[Solved] Cannot launch RetroArch from newest version of LaunchBox

[SentaiBrad]

Well, we could update the defaults, and we should update the defaults (I already have a spread sheet of them, I've just been waiting for Jason to change them up), but yea. But yes, the Associated Platforms page is the key to making RetroArch work. You need to download the cores in RetroArch, then make sure LaunchBox is pointing the system to the right core, which requires making sure the platform name and the command line are set properly.

Oh, also, don't use the DS Core in RetroArch. There are a few systems (DS, PSP, and Dreamcast Primarily) that are very out of date or lack compared to standalone emulators. Stick with Desmume's dev builds or it's forked emulator.

[Rasmulus]

@Quartz I have been focusing on point 1) so much that I forgot checking  if the systems match up.. Thanks for the suggestion! I will try asap when I get home and let you all know what happens! Oh and @SentaiBrad sure thing I will switch my DS emulator up, one question tho, is it possible to have overlays outside of retroarch? I can't see how I'd live without them hehe. Also, how does the command line make things different? I have tried linking my config file after the core name like this: -c, but to no avail.

Thanks for having such an awesome product and community, I love it!

[Kolk1604]

@Rasmulus lol just posted this in another thread, but you should use Rocketlauncher to handle retroarch. I've been using it for years and it's amazing. You can manage which cores you want to load for each system, and load system specific config files. Overlays are also supported for any emulator I believe. Haven't really used them much outside of retroarch. 

[Rasmulus]

@Kolk1604 thanks man I'll try it out! I'm quite new to the wonderful world of emulation, but I'm learning And this RocketLauncher works good in conjunction with LaunchBox as well, right?

[Kolk1604]

3 minutes ago, Rasmulus said:

@Kolk1604 thanks man I'll try it out! I'm quite new to the wonderful world of emulation, but I'm learning And this RocketLauncher works good in conjunction with LaunchBox as well, right?

Yeah, it does. For the platform your using, you just need to set your emulator to RocketLauncher and it will do the rest. You also need to set Launchbox as your default frontend in RocketLauncher.

 

[Quartz]

@Kolk1604 and @Rasmulus actually RetroArch lets you Save and Load multiple Configuration files with different settings.  This is great since Launch Box lets you load different configurations based on different systems.  You may not need another program to do that.  though I'm not familiar with the other program.

 

Thanks,

Quartz

[SentaiBrad]

Actually, I am a big proponent of not using RocketLauncher, in fact, it will add more steps and make things more confusing. Right now, don't focus on using the -c command for custom configs, just make sure to get things launching first. But do keep in mind, you actually need custom configs in the configs folder for them to work. RetroArch's core and game override feature has also gotten much better too. For Overlays, only MAME and RetroArch handle them (and maybe some other emulators, but those are the two main ones). For other emulators you'd need to use RL for that, but again, If overlays are all you want then RL is not a solution at all in my book.

[Rasmulus]

Ok guys I'll see what I can do, if I get it to work without RocketLauncher I'll be happy, otherwise I'll just give it a try. We'll see.

[Kolk1604]

13 minutes ago, SentaiBrad said:

Actually, I am a big proponent of not using RocketLauncher, in fact, it will add more steps and make things more confusing. Right now, don't focus on using the -c command for custom configs, just make sure to get things launching first. But do keep in mind, you actually need custom configs in the configs folder for them to work. RetroArch's core and game override feature has also gotten much better too. For Overlays, only MAME and RetroArch handle them (and maybe some other emulators, but those are the two main ones). For other emulators you'd need to use RL for that, but again, If overlays are all you want then RL is not a solution at all in my book.

That's true.

I've always used Hyperspin and Retroarch isn't supported a supported system since it's pretty much dead and not really updated anymore. RL made it work really well.

[destac]

I think that you are experiencing the same issues that I'm having.

Here's my unsolved post: 

 

[martinconroy]

@SentaiBrad- are you able to share those recommended cores with us until they're updated?

Also, I'm finding it hard to save per-core configs in the 1.5.0 RetroArch. The setting doesn't seem to be in the same place as your original RA video.

[Lordmonkus]

Provide a list of the systems you want to emulate and I will give you my recommended cores or if required a stand alone emulator.

[martinconroy]

Thanks @lordmonkus.

I'm looking to emulate the following, using RetroArch as much as possible to ensure cross-os compatibility. TIA.

Arcade
Atari - 2600
Atari - 5200
Atari - 7800
Atari - Jaguar
Atari - Lynx
Atari - ST
Commodore 64
Commodore Amiga
Nintendo - GameBoy
Nintendo - GameBoy Advance
Nintendo - GameBoy Color
Nintendo - 64
Nintendo - NES
Nintendo - SNES
Nintendo - Wii
Sega - 32X
Sega - Dreamcast
Sega - Game Gear
Sega - Master System
Sega - MegaDrive / Genesis
Sinclair - ZX Spectrum
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket Color
Sony - PS1

[Lordmonkus]

Arcade - Retroarch Mame core, use the year that suits your romset 
Atari - 2600 - Retroarch Stella core
Atari - 5200 - This one is tricky, I will explain more below
Atari - 7800 - Retroarch ProSystem core
Atari - Jaguar - Retroarch Virtual Jaguar core but there is no good option here
Atari - Lynx - Retroarch Handy core
Atari - ST - I use Steem which is a stand alone emulator
Commodore 64 - Tagging @Zombeaver for this one, I don't emulate it
Commodore Amiga - FS-UAE @Zombeaver did a great tutorial for this, I will post a link below
Nintendo - GameBoy - Retroarch Gambatte core
Nintendo - GameBoy Advance - Retroarch mGBA core
Nintendo - GameBoy Color - Retroarch (I believe Gambatte does this) I use the BSnes core with a Super Gameboy rom
Nintendo - 64 - Retroarch Mupen64plus core but Project 64 2.3 is about equal
Nintendo - NES - Retroarch Fceumm or Nestopia core but stand alones like puNES and Mesen are technically better emulators
Nintendo - SNES - Retroarch BSnes Balanced Mercury core for best all around (this may change based on your system though)
Nintendo - Wii - Dolphin is the only choice here
Sega - 32X - Retroarch Pico core
Sega - Dreamcast - Demul is the best but NullDC if you don't have a powerful enough system to run it
Sega - Game Gear - Retroarch Genesis GX plus core
Sega - Master System - Retroarch Genesis GX plus core
Sega - MegaDrive / Genesis - Retroarch Genesis GX plus core
Sinclair - ZX Spectrum - I have no recommendations for this, I don't emulate it
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket - I don't emulate but Retroarch has the Beetle/Mednafen NGP core
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket Color - Same as above
Sony - PS1 - Retroarch Beetle PSX core or ePSXe 2.0.5 if you cannot run the Retroarch core

Atari 5200 is a pain in the ass. Here is a short guide about Atari 5200 emulation I wrote up a little while back. It pretty much explains it 

For Amiga here is the thread about it and video guide that @Zombeaver did for it. 

 

[martinconroy]

Amazing. Thanks for the quick response @lordmonkus

[Lordmonkus]

No problem.

[Zombeaver]

Technically there is a C64 core for RA now, but I don't recommend it. It doesn't have some of the really nice quality of life features that you can find elsewhere. There are several good C64 emulators - Hoxs64, WinVice, and CCS64 are all good. My personal recommendation is CCS64. If you use Windows 10, you'll probably need to download the Visual Studio 2015 recompile and replace the .exe as it apparently fixes some issues that people were reporting with W10. Links below for both.

CCS64 Download
CCS64 Visual Studio 2015 Recompile

I'm long overdue for making a CCS64 video tutorial, but here are some basic setup instructions.

You'll want to set the following in the emulator:

Special -> Maximum 1541 Speed -> On - Quiet

Options -> 1541 Emulation -> Saving -> Continuously

Options -> System -> PAL (63 x 312) [this might be the default, I can't remember]

Options -> Video -> Screen Mode -> 1280x800x32 (I actually use 1600x1000x32 but this is a non-standard resolution for Windows so it's not in the list by default - I had to add it to my usable resolution list in the nvidia control panel) You'll want to use a resolution that's a whole-number integer of the C64's native resolution (320x200) otherwise it won't scale completely and you'll get some blank space as a border.

Options -> Video -> Update Mode -> Automatic

Options -> Video -> Palette -> Palette Mode -> Use PAL Palette

Options -> Input -> Control Port 1 -> Joystick and set the Mode to PC Gameport 1 (I use a wireless 360 controller)

If you have a second controller connected, do the same thing for control port 2 but set it to PC Gameport 2. Otherwise, leave it blank and press Alt+F10 while playing if you need to switch control ports. Some games used port 1, others used port 2 - if you start a game and pressing the button doesn't do anything or you can't move your character or something similar, try switching the control ports with Alt+F10.

No special command line parameters are necessary in LB, but you'll want to enable "attempt to hide console window at startup" in the emulator entry.

Recommended file formats are D64, T64, and G64. These are disk image formats and will allow you to take advantage of the awesome Maximum 1541 Speed feature, which is essentially an auto-warp that activates when it detects that the game is loading data and then drops it back down to normal once the load is complete. It only works for disk image formats though so it doesn't do anything for CRT (cartridge) or TAP (tape) formats.

Avoid PP (.nib) files entirely - these are from the C64 Preservation Project and won't work in nearly any C64 emulator (except for micro64, which I don't recommend) without using Nibtools to convert them to a usable format (and even after conversion many of them still won't work due to copy protection). .nib files are 1-to-1 dumps of original, official C64 disks, including all of the original copy protection. The intended purpose of these files is to have a backup of the original game disks which can be duplicated onto new physical diskettes via transfer tools that were simultaneously released for that purpose. I've never understood why these are so commonly distributed on a number of emulation sites - they're effectively useless in that setting.

One final note on your game files - you have to be particularly careful about special characters in the filename. They'll work fine within CCS64 itself regardless, but when directing them to CCS64 via LB they won't work if there's anything particularly weird in the filename - even commas.

Hope this helps!

[martinconroy]

Wow - the knowledge in this community never ceases to amaze me!

Thanks @Zombeaver

[Zombeaver]

No problem! Official C64 nut here 

[SentaiBrad]

So, I haven't looked at this in a while, it probably needs some editing done to it again, and for me to add more to it (which I will). Either way, here ya go:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1aSGkhzHR4L7VDD5CPy-PVMFKiaGOiQhgZO56hUNaE/edit?usp=sharing

Edit: It's also not edited properly for general use, it was meant to just be something Jason and I used.