Setting up emulators with Mame/Retroarch

[infinitycure]

Still trying to set everything up and had a few questions.  To be clear, the issues below are occurring directly in the Retroarch/Mame as well.

• Does anyone know how to get Vectrex working with Mame?  It seems like this is the best emulator for it, and I have it working fine for Mame games, but I can't seem to figure out how Mame is supposed to play other systems.
• I'm not able to get the these Retroarch cores to play games either.  
  • Atari 5200 with atari800_libretro core: Every game starts with a splash screen saying "...Emulation Halted...Sorry this program needs a real Atari..."
  • Atari Lynx with mednafen_lynx_libretro core: Games show a gray screen.
  • ColecoVision with bluemsx_libretro core: Games won't start at all.
• Any good recommendations for Retroarch graphic and shader settings?  For Mame, I used the settings posted here in the forums, but a lot of the info related to Retroarch seems subjective and not intuitive for someone who hasn't developed an eye for more ideal visuals.
• Would you recommend Amiga/Commodore 64?  I remember some of the games being fun, but really not sure which of 6 system/set of games are worthwhile and which emulator to use. 

 

[Lordmonkus]

2 hours ago, infinitycure said:

Does anyone know how to get Vectrex working with Mame?

Setting up Mame to run non arcade system requires some extra work along with bios and extra command line parameter. I have been meaning to do a generalized tutorial on setting this up but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

2 hours ago, infinitycure said:

• Atari 5200 with atari800_libretro core: Every game starts with a splash screen saying "...Emulation Halted...Sorry this program needs a real Atari..."
• Atari Lynx with mednafen_lynx_libretro core: Games show a gray screen.
• ColecoVision with bluemsx_libretro core: Games won't start at all.

These all require bios to work.

https://docs.libretro.com/library/atari800/

https://docs.libretro.com/library/beetle_handy/

https://docs.libretro.com/library/bluemsx/

2 hours ago, infinitycure said:

Any good recommendations for Retroarch graphic and shader settings?

It's very much personal preference and what you like but I would suggest starting with trying out some of the CRT shaders in the CRT presets folder.

2 hours ago, infinitycure said:

Would you recommend Amiga/Commodore 64?

Absolutely, both are great systems with many great games and a crazy active homebrew scene to this day with new games coming out all the time.

[infinitycure]

I've been able to get everything else working but still cannot get Atari 5200 or Vectrex working.  For Atari 5200, I'm having the exact same issue as this person from this post and really don't get what is causing it:

 

For Vectrex, I cannot seem to figure out how Mame works with other systems either.  Any ideas or even recommended websites to check out for these 2 remaining issues?  I'm currently at a loss with these and any suggestions are really appreciated!