re: Raspberry Pi Emulator

quote:

---

I'd love to hear any other suggestions for games OR consoles to try!

---

If you like games like Contra check out the Neo Geo games Metal Slug 1, X, and 3, and Shock Troopers 1.

So I just bought a RP bundle as well as the 8bitdo wireless controller. Nintendo lost my money on the classic edition because of their stupid non production of the console. I'm sure I will have alot of questions when I get the stuff in.

Everyone who is starting to build one - here are the downloads with links:

Retropie - DL the version for pi 2/3 if you bought a 3: remember where you save this DL. You'll need to access it.

7Zip: more than likely you'll need the 64 bit version

WIN32DiskImager - from SourceForge website: it should ask you if you want a short cut on your desktop. I suggest yes for easy access.

These are the only three downloads required for basic setup. Other than these, the only other downloads required for "most" of the emulators are your game roms (most of atari through SNES/Genesis generations are good to go with just adding the roms to the correct emulator). Some disc consoles and arcade emulators require a BIOS file be downloaded and added before playing (pretty much same process as adding a game rom - just DL the correct BIOS file and transfer it into the Retropie's BIOS folder instead of the ROMS folder as you would for the games).

And if you eventually get into customizing how your retropie loads & looks, some other downloads may be required. But that is all optional and definitely not required if you arent interested in customization.

very important edit. 7zip is for windows. If you're using a mac, download Unarchiver instead of 7zip.

Got it all hooked up. Now let the rom download process begin. Do you all use emuparadise?

I've downloaded a good bit of my roms, is there any way to get rid of the USA at the end of each of them in one fell swoop or do you have to manually edit each one? I'm a neat freak and don't want the USA thing showing in my menus

quote:

---

Is there any way to get rid of the USA at the end of each of them

---

I like to keep it because I have some Japanese versions of games but if that isn't a concern for you you have 2 options.

1. When you have a game selected in your games list for your chosen system, you can edit that game's metadata manually. I don't have my Pi here but I think you can press the "Select" button and it will give you options to do that (look at the button hints at the bottom of your screen). However, you're going to need a keyboard plugged into your Pi and if you have a lot of games, editing each one can be a huge pain.

2. In each system folder with your roms, there is a file called "gamelist.xml" which is automatically generated by EmulationStation based on the roms you have. If you've ftp'ed into your Pi (see my instructions above in a previous post) you can download that file and edit it with your favorite text editor. (Make a backup of the file before you edit.) This allows you to do a mass find and replace for anywhere the file contains "USA". Be careful, though, if your rom file names also contain "USA" because you don't want to replace that, otherwise EmulationStation won't find your games anymore. When you are done editing it, copy it back to the Pi via FTP.

quote:

---

I am having the issue that many others are having where my manual changes to a games metadata aren't saving.

---

Admittedly, the last time I used that method was in version 3 of Retropie and the cumbersomeness of it was such a pain I only did it a couple of times. I much prefer to edit them using the second method I mentioned, downloading the gamelist.xml file and editing. In FileZilla you can even right-click on the gamelist.xml file without transferring it over locally and edit it. After you save your changes, FileZilla will tell you that it detected the file changed and will ask you if you'd like to upload the new version. Makes editing metadata way easier.

quote:

---

sselph scraper

---

Definitely use this and not the EmulationStation scraper if you are trying to get metadata for more than a handful of games. It's horribly slow and often flat out doesn't find data for games it should easily.

The only catch to the sselph scraper is that it requires EmulationStation to not be running. Here is the detailed guide on how to use it.

All of this metadata work is where you can spend a lot of time if it's important to you. Every game I have has box art and relatively accurate metadata but it took me a couple of weeks getting it there. Some more obscure games had to be added manually because the scraper (which pulls from TheGamesDB.net) had no data on them or accurate box art.

quote:

---

If I do the scraping, would I need to leave the USA tag in them or does it just search for the game titles on TheGamesDB.Net?

---

If you use the EmulationStation (slow) scraper, it uses the file name to search. I don't think the "USA" tag will cause a problem but I can't be certain because the scraper has given me such inconsistent results in the past, even when the file name is *exactly* what should yield accurate results.

The sselph scraper uses some combination of an MD5 / SHA-1 hash number (a unique ID generated off the size of the file) and the file name, which is probably why it's much more accurate with its results. The country tag has never made a difference here for me.

quote:

---

Also, I only put Super Mario World on there last night, but the game itself wouldn't save my progress.

---

I played Super Mario World to completion on RetroPie 3 and "in-game" saving worked fine but I haven't messed with it much in the current 4.1 version. I can try it when I get home. However, are you sure it's not saving? Remember that the original Super Mario World didn't save your progress until you beat a castle, ghost house, or switch level. It doesn't save every time you complete a level. It could be a bug with the emulator unique to 4.1 or a problem with the copy of your ROM, but maybe check / confirm that in the meantime?

I haven't messed with auto-saving myself because I like having control of when the game saves. I can't offer any help there.

You need PS1 metal gear solid

quote:

---

DL the ISO and extract the files. I then create a new folder and name it the same name as the game (so if you DLd Resident Evil, create a folder called "Resident Evil"). Then I copy all BIN and CUE files into that new folder. Then just right click on the entire folder and copy/paste in the emulator. 

The BIOS file has to be in all lower case letters. spch1001.bin I think is the correct name of the BIOS. Just place that in the BIOS folder. 

---

This works for me with PS One games from Emuparadise. You can extract the files using the 7zip program if you used that to setup your Retropie initially. Just right click on the game file and select "extract here" again