A few Nvidia Shield TV issues -- Magnavox Odyssey 2 / Neo Geo / Panasonic 3DO

[TheEdge]

I recently bought an Nvidia Shield TV and have got Hyperspin and Retroarch working in tandem to power 22 systems. Three have been giving me a bit of a fit.

-Magnavox Odyssey 2 -- I go through the wheel, select it... and then I can see the games list. When I select a game, it bounces back to the MO2 games list. I don't get any kind of error warning (i.e. that it can't find the emulator or it can't find the roms). I've tried everything... most recently, extracting the bins from the .zip files. I made sure the settings file is looking for bin files and in the right location (Emulators/Magnavox Odyssey 2/Roms/).

-Panasonic 3DO -- like with the MO2 above, I'm using the default Android emulator provided in the settings files I downloaded from this site. I only used one game. I made sure the cue file was calling for the right iso file and they were both named correctly. I tried them in folders... then I read that subfolders don't play nicely with .bin/.cue files, so I put them in the root folder (Emulators/Panasonic 3DO/). That didnt' work either. So I tried nuking the .cue file as somebody said they A) aren't needed and B ) can confuse the system. I can go into the 3DO wheel and select the lone game. When I try to launch it, it just goes back to the 3DO games list (of one) similar to the MO2.

-Same for Neo Geo. I've read that there can be confusion with the MVS and AES systems. Is this a bios issue? Are all of these bios issues? I've triple checked that all my paths are correct and the settings files are calling for the correct extensions (without a period). If I put a bios in a folder called /system on my portable drive and tell RA to look in that folder, shouldn't it find it? If so, which ones to use and/or how do I know which naming convention to use / should they be zipped or not zipped, etc.? I've seen some instances where people say the bios files should be in the roms folder, other situations where it should be in the folder with the emulator (but wouldn't that just apply to PC since the android emulators reside on my Nvidia Shield), etc.

It's been a somewhat tedious process getting the systems set up, but I've learned a lot about where to look for issues, etc.

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

[Honosuseri]

Quite a read...Sorry to see you're having such grief. Can you actually play the games within Retroarch itself?

I can only help with Neogeo as I don't use the other two systems on the Shield. The Bios file is called neogeo.zip and should be located with the rest of the neogeo game roms. I do however have a BIOS folder in my Roms folder, which I have pointed RA to for other systems. I'll include my neogeo.ini file, hopefully it helps you out some.

SNK Neo Geo.ini

[sanchezmike01]

As far as the other 2 I recommend using the standalone apk for 3do....its a paid app but we'll worth it...the developer also of that emulator does the Atari  jaguar one also , so worth looking into...u may need a bios which u can get anywhere nowadays and in the options u will see a tab that maybe says bios location and just map it out correctly....now as far as mo2....as far as I know the retroarch core doesn't seem to play nice with the controls....so in this case your only option will be mame/mess/ume cores....BUT since this is android and we always gotta work alil harder all roms must be named according to the softlist names....so u will need to open the xml and rename all media and roms according to that....now for future retroarch reference, all bios for all systems must go in the "system" folder...and u must make sure u go into retroarch settings then directory and the 1st option which should say settings folder or bios folder must be pointing to that "system" folder...there are a few exemptions to that rule like sharp x68000 where the bios must 1st go in a folder named keropi then that folder in the system folder...also for neo geo I recommend the fba core

[thatman84]

For retroarch it looks for bios files as stated above. In the System/BIOS folder listed under Settings -> Directory

Some cores require bios (3DO being one) and to find out which go into retroarch and Load Core and pick one

Then 

Main Menu -> Information -> Core Info will list the details and if you have the correct file present. File names and extentions must match.

For 3do you need 

panafz10.bin

For Odyssey you need

o2rom.bin

Odyssey needs a keyboard to work and I ditch anything that needs a KB so never tried it more than loading to Select Game sceeen

Think I did a NeoGeo guide. I will edit this post if I find it

Edit: it was NeoGeo CD I did lol.

 

[Honosuseri]

I point RA to my Roms/BIOS folder which contains the files needed. I have adopted the external HDD, so it's now "internal storage"...not sure if it works if the drive is used as "portable"

[thatman84]

Yeah i keep all that stuff internal but i have the 500gb version.

I believe you can use the Android/data/com.retroarch structure that gets created by delfault on any storage device connect to the shield to nigate the internal/external issue. Not tried myself. Badhemi used it for everything no trouble iirc. Androd permissions change around so its hard to say. Internal is the full proof way to go

[Honosuseri]

30 minutes ago, thatman84 said:

Yeah i keep all that stuff internal but i have the 500gb version.

I believe you can use the Android/data/com.retroarch structure that gets created by delfault on any storage device connect to the shield to nigate the internal/external issue. Not tried myself. Badhemi used it for everything no trouble iirc. Androd permissions change around so its hard to say. Internal is the full proof way to go

Yeah I didn't buy the 500GB Pro as the HDD is a point of failure. Replacing that internal drive will no doubt be ball ache! I just bought a 1TB hybrid drive and a USB3 enclosure.

I thought it was worth mentioning as I don't know how the OP has his Shield configured.

[TheEdge]

11 hours ago, Honosuseri said:

Quite a read...Sorry to see you're having such grief. Can you actually play the games within Retroarch itself?

I can only help with Neogeo as I don't use the other two systems on the Shield. The Bios file is called neogeo.zip and should be located with the rest of the neogeo game roms. I do however have a BIOS folder in my Roms folder, which I have pointed RA to for other systems. I'll include my neogeo.ini file, hopefully it helps you out some.

SNK Neo Geo.ini

Thanks for the quick and thorough help. I had the bios file in the roms folder already. My settings (outside of ROMS path) mirrored yours... EXCEPT... I didn't have SNK in my locations. I renamed everything (settings file, menu database file, media location, etc.) to match my new SNK Neo Geo location and will give it a whirl shortly. Thanks again!

[TheEdge]

5 hours ago, thatman84 said:

For retroarch it looks for bios files as stated above. In the System/BIOS folder listed under Settings -> Directory

Some cores require bios (3DO being one) and to find out which go into retroarch and Load Core and pick one

Then 

Main Menu -> Information -> Core Info will list the details and if you have the correct file present. File names and extentions must match.

For 3do you need 

panafz10.bin

For Odyssey you need

o2rom.bin

Odyssey needs a keyboard to work and I ditch anything that needs a KB so never tried it more than loading to Select Game sceeen

Think I did a NeoGeo guide. I will edit this post if I find it

Edit: it was NeoGeo CD I did lol.

I had the 3dobios.zip folder in my systems folder and in my 3DO Roms folder. I wonder if it needed to be unzipped (for it to see the .bin file) or what... I'll give it a whirl shortly now that I've got it unzipped.

And the lack of keyboard for the Odyssey would explain that. Thanks for the time and help! I joined the forums recently and saw how helpful it was -- glad to be a part of it!

 

[TheEdge]

8 hours ago, sanchezmike01 said:

As far as the other 2 I recommend using the standalone apk for 3do....its a paid app but we'll worth it...the developer also of that emulator does the Atari  jaguar one also , so worth looking into...u may need a bios which u can get anywhere nowadays and in the options u will see a tab that maybe says bios location and just map it out correctly....now as far as mo2....as far as I know the retroarch core doesn't seem to play nice with the controls....so in this case your only option will be mame/mess/ume cores....BUT since this is android and we always gotta work alil harder all roms must be named according to the softlist names....so u will need to open the xml and rename all media and roms according to that....now for future retroarch reference, all bios for all systems must go in the "system" folder...and u must make sure u go into retroarch settings then directory and the 1st option which should say settings folder or bios folder must be pointing to that "system" folder...there are a few exemptions to that rule like sharp x68000 where the bios must 1st go in a folder named keropi then that folder in the system folder...also for neo geo I recommend the fba core

Thanks -- I had already configured the bios folder to be /Hyperspin/System/ in the RA menu... but I kept reading elsewhere that certain bios files needed to be in with the ROMS... so then I just didn't know if there was a pattern or not.

[TheEdge]

6 hours ago, thatman84 said:

panafz10.bin

 

 

Got the 3DO working! Nice! Thanks again!

[TheEdge]

12 hours ago, Honosuseri said:

Quite a read...Sorry to see you're having such grief. Can you actually play the games within Retroarch itself?

I can only help with Neogeo as I don't use the other two systems on the Shield. The Bios file is called neogeo.zip and should be located with the rest of the neogeo game roms. I do however have a BIOS folder in my Roms folder, which I have pointed RA to for other systems. I'll include my neogeo.ini file, hopefully it helps you out some.

SNK Neo Geo.ini

Still no joy. I also tried loading it using Retroarch using that FB Alpha 2012 core and it said "Failed to Load Content". I've verified that my bios directory is pointing to my Emulator/Systems folder even though I've put the bios both there and in my ROMS folder (both as a .zip file and I've also extracted its components to that folder). It still just kicks me back to the SNK Neo Geo menu. I've compared against the database and I'm pretty sure I have the right games.

That being said, when I run Don's Rom Renamer, it's struggling to match anything even though I'm using the SNK Neo Geo database and if I look at the XML (outside of the renamer) side by side with my games, the names align. Does it not like them in .zip files (even though I see you have zip as one of your extensions)? Or is this an AES vs. MVS thing?

SNK Neo Geo.ini

[Honosuseri]

2 hours ago, TheEdge said:

Still no joy. I also tried loading it using Retroarch using that FB Alpha 2012 core and it said "Failed to Load Content". I've verified that my bios directory is pointing to my Emulator/Systems folder even though I've put the bios both there and in my ROMS folder (both as a .zip file and I've also extracted its components to that folder). It still just kicks me back to the SNK Neo Geo menu. I've compared against the database and I'm pretty sure I have the right games.

That being said, when I run Don's Rom Renamer, it's struggling to match anything even though I'm using the SNK Neo Geo database and if I look at the XML (outside of the renamer) side by side with my games, the names align. Does it not like them in .zip files (even though I see you have zip as one of your extensions)? Or is this an AES vs. MVS thing?

You don't need to extract the neogeo.zip. For Mame you also need "bios files" like qsound.zip in amongst the Mame roms for the games to play....if that helps explain what we are doing.

I'm leaning more to it being your roms. We can't really talk much about them here, HOWEVER...one of the Moderators Reznnate started a thread on here some time ago talking about HFSBOX15K. I used that as a "starter pack" for my Shield TV before Thatman did his guides. It's French but don't let that put you off...Google is your friend.

All the best with it...let us know how you get on. Great to see you're already making progress.