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

Folly

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

@Folly Is there a simple way to just add lr-vice 128/lr-vice c128?
That's all i need. :)

lr-vice is off topic.
I would check the core options in retroarch.
You probably have to add 64kb (total 128kb).
I think the types will still be 64/64c.
Otherwise open a new topic.

Folly

It took me quite some time but here is the update of mamedev.sh to 258.00.
I hope everything works as expected.
It has many changes and addons.
Here is the commit info.

jamrom2

@Folly loaded the new script and everything seems OK.

Still can't get the Coco2 to work, according to the log, it's running .258. How do I load the .254 version of mame without altering the .258 version? I'm a little confused as to how this is supposed to work.

Thanks,

JR

Folly

@jamrom2

For now there are 4 routes to take :

1:
The thing is you can't actually use coco2 anymore on 258 because it doesn't exist in that version, it's replaced by coco.
So if you want to run coco with the old coco2 experience on 0258 then you need to install the coco runcommands.
By default it will run with the latest bioses and hardware like the coco2 did.

2:
If you still want to run coco under the emulationstation section (or folder) coco2 then you can copy the runcommands (emulators.cfg) from coco to coco2.
Be sure you did a coco2 install before.
You can do this by selecting an older database first then install coco2 and then replace the emulators.cfg manually.

3:
Downgrade the mame binary to a pre 254 binary (250 for example) and then install coco2.
coco2 can be installed from the EXTRA without changing the database to a prior version as far as I know.
But the DEFAULT coco2 install needs a prior database to be selected in order to install properly.
This can be done by selecting a version from which you know coco2 still worked. So that would be 250 or 254 for example.
If you want to be safe then select a prior database and do every coco2 install (DEFAULT + EXTRAS)

This is still a one way route as there is only 1 mame install.
So your newer 258 mame will be replace by 250 for example.
If you want to backup 258 then do this manually by, for example, renaming /opt/retropie/emulators/mame to /opt/retropie/emulators/mame258 .
(use CLI as superuser and use the mv (move) command)
For the future it would be nice to run multiple versions together.
But first we will have to see if that is something for the future.

Be aware that I did not add older lr-mess binaries.
So running coco2 with lr-mess this way will also need an older lr-mess if not installed.

4:
What is also possible is to add coco2 lines to the EXTRAS so coco will be installed under coco2.
Though it's something I rather not do.
You can check the code if you want it's quite easy to add extra lines, they are just "comma separated values" (CSV).

jamrom2

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

@jamrom2

For now there are 4 routes to take :

1:
The thing is you can't actually use coco2 anymore on 258 because it doesn't exist in that version, it's replaced by coco.
So if you want to run coco with the old coco2 experience on 0258 then you need to install the coco runcommands.
By default it will run with the latest bioses and hardware like the coco2 did.

This worked perfectly. I didn't realize they combined the Coco2 and Coco together, which is fine. I loaded the defaults, and all the additional "extra" options for Cassette, Cartridge and Floppy support. All work perfectly.

Thank you for this. Honestly, you're probably better off dumping any mention of the Coco2. The way it's set up now is how it should run.

Folly

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

Honestly, you're probably better off dumping any mention of the Coco2.

I updated to 258.01 .
The coco2 lines will not be shown anymore when using the latest versions of mame.
The EXTRAS lists are now changed depending on what database you use.
Added some more stuff.
Let me know what you think of it.

Folly

Updated post 1 for using the default mamedev.sh script.

DTEAM

@Folly

MAME 0.259 is release. One ClassicH and 2 KonamiH

New working systems

Bandai U-Boat [hap, Sean Riddle, eggs] ROM name= UBOAT
Beat Player 2000 [Phil Bennett, system11]
Booby Kids (Magnet System) [Hugo Benedet, Recreativas.org]
Fidelity Electronics Bridge Bidder [hap, Sean Riddle]
Fidelity Electronics Elite Premiere [hap, Berger]
Fishing Maniac 2+ [Phil Bennett, system11]
Hegener + Glaser Mephisto Montreal 68000 [hap, anonymous]
Hegener + Glaser Mephisto Roma II [hap, anonymous]
Konami Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle, Mr. Do] ROM Name = KST25
Konami Top Gun: Second Mission (handheld) [hap, Sean Riddle] ROM NAME = KTOPGUN2
Let's Dance [Phil Bennett, system11]
Novag Chess Robot Adversary [hap, anonymous]
Super Tank Attack (prototype rev. 1.12) [Phil Bennett]
Um Jammer Lammy NOW! (Japan, UL1/VER.A) [Phil Bennett, Eric Yockey, Windy Fairy]

Folly

@DTEAM

Nice ;-)
Will do an update of the database when I can, this month.

jamrom2

@Folly I finally got around to updating and testing yesterday. Looks good. It's a lot easier to use and as long as you have the BIOS's in the right, it's pretty much seamless to install each system.

The complaints will come from users not understanding why the ROMs won't load based on whether they're cassettes, carts, or floppies. But that's the beauty of all of this... you have to learn something.

Folly

@jamrom2

Thanks for the feedback.
Glad I stopped with the older script seems it was the right way to do.
I am also quite happy with the newer script.
Still polishing stuff here and there.

Indeed you are right about the learning curve with mame/lr-mame/lr-mess.
The more you learn the easier it gets.
That is my experience.

Folly

@DTEAM @jamrom2

I updated to 258.07.

I added many mame binaries to my gdrive.
A list can be shown in the script and installing from it is also possible.

Do you both have other mame binaries that we can add in here ? :
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1--8uSe-xs1vFA-yPfw6Ac2XF6zzNzAuP

bbilford83

Hi all. I have been contributing over in the handheld thread, but I think this question is better put here. I've been trying to get the microvision system set up and while it works, I can't see a way to get overlays set up for it automatically. I've found both screen overlay pngs and overlay pngs for the whole handheld for each game, but it doesn't seem like there are mame artwork .zips that already have the layout set up to make it work right laid over the screen during gameplay. I am capable of creating the overlay files in retroarch to just put the simple screen backgrounds over the screens, but because each of these games had different controls (even different buttons), it really needs the full artwork to be playable. Does anyone know if these exist somewhere? They're beyond my capability to create, unfortunately...

Actually I got ahead of myself - even the screen backgrounds I found don't work with a straightforward overlay (like how it works for game and watch games) because they are meant to have the screen fully inside them. When I created the overlay the "border" is covering gameplay. I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to make it display inside the border but I don't know how.

Folly

@bbilford83

In the past I have seen artwork for systems, like microvsn, that had multiple "views" in them for multiple games.
An good existing example is vectrex .
However the challenge is finding them.

Indeed, for mame standalone you need to switch the view in the gameplay.
I think it's possible to make runcommands to load each artwork game-wise but it would probably be overkill for many users and it could get a real "mess", if you know what I mean.
Though I have experimented with this in the past but it has been some time ago.
What I did back then was making artwork for vectrex_frogger only as a test.
What I found was that If you do this then you need to add the system name to the game artwork. Otherwise you mix up artwork for other games, the normal frogger, for instance.

In the past I have been busy witch making background overlays for lr-mess for some dual screen game & watch games.
Here I had the same issue that you describe.
The issue that backgrounds don't fit the game screen.
I think what I did was selecting the zoomed view in mame standalone.
(with that you need to have the mame artwork of course)
Then I made a print screen of the lr-mess game-play too.
I used gimp to see how the screens together with the background images match using some layers.
I stretched or cropped the background overlay to match the game-play area.
Then I made a new image using the correct width and height and pasted the new background overlay and save it.
Overall a lot of work ;-)

Can you share some files on your gdrive so I can have a look ?

bbilford83

Thanks for your detailed response! Thoughts interspersed below.

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

@bbilford83

In the past I have seen artwork for systems, like microvsn, that had multiple "views" in them for multiple games.
An good existing example is vectrex .
However the challenge is finding them.

This is the case for the Game and Watch artwork too, no? And some of the classic handhelds. Basically, if there is a .zip file that downloads when you use the script to download MAME artwork, and you move it to bios/mame/artwork, it automatically loads the artwork when you launch the game. And that .zip uses something named default.lay to assign where all the artwork goes, I just don't have the slightest idea how to make that.

Indeed, for mame standalone you need to switch the view in the gameplay.

This works in lr-mame/mess too, you just still have to go into the mame menu and change it. It's not through retroarch. But your choice in that menu "sticks" when you exit the game so it will reload with whatever view you left it as.

In the past I have been busy witch making background overlays for lr-mess for some dual screen game & watch games.
Here I had the same issue that you describe.
The issue that backgrounds don't fit the game screen.
I think what I did was selecting the zoomed view in mame standalone.
(with that you need to have the mame artwork of course)
Then I made a print screen of the lr-mess game-play too.
I used gimp to see how the screens together with the background images match using some layers.
I stretched or cropped the background overlay to match the game-play area.
Then I made a new image using the correct width and height and pasted the new background overlay and save it.
Overall a lot of work ;-)

Yeah full honesty I don't follow most of that. I bet I could find tutorials somewhere but you would think there would be some relatively easy way to just shrink the screen display of the game by some percentage in retroarch, no? Or I guess in the mame menu in standalone. I checked the scaling options in the video settings in RA and couldn't find anything helpful though. If that worked, you could at least use the basic backgrounds to make sense of the gameplay.

Can you share some files on your gdrive so I can have a look ?

Here is a link with the screen background images I found, they seem like they would be perfect if you could shrink the game image displaying to be within the "border" of each. I also added a subfolder with a few examples of the art of the whole handheld... that's the best I could find.

Folly

@bbilford83 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

Thanks for your detailed response! Thoughts interspersed below.

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

@bbilford83

In the past I have seen artwork for systems, like microvsn, that had multiple "views" in them for multiple games.
An good existing example is vectrex .
However the challenge is finding them.

This is the case for the Game and Watch artwork too, no? And some of the classic handhelds. Basically, if there is a .zip file that downloads when you use the script to download MAME artwork, and you move it to bios/mame/artwork, it automatically loads the artwork when you launch the game. And that .zip uses something named default.lay to assign where all the artwork goes, I just don't have the slightest idea how to make that.

Yes, it works like that.
However a systems like microvsn isn't a standalone game it's a handheld that can accept different cartridges that is the difference with game&watch.
So you would have an artwork-file called microvsn.zip which would contain multiply game "screens". However mame will not detect which game is running so if you use a normal runcommand you have to select the game-view each time you play another game. That is when using mame standalone.

Indeed, for mame standalone you need to switch the view in the gameplay.

This works in lr-mame/mess too, you just still have to go into the mame menu and change it. It's not through retroarch. But your choice in that menu "sticks" when you exit the game so it will reload with whatever view you left it as.

Sure, it can work like this but on the raspberry pi gameplay will be too slow.
That is why we used background overlays for RetroArch instead.

In the past I have been busy witch making background overlays for lr-mess for some dual screen game & watch games.
Here I had the same issue that you describe.
The issue that backgrounds don't fit the game screen.
I think what I did was selecting the zoomed view in mame standalone.
(with that you need to have the mame artwork of course)
Then I made a print screen of the lr-mess game-play too.
I used gimp to see how the screens together with the background images match using some layers.
I stretched or cropped the background overlay to match the game-play area.
Then I made a new image using the correct width and height and pasted the new background overlay and save it.
Overall a lot of work ;-)

Yeah full honesty I don't follow most of that. I bet I could find tutorials somewhere but you would think there would be some relatively easy way to just shrink the screen display of the game by some percentage in retroarch, no? Or I guess in the mame menu in standalone. I checked the scaling options in the video settings in RA and couldn't find anything helpful though. If that worked, you could at least use the basic backgrounds to make sense of the gameplay.

Can you share some files on your gdrive so I can have a look ?

Here is a link with the screen background images I found, they seem like they would be perfect if you could shrink the game image displaying to be within the "border" of each. I also added a subfolder with a few examples of the art of the whole handheld... that's the best I could find.

Yes indeed, perhaps a bit too much.
Will have a look at your files first.

Folly

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

Here is a link with the screen background images I found

I searched for the microvsn artwork file but found nothing.

I looked at the files and I see what you mean.
I think you want to keep the border, right ?
Then for both mame artwork and also for RetroArch overlays we need to customize the view.
Will have a look at that later.

bbilford83

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

I looked at the files and I see what you mean.
I think you want to keep the border, right ?

That's an interesting point, I guess if we removed the outer border from each of the pictures they would work so long as what was left was more or less what would be displaying over the screen in the game originally. That could be a last resort option of course. I think ideally having the full border would be better, especially given that the resolution on these was so insanely low that it doesn't really matter to have the screen space shrunk a bit.

bbilford83

@Folly One other question if you don't mind. I had never gotten R-Zone working before for some reason and now I did. But do you know, did these games have no background art at all? They were just projected onto the little reddish glass? All the youtube videos I've found are like that, so I guess that is how it was played, but boy they look awful....

Folly

@bbilford83

Nice to hear you got it working now.
Indeed they look awful .
Don't really know if they had background art.
My guess is that they didn't have it.