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

DTEAM

Question unrelated to the thread, do you know if there is a dump of taito_type_x_bios.bin. I'm looking for Raiden 3. I don't think so from what I've read on the internet, but it's from 2020. We never know!

DTEAM

@folly

Did I interpret something wrong ?

No, I like what you proposed with MAME file

/opt/retropie/emulators/mame/mame -listdevices svision      
Driver svision (Super Vision):
   <root>                         Super Vision
     cart_list                    Software List
     cartslot                     Generic Cartridge Slot
     custom                       Super Vision Custom Sound @ 4.00 MHz
     lspeaker                     Speaker
     maincpu                      WDC W65C02 @ 4.00 MHz
     palette                      palette
     rspeaker                     Speaker
     screen                       Video Screen

Folly

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

@folly

Did I interpret something wrong ?

No, I like what you proposed

Ok.
I go on with this.
I we get stuck, or if we want to extract more info somehow,
we can always use this site.
But you have to know that extracting information from .dat (i think these are .xml) can be a pain in the ass.

Folly

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

@Folly

Question unrelated to the thread, do you know if there is a dump of taito_type_x_bios.bin. I'm looking for Raiden 3. I don't think so from what I've read on the internet, but it's from 2020. We never know!

Do you know what the system is ?

DTEAM

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

taito_type_x_bios.bin

taitotx.cpp with MAME

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/taitotx.cpp

ROM_START( raiden3 )
	ROM_REGION( 0x10000, "maincpu", ROMREGION_ERASEFF )
	ROM_LOAD("taito_type_x_bios.bin", 0x00, 0x10000, NO_DUMP ) // size unknown.
	/* bios, video bios etc. not dumped */

I found my answer !!

It's sad

Folly

@dteam 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:

taito_type_x_bios.bin

taitotx.cpp with MAME

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/taitotx.cpp

I can only find taitotz in 0.229

Search for "motherload-of-dumps"

Don't know but perhaps you have some luck.
Let me know.

Yes, I see you have the answer " not dumped".
But who knows perhaps it will pup up within some months !

Folly

I fixed the empty system lines and it now uses the retropie user string.

https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/3fec0af846554ccd37d0d54bc41f2d1c98d347ff

Folly

@DTEAM @valerino

As a test-3, I added the option to install handhelds.

It's not directly the structure on how we want it in the future.
But I did this to see how the array's have to look if I want to make a choice on a description.
I also wanted to see if, perhaps, I could make things simpler.

It is not going very fast.
I will take a large amount of small steps to get it how we want it.

wget -q -nv -O /home/$(ls /home)/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/add-mamedev-systems.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/main/00-workdir-00/add-mamedev-systems-test3.sh

Here you can see most changes of test-2 vs test-3 :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/d48643325fc39c3bf808dadc0d5eeea9e5682740

Folly

@valerino

While making things in test3 i learned a bit more on how the array's are structured.
As you can see, it isn't a nice structure.
In the function choose_system_add() you will also see that all info read into $system_read will be inserted in both systems_read() and options().
So in this example, basically doubling the info, which will, presumably, take more time to execute.
Also injecting the numbers seems to be a bit odd, we already have the cell numbers in the array.
So it would also be nice if we could use those cell numbers, without injecting them again.
So I am trying to find a solution to this problem ( you can see how it is structured in this manual approach in function choose_dteam_add() ) :

local systems_read=( "ablmini" "alnattck" "gnw_ball" "jak_batm" "kbilly" "taddams" "rzbatfor" )
local options=( "0" "All in One Handheld and Plug and Play" "1" "Classic Handheld Systems" "2" "Game and Watch" "3" "JAKKS Pacific TV Games" "4" "Konami Handheld" "5" "Tiger Handheld Electronics" "6" "Tiger R-Zone" )
.
.
local choice=$("${cmd[@]}" "${options[@]}" 2>&1 >/dev/tty)

I want the arrays to be arranged like this :
(representation : converting it into a csv)
ROW1,ROW2
All in One Handheld and Plug and Play,ablmini
Classic Handheld Systems,alnattck

As you can see it's, right now it is arranged like this, so info doesn't match :
ROW1|ROW2
All in One Handheld and Plug and Play,1
Classic Handheld Systems,ablmini
Game and Watch,2

Perhaps too difficult, but it would be nice if we could extract into 2 dimensional array's or make fixed 2 dimensional array's.
Something like this :
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16487258/how-to-declare-2d-array-in-bash
Then we would be able to link the information better, put all the extracted info into one 2-dimensional-array and have a better overview.

Hopefully you understand what I am talking about.

Do you have an idea ?

@DTEAM , Ofcourse, you are welcome to look at it too.
If you want some explanation about how basic array's work, just let me know.

DTEAM

@folly

Hi Folly,

From now on, it will be difficult for me to help you on this project. I will continue to test and read what you are doing, but I am not a programmer. I understand most of what you do, but I cannot contribute more than what I have done. Hope for you that some programmers ( @valerino , @2Play, and other ) will dive into this project with you because it has huge potential to add new working systems on RetroPie and add MESS / MAME for existing systems in Retropie.

Regards

Folly

@dteam

Hi,

You are already doing a lot, that is much appreciated.
I understand it when you say that the programming part becomes more difficult for you now.
That is no problem, I hope too that others can help.
I must admit I also have some trouble understanding it all, sometimes.
And if you asked me 3 years ago, I didn't understand it either.
But in these situations I experience every-time a learning boost when I find a solution for a problem like described in my last post.
Then it becomes more clear to me, so I hope I get the aha so we can program this script faster.

Regards

Folly

EDIT : If there are spaces in the descriptions then this doesn't work, I will have to find a better solution

@DTEAM @valerino ,

I think I found a better way of dealing with the dialog api.
The dialog api wants 2 options added in the commandline.
(choice and what to choose from)
Just did a small test with 2 arrays :
(you will see it will output the data of both arrays in sequence)

a=()
b=()
a=( "1" "2" "3" )
b=( "z" "c" "e" )
for i in ${!a[@]}; do echo "${a[$i]} ${b[$i]}";done

Then I did a line with the dialog api to test :
(now you will see it will display in the same sequence)

dialog --backtitle "test" --menu "RetroPie-Setup Mamedev Systems Adder" 22 76 16 $(for i in ${!a[@]}; do echo "${a[$i]} ${b[$i]}";done)

I hope this solution will work in the script.
It should make the script far better.😊

Folly

EDIT : If there are spaces in the descriptions then this doesn't work, I will have to find a better solution

@DTEAM @valerino

This does the same as the commands from the last post.
I reduced the method, extracting the number from the for loop instead of a separate array :

b=()
b=( "z" "c" "e" )
dialog --backtitle "test" --menu "RetroPie-Setup Mamedev Systems Adder" 22 76 16 $(for i in ${!b[@]}; do echo "$i" "${b[$i]}";done)

Much better, this way

Edit : With spaces in the example it will not work because it will present this as one option or as too many options depending on the situation, no idea how to fix this. ☹️

b=()
b=( "choice one" "choice two" "choice three" )
dialog --backtitle "test" --menu "RetroPie-Setup Mamedev Systems Adder" 22 76 16 $(for i in ${!b[@]}; do echo "$i" "${b[$i]}";done)

Folly

@DTEAM @valerino

I have found a solution that makes adding fixed arrays simpler and in that way it's also possible to "connect" between multiple arrays.

The for loop creates a separate options array, setting the choice number and the choice behind each other in the array.
This is how dialog wants it.
For now, there is no way around this.

local systems_read=( "ablmini" "alnattck" "gnw_ball" "jak_batm" "kbilly" "taddams" "rzbatfor" ) 
local descriptions_read=( "All in One Handheld and Plug and Play" "Classic Handheld Systems" "Game and Watch" "JAKKS Pacific TV Games" "Konami Handheld" "Tiger Handheld Electronics" "Tiger R-Zone" )  
for i in ${!descriptions_read[@]}; do options+=("$i" "${descriptions_read[$i]}");done

Test4 is ready :

wget -q -nv -O /home/$(ls /home)/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/add-mamedev-systems.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/main/00-workdir-00/add-mamedev-systems-test4.sh

Perhaps it doesn't seem much, but it's a huge update !
Still turned off, but I also added some basic test lines for importing faster from text files.
Not usable for now because you have to have the data in a text file, but if I can implement this, it's 3 or 4 times faster.

Changes test3 vs test4 :
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/da8b4eeff83328df94e00fa1d7bb02606e22f4b4
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/e871c35399aa72af95de2a7f843334949dc49ffa#diff-23cb2bcf9c8990a5889800ad28f7bbd66c91a0fad95249958916aaa10b629c15
https://github.com/FollyMaddy/RetroPie-Share/commit/285b8aa6b18cfa67f5c7bd3c4ca9302fd32b1f3e#diff-23cb2bcf9c8990a5889800ad28f7bbd66c91a0fad95249958916aaa10b629c15

DTEAM

@folly

Wow!!! and wow again

I like your download menu and I like the way you presented All systems with real system names and with MAMEsystem names .

You are not far from the ultimate goal.
Really nice what you have done Folly

Folly

@dteam

I boosted this weekend.
Quite happy, for now. 😉

I just had a look at your schematics.
I will try to work towards the schematics if I can.

We will see how it goes.

Folly

Edit :
This part is removed -> will be added to a new script !

Just an idea that I wanted to add :
I added a submenu in test4 for downloading module-scripts from different external repositories.
It will only download if the file doesn't exist in the normal path.
It will put them in the appropriate directories in the ext path.
After downloading, just go to the normal things in RetroPie-Setup.

Script is restored to the original state.

DTEAM

@folly

At the end, It must be simple for the user. I think we should go with your script only and optimize some systems (most in demand). We could create a new thread for that. When It will be like the schematics (or almost), We could ask the permission to put that on the official RetroPie. The systems optimization should come after from us and also other contributors. Are you agree?

What is the advantage for a user to use 3 module scripts for Lr-Mess?

Folly

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

@folly

At the end, It must be simple for the user. I think we should go with your script only and optimize some systems (most in demand). We could create a new thread for that. When It will be like the schematics (or almost), We could ask the permission to put that on the official RetroPie. The systems optimization should come after from us and also other contributors. Are you agree?

What is the advantage for a user to use 3 module scripts for Lr-Mess?

Yes, I agree.
I have the same feeling about it now
I didn't realize it, while I was busy.

I will separate it.

Folly

@dteam

Now that I have separated the repository part from the script.
I worked more on this and learned again some stuff that can be used again, later on.
I also get a better overview over the whole hierarchy of all scripts.
So an overall improvement, I think.

Friday we go on vacation for a week. 😊
So no updates then.

btw :
I had a look at 2 dimensional array's.
I think we have to use it for sorting and filtering.
Because this way we keep the information locked to each other,
at least that is my hope.
Sorting and filtering could get much easier this way.
This a small example of a 2 dimensional array (2 rows x 2 columns):

declare -A arr
arr[0,0]="system"
arr[0,1]="The System Description"
echo "${arr[0,0]} <-> ${arr[0,1]}"