename, and is only loaded when you load that game next time.
                                      It will store it here :
                                      /opt/retropie/configs/fmtmarty/lr-mess/gamename/fmtmarty.cfg

                                      If you want to go back to the default settings you can just delete such a config file.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                      • B
                                        bbilford83
                                        last edited by

                                        Hi all,

                                        I know this is an outdated method, and I have been using the great script described here to get various mess systems running. I want to give the Marty a shot, but I am confused as to what exactly constitutes a "Marty" game. I am NOT asking for roms, but from what I can understand, the Marty was backwards compatible with "almost" all FM Towns games - but does that mean both CD and floppy-based games, since the Marty had both drives? And is anyone aware of any list saying which games actually are compatible and which aren't? It also seems there are a few - maybe fewer than 10 - games that were designed specifically for/only compatible with the Marty, but I haven't been able to find what those where anywhere. I'd welcome any tips anyone who has this installed might have.

                                        And sorry if I am asking this in the wrong place - I thought it would be more likely to get Marty-specific attention here. TIA!

                                        F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • F
                                          Folly @bbilford83
                                          last edited by Folly

                                          @bbilford83

                                          You can probably find the info, you are searching for, in the mame hash tables.
                                          If you are able to view files from your raspberry pi then you have to look inside this file :
                                          /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/hash/fmtowns_cd.xml
                                          In the hash directory you can also find info of software running on other systems too.

                                          B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • B
                                            bbilford83 @Folly
                                            last edited by

                                            @Folly Thanks, that is a great idea, but I think FM Towns CD is still just the CD games/software that could be run by the FM Towns Desktop computer. From what I've researched it seems that the FM Towns Marty (the "consolized" version of the FM Towns) could run almost all FM Towns software, so probably both fmtowns_cd and at least one of those floppy databases too (the Marty had both a CD and floppy drive). But I can't find anything indicating which games do work on the Marty and which don't, nor anything identifying the Marty-only games that presumably aren't included in any of those database files. Here's a random blurb I found on one site, it should make my confusion clear:

                                            "One problem is that some games would only work on the regular FM Towns, while others would only work on the Marty."

                                            Maybe it's just not out there, but so many years later I had hoped there would be a list out there of all games the Marty can play....

                                            F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                            • First post
                                              Last post

                                            Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                                            Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.