FM-Towns in RetroArch

RetroArch General
#62

Ok this means i will need all the CMD files. One for each game. Depending on the number of games i’ll end up with this sounds like a lot of manual work.

It’s a similar situation with the FM-Towns zips + ISOS but those are just about 60 games i cherry picked since the system doesn’t have that many games and half of them are Japanese text heavy adventures.

Anyway, the only frontend i use for scraping is Launchbox. The other scrapers are not frontends (Screenscraper and Emumovies). But yes, all these recognize the MAME arcade roms. However, i’m not sure about the software lists…

MAME’s naming schemes are the silliest thing about it. It creates issues with scraping or implementing in other frontends and if that’s not enough, they rename a few roms each month, just to make it a bit harder :smile:

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#63

True but it only needs to be done once. :grin:

I have spent many hours of similar work on my HTPC. In the end, if this is the only solution, I think it is worth the time.

Hopefully someone with more Launchbox experience can offer an easier solution.

#64

Beautiful :pleading_face:
Thank you, I will try it.

I haven’t used ES for a long time, but I know that you can configure the lists with DATs. If you emulate it with MAME, you can be subject to the games it supports, they will be few, but you have DATs from Redump, No-Intro, TOSEC, etc.

Yes, it plays, that’s why I avoid using systems that are not supported in RetroArch, it makes me lazy.
FM-Towns has registered in mobygames about 510 games, and 191 are adventure games, taking into account that it is an exclusive Japanese machine and that it was thought for adventure games, that is very little. An unofficial list that has more than 1500 games and some very good ones, for example, Prince of Persia is the best classic version of the time.

#65

MAME SL from FM TOWNS will require you to create an account, but I think a specific thread on HyperSpin will help.

#66

Use LB’s MAME Software Lists Import Tool plug-in to import FM-TOWNS in MAME name format, combine the necessary files provided by HyperSpin’s specific thread, and then configure LB’s settings on LB’s forum. I forgot the location of the thread in the LB forum, although I refer to the part pursued within.

Since MAME SL cannot coexist with MAME Arcade, add Retroarch separately by adding an emulator. However, since the name is duplicated, change the name and register. And make it like the screenshot. (The screenshot is in Japanese, but I think the check box position and item placement are the same.)

2023-04-27
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This should work fine. FM TOWNS and FM TOWNS Marty do not require any special command once you put the instructions or the prepared file in a specific thread of HyperSpin.

After that, use the LB plug-in called Hyperspin2LaunchboxPlaylist to import the FM TOWNS XML file provided by a specific HyperSpin thread, and it will be reflected in the LB with the correct structure.

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#67

HyperSpin specific thread here.
https://hyperspin-fe.com/forums/topic/43353-ongoing-retroarchmame-software-list-project/

MAME Software Lists Import Tool Plugin for LB

Hyperspin2LaunchboxPlaylist plugin for LB

#68

Thank you @Ranmori! :grin:

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#69

This is off topic.

Is the address with @ automatically recognized by simply pressing the @ key and then entering the alphabet of the ID? I don’t know how to do this and I’m having trouble lately.

@Duimon

Oh, it looks like it really works.

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#70

I finally found the corresponding forum on LB. Argument command mechanism passed from LB to RetroArch.

Apart from this, you may need to edit the platform specific ini file in System\mame\ini and the platform specific cfg file in Saves\mame\cfg at the same time. Enable the CLI option. By trial and error while RetroArch log (text file output) is enabled, I think it will be easier to understand what kind of logic works.

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#71

Slightly, but hardly noticeable. :sweat_smile:
It is very interesting, thanks for sharing. ありがとう!

Do you know of any sites that have information on Japanese games?

#72

Japan has a fairly small emulation culture and is not too passive when it comes to retro games.

And speaking of Japan’s Galapakos personal computers, “NEC PC”, “FM TOWNS (including Marty)”, “Sharp X1/X68000”, but there is no list that covers everything yet.

This is because there is too much free software. There are omissions even in commercially available games.

I think it is similar to the fact that there are an unusually large number of IBM PC or DOS/V games in the world that cannot be covered.

http://ahirudanna.html.xdomain.jp/towns_soft.html

I don’t think it covers everything, but here is the FM TOWNS list with the page updated in 2021.

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#73

Yes, I saw how it was a scandal when they released some DOS games, on the contrary, I’ve seen FM Towns, NEC PC, etc. There are almost complete collections available. I am also curious that there are more and more shared as “preservation” with a high level of detail and high resolution scans.

I’m not really looking for all of them, I’m looking for a site that has related information in general, like mobygames.
I am making a collection with games like Angel Gates, Alex-World, Incarnatia and others. Getting the images is very difficult, but the information is almost impossible.

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#74

mobygames seems to have its own database uploaded by users outside of Japan. I’ve heard that the actual number of games is over 800.

hmm…
Are you going to Akihabara in Japan? :rofl:

I don’t know if there are any FM TOWNS specialty stores now.



Also, in Japan, the MSX0 and MSX3 projects, which are reprints of the MSX, are currently underway, and the X68000Z, a reprint hardware of the X68000, has been released, and the Egg Project has decided to expand to the Nintendo Switch.

But that doesn’t include FM TOWNS. I regret this. FM TOWNS’ dedicated CRT was an OEM by SONY Trinitron, so the graphics were very beautiful, but…

It seems that there are collectors of Japanese Galapakos computers such as FM TOWNS in Japan. But I don’t know him.

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#75

Maybe in the future. My fate depends on the gods. :sweat_smile:

I have read something about the FM Towns and X68000 Z Mini reissues. too bad Japan doesn’t place these products internationally, now with AI translators, magic can be done.
I don’t want to make hardware collections, just emulation for distraction and good memories.
Galapakos computers? What is this?

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#76

About Galapakos computers. :rofl:

Japanese people probably don’t think so…or rather, it’s a PC made in Japan that everyone probably forgot about. A computer that can’t handle English backwards. It’s strange when I think about it now. :upside_down_face:

IBM PC or AT compatible machine or DOS/V (this is probably also a Japanese name) I remember that the English base was DOS, and DOS with a Japanese driver was called DOS/V.

By the way, the reason why it’s a galapakos is that when you boot from the HDD on a NEC PC, the HDD is the A drive. Also, if the expansion bus such as ISA slot and PCI slot is NEC PC, it is C bus, but this is also not a type that plugs directly into the motherboard, but an inverted T type slot. It was a structure that was horizontal with the result motherboard. For IBM, it’s a riser card. It was the worst scalability. Extensibility is almost zero. Existence of FDD 0 drive which is impossible in IBM PC only for Sharp.

Because of that, it didn’t win against the IBM PC and perished. That’s why I call it the computer of the Galapakos culture.

Japanese mobile phones were called Garapakos Mobile Phones, abbreviated as “Galake”, before the iPhone and Android appeared. It has a similar meaning. :joy:

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#77

Hey @Duimon Could you link the project these nice pictures you posted come from?

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#78

Sure. :grin: They are all presets from my Mega Bezel graphics/presets project.

https://forums.libretro.com/t/duimon-hsm-mega-bezel-graphics-and-presets-feedback-and-updates/28146

A lot has happened since you last posted in the thread back in May of 2020. :wink:

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#79

Thank you. This time i’ll try to keep up the pace :stuck_out_tongue:

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#80

Very interesting. I am very honored to be the first Latino to meet Galapagos PC. :pleading_face:
I relate Galapagos with Chile because I am from Venezuela, but if I know the Galapagos Effect, it is stacking, like the minimac or also known Sandwich as the MiSTer FPGA (it is also a mental syndrome).

This is the first time I’ve searched so hard and gotten absolutely nothing not a photo, this may fall between myth or legend.

This is what I mean, there is little or no information. And it’s not about collecting or emulation. It’s the human part, it’s history, it’s the work of engineers, software developers and designers.

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#81

In the case of Japan, it means this one.

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