SiriusVI

Hey everyone, over the last few days I've been trying to get various computer systems to work with mame and having games automatically loaded via autoboot command. With the help of @JoeViking245 and @kurzih I was able to get several the Acorn Electron roms to automatically boot when starting a rom via LaunchBox. You can accompish this either by using a command line or by editing the electron.ini in...system\mame\ini\ (if you use retroarch: Example: # # SCRIPTING OPTIONS autoboot_command "*cat\n\n\n\n\n\n*run !boot\n" autoboot_delay 2 autoboot_script Since I'm a total noob when it comes to figuring out working autoboot commands, I thought it would be great to have a thread where we can share and collect autoboot commands (or even scripts) for several computer systems when emulated with Mame. The idea is that anyone who has figured out how to autoboot roms for a particular system can post instructions here and I'm going to add them to the following chart: System Format Command line Mame Standalone Command line Mame RetroArch Aamber Pegasus cart "pegasus -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Aamber Pegasus\" -rom1 \"%romfile%\"" ABC 80 flop abc80 -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "loadhiresinv\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nrun\n" -flop1 every rom needs its own command line, because the file name has to be typed out to boot each individual game. The command line above is an example for booting the game "hiresinv.zip". Also, depending on your machine, you might need to add a couple of ” \n”. Acorn Electron cart "electron -exp romboxp -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -cart1 \"%romfile%\"" cass electron -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_delay "2" -autoboot_command "*tape\nchain""""""\n" -cass "electron -exp plus3,bios=1 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command *tape\nchain\"\"\"\"\"\"\n -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -cass \"%romfile%\"" flop (ADFS) electron -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_delay "2" -autoboot_command "*cat\n\n\n\n\n\n*run !boot\n" -flop "electron -exp plus3,bios=1 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command *cat\n\n\n\n\n\n*run!boot\n -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -flop1 \"%romfile%\"" flop (DFS) = .ssd files electron -exp plus1 -cart1 seds -cart2 ap5 -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "*cat\n\n\n\n\n\n*exec !boot\n" -flop some games need *run instead of *exec "electron -exp plus1 -cart1 seds -cart2 ap5 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command *cat\n\n\n\n\n\n*exec!boot\n -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -flop1 \"%romfile%\"" some games need *run instead of *exec rom "electron -exp plus2 -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -rom1 \"%romfile%\"" Apple II Apple IIGS Flop (floppy games that need to boot from OS) apple2gs -skip_gameinfo -flop3 "PATH TO System 6.0.1 DISK IMAGE" -flop4 "apple2gs -flop3 sys601:flop1 -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Arcade\" -flop4 \"%romfile%\"" Software list roms must be in the correct folders for this to work. So, in my example, the apple2gs roms should be placed here: “L:\LaunchBox\Games\Arcade\apple2gs” BBC Micro cass bbcm -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "*tape\nchain""""""\n" -cass floppydisk1 mame bbcb -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_delay "1" -autoboot_command "*cat\n*exec !boot\n" -floppydisk1 D:\mame\roms\bbcb\CastleQuest.zip Comment: Can supply file format as .zip or the unzipped .ssd file Camputers Lynx cass lynx128k -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "mload""""""\n" -cass Dragon 32/64 cass (Basic Games) dragon64 -autoboot_delay 4 -autoboot_command cload\n -cass if emulating the Dragon 32 replace dragon64 with dragon32 cass (Machine Codes Games) dragon64 -autoboot_delay 4 -autoboot_command cloadm\n -cass if emulating the Dragon 32 replace dragon64 with dragon32 Fujitsu FM-7 To my understanding FM7 disks boot right away, so no need for an autoboot for them. cass fm7 -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "LOADM”“,,R\n" -autoboot_delay 4 -cass (Note! Same thing with Sharp X1 the ”“ after LOADM are not the same as "", Mame will just quit if it's wrong. And unfortunately this machine does not auto-play the cassette unit automatically so you'll need to play the tape yourself within MAME after you see "Searching" after the autoboot command has been executed.) Matra & Hachette Alice cass alice90 -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "cload\n" -cass Memotech MTX512 cass mtx512 -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "load""""""\n" -autoboot_delay 3 -cass Oric Atmos / Oric 1 cass orica -autoboot_delay 4 -autoboot_command cload\"\"\n -cass if emulating the Oric 1 replace orica with oric1 Philips VG 5000 cass vg5k -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "cload\n" -autoboot_delay 3 -cass Sam Coupé flop samcoupe -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "\nBOOT\n" -flop1 It might be necessary to add an autoboot delay, such as: samcoupe -autoboot_delay 2 -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "\nBOOT\n" -flop1 Sharp X1 cass x1 -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "CHAIN”“\n" -autoboot_delay 9 -cass (You need to be careful with the ”“ they are not "" :D) Tandy Radio Shack Color Computer flop flop (Pac-Man) coco3 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command run\"pacman\"\n -flop1 flop (Donkey Kong) coco3 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command run\"donkey\"\n -flop1 flop (Donkey Kong Remix) coco3 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command loadm\"dkremix\":exec\n -flop1 There is a long wait (over 1 minute) before Donkey Kong Remix opens! flop (Assembly Demo) coco3 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command loadm\"asm-demo\":exec\n -flop1 or coco3 -autoboot_delay 2 -autoboot_command loadm\"asm-auto\":exec\n -flop1 … Directories such as: "L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" must be replaced with your own directories. They must point towards where your bios file(s) for the system in question is located. Do you think this is a good idea? I have started with the Acorn Electron autoboot commands and I hope I didn't make any mistake putting those together?. Feel free to participate by adding to this list.

Thank you once more. So I guess for certain Systems it makes sense to use TOSEC sets instead of Mame SWL. I'll have a look at the apple2 sets as well, since maybe the different methods of loading different tape files is also dependent on file extensions.

I'd love to see the option prioritize the newest revision of a romset, or making the newest revision the standard app. This together with region priorities would enable us to basically create 1G1R sets out of the box.

Yeah well I don't plan on playing any of these games anyway. For me this hobby is all about collecting and building the perfect setup. The reason why I don't want to sort through all of the games separately (which I could do, of course) is that I want to be able to update my collection every once in a while. So when a newer version of mame SWL comes out, I want to be able to use your fabulous SWL importer to import the newly added games and update the existing ones and I don't want to go through the process of dividing up all the games that need a different launching process all over again. If I could set it up once and be done with it, no problem. But since I want to future proof this setup, a script that sorts out at least which kind of floppy is being loaded is necessary. I already have flop, cart, rom and cass in different platforms. A futher separation of platforms such as "floppy 1", "floppy 2", "floppy 3" wouldn't look at all good and (once again) if I were to update my collection I would have to manually sort the different roms each and every time. But it seems there is no solution for this problem at least for now. I've looked into Rocketlauncher, but it wouldn't solve my problem as well, at least not without as much tinkerin as would be required in finding a way to build a lua script. Hmm, I guess I have to take a break from setting up this system for now. EDIT: or maybe switching back to TOSEC at least in these specific cases is an option. TOSEC sorts all its roms according to file extension, therefore I know that the "SSD" set for acorn electron contails only .ssd files, which (seem) to all need the same launching method. The downside here is that I have a hard time finding out which file extensions correspond to which medium (cart, flop, cass), which I need to know in order to write the commandline for mame correctly. Is there an easy way of finding out what different files extensions mean?

I've got carts runnig fine now, thank you. I've been thing how I would go about setting up acorn electron est in Launchbox. My solution for now is to create "Acorn Electron" as a platform category and then have the 4 mame SWL sets (rom, cart, flop, cass) as separate platforms. So far so good. The problem is that different floppy disks need a different way to autoboot and I think that creating multiple platforms for all the different kinds of floppies is not doable. You'd have to separate the Mame SWL floppy roms accordingly and if you want to update the Mame SWL roms, you'd have to do it all over again. So I think the only solution is to create an autoboot script for electron floppies. Now mame needs a ".lua" script to load. I don't have any idea how this can be done. Can you guys help me with this? I've seen some if-then-else scripting over on the rocket launcher forums, like this: }Else If (mameID = "electron") ; Acorn Electron { AutoBootDelay := moduleIni.Read("Settings", "AutoBootDelay","2",,1) ; Read delay from config. AutoBootDelay := " -autoboot_delay " . AutoBootDelay If StringUtils.Contains(romExtension,"\.ssd|\.bbc\|\.img|\.dsd|\.adf|\.ads|\.adm|\.adl") { mediaDeviceType := "flop" autoBootMethod := " -autoboot_command ""*mount 0\n\n\n\n\nch.""""run""""""\n""""" } Else If StringUtils.Contains(romExtension,"\.bin|\.rom") mediaDeviceType := "cart" Else { mediaDeviceType := "cass" autoBootMethod := " -autoboot_command ""*tape\nchain""""""""""""\n"""

Yes I also want to automate as much as possibe. I consider today a big win for me as well. You and JoeViking245 helped me to learn about autoboot commands and a way to launch different types of apple2 tapes (in another thread). All in all a good day, but there is much that needs to be done. I'm also still undecided / unsure which rom set is best for each system. I started with mame software lists for the computer systems, but have recently switched to TOSEC on some systems for various reasons: The big pro of TOSEC is, in my opinion, that there are dedicated lists for games, programs and other types of software, so you can import just games, whereas mame SL also imports all the other programs besides games. For some systems TOSEC seems to have a bigger library than mame SL. On the other hand, there are many games that mame SL has and TOSEC doesn't, and vice versa. May I ask how you guys go about that? Which kind of rom collection do you use for your personal collection? TOSEC, mame SL? Do you mix them up? Do you use a completely different collection? That would be nice to know. I have this weird thing, too, where I'd love to keep everything consistent. I'd rather stick to one particualr rom collection than mixing everything up. It was so easy when I first started this emulation thing with "just" the no-intro sets, but as soon as I started using mame to emulate the first computer system, things got out of hand very quickly ?

I get the "bad program" screen with some games as well. However, these games still launch. Does that mean that these games are ot fully supported by mame yet?

Two of the roms that worked were Blitzkrieg and Alphatron (I used a mix of mame SL roms and TOSEC roms, those two happened to be from the TOSEC set, but they are SSD files.

I figured out how to launch the electron ssd files. You can change the electron bios in Mame using TAB. You can then go to the BIOS part of the mame menue and change it to DFS veriosn. I don't know how this would be included in a commandline, but one can always edit the electron.ini in the mame folder like so: # # SLOT DEVICES # exp plus3,bios=4 the autoboot command stays the same: # # SCRIPTING OPTIONS # autoboot_command "*cat\n\n\n\n\n\n*run !boot\n" autoboot_delay 2 EDIT: The next challenge is of course that you can only have one "electron.ini" file at once. I guess you could always add another copy of retroarch as an emulator for mame systems that need a different bios, but that solution is rather cluncky. Maybe there is a way to load a specific bios through commandline...

That's great. I hope I'll be able to autoload every single system I emulate with MAME / MESS, and when I'm done, I'll probably write up some kind of tutorial on how to get everything running with Mame in retroarch. The thing is I'm really a noob when it comes to figuring out which command lines to use. I basically trial and error myself through this whole thing. I just don't know how someone can figure out that this command is the one to use: "*tape\nchain""""""\n" -cass There probably is some kind of documentation somewhere, maybe some of the more experienced users can help me there.

Coincidentally, I tried "classarc" out as well and it worked with the command line of @kurzih and a delay of 2. I found something interesting in this thread: https://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=666 "are you reading the wrong type of discs?? ie reading ADFS discs in DFS?? try *DISC to get DFS then *. & try *DR.2 then *. if no luck, then *ADFS *." upon checking the hash files for electron flop I found that classarc is in ADFS, while other games that do not work are in DFS. ADFS is also displayed when booting the electron. So if I understand correctly, we need a command that switches from ADFS to DFS (sorry for my layman's language)

Hmm, I don't see the content of the disk after *cat... I tried with and without "-flop". I don't think I need that, because I have "flop1" in my commandline in retroarch. I didn't need "-cass" to load cassettes. But anyway, I tried both versions. Which games have you tested? Maybe I should try your method on those first. EDIT: I just realized that the "*cat" doesn't appear on screen at all. So I thought that maybe I needed to add an autoboot delay. So I added a delay of "2" and now *cat appears on ycreen, but I get a "disc error 50".

Just tried that, but I get a "no directory" message. Does that mean there is no "!boot" in the disk? If I use electron64 instead of electron, the message reads "searching" instead of "no directory".

Well I haven't had any problems with floppy disks whatsoever and apple2e works fine with all games I've tried that are not cassettes. The issue here is just with cassettes wich seem to require different methods to load, as @JoeViking245 described.

Oh man, I'm an idiot. I was pressing F2. I misread what you wrote. Sorry, it was really late last night... F12 works like a charm. Is there a list of games that require apple2p instead of apple2? EDIT: btw. apple2e works here as well.

Thanks for the reply. I found an easy workaround fix. In my "electron.ini" for mame in retroarch, I just added the autoboot like so: # SCRIPTING OPTIONS # autoboot_command "*tape\nchain""""""\n" autoboot_delay 0 autoboot_script console 0 Works perfectly. However, this only works for tape games. SOme electron games are floppy disks however, which need a different command. I cannot get these to work. Upon resreaching, I found this: ""*mount 0\n\n\n\n\nch.""""run""""""\n""""" So I tried: # # SCRIPTING OPTIONS # autoboot_command ""*mount 0\n\n\n\n\nch.""""run""""""\n""""" autoboot_delay 0 autoboot_script I also tried reducing the amount of "" since they semmed a bit off to: # # SCRIPTING OPTIONS # autoboot_command "*mount 0\n\n\n\n\nch.""""run""""""\n"""" autoboot_delay 0 autoboot_script No matter what I do, I get a "Syntax error" after theis line: nch.""""run""""""

No, there wasn't any prompt. as soon as I pressed <F12> (while holding CTRL, of course), the tape started playing.

@kurzih this is super interesting. I emulate the electron using mame in retroarch. My commandline for launching roms is: "electron -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -cass \"%romfile%\"" -c "config\mame_CLI_ON.cfg" the last part with the -c is for using an alternative config file, so i guess it's not important, so this is basically it: "electron -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -cass \"%romfile%\"" Now, how would I go about adding your autoload command into my existing command line? I've tried this, but it didn't work: "electron -rp \"L:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Electron\" -skip_gameinfo -autoboot_command "*tape\nchain""""""\n" -cass \"%romfile%\"" -c "config\mame_CLI_ON.cfg" Any ideas?

I'm on it Thank you once more so much for your info. I got 3D Star Fire running no problem. I wasn't able to get apple2p working. The rom launches, but there is just a black screen saying Apple II and I can'T type anything.

@JoeViking245 I finally got around to tackeling apple2 cassettes once more. I've followed your instructions and was able to laucnh "Apple Derby" as you suggested in Mame standalone and through retroarch. However, literally every other game I've tried gives me various errors when trying the same method: 1. "ERR" 2. "MEM FULL ERR" 3. "ERR NO END" This happens in MAME standalone and in retroarch. I've researched and found these instructions for the original hardware: 1. Rewind the tape completely. 2. Type the word LOAD at the keyboard. 3. Press the PLAY button on the cassette recorder to start the tape. 4. Press the RETURN key. When you press the RETURN key, the cursor disappears. After 15 or 20 seconds you can analyze your success. If you get the message 7SYNTAX ERROR or ?***SYNTAX ERR, do not adjust the volume, just go back to step 1 and try again. If this keeps happening, try cleaning the cassette recorder heads, or use a different tape. If nothing happens, or if the message ?ERR or ?***MEM FULL ERR appears, reset the computer by pressing CONTROL- RESET. If doing this makes the * command prompt appear, re- start BASIC by pressing first CONTROL-B and then the RETURN key. Next, set the tape recorder volume a little higher and try again. " EDIT: and also this: "At this point, you could either begin entering a BASIC program, or try to load one from cassette. To load from cassette was not always easy; it took time to get the right volume and tone settings on the tape player in order to avoid getting the "ERR" or "*** SYNTAX ERR" message. (And if you didn't have much memory, you might get a "*** MEM FULL ERR" message!) When you got it properly loaded, you could type RUN and see what happened. " Any ideas on how to troubleshoot these errors in Mame?

There is very little information on how to best emulate this system, even though there is a dedicated retroarch core called x1 millennium. The games I have are from the TOSEC set and consist of .d88, .2d., .tap, and .wav files. Here is what I've learned: 1. .tap and .wav files don't seem to work, despite being officially supported. I can get to the bios screen but the games won't start. 2. .d88 and .2d files work as long as the games consist only of 1 disk. 3. Games that consist of more than 1 disk don't work, because I cannot figure out how to mount two disks at the same time. 4. I tried using .m3u files (since that worked with Sharp 68K, but the x1 core does not seem to support .m3u files. 5. I've tried launching the system through mame / mess and it works. Mame enables me to launch multiple disks at the same time, but navigating through the mame menu is inconvenient. 6. I wasn't able to launch tap files through mame / mess. Ideally, I want to be able to use the retroarch core to load multiple disks at the same time and also use the .tap files, since those make up most of the roms. Has anyone managed to ge this system running?

Thank you very much! I've seen the neogeo pack in this thread as well. Is that also part of the Pack#1 or is this something extra?

These Bezels are so amazing, but do you have a list of all your available packs for retroarch? I have a hard time figuring out which packs eyist and which are the most up to date.

I have created m3u lists for the complete TOSEC set for the X68K. If you don't rename the files, all you have to do is have the m3u files in the same folder as the roms and import them into launchbox. If I can host the files anywhere here, I'll do so. Is that possible?

Solved it: in: "X:\RetroArch\system\keropi" there is a config file which allows one to specify the rom directory: StartDir=X:\LaunchBox\Games\Sharp X68000\TOSEC\Sharp X68000 - Games - [DIM] The directory MUST be in quotes: StartDir="L:\LaunchBox\Games\Sharp X68000\TOSEC\Sharp X68000 - Games - [DIM]" I don't know why this is, because even without the quotes the core sets the directory correctly, however it does not mount the rom files.