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

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.

Folly

@jamrom2

The ti99_4a.7z or .zip must contain these files :
994a_grom0.u500 994a_grom2.u502 994a_rom_lb.u611 994qi_grom0.u29
994a_grom1.u501 994a_rom_hb.u610 994ev_grom1.u501
(and placed in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame)

Go into my script and select restricted downloader and use option 2.
Insert the website (arch......etc).
Scoll to the file and select it.
It will put it in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame .

jamrom2

@folly

I chose mame-basename to run the game file "basball.zip" with the files listed below compressed in the zip.

Seems like I have everything set to work right, but I get this at the bottom of my runcommand.log:

phm3148g3.bin NOT FOUND (tried in ti99_cart/baseball baseball ti99_4a)
phm3148g4.bin NOT FOUND (tried in ti99_cart/baseball baseball ti99_4a)
phm3148g5.bin NOT FOUND (tried in ti99_cart/baseball baseball ti99_4a)
phm3148c.bin NOT FOUND (tried in ti99_cart/baseball baseball ti99_4a)
Fatal error: Required files are missing, the machine cannot be run.
sdl_kill: closing audio
Enter sdlwindow_exit
Leave sdlwindow_exit

What does the even mean? The game file is in the usual /roms/ti99_4a folder.

Folly

@jamrom2

Did you use : mame-ti99_4a-basename ?
The /dev/shm/runcommand.info should look like this :
ti99_4a
mame-ti99_4a-basename
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ti99_4a/ti99_cart/baseball.zip
/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame;/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ti99_4a -v -c ti99_4a "baseball"

You will see that there are 2 rompaths added in the runcommand. (last line)
In the first rompath it will find the BIOS file.
In the second rompath it will find the game.
(Though, I have baseball.zip in/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ti99_4a/ti99_cart/ which also seems to works, for this system)

You can also find the runcommand in the beginning of the /dev/shm/runcommand.log

If you don't have the same line, to load your game, then you have to update my script to the latest and install ti99_4a again.

If you have above it should load.
But I came a-cross an issue with this game.
Schermafbeelding 2022-01-15 om 09.40.10.png

Here is some info on the MBX Expansion module :
http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/hardware/mbx/mbx.html
(I don't know how to get it working, yet)

Try breakth.zip or buckrog.zip, these should work.

jamrom2

@folly No,I don't have specific version on my default emulator choices.

I have:

lr-mess-basename and variants
lr-mess-system-ti99_4a-cart and cass1&1
mame-basenane and variants
mame-system-ti99_4a-cart and variants.

I pulled these from your script in the systems list. Is there one I missed because I don't have what you have.