Texmaster port?

mediamogul

Dude was pointing to his local host for an install whereas the actual game data is elsewhere on the internet.

I found that as well, but was apparently tunnel blind to only the first page where the new arm release (v5) isn't listed. Page 38 of that thread has the proper link though. Thanks.

herb_fargus

@mediamogul if you get it up and running I'd be interested to see your results (have to work like a boring adult) but when I get a moment I'd like to check it out.

mediamogul

@herb_fargus

if you get it up and running I'd be interested to see your results

Will do.

have to work like a boring adult

When you're done, meet us over at Billy Applebaum's place. His dad got all the nudie channels unscrambled. Bring cigarettes.

mediamogul

It seems to work pretty well. The only thing that is really required is the additional installation of libwiringPi.so.

@felleg

If you want to install it as a port, download v5 and decompress the main archive, followed by Texmaster2009.rpi1-ARMv6.tar.gz for the Rpi0-1, or Texmaster2009.rpi2-ARMv7.tar.gz for the Rpi2-3. Then, move the directory to anywhere on your Pi that you see fit. For example, I keep a folder for custom installations in my home folder (/home/pi).

Next, you can install WiringPi using these instructions. Afterwards you can begin integrating it into RetroPie as a port by doing the following from the command line:

mkdir /opt/retropie/configs/ports/texmaster2009

then

nano /opt/retropie/configs/ports/texmaster2009/emulators.cfg

The nano text editor will open, where you will now add the following to the text edit field.

texmaster2009 = "/path/to/binary/goes/here/Texmaster2009"
default="texmaster2009"

Press 'ctrl+o' to save, 'y' to confirm and 'ctrl+x' to exit out of the nano text editor.

Now, all that is left is to make a script to launch the whole thing. Continuing in the command line, type:

nano /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ports/Texmaster\ 2009.sh

The nano text editor will open again, where you will now add the following to the text edit field.

#!/bin/bash
"/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh" 0 _PORT_ "texmaster2009" ""

Press 'ctrl+o' to save, 'y' to confirm and 'ctrl+x' to exit out of the nano text editor. Finally, we'll make the script executable by typing:

chmod 0755 /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ports/Texmaster\ 2009.sh

Once you restart Emulation Station, there will be a new menu listing named 'Texmaster 2009' and it should start right up.

mediamogul

This is really nice. I first thought about trying to replicate the music and images of a TGM directly, but I think I'm going to have some fun and customize the whole thing with a "Creature Feature" B-Movie theme. I've always wanted to hone my 'Tetris' skills and it looks like this is an ideal package to do that.

felleg

@mediamogul hi,
Yeah I'm marionintendo on Tetris concept. I wrote a bit too fast when I said RetroPie came with games, whoops, thanks to herb for pointing that out.

Looks like you've made good progress on running the game on the pi! I'll check it out when I get home. I was wondering, did it work over USB or only via the gpio?

Finally, If you want help replicating tgm in texmaster, pm me, I already did it on mine :)

HYPE

felleg

Just a note I forgot to add, of you want to change the music in texmaster you will need a .wav to .Adpcm converter. I found one on Tetris concept website very easily, here: https://tetrisconcept.net/threads/texmaster-sounds-or-themes.2877/

The file in Texmaster2009/data/pcm_list.txt will help know what sound and music goes to what in the game (applehouse=applause, btw)

felleg

@mediamogul last bump, I promise.
HOLY CRAP IT WORKS PERFECTLY, now all is left to do is get good at the game!
alt text

mediamogul

@felleg

I was wondering, did it work over USB or only via the gpio?

I tested keyboard input, as well as a USB controller and both worked well. Apparently Texmaster doesn't play around when it comes to 'Tetris' and the gpio is meant for the absolute lowest input lag possible, but I don't have the hardware to run a test. It is necessary however to run the software as root to allow gpio capabilities. You can of course just add sudo before the launch command in the emulators.cfg file and it'll work.

HOLY CRAP IT WORKS PERFECTLY

Nice!

now all is left to do is get good at the game!

Then the fame, fortune and free parking that comes with being a Tetris Grand Master.

felleg

So I've been able to match it as close to TGM as I could (basically copying the data I had on my linux mint machine over to the Pi), and it still works! HURRAH.

I guess I should point out a few small things I noticed:

There seems to be no way to escape the game, aside from pressing enter on the keyboard. This is good because it means no accidental button press from the controller, but it's strange that the option to remap the button is inexistant. I guess that's the dev's decision, nothing much we can do
I noticed that the game will simply not start if you booted EmulationStation from a tmux session (I use tmux all the time). Don't let that fool you into thinking the game is broken!
Make sure you read the .html file included inside the game, it contains tons of useful info. For example, the F-keys are all extremely useful. I don't remember them by heart, but my two favorites are F6 which accesses the replays (each game is automatically recorded!), and F11 which instantly ends your game.
The game modes in Texmaster are a tad cryptic. You can change these names if you want in Texmaster2009.ini. Here is their equivalence with the TGM modes: (stolen from https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/texmaster_tetris_grandmaster_clone.html)
NOVICE - Normal mode from TGM2+. Ends at level 300 and never reaches 20G speed during normal gameplay.
NORMAL - Master mode from TGM1. Ends at level 999. More or less normal Tetris gameplay, except faster. A lot faster.
ADVANCE - TGM+ mode from TGM2+. Adds some new features to Normal, most notably the "Sonic Drop", which allows you to instantly drop the piece while still retaining the normal lock delay once it lands. Also periodically adds garbage lines at the bottom of the stack.
SPECIAL - Master mode from TGM2+. The same feature set as Advance, minus the garbage lines. Speeds are even more hair-raising.
SUDDEN - TA Death mode from TGM2+, AKA 20G mode. Pieces drop instantly. Various delays become shorter as you progress.
DOUBLES - Doubles mode from TGM2+. Ends at 300. 2P co-op mode with various options.
SPECIAL TI - Master mode from TGM3. Similar to Special, but it previews three pieces instead of one and adds a "hold piece" feature. Also goes even faster.
SUDDEN TI - The notorious Shirase mode from TGM3. Ends at level 1300. Pieces drop instantly, like in Sudden, but the lock delay has been drastically shortened (and will get even shorter as you progress.) For masters and masochists only.

mediamogul

@felleg

I look forward to diving deeper into this.

herb_fargus

@mediamogul for the record openblok has theming options too ;)

felleg

I guess the final question that lies here: Will the game be added to the (experimental?) ports? What else needs to be done? If you want someone to write a small README for setup information, let me know.

mediamogul

@herb_fargus

From what I've seen, Openblok graphically makes Texmaster look pretty shabby. However, I've been looking for a way to get into the world of 'Tetris: The Grand Master' for some time and this is apparently the only/best way to really do it, as it's said that the original series of arcade titles can't be emulated properly with even the most modern versions of MAME. Openblok is a beautiful looking software package with a lot of great features in it's own right though.

herb_fargus

@felleg thats subject to a review, whether or not source is available, if we have time to implement it and/or if someone is able to submit a clean PR to the repo for inclusion. if not zero jay hosts a repo with a bunch of alternate retropie scripts

mediamogul

@herb_fargus said in Texmaster port?:

whether or not source is available

Unfortunately I'm pretty sure this is a closed source project. What are the benefits to keeping a freely distributed software project closed source anyway? CoolCV, DraStic and Texmaster are all great, but they'll also all stop working someday and it's likely that the developers will have moved on to other things.

herb_fargus

I don't really have time to sort this right now but for anyone that wants to take it and run with it, this is my preliminary (unfunctioning at the moment) module, because of the closed source thing, its unlikely for inclusion in the master but at the very least no harm in having a working module to simplify the install for those that want it.:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# This file is part of The RetroPie Project
#
# The RetroPie Project is the legal property of its developers, whose names are
# too numerous to list here. Please refer to the COPYRIGHT.md file distributed with this source.
#
# See the LICENSE.md file at the top-level directory of this distribution and
# at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/master/LICENSE.md
#

rp_module_id="texmaster"
rp_module_desc="Texmaster: Tetris Clone"
rp_module_section="exp"
rp_module_flags="!x86 !mali"

function depends_texmaster() {
    getDepends p7zip-full
}

function install_bin_texmaster() {
    wget http://mindflyer.net/tetris/texmaster/Texmaster2009-5.7z -O "$md_inst/texmaster.7z"
    7za x -o"$md_inst" "texmaster.7z"
    tar xvfz Texmaster2009.rpi1-ARMv6.tar.gz
}

function configure_texmaster() {
    addPort "$md_id" "texmaster" "Texmaster" "pushd $md_inst; $md_inst/Texmaster2009; popd"
}

mediamogul

@herb_fargus

Thanks for the work you've put into starting this. I might try to cut my teeth on module creation by finishing this as I have time to experiment. It seems like the finished module for DraStic might make for a good reference to learn from as their installations seem similar on the surface.

Having played this a bit more, it really does push you to become a better player. My score has risen dramatically with each game. Something else to note for anyone interested is that while Texmaster is apparently known to be the most accurate clone of the 'Tetris: The Grand Master' series, it's main alternative, Heboris is actually available for installation on @zerojay's repo already. The main differences seem to boil down to the subtle timing of piece locking and the fact that Heboris mainly simulates TGM2, whereas Texmaster simulates most every mode from the entire TGM series.

felleg

@mediamogul what is your score on which mode? :P

mediamogul

@felleg

I'm still on "Novice" mode and I'm working on speed control of the pieces, so I'm sure my score is relatively low. I'll make a note of it when I play next.