Mame-master Issues

Libretro Cores
#1

So with the newest mame (214) build it seems cps1 is broken. I tried with updated romsets and it just gets stuck on a black screen before booting out. Load 1941 for an example.

On going issues since mame-libretro 200? and later.

Taito GNet is broken. Gnet freezes upon load on the initial boot and never gets to the “loading” progress bar. Some F3 cart games freeze upon load on initial boot with a green screen.

Both load fine on mainline mame but not libretro. Gnet on mainline mame asks what bios V1 or V2 to load up at boot and then enters the progress bar.

The only way I can play these are on Mame2016. Go by RC was recently fixed with controller support so its unplayable in Mame2016.

Also I could never get the Xavix driver to load the “Let’s Play” Namco / Taito series. There is no special bios to these games. Haze said they should just boot. They are like a “Game and watch / Jakks Pacific” type roms.

Maybe whomever maintains Mame-libretro might want to take a look at these issues when they can.

1 Like
#2

Where did you get the 214 core from?

In the buldbot the latest version is still 212. And i tested 1941 and it’s working.

#3

I get it from the libretro github and compile it.

https://github.com/libretro/mame

#4

But is there any reason why it’s not in the buildbot? Maybe it’s known that there are bugs?

Genuine question, i don’t know the answer.

#5

It is on the Buildbot :smiley:

#6

I can replicate this. using the mame core from the buildbot (linux) it’ll crash when loading a cps1 games

EDIT: made a github issue open here: https://github.com/libretro/mame/issues/122

#7

Ok, it got updated today.

I also have the same issues on Windows, loaded a CPS1 game and got a runtime error.

#8

Related question: is it generally recommended to update cores to the latest version?

I’m still new to RetroArch and emulation, and I start getting the gist of MAME and RA just now, after hours (more like days/weeks) of fiddling around. Point is, I’m building my small collection of arcade games on MAME 0.212 (master core for the latest version of RA 1.78, which I’m still using, and didn’t update to 1.79 yet), and everything works apparently very well, so far.

The idea of updating to 0.214 and then having to rebuild my entire set (it’s not a full set, as I like to use merged ROMs, so I can keep my folder relatively clean and still decide which version of each game to play) is discouraging to say the least, so I’m wondering if it’s safe to keep things as they are, as far as MAME is concerned.

Thanks in advance!

#9

It depends on the fixes and new features.

The only thing 214 has over 212 for me are a bunch of new Tiger handhelds and some minor graphical fixes in CPS3 games that i didn’t know existed in the first place.

Though, this new core has issues and the recent Tiger handhelds don’t work anyway. So i will stick with 212 even thought i wanted to upgrade to 214 for the handhelds alone. My romset is from 214 btw but 212 works with 99,99 of it so its all good.

Generally, i would not recommend updating MAME unless there is some big fix that changes things or if your set is about 15-20 versions out of date or more. And even then you might not see a difference if you don’t know what to look for. My last update was from 172 to 212 and i still didn’t see a huge difference other than the recently supported handheld stuff and a couple of Namco 3D racing games where they fixed the mirrors.

#10

I mainly compile the updated mame core to check out if Taito Gnet games start working again and stumbled onto the cps1 issue.

Some cores I compile by myself in general. I’m not sure if it makes a difference between compiling vs using buildbot for some cores to make sure their using my drivers to their fullest vs generic ones if that makes sense.

I have an Intel nuc8i7beh running retropie x86 with Ubuntu 18.04, bleeding edge padoka drivers and low latency kernels.

Flycast for example freezes at startup if I don’t set a couple options to 1 in the libretro.make file. Gl2 and gl3 need to be set to 1.

I’m derailing though. Back on topic.

I have noticed that the 214 mame-libretro .cpp drivers are a different size than the mainstream 214 src drivers but when I compile with those drivers and build without error, I still get the freezes on cps1, taitogn and certain taitof3.

#11

@GemaH thanks for clarifying, and apologies to @H215 for taking advantage of this thread.

#12

@Galdelico It’s all good. We’re here to learn and help one another.

So I was given a libretro 0190s not too long ago and I also have libretro 0199s in hopes of building Mame4Rage2 for libretro although I need libretro’s 0194s but I decided to compile the taitogn.cpp just to see if it works and it does indeed work. Go by Rc plays with controller support. So it must be at or after mame libretro 0200 where it broke. I’ll just compile a tiny build from 0199s for that driver for now… If whoever maintains mame-libretro would like these srcs to do comparisons, reply to this thread and I’ll upload them for you.