How do i setup PCFX?

speciallt1212

@backstander said in How do i setup PCFX?:

@anasazi29

try this: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AmKqQINomM0FgZVfP-eCsbL9bB5OYQ

Thanks! This should work until we got an official PC-FX theme in Carbon :)

Thank you for the system theme. It took me a while to figure out why I couldn't install it to the themes folder but I was finally able to do so via the built in file manger in RetroPie.

I noticed two things I was hoping someone would be able to help me with.

The PC-FX logo looks great on the main menu but when you open the system to view the roms, the logo text is extremely difficult to read because it's black on a dark background. Is anyone able to add a white stroke effect to the outside of the text or convert the black text to a shade a gray similar to the Atari 7800 logo?
I'm not sure who made the controller images for the other systems but would it be possible to get a similar contoller image for the PC-FX i.e. transparent controller image with a red outline. I found a high quality image of the PC-FX controller if that will help (link)

markwkidd

Today new code regarding the PC-FX BIOS was merged into the Mednafen PC-FX libretro core. This change fixes a small error that was made during the initial port to libretro that resulted in a change to the BIOS filename that the core looks for.

After today (January 9, 2017), new builds of the libretro core will look for the same filename with the same checksum that is recommended by the standalone Mednafen documentation:

Filename: pcfx.rom
SHA1: 1a77fd83e337f906aecab27a1604db064cf10074

Source: http://mednafen.fobby.net/documentation/pcfx.html#Section_firmware_bios

markwkidd

There has also been a PR during the last month or two about the audio stuttering mentioned earlier in this thread. I can't vouch myself, but that issue should be fixed as well.

backstander

@markwkidd
I updated lr-beetle-pcfx/mednafen_pcfx_libretro.so from source and renamed pcfx.bios to pcfx.rom and I tested with 2 games and they both worked but still had the sound shuttering :(

markwkidd

@backstander thanks for writing about that. I'm not by any means well acquainted with this code, but I think the change is straightforward. I just filed a pull request which hopefully the librero devs will act on or respond to.

If you want to keep an eye on the PR, here's the link: https://github.com/libretro/beetle-pcfx-libretro/pull/16

markwkidd

@backstander OK that next change was just merged into the PC-FX core. If you have an opportunity, could you rebuild the core and see if it eliminated the sound issue on your end?

backstander

@markwkidd
When you ask me to "rebuild the core" are you talking about rebuilding lr-beetle-pcfx/mednafen_pcfx_libretro.so from source?

I just rebuilt source and it is still shuttering sound but it feels a little bit faster. Like before it was playing at about 75-80% full speed and now it feels like 85-90% full speed.

markwkidd

@backstander That's disappointing to hear about the audio. With regard to your question, yes, I think we are talking about the same thing. I'm not familiar with the build processes available to retropie so I wound up writing it vaguely.

The github source for lr-beetle-pcfx/mednafen_pcfx_libretro was just changed with a second patch about three hours ago. If you've downloaded that github source since then, compiled it, and are still experiencing audio problems I'd like to encourage you to post an "Issue" in the tracker for that core: https://github.com/libretro/beetle-pcfx-libretro/issues

I'm mostly a scripter and documenter. I've been able to make a couple of small fixes to the core but it will be necessary to attract a more experienced libretro developer to take other steps on the audio issue from here. Thank you for your help so far. Your bug report could also be very helpful in the form of an issue! :)

backstander

@markwkidd
PR https://github.com/libretro/beetle-pcfx-libretro/issues/17

backstander

I started a PC-FX page on the official RetroPie Wiki
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/PC-FX

I don't know how to put it under Emulators and I'm not good at graphics so it still needs a logo banner and the controller configuration picture but at least it's a start.

I also filed a PR for PC-FX artwork in the Carbon Theme
https://github.com/RetroPie/es-theme-carbon/pull/24

markwkidd

@backstander earlier today another developer added a variety of new "core options" to the libretro Mednafen PC-FX core that allow the various settings from Mednafen to be set for the libretro version.

If you look at the Mednafen docs, several of these options seem to relate to performance: https://mednafen.github.io/documentation/pcfx.html#Section_firmware_bios

I don't have an rPi2 so I don't know if it is worth time investigating, but I wanted to let you know in case this might help get emulation running faster on your hardware.

Tasio

Is this core still working? I have installed it today with some games and the right bios but none of the games open and checking the logs looks like an emulator issue:
/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh: line 961: 4393 Segmentation fault

backstander

@Tasio

Is this core still working? I have installed it today with some games and the right bios

I updated from source and ran it about 3 days ago and it was still running. The source might be broken at the moment. I'd recommend trying compiling again from source either later today or tomorrow.

but none of the games open

Which games are you trying?

I've only tested 3 games and these 3 worked for me:
Chip Chan Kick
Dragon Knight IV
Return to Zork

Tasio

@backstander looks like is an issues with the game I want to play, Kishin Douji Zenki FX Vajura Fight. Is working with Chip Chan Kick

backstander

@Tasio
Kishin Douji Zenki FX Vajura Fight looks like a cool game so I decided to give it a try! It sames to work for me but slow motion like all the other games I've tried. I had to edit the .cue file. It was the correct name but had the wrong case. Remember: Linux file names are case sensitive.
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/PC-FX#pc-fx-bincue-files

Tasio

@backstander thanks it was my issue too, the extension (.BIN) was in different case. Now is working but has you said, it's slow, I have tried at 240 but still slow, hopefully will get better with future releases.

backstander

@Tasio

Now is working but has you said, it's slow, I have tried at 240 but still slow, hopefully will get better with future releases.

I sure hope so too! I think they are on version 0.9.42 so maybe it will be more optimized when they hit that version 1.0 ;-)

backstander

I think I'm going to try to put this PC-FX banner on the Wiki
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/PC-FX

0_1498080297059_NEC_PC-FX_logo.svg.png

herb_fargus

@backstander missing the hardware but otherwise looks good

edmaul69

@backstander i would love to have this running full speed. I have had a complete set for years hoping to be able to play them one year. Looks like a lot of cool japanese anime games on the pc-fx. Way too slow at the moment on the pi.