Puppy Arcade 8

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sc0ttman
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Re: Auto run and start rom

#46 Post by sc0ttman »

mattdowner wrote:I'm looking for a solution to how I can auto start up a loader and rom so that the machine will turn on and boot right up into the game I choose. Has anyone done this yet? This is to make it more of an arcade machine, really.
Add a script in the '/root/Startup' folder which contains the following:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
exec [emulator] [rom]
where [emulator] is the emulator you want to load... and [rom] is the rom file you want to load...

example:

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#!/bin/sh
exec defaultsnes /path/to/mario.smc
If your rom is on a mounted drive you will need be running a savefile and use Startmount to automount the partition at bootup..

If you are running a frugal install (using a save file), you could just put the roms in '/mnt/home', then you don't need to use Startmount..
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mattdowner
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Start up script

#47 Post by mattdowner »

I've done up a script by simpley right clicking and selecting new > script. I opened it up and edited it to contain the following:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh 
exec defaultnes /root/NES_ROMs/supermario.nes
Seems to fit the template you suggested. When I reboot, it will start up the ROM Loader and point to the directory of /root/NES_ROMs/ but will not actually open the ROM.
I tried the command from a terminal session and found that it complained about a joystick config and didn't open up the ROM either - would just open the loader as well. I wonder if it is getting stuck on something and not opening?
UPDATE: Just had a go at work using VirtualBox but still get the same thing.
Example of what shows when it has fully booted up:
Image

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sc0ttman
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Re: Start up script

#48 Post by sc0ttman »

OK.. try..

Code: Select all

fceu /path/to/rom
or

Code: Select all

nestopia /path/to/rom

These should work - I'm not on PA8 at the moment though, so you may need to double check..
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mattdowner
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#49 Post by mattdowner »

Thanks! Yes, I can confirm that works:

Code: Select all

fceu /path/to/rom
So now I have the emulator and ROM running on startup pretty smoothly.
What I now need is to define the controls for the emulator at the same time. Does anyone have experience with this emulator's command line? It doesn't seem obvious to me how to configure it. You get stuck with default controls (god knows what they actually are) which need to be a bit easier. Using a keyboard to play by the way.

UPDATE:
I found /root/.fceultra/fceu98.cfg
Apparently this file holds the controls configuration for fceu. The down side is that apparently we need to use a hex editor to alter the file. Hex editor in this distro?

UPDATE:
I've found out the command for editing the controls config from terminal:

Code: Select all

fceu -inputcfg gamepad1 /path/to/rom
Example of going through the key remap in the terminal:
Image
Apparently these settings stick too.
Last edited by mattdowner on Tue 13 Jul 2010, 00:24, edited 1 time in total.

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sc0ttman
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#50 Post by sc0ttman »

sweet.. thanks for the info.. I'm sure many will find it useful..

By the way, all emulator help and controls and can be found in the Puppy Arcade help file, which can be found in the /root folder...

Using RejoystickCC is a nice way to enable/change controls, if you have a joypad - it will tell you the FCEU controls when you edit the FCEU profile... (by the way...)
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sc0ttman
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#51 Post by sc0ttman »

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mattdowner
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Getting FCEU working nicely

#52 Post by mattdowner »

Thanks for that.
I'm onto my next step of the tweaking etc for my Arcade Machine... Performance!
I have found that the speed of gameplay and the music is about 50-75% slower than it should play at. Also, the controlls will intermittently not work - slowness effects controlls as well, I guess.
I would be skepticle if it were the hardware setup, especially because of the fact that all I'm emulating is a NES.
My hardware:
Intel Pentium III 1.0GHz CPU
3 x 128MB SDRAM (3 out of 3 slots)
Onboard graphics chip, no dedicated graphics (only PCI slots; no AGP)
I managed to play a 350MB XVID movie on the system with no worries which was a good benchmark.
Anyone have any ideas? I'm trauling the net for some more info on FCEU and have found an article asking about how it was compiled as there may have been a command to utilise OpenGL or similar...
Last edited by mattdowner on Tue 13 Jul 2010, 07:18, edited 1 time in total.

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sc0ttman
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Re: Getting FCEU working nicely

#53 Post by sc0ttman »

mattdowner wrote:Thanks for that.
I'm onto my next step of the tweaking etc for my Arcade Machine... Performance!
I have found that the speed of gameplay and the music is about 50-75% slower than it should play at.
FCEU works much better after OpenGL is enabled..
The best way to affect the speed of the games, is to change the emulation settings.

Try disabling the sound and see how it affects performance..
If it speeds up, there's your problem. If not, it may be graphics settings..

Unfortunately, Nesoptia has no CLI, so can't auto load roms of your choice, so we're left with FCEU for your task..
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mattdowner
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fceu performance

#54 Post by mattdowner »

I've turned off the sound and can confirm it is much better (if not fixed). Here's the command for no sound:

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fceu -sound 0 /path/to/rom
I also found a sound quality setting which doesn't seem to make a difference with performance:

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fceu -soundq 0 path/to/rom
The sound would be a good thing to keep so I would like to investigate OpenGL settings etc.
I see fceu has an OpenGL command to "Enable OpenGL support if x is 1":

Code: Select all

fceu -opengl 1 /path/to/rom
I have given it a go and get this:
Image
What could be happening here?

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sc0ttman
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Re: fceu performance

#55 Post by sc0ttman »

mattdowner wrote:The sound would be a good thing to keep so I would like to investigate OpenGL settings etc...
I have given it a go and get this:
Image
What could be happening here?
This means you don't have OpenGL enabled. You'll have to download the correct drivers for your card.

OR.. You could try changing (or updating) the audio driver.. I'm not on PA8 right now, so can't say how to changer FCEU audio drivers, but you're doing well, I'm sure you'll find it!

By the way, it's nice that you're posting such informative posts, with the screenshots, etc - makes it very easy for others to help!! :D
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sc0ttman
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#56 Post by sc0ttman »

Following mattdownsers request to auto load roms at bootup,
I was thinking it may be a good idea to include this feature in the next Rom-Loader.

Would anyone else want this? Any other features?
Just testing the waters for requests, before I add my own updates to the next version..
(Not coming anytime soon, BTW)
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sc0ttman
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Puppy Arcade SFS

#57 Post by sc0ttman »

Puppy Arcade is now available as an SFS.

This means it can be added to any version of Puppy (I think :oops:)

See the Puppy Arcade SFS thread
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grimoire
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Re: Puppy Arcade SFS

#58 Post by grimoire »

look what i've found :D

http://www.xe-emulator.com/

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sc0ttman
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Re: Puppy Arcade SFS

#59 Post by sc0ttman »

grimoire wrote:look what i've found :D

http://www.xe-emulator.com/
I had that complied and packaged in Puppy, but it wouldn't work very well at all... Poor performance and crashes..

But I could give it another go, I guess..

Also, on another note, the Puppy Arcade 8 SFS/PET packages are updated, so you can add/remove Puppy Arcade from any Puppy, easily..

See here:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=58134
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Xenphor
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#60 Post by Xenphor »

Hi, I posted this in the beginner forums but was told this would be a better place to ask. I got these instructions from a link from the Puppy Arcade website.

---Can't get OpenGL to work on an intel915gm---

I followed these instructions detailed here:
For Kernel 2.6.25.16:
----------------------------------------
1. find /lib/modules/2.6.25.16/kernel/drivers/char/agp folder.
2. make a copy of agpgart.ko, intel-agp.ko & via-agp.ko (just rename them).

3. find /lib/modules/2.6.25.16/kernel/drivers/char/drm folder. (note 1)
4. make a copy of drm.ko, i915.ko & via.ko (just rename them).

5. use the pet package below to install the updated modules
6. open a terminal and type 'depmod -a'

7. reboot
8. run xorgwizard

I did exactly as it said. I renamed the files agppart1.ko, intel-agp1.ko, etc and then used the following pet file: intel-via-agpdrm-upd-2.6.25.16-i486.pet. I believe that is the correct file because that is the kernal version I have. I did depmod -a in the terminal and then rebooted. Since I am running on a usb I had to make a save file before I rebooted. Upon entering the desktop again I ran the xorgwizard (it is the thing you do when you first start puppy linux correct?).

After all this, there was still an "Unknown" entry for OpenGL in the system devices description and I was still unable to play n64 games. I looked back at the files I had modified and there were new ones that had been created so I don't know what happened there.

Any help would be appreciated.

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sc0ttman
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#61 Post by sc0ttman »

Xenphor wrote:Hi, I posted this in the beginner forums but was told this would be a better place to ask. I got these instructions from a link from the Puppy Arcade website.

---Can't get OpenGL to work on an intel915gm---

I followed these instructions detailed here:
For Kernel 2.6.25.16:
....
....
Any help would be appreciated.
I'm afraid it seems as though you followed the instructions perfectly, and without having your hardware, I can't test it..

So I can't say for sure what you did wrong. However: On my PC, whenever I run the 'xorgwizard', my OpenGL settings are reset, and I have to enable it again.

Also, you might want to install the Xorg_Xorg_dri pet, using PetGet, then install your drivers.. This may help.

Also also, if you're using SDL 1.29 (or anything later than the SDL included in Puppy Arcade by default), then Mupen64 seems to have problems finding OpenGL..

That's all I can think, as you've followed some (nicely done) instructions perfectly, as I said. Good luck!
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Xenphor
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#62 Post by Xenphor »

I'm afraid it seems as though you followed the instructions perfectly, and without having your hardware, I can't test it..

So I can't say for sure what you did wrong. However: On my PC, whenever I run the 'xorgwizard', my OpenGL settings are reset, and I have to enable it again.

Also, you might want to install the Xorg_Xorg_dri pet, using PetGet, then install your drivers.. This may help.

Also also, if you're using SDL 1.29 (or anything later than the SDL included in Puppy Arcade by default), then Mupen64 seems to have problems finding OpenGL..

That's all I can think, as you've followed some (nicely done) instructions perfectly, as I said. Good luck!
I'm afraid I'm quite new at this so how exactly would I go about enabling OpenGL? I'm currently away from the computer so I'm unable to look for it.

As for the xorg pet, would I install that first and then go through the process I described or is there anything else I have to do?

I'm running just the default Puppy Arcade 8 so I'm not sure what SDL that uses.

Well I won't be able to get to my computer for the next few days but I'll be sure to try what you say once I'm able to.

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sc0ttman
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#63 Post by sc0ttman »

Xenphor wrote:I'm afraid I'm quite new at this so how exactly would I go about enabling OpenGL? I'm currently away from the computer so I'm unable to look for it.

As for the xorg pet, would I install that first and then go through the process I described or is there anything else I have to do?

I'm running just the default Puppy Arcade 8 so I'm not sure what SDL that uses.

Well I won't be able to get to my computer for the next few days but I'll be sure to try what you say once I'm able to.
Enabling OpenGL is what you're trying to do (its just another way of saying "getting 3D acceleration working"...)..

If you're gonna try it, you should install the "xorg_xorg_dri" pet before trying completing the process, as you described earlier...

And if running PA8, the SDL libs will be fine..

I'd also guess that it may just be a driver issue thing - the most common problem for getting 3D acceleration working is simply having wrong/funny drivers or packages that simply aren't the right ones, or don't work right..

Maybe try finding an alternative driver package for your card? (i know that's lame help, but it's worked so often for others!)
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Xenphor
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#64 Post by Xenphor »

Hello again.

Well I tried using the xorg_xorg_dri-7.3.1 pet file before doing the process I described and it seems to have had an effect. Previously the info under the display section of my system info had OpenGL as "unknown." Now in that same section it shows this:


-OpenGL-
Vendor : Tungsten Graphics, Inc
Renderer : Mesa DRI Intel(R) 915GM 20061017 x86/MMX/SSE2
Version : 1.3 Mesa 6.5.2
Direct Rendering : Yes

I assume that means it's working?

Unforunately, when I went to start up mupen64 I got the same error I got before:
The Core thread received a SIGSEGV signal
This means it tried to access protected memory
Maybe you have a set a wrong ucode for one of the plugins

I probably should've posted the error before but I had read it had something to do with OpenGL so that's why I didn't mention it. So I'm not really sure where to go from here and would welcome any suggestions.

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sc0ttman
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#65 Post by sc0ttman »

Xenphor wrote:Hello again.
when I went to start up mupen64 I got the same error I got before:

The Core thread received a SIGSEGV signal
This means it tried to access protected memory
Maybe you have a set a wrong ucode for one of the plugins
Hmmm... You have indeed enabled OpenGL successfully, it seems..

But the message you're getting from Mupen is the message you get when OpenGL is not enabled.

It seems as though OpenGL has been enabled fine, but for some reason Mupen is not recognising it. As I mentioned earlier, this can be due to updated libs - SDL in my case.

You can run 'ldd mupen64plus' in the terminal so see which libs it uses, or which of them are missing.. This may help you find a lib that you're missing, or one that you have updated, which is used by Mupen.

Have you installed both the xorg_dr_dri and your intel package? I would try one, the other, then both!

Also, I don't know too much about your hardware, so it might be a good idea to post a request, in the hardware section of this forum, for a known working pet package for your card and kernel..

There are lots of different MESA and intel pets around on this forum, finding them is the hard part.

Have you checked here? :: http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html
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