AdvanceMAME Bezels

caver01

@mikozzz You can add overlays to AdvanceMAME. You have to use the MAME artwork format from MAME .106 and earlier. This is not well documented, but basically, MAME expects a .art file with the same name as the ROM in the artwork folder . This file is actually a zip archive of the overlay, background, bezel images as needed plus a text file to control how everything gets used. One example is described here under the Other Tricks section, but I don't really know how to build artwork from scratch. I understand the latest version of AdvanceMAME (3.6) does a better job of handling artwork size and position computation.

As for Pi FBA, I have no idea. I don't use it. However, libretro cores (lr-fbalpha) can leverage overlays quite easily. There are MANY threads on the topic as well as utilities for adding them.

MikOzzZ

@caver01 thanks

illando

@caver01
at this link: http://mrdo.mameworld.info/old_artwork.php
There is a collection of overlays in the old format ( MAME 0.106 or earlier ). It's a series of .zip files containing the .art file as you said. I'm trying to put some of them in the artwork folder but nothing seems to happen.

Also, there are 2 artwork folders:
roms/mame-advmame/artwork
configs/mame-advmame/artwork

What's the right one?

caver01

@illando those got created during the install or first run of advmame probably as a result of what directories are defined in the advmame.rc file. Check your .rc file and you will know where MAME is looking for artwork. While you are in that file, enable artwork overlays.

illando

@caver01
I did it but I cant't make it work.
I'm using AdvanceMAME 3.
Inside the file "advmame.rc" is written:

dir_artwork /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/mame-advmame/artwork
display_artwork_backdrop yes
display_artwork_bezel yes
display_artwork_crop yes
display_artwork_overlay yes

Inside the correct directory there's a zip file with same name of my rom (sharrier.zip) and inside of that file there are the "sharrier.art" and "sharrier.png" files.

What's wrong in this process???

caver01

@illando did you make this file file or download it? Have you tried editing the .art file?

Meneer Jansen

I can't remember anymore how one had to enable the artwork, but doesn't one have to unpack the Zip file of the artwork? (that is: not the zip file of the ROM)

caver01

@meneer-jansen no, the artwork stays zipped. It just has to be in the correct folder, the settings in the .rc file have to enable it, and the .art file inside the artwork zip has to be written correctly. I have not tried making my own, only modifying existing (like dimming the background or disabling an overlay, etc.).

illando

@caver01
I did as you did.
I downloaded a preexisting file, and edited the name of the zip, the name of the.art file and the name of the .png.
I also replaced every name inside the text of the .art file.
All zipped and placed in the correct folder.

Could I ask you to share one of the artwork file you modifying, and you are 100% sure it's working on AdvanceMAME 3? I'll manage how to find the correct rom to test it.

Meneer Jansen

My Raspberry Pi 1B burned down so until today I did not have a Pi any more to test. Bought me a 2nd hand Pi 1B+ and my old SD card still works with it. It's been ages since I fiddled w/ Retropie and my SD card became corrupted a while ago so I copied its contents w/ the dd command (Linux) to a new one. However, this left me w/ a crippled Retropie installation. All my games stull run fine, but the setup script doesn't run anymore, etc. So I cannot check everything. I don't even know, or care for that matter, which version of Retropie I'm running.

Anyway, the links in this thread provide a link for bezels for AdvanceMame version 0.94, which is what I'm running. You, on the other hand, are using Advancemame version 3. That probably uses bezels/artwork in a different format. In my notes I found this about artwork and AdvMame:

For the old artwork that works w/ old Mame versions (i.e. Raspberry Pi, maybe Android etc.):
http://mrdo.mameworld.info/old_artwork.php
For new Mame versions:
http://mrdo.mameworld.info/mame_artwork_ingame.php?p=12#here

So you probably have to download your artwork from: http://mrdo.mameworld.info/mame_artwork_ingame.php?p=12#here

Good luck! :-)

caver01

@meneer-jansen No, advmame 3.x still uses romset .106 just like advmame 1.4. MAME development did not move to the new way of building artwork until just after .106. That means you need to use OLD artwork and your second link above is misdirection.

@illando I may have misled a little--I have not built an artwork from an existing. I have only modified existing for the games that they are intended. An example is one for Asteroids Deluxe. I unziped the artwork .zip file, adjusted the background brightness setting in the .art file, rezipped, and observed the results. It is much easier to see the vector line with the background turned down a notch.

My suggestion is to try this with an existing game. Get the artwork for Asteroids Deluxe as an example and make sure t works as-is. Then, try tweaking the settings a bit using the .art file and see if that works.

Have you had an existing artwork file function yet or have you only been looking at ones you are trying to build?

Alturis

@water-white I am also looking for some generic overlays for my console roms.

early 80s or late 70s tv set for atari2600
mid 80s tv set for nes
late 80s or early 90s tv set for snes
would also love to find gb, gbc, and gba overlays that fit well with the full framed emulation to the top and bottom of the screen. Not looking to make it look exactly like a game boy advance for example, just a hinted look that brings back the same feel.

caver01

@alturis Unless you are using AdvanceMESS (part of AdvanceMAME) to emulate these console systems (and I don't know why you would) any steps here will need to be ignored. I would expect you to be using a libretro core to emulate those consoles, so you might find more info about using retroarch bezels/overlays in another thread. The beauty of the libretro cores is that if you find threads discussing the configs for getting arcade games working with overlays in something like lr-mame2003, the technique is identical for console libretro emulators. Having said that, AdvanceMAME artwork won't help you at all, as this version of mame does things differently.

Alturis

@caver01 Yep I know what you mean. Sorry if I posted that in the wrong thread. When I said "looking for some generic overlays" i meant just the artwork. Not the specific setups for a particular emulator overlay system.

caver01

@alturis I figured. You are definitely picking up a lot of details quickly from all over the forum which is great.

UDb23

@alturis said in AdvanceMAME Bezels:

gba overlays

Have you seen this thread ?

alt text

Alturis

@udb23 Yeah I saw those overlays in your github thank you! But I wanted to find ones that still allow the game to fill the frame of the display and not be so restrained in the middle like that.

Edit: I will probably just take those as a starting point and crop and clip to make them fit right for what I am looking for.

UDb23

@alturis On arcade games I too prefer "full height" game area; stretching GBA's version of G&W "Fire" (reason why I created these GBA overlays) would generate a very "blocky" image.
As you said, cropping that ovl could be a quick solution.

Alturis

@udb23 said in AdvanceMAME Bezels:

@alturis On arcade games I too prefer "full height" game area; stretching GBA's version of G&W "Fire" (reason why I created these GBA overlays) would generate a very "blocky" image.
As you said, cropping that ovl could be a quick solution.

Yeah I can see what you mean there. With game boy roms full height could be just too pixelated for sure. I will have to look into how to actually get the emulator to squeeze it down and see how that feels.

Alturis

@alturis said in AdvanceMAME Bezels:

I will have to look into how to actually get the emulator to squeeze it down and see how that feels.

And there is the answer!
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Smaller-RetroArch-Screen