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

DTEAM

These lines work to load a game without Rompath in mame.ini but doesn't work for Cheat codes and I can't explain why.

Basename_link = /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -v -c  -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/coleco\;/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame coleco "spacedst"
Basename_link2 = /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -v -c  -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/coleco\;/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame coleco %BASENAME%"

For cheat codes we need for now (for coleco) :
in mame.ini

rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/coleco

in emulator.cfg

mame-coleco-cheat= "/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -c -autoframeskip coleco %BASENAME%"

Folly

@dteam

Seems we don't always are that lucky with this.

Reading your post I presume all systems aren't working with cheats, am I right ?
Or is it only coleco ?

When I can will have second look at this problem

DTEAM

@folly
I did a test with Coleco. I presume it's the same things for the others.

Folly

@dteam

The cheat issue should be fixed now.
It should also work with the new basename options too. (I tested myself)

There was a mismatch between where the cheats were downloaded and the cheatpath in mame.ini.

Can you test it again.
Before testing, you have to download the cheats again in the script.

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/5e094182dc9b6d5e7c537175bd7a18ccc0687aa0

DTEAM

@folly

For help menu. where you want my text?
English is not my mother tongue, so feel free to modify if you see mistakes.

BTW, seach tool in your script works very well!

DTEAM

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

Can you test it again.
Before testing, you have to download the cheats again in the script.
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/5e094182dc9b6d5e7c537175bd7a18ccc0687aa0

You have hit the bullseye !!! It works

Folly

@dteam

Indeed, at last a good solution for the mame basename part, nice, isn't it ;-)
Though we have to take into account that the roms have to be in the root directory structure of : /roms/<system>/<basename_rom_file> .
The solution will not work with this directory structure :/roms/<system>/<subdirectory>/<basename_rom_file>.
(perhaps I can find a solution for this in the future, but honestly I have no clue now)

Making a solution for lr-mess basename still has to be done, but that's for the future..... (no clue either)

The help can be attached to almost every line that can be executed.
This is the comma separate line of selecting the submenu of the handhelds (help part is bold :
",Handheld / plug&play and downloads > Submenu,,subgui_add-mamedev-systems_forum,,,,,dialog_message "install handheld / plug&play and the required downloads","

So we can add more in above line.

We can also add help text to, for example :
",Konami Handheld,,run_generator_script kbilly,,,,,dialog_message "HELP","

The dialog_message part is executed when we press the help_button.

Folly

@dteam

I changed post 1 adding the improvements.

I looks like I found why the cheats were in a different path, it's because of lr-mess :
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29682/development-of-module-script-generator-for-lr-mess-and-mame-standalone/22

Basically I have to change the script again so the cheats are downloaded in 2 different paths, one for mame and one for lr-mess :

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/mame/cheat/cheat.7z (mame)
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame/cheat/cheat.7z (lr-mess)

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/dbcf27261621484b4d5e5e077b1f1eb665805973

DTEAM

@folly
Is there a way to skip a line in your script (like press enter in Word) for a help message. I would like to do a multi line message and i'm not able to do that.

Folly

@dteam

Yes, you can.
You have to that with the newline code\n.
Adding more newlines will skip 1 or more lines.
Remember you can't directly use comma's because you are in a CSV.

",Konami Handheld,,run_generator_script kbilly,,,,,dialog_message "line 1\n\nline 2","

Folly

@dteam

Some new stuff :

finished the script for generating new database versions.
added the new 0238 database with more categories
added the new add-mamedev-systems-0238.sh
improved add-mamedev-systems-0238.sh
add system-name to the basename runcommand description lines in version 0238.
For example, coleco and adam are both installed as coleco.
With adding the system-name, more systems can benefit from the basename line, when installed under the same RetroPie-name.
If a system uses "no media" then no system-name is added to the description, like for example with konamih commit
updated post 1 with solutions and an issue
issue added : When using the the last basename options we still have one issue to solve.
The problem is that the games have to be in the root of the systems rompath in order to work with the basename options.
If using more systems we are not be able to separate the specific files from each other when placing them in different subdirectories.
A solution could be to add %DIRNAME% to the runcommand-line but that solution doesn't exist.

Folly

@BuZz

(Solved : see my question in the next post)

Can you help me with something ?

I want to add the directory path of a rom inside the runcommand loader option.
So just like %ROM% and %BASENAME I wanted to add %DIRNAME%.
So I am trying to add a new replace tokens option %DIRNAME% to the runcommand.sh.

I added the next lines (the green ones) :

            IS_SYS=1
            SYSTEM="$3"
            ROM="$4"
            ROM_BN_EXT="${ROM##*/}"
            ROM_BN="${ROM_BN_EXT%.*}"
+            ROM_DN="${ROM%/*}"
.
.
    # replace tokens
    COMMAND="${COMMAND//\%ROM\%/\"$ROM\"}"
    COMMAND="${COMMAND//\%BASENAME\%/\"$ROM_BN\"}"
+    COMMAND="${COMMAND//\%DIRNAME\%/\"$ROM_DN\"}"

I tested the commands in the terminal and they work.
But when I load a game it doesn't work. %DIRNAME% isn't replaced somehow.

I use this emulators.cfg testline in coleco to test it.

mame-adam-basename-test = "/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -v -c -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame\;%DIRNAME%  adam %BASENAME%"

Folly

@BuZz

I solved the problem.
I was editing the repository file : /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh .
But I should edit the executable in : /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh or reinstall the runcommand.sh after editing the repository file.**

I would like this %DIRNAME% solution to be added in the Retropie-Setup source.
Are you willing to add it for me ?
Or are you open for a PR ?
It would be a major improvement.

DTEAM

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

@DTEAM
Are you able to make some help texts for the handheld/p&p ?

Done! See "Pull Requests" on GitHub.

Folly

@dteam

This is magic, PR is merged !

Well done 👍

Folly

@dteam

I added some category names.
This is a nice example on how it's working.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/31820/how-to-convert-twin-qix-to-the-japanese-version/4

Later I can just add the category installs just like we did with the handheld.
The handheld names are now matched from the database and not anymore from adding system-names to the array in the script.

This is the last commit :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/050706076c04461e595bee5cb2166539c4af9b70

Folly

@BuZz @mitu

With our project we now inject the default rompaths in the mame basename loaders.
This way, we don't need to add all the rompaths to the mame.ini anymore.
But still we want it to be more flexible .
So I have made a solution that will add the %DIRNAME% to the runcommand.sh.
The advantage is that if we use this in the mame basename loaders, the rompath of the game-rom can be injected.
This make it far more flexible in to where we are putting the game-roms, because we then can also use sub-directories.

And I think more loader commands can benefit from this improvement.

I would like to know what you both think of it.
Is there some interest in doing a PR for this solution ?
Thanks for replying.

Here is the change :

            IS_SYS=1
            SYSTEM="$3"
            ROM="$4"
            ROM_BN_EXT="${ROM##*/}"
            ROM_BN="${ROM_BN_EXT%.*}"
+            ROM_DN="${ROM%/*}"
.
.
    # replace tokens
    COMMAND="${COMMAND//\%ROM\%/\"$ROM\"}"
    COMMAND="${COMMAND//\%BASENAME\%/\"$ROM_BN\"}"
+    COMMAND="${COMMAND//\%DIRNAME\%/\"$ROM_DN\"}"

mitu

@folly Do you have an example when this is strictly needed and can't be accomplished otherwise ?

Folly

@mitu

Take for instance the system Coleco Adam (adam).
Just like the normal colecovision it's using the coleco roms directory.

We have the next collections of adam and coleco :
adam_cart.zip
adam_cass.zip
adam_flop.zip
coleco.zip

Normally we would use ~/retropie/roms/coleco as rompath in the basename loader command.
Using this means we can't run games from sub-directories.

Unzipping all in the root of coleco roms directory we get all files mixed there.
The problem now is that the games of coleco and adam are mixed and also that cartridge, cassette and floppy games are mixed in the root.
The mame adam basename loader is different as that of coleco.
So we need to know what rom with what mame basename loader has to be loaded.

The dirname solution would make it possible to sort the games in directories and still use the basename loader.

I don't think there is another good solution for this problem, I can't think of any.
First I was thinking of adding more rompaths to the mame.ini, but in time you get so much rompaths in there and also you have to put all those rompaths in there manually or automatic.
The %DIRNAME% solution would take care of all.

I hope I explained it better for you to understand.

mitu

OK, I see the challenge here, the adam system is split in sub-folders under coleco.
One solution is to configure an $HOME/.mame/adam.ini file instead of setting the ROM path on the command line:

rompath                   /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame/adam;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/coleco;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/coleco/adam_flop;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/coleco/adam_cass;etc.

This works for any system/driver when you don't want to stuff the main mame.ini with all the ROM paths. Set the BIOS path to mame/<system> and add all the ROM folders needed to <system>.ini.

Now, leaving aside the configuration through config files, I can see %DIRNAME% being useful in this context, not sure if this kind of configuration is an exception (since you didn't run into this issue so far) or other similar systems in Mame may benefit from it. I think %BASENAME% has a similar origin, to support Mame's calling convention.