PiFBA released - Final Burn Alpha arcade emulator

[welshy]

antiriad
Well the obvious example is the AtariVCS/2600 as described above, it has no frame buffer! To get around the cost of RAM at the time and keep the hardware at an acceptable price the TIA (GPU) writes directly to the CRT, one line at a time, which is why it can operate with only 128Bytes of RAM (yes, u read that right, 128BYTES!). There is an excellent article by Jeff Vavasour on how he wrote the emulator For Digital Eclipse's Atari Anthology
Link - http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1 ... cting_.php

[sunjammer]

After messing around with gngeo and having big trouble with it (sd card corruption after freezes) I found PiFBA.
And finally I have a working Neogeo emulator!

I have 2 problems with my joystick configuration. May I ask for help with this?
I use a Wii U Controller Pro via xwiimote (linuxraw).

1) The analog sticks work. But the up-down-axis is inverted (pressing up results in a down command). How can I invert the axis in the configuraton file? I tried "JA_UD=-1" but this did not work.

2) How can I configure the dpad in fba2x.cfg? "UP=12" for example did not work.

Thank for your help!

[welshy]

sunjammer
You could run jstest to see what's happening with your controller which will also give the correct codes to put in the fba config.

install the drivers (if you haven't already) -
sudo apt-get install joystick
then run jstest
./jstest /dev/js0
which will show the inputs/codes for the axis and buttons

[sunjammer]

@welshy:
I executed jtest as suggested by you before. I do know the button mapping of my joystick. But unfortunately I do not know how to use them properly in fba2x.cfg.

Problem 1:
The up-down axis of my left analog stick is "1".
Using this "JA_UD=1" in fba2x.cfg results in an inverted up-down-axis (pressing up results in down). Possibly I do not have the option to use an extra axis for only up or down or to invert the axis.

Problem 2:
I do know the button mapping of my d-pad. But I do not know how to insert the d-pad-options in fba2x.cfg in the section [joystick]. "UP=12" (12 is my button number für d-pad up) for example does not work.

[welshy]

sunjammer
Do you have the latest version of PiFBA? There were some issues with 'HAT' control (i.e. they couldn't be set in the config) that have been addressed in the latest issue.

October 02, 2013:
•Added DPAD (HAT) controls support for joysticks.

[sunjammer]

@welshy:
I have the latest version (2nd of October).

[welshy]

sunjammer
It may just be it doesn't work correctly with the Wii U Remote! Perhaps if you log it as an issue at the Homepage pudding my be able to address this in a new revision (an axis 'flip' option for instance).

[sunjammer]

I solved my problem with the inverted y-axis of my controller. The kernel module of my device (wiimote) was faulty. I patched my module and now the axis of my controller are working properly.

Beyond that I still do not know how to map the dpad buttons of my controller to the corresponding key-events in fba2x.cfg. But because I now have a working analog stick this is not urgent any more...

@welshy:
Thanks for your support!

[welshy]

sunjammer
OK, at least you have solved the main problem. Reading the posts here (in Gaming) it seems there is an issue with many emulators not being able to read HAT or D-PAD inputs correctly (which may be down to the device Drivers) but at least pudding is trying to address this in PiFBA.

[sunjammer]

In this thread two people mentioned they got mslug3 working with pifba. How did you accomplish this?
I used clrmame and the DAT file included in fba_029671_clrmame_dat.zip to make a proper file mslug3.zip. But unfortunately the rom does not load completely.
Is it possilbe to get a list of the content of a working file mslug3.zip?

[antiriad]

In this thread two people mentioned they got mslug3 working with pifba. How did you accomplish this?
I used clrmame and the DAT file included in fba_029671_clrmame_dat.zip to make a proper file mslug3.zip. But unfortunately the rom does not load completely.
Is it possilbe to get a list of the content of a working file mslug3.zip?

Hi,
mslug3.zip is not working for me, but mslug3n.zip (not encrypted version) is fully working. I can list here the content of the ZIP, or you can contact me in PM.

Instead, I got issues with Power Instinct series: Power Instinct 1 has wrong colors (where there should be white, there is pink), while Power Instinct 2 and Legends have bugs on music: it is too slow in japanese version, and too fast in USA version!

There is somebody here that managed to run perfectly PI 1, 2 or Legends on piFBA? Or maybe it is an emulation issue?

Thank you very much.

[draconis]

Is this no longer available on the pi store? I can't seem to find it.

[antiriad]

Hi, you can download it from the link in the first post

[KitchUK]

I currently have my Pi at 900Mhz with a 256 memory split. Could I improve performance by giving the GPU more memory?

Also anyone lese been able to get the service menu working with Neo Geo Games?

[gamer101]

I am same boat as KitchUK. Have same settings as him but performance is low I am able to play the game but slow and sound lag little.

[welshy]

KitchUK & gamer101
Odd, I only have Medium (900MHz) overclock setting with 64MEG assigned to the GPU, all seems fine, what controllers are you using? (Wired XBox360 here). Flash ROM isn't as fast as Mask ROM for data access/transfer, in many Neo-Geo emulators graphics data for the ROM is in effect used twice (one is a cache) as to attain smooth graphics transfer, as some later games have 80-90 MEG ROMS this can lead to a lot of memory being required so its advisable to run the RPi with as little memory assigned to the GPU as possible. This is one of the reasons the PS1 was inferior to the Saturn for Sprite based games, it had less RAM (even more so when a Memory Expansion Cart was utilised) and the data couldn't be streamed from a CD fast enough so animation frames were dropped to fit the available memory. Comparing Neo-Geo Titles or Capcom CPSII games Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs Capcom released for both Systems its very evident.

[antiriad]

I am same boat as KitchUK. Have same settings as him but performance is low I am able to play the game but slow and sound lag little.

I don't know if this is pertinent, but ensure that you are using a 60hz video mode.

[sunjammer]

I use pifba with a Wii U Controller Pro via bluetooth. In my case I can enter the service menu by pressing the following buttons on my controller: left shoulder ("l1"), right shoulder ("r1") and select. To be more accurate: I hold left shoulder und right shoulder and then I press select.

I use a GPU split of 384 on my 512 Mbyte Raspberry. I am not completely sure but I think SNES Games (and Pifba?) is running a bit smoother with this setting. On the other hand I cannot run mslug3n.zip which does work with KitchUKs setup. Perhaps this rom does not work in my case because I pushed the GPU memory too far. I have to test this...

I hope this helps.

[welshy]

sunjammer
As I have written in a previous Thread, using Wirless/Bluetooth controllers can have an impact on performance. Emulators are very resource hungry, adding another process (in your case Bluetooth processing for the Wii controller) can have an impact on performance. Also, remember this is emulation not conversion, many console and arcade titles actually suffered from slowdown and/or glitches, a good example of this on SNK's MVS Hardware is Metal Slug 2 which suffers terrible slowdown (which is why Metal Slug X was released to address this issue), these will be replicated in the software.

[antiriad]

Hello everyone, and Happy New Year!
Thanks to the help here in the forum I have properly configured my RPI with Advance Menu that invokes PiFBA and MAME4All Pi Pudding .

About PiFBA however I still have some doubts about configuration (maybe it will also help me to better understand MAME4All and generic emulation on rPi)

1. Initially I disabled scanlines option, because on my PC monitor connected via DVI the final effect was "wrong" (scanlines too thin and non-uniform) but recently I connected my RPI via HDMI to my plasma HD TV and, enabling the filter, the effect seems correct and very similar to a CRT (and absolutely cool and stunning)!
I think that the effectiveness of scanlines option depends on the resolution, so: how does it work exactly? at which resolution PiFBA runs the various games (I mean the emulator, not the various front-ends)? It is possible to "fix" a resolution (via config emulator or boot RPI) to make sure that scanlines effect is always correct, and if yes, what is a recommended resolution for every HD TV?

2. I don't know whether it is a compromise due to the high performance of the emulator on the rPi, but in all games with scrolling elements (without any filter enabled) I see a kind of "lines" or "cuts", like an invisible "grid" or tesselation applied to games graphics. It is "normal"?

3. In the thread I read about a problem with colors on Metal Slug 2 with an old version of the emulator... I don't know if problem has been solved with a new release (I see Metal Slug 2 correctly) but I have a similar problem with Power Instinct games.
Precisely in Power Instinct 1 where there should be white, there is a salmon pink (same romset works perfectly in MAME4All Pi, albeit with lower performance) while Power Instinct 2 and Legends have some problems with music: is too slow in the U.S. version of the games, and too fast in the JAP version.
I don't know if this is a problem of the emulator itself or of the adaptation on rPi, but I wonder if it is somehow fixable: all three titles, apart from these two anomalies, work really well and it would be nice to have them fully functional on Raspberry.

Thank you very much.

[sunjammer]

@KitchUK:
I made some experiences with the memory split. I do not recommend setting the memory split for the GPU higher than 256 Mbyte when using a Raspberry with 512 Mbyte RAM! Some of the roms will not work (probably large roms).
I have set up my system with a memory split of 384 Mbyte for the GPU as recommended in the forum/wiki for Retropie in order to get SNES games running smooth. With this configuration I could not load mslug3, mslug4, mslug5, garou. Pifba always dropped out with (or without) an error. I changed the memory split to 256 Mbyte for the GPU and therefor more RAM for the processor. With this configuration all these roms are working now! Additionally the SNES games are not running slower or have more lags with this memory split.

[antiriad]

Hi!
about my last post, here there are some pictures of scanlines filter of MAME4All Pi activated on my HDTV via HDMI:





I really like the final result, and, as I wrote in my last post, I'd like to understand how to keep this effect (correct scanlines) also on different monitors/TVs, maybe fixing the resolution... any explanation is greatly appreciated, thank you!

I'd have some other questions about rom support...

4. There is a way to check which games of PiFBA are "officially" with no sound? For instance Knuckle Bash and Hook: it is a problem of my romset or sound it is not supported by emulator?

5. Neogeo titles are running with english asian bios... there is a way to set Japanese bios as default?

6. I can't get Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Gaia Crusaders to work correctly (also using Clrmame Pro) it is a my problem?

As usual, a big THANK YOU for your patience and your support!

[nekosaur]

So I recently started messing around with MAME/Neo Geo emulators on my Pi, and right now I'm taking a look at PiFBA. I'm having problems with screen blanking though.

The screen will go blank for a second or two and then reappear. This happens both ingame and when in the service menu, but it's way more noticeable in the service menu. When in the menu the screen goes blank maybe once every five or ten seconds.

It doesn't seem to matter which game I'm playing. I've tried downclocking the Pi but the problem persists. Has anyone else experienced this?

[californiapants]

My apologies, Im very new at this. But how the heck do I use this? I want to add this to an install of the retropie image Im using to make up for its lack of fighting games, but I really dont know the first way about doing that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[welshy]

nekosaur
Its probably the monitor your using. I have a similar issue with when using PiFBA on a, granted, vhigh res PC monitor (I believe its a refresh lock issue), any other TV/monitor doesn't seem to be a problem. PiSNES also suffers from this but bypassing the GUI (running via command line or via a 3rd party GUI e.g. AdvanceMenu) elevates the problem, using the same 'trick' in PiFBA does reduce it, but doesn't eliminate it completely. This was evident when doing some initial testing for pudding (it stumped as both as to what was happening), but as he couldn't replicate it unfortunately it wasn't possible to rectify (also nobody else reported the same issue).