Can't get Hyperspin and MAME to play nice on Shield Portable

[tpedge]

Hi all,

This is my first post (please be gentle ). I've been lurking for a while, reading a lot and I've managed to get HyperSpin setup on my PC with a whole bunch of systems. I've also got HyperSpin installed on my NVIDIA Shield Portable. So far on the shield I've got MegaDrive/Genesis, GBA, PSX and N64 working through RetroArch but I'm getting no where with MAME.

I'm using a 0.182 romset, I know this is the most recent so I wondered if that might be the problem? However launching the games manually in MAME4Droid works fine. I've tried editing the settings file with the instructions in this thread to work with MAME4Droid. That didn't work so I tried setting it up through RetroArch which also isn't working for me.

If I open HyperSpin and select MAME from the Main Menu the Main Menu just refreshes, I never get to the list of games. I think I have the settings file set up correctly and I've copied over the database that works fine on the PC over to the shield. Here are my settings:

[exe info]
path=H:\hyperspin\emulators\MAME\
rompath=Emulators/MAME/roms/
userompath=true
exe=com.retroarch/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture
romextension=zip
parameters=mame_libretro_android.so 

I'd usually consider myself fairly tech savvy but this is my first Android device so I could really do with some help. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[thatman84]

We are all gentle round here don't stress!! Well normally

If your not getting a games list then it's likely Hyperspin can't see your roms or database.

double check you have the xml and all files/folder named the same

then check your rompath= Line to make sure it's right

also set all the filters to false for testing including rom only. It should get you the games list at least 

 

[tpedge]

Thanks @thatman84. I hadn't noticed I had themes_only set to TRUE in the MAME settings file, it's always the little things... 

So now I can get into the list of Games within the HyperSpin launcher but if I select one the screen moves backwards as if it's trying to load and then moves forward again. I assumed this was because RetroArch couldn't find the core. So I tried launching the game directly in RetroArch from the Load Content option. This crashes RetroArch. I've tried using the Online Updater to install the cores and it seems to be installing them. Is there a way to check which cores are installed?

As I said I'm new to Android but going to /storage/emulated/Android/data/com.retroarch/files/system/ gives me an empty folder and I thought I'd find the installed cores there?

[thatman84]

The in stalled cores are in a root folder. Without a rooted device you can't see them.

data/data/com.retroarch or data/user/0/....

im not rooted so never remember the exact path

look under retroarch settings-> Directory in the gui

another way is to choose load content &I detect core. Choose a zip file and it will list all cores you have that are compatible with .zip files.

 

be aware hyperspin uses a different retroarch.cfg file than retroarch itself.

search on here for retroarch dual config trick. I put something out about it as others have.

or boot a working game from another system in HS and go into retroarch gui. Close the core and you can edit settings for the HS launched retroarch.cfg to match that of the settings in the one retroarch uses (retroarch uses the retroarch.cfg found in "android/com.retroarch/files")

the system folder should only have bios files and any mame folders you create and copy yourself into it

[tpedge]

We seem to be getting closer. When I choose load and detect core. It gives me the choice of a whole bunch of emulators. Arcade (MAME) launches the game fine - the controls don't work but it's progress.

Launching from HS with the settings as above still doesn't work though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[thatman84]

may be the rompath

where do you have them?

also the mame core was updated recently and inputs have changed.

read the mame 181 is horrible thread it has the details near the bottom

[tpedge]

The roms are on the SD card: /storage/sdcard1/Hyperspin/Emulators/MAME/roms/mshvsfu.zip

I'm using the same format of rompath for the other systems that I've managed to get working so I'm a bit stumped.

[thatman84]

This is from memory as I'm not at Shield and I don't use retroarch for normal MAME!

unless you tell retroarch your roms are in that location it will be looking for them in its own system folder.

com.retroarch/files/system/mame/roms

is where it wants them BUT you have options

try putting one or two roms in that location above and launch them from HS.

i will set it up and drop you the a MAME.ini file for retroarch and HS later.

 

[tpedge]

I'm not wedded to RetroArch. To be honest I used it as it had been so simple to setup for the other systems. If you'd suggest a different emulator I'd be happy to try that instead.

I'll try copying some roms there and see if it helps though.

[thatman84]

Retroarch MAME is the most current version and will keep current ish. Mame4droid (red one) is the other option but that uses a .139 set of roms so you would really need that.

mame is a pain to setup anyway because it's such an expansive emulator to be inside such another expansive emulator. It's like the emulator Matrix  

i will drop you some stuff soon

[thatman84]

@tpedge

i think I got some stuff wrong.

i changed my setup point at a MAME set on a network drive for using retroarch and to worked straight away without any need to tell retroarch where the roms are.

notbsure why it's not loading for you but I don't want to mess with my setup anymore for testing sorry. 

[tpedge]

No worries dude. Thanks for your help so far. I'll keep fiddling and see what I can do. I'll post the fix when/if I find it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[thatman84]

Please do.

just confirm the fault again if you can.

[tpedge]

The issue I'm having is that when I launch a game from the MAME wheel in Hyperspin the window drops back like it's going to launch another application and then moves back to fill the screen again. I'm sure I've missed something really simple but I have no idea what it is and it's driving me crazy.

Potentially helpful information...

• This is on an NVIDIA Shield Portable running Android 5.1 with a 128Gb Micro SD card
• My Hyperspin folder is at the root of the SD card which android sees as: /storage/sdcard1/Hyperspin/
• The Hyperspin install works fine running Megadrive, Nintendo 64, Gameboy Advance and Playstation games
• My MAME roms are inside: /storage/sdcard1/Hyperspin/Emulators/MAME/roms
• The roms are from a non-merged 0.182 romset stored as zip files
• The roms play fine when loaded manually from inside RetroArch
• My full MAME.ini file looks like this:

[exe info]
path=H:\hyperspin\emulators\MAME\
rompath=Emulators/MAME/roms/
userompath=true
exe=com.retroarch/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture
romextension=zip
parameters=mame_libretro_android.so 
searchsubfolders=false
pcgame=false
winstate=HIDDEN
hyperlaunch=true
Per_Game_Modules=false
Skipchecks=false
Hide_Cursor=use_global
Hide_Desktop=use_global
Hide_Taskbar=use_global
CPWizard_Enabled=use_global
CPWizard_Delay=use_global
CPWizard_Params=use_global
Fade_In=use_global
Fade_Out=use_global
Fade_Color=use_global
Fade_In_Duration=use_global
Fade_Out_Duration=use_global
Fade_In_Delay=use_global
7z_Enabled=use_global
7z_Extract_Dir=use_global
7z_Delete_Temp=use_global
Keymapper_Enabled=use_global
Keymapper=use_global
MultiGame_Enabled=use_global
MultiGame_Background_Color=use_global
MultiGame_Side_Padding=use_global
MultiGame_Y_Offset=use_global
MultiGame_Image_Adjust=use_global
MultiGame_Font=use_global
MultiGame_Text_1_Options=use_global
MultiGame_Text_1_Text=use_global
MultiGame_Text_2_Options=use_global
MultiGame_Text_2_Offset=use_global
MultiGame_Use_Sound=use_global
MultiGame_Sound_Frequency=use_global
MultiGame_Exit_Effect=use_global
MultiGame_Selected_Effect=use_global
MultiGame_Use_Game_Art=use_global
MultiGame_Art_Folder=use_global

[filters]
parents_only=false
themes_only=false
wheels_only=false
roms_only=true

[themes]
use_parent_vids=true
use_parent_themes=true
animate_out_default=false
reload_backgrounds=true

[wheel]
alpha=.15
small_alpha = 1
style               = normal
speed               = high
pin_center_width    = 500
horz_wheel_y        = 512
vert_wheel_position=right
y_rotation          = right
norm_large          = 360
norm_small          = 230
vert_large          = 400
vert_small          = 240
pin_large           = 500
pin_small           = 200
horz_large          = 240
horz_small          = 150
letter_wheel_x      = 800
letter_wheel_y      = 384
text_width          = 700
text_font           = Style2
small_text_width    = 260
large_text_width    = 400
text_stroke_size=6
text_stroke_color=0x000000
text_color1=0x00BFFD
text_color2=0xFFFFFF
text_color3=0x00BFFD
color_ratio=139
shadow_distance     = 0
shadow_angle        = 45
shadow_color=0x000000
shadow_alpha        = 1
shadow_blur         = 0

[pointer]
animated=true
x                   = 975
y                   = 384

[video defaults]
path=H:\hyperspin\Media\MAME\Video\

[sounds]
game_sounds=false
wheel_click= true

[navigation]
game_jump=50
use_indexes=false
jump_timer=400
remove_info_wheel=false
remove_info_text=true
use_last_game=true
last_game=thunderl
random_game=false

start_on_favorites=false
[Special Art A]
default=true
active=true
x=512
y=720
in=0.4
out=0.4
length=3
delay=0
type=normal
start=bottom

[Special Art B]
default=true
active=true
x=512
y=740
in=0.4
out=0.4
length=3
delay=0
type=fade
start=none

[Special Art C]
active=false
x=512
y=384
in=0
out=0
length=3
delay=10
type=fade
start=none

[Game Text]
game_text_active    = true
show_year           = true
show_manf           = true
show_description    = true
text_color1         = 0xFFFFFF
text_color2         = 0xFFFFFF
stroke_color        = 0x000000
text_font           = Style3
text1_textsize      = 26
text1_strokesize    = 7
text1_x             = 32
text1_y             = 610
text2_textsize      = 36
text2_strokesize    = 8
text2_x             = 30
text2_y             = 640

 

[tpedge]

I'm such a muppet.

parameters=mame_libretro_android.so

Missed out the beginning of the parameters. It should have been:

parameters=cores/mame_libretro_android.so 

Thanks @thatman84 sorry for being such a n00b.

[thatman84]

Doh I should have spotted that the 1st time you posted it!!! 

Its always a simple thing.