Apple2e: AppleWin Libretro

[Lolonois]

@ExarKunIv thanks for the verbose answer. This story is twofold. One is the upstream build is broken for the libretro Applewin core. Pinning to 99130da8 from 2023-03-09 mitigates this. The other part is that the resources/ are not deployed by my scriptmodule. Will fix that. In the meantime you can work around with these commands (i.e. do not run the clean):

cd RetroPie-Setup
for a in depends sources build install ; do sudo ./retropie_packages.sh lr-applewin $a ; done

In the verbose log you can recognize the resources pulled from the build folder if everything went well:

...
[libretro INFO] RA2: retro_load_game
[INFO] [Environ]: SET_PIXEL_FORMAT: XRGB8888.
[DSInit] PC=00000000, WC=00000000, Diff=00000000
[INFO] [Environ]: SET_MESSAGE: Enhanced Apple //e Emulator -  50% Color (Composite Idealized)
[libretro INFO] RA2: GetBitmap. /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/lr-applewin/resource/CHARSET4.BMP = 256x768, 1bpp
...

[ExarKunIv]

@Lolonois i was about to say, that i found the same thing with the upstream build being broken.

i went back to a older commit and was able to get it to build and play.

so if we can find a commit that works well and when you fix the problem with the resources i think we will be good.

kinda glad its not me, :)

I will mess around more come monday, unless you come back with a update.
thanks again for your help

[Folly]

@Lolonois

I tried to install your script too on my x86_64 Bullseye VM and used your code to install from here :
https://gist.github.com/Gemba/9dff49492c3ad1d2d3fbb15bfb3ebc4a
Seems there are some issues with the bash install code.
Somehow the retropie_packages can't install because the module-script is copied into : ext/local/scriptmodules/supplementary/libretrocores
I think it should be : ext/local/scriptmodules/libretrocores

Also the module-script is cloned with this line :
applyPatch "$md_data/01-libretro_gcc8_static_lstd++-fs.patch"
But no patch is downloaded and the patch cannot be applied.
In the module-script on the readme page I cannot find the line.
Seems to me that this line only has to be used if gcc8 is used, correct ?

Another problem is that lr-applewin cannot be compiled because the files source/SaveState_Structs_common.h (and most likely source/SaveState_Structs_v1.h) cannot be found.
So I got them from here :
https://github.com/AppleWin/AppleWin/tree/717c5cba84edfecc735505db4df7d01519c509b0/source

After adding these files in source/ it did compile.

(EDIT : issue seems to fixed upstream )

I did not test the emulator yet but I wanted to let you know what experience I had so far.

[Lolonois]

@Folly Wow. It's getting momentum. :) 1. Yes, right the readme of the gist pointed to an outdated revision, however the shown lr-applewin.sh file of the gist did not rely on the gcc8 static lib patch (has been fixed upstream). Thanks for noting the surplus supplementary/ folder in the readme.
2. The broken build was introduced by the upstream merge between Applewin and audetto's repo earlier this day (commit 9d5b3cf FWIW).

TL;DR: Find the updated gist including the corrected readme at [1]. Please notify me shortly @ExarKunIv if it works for you too.

[1] https://gist.github.com/Gemba/9dff49492c3ad1d2d3fbb15bfb3ebc4a

[ExarKunIv]

@Lolonois I'll let you know first thing Monday.

I leave my pi at work, since I'm still building my system and that's where I have most of my time. Lol

Glad this is getting more momentum.

[Lolonois]

@ExarKunIv sure thing. No hassle, as you can find time. I picked the wrong word, "briefly" was my intention.

[Folly]

@Lolonois

I just tried my binary and it works on Lode Runner (4am crack).dsk.
For now I had to remove this line in /opt/retropie/configs/apple2/retroarch.cfg :
input_game_focus_toggle_key = "2"
As I can't use my "keyboard joystick" and somehow I can't toggle game-focus with a key if above line is set.

I always use a hotkey enable key so hotkeys are not in the way.
So I now can use down, left and right but up locks the movements. I can't go up the stairs in loderunner yet.

@ExarKunIv
Seems you have the same issue with the joystick not working if the game_focus is on.

I will do some more investigation if I can.
Btw. I am on vacation so if I don't answer you know the reason.

[ExarKunIv]

@Folly no rush. We figured out he bigger problem with it not running the games.

Now that's out of the way we can find tune it.

Enjoy your vacation

[Folly]

@ExarKunIv

Enjoy your vacation

Thanks ;-)

We figured out he bigger problem with it not running the games.

So you have it working now too ?
( Oh yea, I forgot you can't test it right now )

I tried some other games, but they didn't work.
Not sure why but perhaps .2mg files are not supported, will have a second look.
( indeed .2mg is not supported, these are the supported extensions : .po .dsk .nib .PO .DSK .NIB .zip )

[ExarKunIv]

This post is deleted!

[ExarKunIv]

@Folly said in Apple2e: AppleWin Libretro:

So you have it working now too ?
( Oh yea, I forgot you can't test it right now )
Lol

I can't test the new script.
But I did have it working with my test build yesterday. Which is when I confirmed that the issue is upstream.

So for me it was close enough to say we got that figured out.

[Folly]

@Lolonois @ExarKunIv

For testing I now have this in the apple2 retroarch.cfg

input_auto_game_focus = "0"
input_game_focus_toggle = "scroll_lock"
input_game_focus_toggle_axis = "nul"
input_game_focus_toggle_btn = "nul"
input_game_focus_toggle_mbtn = "nul"

input_auto_game_focus = "0" (or nothing in retroarch.cfg) will NOT set the game focus on at startup.
input_auto_game_focus = "2" will set the game focus on at startup.

When game focus is on and using the keyboard as joystick it will disable the joystick.
So for me it's better to disable game focus at startup and enable it when I have to.
A good game example, not needing game-focus, is : test-drive.

I added the toggle lines so I can change the toggle button as my mac doesn't have "scroll_lock" I can change it now into "shift", for example.
If not added in the apple2 retroarch.cfg the game focus toggle button is always "scroll_lock".
A good example, needing toggling game focus, is : bruce_lee.
without game focus : setting the joystick keys
with game focus : starting player 1
without game focus : playing the game

[ExarKunIv]

@Lolonois Thank you for looking into this. i installed with the updated script and it starts perfectly.

@Lolonois, @Folly
i think we should change the input_auto_game_focus to 0

just so people are not surprised when they get locked out from exiting the game if they dont have a controller programed with button 3

like people that might be just using a keyboard.

what you guys think? or pick a different key/button

we can always add more detail in the help about the game focus

[Folly]

@ExarKunIv said in Apple2e: AppleWin Libretro:

what you guys think?

I agree.
People can always use game-focus just like with other cores.
A good thing, with this core, is that it will remind you of the game-focus option at the startup.

I would like to have the toggle lines in there too so people don't have to search for the config toggle lines because you can't find them in the normal all/retroarch.cfg.

@Lolonois @ExarKunIv
What do you both think ?

The package libslirp stays in the folder /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/libslirp after install.
Shouldn't it be moved to the opt directory when installing ?

[ExarKunIv]

@Folly said in Apple2e: AppleWin Libretro:

I would like to have the toggle lines in there too so people don't have to search for the config toggle lines because you can't find them in the normal all/retroarch.cfg.

good idea.

[Lolonois]

Valid aspects, you two.

Some changes I did:

1. Game focus is off by default.
2. Added to the Readme/Help to closely review the game focus toggle button
3. Removed libslirp build artefacts. At the moment they are installed at /usr/local/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf. Maybe I change it over time, but for now (experimental scriptmodul still) I will leave it like that.

[ExarKunIv]

@Lolonois looks good to me. Thanks again for all your work on this

[Folly]

@Lolonois

There are a lot of .gz zipped dsk and po files in the apple-ii-disk-collection rom pack.
I think we should add the .gz extension too.

[Lolonois]

@Folly The information in the rp_help in this scriptmodule is only informational. Normative authority is es_systems.cfg: Enabling .gz can be done in the ~/.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg by the user. This core supports .gz but I can not tell for other emulators like Linapple.

[Folly]

@Lolonois

That's ok, I get it.