Gamestation Pro

[SoundGammon]

7 hours ago, VidaReborn said:

I saw that video, but he didn't add much visuals.  One thing I don't like about most youtubers is that they narrate, but there is no visuals to guide you.  Specially for newbies like me.

Someone posted a background/pic hack for the background in Space Invaders.

 

Using the 2600 cover artwork:

[fluxit]

1 hour ago, Domeshtan said:

Tried to convert a few more. I kinda get it with the position values. (Left, Top, Right, Bottom) It sounds easy to set the values but the game screen keeps moving around and changing size with every change. This is about as close as I can get for now. I run Mame078b on my laptop and make small changes to the .art file values at the bottom of the file. Run it, see the effect, tweak some more... Maybe someone can tweak it a little wider. It's strange... Like moving one value too far or not enough seems to change positions of other stuff. I tried to set the first two values to get the upper-left corner of the screen as close as I could to the visible upper left corner of the display. Then I play with the last two values to try and stretch it in kinda. Negative values to set the upper-left and positive values to set the lower-right. Hard to get things to line up right. Anyway, a few more to add (or tweak the values if you think you can get closer).

I'm stumped.  I tried to down-convert some art from my current MAME.  I thought that by creating the 2 color mask PNG  + RGB PNG, and using a known working .art file, altered to point to the new images, that the game would at least show *something*, but I was wrong.  It just ignores the art.

 

I tried different resolutions.  I tried just tweaking the .art file of a working set, without altering the original(to the download set) images at all, but even if I just alter the last digit of a couple of numbers in the .art, the GsP refuses to load the resulting set.

[Domeshtan]

2 hours ago, fluxit said:

4 hours ago, Domeshtan said:

Expand  

I'm stumped.  I tried to down-convert some art from my current MAME.  I thought that by creating the 2 color mask PNG  + RGB PNG, and using a known working .art file, altered to point to the new images, that the game would at least show *something*, but I was wrong.  It just ignores the art.

 

I tried different resolutions.  I tried just tweaking the .art file of a working set, without altering the original(to the download set) images at all, but even if I just alter the last digit of a couple of numbers in the .art, the GsP refuses to load the resulting set.

I don't have things figured out 100% how to work the numbers "easily" to get really nice results fast but here is what I'm using...

It's some pack of bezel images (well, game related art anyway) that I use to add games to my Legends Gamer Pro. They are fairly high resolution .png files. Unzip one of the files and you can check it. That's all that is in the pack... Just .png files with a section kinda "whited out" in the middle. The next step I do is to make an identical sized image over it in paint where the entire thing is white except for a black square where the screen would go. I just do the square/rectangle tool to fill everything easy and fast. The first .png has the name of the game how the rom is named. (don't think it matters much... It looks in the .art file for the names). The second one I just add "mask" after the name and save it as a .png file. On some games (usually vertical) I might have to rotate the picture 90 degrees to come out right. I think on came out right but Tac-Scan came out upside down when running. Just rotate the image 180 degrees and that part is good to go. Then the last part... The .art file. I started with a Pac-Man one when I was tweaking stuff. Two things are easy enough to figure out. Just switch the name of the .png file to load with the name you gave the first file. The second one you do the same thing but add "mask" behind it. So it should look for 2 .png files. The one with the nice artwork and the white screen one with the black square where the picture should go. Then those numbers at the bottom. That's what was driving me nuts trying to find the "perfect" values so the screen is centered in that visible zone of black on the mask. The first 2 numbers will be negative to define where the upper left corner should be. The last 2 will be for setting the bottom right corner. Working on Crystal Castles the game screen was tiny at first, or half hidden behind the artwork, moved around when I tweaked numbers... Annoying. Getting better at it though. Also when you save your .art file with the same name as the game be sure you save it as "all files" so it isn't saved as a .txt file or something for the extention. Make sure your files are in a folder with the same name as the rom and that it is in the artwork folder. (I tested stuff on Mame078b I think it was. Folder can be unzipped while you are testing the results.) When it looks the way you want just zip it up and throw it in your artwork folder on the Micro SD card.

I know newer MAME artwork is supposed to be different from the older artwork. Uses .lay files or something. Also just thought of something... If you are resizing your mask .png file after drawing it I'm nor sure if the colors would be pure black and white. I know rescaling .jpg images things can look the same but when you try using flood fill on it all sorts of errors show up.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Domeshtan

[Domeshtan]

3 hours ago, just_lou said:

Has anyone gotten Arcade BattleZone and/or Defender working properly? In both both games I can't move left, and BattleZone I also can't move backwards. 

I had Defender running but I don't know if it's possible to get "proper". On my PlayStation Classic controller with the powered USB hub I got X button for fire, O button for thrust, Triangle for smart bomb and L2 for reverse. No hyperspace mapped to anything. Up and down are up and down. Select to add a coin, start to start. Square brings up the save game and game controls menu which you can't alter anything anyway. Got most of the buttons but it's an awkward way to play. The Gamestation Pro controller with 3 buttons... Don't even bother.

[jaymz887]

21 hours ago, fluxit said:

Make sure that the games files are in a folder called games or Games(the capitalization may or may not be important.)  Atari 2600 games should have the file extension ".a26," not ".26a" if that wasn't a typo.

 

After the GsP boots, It takes some seconds after the main menu appears before the prompt to choose the built in games, or what you have added is displayed.

 

Some say that the SD card must be formatted exFAT, but FAT32 works fine here.

thank you for getting back to me. i am new to adding games and i was wondering on the atari 2600 games.  Are the games like this 2600-acid drop.a26. or 2600-acid drop ".a26"

thanks in advance ]

jaime

[jaymz887]

21 hours ago, fluxit said:

Make sure that the games files are in a folder called games or Games(the capitalization may or may not be important.)  Atari 2600 games should have the file extension ".a26," not ".26a" if that wasn't a typo.

 

After the GsP boots, It takes some seconds after the main menu appears before the prompt to choose the built in games, or what you have added is displayed.

 

Some say that the SD card must be formatted exFAT, but FAT32 works fine here.

thank you for getting back to me. i am new to adding games and i was wondering on the atari 2600 games.  Are the games like this 2600-acid drop.a26. or 2600-acid drop ".a26"

thanks in advance ]

jaime

[fluxit]

3 hours ago, Domeshtan said:

I don't have things figured out 100% how to work the numbers "easily" to get really nice results fast but here is what I'm using...

It's some pack of bezel images (well, game related art anyway) that I use to add games to my Legends Gamer Pro. They are fairly high resolution .png files. Unzip one of the files and you can check it. That's all that is in the pack... Just .png files with a section kinda "whited out" in the middle. The next step I do is to make an identical sized image over it in paint where the entire thing is white except for a black square where the screen would go. I just do the square/rectangle tool to fill everything easy and fast. The first .png has the name of the game how the rom is named. (don't think it matters much... It looks in the .art file for the names). The second one I just add "mask" after the name and save it as a .png file. On some games (usually vertical) I might have to rotate the picture 90 degrees to come out right. I think on came out right but Tac-Scan came out upside down when running. Just rotate the image 180 degrees and that part is good to go. Then the last part... The .art file. I started with a Pac-Man one when I was tweaking stuff. Two things are easy enough to figure out. Just switch the name of the .png file to load with the name you gave the first file. The second one you do the same thing but add "mask" behind it. So it should look for 2 .png files. The one with the nice artwork and the white screen one with the black square where the picture should go. Then those numbers at the bottom. That's what was driving me nuts trying to find the "perfect" values so the screen is centered in that visible zone of black on the mask. The first 2 numbers will be negative to define where the upper left corner should be. The last 2 will be for setting the bottom right corner. Working on Crystal Castles the game screen was tiny at first, or half hidden behind the artwork, moved around when I tweaked numbers... Annoying. Getting better at it though. Also when you save your .art file with the same name as the game be sure you save it as "all files" so it isn't saved as a .txt file or something for the extention. Make sure your files are in a folder with the same name as the rom and that it is in the artwork folder. (I tested stuff on Mame078b I think it was. Folder can be unzipped while you are testing the results.) When it looks the way you want just zip it up and throw it in your artwork folder on the Micro SD card.

I know newer MAME artwork is supposed to be different from the older artwork. Uses .lay files or something. Also just thought of something... If you are resizing your mask .png file after drawing it I'm nor sure if the colors would be pure black and white. I know rescaling .jpg images things can look the same but when you try using flood fill on it all sorts of errors show up.

I appreciate the details.  Yeah, I considered and tested for all of those possibilities.  I even compared a working .art file to one of my non-working edits with a hex editor to make sure that  something strange wasn't being added  that I didn't see, and that the proper carriage returns were in there(if necessary.)  There were no differences, other than my edits.

 

At this point I'm thinking it probably actually is something .zip related that the GsP's MAME doesn't like.  I'm going to try freshly zipping from the command line, as previously I was using my OS's gui zip tools to update the files in the zip I was working on.  The resulting files *look* and test fine on my computer, and I've never had a problem like this before, but I don't have any other ideas at this point.  I guess to rule out the .zip being the problem, I can take a working set and just rezip it, to see if I can cause it to fail with no actual edits having been done to the included files.

 

[fluxit]

3 hours ago, jaymz887 said:

thank you for getting back to me. i am new to adding games and i was wondering on the atari 2600 games.  Are the games like this 2600-acid drop.a26. or 2600-acid drop ".a26"

thanks in advance ]

jaime

2600-acid drop.a26, though I'm not sure if the GsP likes for there to be spaces in file names.

[Domeshtan]

3 hours ago, fluxit said:

I can take a working set and just rezip it, to see if I can cause it to fail with no actual edits having been done to the included files.

Did you try adding the folder unzipped? Testing on my laptop it didn't care if it was zipped or not. Otherwise you can test with a working file and make "tiny" tweaks to see what happens. I think you said it didn't work but I started by changing the digit after the decimal point on one number at a time each to see the effect it has. I open the file with notepad (I uncheck every time). For position an example line I have would be...

 

position =-0.1025,-0.6732,1.1202,1.7594

 

(Can't fit this on one line on my phone)

 

Like for -0.1025 I might try -0.2025 at first and work my way up. 

 

Also below the line I copy the whole position line but I add // before it so it's just a comment that doesn't do anything. If something goes wrong I can set the numbers back to their original values and try again.

[Domeshtan]

15 hours ago, just_lou said:

Has anyone gotten Arcade BattleZone and/or Defender working properly? In both both games I can't move left, and BattleZone I also can't move backwards. 

I just tried out Battle zone with my PlayStation Classic controller and powered USB hub. It's "almost" playable that way. Up and down worked for the left tank tread. The Triangle and X buttons worked for the right tread. Good layout so far, but then they have fire mapped to the triangle button as well! So basically anytime you try to fire your right tank tread is moving forward. Would have been more playable mapping fire to the O button or better yet the L2 button. (Can't get the GSP to recognize L1, R1 and R2 on any game so some fighting games might be missing a button) With the included GSP stick I could only imagine it working if someone were able to map things out as if you were playing with Combat style controls.

[Bakasama]

I was looking at the fan made bezels for this system, I thinking can bezels can made for games that aren't known have a lot bezel artwork like Neo Geo or CPS2 games. I know I've seen a standalone Samurai Showdow III cabinet back in the '90s that had custom made art but that was a rarity since most Neo Geo games came with the Neo Geo cabinets.

[LatchKeyKid]

I know this is quite late to the party but I missed my monthly trip to Costco last month.  It's available locally for me now as well but I think at this point I'll wait until after Christmas.

[Domeshtan]

4 hours ago, Bakasama said:

I was looking at the fan made bezels for this system, I thinking can bezels can made for games that aren't known have a lot bezel artwork like Neo Geo or CPS2 games. I know I've seen a standalone Samurai Showdow III cabinet back in the '90s that had custom made art but that was a rarity since most Neo Geo games came with the Neo Geo cabinets.

I have .png files for bezel stuff that I use on my Legends Gamer Pro. It's probably not "bezel" artwork technically but they have a nice look that suits whatever game you are running pretty much and are designed to have that wider look for the newer TVs and monitors. I might try making some Neo geo stuff next to work with the old MAME. Only real trick is getting those last few numbers to get those "perfect" values so the screen is nice and centred. I would think it would be easy once the numbers are set right the first time as I'm thinking the other Neo geo .png artwork would have the same dimensions for size, screen position, etc. So theoretically what would work for one should work for all with the .art file and mask .png. 

[the4thman]

Thanks for the bezel art... it looks fantastic! Gonna try them out soon!

[fluxit]

12 hours ago, Domeshtan said:

Did you try adding the folder unzipped? Testing on my laptop it didn't care if it was zipped or not. Otherwise you can test with a working file and make "tiny" tweaks to see what happens. I think you said it didn't work but I started by changing the digit after the decimal point on one number at a time each to see the effect it has. I open the file with notepad (I uncheck every time). For position an example line I have would be...

 

position =-0.1025,-0.6732,1.1202,1.7594

 

(Can't fit this on one line on my phone)

 

Like for -0.1025 I might try -0.2025 at first and work my way up. 

 

Also below the line I copy the whole position line but I add // before it so it's just a comment that doesn't do anything. If something goes wrong I can set the numbers back to their original values and try again.

 

I was going try this next, but it turns out that the GsP just doesn't like .zip files created using the gui archive tool of Linux Mint Cinnamon.  A freshly rezipped from the gui, known working Zaxxon art pack was ignored by the GsP.  When I created the zip from the command line instead, it works fine on the GsP.

 

Thanks for the help in ruling things out.  It should be smooth sailing from here.

[fluxit]

By accident today, I discovered that if you want to return to the built-in games list from the SD cart games list, you just have to press the home button on the console. 

 

The controller home button only returns you to the SD card list, if you have selected it after booting, it will not return you to the built in games.

[Hydro Thunder]

Just got to put in some time with mine after an initial very brief trial.  I thought there was controller lag but honestly I don't think there is EXCEPT for something going on with Arcade Food Fight.  7800 Food Fight, no problem.  But Arcade Food Fight controls are just suuuuper sluggish and weird.  I can't compare to Mame FF with an analog controller, nor have I had the pleasure of playing the actual arcade version in recent memory.  But there is something definitely wrong with the Arcade Food Fight on the GSP, it's nearly unplayable after a couple of levels, just so sluggish on the responsiveness.  No quick moves 'cause they just won't register, you end up going in big wide arcs around the playfield just to give yourself time to right the ship lol.  Just me?

[jaymz887]

4 hours ago, fluxit said:

By accident today, I discovered that if you want to return to the built-in games list from the SD cart games list, you just have to press the home button on the console. 

 

The controller home button only returns you to the SD card list, if you have selected it after booting, it will not return you to the built in games.

thanks for the info

 

[jaymz887]

20 hours ago, fluxit said:

2600-acid drop.a26, though I'm not sure if the GsP likes for there to be spaces in file names.

ok thanks. I will try that method see if it works

[Domeshtan]

Converted some NeoGeo artwork. These seem pretty easy to bang out now as the bezel .png stuff looks to be all the same for size and viewing area. Took a bit to tweak it really close for the position but since I got it once I can pretty much just copy the .art file over and rename it, rename two files to look for and rename the mask .png. Bezels are for Art of Fighting, Blazing Star, Metal Slug and Shock Troopers. 

aof.zip blazstar.zip mslug.zip shocktro.zip

Edited November 21, 2023 by Domeshtan

[tlgrooms]

Does anyone know if this will play Colecovision games?  Is there a list of all the systems it runs?  

[Domeshtan]

Some more NeoGeo art converted. Going pretty fast since the screen uses the same data from the .art file mostly. 

3 Count Bout, Blue's Journey, Baseball Stars 2, Burning Fight, Crossed Swords, Ghost Pilots, Kizuna Encounter, The King of Fighters '94 and The King of Fighters '97.

 

3countb.zip bjourney.zip bstars2.zip burningf.zip crsword.zip gpilots.zip kizuna.zip kof94.zip kof97.zip

[+Mocotechprfl]

1 minute ago, tlgrooms said:

Does anyone know if this will play Colecovision games?  Is there a list of all the systems it runs?  

I tried a couple of weeks age in one of my first posts on this thread and Colecovision games won't play. And actually, the file format isn't even recognized on the SD card at all!

 

This is what I have tested and plays so far:

Atari 2600, 5200, 7800,

Nintendo NES

Genesis

Gameboy

Gameboy Advance

Arcade

New Geo arcade games

 

What will not play from what I have tested:

Colecovision

SNES

 

I am hoping that the firmware upgrade coming out in the next few weeks, that YouTuber GenXGrownUp spoke about in one of his latest videos, will allow the capability of more systems to be added! Crossing my fingers on that.

[Domeshtan]

28 minutes ago, Mocotechprfl said:

This is what I have tested and plays so far:

Atari 2600, 5200, 7800,

Nintendo NES

Genesis

Gameboy

Gameboy Advance

Arcade

New Geo arcade games

I haven't tried but I think someone said it could do Game Gear games too. (.gg)

[82-T/A]

I just bought one of these, and should get it tomorrow afternoon... pretty excited. I'm really looking forward to being able to play Atari 5200 games. Big thing for me was during the Christmas of (some year in the 80s), my parents bought an Atari 5200... but the joysticks didn't work, so they returned it. We only got to play a few games on it, and I remember Pac Man was unbelievably better than the Atari 2600, along with some other games (like Moon Patrol). My mom never went back to get a new one, just returned it and that was that... I was so bummed... so the 5200 was the one that "got away!"