Migration of retropie libretro Mame 2003 to Mame 2003 plus

capcob

I have a mature Retropie/Retroarch system using only the libretro Mame 2003 core and running on a pi4.

Is it an easy task to migrate to the libretro Mame 2003 Plus core across the board - while preserving controller config, save data, overlays, shaders etc ?

I don't mind swapping out a few rom sets.

Also, given that I'm almost exclusively using arcade roms prior to about 1983, is there any performance or quality improvement to justify the move ?

Is there a summary of improvements/differences for individual roms between the two cores ?

superdan

@capcob i think libretro cores are always better for gaming. have you tryied fbneo? look at google:fbneo is great!

capcob

@superdan thanks but not really an answer to my question ;-) I guess part of what I'm asking is the degree to which libretro Mame 2003 Plus is backwardly compatible with libretro Mame 2003.

jamrom2

@capcob hi. I'm not sure what you mean by "mature", but I'm going to guess it's like you said about the year of games you are running.

Lr-mame2003-plus is the go to for most games, however I have seen some differences between that, mame2010, mame2015, etc. Mostly in graphical and sound. Bare in mind each mame version changes something, be it not using sounds files or some graphic sprite colors, etc. Mame2003 is obviously 20 years old now, so there have been a lot of improvements.

For you.. well, the migration should be easy. All of your arcade roms should be in the arcade folder, so as you add systems, they will all point to the same rom folder. You add each system, then test each rom. I chose to limit the amount of arcade roms to around 200 or so, and like you I keep it around 1988 and lower. No fighting games.

So games like Donkey Kong, and Galaxian will sound a little different from mame version to mame version. You will also need the sound samples as well. Many older games need them. But as time went on, the build got better and thus many games stopped using sound files.

As far as the shaders and all. Again, they will be centrally located in the default location included with the basic RetroPie build, but you will have to activate them for each system. For the boarders, they will be the same (if you put them in the default) and are activated in the gamename.ini file when you start the game regardless of the mame or full burn version you use.

Obviously, switching between mame versions might require a compatable rom version as well. Some roms only work with certain mame versions.

I hope that helps a little.

barbudreadmon

@capcob you might want to read https://docs.libretro.com/guides/arcade-getting-started/#step-1-choose-an-arcade-emulator-to-match-your-system if you want to better understand the difference between arcade cores.

Is there a summary of improvements/differences for individual roms between the two cores ?

I don't know if it covers every change, but there is a changelog at https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-plus-libretro/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

capcob

@jamrom2 many thanks for the pointers - I guess I was just hoping that the switch specifically from mame2003 to mame2003plus might involve very limited config changes and not wholesale re-setup game by game.

capcob

@barbudreadmon thanks - I will have a read.

jamrom2

@capcob it doesn't. Most of your setting will remain. Just check each game and make sure they all work.

If you find any that don't, then go from there.

DjDiabolik

I have a different question, maybe i can attach here:
On my PC i have, over years, a my personal mame (updated to current mame 0.253 recently released) romset collection.
From this my personal collection i have, by Rebuilder or clrmamepro and a split setup, rebuild a collection for the mame 2003-plus which I then use in mine Raspberry pi4.

Apparently it's a good collection...... i lost some CHD but it's part of games not completely DUMPED and not works.

that being said my question would be:
It's worth taking a second "Rebuild" start from my mame 0.253 collection and try to made a second folder for current fbneo core ?

Partially answer it's.... i have try to load on clrmamepro the current .dat and try to scan my current mame2003-plus collection and it's be found sooo many games whit different name and sooo many games whit different structure of zip files.
Currently the mame2003-plus has a personal subfolder inside main "arcade" retropie folder.... i have created a folder "mame2003-plus" which contains the files .zip.
is it worth creating a second folder like "fbneo" ?

if so is it possible to let retropie choose the correct core based on the folder used?

mitu

@DjDiabolik said in Migration of retropie libretro Mame 2003 to Mame 2003 plus:

I have a different question, maybe i can attach here:

How about starting a different topic ?

arcadez2003

The long list of game additions fixes and improvements backported from later MAME versions that you get with MAME2003+
vs plain ole MAME2003 will maybe help you decide https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-plus-libretro/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

DjDiabolik

@mitu said in Migration of retropie libretro Mame 2003 to Mame 2003 plus:

different

yeah... it could be an idea.