Advanced arcade emulation on Batocera

Often times, ROMsets will include all known releases. You may not have interest in copying over every known arcade game onto your Batocera.

There are two sorts of tools to help out with this. First, getting a full set in the first place can be made easier with the use of a ROM manager, but isn't strictly required if you have a full ROMset all ready to go.

ROM Managers:

• RomVault: Multi-dat manager. Can consolidate ROMs from any set into any working set. Useful to those who randomly grab ROM files from all over the joint without regard to acquiring full sets.
• RomCenter: A more powerful but slightly more difficult to use multi-dat manager. Useful to those that need to maintain multiple sets at once.
• ClrMAMEPro: The big daddy. The “everything and the kitchen sink” approach. It is the hardest to use, but also the most powerful.

Once you have a full set, use of a filtering tool can remove clones, non-games, non-working, etc. files from the set. Some ROM Managers also include filtering tools, but dedicated filtering tools are usually better.

ROM filterers:

• Arcade manager: A simple UI-driven filter. Easiest to use, but is focused on Recalbox/RetroPie.
• BestArcade: A Python script focused on filtering down the non-merged reference ROMsets (fbneo, mame2003, mame2003plus and mame2010).
• ROMLister: A simple tool which filters down a given ROMset based on defined attributes.

RomVault. If not able to run, may require the installation of .NET 4.7.2.

Crash course on how to use RomVault: https://wiki.romvault.com/doku.php?id=install_and_setup

RomCenter.

RomCenter Getting Started guide.

ClrMamePro.

Crash course on how to use ClrMamePro: http://mame.3feetunder.com/clrmamepro-quick-start-guide/

Just note that you'd want to set the ROMset type to “Non-Merged Sets” and also probably want to click Advanced and turn off Separate BIOS sets (the equivalent of a “full” non-merged set).

For more in-depth option explanations, refer to the ClrMAMEPro manual.

Arcade manager.

Was designed for Recalbox and Retropie, thus it's focused on the low powered SBCs like Raspberry Pi. Still a pretty useful tool for understanding conceptually what's going on and a very good filter.

BestArcade.

ROMLister.

The NeoGeo system is not an emulator itself, but uses the FBNeo emulator. ( Why do we have this? This doesn't work like this for any other system. This section is also confusing, are we no longer defining systems by their folder? Are settings retained from the general mame and fbneo folder?)

You can use this system to visually separate the NeoGeo games from the other arcade games, they will appear as a dedicated system in EmulationStation.

It uses the same romset as the FBNeo emulator.

If you have a special stick like the Happ Rotary Arcade you need to configure both joystick and keyboard at same time:

Dial :   AZERTY keyboard: "^" (between  "P" and "Enter") -- QWERTY keyboard: "[" (leftbracket)
Dial :   AZERTY keyboard: "$" (between "P" and "Enter")  -- QWERTY keyboard: "]" (rightbracket)
Dial 2 : AZERTY keyboard: "*" (between "m" and "Enter")  -- QWERTY keyboard: "/" (slash)
Dial 2 : AZERTY keyboard: "!" (between "m" and Right)    -- QWERTY keyboard: "\" (backslash)

You must launch your game, open the Retroarch menu with Hotkey + B, go to Input Interface and activate the option Simultaneous. Then you can use your joystick and keyboard keys at the same time.

Highscores can be tracked and kept throughthe use of `highscore.dat` which mus be in the right version for each emulator / emulator version, they can be found or must be placed here :

• For FBNeo : /userdata/bios/fbneo
• For mame2003plus : /userdata/saves/mame/mame2003-plus/hi
• For mame2010: /userdata/saves/mame/mame2010/hi
• For mame: see temporary solution in following post

This is the per-game menu for accessing the machine's advanced configuration such as its dip switches, service mode and diagnostic input.

For FB NEO, the default combo is [START] + [L1] + [R1] (old versions ( what older versions? Be specific): Hold [START])

For MAME, the default combo is pushing in [L3] + [R3] (old versions ( what older versions? Be specific. I also don't think this was even removed, ie. you can still press Tab on the keyboard to access the dip switch menu): [Tab] on the keyboard)

For NEOGEO:

• For the default ( factory?) NEOGEO BIOS, the default combo is [START] + [L1] + [R1] (old versions ( what older versions? Be specific): Hold [START])
• For the universal BIOS:
  • At the boot screen, the default combo is holding down + +
  • During gameplay, the default combo is holding down [START] + [SELECT] or holding down [START] + + +

Setup a new shortcut via RetroArch:

[HOTKEY] + → Quick Access → Options → Diagnostic Input

Setup DIP Switches via RetroArch: [HOTKEY] + → Quick Access → Options → Dip Switches

Setup NEO-GEO BIOS via RetroArch:

[HOTKEY] + → Quick Access → Options → SPECIFIC NEO GEO BIOS → UNIBIOS or SPECIFIC BY DIP SWITCHES (UNIBIOS)

Options available (Defaults)

• Diagnostic Input (shortcut combination):
  • None
  • Hold Start
  • Start + A + B
  • Hold Start + A + B
  • Start + L + R (Default)
  • Hold Start + L + R
  • Hold Select
  • Select + A + B
  • Hold Select + A + B
  • Select + L + R
  • Hold Select + L + R
• DIP Switches (settings) - may differ from game to game:
  • Autofire: Off* or On
  • Coin Mode: Mode 1*, Mode 2
  • Coin A / Coin B | Coinage | Coin setting : 4 Coins 3 Credit, 2 Coins 1 Credit, 1 Coin 1 Credit*, 1 Coin 2 Credits, 1 Coin 3 Credits, 1 Coin 4 Credits, 1 Coin 6 Credits, Free to Play
  • 2C to Start, 1 to Continue: Yes or No* | Starting Coin: Normal, 2x
  • Difficulty: 1 (Easiest), 2, 3, 4 (Normal)*, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Hardest)
  • Difficulty 2: Easy, Normal*, Hard, Hardest
  • Bonus Life: 100K*, 200K, 100K and every 200K, None
  • Number of Players: 1, 2*, 3, 4
  • Change Lives: 1, 2*, 3, 4, 5
  • Free to play: Yes or No*
  • Freeze: : Yes or No*
  • Flip: Yes or No*
  • Demo Sound | Attractive: Yes* or No
  • Allow Continue: Yes* or No
  • Game Mode: Game* or Test
  • Sound Output: Mono or Stereo
  • Unknown: Off* or On
  • Region: Europe, USA or Japan
  • Mode: ARCADE or CONSOLE-AES
  • Subtitles: English, Japanese, Korean or Portuguese
  • Jukebox

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In MAME standalone, machines can be remapped using the built-in MAME menu.

1. Launch the machine in question.
2. While in-game, push in [L3] + [R3] at the same time (keyboard alternative: [Tab]) to open the MAME menu
3. Go to “Input for this game”

Press (keyboard alternative: [Enter]) to confirm. Inputs can be cleared by double-tapping /[Enter] while hovering over the input.

Remap configuration files are stored at \userdata\saves\mame\mame\cfg\. More info at the remapping page.

Standalone MAME and libretro/MAME have options to automatically map the controls for certain games and controller types. For more information, see Automatic Controller Layouts.