PSX games not starting in LaunchBox (via Retroarch)

[avalanche4000]

Hi everyone. I'm running retroarch through Launchbox. I've been playing PSX games using the Medafan core and it's been working fine the last couple of months. However I just did the new Launchbox update and now when I try my PSX roms I get a run time error. I tried my SNES and mame roms and they're running fine but it seems the PSX roms aren't working. Not sure if it was the Launchbox new update?

[SentaiBrad]

Try updating your RetroArch install (you can carry over your config, system folder and config folder), and see if that resolves it. I've had this come up randomly with very specific versions of RetroArch and I don't know where it's coming from, but it's only happened twice. It was usually a new version, so I had to go backwards in each case, but a week or two later I would update again and I wouldn't get the error.

[avalanche4000]

SentaiBrad said Try updating your RetroArch install (you can carry over your config, system folder and config folder), and see if that resolves it. I've had this come up randomly with very specific versions of RetroArch and I don't know where it's coming from, but it's only happened twice. It was usually a new version, so I had to go backwards in each case, but a week or two later I would update again and I wouldn't get the error.

I updated everything to the latest version of Retroarch, updating everything, re-added the cores. However I'm still having the same error. I got 1 game to work but then tried about 20 others and I get the same error.

[SentaiBrad]

Then go back a version, or the the version you were using previously that worked until there is a new version. I don't know what causes this error, but like I said it did go away when I changed RA versions, but you may have to wait, or try nightlies till it works. I'd also head on over to their forums and ask them if they know what can cause this issue as well.

[avalanche4000]

SentaiBrad said Then go back a version, or the the version you were using previously that worked until there is a new version. I don't know what causes this error, but like I said it did go away when I changed RA versions, but you may have to wait, or try nightlies till it works. I'd also head on over to their forums and ask them if they know what can cause this issue as well.

I went back and had another look at this and in Launch Box I selected the 'Extract ROM archives before running' option and then tried launching it and it worked! From memory I don't remember having this option selected before (although I could of). Is this a option that is recommended to have on? I mean my PSX games are now working but thought I should ask anyway.

[Lordmonkus]

This is a setting for people who like to keep their roms in a compressed format like zip, 7z or rar to save hard drive space. It gets problematic for emulators like Mame which requires its roms in a zip or 7z file because there are more than one rom image in the zip / 7z file. It's only recommended to be on if you keep your roms in a compressed format for a system that is not Mame or some other emulator that requires that type of format for the same reasons. I am assuming you have your PSX games in a zip or 7z file ?

[avalanche4000]

lordmonkus said This is a setting for people who like to keep their roms in a compressed format like zip, 7z or rar to save hard drive space. It gets problematic for emulators like Mame which requires its roms in a zip or 7z file because there are more than one rom image in the zip / 7z file. It's only recommended to be on if you keep your roms in a compressed format for a system that is not Mame or some other emulator that requires that type of format for the same reasons. I am assuming you have your PSX games in a zip or 7z file ?

Oh ok. Yeah I've got them all zipped up as 7z. For some reason I thought PSX needed to be zipped up and it seemed to keep things organized. If I have to change it over into a folder system instead, then I'm not too worried but if I can get away with keeping it as 7zip then I'm fine with that as well

[Lordmonkus]

Nah, it doesn't matter. If it works for you then it's all good. The only benefit to having them extracted is it is faster loading because you don't have to wait for your system to extract the files first which is what that extract option does, it's extracting the disk image to a temporary folder first so the emulator can load it. Personally I keep mine extracted and each game in their own separate folder but it's personal preference. Another option is to compress the games into a PBP format which has the benefit of being compressed and not needing to be extracted first and you can combine multidisk games into a single file but that is extra work to go through and convert them all.

[avalanche4000]

Rad! cheers for the info. It clears a lot of things up for me and explains why my PSX games weren't working. Probably will keep them as 7zip for the time being as I'm building a new computer next year just for emulation and everything will get moved over onto that. So 7zip will keep everthing organized for when I do the move.

[wolfbed]

Ja, my roms are .bin files (non compressed) and it still doesn't work.  Launcbox imported them fine, but when I click to play nothing happens.  I have games for other systems that work fine, it's just the psx ones that do this.  Please help.  Thanks.

RetroArch 1.7.4 (set to use mednafen_psx_libretro core) - Windows 10 Pro - Launchbox 8.7 (paid version) - i7 3930k, 16gb ram, gtx titan, asrock x79 extreme4

[Lordmonkus]

Did you import the cue files for the games instead of bins ? Do your PS1 games have cue files ? Retroarch requires them to work.

[wolfbed]

hey thanks for replying.  I have both .bin and .cue files in their individual folder, per game.  An example: I have a folder called "crash bandicoot" and crashbandicoot.bin and crashbandicoot.cue files within.  The .cue file reads thus:

FILE "crashbandicoot.bin" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

Also, the game works in RetroArch, so I don't understand why not in Launchbox.

Thanks!

Edited September 13, 2018 by wolfbed

[Lordmonkus]

Did you import the cue file in Launchbox ? Do you have the proper core selected in the Edit Emulator > Associated Platforms section of your Retroarch emulator in LB ?

[wolfbed]

I imported the .cue/.bin files in Launchbox.  The emulator selected in Launchbox is RetroArch, and its associated to Sony Playstation platform.  I've tried three differrent cores, although the only one that works in RetroArch is pcsx_rearmed.  The beetle_hw works only 50% it's super slow, and the other beetle one just doesn't work at all.  Although the rearmed core works in RetroArch, it doesn't in Launchbox.   Thanks for your prompt reply!   

Edited September 13, 2018 by wolfbed

[Lordmonkus]

If you imported both files it might be that LB is trying to launch the bin files, you want to only import the cue files.

[wolfbed]

Ok, thanks!  I'll try that.

[wolfbed]

Hi!  So I deleted the PSX game and imported ONLY the .cue files.  I selected RetroArch as the emulator and left everything on default settings.  After successfully importing it, I click Play, the screen fades to black and nothing happens.  Here are my results with the following cores:

pcsx_rearmed - this was the default, just a fade to black then nothing.

mednafen_psx_hw : runs at 1/3 of normal speed.

mednafen_psx : crashes RetroArch

The thing is, when I launch the game in RetroArch using the rearmed core, it works fine.  I don't understand.

Thanks!

[Lordmonkus]

What you are describing is strange because if they work with the HW version of the Mednafen core they should work with the software one and I can see games working with the Rearmed core but not the other 2 because the Mednafen core is much pickier over the disk images.

[wolfbed]

Well, the mednafen core runs SUPER SLOW, that's why I'm trying the rearmed one.  Could it be that it's trying to run at different refresh rate?  And if so, how do I change that?      But at this point I really don't know what to do.    Thanks for your help.

[Lordmonkus]

You said the HW core was running slow but the non hardware one won't load your games which is very strange.

Why would it be trying to run at a different refresh rate >