Duimon - HSM Mega Bezel Graphics and Presets - Feedback and Updates

Duimon · 27 June 2022 00:29

The easiet way to get the games to run with Launchbox would be to strip the command line of the path to retroarch,exe and the core part.

e.g.

atom -rompath “H:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Atom” -flop1 “H:\LaunchBox\Games\Acorn Atom\atom\galxians.zip” -autoboot_delay “2” -autoboot_command “ *dos\n* dir\n *cat\n* run"galaxi”\n”

…put that in a galaxians.cmd and load it like a rom.

Like I said… I have gotten this to work on a couple of systems but it breaks weirdly

on others. I think it is worth a shot for you to try though.

This is a problem unless you are OK with disabling software lists in the opt. (If you are never going to use the traditional method.

There are times when you actually need the traditional method (FM-Towns that need a boot disk.)

I have yet to find a way to use a boot disk and iso/chd in the command line.

ZeroSin3 · 27 June 2022 00:45

i will try it tomorrow. Will let you know. thanks for taking the time!

ZeroSin3 · 27 June 2022 22:14

Still no luck. But I’m not one to give up quickly

Duimon · 27 June 2022 22:38

Glad to hear it.

My policy is that I won’t release a graphic until I can get a game to run, but I only require one game.

Please keep me in the loop if you learn anything.

Duimon · 27 June 2022 22:48

Those that have following this thread for a while will know not to take statements like…

…too seriously.

The acorn data recorder!

The data recorder was very similar in design to the Electron… I took the liberty of making them even more alike.

The main reason I decided to tackle it now was the tinted cassette window.

My plan for the Amiga 4000 involves a case with a tinted window and I wanted to see what I could do.

I think it turned out pretty good. Here is a shot of the whole thing.

It is on a separate layer so the X position can be adjusted if needed.

It still needs a touch of work but I should be ready to build some presets very soon.

Duimon · 28 June 2022 02:50

Here’s a shot of the Electron, with the just finished data recorder, in night mode, 21:9 aspect, and some X position on the data recorder layer. (Decal Layer.)

Duimon · 29 June 2022 03:10

@ZeroSin3

My issue with the autoboot dropping characters is actually a bug in the keyboard emulation. The keypress duration timing is flaky.

I hacked together a lua script that slows things down.

local frame_num = 0

local function process_frame()
        frame_num = frame_num + 1

        if frame_num == 1 then
            emu.keypost("*dos\n")
        elseif frame_num == 50 then
            emu.keypost("*dir\n")
        end
        if frame_num == 150 then
            emu.keypost("*cat\n\n\n")
        elseif frame_num == 200 then
            emu.keypost("*runF1")
        end
        if frame_num == 300 then
            emu.keypost("4RUN\n")
        elseif frame_num == 350 then
        end
       
end

emu.register_frame_done(process_frame)

I saved this as f14_lua.txt and changed my command line to.

E:\RetroArch\retroarch.exe -L "E:\RetroArch\cores\mame_libretro.dll" "atom -rompath "E:\Temp\atom" -flop1 "E:\Temp\atom\f14.zip" -autoboot_delay "2" -autoboot_script "E:\Temp\atom\f14_lua.txt"`

It pauses for 100 frames between the two numbers of the command.

Even with no need to slow things down the script is easy to edit to use in place of other autoboot commands.

There is supposed to be a way to play tapes if I can figure it out, (And avoid having to press F2.)

ZeroSin3 · 28 June 2022 22:56

you’re not just a graphical wizard but also a technical wizard

I’ll be sure to try it out in my trial and error session

Duimon · 29 June 2022 04:05

Thanks. To be clear, I am just hacking lua scripts I found that themselves are only “just working”. (As stated by the author.)

This one will start the tape player in the alice32.

local frame_num = 0
local run_frame = 0

local function process_frame()
        frame_num = frame_num + 1

        if frame_num == 30 then
            emu.keypost('\n')
        elseif frame_num == 150 then
		    emu.keypost('CLOAD\n')
        elseif frame_num == 300 then
		    manager.machine.cassettes[":cassette"]:play()
		elseif frame_num > 500 then
		    if run_frame == 0 then
		        if manager.machine.cassettes[":cassette"].motor_state == false then
    		        run_frame = frame_num + 60
	    	    end
            elseif frame_num == run_frame then
		        emu.keypost('RUN\n')
		    end
        end

       	if manager.machine.cassettes[":cassette"].is_stopped == false and manager.machine.cassettes[":cassette"].motor_state == true then
		    manager.machine.video.throttled = false
		    manager.machine.video.frameskip = 12
		else
		    manager.machine.video.throttled = true
		    manager.machine.video.frameskip = 0
		end
end

emu.register_frame_done(process_frame)

This loads a command line as a rom in a “galaxian.cmd” with these contents.

alice32 -rompath "E:\RetroArch\system\mame\roms" -cass "E:\Temp\alice32\roms\galaxion.zip" -autoboot_delay "2" -autoboot_script "E:\Temp\alice32\galaxian.lua" -ui_active`

I am naming my scripts *.lua now to keep things straight.

Duimon · 1 July 2022 18:16

I did some more work on the Electron Alternate with the Data Recorder. The new recorder layer looks like this.

By default it exactly covers up the keyboard keys, making it look intentional.

I looked funky before.

It will still look a bit funky as the X Position is adjusted…

…but you can cover up one set of keys at a time…

…until the whole recorder is visible.

Just in case an end user wants to do some extreme screen position/size changes.

Duimon · 29 June 2022 14:33

The Electron is in the repo!

Duimon · 1 July 2022 22:53

Here’s a new WIP.

The BBC Micro.

There are a couple things bugging me but it’s pretty close.

The Monitor is a Microvitec Cub 1451AP-DS, a consumer version of the Cub 653 PVM which was also commonly used. (It didn’t have a bezel so I decided against it, but it was cool looking.)

walter.farmacia · 1 July 2022 23:23

Too bad, so much that I tried but I couldn’t run Acorn System in retroarch and I searched on youtube to see if there was a tutorial to see how it’s done but I didn’t get anything

walter.farmacia · 1 July 2022 23:28

I was able to play on RetroArch NEC TurboGrafx-CD and NEC PC Engine-CD with the mega Bezel Duimon Advance, I already downloaded the 46 official Turbografx-CD games, now I still need to get the 118 PC-Engine CD games

Duimon · 2 July 2022 22:19

I did an OCD pass on both the Micro Model-B and the Cub monitor.

I added the on/off symbols to the monitor and tweaked the LED rocker switch. (It is hard because finding a decent shot is impossible.)

I also tweaked the colors of the Micro to be more in line with the monitor and the other Acorn graphics.

While I was up to my elbows I fine tuned the black level of some layers and offset some masked layers to allow a graceful Gaussian blur.

I briefly tried texture but, although it looked OK, I haven’t textured the other Acorn and I want them to be consistent.

__

I think I am ready to start building some presets.

ZeroSin3 · 3 July 2022 00:34

looking good! For me, for all my platforms, I tend to use the night version. So glad you always add both versions.

ZeroSin3 · 3 July 2022 00:36

try this tutorial: Autoboot Command / Script for MAME SWL

Duimon · 3 July 2022 02:11

That is a pretty good resource , but limited. It can be added to with some careful reading of the MAME hash.xml for each system.

e.g. “atom_flop.xml” lines 8 - 12…

Loading Instructions:

*DOS - enters the DOS. The LOAD and SAVE commands apply now to disk, not cassette. Use the BREAK key to return to the cassette basic.
*DIR - load the directory information into a buffer (but does not show it). This is a sort of mount command.
*CAT - prints the directory information from the buffer on the screen. If the disk was spinning, an implicit *DIR is executed.

“dragon_flop.xml” lines 10 - 15…

Loading Instructions:

Some disks are bootable and can be booted using:
BOOT
Others require loading a specific file and executing it:
LOAD"GAME.BIN" then EXEC

Use DIR to list disk directory.

Also… if you open these lua scripts in a text editor you can learn even more.

https://github.com/Bob-Z/RandoMame/tree/main/autoboot_script

Duimon · 3 July 2022 04:36

BBC Micro is in the repo!

I am going to take a break from the tedious work of keyboard type systems.

I think I’ll do something fun before I do the BBC Master.

KingSlayer937 · 3 July 2022 16:24

Hey Duimon! All these keyboard systems look great man, really like that every time i come here there’s something new to see and learn about. Some of these systems i never knew even existed, jus noticed today while doing some dreamcast launchbox stuff that RA can load dreamcast VMU games now with the VeMUlater core. Just did a test myself and thought you would like to know, in case you want to add it to the list. Might be a challenge since a actual VMU is so tiny.

Sega-Dreamcast-VMU