Some questions from a new user

[Lordmonkus]

As far as Launchbox is concerned it doesn't matter. I don't know if Emumovies cares or not since I don't use Emumovies.

[legolas119]

Ah ok, thanks

 

anyone else can confirm if Emumovies needs that the rom name is specific or not? 

 

I would like to download videos from emumovies because with platinum account i can download them in HQ and i don't know if downloadind them directly from retroarch database they are in HQ or not...

[Jason Carr]

Hi Legolas, when using the built-in EmuMovies search in LaunchBox, the file names do not have to match anything, as the game titles are used (in addition to the file names if the title is not found).

[legolas119]

ah ok thanks, very good! So i can rename roms as I want, for example deleting the Area USA/JAP/EU and other stuff

 

thanks!

[Jason Carr]

Yup! No prob.

[legolas119]

sorry guys, i have 2 or 3 questions about Retroarch, i'm configuring it before to start with launchbox.

I have configured my frst emualtor, SNES (bsnes_accuracy) and it works. I selected RGB filter ( Blarg_NTSC_SNES_RGB it seems that it is the only RGB filter) because i think it is the best in order to emulate crt and shader = crt-royale-kurozumi.cgp  (i don't know differences between cg and glsl shaders) because i read that it is the shader more similar to crt Sony.

Well, i have some questions, can you help me please?

1) How I have to modify Custom viewport Width and Height from default values (960 and 720)  to 1920 and 1080 respectively? I see that the value Height = 1080 isn't available...but my lcd is a fullhd monitor 1920*1080 so how can I set up it correctly? Now i set Width = 1920 and Height =1200... but i don't know if it is correct...

 

2) I added a new core, FB Alpha for Neo Geo. I followed these steps:

 A) Core Updater --> Added FB Alpha Neo Geo

 B) Then Update Databases and Upate Core Info Files

 C) Finally  Load Content à Select File And Detect Core and Add Content -->Scan directory.  

But when I push Load Core and i select Neo Geo (FBA Alpha), it doesn't appear the icons at the end of the Xbar and I continue to see the icon of Snes' joypad with its romlist. But now if i try to load a snes rom, retroarch creashes probably because there is the neo geo core loaded... how can i solve this issue?

 

many thansk!

[DOS76]

I always load my core first and then load my content but I don't know if that will make a difference or not

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah I always load the core first and then load content like DOS76.

CG and GLSL are just 2 different shader architectures. Think of them as sort of like programming languages. It's just 2 ways of achieving the same effect. CG is an Nvidia technology and GLSL is based on OpenGL. CG is going to be phased out of Retroarch at some point.

As far as setting up custom viewport goes. This really is only useful if you plan on using overlays that have a specific "hole" that you will see the game through. What I always do is set my Aspect Ratio to core provided (though you can adjust it manually if you prefer). Then you have a choice of Integer Scaling On or Off. On will scale it at a round number like 3x, 4x or 5x, not fractional like 3.5x. With it set to On you will see black bars at the top and bottom of the screen and with a 1080 screen those bars can be fairly noticeable. Most older games are 240 pixels high which means on a 1080 screen integer scale on will scale it 4x leaving 120 pixels divided by 2 which is a 60 pixel gap top and bottom.

There are 2 ways to get rid of the black at the top and bottom and both have a drawback, you just have to decide which one you prefer. Option A is You can set a custom resolution and bump up the numbers til you no longer have gaps. You can set your Y resolution to 1200 which now means you are cutting off 60 pixels top and bottom. Option B is turn Integer Scaling to Off and Retroarch will automatically fill the screen to 1080 pixels high. The side effect of this though is you will get stretched pixles. A 240 pixel high game fit into a 1080 screen is 4.5x so every so many rows of pixels the renderer is going to essentially double up and repeat a row of pixel.

Depending on the shader you are using this is either not going to be noticeable at all or it can be very noticeable and off putting. CRT scanline type shaders are the most sensitive to this stretching because when you get rows of stretched pixels it messes with the shaders scanlines so you will see odd spacing in the scanlines.

My personal preference is to just leave Integer Scaling set to On and live with the black bars, I don't even notice them. Setting your custom resolution to 1200 will cut off some pixels but depending on the game and how it's UI elements like score and other info it will more or less noticeable.

You could always get a higher resolution display, 1440 / 240 is a nice even integer of 6

[legolas119]

ok thank you guys!

but it is very strange:  Now i set again Integer scaling = ON but i'm not longer able to set Width = 1920!? I have 1742 and then directly 2048! Why?

 

I continue to have same problem: i'm not able to load neo geo emulator. As you see in my picture, the core is loaded, but i continue to see SNES rom list...

http://it.tinypic.com/r/29c8mt0/9

Edited August 16, 2016 by legolas119

[Lordmonkus]

Set your Aspect Ratio to Custom then adjust the Custom Viewport Width and Height accordingly.

[legolas119]

ah yes ok. There is also the value "Core provided" and 4:3, if I choose them, i can set 1920 and 1200 with Integer scale = ON, with black band , but it is acceptable ok

and how can I solve the problem that i have if i try to change emulator (see my previous post with the image in attachment).

And for NES, which is in your opinion the best emulator available in Retroarch?

 

thanks

[Lordmonkus]

I use Nestopia personally but Fceux is just as good. I don't think either is better than the other, they both are excellent and each have different extremely minor emulation flaws.

Many NES games came with their own custom MMC type chips and no NES emulator to date emulates them all perfectly.

[legolas119]

thanks!

Well, I still have the same problem, I can't use any other emulator, i can use only super nintendo. After loading the FB Alpha core, I push Load Content --> Select File And Detect Core and then Add Content -->Scan directory. After that, it shows the 2 roms and the neogeo.zip bios.

But I'm not able to see the Neo Geo emulator icon with its romlist in Xbar of Retroarch...I mean as the Super Nitendo emulator does (there is a joypad icon with the 3 roms in the list). I don't know why.  I'm not able to play with a different emulator now, i can only use Super Nes...See this picture: after loading the core i continue to see Super Nes emulator

http://it.tinypic.com/view.php?pic=29c8mt0&s=9

 

thanks!

[Zombeaver]

You shouldn't need to do any of that so long as you're incorporating the core you want into your Retroarch emulator entry in LB. If you want to use FBA for NeoGeo, you just need to open your Retroarch emulator entry in LB -> associated platforms -> find NeoGeo in the list (or add it if it isn't there already, though I think it should be by default) and add/edit the command line parameter field to be -L "cores\fba_libretro.dll" (there are actually several different FBA cores, so double-check your core dll file name in your Retroarch -> cores folder. Whichever one you want to use needs to be in the command line parameter field after "cores\".

After that just add Retroarch as the emulator (if it isn't already) to any relevant games in your library.

[legolas119]

ah ok!

 

but in any case, it is impossible to run Neo geo emulator on Retroarch

 

I added NES emulator (Nestopia), I uploaded core info and database and then i pushed Load content --> Select file or Select file and Detect core  (if i choose select froma  collection, it is available ONLY the Super Nintendo collection, even if i try to add a new collection scanning the nes rom folder...) and the games work correctly in both ways.
If i run FBA and i try to run every rom (i tried both neo geo roms from MAME and Neo Rage X) Retroarch crashes...  The roms have they original name (aof.zip,  fatfursp.zip and so on). I don't know where is the problem

So i have created a new installation of Retroarch and I downloaded a new core list: unusually the Neo geo core that i used in the previous version of FBA, named Neo Geo (FB Alpha) is disabbeared! So now i select a different core, named FBA Alpha 2012 (neo Geo). Then I updated databases and Core info as usual, then i pushed Load content --> Select File and detect Core (or Select file) and then i select some roms and then Load Archive with Core but again, retroarch crashes...  I don't know where is the problem, I'm sure that roms are good because i use them in MAME and Neo Rage X...

thank you!

[Zombeaver]

I'm not sure what you mean... it's not impossible at all. Just follow the instructions I listed and you'll be able to play NeoGeo games through Retroarch just fine.

[Lordmonkus]

Well Mame and Neo Rage X can sometimes use different dumps of NeoGeo roms depending on the version of the emulator. When was Neo Rage X even last updated ?

I don't know how up to date your NeoGeo romset is but I run mine through both Retroarch fb_alpha_libretro.dll core ( fba_libretro.dll  works just as well too) and Mame 174 without issues.

If you are getting crashes it is either your rom set is incompatible with the FBA core or you don't have correct bios or your bios are in the same folder as your roms.

 

[legolas119]

ok, i will try with my neo geo romset from FBA 0.2.97.29  (in Retroarch there is 0.2.97.30 so i think that it is ok)

Now i create a new retroarch installation. After the first Core Updater, i have these 3 core that probably could be used for Neo geo: fbalpha2012_libretro.dll.zip, fbalpha2012_neogeo_libretro.dll.zip, fbalpha_libretro.dll.zip

I think that the 2nd is the specific fba for Neo Geo (indeed. after the Update Core info File, its name is FBA Alpha 2012 (neo Geo) )

I put neogeo.zip file in the same folder where i put the roms (not in "system").

Now i'm dowloading and updating everything (core, databases, core info, assets, shaders...) and i will create a backup Retroarch folder, cleaned  so I can use it if i have try again with some experiments  

 

I hope that with fba roms it will works...i will keep you updated!

[Lordmonkus]

When I go to the Online Updater and look at all the available cores there are 5 entries for FB Alpha, 4 of them are for 2012 so those would be for older romsets.

There is the FB Alpha 2012 which would handle everything FBA compatible then there are the 3 separated ones for CPS1, CPS2 and NeoGeo. The 3 separate ones from what I understand are just more specialized cores with the extra system stuff pulled out just for extra performance on low end systems like the Pi.

The one labeled Arcade(FB Alpha) is the one that will do everything FBA does and the most recent rom set. This is the one to be using unless your roms are old.

If your neogeo.zip bios are put in the same folder as your roms and your roms are proper up to date ones they will work.

Edit:

Ok maybe there is something weird going on here. I went in and update my FBA core and for some reason my NeoGeo games are not loading through  LB but they work just fine through RA on its own. I will work through this and figure it out.

Edit #2:

Ok so my first mistake was I had my platform named incorrectly in the emulators menu Neo Geo with a space instead of NeoGeo with no space, rookie mistake. But after fixing that I ran into crashes so I pulled the 3 different FBA cores out of my core folder and updated to the latest using the updater and that was the fbalpha_libretro.dll core. Now it is working perfectly.

I went into the core options and there seems to be a lot more options in there now than I remember being. I have been using Mame for my Neo Geo emulation for a while now.

[legolas119]

ok

I downloaded both the cores: 

1) fbalpha2012_neogeo_libretro.dll.zip --> Arcade (FB Alpha 2012 Neo Geo)

2) fbalpha_libretro.dll.zip --> Arcade (FB Alpha)

I have used same roms and neogeo bios that i currently have in my FBA 0.2.97.29 and now I have followed exacly these steps (from http://www.powerup.io/gaming/emulators/retroarch):

1. Main Menu → Add Content
2. Scan Directory → Scan This Directory (Checksums must match or games won't appear)
3. Go back to Home Screen
4. Settings → Playlists → Set each Playlist's Default Core
5. In the Main Menu you will now see a Playlist for each console.

And now i added 2 systems (FBA with those 2 cores and Super Nes with bsnes_accuracy) and they are available and I can see their icon and playlist!!!!!

Unfortunately some neogeo games don't work (retroarch creashes) and others work but there is the right side of the screen completly black! See this picture: http://it.tinypic.com/r/28h0jm0/9

So, i'm dowloading the complete FBA 0.2.97.38 romset (it is the newest) and then I will use fbalpha_libretro.dll.zip --> Arcade (FB Alpha)  that it is too v.0.2.97.38: i think that with the new romset i will be able to play correctly...i hope

Or do you think that i have to modifiy something in the video options (I have default settings now)

 

thanks!

Edited August 18, 2016 by legolas119