lr-mame2003 nvram/dipswitch settings not being saved, can't exit game once it starts

yonkiman

I installed the latest retropie on a Pi2 last month. Put some roms in the right directory (/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/mame2003/roms) and can launch and play games from EmulationStation. But:

I can't find a key to exit a game once it starts (I have to reboot)
No changes (mame2003 settings, DIP switch settings, etc.) get saved

It's entirely possible that no changes are being saved because I can't do a clean exit of a game - I have to reboot the Pi. So not being able to exit an emulated game may be my whole problem.

Any help appreciated!

markwkidd

Can you try these steps:

Update RetroPie-Setup
Update mame2003 from source

yonkiman

Thanks Mark.

Update RetroPie-Setup

Done. That alone didn't do it.

Update mame2003 from source

Is there a script or instructions somewhere for that? I don't want to hack my way through it only to find I was using the wrong source or putting things in the wrong directories, etc.

And I should have asked this initially: What is the default key (combination) to exit mame? Was thinking it was Esc, but maybe it's something I just haven't tried yet.

Also I should mention I made all my files/directories writable in case it was a file permission issue. Didn't help.

markwkidd

@yonkiman said in lr-mame2003 nvram/dipswitch settings not being saved, can't exit game once it starts:

Thanks Mark.

Update RetroPie-Setup

Done. That alone didn't do it.

Update mame2003 from source

Is there a script or instructions somewhere for that? I don't want to hack my way through it only to find I was using the wrong source or putting things in the wrong directories, etc.

And I should have asked this initially: What is the default key (combination) to exit mame? Was thinking it was Esc, but maybe it's something I just haven't tried yet.

Also I should mention I made all my files/directories writable in case it was a file permission issue. Didn't help.

I'm fairly knowledgeable about mame2003 but not so much about RetroPie. I would like to wait for someone with more knowledge about RetroPie to agree that compiling from source is a good idea before you do it for the first time. If you had said "sure I've done that a dozen times" that would be different :)

About your other question: If you have a keyboard, press F1 to get to the RetroArch menu to exit.

When I'm using mame2003 on my brother's arcade cabinet I exit the game via the RetroArch menu. I have a hotkey set up via RetroArch on my arcade controls to be -- I think, muscle memory is how I usually remember this -- to be Down + L1 + R1 + Y.

I think the default hotkey in RetroPie is Select + X.

grant2258

its the same deal for all emulators in retropie press start and select to exit unless you picked some other combo when setting your gamepad up

grant2258

@yonkiman said in lr-mame2003 nvram/dipswitch settings not being saved, can't exit game once it starts:

Thanks Mark.

Update RetroPie-Setup

Done. That alone didn't do it.

Update mame2003 from source

Is there a script or instructions somewhere for that? I don't want to hack my way through it only to find I was using the wrong source or putting things in the wrong directories, etc.

And I should have asked this initially: What is the default key (combination) to exit mame? Was thinking it was Esc, but maybe it's something I just haven't tried yet.

Also I should mention I made all my files/directories writable in case it was a file permission issue. Didn't help.

updating mame from source is easy got to your retropie menu

then select retropie setup

then select manage packages

then select manage main packages

then choose lr-mame2003

then choose update from source

yonkiman

Thanks everyone. I followed Grant's instructions and rebuilt lr-mame2003, but everything's working the same.

A little more info in case it helps. I'm not using a gamepad - I've mapped everything in EmulationStation to my PC keyboard. I've tried pressing the mapped keys for "Start + Select" and "Select + X" (and a lot of other combinations), but the game running on lr-mame2003 just keeps running.

Ultimately the system is destined for an old Galaga Cocktail machine. I'm so close! I've got the joysticks and buttons wired-up and working (using pikeyd). I just can't exit a game (or store DIP settings, etc.) once it starts.

grant2258

youll need to ask the retropie gurus how to do this on a keyboard. You need to exit mame properly to save your info

dankcushions

your hotkey is separately configured from your select key - it's the last entry in initial contoller setup. you need to press hotkey + start to exit a game

yonkiman

@dankcushions said in lr-mame2003 nvram/dipswitch settings not being saved, can't exit game once it starts:

your hotkey is separately configured from your select key - it's the last entry in initial contoller setup. you need to press hotkey + start to exit a game

Ah, that helps - I'd forgotten what the hotkey was assigned to. OK, so hotkey + X is taking me to a menu...progress!

Here's a more fundamental question I've had for a while. EmulationStation has its key assignments, but MAME has different key assignments. How does MAME know to exit when I use a key combination from ES? It seems like ES has to be sending MAME a signal to shutdown - is that signal not a key or key combination?

mitu

@yonkiman said in lr-mame2003 nvram/dipswitch settings not being saved, can't exit game once it starts:

It seems like ES has to be sending MAME a signal to shutdown - is that signal not a key or key combination?

No, Emulationstation goes into the background once the emulator (RetroArch or otherwise) gets started, it's entirely up to the emulator to process the user input and exit by itself.

yonkiman

@mitu said in lr-mame2003 nvram/dipswitch settings not being saved, can't exit game once it starts:

No, Emulationstation goes into the background once the emulator (RetroArch or otherwise) gets started, it's entirely up to the emulator to process the user input and exit by itself.

That's what I originally thought. So why can't I find/change/set the key that makes the emulator (lr-make2003 in this case) exit?

dankcushions

@yonkiman it’s hotkey + start to exit. it sounds like your hotkey is now working, so now i presume you just have to make sure start is bound correctly.

stoney66

@yonkiman It's in your main retroarch.cfg file located in /opt/retropie/configs/all

There will be two settings in that config file, one for the start and one for hotkey. In my case I use num1 and num5 keys.

pi@retropie:/opt/retropie/configs/all $ more retroarch.cfg | grep input_player1_start
input_player1_start = "num1"

pi@retropie:/opt/retropie/configs/all $ more retroarch.cfg | grep enable_hotkey
input_enable_hotkey = "num5"

yonkiman

@stoney66 @dankcushions Thank you both! Can definitely exit now, and it does remember its settings, so I've basically got it working. But the crux of why I was confused is this:

How does lr-mame know it's time to exit when I press a key combination defined in EmulationStation?

dankcushions

@yonkiman the controller setup process in emulation station basically generates a bunch of config files for various things in retropie, such as: emulationstation, retroarch (the emulator 'front end' for almost every default emulator, including lr-mame2003), and some 'standalone' emulators such as mupen64plus.

yonkiman

@dankcushions Got it. Thanks for all your help!