This is my first time using mame so I was curious how do I install the mame gameboy (non-color) core for mame if I am only using the mame core for retroarch?
I don’t think I understand the question. Do you mean ‘how do I load gameboy ROMs via MAME/MESS?’ If so, it a big pain in the butt and you’re better off using a gameboy-specific core, like gambatte (just rename your ROM to *.gb instead of *.gbc to leave off the color).
According to http://nonmame.retrogames.com/ mame can emulate some systems on par or better than the best anything else can do and it lists gameboy as one of those systems. So as retroarch has a mame core I figure I shouldn’t have to install the mame application anywhere else to use it to play gameboy games with the mame gameboy core.
That’s true for some systems, yeah, but gameboy isn’t one of them. I may be looking at the wrong thing, but it looks to me like that link suggests RA+gambatte, as well.
It suggests gambatte for gbc and mame for gb, and gba (as well as atari 2600, game gear, genesis, neo geo, neo geo cd, and the turboduo). So I would like to know how to install the mame cores so I can use the best rated emulators for my roms. Once again, as the mame core is installable in retroarch it only makes sense that the mame cores should work as well. Otherwise that is like saying you can install a car frame but no engine.
The problem is no where on the internet has any kind of instructions on how to install mame cores, not even the mame site.
I don’t think MAME’s GB emulation is noticeably better enough to use it over Gambatte. But if you did want to, there’s no “installing cores” for MAME. The latest build of the MAME core includes all the MESS drivers built into it just like stand alone MAME does now. You just have to figure out how to launch a GB ROM in the MAME core while specifying the system from the command line.
I think the command line should be something like:
retroarch.exe -L cores\mame_libretro.dll -rompath C:\path o\GBROMFOLDER gb -cart game.gb
I haven’t actually tested it though. There’s more info at this blog post: http://www.libretro.com/index.php/mamemessume-cores/
MAME/MESS is also definitely not better at GBA than mGBA or Higan’s bgba, nor better at Genesis than Genesis Plus GX or Exodus.
I think GB emulation in MAME/MESS might also require a BIOS. My command line probably isn’t right if so.
okay, so I’ve decided to use retroarch cores over mame cores because mame seems kinda like a crapshoot and also no one can even tell me how to work it. Except here is my problem now: There is no cdi core in retroarch so I have to use the mame core for it.
Here is my code to launch it via RetroFE: executable = D:\Games\RetroArch\retroarch.exe arguments = “%ITEM_FILEPATH%”-L “cores\mame_libretro.dll”
Naturally it doesn’t work because the cdi sub-core is not specified. I was told in the most recent version of mame all bios were preinstalled so I was praying that would mean it would just work but I guess not. So do I need to download a cdi bios and do something with it? And what does my launch code need to get it working?