Linux Retroarch PSX emulation

RetroArch General
#1

I have installed retroarch, but I am unable to load any psx games with the mednafen-psx core. The log shows the following:

RetroArch [WARN] :: system_directory is not set in config. Assuming system directory is same folder as game: “/home/computer/Emulation/cdimages/”. RetroArch: Loading dynamic libretro from: “/home/computer/Retroarch/libretro/libretro-mednafen-psx.so” RetroArch: Version of libretro API: 1 RetroArch: Compiled against API: 1 RetroArch: Environ SYSTEM_DIRECTORY: “/home/computer/Emulation/cdimages/”. RetroArch: Environ SET_DISK_CONTROL_INTERFACE. RetroArch: Environ PERFORMANCE_LEVEL: 3. RetroArch: Loading ROM file: /home/computer/Emulation/cdimages/FFVIII-3.cue. RetroArch: ROM loading skipped. Implementation will load it on its own. RetroArch: Environ SET_PIXEL_FORMAT: XRGB8888. RetroArch: Environ GET_OVERSCAN: 0 RetroArch [ERROR] :: Failed to load game. [Mednafen PSX]: Samples / Frame: -nan [Mednafen PSX]: Estimated FPS: -nan RetroArch: Does not have enough samples for monitor refresh rate estimation. Requires to run for at least 4096 frames.

As I am new to this, I acknowledge that I may not have everything set up correctly. I installed it using the complilation guide instructions at https://github.com/Themaister/RetroArch/wiki/Compilation-guide-(Linux). Can anyone enlighten me on any further steps that may be required? I do find it odd that I see nowhere to specify paths to bios files or memory cards in the config file, and have tried placing them in the same directory as the game, but results in the same errors. I am guessing that I might be missing something there.

#2

BIOS and memory cards go into the ‘system’ folder, which you can specify. Mednafen-psx needs scph5005 BIOS. You might also peek into the CUE file and make sure everything looks good. This core can be finicky about it.

#3

Thank you for the response. How do I specify the ‘system’ folder? I have the phoenix gui and do not see any place to specify it in there. I also opened the config file and did not see anywhere in there to specify either. I tried adding a line defining a system folder to be where the bios and memory card files are as I saw posted previously in another topic that I found with a google search, but whenever I try to load a game after starting the emulator, that line is deleted from the cfg file. I also tried to place the bios files in the same folder as the games, then the folder containing the retroarch binary, neither of which changed anything.

What should I be looking for in the CUE files? I have tried multiple games without any success. I did “burn” (I don’t know why they call that process of copying onto the computer “burning”) these CD images myself using Brasero, but I do admit that the program is a bit of a black box to me right now, so perhaps I messed something up there?

I can play all of my psx games in the pcsxr emulator, so I can be content with that if need be, although I really like the idea of having only this one program to emulate all of my old systems. If anyone has further tips, or if I have not provided enough information for further tips to give, please let me know. Thank you again for assisting me with this.

#4

It should be an option under Settings > General. If you don’t see it, you may have a very old version of RA-Phoenix that didn’t support that yet. If that’s the case, try to update, either through the built-in updater or by downloading it fresh. Your log shows it as using your cdimages folder as the ‘system’ directory already, so having the bios in there should have been okay, too.

For the CUE files, just make sure the filenames are exactly correct.

#5

Thank you again. I set the system folder in the settings option. I also finally got everything working. I did have to fix my cue files, and apparently my problem was that I had my bios named “Scph5501.bin” instead of “scph5501.bin” Had no idea it would be that picky, but I am glad to have everything working now.

#6

Filesystems on Linux (and pretty much everything not Windows) is case-sensitive.