The Raspberry Pi and Retropie discussion thread

[Flojomojo]

Retropie was just updated but not yet compiled for the new hardware. There's a thread on Reddit showing a nice improvement in PSP speed, so N64 should be better too. 

[Osgeld]

waiting for mine to show up but lets keep something in mind

 

around the year 2000 I was sporting a 1.8GHz amd athlon XP single core 32 bit cpu with a geforce 2 GTX and it was running N64 pretty well for what was compatible at the time, so its not really if the RAS-PI can handle it, it can especially in the 4 variant, but how good is the emulator used in retropi

 

more recent example is my nintenputer, its a dual core 1.8ghz atom with a 512 mb Geforce GTX 210 GPU, and the emulator cores within retroarch it couldnt run N64 worth a squat, like 4 fps and horrid audio at low resolution. Using project 64 its smoothing everything out and running 720p at 60FPS in many titles 

 

Not sure if I remember what emulator retropie was using, but even in the linux world I had similar results using lakka and retropie X86 builds on that machine, so if you have found it lacking in the past, just the bump in horsepower should get you decent results as long as they are staying out of the retroarch cores for anything above SNES era (I love retroarch to death but it seems to squander resources when it comes down to it) 

 

ps: the nintenputer is still for sale lol

Edited July 4, 2019 by Osgeld

[SegaSnatcher]

The Pi 4 is gonna be a game changer now with run ahead latency.  

[VectorGamer]

Got a Retropie and just started setting it up last night. Messing with MAME first. Got a bunch of ROMs that aren't working, mostly Namco. With the process of copying ROMs onto USB stick and plugging the USB stick in to Pi will that overwrite the existing ROMs? I'm hoping it does so I can get these games working.

[Flojomojo]

@VectorGamer Different versions of MAME require different ROMsets. I don't think you'll be able to plunk them onto the stick and expect them to overwrite stuff, you'll want to copy them manually. I think the easiest way to do that is to put the Pi on the network and use FTP utilities to move things around. The files are really small, it shouldn't take long. 

 

MAME is one of the trickier things to configure. You might want to start with a cartridge system, because those have fewer variations and the controls are standard. 

[ClassicGMR]

I believe I went out and got the MAME 0.78 set for the Pi. That set works with MAME2003.

[VectorGamer]

I'm using MAME4All. I dig some digging and found the ROM set for it and I'll download it later.

 

So does anyone know that when I plug the USB stick into the Pi will it overwrite my existing ROMs? Cuz that's what I want it to do. If not I'll mess around with setting up FTP or Samba.

[Spriggy]

On 8/8/2019 at 10:41 PM, VectorGamer said:

So does anyone know that when I plug the USB stick into the Pi will it overwrite my existing ROMs? Cuz that's what I want it to do. If not I'll mess around with setting up FTP or Samba.

 

It won't overwrite if the filename is exactly the same.   This is the default behavior, which makes sense in most cases.  Samba shares is easy.

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Transferring-Roms

[derFunkenstein]

Just ordered my own Pi 4 4GB setup. I was back and forth on a MiSTer vs a Pi for a couple systems that I either can't or just don't care to own, like arcade stuff, NES, and PC Engine + CD. Whole thing was $90 on Amazon, including a 128 GB SD card. Just gotta figure out which PC Engine rips Lakka will find natively since making a playlist is a pain my behind.  

 

I'll stick with my Analogue consoles for the systems they support, and I eagerly anticipate my MegaSD for Sega CD games, but for everything else there's RetroPi. 

[+fdr4prez]

1 hour ago, derFunkenstein said:

Just ordered my own Pi 4 4GB setup. I was back and forth on a MiSTer vs a Pi for a couple systems that I either can't or just don't care to own, like arcade stuff, NES, and PC Engine + CD. Whole thing was $90 on Amazon, including a 128 GB SD card. Just gotta figure out which PC Engine rips Lakka will find natively since making a playlist is a pain my behind.  

 

I'll stick with my Analogue consoles for the systems they support, and I eagerly anticipate my MegaSD for Sega CD games, but for everything else there's RetroPi. 

Just be mindful that RetroPie does not support the Pi4, yet, but they are working on it 

[SiberianSpForces]

Somewhere on the retropie subreddit there's a thread about a Pi 4 Lakka build running 64 games. Here's one of the threads;
https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/cknyj5/raspberry_pi_4_n64_4player_multiplayer_games_at/ 

[Shannon]

I'm thinking of picking up a RPi and slapping it inside my current arcade cabinet.  I still need to check to make sure some of the equipment in it still works.  My original plan was either an original xbox or just swapping out the original cpu / motherboard but I never got around to doing it and the pi is getting to the point where it is powerful enough to do the arcade emulation I would want.

 

[mr_me]

Once someone starts building current versions of mame for RPi4, it becomes a good option for arcade games.

[ClassicGMR]

 I will have one eventually. I want to see a stable version of retro pi first. It is the only reason I personally use a raspberry pi. ?

 

 I have also been having a lot of fun with my PlayStation classic as of late. It also works very very well. So no hurry here. ?

Edited August 11, 2019 by ClassicGMR

[Shannon]

1 hour ago, mr_me said:

Once someone starts building current versions of mame for RPi4, it becomes a good option for arcade games.

Luckily for me I'm old school when it comes to arcade games.  If I'm successful I'm seriously considering giving this thing to my brother in law.  Everytime he is over he asks about the thing ( He's a BIG galaga fan ).  So an RPI3 should be able to run most anything I would be interested in on that particular cabinet.  Plus I'm thinking of keeping it strictly arcade only.

 

@ClassicGMRLike ClassicGMR I have a PSC as well and I've been getting a lot of joy out of that.  So ClassicGMR what do you mean by stable retro-pi build?  Does it have the same retroarch crash issues that were eventually fixed on the PSC?

 

[ClassicGMR]

The Raspberry Pi 4 does not have official support for RetroPie... yet. The developers are working on it. There are videos of the 4 running standalone builds and such but there's nothing officially released yet that is from RetroPie.

Edited August 11, 2019 by ClassicGMR
I schpel gewd...

[VectorGamer]

On 8/9/2019 at 9:16 PM, Spriggy said:

 

It won't overwrite if the filename is exactly the same.   This is the default behavior, which makes sense in most cases.  Samba shares is easy.

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Transferring-Roms

I read that it will overwrite if the filename is the same.

 

Anyway, spent a shitload of time on Retropie this weekend.

 

Got two MAME emulators running along with Atari 2600, 7800, Lynx, NES, Master System, Genesis and Playstation.

 

Had to buy an el cheapo USB keyboard and then got the Pi connected to my WiFi so I can SSH and SFTP to it from my laptop.

 

Had I known better, I would've gotten a larger SD card. I got a 32-GB cuz that's what a friend told me to get. I currently only have 8-GB free. The good thing is that if I decide to throw in a larger SD card that the process of getting this thing back up and running is relatively quick and simple. And there's plenty of documentation out there if I forget anything.

 

Some observations from this weekend's gaming session:

- Enduro (2600) is one of the best racing video games of all time

- Discovered Chase HQ in MAME and it's a fun game I'll be revisiting

- Road Rash II (Genesis) is one of the greatest video games of all time. Probably the only game that makes me laugh when I play it.

- I love Pole Position II (7800)

- Checkered Flag is my favorite Lynx game

 

Overall RetroPie kicks ass. Exactly what I was looking for to sit on my fat ass, drink beer and play video games jumping from console to console without burning any calories.

 

Some questions:

- What's everyone doing for the keypad controller systems like the INTV, CV and 5200? I want to use my XBox 360 controller for the main controls but what are you using for the keypad input?

- What are some decent racing games in MAME besides Pole Position? I was disappointed that Daytona USA was not supported.

 

I now have no need to keep my Atari 2600, 7800 and NES hardware.

 

 

[derFunkenstein]

On 8/10/2019 at 10:06 PM, fdr4prez said:

Just be mindful that RetroPie does not support the Pi4, yet, but they are working on it 

Lakka does, and that's all that really matters to me. 

 

https://www.lakka.tv/articles/2019/08/01/lakka-rpi4-support/

 

And by "support" I mean it's at least available in nightlies. Probably won't be long until it gets to the big time though. 

Edited August 12, 2019 by derFunkenstein

[mr_me]

For intellivision, I use an intellivision controller and usb adapter.  As a work around you can use an xbox style controller; map the disc to the thumbsticks, map keypad 1-4, 6-9 to the dpad, map keypad 5, clr, 0, enter to face buttons, map side buttons to the shoulder buttons; or any variation you prefer.   You can also get a wireless computer keyboard if you just want quick access to all the buttons.

 

Arcade Outrun is a classic racing game.  I still like Pole Position as well.

 

Lakka doesn't support as many emulators as Retropie but if it does what you need it's fine.  Retropie is based on Raspbian so you can even add unsupported emulators and other applications as needed.

Edited August 12, 2019 by mr_me

[Spriggy]

On 8/12/2019 at 10:48 PM, VectorGamer said:

I read that it will overwrite if the filename is the same.

 

Hmm.  I was under the impression that if you add new roms to your collection and then plug the thumbdrive (containing all your roms and the new ones you just added) into the Pi, the Pi will only transfer over the new roms and not copy the entire collection again.  But maybe I'm wrong.

I did find this query and comment.  https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/59057/does-retropies-automatic-usb-rom-transfer-copy-overwrite-previously-copied-roms

[ClassicGMR]

This is correct. That way it only adds the new content. 

[VectorGamer]

7 hours ago, Spriggy said:

Hmm.  I was under the impression that if you add new roms to your collection and then plug the thumbdrive (containing all your roms and the new ones you just added) into the Pi, the Pi will only transfer over the new roms and not copy the entire collection again.  But maybe I'm wrong.

I did find this query and comment.  https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/59057/does-retropies-automatic-usb-rom-transfer-copy-overwrite-previously-copied-roms

I can't remember where I read it, but I was under the impression that it looks at more than just the filename to determine if it was the same file.

[NE146]

I don't know why anyone would do some kind of automatic transfer method..how odd. What's wrong with just doing it manually? Then you can overwrite or not overwrite as you want. ?

[derFunkenstein]

On 8/12/2019 at 10:21 AM, derFunkenstein said:

Lakka does, and that's all that really matters to me. 

 

https://www.lakka.tv/articles/2019/08/01/lakka-rpi4-support/

 

And by "support" I mean it's at least available in nightlies. Probably won't be long until it gets to the big time though. 

Whew, it's still pretty rough. There's no functioning Vsync, so there's a ton of tearing in both the UI and in games. I installed Raspbian and updated the USB Host Controller's firmware, which should lower temperatures in the long run. Probably not going to use it seriously until the Lakka preview is finished, though. Still, paired up my M30 Bluetooth and played some PC Engine yesterday. It's not bad, but there's a lot of performance optimization to do. For example, on a Pi 3 I could drop audio latency to 32 milliseconds. Right now if you drop it below the default 64 there's a ton of stutter. 

 

Raspbian's desktop even had a bunch of screen tearing just while using Chromium to download the firmware and the terminal to install it. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by derFunkenstein

[CMR]

Does anyone else have any trouble running Vice?  I installed it and it runs really slow.  NES and SNES emulators run perfectly.  Could it be that I'm using a Pi 2?