Raspberry Pi Gaming thread - Cheap emulation and gaming projects

Not looking for anything fancy like I'm seeing here as it's just going to go in a nought case but which is the best Raspberry Pi version to get for emulation? I'm assuming that unless there's a negative which I can't see, the RASPBERRY PI 2 MODEL B is the one to go for?

What's the highest capacity memory card I could use in that? I'm only going to use a bought Pi case and a SNES style USB controller.

EDIT:
I do know that this thread does recommend model I mention but I really want to know id there is any reason to get a different model for somebody like me who has never done anything like this before? I mean is there something about the 2B that is going to make it more complicated to use or something?

I'm probably asking stupid questions but I don;t want to end up buying that one and then finding out that there was something about another model that would have simplified things for me.
 
@Kyou Formatting the sd and reinstalling the image would be the easiest.

@JP I know you can use up to a 64gb sd card but I don't think there is a hard limit. You could also just use as small as 4gb for the os then use a cheap usb stick for games. The RASPBERRY PI 2 MODEL B is going to be the best for emulation. There is really nothing different between any of them when it comes to ease of use. They all Install and configure the same. It is just the specs that are different.
 
Mirk said:
@JP I know you can use up to a 64gb sd card but I don't think there is a hard limit. You could also just use as small as 4gb for the os then use a cheap usb stick for games. The RASPBERRY PI 2 MODEL B is going to be the best for emulation. There is really nothing different between any of them when it comes to ease of use. They all Install and configure the same. It is just the specs that are different.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that was the way I was understanding it but I din't want to buy it and find any nasty surprises when it turned up. Keep popping into this thread and watching videos on YouTube, think I've finally decided to give it a go in the next couple of weeks. :)
 
are the shaders installed by default for retropie or do i need to manually load them into whatever directory it's suppose to be in?
i can't seem to find anything
 
Shaders should already be installed in Retroarch.

You can manually select them (though you'll need to do it each time), or you can edit the emulator .cfg file so that it will load a given shader each time you boot a game into it.

It's been a while since I've messed around with my Pi, but I'll try to upload directions on how to do it.
 
erotic grandpa said:
Shaders should already be installed in Retroarch.

You can manually select them (though you'll need to do it each time), or you can edit the emulator .cfg file so that it will load a given shader each time you boot a game into it.

It's been a while since I've messed around with my Pi, but I'll try to upload directions on how to do it.
Click to expand...

thanks,

it's amazing how i can navigate and do all this stuff in windows, but im having a hard time with it on linux
I'm not sure about this as well, but when a game gets loaded and i launch the menu, everything seems to be in low res and i can't find where the resolution settings
 
I had an awesome weekend dicking around my new Rpi2.

I got a free 57cm CRT, Rpi2, composite breakout cables and a SNES FC30 controller and I'm rolling old-school.

Got nearly everything working perfect, just a few issues:

SNES games have black borders around the game but the emulationstation UI doesn't.

GBA games seem to ignore the button config I set inside emulationstation.

Can't figure out how to add a PSP emulator.

Apart from that, so good. Although I'm taking an old 4:3 monitor home from work today, the flickering on the CRT is making my eyes bleed.

Dumb question, how do I launch emulationstation again when I'm at the command line? Startx doesn't work. ./emulationstation doesn't work. I can't figure this out...
 
I'm thinking about doing one of those awesome Raspberry SNES you see around here...

I have little experience with these kind of things yet, so a few questions did come up:

Do I need a Pi b or a Pi B+? A B+ is cheaper, but I have no idea what differentiates them in terms of emulation.
Is it possible to use the Wii U Pro Controller for Windows I bought a while ago? Can I build the SNES so that there is a USB dongle on the back to use with whatever USB controller I like, or is compatibility not really there?

Is the Pi B fast enough for N64 emulation? Would it play Neo Geo games?

Thanks for answering what might be common questions - I didn't really find anything on the Wii U Pro controllers on the pages I looked over, so I thought I'd ask.
 
so is the guide in the OP outdated? I just set up my Pi 2 this weekend with Retropie and it seems like they've integrated controller setup into emulationstation now.
 
Fusebox said:
GBA games seem to ignore the button config I set inside emulationstation.
Click to expand...

You have to start the GBA emulator without loading a ROM from command line. Then update the button configurtions there and save, then exit. I'd restart the whole thing after this, but your configurations should finally save after doing this.
 
Freedom = $1.05 said:
so is the guide in the OP outdated? I just set up my Pi 2 this weekend with Retropie and it seems like they've integrated controller setup into emulationstation now.
Click to expand...

Will wait for the full 3.0 release (RC1 just got released) before updating because I will go through the installation myself from scratch. I'm still on 2.6 for now and I dont what I should be updating in the OP before trying it for myself.
 
MiketheBSG said:
You have to start the GBA emulator without loading a ROM from command line. Then update the button configurtions there and save, then exit. I'd restart the whole thing after this, but your configurations should finally save after doing this.
Click to expand...

Thx Mike, will try it tonight.

I got some tiny heat sinks for my Rpi2 today. It takes longer for the Pi to get to its usual temp of 41c but it still gets to 41c eventually.
 
The last time I tried to configure a bunch of controllers, I had to configure them each time I booted the device.

Could I just a get a Bluetooth dongle, configure the controllers for that once and have them work every time I boot the thing up straight away?
 
Fraeon said:
The last time I tried to configure a bunch of controllers, I had to configure them each time I booted the device.

Could I just a get a Bluetooth dongle, configure the controllers for that once and have them work every time I boot the thing up straight away?
Click to expand...

Yes. That's what I do. Only ever had to configure my gamepad once.
 
This thread is the devil. I don't need this. I didn't even try for the amazon prime day sale on the model B. But, I keep coming back. Those damnable pictures of a Pi encased in an old nes/genesis... I'm gonna have to do this.

I'm visiting in-laws in Minnesota over Christmas, and am dwelling upon how easy it'd be to pack this + a controller in a carry on. In-laws don't have any gaming stuff, but at the very least they do have an HDTV.

Finally, the tinkering. I've been wanting to mess around with linux, and this seems like the perfect foray into it. Just enough difficulty to learn something new, with the added ability to configure the case in a fun manner.
 
Can you guys recommend a Bluetooth Dongle? I'm not sure which one to go for, since most mention specifically that they don't provide Linux drivers.
 
yasu151 said:
I'm visiting in-laws in Minnesota over Christmas, and am dwelling upon how easy it'd be to pack this + a controller in a carry on. In-laws don't have any gaming stuff, but at the very least they do have an HDTV.
Click to expand...

I use a amazon basics 15" laptop case and can pack the Pi, 360 joypad, 2 buffalo controllers, wires and cables, and short keyboard in all nicely. Handy for visiting parents ;-)
 
I'm still having lag from input to display and it's such a bummer since I've put a lot of time and effort into getting my PI built into an NES case. This is not a lag inherent to my TV, it's the same on my 120Hz monitor. Anyone have the same issue? Can someone with a high sensitivity for lag confirm to me that their Raspberry is just as responsive as a real NES.

A good benchmark would be trying to hit a perfect fast swing in NES Open Tournament Gold without having to compensate for perceived lag. On my Raspberry I end up 6-7 pips too far to the right.

I just want to know if I should give up or if there is something that can be done to fix it.
 
Spent a good couple of hours last night trying to setup wifi solely through the command line, eventually just plugged it into the router and used the setup in retropie.

Next step - getting all roms to store and run entirely from a thumb drive.
 
Ludovico said:
Spent a good couple of hours last night trying to setup wifi solely through the command line, eventually just plugged it into the router and used the setup in retropie.

Next step - getting all roms to store and run entirely from a thumb drive.
Click to expand...

Ahhh that's easy. All in a text file for you to edit! It's the emulation station setup iirc.
 
Rich! said:
Ahhh that's easy. All in a text file for you to edit! It's the emulation station setup iirc.
Click to expand...

Sweet. I was looking in each individual emulator folder for configs, hopefully this way I'll be able to quickly cut and paste what I need.

Is that also where I find the global default output resolution? I remember you saying something awhile back about lowering the resolution for performance, but I've been unable to find it.
 
Ludovico said:
Sweet. I was looking in each individual emulator folder for configs, hopefully this way I'll be able to quickly cut and paste what I need.

Is that also where I find the global default output resolution? I remember you saying something awhile back about lowering the resolution for performance, but I've been unable to find it.
Click to expand...

It's in the rpiconfig text file.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt.md

You can set global resolution to any size and refresh rate.
 
Anyone wanna maybe buy a RPi2 with a case, on/off cable, BT adapter, and 8gb microsd NOOBS card w/ adapter? I think i'm gonna sell it because it's proven too difficult to set it up for my kid without having to constantly fix stuff.
 
one last addition to my SNES Pi - a nice steel 3.5mm headphone jack on the back panel.

...but I soldered the channels the wrong way round. fuck. is there any code for the pi to swap L/R audio channels when outputting via 3.5mm? HDMI is obviously fine.
 
Rich! said:
one last addition to my SNES Pi - a nice steel 3.5mm headphone jack on the back panel.

...but I soldered the channels the wrong way round. fuck. is there any code for the pi to swap L/R audio channels when outputting via 3.5mm? HDMI is obviously fine.
Click to expand...

Did you just extend the onboard analogue audio to a female port or did you add a DAC? I was surprised how bad the onboard audio is. Mine has a really noticeable noisefloor and just doesn't sound full range through good speakers. I'm using a USB DAC now instead and the audio quality is night and day.
 
Fusebox said:
Did you just extend the onboard analogue audio to a female port or did you add a DAC? I was surprised how bad the onboard audio is. Mine has a really noticeable noisefloor and just doesn't sound full range through good speakers. I'm using a USB DAC now instead and the audio quality is night and day.
Click to expand...

onboard audio. It's noisy as shit.

I thought it was my wiring, but obviously not. What USB DAC did you use?
 
Rich! said:
onboard audio. It's noisy as shit.

I thought it was my wiring, but obviously not. What USB DAC did you use?
Click to expand...

I'm using this one, it came free with some headphones I bought last year and haven't had a use for it until now. I suspect it's about as cheap as they come tho...

http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr315/pitom_album/GoVibeMiniU-DAC.jpg

Was pleasantly surprised to find out it works, even more surprised when I heard how big a difference it made to the sound quality.

I'm using it with my office Pi today:

fH6mCLgAruedmx6mz7KeHtYGw6B4f97fIZVQ-eEyJso=w1447-h1085-no
Click to expand...

Pi2 runing Openelec. Audioquest Evergreen audio cable, Foxl v2 Platinum speaker. It's overkill for the office but sounds soooo good.
 
I can drag and drop games directly to a thumb drive now and load them up just fine, but of course now my saves and savestates aren't working.
Loaded up the quick menu and tried changing the directory of the above to the same folder the roms are loading from and I'm still getting a 'savestate failed' error.

Rich, are your gamesaves stored on your USB or on the SD card itself?


edit: Upon further testing, it seems like I'm unable to save any changes I make in Retroarch. I messed around with some of the setting for autosaves, went to main menu, saved the config and rebooted. Still loads up 'retroarch.cfg', can't find my edited one anywhere.
 
Fusebox said:
Did you just extend the onboard analogue audio to a female port or did you add a DAC? I was surprised how bad the onboard audio is. Mine has a really noticeable noisefloor and just doesn't sound full range through good speakers. I'm using a USB DAC now instead and the audio quality is night and day.
Click to expand...
So you're talking about the jack itself and not the HDMI audio out or anything funky like that, are you?

I'm torn with what I want to make with my Pi. One part of me wants to make an all-in-one joystick with just a power and HDMI port on it, another is thinking that I just add a PC USB port to said joystick and make an all-in-one emu station with an LCD and USB/power ports. If I can knock something up like the latter that's a good deal lighter than my Windpad, I think I will.

Edit: Damn, I almost want to get something like this. Adorable. Then I just need to find a way to mount it in a controller so it's (kinda) portable).
 
RedNumberFive said:
I'm looking into getting into this Raspberry Pi business, and the OP has been pretty helpful. What's the latest and greatest all-in-one kit available for purchase? Will this give me everything I need to get started:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008XVAVAW/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Is there a better kit that anyone would recommend?
Click to expand...

You should be fine with that kit, but 8gb won't last very long. Get a 32gb card at least.

RedNumberFive said:
Edit: Will this be powerful enough to run most emus?
Click to expand...

up to PS1 is good,
 
Shaneus said:
So you're talking about the jack itself and not the HDMI audio out or anything funky like that, are you?
Click to expand...

Yeah just the analogue audio jack, audio over HDMI is fantastic.

Shaneus said:
I'm torn with what I want to make with my Pi.
Click to expand...

So buy another one. Cheaper than a decent case of beer!


Shaneus said:
Edit: Damn, I almost want to get something like this. Adorable. Then I just need to find a way to mount it in a controller so it's (kinda) portable).
Click to expand...

Same, I think that's my endgame too. I've ordered a Xiami USB powerbank and I've got bluetooth controllers, just need a portable screen of some kind now.
 
Fusebox said:
Same, I think that's my endgame too. I've ordered a Xiami USB powerbank and I've got bluetooth controllers, just need a portable screen of some kind now.
Click to expand...
One thing to keep in mind with the Xiaomi powerbanks is that they disconnect and reconnect the USB whenever you press the button to check charge, or plug it in to charge it (if you want to keep the Pi connected). So while it will run off it (seems to run fine, too!), it might be best to brace for potential unclean shutdowns.
 
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