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Raspberry Pi Gaming thread - Cheap emulation and gaming projects

C

ColdSpike

Banned
Can anyone confirm how well these machines emulate various consoles? I've noticed, with the exception of few emulators, sound emulation is pretty difficult to get accurate.
 
S

Seik

Banned
So I started plugging the thing and don't even manage to have display, that's a good start! :lol

Seriously, I got it out the box, plugged the HDMI, keyboard, and microUSB linked to a 5V/1.0A power supply and 2GB (for the moment, I need to find my 32Gb one tomorrowat my place) microSD card with the extracted Retropie image on it. Then I get two steady green and orange LEDs and no display.

I guess I have to install Raspbian first, right? I thought Retropie would work right out the box at first. Or maybe it is my microSD card's storage that is too small?

EDIT: Meh...Raspbian is like 3.2Gb so I guess it'll just wait for later tonight or tomorrow since I'm not home, too bad. :/
 
Meowtor

Meowtor

Gold Member
So got my retropi set up and got sound working (yay!). Only problem is I have my wired xbox 360 controller installed and it works fine in the menus, just when I go into any game, the dpad on the controller does not work (defaults to keyboard's arrows). All the other buttons work on the controller minus the d-pad.

Any ideas? Google wasnt much help or maybe i am just really dumb, haha
 
M

MRORANGE

Member
Seik said:
So I started plugging the thing and don't even manage to have display, that's a good start! :lol

Seriously, I got it out the box, plugged the HDMI, keyboard, and microUSB linked to a 5V/1.0A power supply and 2GB (for the moment, I need to find my 32Gb one tomorrowat my place) microSD card with the extracted Retropie image on it. Then I get two steady green and orange LEDs and no display.

I guess I have to install Raspbian first, right? I thought Retropie would work right out the box at first. Or maybe it is my microSD card's storage that is too small?

EDIT: Meh...Raspbian is like 3.2Gb so I guess it'll just wait for later tonight or tomorrow since I'm not home, too bad. :/
Click to expand...

You do not need Raspbian to get RetroPie working, you need. A minimum of 4gb micro sd card to install it, remember to extract the image to the sd using a imaging software, just don't drop the file into the sd.

Meowtor said:
So got my retropi set up and got sound working (yay!). Only problem is I have my wired xbox 360 controller installed and it works fine in the menus, just when I go into any game, the dpad on the controller does not work (defaults to keyboard's arrows). All the other buttons work on the controller minus the d-pad.

Any ideas? Google wasnt much help or maybe i am just really dumb, haha
Click to expand...

360 d-pad is terrible, software is probably doing you a favour.

Configure the controls again in the RetroPie config menu, map analog to d-pad or configure each emu in retro arch menu.
 
O

Oemenia

Banned
A few questions, how's the performance of PSone games on this and most importantly is there any way to get a version with SDTV output?
 
D

DayEnder

Member
Oemenia said:
A few questions, how's the performance of PSone games on this and most importantly is there any way to get a version with SDTV output?
Click to expand...

Raspberry Pi 2 Model B has a combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video (https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-2-model-b/). Mine just shipped so I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but you should be able to output to an SDTV with this cable/adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IXLHOM/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Also:

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/24-15489
 
D

DayEnder

Member
Oemenia said:
Nice, it's very difficult to find devices with such output any more.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I posted the wrong URL. That one was in my Amazon history, but apparently the colours are swapped so I ended up ordering the Zune one which was a few dollars more expensive.

I also found another one that has been tested according to the Raspberry Pi forum and updated my post with that link.
 
Z

Zuhzuhzombie!!

Member
I do t have a pc with micro SD slots. How can I get setup like in the OP by using WiFi on my Pi and just using the cli to download packages?


Ed

Or is the Pi wired net only?
 
D

DayEnder

Member
Zuhzuhzombie!! said:
I do t have a pc with micro SD slots. How can I get setup like in the OP by using WiFi on my Pi and just using the cli to download packages?


Ed

Or is the Pi wired net only?
Click to expand...

You can get USB adapters for micro sd cards if you want to connect the micro sd directly to a PC. The Raspberry Pi 2 model B doesn't have wifi built in, but you can connect a USB wifi adapter (they cost a few dollars, but some of the "kits" have an adapter sold as part of it).
 
Z

Zuhzuhzombie!!

Member
DayEnder said:
You can get USB adapters for micro sd cards if you want to connect the micro sd directly to a PC. The Raspberry Pi 2 model B doesn't have wifi built in, but you can connect a USB wifi adapter (they cost a few dollars, but some of the "kits" have an adapter sold as part of it).
Click to expand...


My work just gave me one yesterday. Booted to a default menu with some setup options I booted it directly to cli and it asks for a un/wp. Is there a default?
 
J

JNT

Member
DayEnder said:
You can get USB adapters for micro sd cards if you want to connect the micro sd directly to a PC. The Raspberry Pi 2 model B doesn't have wifi built in, but you can connect a USB wifi adapter (they cost a few dollars, but some of the "kits" have an adapter sold as part of it).
Click to expand...

The RPi B was sensitive to the power consumption of the adapter you are using (externally powered USB hub is usually the safe bet as very few adapters include power metrics in the technical specification). Don't know how much of an issue this is for RPi2.

Zoidberg Jesus said:
Will a Logitech F310 USB controller work with a Raspberry Pi? Just want to be sure before I go get one.
Click to expand...

That depends on what macros the Linux kernel you are using has been compiled with. If you're using the RetroPie image then it's probably supported.
 
S

Seik

Banned
MRORANGE said:
You do not need Raspbian to get RetroPie working, you need. A minimum of 4gb micro sd card to install it, remember to extract the image to the sd using a imaging software, just don't drop the file into the sd.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's pretty much what I did (using Win32DiskImager) with my earlier 2Gb card, I'll be trying again with my 32Gb that I just managed to find.

EDIT: It's alive!!! IT'S ALIVE!!!
 
S

Sectorseven

Member
DayEnder said:
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B has a combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video (https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-2-model-b/). Mine just shipped so I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but you should be able to output to an SDTV with this cable/adapter:
Click to expand...

If there's composite is there a way to get analog rgb out, maybe by running jumper wires off the IC legs or something? Could add an amp or whatever as needed. I've had a similar interest as grendelrt in getting it to run on an arcade monitor and I'd like to try avoiding all the adapters if possible.
 
D

Donuts

Member
Well then, this is interesting... After playing Chrono Trigger for a bit I save my game, turn off the Pi, then get some sleep. This morning I'm trying to play my save but it hasn't loaded anything? It's just going as if I hadn't saved at all. Any idea what's wrong?

EDIT: Apparently it's fixed? I didn't really do anything and saving suddenly works now
 
Green Wiggly

Green Wiggly

Member
The_Afroman said:
Ok so 2 things.

1.) Where do i set the controls up for FBA. I have edited the fba.cfg thing and changed the number of the buttons to what i think it is, but nothing. The controller doesn't respond.

2.) Anyone know a place to see some good N64 tweaks? I just want the games to run like they did on the console, i don;t want visual enhancements. I feel that it slows dow because it's trying to smooth it all out. I just want scanlines and original rendering
Click to expand...

For FBA, I believe you want to edit /opt/retropie/emulators/pifba/fba2x.cfg. It's been a while though.

For my ds3 I did:

[Joystick]

A_1=14
B_1=12
X_1=15
Y_1=13
L_1=10
R_1=11
START_1=3
SELECT_1=0

JA_LR=0
JA_UD=1
 
Green Wiggly

Green Wiggly

Member
Donuts said:
Well then, this is interesting... After playing Chrono Trigger for a bit I save my game, turn off the Pi, then get some sleep. This morning I'm trying to play my save but it hasn't loaded anything? It's just going as if I hadn't saved at all. Any ideas what's wrong?
Click to expand...

If you try to save an emulator state do you get yellow text that said it failed? Mine did this to me a while back and I fixed it with: chown -R pi /home/pi/RetroPie
 
D

Donuts

Member
Green Wiggly said:
If you try to save an emulator state do you get yellow text that said it failed? Mine did this to me a while back and I fixed it with: chown -R pi /home/pi/RetroPie
Click to expand...

I wasn't using a save state, just trying the save the game normally. Will keep this in mind if I do decide to use save states though, thanks! How would one go about binding a controller button to save a state? Or a keyboard key?
 
D

DayEnder

Member
Zuhzuhzombie!! said:
Any way to do a password recovery?
Click to expand...

You can just re-image the micro SD from a PC. It will wipe everything out, but will give you a fresh install with all the defaults.

Go to: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ and download the image. Then follow the NOOBS setup guide linked off of that page.

Sectorseven said:
If there's composite is there a way to get analog rgb out, maybe by running jumper wires off the IC legs or something? Could add an amp or whatever as needed. I've had a similar interest as grendelrt in getting it to run on an arcade monitor and I'd like to try avoiding all the adapters if possible.
Click to expand...

Most of the forums seem to point to the use of converters/adapters (via HDMI or composite to another format).
http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2014/07/raspberry-pi-model-b-3-5mm-audiovideo-jack/

That said if there's a will there's a way:

GPIO Pinout
http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-73950/l/raspberry-pi-2-model-b-gpio-40-pin-block-pinout

VGA Adapter
https://www.raspberrypi.org/gert-vga-adapter/

As well as just allowing you to connect a VGA monitor natively, it also means you can use it as a secondary monitor alongside HDMI.
Click to expand...

It was successfully Kickstarted - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pisupply/gert-vga-666-kit-hardware-vga-for-raspberry-pi
 
Green Wiggly

Green Wiggly

Member
Donuts said:
I wasn't using a save state, just trying the save the game normally. Will keep this in mind if I do decide to use save states though, thanks! How would one go about binding a controller button to save a state? Or a keyboard key?
Click to expand...

Right, I figured it might be a ownership issue in general which would mess up all kinds of saving. For hotkeys edit retroarch.cfg, mine looks like:

input_enable_hotkey_btn = 16
input_exit_emulator_btn = 3
input_save_state_btn = 10
input_load_state_btn = 11

Edit: you might also have to uncomment a line about enabling hotkeys.

Edit 2: did you expand your file system past 4gb?
 
S

Sectorseven

Member
D

Donuts

Member
Green Wiggly said:
Right, I figured it might be a ownership issue in general which would mess up all kinds of saving. For hotkeys edit retroarch.cfg, mine looks like:

input_enable_hotkey_btn = 16
input_exit_emulator_btn = 3
input_save_state_btn = 10
input_load_state_btn = 11

Edit: you might also have to uncomment a line about enabling hotkeys.

Edit 2: did you expand your file system past 4gb?
Click to expand...

I did expand the file system. Thanks for the help with states. Out of curiosity is fast forwarding capable?

ALSO: What I've figured out so far in terms of saving a super nintendo game regularly is that after a save you NEED to reset back to the main menu of the retroarch if you want to reload that save after turning off the pi.
 
D

DayEnder

Member
Sectorseven said:
Hmm, the description says it supports 640x480 and up, which means you'd still need an active converter.

The question is will the 240 output (as per the config.txt) work through this, and is it supported at 15khz or is it forced through some other rate.
Click to expand...

I see it says:

The VGA output supports the same resolution as your HDMI one: from 640 x 480 up to 1920 x 1024 at 60fps.
Click to expand...

Based on the way I read the description it sounds like it would work, but I don't have a monitor that supports 240p @ 15khz so I won't be able to test it for you.

I gave it a quick glance and it appears you would just be adding custom HDMI modes/timings to the list:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=24679

From Dom's posts
hdmi_cvt=<width> <height> <framerate> <aspect> <margins> <interlace> <rb>
width width in pixels
height height in pixels
framerate framerate in Hz
aspect aspect ratio 1=4:3, 2=14:9, 3=16:9, 4=5:4, 5=16:10, 6=15:9
margins 0=margins disabled, 1=margins enabled
interlace 0=progressive, 1=interlaced
rb 0=normal, 1=reduced blanking

You can also play with the raw hdmi timings:

The hdmi_timings parameters are:

hdmi_timings=<h_active_pixels> <h_sync_polarity <h_front_porch> <h_sync_pulse> <h_back_porch> <v_active_lines> <v_sync_polarity> <v_front_porch> <v_sync_pulse> <v_back_porch> <v_sync_offset_a> <v_sync_offset_b> <pixel_rep> <frame_rate> <interlaced> <pixel_freq> <aspect_ratio>
Click to expand...

Can someone that has an older monitor/tv and the adapter give it a try? There doesn't appear to be any answers online (other than some old blog posts for previous Pi revisions).

Note: This would likely only get you close to what you are hoping for with minimum adapters/converters. I'm definitely not an expert when it comes to this stuff.
 
O

Oemenia

Banned
My main interest is PSone emulation, how do the Linux versions of ePSXe and PCSX-r run (especially on the OpenGL2 plug-ins).
 
J

JNT

Member
Oemenia said:
My main interest is PSone emulation, how do the Linux versions of ePSXe and PCSX-r run (especially on the OpenGL2 plug-ins).
Click to expand...

I've only been able to try out a small portion of my games so far on PCSX-rearmed. Silent Hill has pretty big audiovisual problems right out of the gate. Symphony of the Night also has A/V errors, although it's not all that bad and the game seems fully playable. I don't know what plugins I was using though as I got emulators working on Openelec rather than dedicated disk images.
 
N

Novum_Veritas

Member
JNT said:
I've only been able to try out a small portion of my games so far on PCSX-rearmed. Silent Hill has pretty big audiovisual problems right out of the gate. Symphony of the Night also has A/V errors, although it's not all that bad and the game seems fully playable. I don't know what plugins I was using though as I got emulators working on Openelec rather than dedicated disk images.
Click to expand...

Isn't it possible to use the newest RetroArch build for the Pi?
I really like the Mednafen PSX emulator, almost all games are working flawless with it.
 
J

JNT

Member
Novum_Veritas said:
Isn't it possible to use the newest RetroArch build for the Pi?
I really like the Mednafen PSX emulator, almost all games are working flawless with it.
Click to expand...

Can't say. Perhaps it's included in the latest release of Retropie? Definitely going to see if I there's a Mednafen core for ARM so I can try it out. Thanks for the heads-up!
 
N

Novum_Veritas

Member
JNT said:
Can't say. Perhaps it's included in the latest release of Retropie? Definitely going to see if I there's a Mednafen core for ARM so I can try it out. Thanks for the heads-up!
Click to expand...

You're welcome, keep us up to date if the newer build has Mednafen on board :).
 
S

Seik

Banned
Love playing with this thing so far, I can now run NES/SNES/GEN/PSX/GB/GBA games without problem. I also have a PS3 controller via bluetooth, which is fantastic how all the emulators were automatically configured for it the moment I was done installing the driver.

N64 runs, but with problems, first one would be that there's some weird, useless lightings I noticed while playing Mario 64, MK64 sprites and menus are a complete mess too. So yeah, anyone knows how to fix this? I've been seaching in the retroarch config files for a while and didn't noticed some kind of graphic option to put ''false'' on. :/

Anyways, it took a lot of my time, but I love how this little thing just rocks PSX games.
 
J

JNT

Member
Seik said:
Love playing with this thing so far, I can now run NES/SNES/GEN/PSX/GB/GBA games without problem. I also have a PS3 controller via bluetooth, which is fantastic how all the emulators were automatically configured for it the moment I was done installing the driver.

N64 runs, but with problems, first one would be that there's some weird, useless lightings I noticed while playing Mario 64, MK64 sprites and menus are a complete mess too. So yeah, anyone knows how to fix this? I've been seaching in the retroarch config files for a while and didn't noticed some kind of graphic option to put ''false'' on. :/

Anyways, it took a lot of my time, but I love how this little thing just rocks PSX games.
Click to expand...
Using the rice graphics plugin helps, but other than that try to avoid N64 Retroarch cores all together (get the standalone versions).
 
Tal Shiar Agent

Tal Shiar Agent

Member
I'm interested in getting one of these to emulate 2600/NES/SNES/Genesis/GB-C-A/ games. The question is, what do I put the Pi into? From what I understand the Pi is sold just as an open board. Is there a place to buy cases as well?
 
R

Rich!

Member
SG-17 said:
I'm interested in getting one of these to emulate 2600/NES/SNES/Genesis/GB-C-A/ games. The question is, what do I put the Pi into? From what I understand the Pi is sold just as an open board. Is there a place to buy cases as well?
Click to expand...

I bought a case for £3 from maplin. They're cheap.
 
J

JNT

Member
SG-17 said:
I'm interested in getting one of these to emulate 2600/NES/SNES/Genesis/GB-C-A/ games. The question is, what do I put the Pi into? From what I understand the Pi is sold just as an open board. Is there a place to buy cases as well?
Click to expand...

You can usually get cases from the same retailers that sell you the board. Just be aware of what model you are buying a case for, and keep in mind that the case adds to the cost by quite a bit (relatively speaking).
 
M

MRORANGE

Member
SG-17 said:
I'm interested in getting one of these to emulate 2600/NES/SNES/Genesis/GB-C-A/ games. The question is, what do I put the Pi into? From what I understand the Pi is sold just as an open board. Is there a place to buy cases as well?
Click to expand...

Amazon has a ton.

Using the pibow ninja case, it's pretty sweet.
 
J

JNT

Member
Seik said:
Any tutorials to obtain scanlines on all emulators on Retropie?
Click to expand...

I think the best way to do it is to boot up a game and enter the settings menu inside Retroarch. Last time I used Retropie the settings files were scattered all over the place.
 
D

DavidBoring

Member
MRORANGE said:
Amazon has a ton.

Using the pibow ninja case, it's pretty sweet.
Click to expand...

the pibow cases and coupés are great, just bought a coupé because i want to use the GPIOs as input for an arcade stick i am building at the moment

otherwise i would have gone for the rainbow case
 
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