Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo

barbudreadmon

Yet another very popular system was added to FBNeo : Sega C/C2. Original announcement at https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=980.msg33258#msg33258. This one is especially known for its puzzle game classics (Puyo Puyo, Columns, ...).

G30FF

@barbudreadmon Very exciting news! I've taken a bunch of games from the set out for a spin, and haven't noticed any issues so far! Thanks!

dodonpachi

Updated from binary, and now ddpdojblk gives me a black screen with "ROM ERROR !" It worked fine prior to updating. What happened?

EDIT: deleting the ddpdojblk.fs file in roms/arcade/fbneo fixed it. Game works now.

barbudreadmon

@dodonpachi This romset was updated to a newer revision in https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/commit/1876e6d4ab373d224b1b450105fd173b3f42f0fe

The new one apparently uses a different protection for nvram, so loading a nvram from the older revision probably doesn't work, thanks for the heads-up.

Note : i don't recommend updating from binary.

sirhenrythe5th

@barbudreadmon said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

@dodonpachi This romset was updated to a newer revision in https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/commit/1876e6d4ab373d224b1b450105fd173b3f42f0fe

For everyone searching this romset: the one for MAME 0.239 does the job ;)

Red_Trev

@sirhenrythe5th does any other ROM from MAME 0.239 work with finalburnNEO ?

barbudreadmon

@red_trev said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

@sirhenrythe5th does any other ROM from MAME 0.239 work with finalburnNEO ?

read top post.

Red_Trev

@barbudreadmon said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

See https://www.libretro.com/index.php/goodbye-fbalpha-welcome-fbneo/

New code is commited on a daily/weekly basis, which includes :

support for new games

better emulation for already supported games

fixes for reported issues

regular romsets syncing with latest known MAME dumps (MAME 0.210 at the time i write those lines, but it changes every few months)

Up-to-date clrmamepro dat files are always available at https://github.com/libretro/FBNeo/tree/master/dats

The best way to get valid romsets is to use clrmamepro with a previously valid FBNeo/FBAlpha full romset & the latest MAME dumps as sources.

If you are too lazy to keep your romsets up-to-date, never update your FBNeo core (ofc, never complain about issues either). People think it's time-consuming, honestly it's not : i would be surprised if i spent more than 1 hour a year to keep those updated, ofc you'll need a supply of fresh MAME dumps.

There is a FAQ at https://github.com/libretro/FBNeo/blob/master/src/burner/libretro/README.md

I installed RetroPie maybe 18 months ago and have not updated FBNeo since. I obtained my FBNeo compatible ROMs at the same time.

If I update FBNeo to the latest version, will these ROMs cease to work ?

dankcushions

@red_trev some, yes. you should update your romsets if you update the fbneo core.

Red_Trev

@dankcushions said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

@red_trev some, yes. you should update your romsets if you update the fbneo core.

thanks for the quick replys ! My final question .... I have been trying out ROMs from latest MAME version and find 80% load but dont actually work (via MAME emulator). The 2D games I have tried seem to work OK but the 3D games either run very slow or dont open at all.

I have read elsewhere that MAME is all about accuracy while other emulators are more suited to play-ability (using software hacks to work around graphics issues for example).

So my question is: do MAME ROMs have a better compatibility rate when they are run via FBNeo emulator (assuming emulator & ROM versions all match up) ?

Examples of games I would want to play are Mortal Kombat 4, Arcana Heart, Street Fighter EX, Ridge Racer ....

dodonpachi

@red_trev Final Burn Neo doesn't support 3D games. For that you'll have to try one of the various MAME versions.

Some roms need additional files to load correctly. Look up the game you're trying to play on Arcade Italia, and scroll down until you see a "MAME required files" drop down. (EDIT for mods: Arcade Italia is just a database, not a rom hosting site)

barbudreadmon

@red_trev said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

If I update FBNeo to the latest version, will these ROMs cease to work ?

I'd say maybe around 1% of your roms will stop working if they are 18 months old. The good news is that the FBNeo core is very verbose about this nowaday.

@red_trev said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

I have read elsewhere that MAME is all about accuracy while other emulators are more suited to play-ability (using software hacks to work around graphics issues for example).
So my question is: do MAME ROMs have a better compatibility rate when they are run via FBNeo emulator (assuming emulator & ROM versions all match up) ?
Examples of games I would want to play are Mortal Kombat 4, Arcana Heart, Street Fighter EX, Ridge Racer ....

you might want to read https://www.libretro.com/index.php/final-burn-neo-1-0-0-02-release/ for that statement about accuracy
we don't emulate any of those games, generally speaking we don't support any 3D arcade games, neither do we plan to change that.

Red_Trev

@barbudreadmon said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

@red_trev said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

If I update FBNeo to the latest version, will these ROMs cease to work ?

I'd say maybe around 1% of your roms will stop working if they are 18 months old. The good news is that the FBNeo core is very verbose about this nowaday.

@red_trev said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

I have read elsewhere that MAME is all about accuracy while other emulators are more suited to play-ability (using software hacks to work around graphics issues for example).
So my question is: do MAME ROMs have a better compatibility rate when they are run via FBNeo emulator (assuming emulator & ROM versions all match up) ?
Examples of games I would want to play are Mortal Kombat 4, Arcana Heart, Street Fighter EX, Ridge Racer ....

you might want to read https://www.libretro.com/index.php/final-burn-neo-1-0-0-02-release/ for that statement about accuracy

we don't emulate any of those games, generally speaking we don't support any 3D arcade games, neither do we plan to change that.

thank you so much for this information, I am more than happy with my current FBNeo collection of games so there is little point upgrading for the half dozen 2D ROMs that work on MAME anyhow.

barbudreadmon

@red_trev fair enough, a few additional words though :

upgrading isn't only about having support for new games, most of our work is about fixing issues and overall improving emulation
over the past 18 months, we are probably closer to a hundred new games supported, not including clones/hacks
due to its shallow libretroization, the MAME libretro core has a lot of missing/broken features (partial savestate support, no runahead/netplay/rewind, no retroachievements, broken shaders on vertical games, ...), so it is usually recommended to use FBNeo whenever possible

Red_Trev

@barbudreadmon said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

@red_trev fair enough, a few additional words though :

over the past 18 months, we are probably closer to a hundred new games supported, not including clones/hacks

cool .... could you please post a link to the current compatibility list for FBNeo ? or even a listing of the new games ?

barbudreadmon

@red_trev said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

or even a listing of the new games ?

Closest might be the various posts i did above, i probably forgot some though. You might also look at our announcement post, starting from around https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=980.msg29188#msg29188 (may 2020)

Otherwise there is a compatibility list at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libretro/FBNeo/master/gamelist.txt

Riverstorm

@barbudreadmon - I was poking through the arcade DAT and saw a good sized section of "vs" prefixed games (i.e. - vsbattlecity, etc.) that are using the .nes extension. I was wondering if you could tell me if these are misplaced or they are correct in the Arcade DAT?

Also I was wondering if there's any way to build a better DAT for lr-fbalpha2012? I know it's an old core but I think Retropie continues support for older hardware I believe. If not I guess it doesn't matter. I was trying to build a set of ROMs with ClrMamePro and noticed a lot of inconsistencies.

I wrote a python script to extract each game name from the DAT. Then I wrote another script to compare that file to the source code (the drv folder).

There are several games in the drivers but not the DAT and a few hundred games in the DAT but not the drivers. Then I spent some time writing another Python script to extract all the game names only from the drv folder source code and ended with around 5,000 games. I think I pulled game names for every system emulated.

Basically I couldn't find a unique value to signify arcade games only in the drivers if that makes sense. I was thinking of using a python script with the game names to strip games from the DAT that aren't in the source code to clean it up a little. I'm not sure how to add games to the DAT that are in the source, but one step at a time.

I think the rest of the Retropie lr core DATs are in pretty good shape except this one so I started spending some time looking at it. It's not a big deal but I thought I would ask if there's any reasonable way that doesn't require a bunch of time to clean it up a little.

Riverstorm

@barbudreadmon - Sorry, to clarify the first part of the post is pertaining to FBNeo containing the .nes extension games.

barbudreadmon

@riverstorm said in Goodbye fbalpha, welcome fbneo:

I was poking through the arcade DAT and saw a good sized section of "vs" prefixed games (i.e. - vsbattlecity, etc.) that are using the .nes extension. I was wondering if you could tell me if these are misplaced or they are correct in the Arcade DAT?

They are technically nes games using a specific vs mapper, some dedicated nes emulators even support them, the single file with a nes extension will make things easier for any user who wants to try them in another emulator.

Riverstorm

Ok, that sounds good. I wasn't 100% sure but they sound like they should be in the Arcade DAT. I will go ahead and build a set knowing they are ok. I'm just used to seeing all these "eccentrically" named ROM lists in regards to DATs and then you see these single file ROMs with a .nes extension, well, it just looked out of place! :) It's a shame to see PD go dark permanently with no explanation, it was a good starting point at 1.0.0.0.