Does MAME even run on Pi4+retropie 4.6? And what happened to Mame4All?

dankcushions

mame4all-pi is only available for pi1-3 on the closed source videocore driver (ie, not pi4): https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/blob/master/scriptmodules/emulators/mame4all.sh#L17. it is not compatible with other systems.

lr-mame2000 is in the optional packages list for all systems (main for pi1/0), and that uses the same romset version as mame4all (MAME 0.37b5), but i agree with @Darksavior - neither are recommended for pi2 and up: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Arcade/#step-1-choose-your-arcade-emulators

(our recommended MAME emulator for pi4 is tba... testing current MAME as we speak)

Riverstorm

@dankcushions - Ah, ok, good to know it won't work on the 4. So will it be removed from future 0/1 and 2/3 Pi images? I think it would be worthy to leave it in the future images. lr-mame2000 has several things that need fixed. I would prefer 2003 over 2000 obviously but mame4all-pi over 2000.

I understand the recommended is different but I would still consider it a relevant choice depending on feature needs and availability in future images. If you're not using shaders, save states and what not it's a good clean build that works well for a simple setup. I prefer mame4all-pi when using GPIO inputs.

The original 0.37b5 code is roughly 20 years old but was later updated/optimized for portability and renamed to mame4all, then picked up again and optimized for the Pi. Technically the main code is 20 years old but it's been refreshed somewhere between the Pi 1 and 2 release dates I would guess 7 maybe 8 years old.

It will be interesting to see how current MAME runs on the Pi 4. I'm a bit skeptical considering, well it's MAME!

dankcushions

@Riverstorm i believe mame4all-pi refers to the old pre-fkms graphics drivers so wouldn't work on pi4 without code fixes.

RedMarsBlueMoon

I was just going to upgrade mu 3.5.17 to 3.6 to see if it fixed the problems I'm having with lr-mame2003. (the default Mame)
I had a bunch of old ROMs that didn't even start up, they just crash. They are all 0.78 stand alone ROMs and I have tried them on my PCs retroarch mame2003 and all the ones that crash on my Pi4 work perfectly on the PC.

Riverstorm

@dankcushions - Ah ok, yeah if it's a bunch of extra work it's probably not going to happen. I do keep all the old releases around and several patched releases shrunk as tight as they will go to a few gig using virtual box and pishrink that would work for all intents and purposes.

The other thing that I find handy is having mame4all-pi as a reference test set so to speak. It gives you an alternative emulator to test ROMs if a Libretro core (2000 that also uses 0.37b5) comes into question due to several modifications that make it a Libretro core! :)

If mame4all-pi crashes then it probably never worked and isn't related to the Libretro conversion. Then you would need to fall back to arcadez, grant, barbudreadmon or one of the MAME code guys to potentially see if it's an easy fix in the core.

Plus you can't beat the size of that itty-bitty-tiny mam4all emulator, weighing in at few MB! ;)

ClassicGMR

If I remember right on the 3B+ I needed MAME4ALL for one game - Tapper and it had to be running the MAME 0.37 rom version.

grant2258

not looked at mame4all didnt it have a sdl code path to work on windows and linux anyway? It shouldnt be a big issues fixing that if it is the case just the video needs reworked if there is enough people wanting it. it actually pretty easy to port mame078 to the pie as well.

mitu

@grant2258 In RetroPie, mame4all is actually a fork created for the RPI, using the native legacy GL driver - https://github.com/squidrpi/mame4all-pi.

This is a highly optimised version for the Raspberry Pi, using GLES2/dispmanx for graphics, ALSA for sound and SDL for input. It also uses the GPU for post-processing effects like scanlines.

grant2258

im guessing anything using dispmanx will need reworked for the pi4 :(. Look like i was looking at the wrong repo the one i checked was here. https://github.com/RetroPie/mame4all-pi

Riverstorm

@mitu said in Does MAME even run on Pi4+retropie 4.6? And what happened to Mame4All?:

It also uses the GPU for post-processing effects like scanlines.

That's a major drawback of mame4all, the scanline effects are a turd for sure compared to the Libretro shaders. =/

@grant2258 - I don't think there's much demand. I'm just an advocate of that lean, mean, little core. I even have a version that runs well on my iPad albeit the controls are less than optimal but thanks a lot for the considering it!

grant2258

@mitu https://drgeoffathome.wosrdpress.com/2020/02/03/opengl-without-x-on-raspberry-pi-4-part-1/

Riverstorm

@grant2258 - The word wordspress has flipped letters.

Riverstorm

Sorry, to correct the link I mean.

mitu

@grant2258 The links doesn't work, but that's how almost everything works in RetroPie - we don't use X unless the emulator/game requires it.

grant2258

https://drgeoffathome.wordpress.com/2020/02/03/opengl-without-x-on-raspberry-pi-4-part-1/

try it that way not sure why its not working

Riverstorm

@grant2258 said in Does MAME even run on Pi4+retropie 4.6? And what happened to Mame4All?:

try it that way not sure why its not working

I think it needs to be wordspress. Words is plural and then it worked.

grant2258

anyway there is a part 2 gles2 and 3 can be compiled and used without x

Riverstorm

@grant2258 said in Does MAME even run on Pi4+retropie 4.6? And what happened to Mame4All?:

https://drgeoffathome.wosrdpress.com/2020/02/03/opengl-without-x-on-raspberry-pi-4-part-1/

Here's the working link:
https://drgeoffathome.wordspress.com/2020/02/03/opengl-without-x-on-raspberry-pi-4-part-1/

Darksavior

@ClassicGMR Tapper works in mame2003plus (not sure about non-plus). It also works fine in finalburn-neo but tapper.zip requires midssio.zip. What I do, is insert the contents from midssio.zip to tapper.zipso it doesn't clutter up my menu.

sirhenrythe5th

to make this list complete: Tapper also works wonderful with AdvanceMame ;)