mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support

Riverstorm

@grant2258 - Ah, the light bulb turned on, thank you very much. Just more question if it's easy. What do the Input Interface options do, if anything, when legacy mode is disabled?

Riverstorm

About 14 things just snapped into place all at once. ;)

grant2258

honestly it will function the same all legacy disabled does at the moment is hide the tab menu and uses separate config files. Its at a stage now where it can be worked on without modes disturbing each other.

Riverstorm

Ok, I see what you're saying now that makes sense when you say it's incomplete at the moment. There's a way to go on the RA side.

Well dang, I would hate to try and put all that in a manual and have it make sense. Whoever dreamed up RA, all I can say is--wow. I have no idea if it's possible to simplify but you can't deny it's flexibility.

There's a few more pieces that I think I can figure out while actually messing with the configs.

I really appreciate you explaining all you did it means a lot. Heading out here as my daughter and wife both caught Influenza A. I've been clean so far but we'll see in a few days. It's hard not to catch living under the same roof. Thanks again, good sir! ;)

grant2258

No problems at all it a subject that bites you in the ass until the penny drops. To be fair this is advanced user stuff. This all had to be figured out by me and mark trust me it was no picnic at the start.

I hope your daughter is ok but you are right once its in the house or workplace its not good. Ive been lucky this year so far just a few sneezes. I dont own a ipac but to me its the best offers we can give users of an ipac if you disagree or thing anything needs removed just say you use the device.

Im winding down on the input stuff im happy with legacy mode and is what I use so thats enough for me. Im sure mark will work on the RA end he done a good job with the retropad type mappings im sure he can make the controls menu works a lot better in time for RA. Ill focus more time into driver fixes ect.

Riverstorm

@grant2258 - That's a new saying for me, I'll have to remember. I was thinking that on the drive home. Whoever created RA you guys had to pick the pieces and fully integrate it into the core but you did it with class and added multiple options with the Input Interface which is incredibly flexible when you think about it. You guys did a great job. I guess with flexibility comes complexity.

Sorry if I missed it but is audio skew enabled by default? I have a link you guys posted on it but need to read through it tomorrow.

Also not a big deal but thought I would mention it. When I was testing UDb23's Battlezone overlay I accidentally went into Battle for Atlantis (Atlantis.zip) and played a few games. I noticed when you add credits with (keyboard 5) it adds 6 credits at a time but when you use (keyboard 6) it adds 1 one at a time. I tried in and out of focus! :)

grant2258

This is normal behavior sometimes (is in the case of this game well the driver is setting it to this).

I checked the dip switches check the coinage yourself you can see a is set to 1/6 (1 coin 6 credits) and b is set to 1/1. is not an input issue in this case so you can rest easy. Coin shoots dont really always apply per player per say. It can change per machine some have two slots and each slot might accept a different coins like 20c or $1.

audio skew is on by default if you want to leave it off put advance settings on, then go to audio -> settings and change maximum timing skew to to 0.03 (restart the core) and it wont matter if its on or off. Again this is set to on my default so users dont have to go through settings.

Riverstorm

@grant2258 - Ok, that makes sense. I think I read a post by you on Github a long time ago about arcade manuals and since then I've dug up several service manuals. The dip switches need tweaked for several games (like lives, credits to start, etc.) to what they recommend in the manual.

Like Dragon Spirit defaults to a harder mode and only 2 lives by default vs. what the manual recommends. Those arcade manual are pretty handy. If there's a game that seems really easy or really hard I will try and find the manual to verify the settings. There's just to many games to verify them all though.

I am ok with leaving audio skew on. I was playing around with the setting and I couldn't quite remember which way was the default. Is there a way to reset the Options to default from within RGUI? I usually just delete the core options file from the command line but it would be handy right through the menu.

Also I appreciate you sharing all the information yesterday. It still all makes sense today. :) I made some notes (copy-n-paste) of key points you made that helped me in particular along with the user case scenarios I find are a very handy reference.

grant2258

@Riverstorm only way to reset the core options is to remove them from the file or delete the file.

spud11

Apologies if this has been addressed.

I'm on Jessie with a Pi3B and on an older version of Retroarch 1.7.1 and installed mame2003plus a few months ago. I've been testing a few of the games and noticed with games such as Double Dragon and Dungeons and Dragons Shadows over Mystara, that the gameplay runs very slowly with audio being very choppy. Could I ask please whether there might be any settings in Retroarch that I could change for these games to run full speed?

Other games run full speed with no problems in mame2003-plus and the same games seem to work fine in AdvanceMame.

Thanks for any help.

Riverstorm

@grant2258 - Ok thanks, that's what I have been doing. If I think there's any changes to the core settings I just delete it and do a quick reconfigure after updating.

@spud11 - I can't test the audio right now (I am on a monitor) but as far as speed they seem to run smooth for me. Both ran a consistent 57 to 59 FPS just playing around at the beginning of each.

I am on a Pi 3B+ (overclocked), RetroPie 4.4.8, m3plus commit 64ca790 both running a shader (crt-pi).
I haven't done any special config changes.

Riverstorm

@spud11 - Also with D&D Shadows over Mystara 4 players on screen seems pretty smooth in the first part of the game showing like 59.7 FPS.

spud11

@Riverstorm Thanks for that. Probably something to do with my system. I'll have to play around a bit with it.

Riverstorm

@spud11 - I just tested the audio and it works fine on both games.

Riverstorm

@spud11 - I forgot to mention I am on RA 1.7.5.

ward614

Found something that might be worth looking at:

In QBert the controls that the user needs to push to make a movement have been changed to be the actual diagonal directions rather than left, right, etc. This is different from regular 2003, and makes the game basically unplayable without a properly gated arcade stick. Is there any option to fix this? Regular remapping of the game controls seems to have them remain diagonal.

grant2258

well its down to personal preference other people say its unplable the normal way. just turn it off in the options if you want to play it the old way. you wouldnt need this emulated if you had a normal rotated 4 way installed. The only scenario i would agree this is unplayable on a keyboard it been discussed before just pick one that suits you best on or off

UDb23

@grant2258 said in mame2003-plus: hundreds of new games, improved input, features, new bugs - now with runahead support:

normal rotated 4 way installed.

That's (also) why I made this DIY real 4-way arcade stick.
;-)

grant2258

yes i do agree nothing beat the real thing :). Problem with these ones is they are are rotated 45 degrees that why the emulation does the diagonal thing on an 8 way. Again its all adjustable you cant please everyone and every config so make it an option all bases are covered. I have to admit most of the time this 4way emulation saves me having to move my 4 way restriction on my sanwa. I belive this option is off by default anyway unless the user enables it

Riverstorm

@ward614 - @grant2258 is right it is off by default. If it's on go to quick menu -> options -> 4-way joystick emulation = off and it will work like a regular joystick so you can move via up, down, left and right instead of diagonally. I prefer the diagonals when I play.

@UDb23 - Nice box, that's really sharp looking. I saw a perfectly sized box in a craft store but it was a heavy grade balsa wood that still felt a bit "flimsy".