PS3 with TB CFW v2 FBA issue

RetroArch General
#1

I have a PS3 Slim Cech-2001A, 500gb internal HDD installed with a True Blue 2 Dongle firmware 2.7 on a True Blue CFW v2 and using either build of RetroArcade CFW.pkg, or Kmeaw CFW.pkg will crash if I try to load a CPS-1 Alien vs Predator zipped rom. I even tried it without the TB dongle and still got it to crash when I tried to run the same rom. I know I have it set to fba core as default.

This same rom works in FbaNext r490 build. I would love to see RetroArcade continue and use the latest Final Burn Alpha source code and the latest rom set naming sets.

So, far, it needs a better larger font for 480p TV’s in RetroArcade GUI. It also needs better user friendly Gui from going back to settings and then back to file browser mode to view rom sets.

I wish it had the same GUI that FBAxxx had. I used to beta test back in the day on the Xbox1 with Gogo Ackman and Artiks build of Fbaxxx and loved it. Would,love to see someone update the Final Burn Alpha properly to PS3 and Kixxxx as well to the PS3.

#2

Your FBA ROMs are outdated - FBANext r490 was based on FBA version 0.2.97.08, which is now very outdated. As you can see in the RetroArch menu, the FBA core version is 0.2.97.26. You will need ROMs for that version - they’re based on the latest MAME ROMsets.

For all your GUI needs I direct you to Multiman - which RetroArch should cooperate with. Whomever is behind the current Multiman releases - whether it be Deank or Cobra - whatever - has my full permission to include fullblown RetroArch support in there.

RetroArch is built in a way so that an external GUI / app launcher can launch it. There’s the ability to switch back to Multiman in the Quick Menu.

About Kixxx

I looked at the Kixxx sourcecode - which is basically an old MAME version with a MIPS dynarec and some other speed hacks - there are at least a couple of big problems with it that precludes a libretro port -

1 - By default it only compiles for 32bit x86 - not x86_64 2 - The MIPS dynarec (the only thing that makes the KI games playable to begin with) is x86-only - obviously that is not going to work on PS3/360 - so it would still be too slow. 3 - Lots of x86 ASM that doesn’t even compile anymore on modern x86 CPUs.

So as it stands it looks like it’s stuck in Xbox 1 Pentium 3/Celeron land, sorry.

#3

The Alien vs Predator(avspu.zip) Rom set works with my Mac OS X SDL Mame v0.146 (32-bit) and with my FBANext R490 it works. But not with the Final Burn Alpha core on the PS3 version. I don’t even get any info reporting back if there are bad or missing roms. If Final Burn Alpha 0.2.97.26 for the Windows PC is using a different rom set, then that is misleading as I thought I read online somewhere its using MAME v0.145u3 rom sets.

#4

Yes, ROM error notification is badly needed for the PS3/360 ports - we’ll have to look at including that.

As for your game problem - I’ll test it myself now. Seems to me like you just need one of the required parent ROMs though (avspu.zip is certainly not a parent ROM going by the name - avsp.zip would be the parent ROM).

#5

Ok, I’ll be glad to help when I can. Yes, error trapping stuff is needed. You should be able to parse the source code of MAME’s rom sets its looking for.

#6

Game boots up just fine here (avsp.zip or avspu.zip). Make sure you have all the clone/parent ROMs in the set and you should be good.

#7

Ack, thats more work. Seeing as its playing fine on my SDL Mame v0.145. Can you atlease, when you work on it down the line, make it not hang the PS3 if it won’t run the rom set because of missing parent or clone or bad crc miss match rome? Thanks. Maybe have an option to generate rom set dat file?

#8

I already indicated that I would provide some kind of ROM error notification in the future - but really, at the moment there is no problem here - SDLMAME is not FBA - FBA simply requires one of the clone/parent ROMs that are not in your ROMset right now on the PS3 - that’s why it hangs right now perhaps - because it cannot find that ROM. So just move all that over and you should be good. They’re only 6 files - I could get it done in less than 3-4 minutes.

#9

I will try a bit, just to see if it works. Thanks.

#10

Interesting, running avsp.zip (Euro) in Fba on windows works and in iFBA on ipad 3 works, but avspu.zip caused iFba to hang, but in Fba on windows works. Will test avsp.zip on PS3 later.

#11

Ok, that avsp.zip worked in RetroArcade for the PS3! Its the Euro version of the romset, thats fine. Got to test out some of the GUI settings. Dont know of I can remap the Six axis right and left thumbstick button clicks to something else. Soon I will be using a 10 button arcade stick with my PS3.

#12

Also, seems the RetroArch CFW.pkg works better than the kmeaw.pkg on my PS3. I wnder whats the difference? If its there, I have not seen it yet, but would Pugslys mame cheat files work in FBA.core for the PS3? Or what cheat files can it support? As for KIxxx, thats a shame, its too outdated to reuse the source code to get it to work on PS3 or 360. Is the PS3 powefull enough to play KI 1 & 2? I wonder what SDL Mame is using to get it to work for Mac OS X for Killer Instinct 1 & 2?

#13

The only way to get Killer Instinct 1 and 2 running at fullspeed would be to write a MIPS dynarec core for PowerPC - that is not a trivial matter at all, hence why nobody has done it.

SDLMame for MAC OS X will likely just rely on the standard x86 MIPS dynarec for MAME - hence why performance is good on x86 machines.

#14

I see Lantus is a FBA Dev, I wish he would port his Mame v0.72 over to PS3, maybe that core would work with RetroArch? I’m not the only one that would love to play KI1 and 2 on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Hmm, I wonder if the U64Emu/KIAME source code is available and would work on PS3? U64Emu SDL 3.02.1 Beta?

#15

I said in the README of RetroArch 0.9.6 that a MAME 0.72 libretro port is in development.

But like I said before, it doesn’t matter if MAME 0.72 is ported to 360/PS3 or not - there is no MIPS DRC core right now for PPC, so Killer Instinct 1/2 will still be intolerably slow. (also, there’s the second big problem that a dynarec wouldn’t even work on CFW PS3 - only on something that allows Lv2 patches).

You need to understand that Xbox 1 devs in many ways had it very easy in that most of the x86 codebases could be easily ported to Xbox 1 without really any core changes, and you had instant good results. That’s no longer the case in the ‘current gen’ - porting has gotten a lot harder with the move to big-endian PowerPC CPU cores, and getting good results has become a lot harder as well because they’re in-order CPUs that are feature-stripped for cost reasons.

#16

Awll, thanks for the insight. I’m no programmer/coder. Guess, I’ll live with using my joystick on my iMac with SDL Mame for KI 1 & 2 fun and using the same joystick on the PS3… once my Multi-CTHULHU PCB comes in on Friday!

#17

I was trying to get my Arcade joystick to work, but in the middle of changing the button mappings, I changed the screen scaller thingy to one with HD and it goes black when I restart the Emu on my 480p connected PS3 to the TV. Something I did messed this up.

Anyway, I’d like to ask if the windows version of FBA cheat .ini files will be one day compatible with this version for the PS3?

Thanks

#18

I had to delete the retroarch.cfg file in order to see the EMU, but at least I made a working joystick.cfg preset file that works with my Arcade Perfect 360 MC Cthulhu PCB joystick.