Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie

themazingness

@auster Thank you so much for posting these itch.io NES, SNES, MD, etc. games. I wish I could keep tabs on all the roms on itch.io.

themazingness

Does anybody know of an extract tool for the Cinemaware Anthology (for the Amiga .adf files, not DOSBOX obviously)? I could've sworn I knew of one but am having no luck searching my resources, this thread, or the internet.

Auster

@themazingness said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

Does anybody know of an extract tool for the Cinemaware Anthology (for the Amiga .adf files, not DOSBOX obviously)? I could've sworn I knew of one but am having no luck searching my resources, this thread, or the internet.

I did some digging around, and they probably need to be extracted twice. First you need to open Anthology.exe as a zip folder and extract the .data file. After that, you probably need to extract the ROMs from the .data file's hexadecimal code.
But I never extracted files from hex, so I don't know the right steps for that. Sorry. =/

themazingness

@auster That's still helpful, thanks! I still hope for an extract tool, or at least a discussion of the beginning and ending hex values, but if nobody finds them I can do the heavy lifting with this info.

Auster

@themazingness
Disregard what I said before. I just found out how to extract the Cinemaware Anthology: 1986-1991 collection:

Use Windows or a Windows virtual machine (I couldn't make it work with Linux)
Install 7-Zip File Manager (I couldn't make it work with WinRAR)
Right click Anthology.exe, go to the option "7-Zip", click "Open compacted file" (or something like that; my Windows isn't in English, but it should be the first option)
In the window that just opened, right click the .data file and select "Open Inside"
In the new screen that just appeared, extract the whole "packaged" folder
The ROMs I know how to use are the ones in the packaged/floppy directory (and there are some bin files in the rlst and romdisk folders; still trying to figure out how they work)
The BIOS (yes, it comes with BIOS!) is the file Kick12.rom in the folder packaged/os (there's also a "rdd.rom" file in this folder, but also trying to figure out how to use it)
Besides the Amiga files, it also comes with MS-DOS games in the folder /Cinemaware Anthology 1986-1991/pc/cw (they should be ready to be used in emulators)

According to the Libretro docs and the md5sum I found, the BIOS is a exact match to the "kick33180.A500" file listed in the docs, but you may need to rename it to "kick34005.A500" if the core gives an error about not finding the BIOS.

Also, PSA if you're on Retroarch: to load both parts of the ROM, load disk 1 > wait for PUAE to read the disk (takes a while) > open Quick Menu > go to Disc Control > Load New Disc > select the new file and wait for the emulator to process it.

And sorry I couldn't help more with the .bin files and the second .rom file.

Store page of the collection : https://store.steampowered.com/app/326590/Cinemaware_Anthology_19861991/

Auster

Most of these games are free by default, but you can pay for them if you want:

Filthy Kitchen: https://dustmop.itch.io/filthy-kitchen
Platform: NES
The only file available to download is the ROM. No need to rename it.

GraviBots: https://retrosouls.itch.io/gravibots16bit
Platform: Genesis/Megadrive
Has 2 ROMs in the downloadable zip file, one "normal" and one "dma safe".
From a comment in the game's page:
what is DMA? It's for some megadrives (new models mostly or some japan megadrives) that have dma trouble, it stop z80 during DMA that affect a music.

AlterEgo: https://retrosouls.itch.io/alterego16bit
Platform: Genesis/Megadrive
The ROM is the .bin file inside the downloadable zip file.

Old Tower: https://retrosouls.itch.io/old-tower-commodore-64
Platform: Commodore 64
Has 2 files, a .prg and a .tap one. I'm fairly sure the .tap file is the ROM. The .prg file I'm not sure what is used for.

YAZZIE: https://retrosouls.itch.io/yazzie
Platform: MSX
The ROM is the file inside the downloadable zip file.

Misplaced: https://retrosouls.itch.io/misplaced
Platform: Genesis/Megadrive
Comes with 2 ROMs inside the downloadable zip file, one with the game in English, and one in Russian.

Tapeworm Disco Puzzle Demo: https://lowtekgames.itch.io/tapeworm-disco-puzzle
Platform: NES
The downloadable file is the ROM.

Flea NES Full Game: https://lowtekgames.itch.io/fleanes
Platforms: NES / Dreamcast
Can't check file structures as I didn't buy it yet.

Leggite Luta Livre: https://johnvanderhoef.itch.io/leggite-luta-livre
Platform: NES
The downloadable file is the ROM.

Quick edit, just noticed this game also comes with a ROM:
Shadow Animus [ Byte-Off 2020 Demo]: https://chronicleroflegends.itch.io/shadow-animus-byte-off-2020-demo
Platform: NES
The ROM is the .NES file inside. Also not sure if the final project will be a NES game, since the dev said This project is on hold at the moment while I am learning to work with a new engine, but I do want to finish it.

themazingness

@auster You are amazing! I had no idea you could just open .exe files like that with 7-zip!

Thanks a ton!

themazingness

Hmm... there's got to be a better extraction method for these games. The adf files I got don't function well, and a lot is missing. I don't even know what to do with the binaries. Renaming them doesn't work. It's a great start in the figuring out process though!

themazingness

@Auster Okay, I figured it out (well, I asked somewhere, and they pointed me to a tool I already checked, but I had overlooked Cinemaware in the list).

Here is the tool, and it works for a good list of other games as well: https://gitlab.com/vaiski/romextract

Auster

@themazingness said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

@Auster Okay, I figured it out (well, I asked somewhere, and they pointed me to a tool I already checked, but I had overlooked Cinemaware in the list).

Here is the tool, and it works for a good list of other games as well: https://gitlab.com/vaiski/romextract

Thanks for the tool!

I tried this tool on both Windows and Linux, and here's what I found:

First, for both OS's, I had to change the SHA-1 hash listed for Anthology.exe in the tool's supported.csv file, since it was either wrong or outdated.

To find the SHA-1 hash, at least on Linux, open a terminal window in Anthology.exe's folder and use this command:

$ sha1sum Anthology.exe

Then, to use the tool itself on Linux, copy Anthology.exe to the tool's folder, open a terminal window in the tool's folder and use this command:

$ ./romextract.sh ./Anthology.exe

But on Windows, for some reason, even with bash support through Cygwin, it outputed empty files, so I don't know how viable it is on Windows (weird that I already used this tool once for another game and it worked fine).

If you can't make the tool work on Windows and you don't have a computer with Linux installed, you may want to try a Linux Subsystem for Window or even a Linux virtual machine.

themazingness

@auster I got empty files at first too because unzip wasn't installed (I ran bash from Windows; I have Debian as my WSL). It worked after I ran sudo apt-get update and after that sudo apt-get install unzip. I had no need to make the changes you mentioned.

Auster

Full Throttle Remastered includes the original files which are playable in ScummVM (at least in the GOG version; I don't have the Steam, Humble Bundle or Itchio versions to test).

To get the needed files, first install the game (it should be available for Windows, Linux and Mac 10.11 and later).

Then download this program, extract and open it (doesn't require installation and should work with Wine on Linux and Mac): https://quickandeasysoftware.net/software/doublefine-explorer

Then click in the "open" button in the upper left of the program and choose the "Full Throttle Remastered" option.

After that, navigate to where you installed the game and open the "full.data" file (it's in the "game" folder, at least in the Linux version).

Then click in the "Save All Files" button, then in the "Save All (raw dump)" option in the drop down menu and wait (it's 5 GB, so it could take some minutes in some computers).

Lastly, open the folder where you extracted all files, go to the folder "classic", then the folder "en", and copy all 3 files to the root of the extraction folder (so for example, if you extracted the files to Downloads\FullThrottle, the files will be in Downloads\FullThrottle\classic\en, and need to be placed back in Downloads\FullThrottle).

The mandatory files/folders are listed here: https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Full_Throttle
The file ft.la0 is the game's executable. Also, apparently, the game has other languages' files included, but I don't know how to apply them.

GOG's version: https://www.gog.com/game/full_throttle_remastered
The other versions if someone wants to test:
[Steam] https://store.steampowered.com/app/228360/
[HB] https://www.humblebundle.com/store/full-throttle-remastered
[Itchio] https://doublefine.itch.io/full-throttle-remastered

And there are other games from Double Fine which should be compatible with ScummVM as well, but I don't have them so I can't test.

Auster

Motor Mash comes with a PS1 ROM.
Store page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257950/Motor_Mash/
The needed files are game.cue and GAME.BIN in [Steam's install folder]/Motor Mash/res
And if you want to rename the game's files, you need to open the .cue file on a text editor and change GAME.BIN in the first line for whatever name you chose. Just remember to keep the quotation marks in the .cue file's code and to keep the .BIN file's extension in both the .cue file's code and in the original file's name.

Clyde

@auster Interestingly, the Steam page doesn't mention the Playstation at all, or do I miss something? If not, they're reselling a game for a rather ancient game console probably in some sort of emulator bottle as a Windows version ("OS: Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10"). At least they do name the original release year of 1997.

Maybe I'm a bit pedantic, but to me it feels like a certain faudulent labelling. Or was there actually a "Windows version" in this form back then? Then my criticism applies to the former publisher … and to Steam for not mentioning it even today.

Just a little rant about common ~~lies~~ selling practises, please move along. 😉

themazingness

@clyde It is published by Piko Interactive. Their whole thing is purchasing old games and publishing them with their own emulation software they built. I've mentioned many of their games in this thread. I suspect most people buying their products know they are buying emulated games.

It doesn't say Playstation, but the graphics scream they are. Besides, they list 1997 as the year of original publication date as you say.

themazingness

@clyde Come to think of it, there may be issues with using the word Playstation on Steam. There are a ton of retro games on Steam, and the only ones that seem to state the system branding are game IPs owned by Sega and Atari.

Back on the topic of Piko Interactive and where to legally get games, they bought Bleem recently and will have a marketplace for retro and homebrew games (not just PSX for those who remember Bleem! being a Playstation emulator). The marketplace will be here: http://store.bleempowered.com/

mitu

A free MSX game - Mutants from the Deep.

Auster

Ghosts 'n Goblins, which is a DLC for the free app Capcom Arcade Stadium, comes with an arcade romset (is that how you call it?). The files match those that MAME 2003 expects.

Ghosts 'n Goblins's page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1556690/Capcom_Arcade_StadiumGhosts_n_Goblins/
Capcom Arcade Stadium's page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1515950/Capcom_Arcade_Stadium/

To get the files, after you install the base app and the DLC, go to [Steam install folder]/steamapps/common/Capcom Arcade Stadium/dlc and extract the contents of the file re_dlc_stm_1556690.pak with a tool for managing compressed file (I only had luck with Linux's "unzip" tool, but feel free to test with other tools, such as 7-Zip).

Then, for these files to be readable with MAME 2003, you'll need to build the ROM with them.

For that, first get the xml dat file with the right information for the romset, such as file names and expected SHA-1 checksum. Libretro's fork of MAME 2003 has such a dat file: https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-libretro/blob/master/metadata/mame2003.xml
Then follow the instructions listed in the "ClrMamePro tutorial" here: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Validating%2C-Rebuilding%2C-and-Filtering-ROM-Collections/#clrmamepro-tutorial

Some observations:
You can also manually check the SHA-1 checksum of the files, if you want.
And in the Rebuilder, setting the merge options to Non-Merged and unticking Separate BIOS sets in the Advanced... button made the game work fine.
And if the program complains about "Scanner and Rebuilder mergenodes differ", just click on "Yes".

After you do the process, the tool will output 25 zip files, but only gng.zip is functional.
I guess that happens because Ghosts'n Goblins comes with multiple files that appear in other romsets, so the tool probably tries to create the games whose files match their romsets, whether or not they're complete.

Lastly, there are more DLCs for Capcom Arcade Stadium that likely work the same, but as I don't own them, I can't check.

Auster

@bense2k said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

Amiga Forever for the kickstart roms and some games.

Is there any source other than forums that says that Amiga Forever may sell Amiga's OS-related files? I'm having a hard time finding anything.

And if Amiga Forever is indeed allowed to sell these files, then it seems to be one of the few, if not the only legit source of Workbench files (due to aging and data rot), which are needed for some games, such as Black Dawn 7 (included in the Black Dawn collection mentioned in the post #321).

Clyde

@auster said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

Is there any source other than forums that says that Amiga Forever may sell Amiga's OS-related files? I'm having a hard time finding anything.

How about Wikipedia > AmigaOS > 4th paragraph > Sources [1] and [2]?