Retroarch or Emulators

[neil9000]

Yeah launchbox is much easier to setup, i dabbled with hyperspin myself before i discovered launchbox and never looked back. As for retroarch once you get over that initial hump it's a great program to use and the fact that it is a universal ui for so many different systems it just makes everything so much easier, a option is in the same place for snes as it is for spectrum, where as if i was using stand alone for them absolutely everything would be different.

[Thatman84]

On 6/20/2017 at 9:57 PM, SentaiBrad said:

Some cores do different things. Like the Nestopia core is lauded as being perfect emulation now, but it does require a more beefier CPU. I did make a custom list, that I've been trying to get Jason to edit the defaults to. I also need to update it, but it's fairly complete.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1aSGkhzHR4L7VDD5CPy-PVMFKiaGOiQhgZO56hUNaE/edit#gid=0

The MAME cores are only labeled if you dig for that info. The "MAME" core, with no year, is usually the most up to date.

Apologies for butting into this thread but it was a good read. OP's questions have been answered afaik.

i love this little nugget of info. Is there a thread for it anywhere?

i see Amiga is not listed for an emulator.

would that be winuae?

[Lordmonkus]

Winuae is a good option but @Zombeaverdid an awesome guide for FS-UAE which I used and can confirm it is the best way to go as a whole.

 

[THRobinson]

I was using that doc today for getting cores, though (if the author is reading) I would love to see the name as it appears in RetroArch in the list for each core. Some were hard to figure out based on the libretro.dll name in the doc.

Edited June 25, 2017 by THRobinson

[Thatman84]

2 minutes ago, THRobinson said:

I was using that doc today for getting cores, though (if the author is reading) I would love to see the name as it appears in RetroArch in the list for each core. Some were hard to figure out based on the libretro.dll name in the doc.

You can manually download them from here if it helps.

https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/windows/x86_64/latest/

Its where the Online Updater grabs them from for Windows 64bit

[SentaiBrad]

Well like I said in another thread, that list wasn't meant to be for the users. It was only ever meant to be something Jason and I used. The only thing that's changed is Mednafen is Beetle now, but the cores are still labeled mednafen. Otherwise, it sorts it by platform so that narrows things down.

[SentaiBrad]

Oh also, to the conversation about the PS3 controller @THRobinson, for PS3 controllers, you need extra software installed, and most of it is hard to find now. I used to use MotionJoy, and when searching it up recently I found the website offline. You can't even download it from another site to use it, because the application requires the internet and the site no longer exists, so it wont work. I recall there being an offline version or an alternate piece of software, but I don't know where or what they are anymore. Ever since I switched to the superior PS4 controller, I have only used the PS3 controller on my PS3. Once you have it installed though, the PC will think it's a 360 controller, and it should bind automatically. It might bind automatically even with it's default drivers, but it's best overall to install MotionJoy or equivalent for PS3 controllers, and InputMapper for PS4 controllers, as this converts the drivers used to Xinput, which means more software and game compatibility.

RA's layout is perfectly fine to me, to be honest. Everything is in sections, and everything in those sections seems to belong. The only thing that's hard to understand is the Quick Menu, which only shows up with a game or core loaded. In there are extra settings and options mostly related to the game or core loaded, hence why it only shows up when a game or core is loaded up. There are also some other hidden things like pressing Tab in MAME RA, like in regular MAME, to bring up that MAME UI menu. I would also like to mention that RA isn't the best at every single system. All the new systems they just added recently are very much Alpha or Beta status and shouldn't be used as a replacement just yet, with the exception of maybe the X68000 core. Otherwise, even some of the cores that have been there a while aren't better than the Standalones. DS, PSP, DOS, Dreamcast, all come to mind quickly. MAME used to be on that list, but it's gotten much much better in recent months. I still prefer MAME Standalone, but hey. As far as MESS goes in MAME, I would avoid it in RA like the plague. The core's emulation it's self is good, but it's getting MESS in MAME in RA to run that's the issue. Just the way I had to explain it should showcase why.

[THRobinson]

I have the PS3 working... found software that worked from links in a YouTube video. Downloaded the video and files, saved in a folder and keeping that just in case a few years from now I need it again. Been doing all my testing with the PS3 plugged in, not sure if will use on the arcade or not. I don't plan to have many games that need a controller to play on the cabinet, but I will be adding a pair of USB ports at the front just in case. So far, PS2 God of War 1 & 2 are on the list, but nothing else.

Spent half the day yesterday scraping artwork/info for the systems. Got the NES, SNES, N64, Naomi, Naomi2 and MAME loaded. Main issues now are small things, like trying to close the game and getting booted into RetroArch instead of back into the LaunchBox screen, or sometimes into the MAME screen with the list of games and some config menu options, but won't let me navigate easily. Small stuff like that.

[Thatman84]

Did you use SCP (ScarletCrushProductions) for the PS3 to Xbox driver? Afaik thats the one to use. Used it myself a couple of years back and still works now. Also works with bluetooth so long as you have a dedicated dongle.

Not sure on your exit method for games in RetroArch but you can setup a new Hotkey in RA settings-》input-》 input hotkey binds-》

Set it to an availiable key thats not escape and then it should give you a clean exit from retroarch.

Theres a few other options for that im a bit hazey on in PC use but there are ways to get you setup just need to keep digging

[THRobinson]

Yup... that's the one. I knew it had crush in the name but couldn't recall the rest.

Exit wise. I go into LaunchBox, start the game, click START+SELECT to exit, and it takes me into RetroArch. I'd rather go into LB, start a game, then hit START-SELECT to exit and have it go right back into LB. Retroarch I never want to see once I have it setup.

Don't recalling having that issue when I was on my desktop PC. I have the Arcade "guts" now built into an old case so I can get it set up. I suspect I messed something up because I have HyperSpin as well to try out so, maybe messed up some settings.

[Thatman84]

Ok i think I know what that is.

In Input settings there is a menu select gampad combo. Turn that off as by default its Start+Select.

Now for your setup in the hotkeys menu i said about earlier assign your "enable hotkey" to start and "quit" key to select

That will give you the combo for exit (hit start 1st hold then select)...as a side effect any other hotkeys you have setup like fastforward or save state will require you to hit Start before the other key

Just got to make sure it doesnt clash with other setups. 

Make some backups or a test setup while you get this stuff sorted out....controlling multiple systems is fairly hard to wrap ones head around

[THRobinson]

Thanks, will give a try when at home after work.

Been keeping a notebook and backups. If anything goes wrong in a year from now, I don't want to have to relearn all this stuff.

I think half my day yesterday was watching progress bars. Copying files to the arcade build, importing the games, scraping the games. I was testing with about 5 games per system on my PC so was much quicker.

I also partitioned my 1TB drive, 40GB for the OS, and the rest for the Arcade stuff, just in case a problem pops up and I need to format and reinstall Windows. Should be enough space. Not dealing with a lot of ISO images.

[LeonX]

On 6/20/2017 at 3:51 PM, neil9000 said:

I like scanlines personally, Here is how my mame looks in retroarch.

Where I can get this bezel?

[DeadVoivod]

You can find bezels at Emumovies. Or in a MAME set in the artwork section, MAME extras set has them too. 

Edited October 25, 2020 by DeadVoivod