Q*Bert Issues

Questions about arcade game emulation support on the ARpiCADE (MAME, DAPHNE, Picodrive, etc...)

Moderator: dee2eR

ItalianNJ
Community Member
Community Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:18 pm

Q*Bert Issues

Post by ItalianNJ » Wed Apr 07, 2021 7:39 pm

I currently have qbert running under mame172 (which is what the set came with), and the sound is not real good (has this thumping background noise), and also when I go to the dipswitch menu, I can see the selector bar, but no text to see what I am editing. Could this be an emulator issue?

This was on the set purchased from HSS with my board.

dee2eR
Inventor
Inventor
Posts: 1857
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:07 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by dee2eR » Wed Apr 07, 2021 11:48 pm

Probably an older version of the software issue.

The last update (3.X.1) fixed up the refresh rate (speed) of QBert to be accurate to the original board (which fixed the sound pops issue).

You may want to update to the latest ARpiCADE. Check the releases thread of this forum.

ItalianNJ
Community Member
Community Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:18 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by ItalianNJ » Thu Apr 08, 2021 10:04 pm

I did the update - and something weird is going on - the attract screen is vertical, but all the games are showing horizontal now..
I even tried to change it in the service menu to Vertical.. with no success..

dee2eR
Inventor
Inventor
Posts: 1857
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:07 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by dee2eR » Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:36 am

That's not right... did you try to set it vertical in config.txt like on previous releases? If so, that's your issue as the way it is set to vertical has changed.

I'd try it again but after burning 3.X to the SD card boot it up and select vertical from the service menu.

Otherwise, please let me know what you did to get it to do that as it shouldn't, obviously. Otherwise I'm just guessing as I don't know what you have done so far.

ItalianNJ
Community Member
Community Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:18 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by ItalianNJ » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:12 pm

Here is what my config.txt contains if that helps?


# For more options and information see
# http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio ... fig-txt.md
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details

# disable Rpi rainbow splash
disable_splash=1

# Comment/uncommment to flip the image to account for monitor mounting
# this is a 180 degree flip NOT hori/vert mounting
# (see bottom of file for horizontal/vertical mount option)
display_rotate=2

# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# make sure the pi outputs to correct scanlines without overscan
# use this even when playing with overscan settings for best results
# on CRT monitors always use this setting
disable_overscan=0
#overscan_scale=1

# uncomment the following to adjust overscan / picture position. Use positive
# numbers if console goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
# also use overscan_scale so the emulators comply & still use disable_overscan
# do not adjust top and bottom or you will loose scanline perfect output although
# you can move the picture up or down evenly with okay-ish results better not to
#overscan_left=-40
#overscan_right=4
##overscan_top=40
##overscan_bottom=-4

# ignore edid - we just want video output to do as we say anyway
hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080

# force hdmi output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI so audio works
hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
config_hdmi_boost=6

# use full spectrum RGB over HDMI
hdmi_pixel_encoding=2

## PLEASE NOTE: due to the resolution switching launcher scripts changes made
## in this section are at your own risk, 480i is default for this build
# Use group 1, only change the mode. For Group 1 Mode 8 is 720x240,
# Mode 6 is 720x480i & Mode 1 is 640x480p. Any mode except 1, 6 and 8
# may have unexpected behaviour (see /boot/launchers/resSwitch.sh)
hdmi_group=1
## Use only one mode at a time
# Boot and menus in 480i (rotated games in 480i, non rotated games in 240p/256p/288p)
#hdmi_mode=6
# Boot and menus in 240p (all games in 240p/256p/288p)
#hdmi_mode=8
# Boot and menus in 480p (no res switching, just 480p)
hdmi_mode=1

# Increase gpu mem for complex Attract-Mode themes to work properly
gpu_mem=256
#gpu_mem=128

# Uncomment to overclock RPi2
#arm_freq=1000
#sdram_freq=500
#core_freq=500
#over_voltage=2
#temp_limit=80 #Will throttle to default clock speed if hit.

# Experimental RPi3 overclocking - reported stable, you may want a heatsink
# the 1A fuse on a RaspberryJAMMA can be safely upgraded to a 2.5A fuse for RPi3
# and probably should be for overclocking
#arm_freq=1350
#over_voltage=4
#sdram_freq=550
#core_freq=550
#gpu_freq=550
#temp_limit=80 #Will throttle to default clock speed if hit.

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

# Enable 4 player adaptor over i2c
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented /boot/overlays/README
# Experimental keyboard based JAMMA controls - no working hotkeys system currently
#dtoverlay=raspberryjamma

# I need to test these
#disable wifi
#dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi
#disable bluetooth
#pi3-disable-bt

# Extra settings for ARpiCADE do not unhash these settings to use them
# Really, DO NOT UNHASH THESE SETTINGS they are not RPi boot settings and need to
# be hashed out exactly as is to work properly.
# to set vertically mounted monitor make this =1 but LEAVE THE LINE HASHED OUT
# just add (or remove) the 1
#monitor_mount=1

ItalianNJ
Community Member
Community Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:18 pm

UPDATE: Q*Bert Issues

Post by ItalianNJ » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:41 pm

Update - I fixed it, the file vert.txt was missing, even though the system was set to vertical. It didn't seem to create the file. I uploaded a blank vert.txt and now it's fine.

dee2eR
Inventor
Inventor
Posts: 1857
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:07 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by dee2eR » Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:59 am

I didn't realise you were running high res. The update probably won't change Qbert, as in high res mode it isn't going to use the correct low res for the game anyway.

Glad you got it figured out though.

ItalianNJ
Community Member
Community Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:18 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by ItalianNJ » Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:47 pm

Since I only have vertical games, is there any reason I shouldn't just change over to low res?

ItalianNJ
Community Member
Community Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:18 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by ItalianNJ » Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:30 pm

Actually, disregard - looks like I can't change, I tried every other mode, and the monitor is not supporting anything other than hdmi_mode=1
Sorry for the confusion. Looks like the Qbert game is back to making that noise again and can't get into the dip switch settings.. :(

dee2eR
Inventor
Inventor
Posts: 1857
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:07 pm

Re: Q*Bert Issues

Post by dee2eR » Sun Apr 11, 2021 5:25 am

You can probably fix it in the launcher for 172 (/boot/launchers/mame172.sh ) by adding
-nosyncrefresh -nowaitvsync
to (lines 40 and 55, in the version I checked).

Find (starts at about line 38)
# 480p high res settings (untested at other res)
elif [ $hdmimode == hdmi_mode=1 ]; then
aconfig="-unevenstretch -ror"
and change it to
# 480p high res settings (untested at other res)
elif [ $hdmimode == hdmi_mode=1 ]; then
aconfig="-unevenstretch -ror -nosyncrefresh -nowaitvsync"
I think that should fix qbert and any other vert game that has that issue in 172 in high res. The same addition at line 55 should fix for horizontal monitors. Please report back with your results.

If you edit this file on Windows make sure to use Notepad++ or other good text editor, the built in Windows notepad will probably break it. Also not a bad idea to make a copy of the file first in case of typo or whatever...

Post Reply