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

bbilford83

@Folly One quick question about MAME (or @DTEAM if you know). I am chugging along testing for the XEGS, and the made-for-XEGS games were quick and easy (there are fewer than 30). But now that I am steadily testing the Atari 8-bit games that should also work, I am noticing that the MAME software list for Atari 8-bit seems to be really underinclusive... I noticed first there were way, way more games listed on the scraping websites when compared to the MAME SL, and other sources do seem to have these games so I don't think it's that they're undumped/lost. So actually I have three questions:

Is it the case that sometimes for non-mame emulators there are many more games available that are working? I.e. maybe mame has less compatibility than some other emulators and has more working games than the ones listed in the software list sets?
Do you think maybe my list for Zemmix is really underinclusive too? I have found sources of MSX1 and MSX2 games that I don't think are in the MAME SL for MSX1/MSX2 either, so I am thinking the answer is probably yes.
For both Zemmix and XEGS, there are other emulators (not MAME) that work for these other games. For my own build, as long as the systems would have actually played the games, I would want them included even if it had to be in a different emulator. For now, I am doing only MAME SL games for XEGS, but when I am done I think I will try to add all games I can find that work with lr-atari800 - which can also emulate the XEGS specifically. And I will probably go back to Zemmix and try to do the same. Would you prefer I limit the lists I share with you all to only mame-games, or all that I can get working even in other emulators? Since the script will only work with the MAME games I could see you preferring I limit it to those.

It will be quite a while before I get to a point where any of this matters so no rush, but since I realized the issues now I am asking in advance :).

Folly

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

I am chugging along testing for the XEGS, and the made-for-XEGS games were quick and easy (there are fewer than 30). But now that I am steadily testing the Atari 8-bit games that should also work, I am noticing that the MAME software list for Atari 8-bit seems to be really underinclusive...

Yes, could be. There are more systems that have that issue.
But remember everything takes time. So it will only be added when a volunteer is willing to and if the driver can run it.

I noticed first there were way, way more games listed on the scraping websites when compared to the MAME SL, and other sources do seem to have these games so I don't think it's that they're undumped/lost.

Correct there are more dumps, I think the same reasons time and volunteers.
BTW. As volunteer you have to have quite some knowledge it's very hard to get involved in the mame dev team.

So actually I have three questions:

Is it the case that sometimes for non-mame emulators there are many more games available that are working? I.e. maybe mame has less compatibility than some other emulators and has more working games than the ones listed in the software list sets?

That is sometimes true and also sometimes it isn't true.
But games that are not in MAME SL can work, many times, with the media runcommands.

Do you think maybe my list for Zemmix is really underinclusive too? I have found sources of MSX1 and MSX2 games that I don't think are in the MAME SL for MSX1/MSX2 either, so I am thinking the answer is probably yes.

Could be, but as you said there is very little known about Zemmix and the supported games.

For both Zemmix and XEGS, there are other emulators (not MAME) that work for these other games. For my own build, as long as the systems would have actually played the games, I would want them included even if it had to be in a different emulator. For now, I am doing only MAME SL games for XEGS, but when I am done I think I will try to add all games I can find that work with lr-atari800 - which can also emulate the XEGS specifically. And I will probably go back to Zemmix and try to do the same. Would you prefer I limit the lists I share with you all to only mame-games, or all that I can get working even in other emulators? Since the script will only work with the MAME games I could see you preferring I limit it to those.

Yes I would prefer to limit those to mame only I think otherwise it is getting too messy.

It will be quite a while before I get to a point where any of this matters so no rush, but since I realized the issues now I am asking in advance :).

Good luck testing !

bbilford83

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

Yes I would prefer to limit those to mame only I think otherwise it is getting too messy.

Thank you for the detailed explanation and quick response! I'll make sure not to add the games that aren't in MAME to my system until after I've shared my lists with you guys.

DTEAM

@bbilford83 @Folly

Please, Need help to found a photo of this system : Play Vision Joystick88

bbilford83

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

@bbilford83 @Folly

Please, Need help to found a photo of this system : Play Vision Joystick88

I tried for a while and so far haven't found anything... I'll keep looking though.

Folly

@DTEAM

Added your question to the mame forum.
Perhaps they can help.

My guess it will look something like this :

bbilford83

@Folly on a totally different note, today I checked your script and saw that you have integrated installation of the new LJN Videoart system that became usable in mame/mess .261. I installed it, and have the new videoart.zip bios in the correct places, but for me none of the 9 games will launch - they all go back to the emulationstation menu immediately. I tested in lr-mess, lr-mame, and mame standalone, unfortunately none seem to work. Maybe it is still something just I am doing wrong but if you have the time to check could I ask if you can see if it works for you? Or I'd take any other ideas you might have on what I did wrong :).

Folly

@bbilford83

saw that you have integrated installation of the new LJN Videoart system that became usable in mame/mess .261

Just for your understanding, I didn't add it in my script.
It depends on the database I added.

To fix it you need another bios too.
Go to the restricted downloads and select BIOS not found after you tried running a game. It will read the runcommand.log and automatically add the files to the form and ultimately to the list.

bbilford83

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

@bbilford83

saw that you have integrated installation of the new LJN Videoart system that became usable in mame/mess .261

Just for your understanding, I didn't add it in my script.
It depends on the database I added.

To fix it you need another bios too.
Go to the restricted downloads and select BIOS not found after you tried running a game. It will read the runcommand.log and automatically add the files to the form and ultimately to the list.
Remember (??? = org)

Thanks very much for the quick reply. I had never even noticed that part on your script, trying it now. Where it says "insert the options," I see that ???, but is that the only thing I change?

Edit: I tried that but it says "no search results found."

Edit 2: I understand about updating the database, I wasn't being very precise in my phrasing but I just meant that you had updated whatever you needed to so that the system was now included :).

Folly

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

I see that ???, but is that the only thing I change?

yes

bbilford83

Actually @Folly, I didn't know about the runcommand.log file before, that is obviously very useful! But looking at that now I don't think it is a bios problem. This is what it says:

But I do have lr-mess, mame, and mess all updated to current, so I thought it should "know" it is a working system?

Folly

@bbilford83

You can find the runcommand.log in /dev/shm.
Indeed this is probably a different issue, have you tried mame standalone ?

Can you check your version of lr-mess in the mame UI (about)

bbilford83

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

@bbilford83

You can find the runcommand.log in /dev/shm.
Indeed this is probably a different issue, have you tried mame standalone ?

@Folly yes, standalone cart, standalone basename, lr-mess, all kick me right back out.

Can you check your version of lr-mess in the mame UI (about)

In mame UI, about (loaded a diferent game), says MAME .261 (ILP32), Revision: 7d5e2708. Retroarch "information" says the same - MAME (.261 (7d5e2708).

Do I maybe need to update from source instead of binary? For any other newly-added systems/games so long as the .2XX number has matched it has worked for whatever was listed as newly-working so long as I updated to the current binary.

Folly

@bbilford83

Ok your version seems correct.
No need to update.
I would always install from binary.

Can you post me the runcommand of mame-basename from the emulators.cfg ?

BTW :
Noticed that I never tried lr-mess so I have to try later.

bbilford83

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

Can you post me the runcommand of mame-basename from the emulators.cfg ?

Of course, here you go:

mame-videoart-basename = "/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/videoart -v -c -ui_active -statename videoart/%BASENAME% videoart %BASENAME% -view %BASENAME%"

Folly

@bbilford83

I don't see strange things in your runcommand.
Tested everything ok with mame and lr-mess with cart and basename.
Will think about it, have to work now.
So we will proceed later.

bbilford83

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

@bbilford83

I don't see strange things in your runcommand.
Tested everything ok with mame and lr-mess with cart and basename.
Will think about it, have to work now.
So we will proceed later.

Thanks, no rush. I was going to try a different romset but given the error in the runcommand it seems like it is probably not that either.

ladba1975

I have tried to run PMD-85 emulator on PI4, as shown in tutorial https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/32045/tesla-pmd-85-computer-in-retropie/23

However, it doesn't work: It is not possible to run "RetroPie-Setup" from emulationstation (to update scripts) after downloading the module-script file.

Previous I have successfully installed it on PI3.
Should the same steps work on PI4?

mitu

@ladba1975 I merged your topic to the one from where the scripts originated.

Folly

@ladba1975 said in Development of module-script generator for lr-mess, lr-mame and mame standalone:

I have tried to run PMD-85 emulator on PI4, as shown in tutorial https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/32045/tesla-pmd-85-computer-in-retropie/23

However, it doesn't work: It is not possible to run "RetroPie-Setup" from emulationstation (to update scripts) after downloading the module-script file.
Previous I have successfully installed it on PI3.
Should the same steps work on PI4?

It looks like you have tried to downloaded an old module-script and it probably has the wrong or no content.
This can happen with a curl command when you don't have a good internet connection.
If an empty .sh file is in the RetroPie-Setup then the RetroPie-Setup will refuse to work.
Check where you have saved the add-systems-mamedev.sh file and remove it.
The file should still be on github and working however that script is deprecated.
I would suggest to check my first post and add the new mamedev.sh script.