Naomi

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

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Re: Naomi

Post by dee2eR » Tue Aug 17, 2021 7:22 am

The RetroArch menu (f1, or start+b6) will be the way to fix up the p3 and p4 inputs for Naomi and FBA, assuming they work (pretty sure at least Naomi should). It may be as easy as assigning the controls in the input section of the main settings menu (it loads into a quick menu you have to exit with b2 to access the main menu).

There's also an option in the quick menu bit of the RetroArch menu for the Naomi service menu, unfortunately you can't just bind it to the cabs test or sevice button (at least not easily... it can probably be done), I think the default for it is p2 coin (far from ideal but works if you need it). As far as I know Atomiswave service menu isn't supported by Flycast but I may be wrong on that.

I should have taken a look at the 3 and 4 player stuff when I had the four player setup set up earlier... my bad.

Please post what you think of the comparison if you do it. For the stuff that works well Pi4 is good at it, but I don't think it will beat the actual Naomi for Naomi performance... lol. Although... There are a couple of edge case games that work better for me on Pi4 compared to netbooting on my Naomi due to stability (I have a Universal BIOS I haven't got around to trying to hopefully fix that though). It's also nice to be able to run some of the games at 240p rather than 480i, between not crashing and running at 240p I actually prefer playing SFZ3U on Pi4 to real hardware! (purists, put away the pitch forks and torches... lol, it's only one game and I'm pretty sure my NAOMIs BIOS isn't well suited to it)

There are a few games that don't run well or have some pretty bad issues though. Hopefully the emulator keeps being worked on and that sort of stuff improves over time. Luckily the Dreamcast versions of at least some of the troublesome arcade games work well, eg. Triggerheat Excelica.

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Re: Naomi

Post by FrizzleFried » Tue Aug 17, 2021 1:16 pm

Yeah... I spent an hour trying to get P3 and P4 to work. No success. I am having exactly the same luck trying to get P3 and p4 to work with NAOMI as I did with FBA. I've tried adjusting the controls in the QUICK MENU as well as under the settings INPUT section. Fail all the way around.

I can't tell if P3 or P4 inputs work at all because I can't get a game to start in P3 or P4 mode. I suspect it may be a setting inside the actual NAOMI settings that I might have to adjust from 2 or 4 players (not sure, some other games do that)... but I can't figure out how to get to the bloomin' service/test menus.

I noticed there was a controller config. file for P1 and P2 ... and I can select those in the INPUT section.... but there is no P3 and P4. I was hoping that was the problem...all I needed was those config. files.

Even with P3 and P4 set to ARCADE sticks... I can't get it to start P3 or P4. Heck, I can't even press any button on my keyboard to get P3 or P4 to start (I tried all number keys ... all letters ... etc) which has me wondering if it's a setting within NAOMI itself.
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Re: Naomi

Post by dee2eR » Wed Aug 18, 2021 6:15 am

The good news is I have just had player 3 working with Power Stone 2, player 4 would work too but I only have 1 extra control on my test bench so can only p3 or p4 at one time...

All I had to do was access the RA menu (f1) then press b2 to exit the quick menu, from the main menu pick Settings -> Input -> Port 3 Binds
change Device Type to arcade stick.
Device Index should be right already (MCP23017 ....etc(#1))
then set the controls for the D-Pad and buttons in this bit of the menu too. Picking bind all would probably work but I didn't use it just did each individually.
(if your p3 inputs are not being picked up in this menu did you set 4 player mode again after trying 2p mode to see if Naomi would work? )
Once P3 inputs are set back out once with b2 and go into Port 4 Binds and repeat for player four.
P4 device index will be MCP23017 ....etc. (#2), other settings set it up the same as player 3
once p4 is done test in game.

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Re: Naomi

Post by FrizzleFried » Wed Aug 25, 2021 1:24 pm

OK... after taking a step back for a few days I figured I'd give it a go again this morning.

...and success! Well, mostly. I have P3 and P4 working now... directions + B1 and B2. Still trying to determine what input B3 is... I keep mapping and still nothing thus far... I'm sure I'll eventually run across it.

Damn "controller" stuff...
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Re: Naomi

Post by FrizzleFried » Wed Aug 25, 2021 4:12 pm

...and button 3 is the Y-Shoulder evidently.

GOOD NEWS: Power Stone 2 and Guilty Gear are working fine. The same can not be said for WWF Royal Rumble or Dirty Pigskin thus far.

A step in the right direction at least!

Woohoo!
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Re: Naomi

Post by FrizzleFried » Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:37 pm

OK... got in to the Service/Test menus for NAOMI. Was able to get Dirty Pigskin in to 4-player mode and it seems to be working now.

I was able to get in to WWF Royal Rumble and change to 4-player mode, but I now get the error:

"I/O Board Does Not Meet the Game Specs"

...and I remember someone on another forum mentioning that Royal Rumble used some different I/O board for P3 and P4 than Powerstone (for example).

I suspect this may be the resulting error?

EDIT: Apparently it uses two separate I/O's for 4 players.

Will have to look in to this one.

Thrilled the others are working.
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Re: Naomi

Post by FrizzleFried » Wed Aug 25, 2021 8:28 pm

OK...

It appears the two Sega games ... Virtua Athlete and WWF Royal Rumble ... use two Sega I/O's ... and each give this error when I attempt to change from 2 player mode to 4 player mode:

"ERROR!!
I/O BD CONNECTED TO NAOMI BD DOES NOT
FULFILL THE GAME SPECS."

My hypothesis is that it's recognizing the 2nd I/O board isn't attached and is throwing the error.

I suspect there may not be a work-around for this.

The positive:

I have three working NAOMI games all running 4P ...

:)
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Re: Naomi

Post by FrizzleFried » Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:55 pm

HOT KEY question from within Retroarch...

How in the hell do I "unbind" something? I made the mistake of binding P1 joystick to B1 in error... I fixed it but it wants SOME SORT of Joystick Button/switch in replacement... I can't just unselect or remove. If I attempt to use the keyboard it ADD's the keyboard in addition to the joystick button.... ARGH... with an arcade stick... start, 3 buttons and a credit button... how do I get RID of that binding for ALL joystick buttons... leaving it back to just ESC for keyboard.


:(
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Re: Naomi

Post by FrizzleFried » Thu Aug 26, 2021 11:42 am

Welp.... seems Guilty Gear is a ... 5 BUTTON game. SO. Down to two... Power Stone 2 and Dirty Pigskin Football. :)

That is still 200% more than zero!

I've been poking around another forum and the general consensus there is that yeah, the emulator would have to be modified slightly to work with WWF Royal Rumble and Virtua Athlete in 4 player mode... seems it doesn't support two Sega JVS I/O's...
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Re: Naomi

Post by dee2eR » Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:42 am

I know it's not ideal on an arcade cab but the Dreamcast versions of those titles may work with four player. Not sure how much the home versions may differ from the arcade versions... at least they didn't require 2 JVS interfaces. Could be a work around until (hopefully) the emulator is updated to cover multiple JVS emulation.

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