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

JimmyFromTheBay

@Folly So what do I actually need to do to be able to run it? Do I need new hardware (got RPi 4) or just to update the Retropie OS?

Folly

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

@Folly So what do I actually need to do to be able to run it? Do I need new hardware (got RPi 4) or just to update the Retropie OS?

You told me you didn't want to update your existing image.
My advice is not to do so either.
Keep it as backup and you can copy stuff to your new SD.
If your new SD works properly then you would be able to delete your old SD.

Take a new SD and put Raspberry Pi Bookworm OS on to your new SD.
I would go for the 64 bits OS as for the future it will be the default.
I use RPI OS with Desktop environment as it is much easier to navigate and copy files directly on your Pi4 and also run RetroPie directly from the Desktop.
It's your choice.

Then clone the RetroPie-Setup from github and add my script with the command described in my first post.
Then run the RetroPie-Setup and begin with installing all the core packages.

You can install some main, optional or experimental packages later.
From my script you will be able to install mame,lr-mess and lr-mame binaries if available here :

So probably no need to install these packages from source.
Add your roms and run emulationstation from the terminal.
Now you can set up your controls again.

You should check this page.
If you need help then open a new topic for it.

JimmyFromTheBay

@Folly So basically start again from scratch? :D

Thank you for the info, I don't think I want to emulate the ZX80 that much though :D

ByteThis

@JimmyFromTheBay He mentioned to backup your current working image. Then you can always flash that working image back to your SD card if things don't work accordingly. A backup of a working image with no flaws is always recommended no matter if you choose to tinker or not. This way if your image becomes corrupt as well for some reason..you can always be relieved for a backup. :-)

JimmyFromTheBay

@ByteThis Making 256GB diskimages is an extremely non-trivial task. It bedblocks my computer for days at a time. I think I'm actually going to buy an RPi 5 and make a fresh start on that, seems like a good time.

Folly

Post 2000 reserved

ByteThis

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

@ByteThis Making 256GB diskimages is an extremely non-trivial task. It bedblocks my computer for days at a time. I think I'm actually going to buy an RPi 5 and make a fresh start on that, seems like a good time

I suppose that is the disadvantage of having a larger card, I use a 128GB card and to make a backup takes around 3hrs.

bbilford83

@Folly sorry I have been gone for so long! I went back to my pi for the first time in forever today and was going to test out what you asked me to, but first I went to add in a new translation I found for FM Towns Marty, and I discovered that for some reason none of my cd-rom based games are working there anymore. After it didn't work I updated your script to the newest version and it installed a bunch of dependencies, but it didn't fix the issue. I'm getting the following in the runcommand whenever I load a CD-based game, at least in fmtmarty:

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh: line 1331: 1495 Bus error

I know it was working fine just a couple of months or so ago, so I'm not sure what would've changed

I tried Cameltry (maybe you remember you helped with that weird error on that one) because it is disk-only, and it is still working. So it isn't the FMT Marty system. And all the rom-based systems are still working fine. So it must be something with the CD drive games. Any ideas?

Edit: I see now the same is true for my CD-i and VIS games. So it seems it is all CD games with the script? If I missed some update/problem while disconnected all this time, my apologies!

Folly

@bbilford83

Welcome back!

Looks like you are using a binary that can't cope with CHD files.
It's most likely not due to my script.
There was an issue a couple of months ago if you can remember, see here :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/35240/solved-mame-and-lr-mess-issues-with-chd-files-1590-bus-error

What versions/binary are you using ?
Could be the one I patched for fmtmarty not showing the annoying message.
If so that could be one that also has that CHD issue.

If you have installed from source did you have the latest RetroPie-Setup scripts installed ?

bbilford83

@Folly Thank you! I didn't update anything except your script, but that's interesting about the retropie_setup script. I missed whatever happened a couple months ago, probably I was still in Japan.

That didn't seem to fix anything, you think I should now update lr-mame/mame too? It is a shame to lose your cameltry fix and I think you had made something else work too! But c'est la vie.

Edit: Yes I am definitely still using your patched version, I see now more clearly you are saying that had a chd issue. Updating now!

Edit2: That fixed it!! Thank you. How strange it broke without doing any updating. I will add my towns game and then get to your request this weekend, I promise.

Folly

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

It is a shame to lose your cameltry fix and I think you had made something else work too! But c'est la vie

You could copy that binary to a different location and use that one only for fmtmarty for the time being.
Basically I should add an issue to https://github.com/mamedev/mame.
Haven't done that because I have so much other stuff to do.
Though I might see if I will.
I am also seeing if I can make some good sub-target filters for for creating lr-mame/lr-mess with a proper set of drivers.
That is something that basically has to be reported to https://github.com/libretro/mame .

Folly

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

I will add my towns game and then get to your request this weekend, I promise.

I also added clone detection when downloading from the restricted.
There are a lot of clones in the lists/database of the handhelds and also in the ones used for realistic overlays.
Clones are not separate roms but are within the main roms.
For example gnw_egg is a clone of gnw_mmouse and ngnw_dkcirc is a clone of gnw_mmousep.
Getting the original main file and renaming it to the clone name will give the proper rom or at least it will load properly while the name is linked to the hash tables when loading with basename runcommands.

So downloading the main and renaming to the clone is what I have automated in the script.

bbilford83

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

@DTEAM @bbilford83 ,

I changed and added quite some stuff in 264.05.

Would like to ask you both to test the stuff.
Particularly the part switching between database versions and the coleco sgm module part.
For the database part there seemed to be an issue that I never saw before, like many wrong numbers in the dialog box.
Tested all the code and added the unset IFS command.
It looks like it's ok again.
For coleco the sgm module will be added by default now when the database is higher than 0264.
I tested some roms that work with and without sgm module and both seemed to work when the sgm module was inserted.
Still the new 0265 database isn't there yet so if you want to test then you have to change line 1908 into :
[[ ${systems[-1]} == coleco ]] && [[ $(expr $rp_module_version_mame + 0) -gt 263 ]] && ExtraPredefinedOptions+=( "-exp sgm" )
( so you will be able to use it with database 0264 )

I also like to know what you both find about the idea that the standard coleco install has the sgm module as we separated this in the past to a coleco_sgm install.
Seems to me that this is the easiest solution.
However, we might need to change the theme for coleco but lets discuss that later.

For the other restricted parts we can't talk about that much, but I would like to hear if you could figure it out how it works and if it works for you both.
Remember there are rompacks that are too big for using the added options.
I still need to add that advise/info in the variable of the form for get_all.
A good start is MSX and MSX2.

P.S .
I see that I might need to add sgm for colecop too.

Hi @Folly. I have read this through and honestly I had never heard of the "Super Game Module" for Colecovision, only read about it when I searched to see what SGM is. If I understand right, it would have improved the graphics on a bunch of arcade ports to make them closer to arcade quality, right? If it were me, I do think I would probably try to keep them as separate installs. I no doubt would want to play all the games that could be enhanced with SGM with those enhancements, but I bet at least some people would want to have the option if only to see what the difference would look like. Just my two cents though.

I don't understand what you mean about the other restricted parts that we can't talk about though, sorry!

Folly

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

I do think I would probably try to keep them as separate installs.

Earlier I was thinking that it was too difficult but I managed it :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/baa8f8ad89c5ff9d8b4910cbeb2c8ee379ac1e16

The description in the commit should explain it all.

I think it's indeed better to split it that way you can put the non-sgm games in the folder coleco and the sgm ones in coleco_sgm just like we did earlier on.
Now the themes also don't have to be changed if the have both coleco and coleco_sgm in them.

I think @DTEAM will also agree that this is a better solution.
Right @DTEAM ?

Remember that the mame versions from 0265 and above only work if you have Bookworm OS running.

Folly

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

Would like to ask you to test the stuff.
Particularly the part switching between database versions

You don't have to test this part.
I still experience the issue.
Sometimes good versions are shown and sometimes not.
I am trying to come up with a better solution but will take a while.

bbilford83

@Folly everything you said makes sense, though I agree that's odd about the databases.

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

Remember that the mame versions from 0265 and above only work if you have Bookworm OS running.

I somehow entirely missed this. I see that .265 was released in late april but when I updated to mame/lr-mame/lr-mess yesterday I see now it only updated me to .264. I guess that is because it RetroPie-Setup somehow knows I'm not on an OS that can handle .265? What a bummer. I see the exchanges you had with @JimmyFromTheBay about how we'd have to set up a new SD card to get it running off Bookworm. I guess I will treat this as a "stopping point" for my pi4 image and start anew for my pi5 one once retropie/emulationstation is working smoothly on it.

Folly

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

though I agree that's odd about the databases.

Have fixed the issue with the database list, read here.

DTEAM

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

I think @DTEAM will also agree that this is a better solution.
Right @DTEAM ?

Yes, it's a good solutions.

If you want me to change the theme name, I can do that too. In MAME they are named coleco_sgm = coleco_homebrew. Initially, the theme was created for fbneo

Folly

@DTEAM

Thanks !

I saw indeed the name coleco_homebrew.
Personally I find coleco_sgm a better name.

Not entirely sure but I think not all homebrews make use of sgm.
Would have to look into the hash table for that.

Edit :
If needed you could make a duplicate.

DTEAM

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

Edit :
If needed you could make a duplicate.

sure