fromlostdays

How did I miss this! That is really awesome, holy crap. They say desperation is the mother of invention haha. Also, its REAL easy to miss the "Input Hotkey Binds" assuming you even bother to open input at all since the controllers work natively. In all truth I was tinkering and did it once, and then the next day couldn't figure out how I'd done it because "Input Hotkey Binds" is not an adequate title for the awesomeness of the feature. And I agree, it's freaking fantastic. I've used the mapping for A LOT of cores and you will run into some problems. MAME for instance. It has like native mapping for a few functions. One of the buttons for sure resets the rom, another brings up the MAME menu, even if the enable hotkey button is pressed, but I can't remember which one and I couldn't figure out how to change that. If you guys can, that would be awesome. I use standard MAME anyway, but I am a completionist.

There is another option for exiting retroarch at least. Since, you're using the same controller I am, I'll tell you exactly how I do it. Left Thumbstick = Enable Hotkeys This feature is absolutely great, as it allows you to map emulator functions over any button you want. So if I depress my left thumbstick Start = Exit RetroArch Right Bumper = Fastforward Y = Screenshot Right stick up and down = Scroll through cheats X = Use cheat A = Savestate Select = Load state (you'll want to map loading state to a difficult combination of buttons so you don't accidentally load state in the middle of a game. When my left thumbstick is not depressed, all the buttons go back to normal. Just go from the second RA menu down to inputs, and instead of clicking "User 1 Hotkey Binds" go to "Input Hotkey Binds". Bind a button to the "Enable Hotkeys" option, and bind the rest however you want, including exiting the emulator.

If loading time isn't a concern, I bought a little flashdrive and just unzip to there. I'm not sure if that works with symbolic links or not, though. I wouldn't use an SSD for that either. Better to have the front end (Launchbox) on the SSD for faster asset loading.

I should amend that I've also never had any problems with one or multiple 360 controllers connected. I've only ever had problems with the xbox one controllers.

In terms of controls, first and foremost its much easier to use Xbox controllers (or programs that simulate Xbox controllers IE. DS4Windows, Playstation 4 controllers). Comes down to personal preference, PS4 has better D-pads, but more setup. Both of these options can be sort of a pain on windows 10 (From personal experience.) With native windows support, either of these options will be plug and play with LaunchBox/BigBox (Front End), and Kodi if you go that route. There are also some emulators that are plug and play with an xbox controller on windows. This is important to me because I found that emulators that aren't tend to lose the keymapping (if mapped to the emulator itself) after extended use (computer sleeping, powering on and off, connecting other controllers etc.) However, this is going to depend entirely on what systems you want to emulate. If you're not trying to emulate old computer games, like DOS, you can probably find everything you need with only RetroArch and MAME, both of which support xbox controllers out of the box. If you can get away with just using these two emulators, you won't have to depend on keymappers, and this is both easier and preferred where possible as keymappers MAY introduce some latency and its just more stuff running in the background. If you need to use keymappers, Xpadder is the way to go. There's a backend program called RocketLauncher that will actually control your keymapper profiles for you (Launching a specific keymapped profile for each emulator, or even game if you want). However the set up can be quite difficult. Recommend avoiding keymappers if you can. Lastly, Xpadder itself has some functionality that I've never investigated, but it may be possible to have xpadder launch profiles along with an exe (say an emulator exe, or PC game exe) but I'm not sure if it works, or if the profile will close accordingly. It may be a viable option though. You can access the functionality within Xpadder itself.

Dude that is gorgeous. By far the best looking DOS covers I've seen.

Emulation 101 Conceptually, there's like 4 possible elements that you need to consider when emulating. There may be a few more for more complicated systems, but once you're comfortable with these four, you'll be well on your way to troubleshooting yourself. Roms (Every time) Emulator (Everytime) Bios (Sometimes) Directory Structure (Sometimes) Roms: The thing to consider about roms: 1: Can/Should they be compressed. For the majority of emulators, compression to zip or 7zip is not necessary. It IS necessary with MAME however. Your roms should be zipped. 2: Does the Emulator support the extensions my roms have? For most popular systems, this is hardly a concern, but it does happen. You could get a set of roms with an extension that only works in a specific emulator. If games are not launching through the emulator, you should check to see if the emulator supports your rom extension. (Note that for a compressed roms, the emulator will have to support the extension of the rom AND the extension of the compression method, 7z or zip rar etc.) 3: Bad dumps. They exist, but are pretty rare. It could simply be the case that your rom is bonk and you should redownload it from somewhere else. 4: Naming Scheme. Very few emulators care what your roms are named. MAME however, cares plenty. It will only launch roms that are named correctly. The good news is, I've never seen a mame set of roms available that wasn't, so you probably don't have to worry about this too much. NOTE: MAME also has a lot of versions as you noticed. They come out with a new version like once a week or month or something. Its... awesome... but tedious if you want to stay current. So with MAME you have the extra concern of whether the version of your romset matches the emulator version. Personally, I dont bother, and I'm not alone. The good news is that for the most part, newer versions of MAME seem pretty backwards compatible with older sets of roms. However, if a rom won't launch, this could be the culprit. I have a v151 set of roms I use with MAME, and I use the v170 of the emulator with no problems. (Then again, I've never even come close to launching all the games, so just be aware of this) BIOS: Some emulators require BIOS files in order to operate. MAME does not require a bios to emulate many many arcade games, but now that MAME has integrated with MESS, it does need bios files to emulate other systems. Worry about that later. In most cases, this is as simple as putting the bios file into the folder the emulator expects it to be in. That's usually all there is to it. Directories: As you get more advanced, you'll understand that pretty much any emulator worth using will have some kind mechanism to alter the directory structure, be in the GUI or in a config (text) document. Usually, this is a simple matter of setting the path. Most emulators will require paths to (roms, savestates, save files, bios) these being the most important. Mostly you'll be able to do this from inside the emulator GUI. One last note about directories, every emulator will have default directories for all of these files. With MAME, you may notice it'll create some folder after you run it once. At any rate, using the default directories will save you from having to change your paths, but it limits you in terms of where you store your roms etc. Understanding these core concepts will help you when you're watching step by step videos or reading tutorials. Naturally this is a gross simplification, but knowing this going in will help you understand what the tutorial is trying to tell you.

Step one: (For ALL FRONTENDS). Make sure you have your games and emulators working OUTSIDE of the front end. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. If you do, you might wind up wasting a lot of time trying to fix a Front End that works fine. Step Two: Figure out how your front end wants to import and store your games. For most of them, they will have an import process with step by step documentation. Launchbox does, see above posts. And for many of them, they'll want to save your games in an XML list. This is just a fancy text document that keeps a list of all your games so the Front End knows what's there. Step Three: Figure out how your Front End wants to work with your emulator. In the case of LaunchBox, it wants to do everything associated with the emulator including inserting the rom and launching. This is very convenient. So all that remains is figure out what LaunchBox needs to know in order to launch the emu/game. Again, see above. There are step by step instructions. Once you have at least one imported game, and one working emulator in LaunchBox, proceed to step four. Step Four: Joy. Repeat as needed. :D

just draw the line at the obvious crap that I know is crap. Definitely personal preference. I have a shameful amount of stuff I'll never play, and never want to. I think of it more like a showcase of things worth preserving. I absolutely cannot break up a rom set, haha. That's actually what got me here. I'd filled my other front end to the point where its, frankly, undesirable to scroll through haha, unless a friend or someone wants a history lesson. I do make sure that every system is set up for at least passable emulation, or in some cases as good as humanly possible. LaunchBox on the other hand, with it's ease of adding and subtracting from game lists, I only put in games I want to play, and it stays open on my computer. I also really enjoy opening up games from ancient consoles and computers. The thrill of seeing something I'd never see/hear otherwise overrides the fundamental suck of the old games, at least for a while.

Not to brag, but in my HyperSpin install I have 125 gigs worth of media. (videos, artwork, and themes) In my Rocketlauncher install I have 192 systems (not all running mind you, but easily over 100 do) and that total does include some dupes like "Atari Classics" which is just an Atari Manufacturer XML separated from MAME, for a total of 44128 games, which is half of what's in my xmls which total 84038. I have about 25 gigs of RL media. (game guides and manuals, fade in, fade out, bezels, game music, etc) Ok, I am bragging. :D This has been my main hobby for half a decade. When I started, I barely knew how to change the display resolution on windows.

I honestly don't know. Is there a way I can pass it along?

Update: Success! Unable to get the new MAME core to work without changing the name of my roms, I set out to get the old MESS core working in the newest RA. It works. Caveat: I could only get it to work through Rocketlauncher. I don't know why. Maybe it's because RL allows you to set the path right to the bios files. Or something in the RA module. At any rate, it works, and for more than just Atari. So, with the newest RA stable version The Mess core titled "MESS 2015 GIT" *When opened in RA. The actual filename is just mess_libretro A copy of some old mess bios roms Launching through Rocketlauncher The Mess core will launch just fine and without having to change any game names. For the record, the bios pack I have is in RA/system/mess (But I also had to point RL there in the module options). I am NOT using any version of hash files in the system/mess folder or otherwise. Just an FYI. This become sort of an obsession for me this weekend. Its not very practical as the MESS core is no longer updated, but it does work.

Thanks for that sad, sad news. I'm on a mission to get the MESS core working again. You didn't have to rename your roms. If I find success, I'll update.

DOS, how do you get the roms to show up in RA? I just get No Items. That video confused me, but I'm pretty sure I got it right based on your directions, but the MAME core I guess doesn't support BIN so I can't actually try and launch the game. Also, are you saying I need to rename my games based on that busted MESS naming convention? Cause that's a deal breaker. Damn. So close. I actually got a blackscreen by renaming the game, hahaha. But that blows. I'm certainly not renaming my beautiful no intro sets for the pleasure of using the RA mame core for MESS systems.

As a veteran HyperSpinner, I would be remiss not to admonish you for buying those premades. Not on principle but because if you don't build it yourself, you're gonna have a bad time trying to get it to work. Having said that, the reason your bezels aren't showing up in LaunchBox is because you're using LaunchBox proper to launch games. In order to get the bezels to show up you'll have to set LaunchBox to Launch RocketLauncher (I assume rocketlauncher, maybe hyperlaunch if you got gipped on some older build). There is a bunch of information on this forum and on the RL forums on how to do that. Just involves setting up RL as an emulator and putting in a code under associated platforms. Also, yeah, RA can be made to work with any bezel, but I don't remember it being plug and play. I think you have to edit an ini file?

I wouldn't use RA to run anything Mame/Mess related. I could appreciate that, but the truth is that for most of the systems I'd use MESS for, I'd hardly ever really play the games. Plus, I'm a couch potato essentially trying to turn my PC into a retrogaming keyboardless console. Historically I could never afford a decent gaming PC, and so I play most big new titles on console anyway. RA has the easiest controller support (automatic), and its just simpler to use for me at this point. With MAME occasionally I have to rebind my controllers. With RA, never. And don't sleep on the shaders and ease of integration with RetroAchievements. Having said all of that, now that MAME has integrated MESS, I'm looking into using it, as you're right, it's a much better emulator than the MAME core. I just can't figure out how to exit the emulator completely with a controller. Speaking of integration, MESS is done, you know? No more updated. It's all in MAME now.

I'm a newb to streaming completely, but will this plex thing let me stream BIGBOX and emulators to the Xbox? Because that would be just swell.

If everything is set up correctly make sure Boot from CLI is enabled in your core-config. It does work, but it is a serious pain. Wait, I should say it did work, a few RA versions ago. I can't get it to work in the latest either.

oh awesome! I stumbled on it accidentally while messing with settings in RA. Sorry for the repost. I got stupid excited about it.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, there's apparently a community of awesome people who are setting up achievements for all kinds of retro games. The achievements are tracked live through the website. Search RetroAchievements. It's pretty freaking fantastic, and surprisingly easy. In RA at least, the achievements pop up in game as you get them. In case you are wondering, you just sign up for the site, go to the RA menu, scroll to achievements and put in your log in.

I can't speak for everyone but what's unique about this game is the main character. He's quirky, startling, honest and even pitiable enough not only to keep me playing, but to click around just to see what he has to say about shit. haha. Would make a really good touch game on a tablet for sure. But, if you aren't going to focus on some deep combat mechanics or weighty decisions, you do need to have a deeper story than the guy plays an online game. The story could take place inside the game... inside the game... mind you, but it needs to be fully fleshed out, where ever it is. Watching the main character observe and interact with the environment and people Plus a good story arc = win. Is he going to be dynamic? Like will he learn some kind of lesson and change his ways, maybe reunite with his family? Or is he going to be the same loner person in the end? What events drive this conclusion? That kind of stuff. Even deeper question: this online world... is it true escapism, like is it high fantasy wherein he pretends to be someone else to escape his life...... OR is he attracted to the game because it REMINDS him of his real life, but in this virtual world he's just more equipped to deal with these situations emotionally? Like does he go there to figure himself out. A lot of good places you could take this one. Other questions to explore: How low can he really go? He seems pretty low in the beginning, unable to find employment or socialize, but can it get worse for him? What would drive that? What would it look like? Is there a warning there for people? Is being more social really the only positive resolution for someone like him, or is there some kind of way he can start putting his personality to work for him in productive ways? Etc. Anyway, just my two cents. Obviously those are rhetorical questions. And no problem. It actually sounds fun. :) It just occurred to me, and I'm not sure if it occurred to you, but so far it looks like you're making a modern day Catcher in the Rye.

Sorry about the late reply. I tried copying down a transcript of what was accessible that evening (in terms of dialogue and text) and having the game open and MS Word crashed my comp and I lost it. Since then its been holiday busy. If you have a transcript of all the text (I'm not sure how you're going about making the game) send me whatever you want and I'll proof it all and provide suggestions (for what they are worth). My only beef with this is it would be a huge spoiler. I'm going out on limb here, but it seems like what you need is for someone else to hammer out the details while you progress further into making the game. But it may be early for that. That's what beta testing is for. :D If I'm understanding correctly, you're looking for suggestions now as to not the make the same mistakes throughout the game? I'd say don't worry about that and keep cranking. I can help with the grammar stuff (believe it or not I do it for a living) and like the apartment building looked a little weird toward the roof, but other than that, its good man. You should totally finish and hash that stuff out later.

I konked out early, but I'd be happy to go over it again and give you more details this evening, and examples of what I mean. Do you want to discuss this somewhere that's not a public forum? By the way, if you ever want or need someone to proof the text, I'd be happy to.

Whistles. You hit the nail on the head without realizing it. Funny what doesn't occur to you. I installed the latest 64 bit 7zip and it opens now. We're full steam ahead. The roommate and I just played until I got an error saying it failed to load an ogg file... right after I plugged in my headset and was ready to rock. Dude, I'm dying laughing. I'd play this game. Was actually excited to play IS with my new gear haha. Stuff you did well: natural dialogue outlines the main character well, humor and build up. Plus it looks surprisingly good. You did the art? Also, you baited me into clicking stuff that I didn't think you had planned for, IE the graffiti, and I was pleasantly surprised that you had planned for it. My roommate is already quoting three lines, but I won't spoil. On the con side of that, some of the dialogue is too literal, and some minor grammar stuff. It needs revision. Prepare for more willy nilly clicks. Like I tried to go up the road instead of going home. You could add a line at the edge of the map, something sullen like "There's nothing for me that way." The number one appeal thus far is seeing this character react to things, people and the environment. More of that, and A plus.

I use 7zip. Yeah, its the oddest thing. It recognizes the file extension, puts the 7z icon on it, but when I try to open it I get the error "Cannot open (path to file: file name) as an archive." I saw this behavior a while ago, actually when I downloaded some PSX games. Some unzipped some would spit the same error. I'd like to give it go, maybe just the regular RAR will work? Should 7zip handle the rar5? if not, I could totally download winrar.