Advance Mess and BBC Micro and joystick control

caver01

@spud11 you may need to press scroll lock to get the keyboard out of emulation mode. Then, TAB should work and let you access the other menu items.

spud11

@caver01 and @edmaul69 Thanks, guys.

With Advmess, I plugged in a USB keyboard rather than continuing to use the mini bluetooth one and scroll lock works. Having gone into the menu, it does say that "left alt" should replicate scroll lock but that doesn't seem to work with the mini bluetooth keyboard I've got.

Anyway, I've had a look at Advmess's menu items and it allows "general" and "system" changes to the keyboard scheme but no "per game" settings unfortunately (at least not that I could find after starting up Thrust). (Thrust, for example, has quite different keyboard controls from other games). Not sure if I'm missing something though?

About 2 days ago, I installed lr-mess2016 in case I couldn't get Advmess to work. I haven't yet had a chance to look at what it can do and would welcome any advice, @edmaul69 . I tried to install lr-mess but got the GCC 5.0 is missing error. (That's my recollection anyway and wasn't 100% sure where to go from there.)

Thanks.

caver01

@spud11 you won’t find a “per disk image” or “per program” keymap in the menu, but I have used advmess to achieve the same effect with AppleII emulation. I can tell you what I did and how I am launching the Apple II disk images with advmess and maybe it can apply in similar fashion to BBC Micro.

I wrote most of this down in an Apple II thread a while back. I originally thought I was going to have to create a launch script that made copies of the .rc file so that my key mapping would follow the disk image. I had this working successfully, when I realized that advmess was doing that for me! To my surprise, it was adding the input map config lines in my .rc file with a disk image name prefix. You can read what I did here.

spud11

@caver01 Hi. I would really appreciate that. Thank you. Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours trying to create separate individual bash scripts for each game both invoking runcommand and avoiding it. Those scripts also invoked xboxdrv on a per game basis, but no script was successful. A bit strange really, because I've got separate scripts working quite successfully for Dosbox based games like SWOS and GTA that start those games plus invoke separate joystick control schemes using xboxdrv. Love to see how you got the Apple II scripts up and running. Thanks.

edmaul69

@spud11 you dont choose specific game settings. It creates it automatically in every game you are in and set up the config. To do it for the whole system you have to edit in one game then you have to manually edit the advmess.rc to change it from one game to the whole system. Just set up the controls in each game.

spud11

@edmaul69 and @caver01 Thanks to you both. Both of you have put me on the right track. Having had a look at the Apple II emulation thread, I've got some of it working.

I've got rid of the "type ok" message, started Thrust, gone into "Input (General)" and changed Player 1's keys. Oddly enough, it didn't automatically append the system and game name to my advmess.rc file, so the control scheme applied universally. It appears in the advmess.rc as follows:

input_map[p1_left] keyboard[0,capslock]
input_map[p1_right] keyboard[0,lcontrol]
input_map[p1_button1] keyboard[0,enter]
input_map[p1_button2] keyboard[0,lshift]
input_map[p1_button3] keyboard[0,space]

I've only been able to make one change to an individual game so far - Chuckie Egg - and that's been automatically inserted into the advmess.rc file as follows:

bbcb[home_pi_retropie_roms_bbcmicro_chuckie]/sync_startuptime 75

Not sure what button on the keyboard I pressed to get the above statement automatically added and also not sure quite where things are going wrong and why changes I'm making to Player 1's keys in TAB for Thrust are not automatically being recorded in the advmess.rc file for Thrust.

Assuming the problem above gets sorted out, I'd like to create individual bash scripts to start each game. That will allow me to invoke individual xboxdrv commands too on a per-game basis. @caver01, you mentioned that you had wanted to set up individual bash scripts for each Apple II game. Could you please provide me with an example of what/how you did this? My attempts yesterday at doing the same for the BBC Micro completely failed. Thanks.

edmaul69

@spud11 so now if you want the config to work for the whole system and not just one game you would do this. As an example you set up thrust for the bbc. If you remove the [Thrust] and saved the advmess.rc then those controls would now work for the entire system.

edmaul69

@spud11 also forgot to mention. You can create a default config by removing the games name as i mentioned above, but you can also have individual configs as well.

spud11

@edmaul69 Sorry. I wound up editing my earlier post you've responded to. I couldn't get the changes to Thrust's controls to automatically pass into advmess.rc in the end.

edmaul69

@spud11 so you are saying tat it created a universal config for that system? Did Manually adding the [Thrust] set it for only that game? Or did it add the [Thrust]?

spud11

@edmaul69 It added it universally for the system only. It didn't add [Thrust], I did that manually, but realised afterwards that, in fact, it made no difference.

edmaul69

@spud11 here is the correct way to set up the individual configs in the advmess.rc. here is a channel f example:

channelf[media_usb0_channelf_alieninv]/input_map[p1_button1] keyboard[16c0_0482,enter]

my file is located here: /media/usb0/channelf/alieninv.zip . so you see that it goes to the location and name of my rom in the config. also caps and lowercase is important.

edited for typo

spud11

@edmaul69 and @caver01 Hi. After quite a bit of experimentation, I couldn't get the advmess.rc file to record settings for Thrust alone adapting the channelf[media_usb0_channelf_alieninv] statement. Not sure why, but it just wouldn't work for me. I made some other manual changes to the advmess.rc file as well to try to fix the problem, but I know advmess and advmame can be a bit picky about changes to the .rc file and ultimately, for me at least, advmess stopped working. After stripping out the changes I made, I got advmess working again, but still couldn't make changes to Thrust's keyboard settings using TAB which would be recorded automatically in advmess.rc.

I did find a partial workaround. It isn't perfect. Two issues remain which I will outline at the bottom.

The workaround effectively uses Thrust's default keyboard settings which are in-built in the game and then invokes xboxdrv directly by way of a bash script to match the keyboard commands against my Arcade joystick (Dragonrise usb). I've effectively bypassed runcommand altogether.

I'm using Attract Mode. In the emulators sub-folder, I've got the following BBC Micro.cfg file:

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.2.1
#
executable           /bin/bash
args                 "[romfilename]"
rompath              /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/bbcmicro
romext               .sh;.SH
system               BBC Micro
info_source          thegamesdb.net
artwork    flyer           /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/bbcmicro/flyer
artwork    marquee         /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/bbcmicro/marquee
artwork    snap            /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/bbcmicro/snap
artwork    wheel           /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/bbcmicro/wheel

I've copied the advmess executable into a new folder /opt/retropie/emulators/bbcmicro/ and have made sure it is executable. (I just wanted to keep things "clean", but I think this step is unnecessary.)

In the /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/bbcmicro folder, I now have a new bash script called Thrust.sh. I've made this script executable. The contents of Thrust.sh are:

#!/bin/bash
{
fbi -1 -t 3 -noverbose -a "/opt/retropie/configs/bbcmicro/launching.png" </dev/tty
sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv \
--silent \
--detach-kernel-driver \
--deadzone=4000 \
--deadzone-trigger 15% \
--force-feedback \
--mimic-xpad \
--trigger-as-button \
--ui-buttonmap lb=void,rb=void,tl=void,tr=void,guide=void \
--evdev /dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.3.3:1.0-event-joystick \
--device-name "Player_1" \
--evdev-absmap ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1 \
--ui-axismap X1=KEY_CAPSLOCK:KEY_LEFTCTRL,Y1=KEY_UNKNOWN:KEY_UNKNOWN \
--evdev-keymap BTN_THUMB2=a,BTN_PINKIE=b,BTN_TRIGGER=x,BTN_THUMB=y,BTN_BASE3=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_BASE2=lt,BTN_BASE5=rt \
--ui-buttonmap a=KEY_ENTER,b=KEY_LEFTSHIFT,x=KEY_SPACE,back=KEY_UNKNOWN,start=KEY_UNKNOWN,lt=KEY_SPACE,rt=KEY_UNKNOWN \
--ui-buttonmap back+rt=KEY_ESC,rt+back=KEY_SCROLLLOCK+KEY_TAB \
&
sudo /opt/retropie/emulators/bbcmicro/advmess bbcb -cfg /opt/retropie/configs/bbcmicro/advmess.rc -floppy /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/bbcmicro/Thrust.ssd
sudo killall /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv
} &> /dev/null 2>&1

I've wrapped the script with {} and silenced it (as much as I could) with &> /dev/null 2>&1.
The script first launches the BBC Micro launching.png for a period of 3 seconds, then moves onto invoking xboxdrv which is tailored specifically to Thrust's keyboard controls and to my Arcade joystick. While xboxdrv is functioning, the script loads advmess and the Thrust floppy disk. I still need to type CHAIN "THRUST" at the command prompt to get Thrust to start. However, the joystick works perfectly. After I exit Thrust (pressing the back and rt buttons on my joystick), xboxdrv is killed automatically.

For every BBC Micro game, I'll need a separate bash script tailored to each game's default keyboard controls, but most of them (hopefully) will be very similar to this first script.

There are only 2 remaining issues:
(a) I can't achieve complete silence from the Terminal unfortunately. There is always a reference in Terminal to the "working directory" of "bin/bash"; and
(b) I still need to type CHAIN "THRUST"at the command prompt. So the game does not start automatically.

It would be great if someone knew how to completely "silence" Attract Mode in Terminal and how to auto start games without typing something like CHAIN "THRUST".

caver01

@spud11 AdvanceMAME (mess) does have a scripting function. I once used it to wait a second or two, then automatically type scroll lock to switch keyboard modes. Seems to me you could setup a script that types commands like chain thrust. But I expect your next game will be different, so you’d have to start making separate .rc files.

spud11

@caver01 Hi. I reckon I probably will have only about 20 games, so I'd have no issue with doing the script. If you can recall, could you please help me do a script of that kind? Thanks.

spud11

@caver01 Well, I thought I'd have a go. I've added the following to the advmess.rc, but it doesn't work. I'm hoping you might be able to suggest changes please:

script_emulation \
	delay(20000); \
	simulate_key(key_c,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_h,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_a,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_i,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_n,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_space,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_quote,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_t,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_h,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_r,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_u,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_s,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_t,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_quote,100); \
	delay(200); \
	simulate_key(key_enter,100);
	delay(200); \

caver01

@spud11 You did what I would have suggested. I expect you looked at the script.txt on the advancemame site? Does MESS even start? If your syntax is off or you have a bad line in the .rc file, as you know, it won't even launch.

If it is launching, as I look at it, it appears you are starting with the script_emulation which to my interpretation of the docs should run when the emulation starts running. Then, as a precaution against timing issues, looks like you added a 20 second delay, then your keypresses for .1 seconds each, .2 between them. Am I getting this right?

This is exact what I would have done, hoping to shave off that initial delay once I know it is working. Does the BBC Micro require commands be entered in all caps?

spud11

@caver01 Hi. I did look at the advmame script examples and followed them as best I could.

The timings you've outlined are right.

However, advmame doesn't start. On the Terminal, the error is: sh: 1: commandline: not found (which is the same error I got whenever I messed up the advmess.rc file).

If I leave script_emulation in place, but remove all the other stuff below it, advmess will work as per normal. So there is something clearly wrong with the syntax of the script. I've tried replacing script_emulation \ with script_play \, but that doesn't work either. Anyway, I would think the latter would be incorrect anyway as I want the script to operate before the game begins, not afterwards.

And you are right. The BBC Micro requires capital letters. I haven't done that yet, but not including that isn't preventing the script from running, I think.

caver01

@spud11 Yeah, it is a syntax issue. I lost my config that had the script, so I cannot use my simple example as guidance. Trial and error I think.

As far as timing, I think you have the right idea. . . delay after emulation starts. MESS probably cannot tell if the game has started, only that you launched a BBC Micro with some image file in the virtual floppy drive.

spud11

@caver01 Well, I reckon I've tried almost every syntax permutation I can think of with exactly the same outcome - diddly squat. I found only a couple of scripts on the interwebs that use script_emulation, but none seem to help. I wound up with the following all on one line, but like everything else I've tried it doesn't work sadly:

script_emulation delay(20000); simulate_key(key_capslock,100); simulate_key(key_c,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_h,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_a,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_i,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_n,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_space,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_quote,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_t,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_h,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_r,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_u,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_s,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_t,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_quote,100); delay(200); simulate_key(key_enter,100); delay(200);

It's frustrating, especially as Advance Mame's scripting function seems to have been around for a decade or so, so you'd think it'd be pretty well documented and robust by now.

At least I can get the BBC Micro to work and with my joystick too. Just a pity I need the keyboard to start games.