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

Folly · 9 Feb 2022, 21:55

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

At this point, we'll need to post instructions on how this all works and some known issues like performance, interaction with command for certain auto-load cycles, and what keys might need to be remapped.

That is indeed something that should be added.

We have multiple possibilities on how we can do this :

add "instructions" to the script
add instructions to the first post
or separate the instructions to a new thread

We will have to think about it how we want to structure it.

jamrom2 · 10 Feb 2022, 01:26

@folly

I vote for keeping it all in the thread we are making. It will be easier for users to keep open and work with the Pi/files at the same time....and easier for us to update as needed.

Folly · 10 Feb 2022, 07:54

@jamrom2

Good argument, let keep it here.

Folly · 21 Feb 2022, 12:24

@2Play

I think you might be interested and I would like to ask you if you can test my latest commit to this script.
Read post 1 on how to install)

I merged the knowledge of my old Philips CDI script to this script now.
Basically when cdimono1 is installed then some patched configs are written to get :

working mouse and mouse buttons
full 4:3 screen without small display
above fixes to work with lr-run_mess and plain media and basename lr-mess loaders

see commit 1
see commit 2

To use the basename loaders you can use this structure :
pi@raspberrypi:~/RetroPie/roms/cdimono1 $ find -name "arc*"
~/RetroPie/roms/cdimono1/arcadecl.zip <=empty dummy file
~/RetroPie/roms/cdimono1/arcadecl/arcade classics (1996)(namco - philips)(eu)[compilation].chd

@jamrom2 @DTEAM
Do you both like it too ?
Have some fun.

I did quite some testing and everything should be ok.
In above process I enable mouse for basename loaders for all systems too.
This could be an improvement when we load games, that use mouse, with the basename loaders in general.
But it can also mean that we run into some issues with some systems.
For the custom media loaders it was already enabled from the beginning and we never had any issues so I think we are good.

Can you both let me know if you run into problems ?

DTEAM · 28 Feb 2022, 13:04

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

@jamrom2 @DTEAM
Do you both like it too ?
Have some fun.
I did quite some testing and everything should be ok.
In above process I enable mouse for basename loaders for all systems too.
This could be an improvement when we load games, that use mouse, with the basename loaders in general.
But it can also mean that we run into some issues with some systems.
For the custom media loaders it was already enabled from the beginning and we never had any issues so I think we are good.
Can you both let me know if you run into problems ?

I'll try it today!

Folly · 3 Jan 2022, 08:07

Downloading the gamelists and media with the script doesn't work correctly anymore.

I have encountered this problem here :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/32188/creating-es-gamelists-with-media-for-mame-lr-mess/13

EDIT :
Problem has been solved :
MATT has updated his script, It's working again ;-)

DTEAM · 3 Mar 2022, 16:21

@Folly

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

@jamrom2 @DTEAM
Do you both like it too ?
Have some fun.
I did quite some testing and everything should be ok.
In above process I enable mouse for basename loaders for all systems too.
This could be an improvement when we load games, that use mouse, with the basename loaders in general.
But it can also mean that we run into some issues with some systems.
For the custom media loaders it was already enabled from the beginning and we never had any issues so I think we are good.
Can you both let me know if you run into problems ?

It's nice!
I did a test with MSX2 (Sony ...) and Gamate. It works fine. Great job!!

DTEAM · 3 Mar 2022, 16:26

@Folly
Do you think It could be possible to have save state slots per game for MAME and not per system like lr-mess does?

Folly · 3 Mar 2022, 16:51

@DTEAM

I was thinking that both mame and lr-mess made per game save-states.

Do have an example on what you do/what happens with both mame and lr-mess when making a save state ?
Which loaders do you use ?

DTEAM · 3 Mar 2022, 21:37

@Folly

For Lr-Mess, it's libretro core. So that's fine. For MAME, they use the driver (system) and not the game. It seems to be ok for Arcade games but not for console.

NEW EDIT: I found something. In /opt/retropie/configs/~~arcade~~ arcadia
They create a custom-core-options.cfg file. Probably Valerino script Inside we can see:

mame_saves = "game"

Maybe it's the solution.

Folly · 3 Mar 2022, 19:49

@DTEAM

I see what you mean now.

When pressing shift+F7 for saving you have to press a button and button-name is also the save-state name.
Indeed that is something that isn't great.

Will have a look here and there if I also can find something.

My finding up till now is that I can make a dummy file.
Then I can use this for saving the game under that name.
The dummy file I made for the game E.T. :

It's also possible to add the option -state_directory <a_specific_directory> in the loader which can contain the game name for instance.
Could be a solution too.

DTEAM · 3 Mar 2022, 19:53

@Folly
Have you read my new edit. I think it could work. I'll try it later.

Folly · 3 Mar 2022, 20:38

@DTEAM

Yes I did.

Perhaps we can combine the methods so the savestate will come in the same directory as the rom just like with lr-mess.

Curious what your experience will be.

DTEAM · 3 Mar 2022, 21:38

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

NEW EDIT: I found something. In /opt/retropie/configs/~~arcade~~ arcadia
They create a custom-core-options.cfg file. Probably Valerino script Inside we can see:
mame_saves = "game"
Maybe it's the solution.

It doesn't work .

Folly · 3 Apr 2022, 08:46

@DTEAM

Done some searching.
Have a look here :
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=106338
and here :
https://docs.mamedev.org/commandline/commandline-all.html

We probably need to use the option :

-statename

When we want the savestates in the rom directory we should use both :

-state_directory
-statename

Folly · 3 Apr 2022, 18:42

@DTEAM

EDIT :
I did a second change to use RetroPie-names.
So when using konamih, for example, that directory is created.

You can test !

I added the option statename \$_system/%BASENAME% to all mame loaders.
This is probably the best solution for now.

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/318d1bd18d343f00d8cf00fcad94463a9e312ac2
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/098a1878adb72cdebaf5e5a7647b577844089e93

Folly · 3 May 2022, 08:18

@DTEAM

Have you read my edit in the last post.
I think the second commit is quite an improvement of how it should be.
Do you like it too ;-) ?

Folly · 7 Mar 2022, 04:32

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

@Folly

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

@jamrom2 @DTEAM
Do you both like it too ?
Have some fun.
I did quite some testing and everything should be ok.
In above process I enable mouse for basename loaders for all systems too.
This could be an improvement when we load games, that use mouse, with the basename loaders in general.
But it can also mean that we run into some issues with some systems.
For the custom media loaders it was already enabled from the beginning and we never had any issues so I think we are good.
Can you both let me know if you run into problems ?

It's nice!
I did a test with MSX2 (Sony ...) and Gamate. It works fine. Great job!!

I found an issue and fixed it.

Can you check if you have these files in /opt/retropie/configs/msx :

retroarch.cfg.basename
retroarch-core-options.cfg.basename

If so you have the correct configs.

If not, then I want to ask you if you can test it again.

This is the fix :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/cbdbcac8778ec95f216604f584c23ca4de029bd4

DTEAM · 3 Aug 2022, 15:56

@Folly
Hi Folly,
I used your script to generate a new emulator.cfg file. MAME no longer seems to recognize gamepads. I lost access to my UI setup. When I try to configure it again with the keyboard, the gamepad buttons don't work.

Something has changed that causes the gamepads to no longer work. It's related to the emulator.cfg command lines and the new MAME directory I believe.

For savestates, your solution works well!!! I added -statename $_system/%BASENAME% on a MAME loader and it works.

We don't see the system name but " \ " as main folder, but it works!

Folly · 8 Mar 2022, 15:56

@DTEAM

Great to hear that the savestate problem is solved.

If I remember correctly, I think I moved the mame input configs to :
/opt/retropie/configs/<system>/mame
So they are not in the regular roms directory anymore.
I probably forgot to mention it.

It works the same as the game-specific ones that are in :
/opt/retropie/configs/<system>/mame/<game>

Which system did you update ?
Then I can do some tests.