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

Folly

Thanks a lot for testing it out and letting me know.
So it looks like it's working correctly now, I will keep it in for mame standalone.
For lr-mess/lr-mame I have to decide in the future.

Btw: you can simply add it in your runcommans manually if you want.
Just look at how it's done in mame and you can implement manually in lr-mess.
I am curious if it works for you.

Folly

I changed my version to 0259.06 for preliminary ArchyPie support.
Due to that I had to change many paths in the script into variables.
I did some rigorous testing and everything seems to be fine but if someone will notice some issues then please report.

DTEAM

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

Does somebody is able to run UBOAT from MAME 0.259. On my side, it won't load.
Bandai U-Boat [hap, Sean Riddle, eggs] ROM name= UBOAT

The problem was on my end, corrupted rom. Sorry for that

Folly

@DTEAM

Aha thanks.
No problem.

Folly

All updated to 260.

bbilford83

So this is a super niche question, but does anyone have Super Cassette Vision working on their setup working, and if so are you able to play "Dragon Slayer"? I have been adding it with the script and everything works great except in that one game, no matter what I do I can't get into actual gameplay. The game loads properly and goes into "demo mode" after telling me to hit start, but unlike every other game that tells me to hit start hitting start doesn't actually do anything. I can see from some youtube videos that there are people emulating this properly and I'm at a loss...

Folly

@bbilford83

Indeed, have the same problem.
Tried it on scv_pal and it worked.
Read in the hash (scv.xml) that dragon slayer is a game only for Japan.
Perhaps the reason it doesn't work on the normal "ntsc" version.
Not sure though "pal" is also used in Europe, so very strange.
Perhaps an issue in the driver.
On the other hand, the dragon slayer rom is stated as "not correctly dumped" so that could also be the problem.
In the hash table they are also not sure how much "ram" the cartridge has on board.
Nevertheless it works on scv_pal.

bbilford83

@Folly Thanks very much! I will add it that way.

The only other game I had issues with is prowrest, which seems to be missing audio and running super fast. Did you have problems with that one too and maybe that would also run better on the _pal version?

Folly

@bbilford83

On the pal version everything works slower because of the pal 50Hz refresh frequency (instead of 60Hz for ntsc).
So probably will work better on the scv_pal.

Let me know if that works.

bbilford83

@Folly I am trying to figure out a way to use the scv_pal emulator options to launch games in my scv system. I added the emulator lines to emulator.cfg but when I select it to launch the games it just boots me back to the emulationstation menu. I realize now maybe that is because the system info in es_systems.cfg still says this:
"<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS scv %ROM%</command>"

And it should say "scv_pal" if I had a whole separate system entered for scv_pal. But there must be some way to run it with that emulator selection without creating a whole separate "scv_pal" system in emulationstation, right?

Sorry if this is obvious...

Edit: I also noticed Ton Ton Ball and Wheelie Racer are the same as Dragon Slayer, they load to the launch screens but won't take inputs. I assume svc_pal would fix them too.

bbilford83

Aha nevermind @folly, I figured it out. I had to change the emulator.cfg file to use the right rompath, that was all. I tested all three games and they work on _pal :).

Folly

@bbilford83

Update:
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/107daa8743cc8d75fd06f6702480be78883d82bc

scv_pal will be installed in scv.

bbilford83

@Folly Good idea!

duglor

@DTEAM Can someone walk me through how i get lr-mess-microvision working after an install or do i need lr-mess-2016?

Anyway, there are no instructions on the retropie sites.
What i need to know is if there is a bios file needed? A certain dimension for the visual settings? and how to load and run it?

If this is the wrong place for this, please point me to the correct place! Thanks guys!

Folly

@duglor

Do you use my latest script now ?

bbilford83

@Folly it seems I am full of super-niche questions but I am trying to fully flush out my build with everything possible and hoping you could tell me if something I'm trying to do is possible.

I don't put on any systems that would require a keyboard to be practically playable, but when I discovered the Amiga CD32 I thought that was perfect as I could use it to (accurately) only play Amiga games that it could play since they were all bound to only use the joystick controller. Well, today I discovered the Commodore64 Games System which appears to be basically the same thing, but I have spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to figure out exactly which games/cartridges it could play, as I understand they were specifically released for the system and not just identical to the regular c64 cartridges. I looked at the software list roms and while I see a bunch of c64-variant systems, I don't see "c64gs" as a software list romset. But when I went to your script and looked at the "Commodore upon system names" subset of system names, there is a c64gs there!

So my question is: is there some way to identify the romset that should go with c64gs? I'm not asking where to find it, but rather how to figure out what it should have in it, since there isn't a c64gs software list subset as part of mame.

And while I think it's even more of a stretch, I was also looking into the same thing in the form of the "Zemmix," which I gather was a consolized version of the MSX computer that also controlled without a keyboard. That I can't find any sort of list for though, in the roms or in your script, so I think it might be a lost cause.

I realize it is particularly weird of me to work so hard to get obscure console versions of really-easy-to-emulate pcs working, but it makes sense to me if it's a consoles-only build.

Also, @duglor, I suspect @Folly will give you better help than I could but just be aware after all my recent efforts that there really isn't good artwork for all games to make them playable as they should be for the Microvision. You'll see in above exchanges that I created background artwork for each game (with Folly's help) but it's pretty amateurish and for several games it doesn't work really at all. Until someone comes along who is better in Gimp than me I wouldn't really consider the system fully playable without that art.

duglor

@bbilford83 Ok. Thank you. I can hold off for now on Microvision :D

duglor

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

@duglor

Do you use my latest script now ?

Yes

Folly

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

@DTEAM Can someone walk me through how i get lr-mess-microvision working after an install or do i need lr-mess-2016?

I would not go for the lr-mess2016 it's old and not supported by my script.
So you would need to configure everything by yourself with lr-mess2016.

What @bbilford83 says, pretty much says it all :

Also, @duglor, I suspect @Folly will give you better help than I could but just be aware after all my recent efforts that there really isn't good artwork for all games to make them playable as they should be for the Microvision. You'll see in above exchanges that I created background artwork for each game (with Folly's help) but it's pretty amateurish and for several games it doesn't work really at all. Until someone comes along who is better in Gimp than me I wouldn't really consider the system fully playable without that art.

To add something about lr-mess, there are no overlays at all for RetroArch.

Anyway, there are no instructions on the retropie sites.

You can install microvsn like any other driver.
Just search for microvsn in the DEFAULT section and install it.

What i need to know is if there is a bios file needed?

Indeed, it's not always obvious if a bios file is needed.
After installing a driver and placing the game-roms in a roms folder you can try some of the roms.
If they do not work it's probably because you need a bios file for the driver.
Most of the time the bios file is just named like the driver.
Just search for that name in mame-merged rom set to find that bios file.
If you can't find a solution then check, after trying a game, the /dev/shm/runcommand.log if a bios file is "NOT FOUND" .
You can also use my script and use the "NOT FOUND" option in the "restricted downloads". (look at the search option)
Then you will know what file to search for.
An other manual method to is to see if a driver needs bios files, like this :

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listbios microvsn
No BIOS options for system Microvision (microvsn)

You will see that the driver microvsn doesn't need a bios file.

A certain dimension for the visual settings?

I will not explain this as it basically means you should make overlays or artwork.
That would be the best way.

how to load and run it?

Get the microvision.zip file from the mame-sl rom-set and extract them into the microvsn roms folder.
Then you will be able to run the games from emulationstation.

Folly

@bbilford83

Interesting questions about amiga32,c64gs and zemmix.
I will have a look later.