FBA vs. MAME

AndersHP

xargs -a lr-fbalpha.txt

Just tried this in MacOS terminal, with my roms-USB plugged in, since it took me several minutes on the pi for just 5 test files (even though it worked brilliantly like you said!).
But apparently, xargs -a is not an option here, different language? Is this doable on Mac or should I just leave the pi overnight, copying files?

dudleydes

@andershp According to the Linux man page for the xargs command, the -a flag does the following :

-a file, --arg-file=file
Read items from file instead of standard input.

It appears that xargs in MacOS doesn't have this option.

I found the xargs command on Google and it worked on my Linux PC so there may well be better ways of doing it. After another search, I have found another way of copying files from a text list using the cp command so hopefully it will work on MacOS.

Here are the commands to copy the fba roms from the list on pastebin:

    cd /path/to/fba-romset
    wget -cO - https://pastebin.com/raw/LG43KZs7 > lr-fbalpha.txt
    cp `cat lr-fbalpha.txt` /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/fba/

Darksavior

@UDb23 K, here's my short list of corrections since I hand picked my arcade games. I used stock Pi3 speeds with the crt-pi shader at 1080p. Emulators used are lr-fbalpha and lr-mame-2003. Some games with slight drops in between might run fullspeed with an OC like cadash. Most hit 40-50fps in fba so I don't think an OC will help those games. Feel free to verify my findings. These are the games that should be changed to mame:

baddudes.zip
cbuster.zip not on the list
boogwingu.zip (I used boogwing.zip)
cadashu.zip (I used cadash.zip)
cninjau.zip (I used cninja.zip)
darius2.zip
deadconx.zip
edrandy.zip
dungeonm.zipnot on the list
gunforc2.zip
gunforceu.zip
hooku.zip ( I used hook.zip)
inthuntu.zip (I used inthunt.zip)
macross.zip
macross2.zip
nbbatmanu.zip(I used nbbatman.zip)
ninjawu.zip (I used ninjaw.zip)
rohga.zip
pulirula.zip
rtypeleo.zip
shinobi.zip has an audio bug where the player's voice cuts out in fba. shinobi2.zip , 3,4 are fine.
uccopsu.zip ( I used uccopsar.zip same game but uncensored in english)
wizdfireu.zip (I used wizdfire.zip)

AndersHP

@dudleydes think this line should be:

ls -1 /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/fba | sed -e 's/\.zip$//' -e 's/_//g' -e 's/^/arcade_/' -e 's/$/ = "lr-fbalpha"/' >> /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulators.cfg

Seems to work, though. This is complete gibberish in my eyes! :) Will try in large scale now :)

AndersHP

Just realized that the above mentioned lists are very much made of US-versions of roms, meaning that since my FBA romset is split, all the US-versions doesn't have their parent ROM, and are useless.. I'm running a Replace "u.zip" with ".zip" on the txt files, and the few roms that actually end with a U gets an error message, that I use to change the txt files back again. Will post the final txt files afterwards, for others to use.

UDb23

@darksavior said in FBA vs. MAME:

These are the games that should be changed to mame:

Thanks.
Best core list updated accordingly.

AndersHP

I'd like to challenge the perception that Gyruss is better run on FBA. I see no performance differences, but the sound is better in MAME2003. Less fuzzy.

And in this game, sound is 70% of the experience ! :)

AndersHP

Allright, here's my contribution, that I used for my setup. Maybe someone find it useful:

Based on @Pussyfoot 's lists, but with no US clones, I've gone for the parent roms as good as I could (to make splitted romsets work also). With @Darksavior 's inputs (and my own regarding Gyruss and R-Type, which I think is better in MAME) some has been moved to the MAME2003 list.

mame-libretro list (updated with no ADVMAME games)
lr-fbalpha list, regular
lr-fbalpha list, NeoGeo roms included (new with input from johnodon)
mame-advmame list (new list with input from caver01)

Also see here how to copy files from complete romsets, to match the txt files. Brilliant work, @dudleydes - these copying scripts really helped!

caver01

@UDb23 I see several vector titles listed under AdvanceMAME. I have always been a fan, as AdvanceMAME has the superior image when it comes to rendering vector games whereas the others have the arbitrary limit of 640x480 (jaggy vector lines do NOT look cool).

Still, several vector titles are missing. At a quick glance:
armora - Armor Attack
omegrace - Omega Race
quantum - Quantum
ripoff - Rip Off
spacfury - Space Fury
warrior - Warrior

These should be AdvanceMAME, despite what @ AndersHP thinks ;-).

@AndersHP why no AdvanceMAME love? Your vector games will thank you for it.

juice

has anyone got Arabian magic to run full speed, i tried it on fba and it very slow, updated to latest fba from source. it is the same with or without shaders. lr-mame 2003 seems to be a bit better for me but still little laggy

pi 3 no overclock
retropie 4.3

Darksavior

@andershp rtype and rtype2 run fine on fba. There's a slight .1fps drops sometimes in rtype but I plan to overclock once I'm done sorting arcade roms but even then I don't notice it. I just prefer to use the newer emulation.

@juice I don't think any emulator can play that fullspeed.

UDb23

@caver01 said in FBA vs. MAME:

Still, several vector titles are missing.

Roms added to the file.
Vector games MUST be played with Advancemame, no doubt :-)

AndersHP

@darksavior said in FBA vs. MAME:

@andershp rtype and rtype2 run fine on fba.

I haven't tested rtype2, but rtype has sound glitches in FBA that is not there in MAME, and otherwise there's no difference. Played the heck out of rtype at the MAME ROW, and it's flawless in MAME.

AndersHP

@caver01 said in FBA vs. MAME:

@AndersHP why no AdvanceMAME love? Your vector games will thank you for it.

Yeah, I'm just not really that into vector games, so haven't prioritized it at all. Also, it's not a libretro-core is it?

Darksavior

@andershp I played through the first level and didn't notice audio bugs. Oh well..

caver01

@andershp said in FBA vs. MAME:

@caver01 said in FBA vs. MAME:

@AndersHP why no AdvanceMAME love? Your vector games will thank you for it.

Yeah, I'm just not really that into vector games, so haven't prioritized it at all. Also, it's not a libretro-core is it?

Nope.

AndersHP

@caver01 said in FBA vs. MAME:

These should be AdvanceMAME, despite what @ AndersHP thinks ;-).

Above lists have been updated, so I split MAME-libretro and ADVMAME into two, whilst adding the games @caver01 mentioned.
Though, I cannot find the game roughrac.zip. It doesn't seem to be part of MAME2003 or FBA 0.2.97.42? MAME 0.106 perhaps? Never tried this romset...

Also: is it true that the best way to get ADVMAME running on a fresh setup would be a MAME 0.106 romset and the latest ADVMAME 3.x version?

AndersHP

@dudleydes will this line do the same job, but provide extra lists to the emulators.cfg file, without overwriting previous inputs, and is the name of the emulator correct?

 ls -1 /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/mame-advmame | sed -e 's/\.zip$//' -e 's/_//g' -e 's/^/arcade_/' -e 's/$/ = "advmame"/' >> /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulators.cfg

?

UDb23

@andershp said in FBA vs. MAME:

roughrac.zip

Emulated in mame since .95; would expect it to run both in advmame (.106) and lr-mame2010 (.139). Haven't tried yet .

caver01

@andershp said in FBA vs. MAME:

Though, I cannot find the game roughrac.zip. It doesn't seem to be part of MAME2003 or FBA 0.2.97.42? MAME 0.106 perhaps? Never tried this romset...

Yes, I see in the .106 that roughrac.zip is Rough Racer (Japan, FD1094 317-0058-06b).

Also: is it true that the best way to get ADVMAME running on a fresh setup would be a MAME 0.106 romset and the latest ADVMAME 3.x version?

Yes. However, some folks have reported better performance with 1.4 (same 106 romset) but I have had the opposite experience. I have found games like Golden Tee variants work better in the 3.x versions. Video bugs have apparently been corrected in version 3.x that were present in 1.4 and earlier, and you can always swap between them with runcommand if you want to try 1.4 since the ROM is the same. I have never seen any benefit/reason to use AdvanceMAME .94.

I see four main reasons besides the romset that you might want to use AdvanceMAME. First, it was build to support custom video situations, arcade monitors etc. where you can specify the modeline and define the exact timing of the video scanlines. Of course, this requires the support of hardware and is not as useful for those of us on a Pi using HDMI. But if you were trying to configure a CRT, this might be really handy, and it is essential on other hardware using an arcade monitor.

Second, AdvanceMAME has a superior control mapping scheme that allows you to matrix just about any combination of controls. For example, if your goal is a three trackball Rampart cabinet, you can do that. You want to run four spinners and pay Warlords? No problem. The configuration is very flexible Although great strides have been made recently in RetroArch too with respect to analog indexing and lightgun support, AdvanceMAME has always been ahead of others in that regard.

Third, the rendering of vector games is the best of all of the arcade emulators we have. It draws lines at native resolution. You can also control the quality of the vector in terms of brightness, flicker, line thickness, etc. Check out this post for some ideas and images.

Finally, AdvanceMAME includes AdvanceMESS. There may be other system-specific emulators that do a better job, but MESS is a nice tool to have. You need to jump through some hoops to get it running the way you want but it is possible (I have 3.x running as my Apple II emulator).