Mame retropie, Help with getting mame with 4 way joystick emulation?

chupa38

Hello,

I recently downloaded a prebuilt image(based of retropie with all retropie features) a popular 256gb image. It appears I can tweak it over wifi by dragging and dropping directly to the unit from my windows PC. However what I need to know is what version of mame the system might be using? It doesnt seem its the version with 4 way software emulation because all of the old school games (pac-man, donkey kong, etc) have control issues (i.e. you press left on the control input, in this case a xbox one S style Controller, however I also tried a friends x-arcade and similar issues. btw we could not get the physical 4 way support on the x-arcade to work but whatever). I know that even with 4 way software emulation things will not be perfect and that I should get a joystick with 4 way restrictor of some sort (anyone have suggestions for a prebuilt one, sorry im not handy and don't have any real work shop for drilling holes, etc). Thanks very much in advance for any help!

lostless

@chupa38 for one, third part images are supported here. Second of all, RetroPie has many Arcade (MAME/FBneo) emulators, and not just one. And best of all, you can mix and match those emulators without a user ever knowing.
Any way, The way MAME does 4 way input on a 8 way input, is when you go from a single direction to a diagonal, the new direction in the diagonal takes over. So if you are pressing right and tap up with right, up will be the new direction.

IanDaemon

@lostless "...for one, third part images are NOT supported here. Second..."

chupa38

@lostless Yeah I know what 4-way and 8-way are. If you read my post I was wanting to know which mame has 4-way joystick software emulation?

Clyde

Since you asked for any help, I don't know about MAME versions with built-in 4-way restriction, but RetroPie's xboxdrv can do that.

As for pre-built hardware restrictors, there are 4/8-way restrictors available for Sanwa joysticks, and the Mag-Stiks (Plus) from Ultimarc have this feature built-in.

chupa38

@Clyde OMG so helpful! Thank-you so much!!

IanDaemon

I know I've seen the 4/8 way emulation setting in a menu. I can't remember where at the moment.

Libation

MAME 2003plus has 4 way emulation.

chupa38

@Libation Hey thanks! Is it something you have to toggle off or on somehow? I think the arcade roms are running off mame2003 but not plus. How can I make them run off 2003 plus? Sorry complete noob idiot here so any extra info would be most helpful as long as Im not breaking any rules.

Lyle_JP

@chupa38 Mame 2003 Plus is another libretro core. It can be found in "experimental packages" in the Retropie setup program. After installing it, it can be found in the list of available emulators in RunCommand.

chupa38

@Lyle_JP Thanks for your help. Sorry none of what you say is making sense to me (not you but me). When I am on the retropie menu, I have noticed that if I hit a certain controller combo it takes me to a retroarch menu. In that menu it looks like all the arcade games are using mame 2016 for some reason. I tried to check for an option to change the core or whatever in this menu but could not seem to find anything. I was also able to find a list of emulators and it looks like mame 2003 plus is in this list but when I click on it it just says things like bosco.cfg, etc.

mitu

@chupa38 Install mame2003-plus from the RetroPie-setup. When starting an Arcade ROM, use the Runcommand launch menu to select which emulator to run the game, you should have lr-mame2003-plus available and you can select it - either as default arcade emulator or just for one particular game.

chupa38

@mitu said in Mame retropie, Help with getting mame with 4 way joystick emulation?:

default

Hi! Thank-you so much for your help. Unfortunately I do not seem to have a way to install mame 2003 plus specifically from retropie-setup. When starting an arcade rom how would I access the runcommand launch menu? There does not seem to be an option. All I can access is retroarch and mame configuration control type stuff.

mitu

@chupa38 Please provide some info about your system, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

IanDaemon

@chupa38 said in Mame retropie, Help with getting mame with 4 way joystick emulation?:

downloaded a prebuilt image(based of retropie with all retropie features) a popular 256gb image

Hmm, sounds third party.

chupa38

@mitu Thanks for all of your help! Its very clear I am way outta my league here. I sent the pi 4 back and am out. I knew I had no business messing about with this kinda stuff.

lostless

@chupa38 I’m sorry you feel that way. RetroPie is a fun product. You learn a little Linux, and play some fun games. Try starting from scratch and learn how it all works. Don’t think of RetroPie as only as a way to play games, but also a way To learn how computers work. If you start with someone else's Image, you have no idea how anything works together, and we here have no idea what’s been done, making diagnosing very hard.

chupa38

@IanDaemon Yeah this is a popular pre-built images by arcade punks from a user their (I assume) called wolfanoz. It was featured on a popular gaming youtube channel. It was so amazing looking I was suckered in. Little did I realize how absolutely complicated and above my head this would all be.

lostless

@chupa38 ya those third party images put so much in to make it look all pretty and cool. But they are so far off from the base RetroPie. I’ve decked out my RetroPie builds, but I did it all myself. I had to learn how all the pieces fit. If something is wrong, I know what I’ve done. If you start with base retro pie And just want to play games, that may be your best bet. It may not look very pretty and flashy, but functions rock solid. And when your curiosity peaks, you can seek out here on how to customize your build the way you want. And go as far as your willing to learn.