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

profiteer

This is what I see in MAME. The CD-i (Mono-I)(PAL) BIOS is the only BIOS that exists in the BIOS menu from the left sidebar and while I see the PAL and US version of Hotel Mario, the PAL version is the one that's white and the US version is grayed out.

Folly

@profiteer

Just checked my database :
Driver cdibios (CD-i (Mono-I) (PAL) BIOS): @arcade@bios@screenless@system@
Driver cdimono1 (CD-i (Mono-I) (PAL)): @game_console@good@home_videogame@non-arcade@
Driver cdimono2 (CD-i (Mono-II) (NTSC)): @game_console@home_videogame@non-arcade@

cdimono1 is the only "good" driver in mame.
The data for these drivers is extracted with -listxml, for cdimono2 we can check the status :

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listxml cdimono2|grep emulation=
      	<driver status="preliminary" emulation="preliminary" savestate="unsupported"/>

That is probably the reason why it's gray.
Although it's preliminary we are able to try to see if it works but I would start with "Hotel Mario (Europe)" on cdimono1 for starters.
I added a patch when cdimono1 is installed from my script so mouse and/or joystick will work better.

profiteer

@Folly Okay, cool. Sounds good. I have my PAL .chd file in the cdimono1 rom folder and renamed it to the software name as it's listed in MAME, but it still won't get recognized for whatever reason. Should I make sure the SHA1 hashes are the same?

Folly

@profiteer

BTW:
You must be aware that cdi games with video that use the mpeg cartridge will not work.

You can find more info in the hash tables locally or online :
/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/hash/cdi.xml

If you use the software name "hotmario" then the sha1 should be the same if I remember correctly (It has been a while back for me).
But this game should work, I have played it on mame.

If it fails then check the runcommand.log in /dev/shm/.
It's always created after a try, here you can find more info on whats going wrong.

Good luck, will check you posts tomorrow.

profiteer

@Folly It look QUITE a bit of finessing, but I did manage to get Hotel Mario to work. Not sure when or how, but the sha1 did change on the CHD. So, I just hopped into the xml file, changed it to the current sha1 of the rom, had to rename and relocate some bios files (this was a big roadblock due to unforeseen renaming as a result of duplicate unzipping), and then it FINALLY got up and running. Can you explain to me a bit more about the mpeg cartridge compatibility issue? I've been trying to get a couple of other obscure titles loaded on, but the xml says they need the DVC.

Folly

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

@Folly It look QUITE a bit of finessing, but I did manage to get Hotel Mario to work. Not sure when or how, but the sha1 did change on the CHD. So, I just hopped into the xml file, changed it to the current sha1 of the rom, had to rename and relocate some bios files (this was a big roadblock due to unforeseen renaming as a result of duplicate unzipping), and then it FINALLY got up and running.

Ok, good for you.
Doing this make you learn a lot.
I would recommend to find the correct CHD if you can, as the hash tables will be overwritten when mame updates.
But what the heck if it works for you, so be it, just remember to change it next time again.

Can you explain to me a bit more about the mpeg cartridge compatibility issue? I've been trying to get a couple of other obscure titles loaded on, but the xml says they need the DVC.

Well DVC support is not added in the mame driver so the games will not work.
There have been some improvements added lately but I don't think DVC support is going to be added soon.

I want to ask you something.
Did you came across the patch-fix message when installing cdimono1 from the script ?
Do the controls work like expected ?

profiteer

@Folly

Yeah, it's a bit of a shame. They said it's been in the works since nearly a decade ago, but nothing's really came of it. When I said I'd love to pick it up and maybe help brainstorm some ideas, I got met with some rather uncalled for hostility. I think they're hoping for interest to simply die off and people not bring it up, tbh.
Installing cdimono1 was probably the most seamless part of the whole process. I did see the message saying a patch was being installed to make everything work.
Controls for Hotel Mario are a bit hit-or-miss. Moving left and right are pseudorandom when using the mouse and keyboard and my PS4 and Xbox controllers simply don't remap properly. Clicking the mouse does register as the correct button press and allows me to jump, but I've died on level 1 more times than I care to count simply because I sat there and watched Mario do a swan dive off the edge of the platform.

Folly

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

@Folly

Yeah, it's a bit of a shame. They said it's been in the works since nearly a decade ago, but nothing's really came of it. When I said I'd love to pick it up and maybe help brainstorm some ideas, I got met with some rather uncalled for hostility. I think they're hoping for interest to simply die off and people not bring it up, tbh.

Indeed they are not that friendly on that forum, experienced the same sort of things sadly.

Installing cdimono1 was probably the most seamless part of the whole process. I did see the message saying a patch was being installed to make everything work.

Ok, that's a good sign for me.
It basically means that the basics of the script is how it should be ;-)

Controls for Hotel Mario are a bit hit-or-miss. Moving left and right are pseudorandom when using the mouse and keyboard and my PS4 and Xbox controllers simply don't remap properly. Clicking the mouse does register as the correct button press and allows me to jump, but I've died on level 1 more times than I care to count simply because I sat there and watched Mario do a swan dive off the edge of the platform.

Haha, yes it needs some getting used to.

I have to look into it is the patches still work like it should.
I noticed that all input settings of standalone mame were at the default settings although I noticed that the screen patch was applied in the config. So I think it still works.
I think the joy/mouse patch was mainly for lr-mess.

Folly

@profiteer

What is your sha1sum of the hotmario.chd ?
I managed to softload without changing the sha1 in the hash.
Although working it's indeed a bit of a hassle to get it working.
Found from the runcommand.log that the chd searches a specific name in a specific folder.
If you want a clean roms/cdimono1 roms folder with only hotmario.chd then that file need to be a link of :
/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame/cdi/hotmario/hotel mario (1994)(philips)(eu).chd
or (not ideal but will work technically)
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/cdimono1/cdi/hotmario/hotel mario (1994)(philips)(eu).chd

As both paths are added in the runcommand as search paths.

You can also make a dummy file but then the checksum is not correct for scraping gamelists.

Hope you understand this information.