Run Philips CD-i games in Retroarch (mame_libretro) via RocketLauncher

General Guides
#16

I’m having issues with the Philips CD-i and getting it working on the GPD XD Plus (Android 7)

Following along with the advice here, I have converted a number of CD-i ROMS from .cue/ .bin to .chd. I have found the BIOS and placed it with my ROMS.

However, looking at the guide, it says to open up RetroArch and make changes to the following settings:

Enable Softlist (OFF) Media Type (cdrm) Boot from CLI (ON)

But, as I am using RetroRach on Android, I can not find these settings to change. Am I missing something?

There is someone on Youtube who has apparently got it working through RetroArch on their Galaxy S8+ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxsopNctAYg) and said they would write a guide, but as yet, has not posted one.

Does anyone have any advice regarding getting CD-i working through RetroArch on Android, or can you think of another way to get it working?

#17

Sounds like you need to 1st open anyother mame game with the core. Standard arcade game or something

Go into Quick Menu=>Options and set the ones required. Then save the game option file (otherwise this will be set for ALL games you load with mame core)

Go find the created .opt file RetroArch=>config=>MAME and rename it to the cdi game name listed in the .xml file for CDi in mama hash folder. (You should have that in your system folder for this all to work iirc)

Examples Screenshot_20180501-192044

Screenshot_20180501-192035

Screenshot_20180501-192111

#18

Fyi you would rename frogger.opt to “nameodcdigame”.opt

#19

Thank you for the advice and walk through. Really appreciate it. When I can, I’ll test this out and see if I can get it working. Cheers.

1 Like
#20

Thank you again for your help and pictorial guide.

I followed your instructions and was able to get an .opt file to be generated for a game running in MAME. I edited the file name to the same as the CD-I game I want to use, and made the changes to the file as shown above (I changed "media_type = “cdrm” and also changed “softlists_enabled” to “disabled” and “Boot from CLI” to “enabled” (as detailed at the top of this thread) ) but I still get RetroArch crashing when trying to launch the game.

I paced the BIOS in the same folder as my ROMs, but also put a copy in the “system” folder of RetroArch as that’s where I have my other BIOS files that RetroArch uses. I will check the BIOS I’m using and maybe try another Core.

Any further advice would be most helpful.

#21

Do you have anyother consoles seyup with mame?

Theres some other steps needed…

Follow this guide and apply it to CD-i for file/bios names.

Boot to bios should be off and software lists enabled. The original guide is for windows using an external launcher…android is different

#22

Any news on launching directly from RetroArch?

#23

Should be exactly the same as neogeo cd…just changing up the bios names and such

#24

This is my setup:

Untitled-4%20copy
Untitled-4 copy.png641×512 39.1 KB

  • cdi220b.rom CRC: 279683CA
  • cdi200.rom CRC: 40C4E6B9
  • cdi220.rom CRC: 584C0AF8

Untitled-4%20copy
Untitled-4 copy.png641×512 26.5 KB

MAME settings:

  • mame_alternate_renderer = “disabled”
  • mame_altres = “640x480”
  • mame_auto_save = “disabled”
  • mame_boot_from_cli = “disabled”
  • mame_boot_to_bios = “disabled”
  • mame_boot_to_osd = “disabled”
  • mame_buttons_profiles = “enabled”
  • mame_cheats_enable = “disabled”
  • mame_media_type = “rom”
  • mame_mouse_enable = “disabled”
  • mame_read_config = “disabled”
  • mame_saves = “game”
  • mame_softlists_auto_media = “enabled”
  • mame_softlists_enable = “enabled”
  • mame_throttle = “disabled”
  • mame_write_config = “disabled”

Without success. RetroArch just closes after launching the dummy.zip

#25

Try changing the media type to CD-ROM

What format are the cd-I games anyway? Could be worth a chd conversion but I have no clue.

I do know a guy that has this working on many games so it is def possible

#26

Changeing mame_media_type = “rom” to mame_media_type = “cdrm” did not help.

Games are in chd format.

#27

In another thread @zachmorris helps me to load and run properly CD-i games in Retroarch, take a look:

Has anyone managed to run CHD Philips CD-i game under windows?

1 Like
#28

Ahhh so the games needed to be placed inside /cdimono1/ folder.

#29

So quick question, HOW do I get CDI games in this CHD format? I have been trying to run Mutant Rampage Bodyslam for ages, and I have it in both CDI and ISO formats, but never seen it in this CHD… how to get it?

#30

You can easily make the CHD with use of the chdman utility that comes bundled with the MAME Official emulator download. Have a quick search for chd conversion for all systems and you should find a recent ish thread with all the details for making chd images.

#33

I reported it in another thread but I see you managed to run the only CD-I game I’m unable to boot: The Apprentice.

How the hell did you manage to boot it ? Every other games work fine for me, but for some reason I just can’t start this one, I tried with MAME and MAME 2016, same result, can you confirm me you’re still able to boot this game with the latest MAME core update ?

I’ve been struggling for two hours, trying to check the dummy file names, the .xml listing, the .chd, I’ve got the exact same file as you, same configuration and same core options, it crashes Retroarch directly, I’m so lost and I hope you’re still around 'cause I can’t figure why this single game gives me so much trouble.

EDIT: Okay, after A LOT of trial and errors, I managed to get it to work. It works both on MAME 2016, and MAME cores, but apparently better to use MAME. Didn’t try MESS core 'cause I don’t use it at all.

Core options - All settings to NO Media Type = CDRM.

Start the game using the “.chd” file, no need for dummy file. I tried every other option, it doesn’t work except with these settings.

MAME 2016 - Game plays without problems, except minor visual glitches, but for some reason there’s no sound except, option is listed as N/A in menu and I can’t change the setting.

MAME - Game plays without problems, except minor visual glitches, and the sound is working for this version, I can change the sound effects to YES / NO in menu. Only problem I encountered, cinematic musics keeps playing sometimes when you enter the game, so let the cinematic plays to the end to avoid a music conflict between the one from the main level and the cinematic one.

It was such a pain in the ass to get this one working but I’m glad I managed to do it, the game looks pretty fun and definitely far above the usual CD-I standard. Would have been a pretty neat SNES game, too bad it never was ported on any other console.

1 Like
#34

I know this is a tad old, but I feel like this is a good tack-on for this and I didn’t think it was worth making another topic.

Setting controls in MAME, everything for directional input on this console seems to be mapped to the mouse. The problem there is the sensitivity/deadzone (even after playing with RetroArch’s setting for sensitivity/deadzone in settings>input) is just far too sensitive. I have a pretty new X1 gamepad and it still drifts pretty bad to the point playing something like Tetris is just barely impossible.

Does anyone have a recommended setting/configuration to set the controls to the D-Pad? Or maybe even get some more fine tuned control over the analog stick as the mouse?

#35

I tried finding help about creating CHD images but only found this guide and it seems unnecessarily risky to me with removing hard drives and other nonsense. All I want is to somehow convert the CUE/ISO file I have to CHD. Is there an easier way? http://www.thekillerinstinctproject.com/kiproject/chdman.html

#36

chdman -creadtcd -i filename.cue -o filename.chd. Normally does the trick

#37

i will definitely try out thanks for sharing