What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability)

YFZdude

@Floob said in What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability):

What you could do is generate a .dat file against your own romsets that you have based the list on.

Is there a tool that can generate the file based on scanning current folders?
A manual creation would involve a whole lot of copy / paste.

barbudreadmon

@YFZdude i think clrmamepro has a feature like this

Floob

Yep - its called dir2dat in clrmamepro

ondricka

@Jiryn said in What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability):

So, what is the best Mame to use with a Pi 4 4GB.
I'm currently using a Raspberry Pi 4-4GB, with the official Raspberry AC Adapter, and the summer build of RetroPi.
I am curious as to what the best Mame is, I'm looking for the best compatibility, performance and largest library.
I've tried 2003 and 2010, but a handful of games seem to be missing or just not work correctly (Oddly, most are Sega games like Alien Storm, Golden Axe 2 works but there are no back grounds/scaling, Dynamite Dux, along with JJ Squawkers, and Bonk The Arcade Game, which I may just have missed)
I tried advance mame, but it wouldn't recognize my controllers and only wanted to use the keyboard to input commands/modify settings (I usually don't have my keyboard connected when gaming).
I've not booted up my PI since July, so I was going to set it up and update it now that I got a pair of official USB arcade sticks, and wanted to have the best experience possible!
( https://www.amazon.com/8Bitdo-Arcade-Stick-Switch-Windows-nintendo/dp/B08GJC5WSS/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&aaxitk=3iO.-nK2N0HuJijvt7BoNQ&hsa_cr_id=2190334830401&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_0
cookie clicker)
Also, would I see any performance increase upgrading to a PI 4 8GB?
(Specifically in PS1 and Arcade games)

It's not as straightforward as that. In addition to power needs, the versions of mame that are used differ in terms of how far they have progressed. The core of libretro, for example, was developed by me and others, with all of the various display and input possibilities working well with libretro. lr-mame2010, on the other hand, only recently supported two players.

barbudreadmon

And if you intend to use shaders, you also have to consider lr-mame & lr-mame2016 have a broken implementation for vertical games.

roslof

@barbudreadmon said in What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability):

And if you intend to use shaders, you also have to consider lr-mame & lr-mame2016 have a broken implementation for vertical games.

Hi @barbudreadmon. Can you expand on this? On my Pi4B I haven't experienced issues with compatible shaders, regardless of screen orientation.

dankcushions

@roslof https://github.com/libretro/mame/issues/261

barbudreadmon

@roslof said in What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability):

I haven't experienced issues with compatible shaders

To summarize, scanlines in vertical games are supposed to be vertical, but because lr-mame & lr-mame2016 are presenting the displayed content as being horizontal, retroarch doesn't know it has to rotate them.

obrie572

@roslof Since the last time I reviewed the spreadsheet (about once every 6 months), I noticed that quite a few games have had their recommendation changed from lr-mame2016 to lr-mame. I'm curious if there's anything in particular you found that changed your recommendation or if it was just a matter of re-testing?

Also I was hoping to get clarification on this line in the spreadsheet:

Note lr-mame tested with a baseline version lr-mame 0.222 (link) and the latest version of lr-mame 0.244. Differences, if found, are noted.

Is lr-mame 0.222 still the default emulator to use when lr-mame is the recommended emulator for a ROM, assuming nothing has been called out in the notes?

Thanks again for all your hard work!

roslof

@obrie572

Is lr-mame 0.222 still the default emulator to use when lr-mame is the recommended emulator for a ROM, assuming nothing has been called out in the notes?

The short: All ROMs were retested with both lr-mame 0.244 and the older 0.222. You could probably use either unless otherwise noted. I am personally using 0.244 as my new default, but I override to 0.222 in rare instances. Personal preference at this point. There are some undocumented wins with 0.244, like Q*Bert properly saying "Hello! I'm turned on" when the game boots. :)

The long: Before I moved the list from private to public it focused on the Raspberry Pi 3B+. lr-mame2016 was typically prioritized above lr-mame for stability and speed for that device. After I moved the list to public, I added lr-fbneo to the list. The prioritized order quickly became:

lr-fbneo
lr-mame2016
lr-mame
...

Recently, a few factors led me to change the prioritization:

First, the Pi4B could handle more. Also, there have been several advancements with lr-mame (while lr-mame2016 remained fairly idle and almost dead at this point). The bleeding edge versions of lr-mame show more compatibility and better speed than in the past. lr-mame also exposes controls to libretro/control options, which is remarkably convenient (mind you, not nearly as good as lr-fbneo). Behind the scenes, I'm not just probing compatibility. I'm also perfecting controls for my setup and I've found that analog controls (esp.) are greatly improved in the newer MAME versions (started somewhere around 0.242/243ish).

A final reason for the change is that it minimizes the number of emulators people need to get the most compatibility. If lr-fbneo supported everything, that would be my emulator of choice due to run_ahead, rewind support, and plug-and-play controls in most cases. lr-mame handles the vast majority of everything else, plus supports artwork that I also heavily leverage behind the scenes.

So I decided to change the prioritization to this:

*lr-fbneo
*lr-mame
*lr-mame2016
...

During this last round of testing (which literally took weeks) most of my lr-mame roms were referencing 0.222. I checked each of them against 0.244 and almost everything worked and often worked better (perf & analog control, esp). I keep a version of 0.222 on the system for games like Star Castles that can't handle the discrete audio changes and attempted to call this out in the sheet (possible that I missed some references).

What I should do, is explicitly call out which ROMs benefit from 0.222 and mark the emulator as such, but there aren't many. I definitely leverage the Notes column to call out if something doesn't work with bleeding edge (like "Danger Zone"), but worked with 0.222. Weird. A good reminder is that bleeding edge is exactly that... Good to keep a stable baseline around if you know how to do it.

At current, the list mirrors my actual system -- what works best for me on my OC Pi4B. It should otherwise be considered a list of recommendations for those who are trying to get the largest library of games running as good as they can. I think it's a good primer for anybody who isn't afraid to run multiple emulators.

Hope this helps answer all of your questions.

dodonpachi

@roslof which ROMs play better with lr mame, instead of fbneo? The only one I know is Donkey Kong, since it utilizes the analog sound.

Unless I'm mistaken, framerate wise fbneo will always beat mame on Pi's, because only the former contains optimization for ARM architecture. The results differ in a desktop environment.

EDIT: Whoops, I didn't realize you made a whole spreadsheet that answers my question. Here's the link, for anyone else who may have missed it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Rq4shU1RUSdcc7cTVWeORMD-mcO6BwXwQ7TGw8f5_zw/htmlview#gid=1985896929

barbudreadmon

@dodonpachi said in What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability):

The only one I know is Donkey Kong, since it utilizes the analog sound.

I can't ever agree on this one, sound in MAME doesn't match my memories and doesn't match internet videos either.

Note that lr-mame recently shaved off 1 frame of input lag, so that might be another reason to not bother with lr-mame2016 or 0.222.

roslof

@dodonpachi said in What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability):

Unless I'm mistaken, framerate wise fbneo will always beat mame on Pi's, because only the former contains optimization for ARM architecture. The results differ in a desktop environment.

Usually, but not always. I call this out in the Notes column for those very few ROMS that fbneo supports, but fall short for the Pi4B. Use Arabian Fight as an example. You can glean a ton of information by searching for "fbneo" in the Notes column ('Arcade Recommended'!H:H).

Still, lr-fbneo is my preferred default because it's performance and libretro friendly features are usually best for the Pi4B.

Ian_J

Just got back into RetroPie & I'm setting up some of my favourite games.

I've found Roslof's excellent compatibility sheet and will use it as my guide for setting up my roms.

However I'm being a bit dumb & before I start clrmame on it's way I want to make sure which dats to use for lr-mame & lr-fbneo.

mitu

@Ian_J Please don't bump old topics with unrelated questions - open a new topic instead.

grfc

@roslof Hi, not sure of the correct etiquette of commenting here, but I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for your efforts on your Retropie & N64 compatibility spreadsheet. I have been referencing it for some time now as I continue to build my arcade collection for my Pi400, but I checked it yesterday and noticed you completed it recently! A massive undertaking by you, and congrats! And I wanted you to know that I (and I'm sure others) appreciate your efforts! Good job! :-)

roslof

@grfc said in What is the best MAME to use with Pi 4 4GB? (Largest library, highest compatability):

@roslof Hi, not sure of the correct etiquette of commenting here, but I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for your efforts on your Retropie & N64 compatibility spreadsheet. I have been referencing it for some time now as I continue to build my arcade collection for my Pi400, but I checked it yesterday and noticed you completed it recently! A massive undertaking by you, and congrats! And I wanted you to know that I (and I'm sure others) appreciate your efforts! Good job! :-)

Kind of you and glad you've made use of the sheets. The project isn't over, as I update it from time to time when I have chunks of time available. Takes a few weeks to go through the ROMs, so can't do this with each major emulator release. Also some good help from a small number of people keeps me on my toes.

Thinking about handling CHD games next... We'll see.