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

Soxbrother

Thanks for this tutorial.
I have done all the steps, but didn't manage to get it working.
I have used the script generator and did all the steps.
I have put the roms in the gameandwatch folder, the artwork in the suggested folder
( \bios\mame\artwork )

But it doesn't show up between my other systems in the Retropie home menu.
I thought maybe it's because in the etc\emulationstation\es_systems.cfg file
under gameandwatch, -> extension it says .mgw .MGW
So I've added .zip to the mix, but no joy.

Or do I need to add the gameandwatch also here in this file :
/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation\es_systems.cfg

Or is it simply because there's no gamelist under
/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/gamelists ?

Can you help me with this.
Probably a simple solution, I guess.
Thanks in advance.

Greetings,
Soxbrother

Folly

@Soxbrother

Or do I need to add the gameandwatch also here in this file :
/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

You should look at /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg , unless you installed the emulationstation-dev version then the es_systems.cfg could be somewhere else.

Or is it simply because there's no gamelist under
/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/gamelists ?

A gamelist is not directly required.

I thought maybe it's because in the etc\emulationstation\es_systems.cfg file
under gameandwatch, -> extension it says .mgw .MGW
So I've added .zip to the mix, but no joy.

I discovered that when installing lr-gw it will remove extensions that already are in the es_systems.cfg.
So I have converted the order of installing lr-gw and installing it before the runcommands of mame and lr-mess.
i updated my version to 251.07.
After installing lr-gw will be the default emulator.
So If you want to use mame or lr-mess change that when running a rom.

So you can update my script now and install gameandwatch again.
Hopefully it will fix your problem.

Soxbrother

@Folly Hi, I've updated your script and installed lr-gw again.
(it said already installed from source, but I next choose install from precompiled binary )

after that it says,
"you have a custom override of the EmulationStation system config in :

/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_system.cfg

You will need to copy the updated gameandwatch config from /etc/emulationstation/es_system.cfg to your custom config for gameandwatch to show up in Emulationstation.

Now I think of it, somethinh like that came on the screen yesterday as well.

I'm going to try that now.

I'll let you know, if it works.

Update:

It works now !!
I've only tested "ball" so far, I need to set up the controls first.

It's not full screen, is there a way to zoom in or make it bigger ?

Thanks for your help so far.

Greetings,
Soxbrother

Folly

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

@Folly Hi, I've updated your script and installed lr-gw again.
(it said already installed from source, but I next choose install from precompiled binary )

My script installs lr-gw from source and then installs the mame / lr-mess runcommands so there is no need to install lr-gw from the optional packages.
Installing the binary again from the optional packages will remove the necessary extensions for mame/lr-mess in the es_systems.cfg

after that it says,
"you have a custom override of the EmulationStation system config in :

/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_system.cfg

You will need to copy the updated gameandwatch config from /etc/emulationstation/es_system.cfg to your custom config for gameandwatch to show up in Emulationstation.

If it says this then you have installed the emulationstation developers version.
Indeed, then you need to copy stuff otherwise systems aren't found correctly.

Now I think of it, somethinh like that came on the screen yesterday as well.

I'm going to try that now.

I'll let you know, if it works.

Good luck.

Soxbrother

@Folly Got it working, thanks !!!
Only need a way to maybe zoom in or make it larger or maybe fullscreen.
Would be great if you could make it larger but still see the handheld, instead of fullscreen and only see the playfield.

Folly

@Soxbrother

Depending on which emulator you use you can zoom in with all.

With lr-mess we don't use artwork but retroarch overlays for the background.
If installed/created with my script then they will show up with the game in fullscreen.

With mame/lr-mess you can use the "tab" key to open the mame-ui then select video options -> screen#0 -> your choice.

With lr-gw you can use "right-shift" and press until you see zoom then press "enter".

Btw.
The combination mame and lr-gw is not ideal in my script.
It works but I want to change it in the future to something better if I get a good idea.

Soxbrother

@Folly Thanks !!!

I didn't test all of them, but for now a few games say that "there are known problems with this system" or something like that. But seems that they can be played, so I don't know what problems they have.
The few games I saw with that message for now, were :
climber ( only displayed the gamefield, no other graphics ), game worked
black jack, worked ,
bomb sweeper worked
cgrab didn't display graphics, only playfield, game worked, it complained about not having the graphics.
Is it true that there are titles that have known problems then ?
or has it something to do with the roms itself ? (usinf 0.251 roms)

Greetings,
Soxbrother

Ashpool

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

I didn't test all of them, but for now a few games say that "there are known problems with this system" or something like that. But seems that they can be played, so I don't know what problems they have.

You can query 'em here in the Arcade Database, even if the datfile lists emulation/driver/etc. as good, I bet there are some rom-files marked as missing/bad dump/or_similar (at least for climber dr-802.melody and dr-802.program are marked as bad dump).

Soxbrother

@Ashpool I see, I've searched the games I mentioned and they all have bad dumps.
With all of them the melody files are bad dumps apparently.

So if my assumption is correct, the only thing wrong with them would be the sound/melody in the game ?

Ashpool

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

So if my assumption is correct, the only thing wrong with them would be the sound/melody in the game ?

I'm really not sure, as sound is flaged as good, and whether that means that there is sound/music missing from the emulation due to the bad dump or not, I have no idea. Sometimes a look into the driver source can be helpfull, but in this case (at least for me) it is just further information (not answering the and what does it mean) -> citing from the drivers source (hh_sm510.cpp [accessed: 20230213]):

Currently there is no accurate way to dump the SM511/SM512 melody ROM
electronically. For the ones that weren't decapped, they were read by
playing back all melody data and reconstructing it to ROM. Visual(decap)
verification is wanted for: bassmate, gnw_bfightn, gnw_bjack, gnw_bsweep,
gnw_climbern, gnw_dkcirc, gnw_dkhockey, gnw_dkjrp, gnw_dkong3, gnw_gcliff,
gnw_mariocmt, gnw_mariocmta, gnw_mariotj, gnw_mbaway, gnw_mmousep,
gnw_pinball, gnw_popeyep, gnw_sbuster, gnw_snoopyp, gnw_zelda

DTEAM

@Folly

MAME 0.252 is now released
https://www.mamedev.org/releases/whatsnew_0252.txt

tsimquest and tmegaman3 are not included in this update.

Folly

@DTEAM

Yes, I read it.
Hopefully the improvements will help for the emulation-speed.

Sad to here that these handhelds aren't added yet.

Ashpool

@Folly @DTEAM Before I open up a new thread [1], i thought to try it here 1st with all your Expertice - For current mame (non libretro) .ini files placed in roms/mame/ini and mame artwork placed in roms/mame/artwork are working fine. I tried the last few days to get the right place for e.g. artwork/asteroid.zip and vector.ini to work with lr-mame, maybe you know the path for the files?

I tried it on a Pi4 with a) Legacy OS (USB HDD) and Retropie installed "on-top" manually and b) also with a fresh 4.8 Pi4 Retropie .img (SD Card) and I am totally at a loss in identifying the place(s) lr-mame is looking for mame.ini/vector.ini/?.ini and artwork files.

1: Main reason I am asking here (1st) is more a question of "I want to know it, because I can't find it out and it would be nice to use current lr-mame instead of mame" during some tryouts i am venturing into and not something urgent on my real setup.

Folly

@Ashpool

I tried the last few days to get the right place for e.g. artwork/asteroid.zip

I tried here with lr-mess.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29682/development-of-module-script-generator-for-lr-mess-lr-mame-and-mame-standalone/1220
For lr-mame the path should be the same.
However, you can read that adding artwork to lr-mess/lr-mame will slow down emulation to a degree where it's not playable anymore.
On my x64 VM speed should be better.........
I did a test right now but both lr-mess and lr-mame will crash on this VM when adding artwork in BIOS/mame/artwork.

The only solution I can think of is to use retroarch overlays for lr-mame just like we do with the handheld ( gameandwatch, konamih and tigerh )

I assume .ini files go in the BIOS/mame/ini, though I never tried or used it.

Ashpool

@Folly Thanks , and I've found out that I missed to enable read config within RAs core menu for artwork/inis to be actually read (previously I had just enabled MAME INI paths from that menu).

Folly

@Ashpool

Ok, just for understanding it properly.
You changed mame_read_config = "disabled" to enabled in the retroarch-core-options.cfg .
So the lr-mame core will now read ini files right ?
In which menu did you add the paths artwork and inis ?

Folly

@DTEAM

Did you notice that I have been working on a new work in progress wip-mamedev.sh module-script ?

Ashpool

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

You changed mame_read_config = "disabled" to enabled in the retroarch-core-options.cfg .
So the lr-mame core will now read ini files right ?
In which menu did you add the paths artwork and inis ?

Apparently my misconception/missunderstanding in regards to the how read config and enable Mame Ini paths worked (to be honest, i totally missed "read config" so far [1]) was the culprit that I haven't got it to work earlier. I have now tried again on a fresh image with just lr-mame and mame installed in addition to the defaults. And I think this is what I learned now: Whence read config is enabled in lr-mame, it will read stuff from the folder(s) ~/RetroPie/BIOS/<ini|arwork|*> [2]. If in addition "use MAME INI path" is enabled, it will read the .ini(s) from /opt/retropie/configs/mame artwork etc. and utilize the path(s) defined in the mame.ini there instead.

1: ... as I always thought up to now that the read option was there to select a config to be read as an override for the current session :bang:
2: placing additional .ini(s) in ~/RetroPie/BIOS/ini seem to be read: at least I've tested it with mame.ini, arade.ini, vector.ini, vertical.ini and asteroid.ini. Any path settings (artwork, etc) from within these ini will be ignored. So its possible to keeping mame standalone and lr-mames ini files separated, but utilizing (a) shared sample/artwork folder(s) may (?)only be achieved via either symlinks or by changing the paths from mame(standalone).ini to point to .../BIOS/mame/* instead of .../roms/arcade/* and .../roms/mame/* (?).

Folly

@Ashpool

Ok, I think I get it.
It will read a mame.ini if placed in BIOS/ini and there we can, for example, set the same paths or different paths if we want.