Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie

caver01

Finally digging in a little here. . . some of you know I run AdvanceMAME 1.4 for a few things, mainly vector, but a few others that I can't run or configure for in 2003. Anyway, my image is a couple revs back and today I updated my retropie script so I could get AdvMAME 3.2. I watched it install, but I cannot select it in runcommand. What am I missing? Is there a manual setting I need to change?

<EDIT> Ok, I might have figured it out. All I did was added a row to emulators.cfg that looked just like the other advmame entries. This generated a .rc file right where I expected, then I went in and updated a bunch of lines, like the rom path and so on. Launch SARGE and for the first time, it is playing fullscreen! This is good, but it leaves me wondering if there are other items in the .rc that someone smarter than me has already gone through and corrected. For instance, adding both the arcade roms folder and the mame-advance folders, artwork (which I always redirect over to somewhere more convenient) etc. Is there a default?

I also turn of normalization of sound, set volume=0 instead of -3 which is default and so on. Next up, I will be checking out the video optimizations for vector to see if games play nicely at native resolution.

caver01

Last night, I was able to re-assign all of my advancemame ROMs with RUNCOMMAND to use 3.2. I looked at the retropie configuration script for the config changes that are getting applied to the other versions of ADVMAME on the Pi and made those adjustments to mine. This included things like the video to fb and sound to alsa, directory references etc. The new version now picks up my existing artwork as expected, highscores and so on. All of the control mapping is saved in the .rc, so I needed to go through my 1.4 config game by game and transcribe the settings. Not a big deal.

One thing I will say is that the video support seems to work a little better. Without making too many adjustments, I seem to have somewhat better control from the GUI. Also, no additional provisions are needed in the config for vector titles. They are rendering at the native resolution. Also, games like Sarge are now displaying in the correct aspect ratio filling my display--something I was trying to do with 1.4 and failing. It seems to be a little more responsive in games like Golden Tee variants, but that might be my imagination.

I am happy to make additions to the AdvanceMAME wiki, but I did need to create my own entry in emulators.cfg, then run MAME once to generate the default .rc file. Is that typical or a result of my install as an update?

Finally, I noticed a 3.3 is out now with "bug fixes", maybe as a result of player 5+ control mapping issues described here.

BuZz

@caver01 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/pull/1894

This will be merged soon - note when it is and retropie-setup is updated all the advmame modules will show as installed - but will need updating to actually properly install/work.

caver01

@BuZz said in Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie:

@caver01 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/pull/1894

This will be merged soon - note when it is and retropie-setup is updated all the advmame modules will show as installed - but will need updating to actually properly install/work.

Ok, so do you mean it will need updating using the"Retropie Config script: update this emulator"--or do mean it will require the user to do exactly what I did by manually adding it to the emulators.cfg and editing a .rc file? I don't mind documenting it either way, but a default .rc file dropping into place would obviously make the wiki updates contain little more than a duplication of existing versions. Sorry for the extra questions, as I expect time spent describing the plan could just as easily be spent updating the setup. As always, I appreciate the open collaboration.

BuZz

@caver01 im not sure what you are asking?

the advmame.rc config files are created by default and always have been. The only thing that has changed is it's one package per emulator and the configs are now named

advmame-0.94.rc
advmame-1.4.rc
advmame.rc (for the latest version which will be v3.3)

backstander

Did someone say that AdvMame 3.3 uses the same romset as 1.4? I couldn't find that info on the wiki (or herb_fargus' docs)

BuZz

@backstander It does - v0.106

Note my splitting up changes have now been merged also.

tribunal88

@caver01 said in Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie:

Finally, I noticed a 3.3 is out now with "bug fixes", maybe as a result of player 5+ control mapping issues described here.

Not quite. 3.3 fixed the crash for the xmen 6P game when using "tab" to map keys. But the author only recently patched the fix for 5+ player mappings in the .rc file into 3.4 after I submitted the bug report. It's still in beta. It will likely be out in a couple weeks if the release cadence continues as it has since 3.0 shipped.

Along those lines, I really like the change of dropping the major version number from the most recent release of advmame in RetroPie-setup. I think that's the right call given how quickly AdvMAME is being updated these days.

markwkidd

@dankcushions said in Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie:

we need to update the wiki for advmame 3! romset, etc. if anyone wants to do it? i don't use it (yet) so would be working 'blind' :) a search for 'advmame' will show you all the places it needs to be added to.

I took a first stab at this: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/MAME#advancemame-3

There is no DAT link (although the AdvanceMAME 1.4 DAT should be correct for AdvanceMAME 3, correct?)

There is also no Compatibility List link yet.

herb_fargus

@markwkidd dats and compatibility list should be the same no? at least as far as content is the same as it is still based on the same romset, might have been a few bugs fixed with a few games.. how many hairs do we want to split on variations of builds within the same romset?

also to eliminate amibiguity, the setup script pulls the latest advmame so idk if we want to call it advmame.rc like is in the setup script or will we just updated the version number each release? I don't really use advmame so I'm not sure what the best way is to categorise it. you and dank seem to have a pretty good handle on the arcade docs

thanks btw

caver01

@BuZz said in Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie:

@caver01 im not sure what you are asking?

the advmame.rc config files are created by default and always have been. The only thing that has changed is it's one package per emulator and the configs are now named

advmame-0.94.rc

advmame-1.4.rc

advmame.rc (for the latest version which will be v3.3)

Sorry, I should have been clearer in my first post. I updated the RetroPie script, then I ran the update (binary) for AdvMAME and it installed 3.2 but it didn't create a .rc file nor give me the option to use 3.2 in any runcommand menus.

So, what I was asking is whether we will need to update documentation to instruct people to edit the emulators.cfg manually, run 3.2 once, and then edit the default .rc file it creates to fix directories etc., or is my experience indicative of incomplete setup scripts? As of a couple days ago, updating does not get you a working 3.2, but it can be made to work if you do what I did, and I can write up details in a wiki if folks need to do the same.

UDb23

@caver01 Were you able to test also if overlays are managed correctly with this new advmame ?
So far it was not possible to "scale integer" the game area and use overlay at 1080p.

BuZz

@caver01 it should have created advmame.rc (for v3.3). I'll double check - could be a bug.

caver01

@UDb23 said in Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie:

@caver01 Were you able to test also if overlays are managed correctly with this new advmame ?
So far it was not possible to "scale integer" the game area and use overlay at 1080p.

Interesting. The overlays I have played with with seem to work. For example, armora.zip (Armor Attack) has an overlay that has always worked fine for me even with 1.4. Same goes for bzone.zip (Battlezone). I don't use them unless integrated into the gameplay, and all of the admirable work you have done for games on HDTV widescreen does not apply for me because I run everything fullscreen at 1280x1024. Vertical games also fill my screen (rotated sideways) since I play them from the sides of my cabinet.

Since I am using it mostly for vector, integer scaling isn't really applicable for me except to preserve AR. Yet, when I select that option in the GUI there is no change, even with non-vector games. I am just happy they fill my screen more consistently now!

caver01

@markwkidd I have never looked closely at the AdvanceMAME wiki for each version because I am very familiar with the .rc files, but looking at 0.94, 1.4 and your initial stab at version 3, I think the CONTROLS sections are consistently wrong. I am talking about this text:

Controls
While in a game press Tab to open the menu to set up controls. advmame tab menu configuration is stored in:

/opt/retropie/configs/advmame/cfg/default.cfg
Other files in this cfg directory are ROM specific configs.

Note: Should your input configuration or other aspect of the configuration need resetting to defaults, remove the default.cfg or ROM specific .cfg file, and it will be re-created with default values next time you start AdvanceMAME or modify the ROM configuration.

This looks to be transcribed from the mame4all-pi section and modified to describe advancemame, however, all of the input mapping is captured in the .rc files and there are no .cfg files anywere to speak of. When you edit inputs using the GUI in AdvanceMAME, it writes to the .rc file upon exit. Any per-rom mapping you do is inserted into the .rc with a romname/ prefix. So, this section repeated 3 times needs to go, possibly replaced with something like:

Controls
While in a game press <TAB> to open the menu to set up controls. AdvanceMAME configuration for controls are all stored in the .rc file corresponding to the version of AdvanceMAME you are running. Changes to specific games result in .rc file entries with a prefix for the ROM (i.e. bwidow/input_map[p1_doubleleft_up] keyboard[0,up])

Note: The .rc file can also be edited manually. Any config can be made ROM-specific using a romname/ prefix which is handy for overriding a setting for a specific ROM or class of ROMs, such as vertical/. However, a single mistake in the .rc file will stop MAME from launching. It is always best to make a backup of the .rc file before manual edits.

caver01

@herb_fargus said in Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie:

@markwkidd dats and compatibility list should be the same no? at least as far as content is the same as it is still based on the same romset, might have been a few bugs fixed with a few games.. how many hairs do we want to split on variations of builds within the same romset?

You are right. Same .106 romset. No reason to have a new compatibility list.

caver01

@BuZz said in Install AdvMAME 3 on retropie:

@caver01 it should have created advmame.rc (for v3.3). I'll double check - could be a bug.

Ok, thanks for checking. If it helps, I am pretty sure I built my system using a 3.6 image and I have been updating the script and binaries along the way. It is fair to say my AdvMAME has not been updated since the image (no reason to) until I updated the script then advmame binary as described above.

BuZz

@caver01 I just installed advmame on a fresh install and the advmame.rc was created correctly.

caver01

@BuZz Weird. Well, who knows. I figured I would start with a new image for the next release anyway. Thanks for checking into it.

tribunal88

I just thought of something else. What's going to be done with the advmame.rc file in the next version? Will it be overwritten? Is there a way to merge mappings or will we lose our current settings? I ask this because thanks to my request for 5+ player support, the 3.4 .rc file has just about 2x as many default settings as 3.3.