Hey guys! Got tired of having to lay my iPod down in my lap while using my Sixaxis with Retroarch. So I grabbed some pliers, electric tape, and a dry cleaners hanger and threw this together.
Pretty ghetto looking, but it’s better than waiting a few weeks for a $20 piece of plastic. (The GameKlip)
If you want to know how I did it, you can follow the PDF guide from this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthr … ?t=2109444
Havent been on here for a bit
thats usually a good thing
Since Retroarch has been
great so far since the last upadate
But, I do have an issue that I
cant seem to figure out.
When I try to configure the
button layouts for the PS3
controller with the PS1 emu
the analog sticks never
respond, but when I use
the analogs with other Emus
(nintendo sega) They work
fine. ( I like to use the analogs
for save state and fast foward
since I use my phone and
sometimes I get calls or texts,
APP)
Anyways besides this I have no
complaints what so ever.
The emulators even play
hacked/Moded Roms as well
and have had very little crashing issues
Sometimes the PS1 will crash when opening
a game, but i restart the APP and try again and
usually the 2nd time around always works.
Ive never had 3 crashes in a row.
Not sure what that means, but over
all an amazing experience thus far.
Thanks guys for all the hard work and listening to everyones complaining and whining
On FBA and without the aid of using save states, when playing neogeo games in console mode, how do I get FBA to save (data save) my progress within the game?
For example; when playing MVSPSP (neogeo emulator) on the psp, while playing The Last Blade 2 (as well as other fighters) in console mode, after I lose a match, the game will ask me if I want to save my data. Not only does this save my settings within the game, but it will also allow me to pick up where I Ieft off (after quitting the game, playing a diff game, then going back to that game, etc) and start off by fighting the very last guy I lost to during my previous gameplay session. I use unibios both on MVSPSP as well as in the FBA core; however in FBA, it won’t ask me if I ever want to save my data after I lose a match. Therefore, if I’m doing a story run in any of the fighters I play, after leaving and going back to that game, I always have to start back with the very first guy during the match (as well as rechange the in-game settings; difficulty, button settings, etc).
@LDHARAX
Apparently, you need to be using a specific BIOS file and have to go into the BIOS menu via dipswitches. I have no clue how/if you can do this via RetroArch.
source: http://neosource.1emu.net/forums/index.php?topic=1810.0
Alright, so I looked into the memory card issue for FBA and even did a few tests. I even downloaded the latest FBA build on PC and gave it a whirl there. While FBA on PC did have a memory card feature, while playing neogeo games (in AES/MVS modes with normal bios/unibios), the emulator itself wouldn’t let me do anything with the memory card (before/during/after starting the game). No matter what I did, the option was never highlighted to allow me to configure it.
When using the unibios, there are several button commands you can press during the unibios logo to get into the dipswitch menu. This allows you to do several things like change the mode to either arcade (MVS) or console (AES) mode. You can also format your memory card, delete it, etc…
A+B+C for the unibios menu
A+B+C+D for memory card options
Anyways, upon entering the memory card options, it asks for you to plug in your memory card. That’s because the unibios is for the actual Neogeo MVS arcade board. So it’s just not going to work under under normal conditions. While reading the FBA FAQs, it even stated that neogeo/MAME emulators may/may not even support memory card support. Memory card support works on MVSPSP as well as NEO.emu, though the feature itself doesn’t exactly rely on the bios/unibios. It appears that the emulator itself has to be coded to support the memory card feature (for saving/loading). Ah, oh well; you can’t win them all I guess… Though I guess that leads me to one final question. Even though it’s using the FBA core, is memory card support possible through retroarch (kind of like how in the RGUI for FBA, in core settings, there’s a toggle to enable/disable unibios use)?
After a few tests regarding the arcade cores (playing neogeo/cps2 games), I realized that FBA will only play neogeo games, while mame will only play cps2 games. Trying to play the other type of game on the other core will only lead to an error message. Also, neither cores will play cps3 games. On PC, FBA and Mame can emulate a multitude of systems just fine, including cps1, cps2, cps3, neogeo mvs/aes, and many others. So, why is that in retroarch and on iOS, the FBA and Mame core is extremely picky on what it can play?
Also, seeing as how mame and fba in retroarch can only play either neogeo or cps1/2 games, would it be possible to add alternate emulator cores that are better at playing those games than either FBA or mame. For cps1/2, mame is already the best bet; but for neogeo mvs/aes, neoragex is vastly superior to FBA. In neoragex, you don’t have to bother going into the bios to go into aes(console) mode, you can simply choose your mode in settings. Neoragex also supports the memory card feature for saving and loading within neogeo games, which FBA doesn’t. So, is neoragex capable of being ported to retroarch?
Also, what about cps3 and neogeo cd emulation? Will these ever be possible in retroarch? I would love to be able to play cps3 games like street fighter III 3rd strike on my iPad as well as several neogeo cd games. I just recently found out about raine (previously called neoraine) emulator on PC, which is the best neogeo cd emulator available. It ran the games flawlessly, sounded AMAZING, and even supports OpenGL. The emulator originated from their work on neocdpsp, a neogeo cd emulator. I gave that a whirl on my psp, it showed a lot of potential; though it’s a dead project now and has been for quite some time now. For neogeo cd emulation on psp, ncdzpsp is the go to emulator now. Anyways, in short, is raine on PC, an emulator that can be ported to retroarch? Exactly what is the process/qualification for an emulator to get approved and ported to retroarch? While I’ve only used retroarch on iOS, there are several cores that come installed that aren’t even usable on the platform or aren’t fully capable as it’s PC emulator counterpart from which it originated. While I’m sure the PC version of retroarch is a lot more capable than other platforms, I just couldn’t see myself using it because first, it’s not very user friendly. It’s not self explanatory on how to get it up and running, especially compared to other specific emulators on PC; and second becuase I prefer having something that’s always with me or that I can pick up and take wherever (such as an iPad, iPhone, etc) instead of sitting glued to a PC monitor.
So far, the only staples for emulators on my PC are pcsx2, neoragex,nulldc, and just recently raine. Everything else can be emulated through retroarch on my iPhone and iPad. Once ppsspp matures a lot more, maybe then I can leave the psp in the closet.
Something must be up on your end (probably ROMset incompatibilities) because both MAME and FBA can play many, many more games than just cps1/2 and neogeo, respectively. Hell, I played third strike in my browser using ToadKing’s javascript port of FBA the other day.
I’m not saying that MAME and FBA can ONLY play cps1/2 and neogeo games. I’ve used both FBA and MAME on PC, so I know they’re capable of running a multitude of different consoles. My problems though, are ios specific, using retroarch on the ios platform. Anyways, I went ahead and did a few more test since you mentioned that it could be due to romset incompatibilities. So, I made two folders, one containing mame .144 romset cps2/3/neogeo (I use these consoles because I like fighting games) games along with the required neogeo bios for neogeo games, and the other folder with the same files from mame .150 romset. After putting the folders on my iphone, I made sure each folder had the proper permissions set:
I then tested each folder on the mame and fba core, here are my findings:
FBA Core with .144 romset:
NEOGEO:
Last Blade 2-works fine.
Samurai shodown 2-works fine.
CPS2:
Darkstalkers-works fine.
Street Fighter Alpha 3-works fine.
CPS3:
Street Fighter III New Generation-works fine
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Fight for the future-error, failed to load content.
MAME 2003 Core with .144 romset:
Last Blade 2-failed to load content
Samurai shodown 2-failed to load content
Darkstalkers-failed to load content
Street Fighter Alpha 3-failed to load content
Street Fighter III New Generation-crashes retroarch.
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Fight for the Future-crashes retroarch
FBA Core with .150 romset:
Last Blade 2-works fine.
Samurai Shodown 2-works fine.
Darkstalkers-works fine
Street Fighter Alpha 3-works fine
Street Fighter III New Generation-works fine.
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Fight for the future-works fine.
MAME 2003 with .150 romset:
Last Blade 2-failed to load content
Samurai Shodown 2-failed to load content
Darkstalkers-failed to load content
Street Fighter Alpha 3-failed to load content
Street Fighter III New Generation-crashes retroarch
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Fight for the Future-crashes retroarch.
Whew, alright…so, it looks like I’ll just be sticking to using FBA. I did get cps2 games to work with mame earlier, though what romset those files were from, I don’t even know. Anyways I know MAME 2003 and FBA (in rgui, it shows FB Alpha v0.2.97.30) more than likely require different romsets to function properly. Seeing as how I’ve gotten better results with FBA, i’m not even going to bother with the MAME 2003 core.
Thanks Hunterk for mentioning that it could have been a romset incompatibility, in which you were absolutely right. Though, am I safe to assume that I should be using the mame .150 romset for FBA (not just for cps1/2/3, neogeo games, but also for the many other consoles that FBA is capable of emulating)? Also what about memory card support for neogeo games and the possibility of neogeo cd emulation in retroarch? Is that something that perhaps could be possibly added in the future?
np. I think FBA actually has its own ROMsets floating around, but yeah, ~.150 usually works pretty well with it, AFAIK. As for the other stuff, no clue. I don’t think there are any plans for it at the moment, but it could happen eventually.
Ah, ok; thanks for the responses/feedback. Btw, I googled today if FBA was capable of emulating neogeo cd games. Turns out it is actually capable of playing them, though overall performance is less than ideal. I went ahead and fired up FBA on the PC and gave it a whirl. Neogeo CD isn’t on the list of consoles when you press ‘load game’ in the Game tab in FBA, that’s because in the Game tab there’s a separate option (Load Neo Geo CDZ game) to run neogeo cd games. From there, you pinpoint the directory for your neogeo cd games and then choose and play your desired game. I went ahead and set my directory to the roms folder in the Raine emulator then proceeded to test 11 neogeo cd games (all which work flawlessly on raine). Here were my findings:
Before being able to play neogeo cd games in FBA, you’ll first need ‘neogeo.zip’ and ‘neocdz.zip’ in the FBA roms folder directory. This is different from Raine, as raine requires neocd.bin (the file contained inside neocdz.zip) and 000-lo.lo (a file contained in neogeo.zip) in it’s root directory. Also for neogeo cd games, FBA only accepts ISO and WAV. Anyways, out of the 11 games tested, 2 kept crashing FBA every time after selecting the game and pressing play. Those two games FYI were The King of Fighters 98 and The Last Blade 2.
9 games did successfully play, however there was a major con with playing neogeo cd games in FBA. In those 9 games, it took a while for the BGM tracks to load and play during gameplay. I’d start a match and depending on the game, 45-60 seconds would pass until the stage bgm track would start playing. In one game I tested, it took way over a minute for the stage bgm to register and play. The second con with playing neogeo cd games in FBA was loading times. In raine as well as the neogeo cd emulators on psp (neocdpsp/ncdzpsp), loading times can be sped up or disabled. However, in FBA neither options are available and you’re stuck with default loading times. Depending on the game, loading times can be a real pain. There was one good thing about neogeo cd games on FBA, and that’s that memory card saving/loading worked out of the box. Though it’s safe to say that if one wants to play neogeo cd games on the PC, FBA just isn’t a viable option. Raine will more than likely be your best bet.
Anyways, I don’t mean to keep going on about FBA seeing as how it’s maintained by a whole different developer. However, this comment does pertain to retroarch because seeing as how FBA on PC is capable of running neogeo cd games, I went ahead and tried running neogeo cd games using the FBA core in retroarch on my iphone. In short, it doesn’t work and all attempts to get it to work have been unsuccessful. Seeing as how retroarch requires important files (such as psx bios) to be in the ‘.RetroArch’ folder, that’s where I figured I’d put the neogeo.zip and neocdz.zip files in; which are the two files that FBA requires to run neogeo cd games. Well, that didn’t work. So then I decided to place those two files in a ‘roms’ folder within the .RetroArch folder. That didn’t work either. Finally, I then put the two files in the same folder where the neogeo cd games resided and that ended up not working either. I’m aware that FBA on PC is structured differently than the ported FBA core in retroarch, so it’s obvious that the two don’t share the same setting options/features. Anyways, like you said, there aren’t currently any plans regarding neogeo cd support in retroarch; I just wanted to share my recent experiences. For the time being, I’m content with using Raine on PC and ncdzpsp on the psp for my neogeo cd emulation needs. I guess I just have a vision which probably many others share, where ONE day…the ONLY go to source for ALL emulation needs will be RetroArch- you’re one stop source for emulation fun .
So, apparently the memory card feature in FBA on the PC does work/should be working. I downloaded GGPO, and the version of FBA ( v0.2.96.74) it uses had no problem using the feature. I’m not really sure why the latest version of FBA on barryharris’s site had issues with it not working… …perhaps a FBA guru here can figure it out…anyways, I guess all that’s left is to wait until it’s implemented into retroarch somehow.
Btw, will the mame core in retroarch ever get updated to any of the recent newer builds of mame (currently at 0.152)?
Anyone else here getting a decent amount of frames dropped during gameplay when their device is connected to a tv? Specifically, iOS devices with the lightning connector using lightning to HDMI adapter?
I decided to connect my iPhone 5s to my tv and fire up some FBA fun, however the frames during gameplay were a lot lower and less consistent than when just playing on the phone itself. At first I though it was one of the tweaks (display out) I was using that was causing the frames to drop, so I disabled it; but I was still getting the same performance. I even made sure my shaders were disabled, though that didn’t help either. I was playing a neogeo fighting game, frames were 58 though it would constantly fluctuate to low 50s and even dropped to 47fps. All and all, it wasn’t a very playable experience
My setup was iPhone 5s->lightning to HDMI adapter->an asus monitor with a 5ms response time, and a ps3 controller.
Anyone else have a similar experience or know how it can be addressed or fixed? Also for a future update to retroarch, could these two features be a possibility:
-When device is connected to a monitor, retroarch scales to the full resolution of your monitor (similar to what some apps and games do).
-When device is connected to a monitor, retroarch (through an option in settings or RGUI that can be switched on/off) disables gameplay rendering on idevice’s screen and only outputs to the monitor (similar to/or better than how AVPlayer (when pressing the TV out icon) disables video rendering on the idevice’s screen and only outputs the video footage to the monitor).
Mupen has those 3 as core options. The dynarec requires a jailbreak, the interpreter may work with just a developer account but I don’t know for sure on that.
thats usually a good thing
Since Retroarch has been
great so far since the last upadate
But, I do have an issue that I
cant seem to figure out.
