Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone

bbilford83

@Folly Thanks for the suggestions, and of course take my upvote :). I am very new to this and didn't realize that was a thing.

Guidance from another friend led me to try changing the standard resolution in raspi-config, but for some reason when I do that I end up with a black screen after loading. Anyway, I will dig around and start a new thread if need be.

I should say I think it is probably something connected to this script, though, as I had lr-mess running a couple systems before this and those I can change the resolution without problems.

Folly

@bbilford83 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

@Folly Thanks for the suggestions, and of course take my upvote :). I am very new to this and didn't realize that was a thing.

I presumed you were new, therefor I mentioned.
Not really a thing, but then others know how good it's ranked.

Guidance from another friend led me to try changing the standard resolution in raspi-config, but for some reason when I do that I end up with a black screen after loading. Anyway, I will dig around and start a new thread if need be.

Try also the *standard lr-mame for arcade and standalone mame for arcade and see if you also have the issue.
(*standard = loader- or runcommands that are not created by this script)

I should say I think it is probably something connected to this script, though, as I had lr-mess running a couple systems before this and those I can change the resolution without problems.

I doubt it, but perhaps I am overlooking something.
As far as I know everything, about the resolutions, is related to the standard runcommand.sh script.

Btw.
I have to say, I don't have a 4k TV so I can't test it when I come home.
So If it is an issue from this module-script then we have to find a way to replicate this issue somehow.
Not sure how to do this right now.

bbilford83

@Folly So I ended up successful in changing the resolution lower as a baseline - as ridiculous as it seems apparently only one of the two HDMI ports in a pi will work if you do that? I discovered that caveat at the end of a random youtube tutorial. So point being, I no longer need to change the resolution manually for the systems I've installed in the script. I'm happy to test out anything else if it could be helpful but I guess if I'm the only one who was having the issue there's not much of a problem to be solved :). Thanks again for the ideas.

Folly

@bbilford83

Nice to hear that you got it running now.

When there is something to test I will let you know ;-)

bbilford83

On a totally unrelated note, I'm wondering if anyone has installed and played the Amstrad GX4000 and noticed that the games don't take up the full real estate of the screen - like I get black bars above, below, left, and right. Before I mess around with scaling to try to fix it, is there some obvious thing I'm missing that would make it display correctly?

roslof

Heads-up that the binary name for mess/libretro has changed. Spotted this with the current 0.247 release.

Original name: mess_libretro.so

New name: mamemess_libretro.so

Calling this out for folks who upgrade and may have custom scripts that reference the original name. Recommendation is to simply rename the binary after installing.

Folly

@roslof said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

Heads-up that the binary name for mess/libretro has changed. Spotted this with the current 0.247 release.

Original name: mess_libretro.so

New name: mamemess_libretro.so

Calling this out for folks who upgrade and may have custom scripts that reference the original name. Recommendation is to simply rename the binary after installing.

Thanks for letting us know.
I addressed this problem earlier in post/280735 and it should be fine using the latest version.

When I can I will update, next month, the database/script to 0.247 .

Folly

@bbilford83 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

On a totally unrelated note, I'm wondering if anyone has installed and played the Amstrad GX4000 and noticed that the games don't take up the full real estate of the screen - like I get black bars above, below, left, and right. Before I mess around with scaling to try to fix it, is there some obvious thing I'm missing that would make it display correctly?

Never really noticed it but indeed you will get black borders.
I just tried a few things but with no result and zoom is disabled.
Seems to me that something is not implemented in mame and lr-mess for a few amstrad CPC system types.
Theoretically it should be discussed on the mamedev forum here :
https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=1

Folly

@bbilford83 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

On a totally unrelated note, I'm wondering if anyone has installed and played the Amstrad GX4000 and noticed that the games don't take up the full real estate of the screen - like I get black bars above, below, left, and right. Before I mess around with scaling to try to fix it, is there some obvious thing I'm missing that would make it display correctly?

Just an idea, perhaps you can try to make an artwork file for mame that can zoom the screen.
Or for lr-mess you can make a system related retroarch.cfg with different viewport settings to zoom the screen.

bbilford83

@Folly Thanks for the suggestions. This may be beyond my ability but I will dig around. And maybe register for the mame forum you suggested to ask there.

I have the same seemingly-unfixable problem with the standalone model 3 emulator and others seem to too, so I can get used to it :).

Folly

@bbilford83 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

@Folly Thanks for the suggestions. This may be beyond my ability but I will dig around.

I had succes with zooming the screen with adding some lines the specific retroarch.cfg (/opt/retropie/configs/gx4000/retroarch.cfg) using for using lr-mess :

custom_viewport_height = "1200"
custom_viewport_width = "1920"
aspect_ratio_index = "23"
video_scale_integer = true

Then it uses custom aspect ratio with a custom set resolution.
For you the resolution might be different, so you have to experiment a bit.
Can you try this and let me know if it works for you ?

I also tried to make a custom artwork file for mame, but did not yet get it to zoom.

And maybe register for the mame forum you suggested to ask there.

Just an advice, only talk about mame there, not retropie.

bbilford83

@Folly Thanks again for this idea, it is definitely on the right track but I can't seem to get it to work. At 1080 and 1920, which are the dimensions I have emulationstation loading at, it is the same as usual. I tried tweaking it to make it a little bigger and it works but it isn't expanding evenly - like, when I expand enough to get rid of the bar on top the bottom still has a bar, and if I expand enough to get rid of that one, the top image is going off the screen. I also noticed for the first time that the default image is to the right of where it should be - like it is not centered left to right either. That's the norm, like before I put anything in the retroarch.cfg. Weird. I will mess around with it a bit more but it seems like mame is placing the image off center to begin with and I am not sure how to fix that.

bbilford83

On a related note, I have also noticed the same problem with FM Towns Marty, which I've started testing - for now I've given up on getting an exhaustive list of what games it could play and am just testing a few). For the games I have gotten working, they are also all boxed with black bars above and to the sides. And just like for GX4000 the bar on the bottom is almost nothing but the bar on the top is thick. Weird.

Also, @folly, if I can ask for one more tip, I have been reading and re-reading your old post before this script about installing the Marty, and also another thread called "Old Computer Appreciation Thread," to try to figure out how to launch the games that require a blank floppy as well as a CD Rom. I created a completely blank file in Notepad++ with the correct mame name for the game, zipped it a zip file of the same name, but that didn't work for me. Do the CHD's have to be named something in particular, or am I possibly missing some other step I can't find?

This is kind of ridiculous but the game I really want to get working is Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego :). I played it a lot as a kid and have managed to get my 6-year-old to like it, and it seems like the Towns version is worlds better than the Genesis/SNES one...

Folly

@bbilford83 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

@Folly Thanks again for this idea, it is definitely on the right track but I can't seem to get it to work. At 1080 and 1920, which are the dimensions I have emulationstation loading at, it is the same as usual. I tried tweaking it to make it a little bigger and it works but it isn't expanding evenly - like, when I expand enough to get rid of the bar on top the bottom still has a bar, and if I expand enough to get rid of that one, the top image is going off the screen. I also noticed for the first time that the default image is to the right of where it should be - like it is not centered left to right either. That's the norm, like before I put anything in the retroarch.cfg. Weird. I will mess around with it a bit more but it seems like mame is placing the image off center to begin with and I am not sure how to fix that.

Your TV is probably also part of the problem.
And probably the lines I for the retroarch.cfg are not the most ideal fix, but it's a start of getting somewhere.
For better centering you can add these lines (replace the zeros with other values) :

custom_viewport_x = "0"
custom_viewport_y = "0"

For a better fix I want to try this option, which isn't related to setting the resolution, but to get it working I possibly have to use more options that I didn't find yet :

video_scaling = "2"

bbilford83

@Folly Sorry I had not seen this post before! It seems that if I add those two x/y dimension lines along with what I had before, it doesn't do anything no matter what values I give the x and y. Weirdly, when I delete the original custom viewport values and replace it with just the x and y numbers, it is super zoomed in, and I can't even navigate to the scaling in the RA menu to try to fix it. Maybe that is just what happens if I have the scaling set to "custom" but without specifying what?

Anyway, I appreciate the idea regardless.

bbilford83

I figured out another way to do it that worked! You can actually adjust the image - both by "stretching" and adjusting along x or y axis - within the mame menu. It is in "slider controls - Screen Horiz Stretch" and "Screen Horiz Position." You can see it change as you adjust so I was able to stretch and center pretty quickly/easily.

Like you said, it seems like a weird way to fix it, but it worked!

Folly

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/0a657e9ccfbab3144c2ae0d66e699d6126c8605a

Folly

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/7c8bfc1f8796dd3e68f5fc14888f1ccf70a86fa9
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/438f8b4aed307bf73cfba705f38d5c7b2dd27bc7

Folly

@bbilford83

I have updated the script to version 247.03 and added your handheld configs for better button mapping (konamih and tigerh).
Can you do a second check in if the lines work ok ?
And can you check if the help of these lines are good enough ?

I will add your name to the first post as you have contributed to the script.

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/0dddc72c0a36ef8a3c4e619e29159db8031ff57c

bbilford83

@Folly I think it worked great! At least it seemed like after I updated they downloaded properly and in the right place. Regarding the help lines, I guess the only thing I might add is "Can still remap in MAME menu," though probably everyone who is using this script would know that. I am wondering now if maybe I should've also given you my default.opt file where all it does is map the mame menu to the left analog stick if you wanted to include that too. That way people (like me) who usually don't have a keyboard out could do all the remapping without ever needing one. If you'd like I can add it to the google drive - not a big deal either way.

Glad to have contributed!