ARpiCADE_5 - for Pi4 or Pi5

[FrizzleFried]

OK... looking at the script for the updater... it looks like both updates can easily be done manually.

Just in case though... let me ask...

"mv" = move... right? I move that file from the update folder to wherever the updater indicates...

Is "rm" remove? It appears that it removes the files from the update folder after it's done it's job.

Adding MAME269 is a little more complex, but shouldn't be a big deal. Just move the files to where it indicates and done... right?

Am I missing anything?

EDIT: I just realized that I need to work smart and not hard. I simply moved the default controller config to the proper folder on the linux side ... then moved the 269 update to the update folder where I'll install it when I put the card in the cab. I am going to follow the naming convention and go with mame-269 for the folder name on the Windows side...



Will report back.

[dee2eR]

Also... i'm trying to clean up a little. There is a PLEASE WAIT type of message that appears upside down and squished for a second or less before LOADING shows up... I found the LOADING images... I can not find the PLEASE WAIT images. I plan on making those images just a single black dot which would eliminate the upside down PLEASE wait message...

Possibly the startup romscanner running? There's no need to have it run every time if it the cause.

[dee2eR]

Samples folder on the WINDOWS folder doesn't seem to be working. I put samples in there (each zipped)... but AdvMAME (which I know uses samples) doesn't play them... and .172 (which I suspect uses samples) doesn't use them. Both those versions play full speed with no sound other than voice. Unfortunately .251 plays with full sound... at the expense of speed. This old dog plays about 60% speed (estimated) in MAME .251.

I'm about to go see if I can find sample folders in each mame.

EDIT: OK... dropping samples in to .advmame/sample fixed advmame... however creating both /sample and /samples (I've read it both ways) with samples in both folders did not fix .172 (if Astro Blaster indeed uses samples for .172).

The folder in /boot/ should be 'sample' and not 'samples' at least according to the advmame and 172 config files. Looks like I've made a mistake setting it up.

[dee2eR]

OK... looking at the script for the updater... it looks like both updates can easily be done manually.

Just in case though... let me ask...

"mv" = move... right? I move that file from the update folder to wherever the updater indicates...

Is "rm" remove? It appears that it removes the files from the update folder after it's done it's job.

Adding MAME269 is a little more complex, but shouldn't be a big deal. Just move the files to where it indicates and done... right?

Am I missing anything?

EDIT: I just realized that I need to work smart and not hard. I simply moved the default controller config to the proper folder on the linux side ... then moved the 269 update to the update folder where I'll install it when I put the card in the cab. I am going to follow the naming convention and go with mame-269 for the folder name on the Windows side...



Will report back.

Yeah the updates are just scripts that automatically do things you can do yourself from the command line (if you want to). mv is move, cp is copy, rm is remove... For directories more than 1 folder deep adding -r makes the commands recursive to go through each child dir. Other Linux commands you will see in the update scripts could include 'touch' for making new files, 'mkdir' for new folders, 'ln' for symlinking etc. All standard command line stuff.

[dee2eR]

... and, unfortunately, nope. I added 1 next to hiscore... still no saving high scores. ODDLY mame172 folder... of which mame172 is saving high score ... it's plugin.ini shows HISCORE 0 ...not HISCORE 1. Is there a different ini file I should be looking somewhere other than in the mame in questions folder by chance?

172 used the old system for high scores. MAME after 174 uses the new one.

I'll have a look at the hiscores in 251 later today. There may be a second config file or something I've missed, or maybe I just misunderstood the readme...

EDIT: what I missed was adding /home/pi/.mame/plugins to mame.ini... I've changed the line to :
pluginspath /usr/share/games/mame/plugins;$HOME/.mame/plugins
and I'm testing now in 251.

EDIT again: it was trying to save hiscores in /boot/, we also need to change the homepath in mame.ini to $HOME/.mame:
homepath $HOME/.mame

Final EDIT as I don't know if anyone is coming back to this post: I've now also got MAME 0.269 using the same hiscore files as 251. In the one game I've tested (Snowbros) it works... I set a score in 251 and loaded it in 269, I'm hoping as the datfile is the same so are the other details I don't know about. If this causes any issues I can always split it into 2 diff hiscore dirs later, for now it's convenient to let them share.

[dee2eR]

Dee2er...

Can you think of a way I can get .269 installed. I ask because I can't actually install it until I put it in my cabinet... but then when I go back to the PC to add ROMS, etc... it will break the card.

Hmmm... maybe if you give me the folder name/path for the ROMS, i can then add the ROMS before I actually add the .269 version?

Also, can I put multiple things in the UPDATE folder? Because if not... then how would I both add the controller change and .269 being I would have to ... again ... go back to the PC to add one or the other after the first... no?

You can compress updates and mods into one script and run them all at once, sure. You would just need to make sure there are not any logic mistakes in the new combined script. It is possible that one update would replace a file from another update so a bit of care to use the newest ones or have things happen in the right order in your new combined update script.

[FrizzleFried]

Also... i'm trying to clean up a little. There is a PLEASE WAIT type of message that appears upside down and squished for a second or less before LOADING shows up... I found the LOADING images... I can not find the PLEASE WAIT images. I plan on making those images just a single black dot which would eliminate the upside down PLEASE wait message...

Possibly the startup romscanner running? There's no need to have it run every time if it the cause.

Hmm... could be... hard to read... where is that configuration (I'm sure i'll find it).

[dee2eR]

Also... is there anything else I can do "automatically"? Is there a configuration file somewhere that would allow me to pre-install...

• Vertical Mode
• 480i Mode

Also... could I manually do the updates ahead of time (controller and mame269) by doing what the update does myself?

Either of these can easily be scripted. Both are just empty text files created in /boot/ (/boot/firmware/ when running) that other scripts check for, the startup romscan is too.

You may want to check out /boot/launchers/servMenu.sh (but please keep in mind there are some outdated things still in the script that are no longer used from the service menu), a lot of little things may make more sense *(or not) after you've seen how the service menu is working.

[FrizzleFried]

FWIW I am up and running on 269 as well now... and right off the bat I like it... it runs 1942 (oddly 251 didn't).

[dee2eR]

FWIW I am up and running on 269 as well now... and right off the bat I like it... it runs 1942 (oddly 251 didn't).

172 also has an issue with 1942 on Pi4 builds... not sure why but it segfaults... (pretty sure it works on Pi3 though) It's possible I've made a mistake compiling or something, but then I didn't compile 251 so who knows...

Outfoxies also works right in 269 but has some issue I don't understand in other versions (it freezes between the rom test and game start). Again no idea why... at least it seems to be very few specific titles but it's a mystery to me too.