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    FBA is not arcade only

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion and Gaming
    fbaneogeo cdseganecmsx
    11 Posts 6 Posters 4.1k Views
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    • B
      barbudreadmon
      last edited by

      I thought i would write a topic about this, because it is not well-known, and it's actually a very good alternative for some games which won't run properly in picodrive/genplus_gx.

      lr-fbalpha can emulate consoles, until recently it wasn't convenient because you couldn't use the zipname directly (you had to prefix it with XXX_ where XXX was an identifier for the console, and remove the zip|7z extension), now you can use the --subsystem XXX argument instead and call the zip|7z file directly.

      As an example, for the sms game contained in zool.zip :
      Before : retroarch -L fbalpha_libretro.so path/to/sms_zool
      Now : retroarch -L fbalpha_libretro.so --subsystem sms path/to/zool.zip

      The following identifiers are available :

      • CBS ColecoVision : cv (this one has mapping issues)
      • MSX 1 : msx
      • Nec PC-Engine : pce
      • Nec SuperGrafX : sgx
      • Nec TurboGrafx-16 : tg
      • Sega GameGear : gg
      • Sega Master System : sms
      • Sega Megadrive : md
      • Sega SG-1000 : sg1k

      Of course, you need specific romsets (dats available here) even if it's not arcade.

      On a sidenote, you can also emulate Neogeo CD by using the neocd identifier, there is 2 tricks to this though :

      • You need a copy of neocdz.zip and neogeo.zip in your libretro system directory
      • you can only load cue with MODE1/2048 tracks at the moment.

      PS : Neogeo CD doesn't need specific romsets.

      FBNeo developer - github - forum

      BuZzB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 5
      • BuZzB
        BuZz administrators @barbudreadmon
        last edited by

        @barbudreadmon Thanks. I created a PR for the neocd support earlier (thanks for adding that). Will enable the emulator for the other systems after some testing.

        To help us help you - please make sure you read the sticky topics before posting - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • dankcushionsD
          dankcushions Global Moderator
          last edited by

          i wonder why fba needs specific romsets for console games? if one console is one driver (?), and if it knows what driver the file is for via the command line option, can't it just attempt to load?

          requiring specific checksums and file names makes it quite prohibitive compared to the other console emulators.

          B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • DarksaviorD
            Darksavior
            last edited by

            Nice. Now I don’t need lr-mess for neogeo cd anymore. That wasn’t the best option due to the higher cpu requirements.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • B
              barbudreadmon @dankcushions
              last edited by barbudreadmon

              @dankcushions Having romsets allows fba to know which game it is running, so it can apply needed settings to run the game properly. As a simple example i hooked the proper settings for multitap in most megadrive games not long ago, so unlike with other megadrive emulators, in fbalpha you don't have to guess which multitap hardware needs to go in which port on a per game basis (which can be a hassle).
              Basically, one console is one driver with a ton of conditions depending on the game running.

              FBNeo developer - github - forum

              dankcushionsD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • dankcushionsD
                dankcushions Global Moderator @barbudreadmon
                last edited by

                @barbudreadmon thanks for the explanation! that is an advantage, but i would still think it would be cool for it to just load it as a generic 'megadrive game' if it failed the checksum, but there's probably good reasons why that can't happen.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  skj
                  last edited by

                  Is the Neo Geo CD up and running with the current version of FBA or do I have to download a new version?
                  I really want to play some neo CDs but have no idea what the steps are to play them in FBA any help would be much appreciated.

                  B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • B
                    barbudreadmon @skj
                    last edited by

                    @skj said in FBA is not arcade only:

                    Is the Neo Geo CD up and running with the current version of FBA or do I have to download a new version?

                    I don't know what you mean by "current version", "current version" of lr-fbalpha is the version available directly from github. With improvements added nearly everyday, any binary built in the past is not "current version".
                    Neogeo CD support was added 2 days ago.

                    FBNeo developer - github - forum

                    S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      skj @barbudreadmon
                      last edited by skj

                      @barbudreadmon

                      Sorry for the confusion, I wasn't sure if the new fixes had been added and uploaded on GitHub, the last version I had was from a few weeks ago.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ByteThisB
                        ByteThis
                        last edited by ByteThis

                        @barbudreadmon What .cfg file do i need to add the --subsystem neocd line in ? I have been searching in the githubs looking for an answer, but not sure where to add.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • DarksaviorD
                          Darksavior
                          last edited by Darksavior

                          Nevermind, I got it working. You have to choose the fbalpha neocd option before loading. Also, it looks like it doesn't have chd support and no cd music..which was the point of using this. Thanks anyways. Back to lr-mess.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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