Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone

Folly

Nice to hear it's working for you ;-)

Well, the improvements are little steps and take a lot of time.
For mame and lr-mess I want to use the dirname solution we talked about earlier in this thread.

But the dirname solution cannot be applied directly to the lr-mess core.
lr-mess is just mame but without the arcade systems and it's a RetroArch core.

Here starts the trouble because the core is loaded by RetroArch.
RetroArch by itself accepts options to be added like loading a core, adding a save path or something else like verbose mode.
When we want to add options to the lr-mess-core, in a regular way, these options are recognised as a RetroArch options and not as lr-mess options.
There seems to be a way around this problem and the best way is to use double quotes around these lr-mess options.
But double quotes are neglected in the process.
So if we want to use this solution then probably another solution has to be added to the runcommand.sh.

Also adding multiple rompaths is troublesome because we have to use ; in this process.
In bash terms ; splits commands so sometimes we have to escape this character somehow with \.
I have tested the solutions but then the savepath for savestates is wrongly recognised by lr-mess.
So adding a savepath option to RetroArch can probably fix this problem.

You see there are a huge amount discovering has to be done to get lr-mess working the same as mame does.
My goal is to make a plain loaders for lr-mess that will function just like mame.
But it's a pain in the ass, if you know what I mean.

This is probably the reason why Valerino made the run_mess.sh script which my script still uses for the lr-mess media loaders.
That script is a .cmd creator which is loaded after creation so the game is loaded and then deleted again after exit.

jamrom2

@folly Wow. I wasn't aware it was that complicated. Have you tried asking the Retroarch dev team if they can add in what you are looking for? It makes sense because at this point, MAME can support hundreds more emulators than when RetroArch was first designed.

I know to some save-states are critical, but many of these older games just didn't have that as an option anyway. A cart game is a cart game and didn't really save anything. If the cassette side of the emulator works, you saved to cassette anyway. So if that is working, it should cover saved games.

As for using MAME to run this. I'm seeing slow-downs on some games, and I've noticed I have no "UP" action on my controller. I tried to assign it via the MAME UI now that I have access, but it doesn't seem to want to open any of the lists once it's on the screen.. and wow, it's really slow.

Regardless, I'm sure over time all this will be sorted. Seems to be a need for it as these emulators become more available and more people use RetroPie. I've noticed there are a lot more people posting on the forum now, many with issues that I've never seen before and asking for help with emulators I've never heard of.

Keep plugging... we'll get there soon enough!

Folly

@jamrom2 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess and mame standalone:

As for using MAME to run this. I'm seeing slow-downs on some games, and I've noticed I have no "UP" action on my controller. I tried to assign it via the MAME UI now that I have access, but it doesn't seem to want to open any of the lists once it's on the screen.. and wow, it's really slow.

The RPI3b is sadly not that fast.
I can do some tests on my RPI3.
Which game does slow down that much ?
Have you tried using the loader with -frameskip 10 or -autoframeskip ?
With these solutions it should improve a bit.
Have you tried lowering the resolution in the launcher menu ?

Folly

@DTEAM

This is the first evolved and tested command that should work with the dirname solution without adding more code to the runcommand.sh

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch --config /opt/retropie/configs/apfm1000/retroarch.cfg -v -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mess/mess_libretro.so 'mame apfm1000 -v -c -ui_active -rp /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame -swpath /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/apfm1000 -hash /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/hash pinball'

or this (with the double-quotes normally added by %BASENAME% or the future %DIRNAME):

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch --config /opt/retropie/configs/apfm1000/retroarch.cfg -v -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mess/mess_libretro.so 'mame apfm1000 -v -c -ui_active -rp /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame -swpath "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/apfm1000" -hash /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/hash "pinball"'

Major improvement is that I use single-quotes.
These single-quotes can be implemented directly in our script.
Next improvement is that I don't add 2 rompaths using ; or \;
(the disadvantage of this was that I had to use double-quotes in order to get it working so code had to be added to the runcommand.sh).
Now I use 2 options to add 2 paths : -rompath and -swpath.
(the advantage is that we can use single-quotes)
We are also able to add other options and the hashpath of mame standalone, for that matter.

We can probably use the -swpath option also for mame standalone.

jamrom2

@folly

I'll try this and see if there is any positive effect.

I saw it on Pac-Man (atarisoft version) while other games seem fine. I've been going through the list of games that work and don't work. So I've seen it a few times, but I don't remember which other games.

I also want to see if it effects the GUI as well because right now, it's un-useable due to how it seems to drag on the Pi so much. As soon as I get in to the GUI, I can check my controller assignments and see why I'm missing "UP". All other buttons and directions work fine.

I was thinking of switching to a Pi4, but I'm so embedded in the build of my Pi3 that until I finish it, it doesn't make sense.

*** update***
Tried it with both frame-rate skips. Still unplayable, but better if using Autoframeskip. I checked all my settings for controls in Global and Local machine. Everything is set correctly, but I have no UP control in the game. Works fine in the GUI. Have no idea what could cause that.

Folly

@jamrom2

It's probably due to the fact that the game uses an other key for up.
I think you have to find that key and then re-assign the up key or button to that key.

jamrom2

@folly @folly hiya.

Is there any way to beef-up the already present lr-mess-ti99 script valerino was working on?

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/25576/new-scriptmodules-lr-vice-xvic-gsplus-proper-lr-mess-integration/61

I have it running. It's very good, but the performance is a mess. Total slide show. With the shaders active, I have it looking exactly as it does in the screen shot from the thread. Even with them off, the performance result is the same.

This was the last dump he did that I loaded.
https://github.com/valerino/RetroPie-Setup/blob/master/scriptmodules/libretrocores/lr-mess-ti99.sh

Folly

@jamrom2

I think it's probably better to improve my script so the ti99 can be installed with the extra predefined options like the module-script of Valerino.

I see that these options are added :
-ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -nat -joy

Now some reverse engineering :

adding -ioport peb only :
Listing the slots will explain that it's a peripheral expansion box and that all slots available are empty, because no extra adaptor cards are added after the command.
(found using this cmd : /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listslots ti99_4a)

adding -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot3 speech means that the peripheral expansion box is inserted and that a speech synthesizer adaptor card is inserted in slot3.
Bios file ti99_speech.7z is needed for this.
I think it's a text to speech card.
(info can be found using the mame GUI or using this cmd : /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listslots ti99_4a -ioport peb)

The above cmd will also give more options that can be added into a slot :
32kmem TI-99 32KiB memory expansion card
bwg SNUG BwG Floppy Controller
ccdcc CorComp Disk Controller Card
ccfdc CorComp Floppy Disk Controller Card Rev A
ddcc1 Myarc Disk Controller Card
forti FORTi Sound Card
hfdc Myarc Hard and Floppy Disk Controller
horizon Horizon 4000B RAMdisk
hsgpl SNUG High-speed GPL card
ide Nouspikel IDE interface card
myarcmem Myarc Memory expansion card MEXP-1
pcode TI-99 P-Code Card
pgram PGRAM(+) memory card
samsmem SuperAMS memory expansion card
sidmaster SID Master 99
speech TI-99 Speech synthesizer (on adapter card)
tifdc TI-99 Standard DSSD Floppy Controller
tirs232 TI-99 RS232/PIO interface
usbsm Nouspikel USB/Smartmedia card
whtscsi Western Horizon Technologies SCSI host adapt

adding -nat:
Using -nat will set the keyboard mode in the natural mode.
(info can be found using the mame GUI)

adding -joy:
adding -joy will give no error but it looks like -joy is an old option, because adding it seems to make no difference as the twin joysticks are always added by default.
(info can be found using the mame GUI)
Listing the slots will explain that joy doesn't exist as a slot, but joyport does :

joyport          mecmouse         TI-99 Mechatronics Mouse
                 twinjoy          TI-99/4(A) Twin Joysticks

(found using this cmd : /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listslots ti99_4a)

So the the correct options should be -joyport mecmouse or -joyport twinjoy but not needed as the twinjoy is added by default.

It probably quite easy to add the ti99_4a with the extra predefined options into the script.

Can you explain what difference you experience between my loader lines and the Valerino loader lines ?

BTW:
This is interesting, we will even be able to use floppy files or harddrive files :

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listmedia ti99_4a -ioport peb -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 hfdc -ioport:peb:slot3 ide
SYSTEM           MEDIA NAME       (brief)    IMAGE FILE EXTENSIONS SUPPORTED
---------------- --------------------------- -------------------------------
.
ti99_4a          floppydisk1      (flop1)    .mfi  .dfi  .hfe  .mfm  .td0  .imd  .d77  .d88  .1dd  .cqm  .cqi  .dsk  .dtk  
ti99_4a          floppydisk2      (flop2)    .mfi  .dfi  .hfe  .mfm  .td0  .imd  .d77  .d88  .1dd  .cqm  .cqi  .dsk  .dtk  
ti99_4a          harddisk         (hard)     .chd  .hd   .hdv  .2mg  .hdi

Here we can find a good wiki page :
https://www.ninerpedia.org/wiki/MAME_TI_emulation_usage

jamrom2

@folly I

@folly said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess and mame standalone:

Can you explain what difference you experience between my loader lines and the Valerino loader lines ?

For the most part, it's all visual from the Valerino script. Because it uses the Libretro side, you get the usual bennies with it. HOWEVER... that's it. As far as I can tell, there are no other benefits simply because the performance is horrendous, and it only supports .RPK files...which many I've tested out of the offered library do not work.

Yours comes with the benefit of expansion as you are doing now, and will see more of if you can get the periferials working like the MBX module and the floppy drives. Because it's in the MAME environment, it does not allow for the use of overlays and shaders from inside the core, but I'm wondering if you can use simular files like you do with the arcade side of MAME to get them to work.

The performance is better, but still not as good as the native Ti99sim. Voice needs to be supported as well and Valerino's did... but again, it was unplayable on a Pi3b+. I don't know if that will be the deciding factor of this whole thing, I was hoping it could still work well with less horsepower requirements much like the Apple, Dragon and Tandy do.

Looking forward to your next update...

Folly

@jamrom2

I have added a test version of my script in the backup directory :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/blob/main/00-workdir-00/backup/add-mamedev-systems-0238_test.sh
(just right-click on "raw" and select "save link as")

I have done these commits on the file :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commits/main/00-workdir-00/backup/add-mamedev-systems-0238_test.sh

The plain lr-mess basename loaders are now identical as the mame basename loaders.
For systems/drivers that use media it will not generate this loader anymore : lr-mess-basename
Only issue with lr-mess is that the save directories aren't recognised properly.
I fixed this by adding these paths as RetroArch options.
So now we can also make savestate files and loading also works.
Only problem now is, the savestate files will still have strange names because lr-mess will add the lr-mess options into the savestate filenames.

I added ti99_4a with the predefined options for :
-ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -nat
These loader lines will also contain -autoframeskip and -ui_active.
(so TAB works for the GUI and you will have "auto frame skipping" by default)

I added ti99_4a with the predefined options for :
exbasic -ioport peb -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 hfdc with flop1 support.
With this we will be able to load programs from floppydisk.

Btw.
Shaders will take a lot of resources, try not using them or find a shader that uses less resources.

Let me know how it goes.

Be aware of the fact that this is probably a temporary test-script because I will try to work towards loaders that contain our %DIRNAME% solution.

Folly

@jamrom2

Loading the first game from floppy (selecting 2) (commands are upper-case):

BIOS files in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame :
exbasic.zip (from ti99_cart)
ti99_hfdc.7z

jamrom2

@folly Looks great.

So I copied the script as usual, and cleared out all the other version I loaded, deleted the emulators.cfg from ti99_4a.

Where is this one located once I load the new script? In the long list under "T" as the other set was and which one is it? I see Ti99/4a Home Computer US. Do I just load that one?

Maybe as each of these are worked on, you can move them into the same area as the Dragon and Tandy are just for ease of finding it.

Once I get it loaded, I'll play around with it for sure.

Thanks!

Folly

@jamrom2

Hi,

When installing it from next selections it doesn't matter, ti99_4a will always be installed the same way.
Installing the regular basename loaders and the regular loaders with the media option (if the system supports them).

However, installing it with the extra options this is placed in Systems: with extra options because the install procedure is different.

You will find it in the blue selected part.

I didn't make any auto-boot loader lines, so in section 3 you will not find anything.

When starting the game, then you can select something like this in the dialog on start.

I agree it's a long, not obvious, name and in the blue section you can't really see if you picked the correct one.
Beneath "Emulator:" you can view the whole line and see if you picked the correct one.

The disadvantage is that the more options we add the longer the name becomes.
I would like it to be shorter and perhaps I can use the install description name for that.
It is still something that could be improved upon but not directly in the priority list.

On the other hand it's nice to see all the options in the name from a learning perspective.
Then people can basically see what the options are called in mame/lr-mess.

jamrom2

@folly Well, after playing with this for a long time...

It works, but nothing I tried in .dsk format worked with it. The only file I got to run was some silly music file called 5 foot 2.

Everything else I ran comes back with either an * I/O Error 52 or it crashes with a SYNTAX line error.

So I don't know if this was successful for me. It does work though. And I noticed I can only run the "extended basic" option (lr-mess-system-ti99_4a_exbasic...). The other choice that you have selected in that screenshot gives me the unrecognized file black screen error.

I downloaded every variant of the Ti99/4a BOIS from the usual archive, so I'm thinking I have enough of them.

Not sure why I'm getting all these errors in the games.
I tried:
Defender
Virus Attack
Astro Blitz
Attack of the Creepers

Again, they will run after I type in the OLD DSK1.GAME command... in fact Astro Blitz gets to the menu where you choose between the two games, but when it starts to load the actual game file, it crashes.

Are you planning on adding cartridge support to this as well?

Folly

@jamrom2

For me it also something new, so I will try some more.

I did add cartridge support.
This is what I added :

new basename loaders for lr-mess which will load only cartridges because there is only a 1 hash file for ti99 with cartridges (use .zip with .bin inside from ti99_cart)
a new ti99 loader that adds the speech sythesizer and sets the keyboard into natural mode and load cartridges (use .rpk files because it's a media loader not a basename)
a new ti99 loader that adds extended basic and a floppy drive and sets the keyboard into natural mode and load dsk files

Folly

@jamrom2

I updated the installer from :
TI-99/4A Home Computer + exbasic + keyb_nat + flop1
to :
TI-99/4A Home Computer (32Kb) + superxb + keyb_nat + flop1

I have tested quite some disks and many work. (but not all)
Many games require the "super extended basic" so I used that.
superxb seems the newest extended basic and seems to be backwards compatible too.
(superxb.zip)(place the file from the ti99_cart to BIOS files in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame)
Most games require 32kb memory, so I added that too.
Most games, that I tried, load automatically now.

I tried these too :
Defender (I have no disk file but the cart file works )
Virus Attack (disk auto boots but has an error, can't load a file)
Astro Blitz (disk auto boots and works)
Attack of the Creepers (disk auto boots but has an error, can't load a file)

jamrom2

@folly sound good. I'll pull down the new script and try it later. Just have to assume some of the games are just bad ROM or Disk dumps.

Looking forward to the changes. I'll let you know how it goes

Folly

@jamrom2

I just made a huge improvement.

All loader descriptions are shortened and added with better descriptions, especially for the loader lines with "extra's" and "autoboot".
I manually added these description addons in the CSV structure of the script.

For the normal media lines I removed the -system part.

I think the loader descriptions look much better now.

Just like earlier, I advise to remove the specific emulators.cfg before installing that system again, so the emulators.cfg will contain the latest loader lines.

I did some tests and it seems there are no issues. (fingers crossed)

Here is the commit :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/6c6aa49ba9a9ffd2e211698997c299349d436b11

jamrom2

@folly

I don't know what to make of this... I had some success and some failures I don't understand.

Loaded new script and looks good in menus and emulator choices. Easy to read now. I have all the new options you created.

alpiner.zip (3 zipped .bin files) and barrage.zip (zipped .bin)

"lr-mess-ti99_4a-basename" --> fails with all grey screen. missing BIOS?
"mame-ti99_4a-basename" --> works but performance is disastrous.
Seems like no matter what zipped .bin files I try, I get the same result.

4a_flyer (zipped .rpk file)

"lr-mess-ti99_4a-speech-keyb_nat-cart" - fails with all black initialization error
"mame-ti99_4a-speech-keyb_nat-cart" - runs, but again... un-playable slide show

as_shamus.rpk (unzipped .rpk file)

"lr-mess-ti99_4a-speech-keyb_nat-cart" - WORKS - need to add ".rpk and .RPK" to es_systems.cfg to display in ES gamelists

13 Extended Basic Games (198x)(-)(PD) - From TOSEC batch - (zipped .dsk file)

"lr-mess-ti99_4a-32kb-superxb-keyb_nat-flop1" - WORKS and autoloads. Performance sucks, game crashed anyway.

The following zipped .dsk files all worked - performance is definitely a problem. For such an old system, you would imagine it would run like the Dragon, Tandy, C64 or A800.

Micro Pinball II (1984)(Software Specialities)[req. PHM 3026]
Night Mission (1985)(Millers Graphics)
Old Dark Caves 2 (1986)(Donn Granros)
Astroblitz (1988)(-) & TI-Mazogz (1988)(B. Waldmann)(PD)

All unzipped .rpk files seem like they work. Enough do that I stopped testing.

We're definately on the right track. The zipped .bin files are the only ones that didn't work for me at all in the new script using the lr-mess side. If it can be done from the script, it needs to add in the missing file names to the es_systems.cfg... and maybe remove many of the formats that won't be used. Seems to be a lot of them...again... if that's possible.

Folly

@jamrom2 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess and mame standalone:

I will do some tests.

For such an old system, you would imagine it would run like the Dragon, Tandy, C64 or A800.

The TMS9900 was ahead of it's time, you might want to read these links :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TMS9900
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-inside-story-of-texas-instruments-biggest-blunder-the-tms9900-microprocessor

This is probably why it's slower.