(Tutorial) Android Atari 5200 & RetroArch Setup

[nespcbuild]

5 hours ago, thatman84 said:

This is for android not pc @nespcbuild

Thanks. I saw that but I didn't know it mattered. The process for setting up RA is the same but apparently RL launches the roms differently in Windows. 

Just out of curiosity - have you been able to get the intellivision voice synthesis module to work? I noticed it doesn't seem to be working on Windows or Android when using retroarch but does work in regular mame/mess on Windows. 

[thatman84]

6 hours ago, nespcbuild said:

Just out of curiosity - have you been able to get the intellivision voice synthesis module to work? I noticed it doesn't seem to be working on Windows or Android when using retroarch but does work in regular mame/mess on Windows. 

Sorry I have not heard of this

[nespcbuild]

2 hours ago, thatman84 said:

Sorry I have not heard of this

OK thanks and nice work on the guide. Even though I'm still having some issues with RL in Windows it was pretty helpful in being able to get the mame core working in retroarch. 

[thatman84]

Reading the MAME.ahk from RocketLauncher is really helpful for figuring out stuff. Probably with the help of notepad++ and search!

[badhemi]

On 3/14/2017 at 8:14 AM, nespcbuild said:

Thanks. I saw that but I didn't know it mattered. The process for setting up RA is the same but apparently RL launches the roms differently in Windows. 

Just out of curiosity - have you been able to get the intellivision voice synthesis module to work? I noticed it doesn't seem to be working on Windows or Android when using retroarch but does work in regular mame/mess on Windows. 

What is it and how does it work?

[nespcbuild]

15 minutes ago, badhemi said:

What is it and how does it work?

Intellivoice is a voice synthesis module for the intellivision console. It works in standalone mess but I haven't found a way to get it working in retroarch mess/mame core. A good example of what it does is in the game b17 bomber at the title screen, a voice will say "mattel electronics presents b17 bomber". The rom still works in the RetroArch mame/mess cores but the voice synthesis is missing. I've experimented with moving around the intellivoice bios files to different directories but can't get it to work in retroarch. 

[thatman84]

9 hours ago, nespcbuild said:

Intellivoice is a voice synthesis module for the intellivision console. It works in standalone mess but I haven't found a way to get it working in retroarch mess/mame core. A good example of what it does is in the game b17 bomber at the title screen, a voice will say "mattel electronics presents b17 bomber". The rom still works in the RetroArch mame/mess cores but the voice synthesis is missing. I've experimented with moving around the intellivoice bios files to different directories but can't get it to work in retroarch. 

Interesting, what are the files named and anything special needed in normal MAME for this. (Samples,ini settings) can give it a test.

[badhemi]

12 hours ago, nespcbuild said:

Intellivoice is a voice synthesis module for the intellivision console. It works in standalone mess but I haven't found a way to get it working in retroarch mess/mame core. A good example of what it does is in the game b17 bomber at the title screen, a voice will say "mattel electronics presents b17 bomber". The rom still works in the RetroArch mame/mess cores but the voice synthesis is missing. I've experimented with moving around the intellivoice bios files to different directories but can't get it to work in retroarch. 

There is no XML for intellivoice only for intellivoice with computer. That only has a few games on its XML. This is why it doesn't work. Plus you need ROM files so if you have bin you must convert bin to rom

[nespcbuild]

5 hours ago, thatman84 said:

Interesting, what are the files named and anything special needed in normal MAME for this. (Samples,ini settings) can give it a test.

TBH I'm not %100 sure which file it requires. I'm guessing it would be intvsrs.zip or inves.zip I always use the full bios set containing all the zipped bios file. In MESS, you just had to have those zipped files in your roms folder and there was no additional configuration needed. 

 

@badhemi

Not sure if I'm understanding you correctly but intellivoice is not a separate system. It's an add on for intellivision and adds voice synthesis to certain intellivision games. It wouldn't need it's own hash xml because the games are in the intv xml and it also notes in that xml which games support the intellivoice module. Look at "b-17 bomber"  in the intv hash xml to see an example. 

[EyMannMachHin]

*sigh* @thatman84 The A5200 setup is kind of driving me crazy.

I still must miss some vital part there or RA 1.5.0 with MAME 0.185 core is broken. It just keeps crashing on trying to load any Atari 5200 content (also Virtual Jaguar is not working, but that is not subject of this thread ) I did the config file magic to make HSA launched RA use the same locations as the standalone version, so config/BIOS points to /storage/emulated/0/RetroArch/configs. 

My ROMs are on a NAS, like yours, the path is a tad deeper, but that has not stopped A2600 or A7800 ROMs from working with their respective cores. 

All my ROMs are compressed in 7z including the a5200 BIOS and are lying together on the NAS in one directory. (/storage/ALEXANDRIA/Data/ROM/HyperSpin/Atari/5200)

I copied the ./hash and ./ini and ./roms and mame.ini from the PC installation, the first rompath in mame.ini points to the local ./roms folder and I did <b>not</b> create an a5200.ini file in the ./ini folder, as the tutorial mentions it's not needed anymore. 

Since it still kept crashing I successively placed the a5200.7z BIOS over the various config locations. So there is now /storage/emulated/0/RetroArch/configs/a5200.7z, /storage/emulated/0/RetroArch/configs/mame/a5200.7z, and /storage/emulated/0/RetroArch/configs/mame/roms/a5200.7z in addition to 5200.7z with the ROMs on the NAS. 

I created the CMD files with your script (...and checked the path in there, twice, thrice...) and put them with the ROMs onto the NAS. So my ROM directory looks basically like yours like you posted here http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forums/topic/31245-big-newsthen-end-of-renaming-softlists/

Atari 5200.ini in HSA Settings_Android looks like this

<code>

[exe info]
path=
rompath=/storage/ALEXANDRIA/Data/ROM/HyperSpin/Atari/5200
userompath=true
exe=com.retroarch/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture
romextension=cmd,7z,zip,a52
parameters=cores/mame_libretro_android.so
searchsubfolders=false
pcgame=false
winstate=HIDDEN
hyperlaunch=true 

</code>

Still no go. All I get is "Your application just died, do you want me to restart, quit or report the error" and the same behaviour when started from HSA. 

Google couldn't find anything recent enough other than what was said here on the forum or around March, 1st on the RA forum. And that was before 1.5.0 release.

When you don't have any idea what it could be, I think we can blame RetroArch, which btw shows a similar behaviour on my PC with the MAME core and RocketLauncher. The regular PC version of MAME works perfect with a5200 and roms named like HyperSpin database though RL and HS ...

 

 

[thatman84]

Not sure how well RA supports 7z. You could try changing stuff to zip.

What type and naming convention are your roms?

Please post the contents of your cmd file.

I will check again tonight but I may be on different versions of RA & mame core

[EyMannMachHin]

1 hour ago, thatman84 said:

Not sure how well RA supports 7z. You could try changing stuff to zip.

What type and naming convention are your roms?

Please post the contents of your cmd file.

I will check again tonight but I may be on different versions of RA & mame core

Thank you. I'll really appreciate that. 

So far, 7zip support in RA has not given me any grief A2600 and A7800 sets are all 7zipped and work like a charm. But I'll give using an unzipped BIOS and a regular zipped BIOS a try, just for completeness. 

Naming convention is per Hyperlist XML v2.0 http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/files/file/12643-atari-5200-hyperbase-database-official/, the roms have been verified by me to match the CRC and renamed accordingly  using Don's Hyperspin tools. The file types had been all over the place after the first renaming, since Don's Hyperspin Tools do ignore those so I renamed them all to ROMNAME.a52. 

So, for "Activision Decathlon, The (USA).a52" the cmd file contents is: a5200 -cart "/storage/ALEXANDRIA/Data/ROM/HyperSpin/Atari/5200/Activision Decathlon, The (USA).a52"

I also will try the 'old' method using the renamed MAME softwarelist version of the ROMs, just to make sure. Or maybe it gets better after I have setup MAME fully using the RA MAME core, but currently my PC is occupied with un-merging my MAME romset, which takes a while

What I did notice, when I scan the directory with RA and loaded MAME (git) core is, it totally ignores the zipped files. Probably because they don't match the names in the softwarelist. But after scanning it will show me the CMD files. But using those to start from RA also crashes.

[EyMannMachHin]

I finally got it to work @thatman84 !!! 

Thank you very much, Sir!

[thatman84]

Gotta have Faith 

well and some OCD?

[jcort154]

I had Atari 5200 setup on RA and HS and all was well. Ive recently updated the MAME core and Atari 5200 roms no longer work. Anyone else see this? I havent played with it much.

[thatman84]

Um i have not updated recently. How did you have it setup?

[jcort154]

I followed the setup in this thread and got it to work. Im pretty sure its the new Mame core. Maybe it doesnt support the A5200 anymore.

I have recently bought a 2nd STV. I installed RA and the cores. Copied over the HS data and Atari 5200 roms would crash RA. So I went back to the 1st STV and A5200 roms worked. Updated the Mame core to latest and now A5200 roms crash RA here too.

I was able to get A5200 roms to load with the Atari 8bit core but the STV controller will not work. The Atari 800 roms also work ( need to change an option setting) but also controller doesnt work.

 

[thatman84]

Um you could always try the cmd file method. Think that's what I'm using for a5200.

other than waiting for the core to work again you could look into doing a local online updater to replace that core with an older working one. There's a thread at libretro forum. Not sure if his cores are still online though

 

im a bit rusty now lol. There is another thread of mine that may help. I will go look

[thatman84]

Helpful info (overload  )

 

Alternative online updater (not sure if an older MAME core is there or not)

https://forums.libretro.com/t/compiling-android-cores/12549

 

Creating your own online updater for an older core. I probably have an older MAME core that works if you need

http://emulationguide.com/retroarch-local-online-updater

[Honosuseri]

1 hour ago, jcort154 said:

I was able to get A5200 roms to load with the Atari 8bit core but the STV controller will not work. The Atari 800 roms also work ( need to change an option setting) but also controller doesnt work.

A5200 does work with the Shield TV pad, you need to enter the RA quick menu. In the controls sub menu, set "User 1 Device type" to "Atari Joystick". 

[jcort154]

Thanks, Thatman84, Honosuseri. I will try to get an older Mame core. If that is not possible, I will try the Atari 8 bit core and config my STV controller for Atari Joystick. You cant use both atari 800 and a5200 roms without changing options in RA.

 

[Honosuseri]

50 minutes ago, jcort154 said:

Thanks, Thatman84, Honosuseri. I will try to get an older Mame core. If that is not possible, I will try the Atari 8 bit core and config my STV controller for Atari Joystick. You cant use both atari 800 and a5200 roms without changing options in RA.

 

Sadly not, we know as it's discussed in this thread about the Atari 8 bit core. Pity you missed it as it would have answered your question about the controller. Happy to have helped. I only have the 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx & Jaguar on my menu. I'm not really an "Atari Guy" but like to keep myself up to speed to help others.

All the best with it...I need to get back to doing the NEC PC-FX on my Shield TV

 

[thatman84]

3 hours ago, jcort154 said:

You cant use both atari 800 and a5200 roms without changing options in RA.

That's correct. You could load every game and save a game option file. (Think you need to enable this option in newer RA builds) hopefully an enhanced override system is coming but Radius is still hesitating on adding it ? I even stuck a bounty on it this week

3 hours ago, Honosuseri said:

All the best with it...I need to get back to doing the NEC PC-FX on my Shield TV

I added PC-FX around the time the BIOS name needed changed. Flipping nightmare, had to capture an and log to figure it out. Was a little achievement for me though. Still not played any of the games lol

[Honosuseri]

1 hour ago, thatman84 said:

I added PC-FX around the time the BIOS name needed changed. Flipping nightmare, had to capture an and log to figure it out. Was a little achievement for me though. Still not played any of the games lol

Well played Sir, somethings are sent to try us. I did rename all the .iso files and then the .cue files accordingly. Games play but almost all are in Japanese...phone will have to be set permanently to google translate to figure out some of the menus

I wanted to complete the set as I have some nice themes for the NEC PC Engine/Turbo Grafx CD systems. They show the system with the disks spinning in the console when selecting games. I'll put up another "preview" video in the new year buddy.