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

Folly

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.

Folly

@mitu

Thanks for bringing up the solution of $HOME/.mame/adam.ini.

If it was for coleco/adam only it was convenient enough.
Downside is still, it has to be created somehow.
I can't directly give you examples on more similar system than with adam and coleco but there are definitely much more.

As you know the advantage of the basename loader is that the files are hooked to the mame database, so the loading procedure is more precise, adding sometimes extra hardware, also cheats can be used if available and if we have multiple disks the are also loaded in a better way.

So that's why we wanted the mame basename loaders to work.
But basically we struggled with the mame basename loaders, running the mess systems, for quite a while.
All the time the basename loaders didn't correctly work we just use the predefined media loader lines in order to run the games.

I found that in order to run I had to add the systemname and basename to the basename loarder in order to run correctly.
Of-course with the added rompaths to the mame.ini it will work.
Considering we have about 4000 mess systems, so we don't want to add all these rompaths to a mame.ini, it's better to add it in the loader command.
Basically the adam/coleco issue is no exception.
Also, many systems are re-grouped under another name.
Take for instance all msx 20-30 msx types they will all be installed under msx.

Well I didn't want to add so much rompaths in a mame.ini.
Here is where the trouble started, when adding 1 rompath to the loader command, it will not load the rompaths from the mame.ini anymore.
So it took me quite some time to figure out, how, and that I to add multiple rompaths to the loader command.
Well, It had to be escaped so it could be added like this :

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

So now we had some properly working line.
But only running the game-roms if they are in the root of the specific rom directory.

Making it like the next one will improve the loading flexibility much more.

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

I am sure it would be an improvement in the runcommand.sh.

Are you convinced ?

mitu

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

But basically we struggled with the mame basename loaders, running the mess systems, for quite a while.

Doesn't mame load a ROM/game with arbitrary names, as long as you give it the full path and specify the system ? Or is it just a lr-mess feature ?

Are you convinced ?

I already said in my previous reply that I think it would be a useful addition.

Folly

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

Are you convinced ?

I already said in my previous reply that I think it would be a useful addition.

Nice to hear, if I have some time to do so then I will look at making a PR with a proper description.

Folly

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

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

But basically we struggled with the mame basename loaders, running the mess systems, for quite a while.

Doesn't mame load a ROM/game with arbitrary names, as long as you give it the full path and specify the system ? Or is it just a lr-mess feature ?

Not sure what you exactly mean.
Some examples would help, if we want to discuss it further.

mitu

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

Not sure what you exactly mean.

I'm referring to Mame's documentation:

The basic usage, from command line, is

mame.exe <system> <media> <software> <options>

where

<system> is the short name of the system you want to emulate (e.g. nes, c64, etc.)

<media> is the switch for the media you want to load (if it's a cartridge, try -cart or -cart1; if it's a floppy disk, try -flop or -flop1; if it's a CD-ROM, try -cdrom)

<software> is the program / game you want to load (and it can be given either as the fullpath to the file to load, or as the shortname of the file in our software lists)

<options> is any additional command line option for controllers, video, sound, etc.

Folly

@mitu

Thanks for the better explanation.

Yes, indeed that works beautifully with both mame and lr-mess.

mitu

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

Yes, indeed that works beautifully with both mame and lr-mess.

If it works, then why would you need to set the rompath via CLI/conf for each system? Mame would find the ROM without adding its folder to the rompath.

Folly

@mitu

I meant it works ok using the normal softwarename, not the shortname.

Indeed, I was to quick with my answer.

I re-read your post again, the bold part referring to the shortname part.
That's indeed something to experiment with.

Folly

@mitu

I created a "cheap branch" with a commit for the runcommand.sh.
This way I can redo the commit easily, if this has to be done.

Can you check for me if the commit is good enough for a Pull Request ?

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Setup/commit/250dab960834ad7fd27fa2f81e77fb6c6708315f

mitu

@folly The commit looks ok, though I'd use ROM_DIR instead of ROM_DN.

Folly

@mitu

Thanks for looking at it.

I will do the change and make the PR next year, probably.

Folly

@DTEAM

I have been quite busy with work and other things in december and januari.
So it can take a while before I get started again with our project.
Hopefully I will have more time soon.

Meanwhile I will build up a new image, because my old image recently crashed.

I have made some progress with how to deal with lr-mess and appending options (trying to make it just as flexible as mame).
For that we have to use single-quotes or double-quotes in the runcommand line.
But there are a lot of issues and challenges with lr-mess.
So I hope I can crack them.

jamrom2

@folly

Hiya,

Hope your holidays were good. Mine were spent isolated in a tent with covid... lol. I was in a tent because the house was full with family and I was the only one with it!! Weather was great, so I didn't mind it.

At any rate...

I'm looking to get the ti99/4a running. I have the BIOS file in /BIOS/mame as a zipped file and all the roms in the new file created by your script /roms/ti99_4a

So far it hasn't been recognized as an active system in ES. Do I need additional files placed anywhere?

Folly

@jamrom2

Glad to hear you had good holidays seen the circumstances.

I was only free from work with Christmas and New-years day.
But the 2nd Christmas day was quite special because we had some frost in the night before.
The ice wasn't that thick but I was able to skate on the very small ditches for a few hours ;-)
But they always say, don't skate on one night's ice.
The proverb was correct, I sunk through the ice and had the mud all over me ;-)

Looks like we had very different holidays.

(later I will do the ti99_4a part)

jamrom2

@folly lmfao!! That's so true!

Honestly. It wasn't bad. I didn't have to partake in the usual family dramas and got to completely relax. But sounds like you had way more fun. I just watched old war movies and slept. Lol

Folly

@jamrom2

I tried ti99_4a again.

First of all you need the bios ti99_4a.7z (or .zip), at a minimum.

With the ti99 everything is not that obvious.
I re-read old posts and I saw that I have had it working in the past.

The normal mame ti99_cart file which contains zip's (with .bin file(s)) only load with the basename loader.
I used mame ti99_4a basenamefor this.
(the basename loader loads software as stored in the soft-list database)
(the lr-mess basename loader probably won't work because these loaders do not contain all rompaths yet, It's something that still has to be solved)

You would imagine that these files also would work with the -cart loaders just like any other system.
With the ti99 that doesn't work because with the media option -cart only .rpk files are supported.
(.rpk files are just .zip files containing the roms and extra layout files)

RPK files are hard to find, but you can try a few.
Just search for tigamecartsmame.

I read the ti99 module-script of valerino again.
He added more predefined stuff in there.
The ti99 is the only system, of the valerino scripts, for which I didn't add extra predefined options yet.

Let me know how it goes.

jamrom2

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

tigamecartsmame

Ok,

I'm loaded up and ready. It was the BIOS name and .RPK files. I had the wrong set on both.

I found the RPK's fairly quick. They're definately out there. I'll see if I can get anything to work with using the bin files and basename loader.

jamrom2

@folly

No dice.

I do remember this worked, but I don't remember how.

Does this version use a single file BIOS ti_994a.ctg? Or is it the original MESS/MAME 10 file multiple with hfdc.bin, disk.bin, etc.? I tried both zipped named ti99_4a.zip

I put it in .\RetroPie\BIOS\MAME and .\RetroPie\BIOS to be sure.