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

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Ideas and Development
    developmentlr-messmamelr-mamescripts
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    • B
      bbilford83
      last edited by bbilford83

      @Folly a few notes after testing all the games on the Zemmix list you made from #-F.

      There are a couple games that just don't work at all for some reason, and oddly they seem to be the games made Zemima (the Korean company). Dr. Hello, a ridiculous Dr. Mario clone, won't load in any version of the emulator, and it just enters an endless reboot cycle. And Eagles 5 just loads to a black screen after booting up... I left it on for several minutes and it never leaves. I tried everything I could with those and nothing helped, so maybe they are bad dumps? I don't know.

      There are several games (I didn't keep track of them) that really needed a keyboard for full functionality, so I removed them - my final gamelist will obviously have them removed.

      And, maybe most important, there are games that make pretty clear to me that the list must be really underinclusive of games that could be played perfectly on a zemmix, though I don't think there's any such list in existence and it would take days and days of testing (because the MSX library is so huge) to figure it out from scratch. But for example, the shmup "Exoide-Z Area 5" is on the list you made because there was a korean version, but that game is a sequel to "Exoide-Z," which plays exactly the same and just as much doesn't need a keyboard, but isn't the list (I guess because there was no Korea-specific version). Or another example, the Korean version of Final Zone Wolf - which, strangely, seems to just be named "Final Zone" with "Zemina" replacing the word "wolf" - doesn't display any words, and the game has a lot of dialogue - maybe the emulator is having trouble with the Korean characters? But playing the regular version of the rom works fine (in that it displays Japanese). I had to watch some videos to figure this out as I thought the game just wasn't registering inputs at all.

      I can't think of any easy solution here on how to figure out which games wouldn't use a keyboard at all, but it seems clear to me now that the "just Korean-made games" list isn't really the "Zemmix list" in any real way. For now I will keep testing all the games on that list you made because obviously the Korean-made games is a a good start - these would've been most accessible to the Koreans buying the Zemmix console. But I thought I'd explain my thinking/why this isn't going to be nearly all the "Zemmix" games in the sense that it could play many others I'm not testing.

      Long post, sorry!

      Edit: I realized one other possible source of good games for it would be to look at that list you found of the "zuul" romset. Just like the korea-only filter, that also seems to include some that shouldn't be there but about 3/4 of what's on there that I've tested so far also works (either doesn't use the keyboard at all or offers for you to use it but you don't need to for any reason). So I've been adding that as I go along too.... so far up to the alphabet all games including F, there are 41 working games, so even with the underinclusive list I am making it is a huge library. It also seems to me like the msx2 games are a major step up from the msx1 ones, so maybe at the end I will take extra time to test which others of those can be added.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • DarksaviorD
        Darksavior @Folly
        last edited by Darksavior

        @Folly 12288 worked, thanks. Unfortunately, lr-mame is still too slow with Killer Instinct on the pi5. I will have to test on older mame's. It seems to be fine for the rest of the games I wanted to run like the konamigx games.

        FollyF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • FollyF
          Folly @Darksavior
          last edited by Folly

          @Darksavior

          Good to know it worked.

          Did you also try frameskipping with lr-mame ?
          I tested the game on my VM on a I7 2,5Ghz macbook pro.
          The game works perfectly on standalone mame.
          With lr-mame (still 255 on this computer) I needed to skip 8 frames to get it to 100%.
          Use F11 to see performance and use F9 to change skipping frames.

          I can remember that some updates in the sourcecode made lr-mame and lr-mess, sadly, much slower which started from 0251 or so.
          On the other hand it's great to see that lr-mame and lr-mess are maintained again.

          Curious if the game will work with standalone mame on a pi5 ?
          You can try to install standalone mame from binary in my script, try the aarch64,gcc10 one from stickfreaks so you don't have to install from source.
          Also curious if the binary will work on the pi5.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • duglorD
            duglor @bbilford83
            last edited by

            @bbilford83 Do you suggest a site to host the overlays? I would have to give you the video settings custom numbers to so that they match. I would upload the bin and cfg files with a text for the custom video settings requirements. connect 4 is not perfect, but it works ok. It took a long time.

            FollyF B 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • FollyF
              Folly @duglor
              last edited by Folly

              @duglor

              We share most stuff via google drive.
              If you have a google account you can access and use 15GB for free and share the links.

              I also use gdrive links in my script.
              So if the structure is good for sharing it that way, then I can implement it in the script.
              If not sharable, in that way, I can add the link in my first post to share.

              duglorD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • B
                bbilford83 @duglor
                last edited by

                @duglor What @folly said :). I just create folders and make them visible to anyone who has the link.

                The video setting custom numbers was one idea we had on how to make it work but I was too confused the moment I tried it. But I know how to input the numbers at least if you can share them!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • duglorD
                  duglor @Folly
                  last edited by

                  @Folly I'll upload tonight or tomorrow. Thanks.

                  FollyF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • FollyF
                    Folly
                    last edited by

                    We reached a half million views in this topic ;-)
                    Something to celebrate !!!!

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • FollyF
                      Folly @duglor
                      last edited by Folly

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

                      @Folly I'll upload tonight or tomorrow. Thanks.

                      Try to use sub-directories, something like this :
                      roms/microvsn/*.cfg
                      roms/microvsn/media/retroarch/overlays/*.cfg
                      roms/microvsn/media/retroarch/overlays/*.png

                      duglorD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • duglorD
                        duglor @Folly
                        last edited by duglor

                        @Folly

                        HERE ARE THE OVERLAYS AND RULES TO SCALE THEM FOR THE MICROVISION GAMES - SEA DUEL, CONNECT 4, BLOCKBUSTER, and SUPER BLOCKBUSTER

                        https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TV2uGzbM2NmpD1hXFtTqs9h90qjHdC2F?usp=drive_link

                        Feel free to use them anywhere in whatever way you wish and even edit them, modify them, turn them upside down or what have you. In other words, I claim nothing for these.

                        FollyF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • FollyF
                          Folly @duglor
                          last edited by

                          @duglor

                          Thanks for sharing.
                          Can you change the directory structure and place the files inside :
                          /microvsn/<files>
                          And share the links of the directory structure ?

                          duglorD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • duglorD
                            duglor @Folly
                            last edited by duglor

                            @Folly

                            https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TV2uGzbM2NmpD1hXFtTqs9h90qjHdC2F?usp=drive_link

                            is the new link with what you asked for. It is also editable by yourself if you'd like.

                            FollyF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • duglorD
                              duglor @bbilford83
                              last edited by

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

                              sensitiv

                              My slider adjustements stick for all games using that core. I can't get my adjustment to stick for only one game. Do you just go in and rename the mame.ini after you made the adjustement to the <gamename>.ini ? and then go back and change the mame.ini back to it's old sensitivities so the other games are back to their regular ways and only your one game with its new ini has different sensitivities that stick? For example, my analog changes in one vectex game stuck for all vectrex games using lr-mess-vectrex. I wish i could save the sensitivity for the one vectrex game.

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                              • B
                                bbilford83 @duglor
                                last edited by

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

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

                                sensitiv

                                My slider adjustements stick for all games using that core. I can't get my adjustment to stick for only one game. Do you just go in and rename the mame.ini after you made the adjustement to the <gamename>.ini ? and then go back and change the mame.ini back to it's old sensitivities so the other games are back to their regular ways and only your one game with its new ini has different sensitivities that stick? For example, my analog changes in one vectex game stuck for all vectrex games using lr-mess-vectrex. I wish i could save the sensitivity for the one vectrex game.

                                I hate to say it but now I realize I probably was setting it for the whole system, I'm not sure it was game-specific. I'll check later tonight but I may not be of help :(.

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                                • B
                                  bbilford83 @bbilford83
                                  last edited by

                                  @duglor I think it was system-wide, sorry for the false hope on that. Though is there a reason to have the sensitivity higher for any other games? It seems way too high by default across the board to me.

                                  Unrelated, I am testing out your overlays now, thank you so much for sharing them. Only one I tested so far though is connect four and after following your scaling instructions I don't think it's working for me... I can't see the piece on the top to know where I'm putting things and when they land they are going too low. See following picture. Are you getting better results or was this just how it was for you too?

                                  alt text

                                  FollyF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • FollyF
                                    Folly @duglor
                                    last edited by

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

                                    @Folly

                                    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TV2uGzbM2NmpD1hXFtTqs9h90qjHdC2F?usp=drive_link

                                    is the new link with what you asked for. It is also editable by yourself if you'd like.

                                    Sadly not the way I want it.
                                    It has to look like this :
                                    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1f_jXMG0XMBdyOOBpz8CHM6AFj9vC1R6m

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • FollyF
                                      Folly @bbilford83
                                      last edited by Folly

                                      @bbilford83

                                      My experience with "Orionsangels Realistic Overlays" is that overlays are always customized by the resolution from the initial user.
                                      So if @duglor runs with 1920x1080 and you with 1600x900 then the values don't match up anymore.
                                      Then @duglor made it for 1920x1080, for example.

                                      So back to my example with "ORO".
                                      These overlays are made for 1920x1080 and I run on 1600x900 so the widht (x) and height (y) values have to be re-calculated.
                                      So if we want to re-calculate the values when using, for example 1600x900, we can do it like this for the width (x) :
                                      new_x=initial_x * 1600/1920
                                      or for the height (y) :
                                      new_y=initial_y * 900/1080

                                      So what you need to know is on which resolution you both run and then you can re-calculate it.

                                      Not 100% sure but I expect it will work like this.

                                      B duglorD 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • B
                                        bbilford83 @Folly
                                        last edited by

                                        @Folly good point, I should've guessed that. @duglor could you share what resolution you are running at? Mine is 1920x1080 and probably that is not what you're using.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • duglorD
                                          duglor @Folly
                                          last edited by

                                          @Folly I'll check my resolutions

                                          duglorD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • B
                                            bbilford83
                                            last edited by bbilford83

                                            @Folly if you are interested, I finished all my testing for the two sources of "Zemmix" games - your list of all korean-made MSX1 and MSX2 cartridges and the "zuul" list you found online. Just from those, I have a gamelist now with 138 games that work well and don't use the keyboard at all. I did occasionally add another game that was either a sequel or came out before a game already on my list, and those are on there too. Regardless I have added them to my google drive folder shared already (the one starting with retropie as root) with the folder structure correct for them (although this one I have gamelist in the gamelists folder rather than in the roms folder, long story as to why).

                                            This list is definitely super under-inclusive... and more and more I think it is maybe it is as little as 1/10th of the games that would work on an actual zemmix. I wish there was some shortcut to figuring this out but I think the only way is for me to test all the roms for both msx1 and msx2 cart, which I doubt I'll do (it would take weeks and weeks). But I may at least give msx2 a try.

                                            FYI I also took notes on games that didn't work for some reason, or have issues. Snake-It and the MSX 1 version of 1941 both only work if you disable the first joystick (so if there is some way to do it from the command line they would definitely benefit). All of the following have some flaw that won't let you get into gameplay (either stays black forever, reboots over and over, or won't let any controls work): Dr. Hello, Eagles 5, Ninja Jajamaru-Kun, Tetris (only MSX1 version, MSX2 version works perfectly).

                                            If I do test more I will update the gamelist as I do, but I will probably switch to trying out the C64GS next. I'd also welcome any ideas on how to avoid doing it game by game but not even the Zemmix fansites seem to have any lists that would help so I think I am out of luck. Regardless, it's neat to have the system working well.

                                            Edit: just to see I tested MSX2 "A" games, and there were four more working ones, including the original "Aleste" which is an excellent shmup. I guess that is good and bad news :(. The MSX1 library is huge compared to 2, also...

                                            FollyF 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
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