RetroPie 4.6 on Raspberry Pi 3b

[Solomon_Man]

All,

Setting up a RetroPie for the first time.

 

Downloaded a rom or two and have had good luck with most of the systems/roms but I tried a group of Atari 800 ROMS (downloaded a large set of ROMs) and am having trouble getting the Atari 800/5200 roms to work.

 

Basically once I select the ROM it pops up the normal ROM loading screen but it immediately goes back to the list of ROMS available.

 

It appears that the  lr-atari800 is the emulator of choice being used by Retropie.

 

No visible error message ...My guess is I need a Atari 8bit Bios or additional Atari ROMS (XL ROMS) but what is the process to get this to work properly? I remember there being some process/hoop in the old MESS/MAME setups....but I could be wrong....its been a while.

 

Also is there anyway to back out of a running ROM game through the keyboard attached to Raspberry Pi. It seem the controller I have is possibly giving me grief as once a game starts it seems impossible to back out....probably a configuration thing.

 

Also I am using retroUSB adapters to play with the original controllers (NES/ATARI/SNES/SEGA/N64 ones) is there a way to setup multiple controllers?

 

I have been using a Super NES one that I had close by in a drawer.

 

Thanks

Chris

Edited September 14, 2020 by Solomon_Man

[mr_me]

The atari800 emulator probably does not find the bios files where retropie tells you to put them.  Either put them with the emulator or configure the emulator with file path locations to the bios files.

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Atari-800-and-5200/

 

Each emulator has a keyboard exit function that can be mapped to a controller button.  With libretro emulators it's probably the hotkey+start combo.

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/First-Installation/#configure-controllers

Edited September 14, 2020 by mr_me

[Solomon_Man]

mr_me,

Thanks for the help!

 

I have read thru the documents (got a basic understanding) and downloaded the BIOS Roms from here (2 places as the second did not include the 5200 Bios ROM);

 

5200

https://atariage.com/5200/emulation/index.html?SystemID=5200

 

AND the others;

https://atari800.github.io/download.html

 

Also got the exit function to work on the keyboard.

 

Placed the Bios ROMS in the BIOS folder (\\RetroPie\bios)

 

Have a few Game ROMS in the Atari 5200 folder (\\RetroPie\roms\atari5200)

 

Rebooted the retropie (more than once).

 

Tried a 5200 Game or two and things either went to a black screen after the standard ROM load screen about the RunCommand.log etc. or the system put me back at the Game ROM selection screen (like nothing happened).

 

Upon looking at the RunCommand.log I see the following (included image);

 

Please note that the game inserted error (line) was/is not the one selected to play. Seems to be stuck on the tmp/retroarch/Buck Rogers... file.

 

I have even tried uninstalling and reinstalling the the lr-atari800 package...Still get the same error. I have even deleted the runcommand.log file and upon the selection of another Game Rom I get same situation...the Game ROM file to execute is not matching the ERROR line.

 

Rebooted the PI multiple times as well as emulation station.

 

Looking for ideas on how to handle....Suggestions?

 

Thanks for the help,

Chris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mr_me]

So you selected the zaxxon bin?  Is that an atari 800 cartridge or an atari 5200 cartridge?  Have you ever selected buck rogers previously? How did you install retropie, did you install from an official image or a preconfigured image?

 

You still have to tell the emulator where the bios files are.  Even without the bios files it's suppose to start in memo pad in atari 800 mode, not sure about atari 5200 mode.

[Solomon_Man]

On 9/16/2020 at 8:18 AM, mr_me said:

So you selected the zaxxon bin?  Is that an atari 800 cartridge or an atari 5200 cartridge?  Have you ever selected buck rogers previously? How did you install retropie, did you install from an official image or a preconfigured image?

 

You still have to tell the emulator where the bios files are.  Even without the bios files it's suppose to start in memo pad in atari 800 mode, not sure about atari 5200 mode.

Zaxxon bin yes.

 

5200 Cart.

 

Did select the Buck Rogers a few ROMs back before I realized it was stuck.

 

Official Image.

 

I ended up removing the .lr-atari800.cfg line that referred to the Buck Roger ROM (it was listed under a piggy back ROM). Not sure why it was listed but once removed...it stopped displaying the Buck Rogers line in the RunCommand.log line.

 

I have tried and retried many 5200 ROMS and I now get it to go thru the normal runcommand.log display when loading a ROM to go to a black screen. The runcommand logs show nothing out of the ordinary now.

 

If I press F5 (Warm Boot?) when the ROM is at the black screen I go in to a "testing" mode which is similar to the option key pressed on a old Atari 800XL upon turning it on. Where it tests memory etc.

 

On entering where to look for the BIOS files....

 

I assume thats in the lr-atari emulator. Once the ROM is loaded (Black Screen) I press F1 and then F1 again and I am in the Emulator where I select the Configuration Settings.

For the 5200 I see selected  the AT_5200.ROM found in the Bios folder.  Similar situations for the respected other machines and Bios ROMS.

 

I am wondering if I have bad ROMS either in the Bios ROM or  possibly Game ROMS. The Game ROMS are 7z files (zips) that evidently contain more then one file.

 

Is there a way to test things more verbosely (Diagnostically/more logs)?

 

Thanks for the help

Chris

 

 

 

[mr_me]

The emulator isn't complaining about the os rom files yet.   It's saying it can't open the game rom file.  You did extract the files from the zip archive.

[Solomon_Man]

All,

I ended up getting a new Raspberry Pi 4 and reinstalling  everything at it just worked....So I guess I am good now...I am sure I will have other questions in the future.

 

Thanks for the help,

Chris