Pi Zero arcade issues
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Hey everyone, I just threw together a classic emubox using a Pi Zero W I had on hand but I'm having a weird issue with arcade games.
Literally everything else on here -NES, Genesis, SNES- runs fine, but most arcade games are running as if there isn't enough power. I know you can only go so far on a Pi Zero, but I'm having trouble with games on the level of Galaga '88 or Ghosts 'N Goblins. Only the really, REALLY old stuff -Galaga, Joust, Asteroids- is running at full speed.
I've changed every setting I can think to change, but it doesn't help. Even turning frameskipping on isn't making a difference in how things run! I'm sure I've missed something, of course, so any help that can be provided would be appreciated.
I am having this issue with both FinalBurn and MAME2003.
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@formulafox please fill out all of https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first when seeking support
but note
I am having this issue with both FinalBurn and MAME2003.
these are not the recommended arcade emulators for pi zero due to their system requirements. see https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Arcade/#step-1-choose-your-arcade-emulators
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@dankcushions Oops. Yeah, I know the rules on the seeking support, I just had a dumb moment I guess. I'll cover it now for any future reference on the matter.
Pi Zero W
Retropie v4.7.1 (for Pi 0)
2.5A power supply with built in switch(I unfortunately no longer have the exact model immediately available to list)
Built from premade image on Retropie website
MicroUSB hub connecting two generic wireless USB gamepads(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HYJLZH6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N9WM9PM)As for the recommended emulators, pifba doesn't work with my ROMset, and I'm not seeing mame4all on the list of emulator options when I go to download it.
EDIT: Found mame4all - didn't realize it was preinstalled. System freezes when I try to load a game with it. I assume it doesn't like the ROMset.
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@formulafox said in Pi Zero arcade issues:
As for the recommended emulators, pifba doesn't work with my ROMset, and I'm not seeing mame4all on the list of emulator options when I go to download it.
As with all arcade emulators, you need the matching romset for the emulator - otherwise you'll get errors. See the arcade emulators' setup link that @dankcushions posted.
mame4allis in optional packages section - are you sure it's not there ? -
@mitu Didn't see your reply before I edited. I found mame4all - it was apparently preinstalled.
But any game I try to load with it crashes the entire system - it goes to black screen and freezes up. Can't do anything but flip the power switch. I assume this is also it not liking the ROMset.
I know about the need to match up arcade ROMsets - been through it on my Pi 3, 4, and arcade PC. I've been trying with a MAME2003 (0.78) set, I'll try another one when I have more time.
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@formulafox said in Pi Zero arcade issues:
I know about the need to match up arcade ROMsets - been through it on my Pi 3, 4, and arcade PC. I've been trying with a MAME2003 (0.78) set, I'll try another one when I have more time.
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@sleve_mcdichael Thank you. Always nice to get some help saving time. ;)
Unfortunately, I've got the same problem happening. The entire unit freezes up if Itry to load a game from that set on mame4all.
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@formulafox from the 0.78 set? yeah obviously that won’t work. a freeze isn’t ideal but it would be an exit if it didn’t freeze.
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@dankcushions I'm having it happen with the 0.37b5 set recommended in the documentation linked by sleve_mcdichael as well.
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@formulafox in that case think it’s time to repost the https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first information for a specific game that’s crashing(including full file path, file name, etc). you won’t be able to get a verbose log for a non-lr emulator like mame4all, but it should still log something in
/dev/shm/runcommand.logwhich you should be able to get at if SSH/SFTP still works during the freeze. if not, try the same file with lr-mame2000 which accepts the same romset and does allow for verbose logging (it may also be a viable alternative if it works fine) -
@formulafox said in Pi Zero arcade issues:
I know you can only go so far on a Pi Zero, but I'm having trouble with games on the level of Galaga '88 or Ghosts 'N Goblins. Only the really, REALLY old stuff -Galaga, Joust, Asteroids- is running at full speed.
Its age is totally unrelated to how fast a game will be emulated
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@dankcushions said in Pi Zero arcade issues:
@formulafox in that case think it’s time to repost the https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first information for a specific game that’s crashing(including full file path, file name, etc). you won’t be able to get a verbose log for a non-lr emulator like mame4all, but it should still log something in
/dev/shm/runcommand.logwhich you should be able to get at if SSH/SFTP still works during the freeze. if not, try the same file with lr-mame2000 which accepts the same romset and does allow for verbose logging (it may also be a viable alternative if it works fine)I'll try to get the log dump info(and a wider sample set of games along with it) when I have time(workweek beginning, not much time available for troubleshooting), but I can already attest that lr-mame200 has the same slowdown issues on all the same games. Plus not displaying the proper aspect ratio(but I know I can fix THAT within the display options, so no actual concern there)
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The wireless on the Pi Zero is giving me grief - it just seems to be some connection instability so I'll try again later, but I can't SSH in at this time. But until I get it worked out I plan to try another ROMset with pifba, however-
THE FOLLOWING IS NOT A REQUEST FOR ROM LINKS. I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR ROM LINKS.
-I cannot find a resource for the recommended ROMset(0.2.96.71) for pifba according to Retropie documentation. Is there another ROMset that is known to work on pifba I could look for?
Apologies if I emphasized my "not requesting ROM links" bit a little too strongly. I know the rules forbid the sharing of such links and I wanted to ensure my inquiry was not misinterpreted.
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@formulafox said in Pi Zero arcade issues:
-I cannot find a resource for the recommended ROMset(0.2.96.71) for pifba according to Retropie documentation. Is there another ROMset that is known to work on pifba I could look for?
This might be one of those cases where you need to start with the full current MAME romset and then filter it to your desired version with a tool like
clrmamepro. See validating, filtering, and rebuilding arcade romsets. -
@formulafox fwiw, fbalpha 0.2.96.71 was based on mame 0.114 romsets
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Been a while, but we had a sudden health crisis(not COVID) in my family that understandably took precedence over this project. Still have not had time to check log files but I did another quick search for FBA 0.2.96.71 sets, but still have not found one(again: NOT requesting ROM links here!), but I have another question in the meantime...
Will 0.2.96.74 work with pifba?
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@formulafox said in Pi Zero arcade issues:
Been a while, but we had a sudden health crisis(not COVID) in my family that understandably took precedence over this project.
:( wishing you and your family well!
Still have not had time to check log files but I did another quick search for FBA 0.2.96.71 sets, but still have not found one(again: NOT requesting ROM links here!), but I have another question in the meantime...
Will 0.2.96.74 work with pifba?
given that it's only a few versions apart most games should work, but as with every romset version release, some games are re-dumped, new games added, and perhaps some prexisting ones renamed, so you'd expect at least a few games within the 0.2.96.74 romset collection to not work in pifba.
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Okay, he's where I stand. The FBA ROMset I inquired about just kicked me back to the menu no matter what game I tried. (it wasn't a complete set, anyway, and was missing a TON of stuff I was interested in)
So I went and ran my ROMs through clrmamepro following the instructions provided earlier, setting up with the recommended mame4all(0.37b5) information. Whole system just crashes when I try to load a ROM with mame4all.
I cannot ssh in to see if it is still running during the black screen, as no matter when I attempt to do so my PC just refuses to recognize that the Pi is on the network.
So I'm at a complete loss where to go from here.
EDIT: Random retry to ssh in got me a "connection refused" error. First time I've gotten any indication that the PC can see the Pi.
EDIT2: HOLYCRAPIGOTIN. Don't know what changed, but I'm in and will hopefully be able to find the logs. I'll make a separate post for whatever I find.
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This post is deleted! -
Okay, I'm going to do MULTIPLE tests to see what we get.
Test 1 - Altered Beast. Black screen freeze. runcommand.log produces the following:
"Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/mame4all/mame "altbeast""
That's allTest 2 - Asteroids. Black screen freeze runcommand.log produces the following:
"Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/mame4all/mame "asteroid""
That's allTest 3 - Galaga. Gets to initial load screen before freezing. runcommand.log produces the following:
"Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/mame4all/mame "galaga""
That's all.I'd do more, but I think we can discern a clear pattern here. I have to run out for a bit so I'll look into verbose logging with lr-mame2000 later.
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