• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Raspberry Pi Gaming thread - Cheap emulation and gaming projects

M

MiketheBSG

Member
Can anyone help me out with this?

I'd like the Pi to show Sega Genesis, NOT Mega Drive. This is important when scraping so it doesn't pull images from the European versions of games. Does ANYONE know how to do this? The Internet has not been kind to this question.

Speaking of scraping, my computer has been SLOW with this process. Just my luck.
 
Z

zip stick

Member
MiketheBSG said:
Can anyone help me out with this?

I'd like the Pi to show Sega Genesis, NOT Mega Drive. This is important when scraping so it doesn't pull images from the European versions of games. Does ANYONE know how to do this? The Internet has not been kind to this question.

Speaking of scraping, my computer has been SLOW with this process. Just my luck.
Click to expand...

http://blog.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/megadrive-genesis-scrapping-problem/#post-95887

I used the above script to scrape my games in bulk as it runs a lot quicker than the emulation station one.
 
G

Gipsy Danger

Member
I've just started messing about with my Pi, trying to set up RetroPie with it and I'm having some issues that I'm hoping you guys can help me with. I set it up according to this tutorial. I got it to work somewhat, seems as though SNES games work fine but NES and GBA (All I've tested so far) try to launch and then just flip back to the Emu Station rom list. I don't see any error messages, the games just don't launch. Any idea what the problem might be?

I have a Pi 2 Model B, connecting to my monitor with HDMI. Using RetroPie 3.0 Beta 2 at the moment, that could be the issue but I'm hoping I can get it working with that.

Edit: I did some further testing with other platforms and MegaDrive, SNES, Master System, Game Gear, Gameboy Colour, N64 all work. Still no luck on the GBA and NES though.
 
M

MRORANGE

Member
Gipsy Danger said:
I've just started messing about with my Pi, trying to set up RetroPie with it and I'm having some issues that I'm hoping you guys can help me with. I set it up according to this tutorial. I got it to work somewhat, seems as though SNES games work fine but NES and GBA (All I've tested so far) try to launch and then just flip back to the Emu Station rom list. I don't see any error messages, the games just don't launch. Any idea what the problem might be?

I have a Pi 2 Model B, connecting to my monitor with HDMI. Using RetroPie 3.0 Beta 2 at the moment, that could be the issue but I'm hoping I can get it working with that.
Click to expand...

Gba games need a bios file, nes games should honestly be fine on its own.
 
G

Gipsy Danger

Member
MRORANGE said:
Gba games need a bios file, nes games should honestly be fine on its own.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I sorted out the GBA stuff. It also seems that it's only some NES ROMs that don't work while others do so it must be a problem with the specific dumps. Need to sort out a way to dump my own versions to fix that I think.
 
C

Cranzor

Junior Member
Is there any way to track stats using RetroPie? A way to keep track of how many hours I've played a game is really all I'm looking for. I'm assuming there isn't but I figured I'd ask.
 
M

MiketheBSG

Member
Ok, I need serious help. I feel like I wasted a whole weekend.

So I load my ROMs into the Pi and run the scraper using the Pi, which I have said in the past is very slow.

The problem I'm running into is that after the scraper does the work, without fail, if I load a game, or go to Retropie options, it freezes. When it freezes, EmulationStation breaks, it never loads after this, going to a black or white screen at startup but never loads. It seems the only way I can get it workin again is formatting the SD card and then reloading Retropie and starting all over again. It's been very frustrating.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I have the latest Pi and was using Beta 2 of Version 3.
 
C

c0de

Member
MiketheBSG said:
Ok, I need serious help. I feel like I wasted a whole weekend.

So I load my ROMs into the Pi and run the scraper using the Pi, which I have said in the past is very slow.

The problem I'm running into is that after the scraper does the work, without fail, if I load a game, or go to Retropie options, it freezes. When it freezes, EmulationStation breaks, it never loads after this, going to a black or white screen at startup but never loads. It seems the only way I can get it workin again is formatting the SD card and then reloading Retropie and starting all over again. It's been very frustrating.

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I have the latest Pi and was using Beta 2 of Version 3.
Click to expand...

Can you switch to a different virtual terminal? What does “dmesg“ say? Try to look in /var/log with ls - lart“ for recently updated log files. You have a linux at hand so make use of it to try to figure out the problem on your own :)
 
M

MiketheBSG

Member
c0de said:
Can you switch to a different virtual terminal? What does “dmesg“ say? Try to look in /var/log with ls - lart“ for recently updated log files. You have a linux at hand so make use of it to try to figure out the problem on your own :)
Click to expand...

I'm beginning to think that it has something to do with available space. My memory card had about 1-2 GB left after the games were first loaded. I'm betting it's freezing because as the scraping is being done and it's adding the images and content it's filling up the rest of the space and is getting to critical levels. When I don't scrape, everything works fine. TurboGrafx CD was taking up a lot of space and right now I can't seem to get it to work. I deleted those ROMs which freed up about 9 GB to see if that'll work.
 
R

Rich!

Member
2.5 star rating for Kirby Super Star? wtf, changed that in the XML immediately.

Anyhow got my Wii Remote/classic controller set up now! Aw yes!
 
M

manueldelalas

Time Traveler
MRORANGE said:
Adafruit (US) is releasing a full kit for creating a gameboy with the Pi A+ model.

video

Strangely they are not including the casing for the device, you have to 3d print it yourself.

Mario_Angel_GIF.gif
Click to expand...
Why is she jumping with the B button? That's fucked up!
 
S

Sectorseven

Member
Khaz said:
How do I plug my Pi into my Scart-enabled CRT TV?
Click to expand...

That sounds like it would be similar to the arcade monitor discussion we were having.

For the video portion, the theory is you connect the VGA adapter, build an adapter cable and edit the config to run at the desired resolution/frequency. No one on here has tried it yet though.

VGA has a 31Khz scan rate and no one has said if that adapter is adjustable, if your TV doesn't support that.
 
G

grendelrt

Member
Sectorseven said:
That sounds like it would be similar to the arcade monitor discussion we were having.

For the video portion, the theory is you connect the VGA adapter, build an adapter cable and edit the config to run at the desired resolution/frequency. No one on here has tried it yet though.

VGA has a 31Khz scan rate and no one has said if that adapter is adjustable, if your TV doesn't support that.
Click to expand...

I am still waiting on my VGA adapter, they decided to not ship it for a week and I am in the US (they are in the UK). Should be here some time this week. I should be able to tell you if the 31khz works and the 15khz once I get it, I have a trisync monitor.
 
M

MiketheBSG

Member
Ok! I think I figured out why my Pi was crashing after scraping. I think that my microSD card was nearly full after I put the games on. I don't know how much space the scraping takes, but whatever it did, it must have lowered the amount of available space to below acceptable levels for stability. I'm reworking the games now and will confirm if that was indeed the issue.
 
C

Card Boy

Banned
MiketheBSG said:
Ok! I think I figured out why my Pi was crashing after scraping. I think that my microSD card was nearly full after I put the games on. I don't know how much space the scraping takes, but whatever it did, it must have lowered the amount of available space to below acceptable levels for stability. I'm reworking the games now and will confirm if that was indeed the issue.
Click to expand...

Did you expand the SD card during the setup phase?
 
C

c0de

Member
Mergesort said:
Is there a list of supported emulators? What interests me is if a nds emulator would work on a RPi 2 B.
Click to expand...

IIRC the best emulator (for performance) would be drastic as it "emulates" arm on arm. So install Android on your Pi, install drastic, play games -> fun.
 
R

Rich!

Member
Got my 8bitdo snes30 pad today. Haven't tried it yet on the pi as I'm at work but its incredible. And it only took two days to arrive from the eBay seller I chose (£20, sent from jersey to here in the UK)

Should be able to get it working alongside the real pads I have set up. Bomberman time!
 
R

Rich!

Member
just gonna repost my post in the pickup thread, just to show how impressed I am with both the SNES30 pad recommended in here:

bought it for £20 from an ebay seller...arrived in two days:

yntjzb.JPG
Click to expand...

jfgpcs.JPG
Click to expand...

No hyperbole, this is without a doubt one of the best controllers I have ever used. It's absolutely fantastic. The buttons and dpad are fucking perfect and the build quality is flawless. Works with the Wii, Wii U, PC, Android. The presentation of the box is superb too, and it really feels like a premium product. Can't believe it was £20. Anyhow, a bit of work and I got it set up with my major pick up this week, biggest of the year really:

qgbvwv.JPG
Click to expand...

ordinary SNES? no:

ukghhr.JPG
Click to expand...

kxvgdc.JPG
Click to expand...

As explained in this thread, I gutted a broken PAL SNES, cleaned it up, and installed a raspberry pi inside. Hooked it up to the power switch and LED, added support for the actual controller ports for real controllers and added HDMI/USB power sockets at the back.

Features:

- Bluetooth
- Wireless N support for remote control and file transfer
- 16GB storage
- Support for NES, SNES, GBA, PSX, Megadrive/Genesis, GB, GBC all at full speed, all navigated through the lovely emulationstation setup purely with a SNES pad.
- Support for two real SNES pads via the front ports, up to 4 controllers configured at once.

I set it so the wireless 8bitdo SNES30 pad shown above is registered as controller 1 and that the front ports act as players 2 and 3. Controller 4 is a PS3 pad or Wii U Pro controller. Had a test run of Super Mario Kart earlier and it was amazing. The SNES30 pad is configured to be detected and connected automatically when emulationstation boots.

so yeah pretty much the best thing I have ever made, apart from my daughter of course. well impressed with myself
 
K

KennyLinder

Member
Just discovered this from the May pickup thread and want in as a system emulator.

So Amazon sell the Pi 2s for £30, is that the best place to buy them from? Do I need a keyboard and mouse etc or can everything be dumped via SD card from my Mac?

Can power for it be supplied via USB, or is an AC adapter required? And what about BT dongles? I'd like to use a Dual Shock 4 wirelessly for PS1 games, will any dongle work or is there recommended ones for such an application?

Thanks!
 
R

Rich!

Member
KennyLinder said:
Just discovered this from the May pickup thread and want in as a system emulator.

So Amazon sell the Pi 2s for £30, is that the best place to buy them from? Do I need a keyboard and mouse etc or can everything be dumped via SD card from my Mac?

Can power for it be supplied via USB, or is an AC adapter required? And what about BT dongles? I'd like to use a Dual Shock 4 wirelessly for PS1 games, will any dongle work or is there recommended ones for such an application?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Use a keyboard and mouse initially, then once you have network setup you can control everything including the terminal from your PC via SSH (winscp and putty) or even android apps such as juiceSSH. The initial retropie setup needs no configuration at all, just burn the iso to SD and plug it in!

Amazon is your best bet. Get an add on 16gb micro SD for a few quid more.

Power is via micro USB.any phone charger will do.

Any £2 Bluetooth adapter should work. Mine was 1.99 from eBay.
 
K

KennyLinder

Member
Thanks! Is it easy to set up and get up and running? My computer at home is a Mac (but I do have an android phone).

Even an old iPhone charger would work?
 
R

Rich!

Member
KennyLinder said:
Thanks! Is it easy to set up and get up and running? My computer at home is a Mac (but I do have an android phone).

Even an old iPhone charger would work?
Click to expand...

Gotta be microusb

And yeah, dead easy. I can't get the retropie link on my phone but I shall post it in a bit.

Cheetos is Pretty Awesome said:
How much did you get the broken PAL SNES for? Thinking about copying your project but unsure what a fair price would be.
Click to expand...

£20, shipping incl. It was SO FUCKING HARD to find one in even slightly good condition for less than £20. That one was a miracle find.

It was dirty as hell but I knew it would have no dents or damage. Bit of scrubbing in a bathtub after being disassembled and it was as good as the day it was manufactured. Not any yellowing or marks at all apart from one scuff at the back!
 
Green Wiggly

Green Wiggly

Member
Rich! said:
just gonna repost my post in the pickup thread, just to show how impressed I am with both the SNES30 pad recommended in here:

bought it for £20 from an ebay seller...arrived in two days:





No hyperbole, this is without a doubt one of the best controllers I have ever used. It's absolutely fantastic. The buttons and dpad are fucking perfect and the build quality is flawless. Works with the Wii, Wii U, PC, Android. The presentation of the box is superb too, and it really feels like a premium product. Can't believe it was £20. Anyhow, a bit of work and I got it set up with my major pick up this week, biggest of the year really:



ordinary SNES? no:





As explained in this thread, I gutted a broken PAL SNES, cleaned it up, and installed a raspberry pi inside. Hooked it up to the power switch and LED, added support for the actual controller ports for real controllers and added HDMI/USB power sockets at the back.

Features:

- Bluetooth
- Wireless N support for remote control and file transfer
- 16GB storage
- Support for NES, SNES, GBA, PSX, Megadrive/Genesis, GB, GBC all at full speed, all navigated through the lovely emulationstation setup purely with a SNES pad.
- Support for two real SNES pads via the front ports, up to 4 controllers configured at once.

I set it so the wireless 8bitdo SNES30 pad shown above is registered as controller 1 and that the front ports act as players 2 and 3. Controller 4 is a PS3 pad or Wii U Pro controller. Had a test run of Super Mario Kart earlier and it was amazing. The SNES30 pad is configured to be detected and connected automatically when emulationstation boots.

so yeah pretty much the best thing I have ever made, apart from my daughter of course. well impressed with myself
Click to expand...

Nice job, looks dope.
 
K

Khaz

Member
Rich! said:
so yeah pretty much the best thing I have ever made, apart from my daughter of course. well impressed with myself
Click to expand...

That's really impressive! I wanted to do something similar but then I got lazy.

Did you put a a Retrode in it too so you can use your original SNES cartridges?
 
R

Rich!

Member
Khaz said:
That's really impressive! I wanted to do something similar but then I got lazy.

Did you put a a Retrode in it too so you can use your original SNES cartridges?
Click to expand...

nah, not enough room - but I can connect it to my PC and access it via wifi network share! haha
 
B

Blanquito

Member
Hey, great time for this thread to live again. I've finally come into a situation where I'll have the time to play with a Pi, and I've been thinking about pulling the trigger.

I read through the OP and the first page but didn't find the answers to my questions, so sorry if this has been answered before:

Does multiplayer work on this?

An SNES emulator I used ages ago worked over the internet for "local" multiplayer. Do any of these do that?
 
R

Rich!

Member
Cheetos is Pretty Awesome said:
How much did you get the broken PAL SNES for? Thinking about copying your project but unsure what a fair price would be.
Click to expand...

Just returning to this post for a price breakdown:

- SNES shell £20
- Pi and SD £32
- controlblock £25
- HDMI and USB extension cables for the back ports £4
- WiFi dongle £7
- Bluetooth dongle £2

That's a total of uh...£90. Hadn't actually added it up before, but for a retro gaming console with this functionality, I think that's fine especially when you consider this is a project I designed and made myself and is unique.

And I already had plenty of solder and wire lying around as well as a blue led lol,that knocked off a few quid or so
 
C

Cranzor

Junior Member
How do I go about setting up my Pi for wireless file transfer? It's connected to the internet now but I don't know what to do from here. I tried doing this with an ethernet cable earlier but my Pi wasn't showing up in my networks for some reason. I feel like wireless will probably be better in the end anyway though.
 
M

MRORANGE

Member
Cranzor said:
How do I go about setting up my Pi for wireless file transfer? It's connected to the internet now but I don't know what to do from here. I tried doing this with an ethernet cable earlier but my Pi wasn't showing up in my networks for some reason. I feel like wireless will probably be better in the end anyway though.
Click to expand...

Get the IP address of the pi and download FileZilla to transfer files, remember to use ssh mode.
 
R

Rich!

Member
MRORANGE said:
Get the IP address of the pi and download FileZilla to transfer files, remember to use ssh mode.
Click to expand...

I would recommend WinSCP over anything else due to the SSH command and PuTTY control features (remote terminal) as well as integrated file editing.
 
K

KennyLinder

Member
Hey guys, looking into ordering one of these, but I am not sure if I need a Windows PC to set everything up? I am on a Mac running OSX, and looking at this step, I am wondering if I'll get stuck:

Open Win32 Disk Imager. Navigate to the RetroPie image, select the drive the microSD is on and click Write

Also, will things such as transferring files over the network work fine with Mac too, or do I need a Windows PC really?
 
R

Rich!

Member
KennyLinder said:
Hey guys, looking into ordering one of these, but I am not sure if I need a Windows PC to set everything up? I am on a Mac running OSX, and looking at this step, I am wondering if I'll get stuck:

Open Win32 Disk Imager. Navigate to the RetroPie image, select the drive the microSD is on and click Write

Also, will things such as transferring files over the network work fine with Mac too, or do I need a Windows PC really?
Click to expand...

There's gotta be a disk imaging app for osx...but if not, you may have to use windows yeah

For file transferring, its standard samba smb sharing. Mac supports that, right? Same basis as how stuff like the WD Live hard drives work and other NAS storage.
 
P

PushingButtons

Member
KennyLinder said:
Hey guys, looking into ordering one of these, but I am not sure if I need a Windows PC to set everything up? I am on a Mac running OSX, and looking at this step, I am wondering if I'll get stuck:

Open Win32 Disk Imager. Navigate to the RetroPie image, select the drive the microSD is on and click Write

Also, will things such as transferring files over the network work fine with Mac too, or do I need a Windows PC really?
Click to expand...

Check out this video that was posted earlier in the thread. Hopefully it'll help you out.

http://youtu.be/XHEOQIMNgh4
 
D

dock

Member
Mirk said:
So my Snes30 came today.

bqohvi.jpg


This thing is LEGIT! I am in love. It feels better them my snes pads. It works both wired and bluetooth. Have tested it out on Wii, Android and Win 7. All have worked flawlessly. The native support for Wii VC is great. You just hold start and Y and the Wii picks it right up.
Click to expand...
This looks amazing.
Does the Wii U pick work with this too, or does it only work in Wii mode?
 
M

MrPressStart

Member
I am loving the modded SNES famicon above.

Question... is there a place where you can buy these already made and set up? My free time is tied up with a toddler and work... but I would love to have something similar to this...any ideas?

Also... as I am new to the whole raspberry pi thing... can these things hold all of the SNES, NES, and Genesis games on them? What about Turbo Grafx?
 
M

Mirk

Member
dock said:
This looks amazing.
Does the Wii U pick work with this too, or does it only work in Wii mode?
Click to expand...

I haven't tried it on the wii u yet. I can once off work. It has upgradeable firmware so if it doesn't it might be added at some point. Also I don't get the battery on this thing. It says if the red led is on the battery is low. It has been on for 9 days now with off and on play. Still hasn't died yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Raspberry Pi 5 First Look! This New Pi Is Hands Down The Fastest So Far
Hardware
12
2K
PaintTinJr replied
Anyone else going back to old school CRT gaming.
2
62
2K
butane bob replied
I got fooled into buying Raspberry Pie.
2
98
5K
West Texas CEO replied
Apple to allow game emulators on iOS App Store
News Platform
27
3K
DaGwaphics replied
Delta - iOS game emulator now available
2
398
cyberheater replied
Top Bottom