grim. Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 People have found ways to run these ancient platforms either through MAME or MESS either through RetroArch or standalone and still launched through LaunchBox. MAME confuses me more every day as each platform I've dealt with requires at least a slightly different setup. Maybe there's something about MAME I'm not getting. Anyway, I'm just looking to figure out how to configure the Casio Loopy, RCA Studio II, and if anyone has tips on the future platforms I'll be working with just to avoid headaches I would greatly appreciate it. I'm listing the old platforms I've successfully got working so you see I've gotten somewhere. I'm not trying to throw a bunch of platforms to help me with individually. I'm hoping they all have something in common with MAME and learning that would make it easier to run older platforms on it. I managed to get the following working: Using the Latest Standalone MAME - Casio PV-1000 & Emerson Arcadia 2001 Using RetroArch MAME - Entex Adventure Vision Using Final Burn Neo - Neo Geo MVS/AVS (not that old but just mentioning) I can't get the following working on either MAME: Casio Loopy RCA Studio II I've read a little bit about MESS but most of what I've read is years old and I understand that MESS got absorbed into MAME so I don't know if MESS is recommended anymore. Maybe the current MAME build can handle everything now. Also, I tried using RCA Studio II's emulator "STEM" and Windows will not run it no matter how far back I set backwards compatibility. I probably have a better shot with MAME instead. So yeah, I'll accept any advice on setting up these platforms in LaunchBox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragon57 Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 If you have the bios rom for the RCA, studio2.zip, and the correct Software List roms, current MAME should be able to run the roms. Most roms start with corrupted graphics, so hit F3 to clear the screen, then Q to start the game. Loopy has issues here on my MAME setup with corrupted graphics, no sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grim. Posted July 18, 2020 Author Share Posted July 18, 2020 32 minutes ago, dragon57 said: If you have the bios rom for the RCA, studio2.zip, and the correct Software List roms, current MAME should be able to run the roms. Most roms start with corrupted graphics, so hit F3 to clear the screen, then Q to start the game. Loopy has issues here on my MAME setup with corrupted graphics, no sound. I have the studio2.zip and current MAME. I also just created an ini file which I didn't have earlier and even went into MAME64 and redirected my roms to the RCA Studio II folder. I'll add other roms later, but I just wanna focus on one platform to make it easier. What I'm not sure about is the "correct Software List roms" you speak of. Do you mean complete romsets? Because this is not the case. If there's a complete romset with all of these 1970s and 1980s roms in working condition, just let me know. By the way, the current issue is when I launch Space Wars on LaunchBox I get MAME's "initializing" message for a split second and then nothing happens. Then when I launch MAME64 and double-click it there, I get the message below. It's my understanding that BIOS need to be in the same folder as the roms and with their exact names. My Studio II folder clearly shows I've got everything where it should be. I'm even more confused by MAME's list of "available" machines even though every game has been renamed to match the "software name" listed on MAME's studio2.xml file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Looks like it's thinking the "spacewar" file you have is the Arcade Machine (as denote by "1997, Cinematronics"). So when it tries to run it, you get that error. (Assuming the spacewar.zip file you have is actually the RCA version). Double click Studio II, and try Spacewar inside there. (Note the games romset name for RCA Studio II is the exact same as for the Arcade Machine) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grim. Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 Yeah, same thing unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 In your mame.ini, for the rompath line, add some more quotes. Especially when you have spaces in the path. rompath "roms;"F:\Retro Games\RCA - Studio II"" Also confirm that you actually do/do-not have spaces before and after the dash ( - ). Though as I think about it, it's showing Studio II as "available". Hmmm.... Just for the heck of it, move your all your Studio II rom files (looks like 10 of them) into your ../Emulators/MAME/roms/ folder, start MAME and try double clicking Studio II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grim. Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 (edited) Yeah, I'm keeping everything on the "roms" folder for now to simplify my setup and it's the same message. I'm starting to think that maybe I need an older version of MAME. I also Googled to see what the arcade machines would be called but all I see are the Studio II files everywhere. Perhaps these games never had an Arcade release? Let me know if an older MAME, an old MESS, or even RetroArch cores would be a better alternative. The issue might be related to the fact that only 2 games and the BIOS are showing up. Edited July 19, 2020 by grim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 The 2 Studio II games that are showing coincidentally have the same rom (zip file) name as Arcade Machines. So what MAME thinks it's seeing are the Arcade Machines. At this point it's only looking at the physical rom (zip file) name. So when it tries to run them, it freaks out (because the roms (the files inside the zip file) are not the ones for the Arcade Machine it 'thought' it was trying to run. MAME 0.222 will open and run RCA Studio II games. Confirmed. If all went well, when you double click Studio II it would show the "17/17 software packages" as shown in the screenshot above. Note "Unfiltered" is selected, thus showing all 17 possible for Studio II). MAME [Arcade] "Machines" and MAME "Software lists" are 2 separate things. The Machines are (in general) the cabinets (or cabs) you found in your local arcade. And when people talk about MAME, this is typically what's being referred to. The Software Lists (or softlists) are your home consoles and computers (Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, RCA Studio II, Apple II... etc). So when looking for roms, you'll see something like (A) "MAME 0.222 ROMs" and (B) "MAME 0.222 Software List Roms". (A) is where you'll find the Arcade Machines (games) and also [most] "System", "Bios" and "Device" roms". (B) is where you'll find the software (games) for the various consoles and computers. For your scenario you'd find "studio2.zip" (the system file) in with (A) and the (up to 17 for Studio II) games in (B). You mentioned something about renaming the games. I hope you're just talking about the games Title inside LaunchBox. Never rename MAME zip files. There is a plugin in the downloads section here on the forums that some dude wrote/contributed that will assist in importing your Software List roms into LaunchBox. The main biggie feature is that when it imports the games into LB, it will set the games Title as per MAME's hash file (i.e. studio2.xml). But RULE #1 is to get you games working in the emulator before even thinking about testing/running them in LB. And you not there yet. In Windows Explorer, double click your studio2.zip file to look inside. Do the file names look like these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grim. Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 Nope, just a bin file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 Ya. That won't work. You'll need find it in set (A) [if you don't already have it]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 19, 2020 Share Posted July 19, 2020 The games' zip files will have a .bin file in them. And that's ok. But not studio.zip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grim. Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 Massive progress! So yeah, turns out that studio2.zip was not the right one even though it seems to be the right one for everyone else on the planet. Eventually I ended up with the right file, put everything where it belonged, and when I double-clicked Studio II inside of MAME I got the same list as you and Space Wars launched. Good news and bad = I launched the game one time, I even hit F3 as recommended for this console, and MAME reacted and it still looked awful and unplayable. I exited and relaunched MAME and I started getting error messages right away about checking for "version" tables. I threw my hands up at this surprise error but then I decided to drag and drop the Studio II files to a portable MAME .217 build and guess what........it works even better. I hit F3 and got a clear, glorious image of the game. Then I got a little bold and Googled how to set it up on RetroArch's MAME core. Within minutes I was running the game perfectly on RetroArch. It looks like I've reached the next milestone which is the nightmarish control mapping process. Hopefully RetroArch is easier with the Retropad but WOW, in 5 minutes I went from crashing on current MAME to playing on RetroArch MAME core. Thank you very much for the back and forth help. If you have any more advice I'd greatly appreciate it. Realizing that current MAME has issues with this system is a huge blow as I DO NOT want multiple MAME builds on my computer. The question of "which build should I get" was one that I was so happy to forget about. Now I'm revisiting it. I'll let the Casio Loopy's performance decide for me. I've got a tough evening ahead of me. i Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Glad you found the right studio2.zip and can now throw out the wrong studio2.zip that was right for everyone else on the planet. I've no idea what the version error thing is. Maybe the right studio2.zip is right for 0.217 but wrong for 0.222. There actually is some method to the madness that when MAME updates, so do some-to-many of the roms. So goes the ol' adage, make sure your MAME executable version matches the version of the romset you have. I personally don't use RA for MAME, because... well, MAME works. To me it's like getting in the pickup truck to haul your motorcycle down the road when you can just ride your motorcycle. But that's just me. Good luck with Loopy. MAME, either through RetroArch or stand alone is not going to be your friend on that one. But don't let that deter you from other softlist ventures. Advice: (geared towards standalone MAME, because I don't how how RA MAME works) - You only need to have one version of MAME. As long as the executable and rom versions match each other. Having the newest version every month isn't necessary, but if starting from scratch, may as well get the latest. It will NOT work less than any prior version. As long as everything matches. - If you plan to have a bunch of different softlist's (Apple, Amiga, Commodore, ZX Spectrum...), so that you don't have add each and every softlist path to the rompath line in mame.ini... in your main MAME folder, create a new subfolder and call it "software" and then add "software" to you rompath line. In that (new 'software') folder. put your softlist bios/system/device files in there. Then when you add the roms (games for the different console/computers), create a subfolder inside 'software' and name it the EXACT SAME NAME as the corresponding hash file (minus .xls) Example: D:\emulators\MAME\mame64.exe D:\emulators\MAME\software\studio2.zip D:\emulators\MAME\software\apple2gs.zip D:\emulators\MAME\software\studio2\spacewar.zip D:\emulators\MAME\software\studio2\speedway.zip D:\emulators\MAME\software\apple2gs\aaargh.zip D:\emulators\MAME\software\apple2gs\arkanoid.zip MAME automatically knows to look in subfolders of it's rompath for softlists (like studio2 and the apple2gs above). So you won't have to add each one to the rompath line. - If you plan to add a bunch of softlists to LaunchBox, you may want to look at the MAME Software List Import Tool (now that you know you can get it to work through the emulator). It should aid well for the import process. https://forums.launchbox-app.com/files/file/2080-mame-software-lists-import-tool-plugin/ - Softlist can a pain in the neck!! But with time and patience you'll git 'er done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grim. Posted July 20, 2020 Author Share Posted July 20, 2020 This sounds great, but I'm confused as to why I would need to create a software folder when I just throw everything into one folder anyway (roms folder). Does this prevent another issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 Remember the issue with spacewar.zip? There's an Arcade Machine that uses that name. The exact same name is used in the following softlists: channelf vectrax cpc_flop dragon_cass a2600 apple2_cass nascom_snap arcadia jaguar spectrum_cass studio2 So basically that's 12 different "spacewar.zip" files that are not interchangeable. Also, using the respective subfolders below 'software' will make things a lot more orderly. And when you decided you don't want the softlist 'nascom_snap' anymore, you just delete the folder along with its' 67 files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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