Raspberry Pi Gaming thread - Cheap emulation and gaming projects

Yeah, removed and reseated them just in case I had a bad connection. I flashed Retropie 3.2.1 to the SD, and it boots but doesn't see any input from the PCB. I'll follow up with Pimoroni tomorrow but was just wondering if I'd missed something obvious.

Can you describe the behavior of the lights on the Picade PCB? There's some information to be gleaned from which lights are on/blinking etc.
 
Can you describe the behavior of the lights on the Picade PCB? There's some information to be gleaned from which lights are on/blinking etc.

Not much to note, ON lights up when it's got power and BL flashes when I hit the reset. Other than that nothing else is happening.
 
Well, that was easier than I thought it would be!

RetroPie ran nearly perfectly out of the box. I only had to force HDMI audio by editing \boot\config.txt as per step 1 in Calm Killer's instructions - I didn't have to do anything else.

Getting the SFC30 controllers working over bluetooth was a little more complicated. In part I think because there's a lot of mixed information out there, and a few versions of 8Bitdo's controllers, which I think don't operate in exactly the same way. In the end I followed the instructions here, but instead of hitting START to pair (Gamepad Mode) I had to use START + R (Joystick Mode). If I didn't, the buttons worked, but the D-Pad didn't register at all. The controllers have a different MAC address for every mode it seems - so you have to pair it in the mode that you need. To get both controllers working I just had to repeat steps 3 and 4 for the other controller.

EmulationStation seems to want to use the X-Box style A and B buttons, which are the reverse of the SNES's A and B buttons. Hopping between the two on the same hardware was immediately jarring. So I lied to the configuration to get it working right. Which meant I had to use the RetroPie setup script to reset the RetroArch settings. But I would have to do this anyway because it seems that the ES setup doesn't configure the SFC30 controller correctly for RetroArch in the first place - at least with START + R.

FINALLY, I didn't like having to unplug and plug the power in every time I wanted to turn the thing on again. So I hooked up a microswitch to the RUN header as explained here. So now I have a little button to start up the Pi and also to reset it easily and safely!
 
Well, that was easier than I thought it would be!

RetroPie ran nearly perfectly out of the box. I only had to force HDMI audio by editing \boot\config.txt as per step 1 in Calm Killer's instructions - I didn't have to do anything else.

Getting the SFC30 controllers working over bluetooth was a little more complicated. In part I think because there's a lot of mixed information out there, and a few versions of 8Bitdo's controllers, which I think don't operate in exactly the same way. In the end I followed the instructions here, but instead of hitting START to pair (Gamepad Mode) I had to use START + R (Joystick Mode). If I didn't, the buttons worked, but the D-Pad didn't register at all. The controllers have a different MAC address for every mode it seems - so you have to pair it in the mode that you need. To get both controllers working I just had to repeat steps 3 and 4 for the other controller.

EmulationStation seems to want to use the X-Box style A and B buttons, which are the reverse of the SNES's A and B buttons. Hopping between the two on the same hardware was immediately jarring. So I lied to the configuration to get it working right. Which meant I had to use the RetroPie setup script to reset the RetroArch settings. But I would have to do this anyway because it seems that the ES setup doesn't configure the SFC30 controller correctly for RetroArch in the first place - at least with START + R.

FINALLY, I didn't like having to unplug and plug the power in every time I wanted to turn the thing on again. So I hooked up a microswitch to the RUN header as explained here. So now I have a little button to start up the Pi and also to reset it easily and safely!

Thanks for the heads up, this was driving me insane and I couldn't find hardly anything on it. Will give it another shot this weekend.
 
Hey GAF, have you heard about the Starforce Pi?
It's a mini arcade machine with 4 buttons, a raspberry pi, stereo speakers, hdmi out and even a battery

sfp_package-5.jpg
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwTlB_ydF8g]

They just launched their kickstarter campaign yesterday and I haven't seen it posted here yet.

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/34683765/the-starforce-pi-electronic-tabletop-mini-arcade]

Maybe some of you folks are interested in this? It's 199€ for the base model with an additional 20€ for a Sanwa Stick or another 20€ for a raspberry Pi 2.
Or if you already have a Pi you can get just the case for 179€.

I think it's a really cool project and the design is great. Would love to see it get funded.
 
Hey GAF, have you heard about the Starforce Pi?
It's a mini arcade machine with 4 buttons, a raspberry pi, stereo speakers, hdmi out and even a battery


[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwTlB_ydF8g]

They just launched their kickstarter campaign yesterday and I haven't seen it posted here yet.

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/34683765/the-starforce-pi-electronic-tabletop-mini-arcade]

Maybe some of you folks are interested in this? It's 199€ for the base model with an additional 20€ for a Sanwa Stick or another 20€ for a raspberry Pi 2.
Or if you already have a Pi you can get just the case for 179€.

I think it's a really cool project and the design is great. Would love to see it get funded.
It is a cool project, but a few things about it:
* It's damned expensive
* I'd rather use smaller buttons and not have it look fugly. I know you can buy tiny microswitches now, and hell, even standard silicone pad button things like on regular controllers would be fine. And wouldn't look anywhere near as bad.

I'd rather gut an existing system and wrangle it in there myself. Might not look as good, but at least it would be to how I want it. Pretty sure a Sega 6-button PCB would slot in there nicely.
 
Few questions:

1. Say I put on PS1 games that use multiple discs. Is there a way I can download a version where I don't have to "switch discs"?
2. How does an N64 game that requires the expansion pack work, if at all?
3. Is the only way to save my game is to create a save state or can I actually save my game and the pi/emulator actually remember it?
 
I think I'm going to ask for a Raspberry Pi for Christmas with the intention of turning it into a little emulation machine, will have a read through this thread and figure out what I need/need to do!
 
I think I'm going to ask for a Raspberry Pi for Christmas with the intention of turning it into a little emulation machine, will have a read through this thread and figure out what I need/need to do!

Enjoy if you use Retropie or RecalBox it is super easy to setup.
 
Enjoy if you use Retropie or RecalBox it is super easy to setup.
Yeah, it looks it! If I wanted to use my PS3 controllers with it all I'd need is a Bluetooth dongle to plug into the Pi, right? Is that easy to set up? Similarly if I want to scrape box art etc I'd need a usb wifi receiver in there too?
 
Yeah, it looks it! If I wanted to use my PS3 controllers with it all I'd need is a Bluetooth dongle to plug into the Pi, right? Is that easy to set up? Similarly if I want to scrape box art etc I'd need a usb wifi receiver in there too?

Yeah just a bluetooth dongle and pair it using the Sixaxis tool on your computer, I didn't mess with box art but I did put wifi in mine so I can update and transfer files easily.
 
Hey, finally started to get this set up on my Raspberry Pi 2, but I'm running into a minor issue. I've just been testing out some SNES games, but every minute or so performance goes down and the music gets scratchy. I see a little icon pop up in the upper right hand corner like RetroPi is loading something in the background, any way to tell what it is/disable it?

Secondly, do you have to reset the system every time you load new ROMs or is there a way to just "refresh" the ROM directory? The reason I ask this is because I'm running original SNES carts through a Retrode that's hooked up to the Pi through USB. And it seems like if I replace the cart, RetroPie doesn't realize there's a different ROM in the directory and I end up having to reboot the thing to get it running again.
 
Hey, finally started to get this set up on my Raspberry Pi 2, but I'm running into a minor issue. I've just been testing out some SNES games, but every minute or so performance goes down and the music gets scratchy. I see a little icon pop up in the upper right hand corner like RetroPi is loading something in the background, any way to tell what it is/disable it?

That icon is telling you that your RPi doesn't have enough power.
 
That icon is telling you that your RPi doesn't have enough power.

Huh, kinda makes sense. I fiddle with some things, disconnected the WiFi adapter since I didn't really need it and wanted to have the USB port available for a second controller and then didn't have any problems after that.
 
I wanna take the jump and make a emulation box for my living room HDTV.

I wanna play 8 and 16 bit consoles, handhelds, and some arcade games. Point me in the right direction GAF. I don't mind putting it together and setting it up, but an affordable pre built unit would be nice too. I have several Xbox One controllers, but can I use a USB connector to use my actual NES and SNES controllers? I have some of those already. Can I use the wireless Xbox One controller adapter?
 
hey everyone, I've been having an issue with my RPi2 whenever i transfer roms larger than 100 mb to my usb stick and insert it into the RPi2 to transfer to the SD card it just keeps making my RPi2 reboot over and over again, but any rom under 100 mb (N64 and lower sized file roms) transfer over without issue. If anyone knows what I can do to fix this issue it would be awesome, thanks!
 
hey everyone, I've been having an issue with my RPi2 whenever i transfer roms larger than 100 mb to my usb stick and insert it into the RPi2 to transfer to the SD card it just keeps making my RPi2 reboot over and over again, but any rom under 100 mb (N64 and lower sized file roms) transfer over without issue. If anyone knows what I can do to fix this issue it would be awesome, thanks!

Have you tried doing it over the network with putty or something like that? Thats how I do it and works great.

BTW retropie all the way for this kind of project. love my retropie arcade.
 
Have you tried doing it over the network with putty or something like that? Thats how I do it and works great.

BTW retropie all the way for this kind of project. love my retropie arcade.

unfortunately I have no idea what putty is and how to do that. Is it relatively easy? any guide you could link me too that could help me use this method of transferring my roms to my RPi2?

thanks a bunch!!
 
unfortunately I have no idea what putty is and how to do that. Is it relatively easy? any guide you could link me too that could help me use this method of transferring my roms to my RPi2?

thanks a bunch!!

Putty is a terminal tool you can use to ssh to your pi.
https://community.freescale.com/thread/220596


Before doing that though I would suggest perhaps checking the power adapter for your pi 2. What is the output amps on it?
 
I shouldn't have come into this thread again... I had finally shelved my bar-top arcade idea for awhile... but since it's almost Christmas I could probably beg for the parts for that instead and OH MY GOD GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
 
Had an early Thanksgiving get-together since everyone on my dad's side of the family is otherwise busy during Thanksgiving. Brought my Pi and Retrode over and played some Tetris Battle Gaiden. Good stuff. Worked out fairly well. I need to pick up the N64 plug-in adaptor and maybe try my hand at building the NES plug-in.
 
What systems can I play at near-perfect emulation on a Pi2? Is there a place I can just buy a kit that includes everything I need? Mostly 8/16 bit and Arcade I want to play, but Saturn/Ps1/N64 would be rad.
 
Huzzah for birthdays. I've been keenly following this thread for awhile, and have (had) ~$110 to have fun. Courtesy of this thread, I picked up:

Pi 2, Model B
Edimax Wifi USB: Didn't think I'd need it, but it was cheap and I thought why not
Flirc Pi 2 Case: intrigued by the case-as-a-heatsink concept
Eleduino Power Cable: Has a power on/off switch on the cable, which I think I'll prefer over plugging/unplugging to add/remove power
Sandisk 32GB MicroSD: I referenced the links in the op, which led me to a compatibility page. A reviewer mentioned it worked fine as well, and it has good read/write speeds. (20mbps for both, give or take)
Buffalo Controllers x2: I didn't want anything fancy, and these looked fun. I don't own any N64 games aside from Mario 64, and don't know if I'll use the N64 emulator based on other peoples comments on speed issues

I really love the way some of the cabinets looks, and think I will work on that as my next project. I am NOT handy at all with woodworking/3d printing, but I have friends who are. Further, I have access to a workshop that provides access to pretty much every tool I could ever think of (non-profit learn-to-build-whatever-you-want organization in my city; super awesome stuff.) I could use wood, plastic, acrylic; skies the limit.

In the meantime, I'm traveling to visit in-laws in December. I figure this will be something fun to bring along with me. It's small, portable and will at the very least keep kids entertained.
 
I suck at any sort of programming. Is there somewhere I can buy a pre-programmed Pi?

I was curious about this, and my local craigslist popped up a bunch of sellers. Obviously I can't vouch for what you'll find, but that's always an option. I'm not very good with programming either, but the instructions both in the OP and online seem straightforward enough. Here's to hoping.
 
I suck at any sort of programming. Is there somewhere I can buy a pre-programmed Pi?

No point especially when new releases of the various OS's are made available offering new huge new features or when you need to make little changes. From scratch you can set up RetroPie in 15minutes and be playing a game. This little project will also teach you Linux basics the deeper you go so it's worth doing it for that.

Also if you want something pre-programmed I'm sure someone can compile a new custom image for you.
 
The Pi Zero looks like it could make a portable RetroPie a realistic option now? I know there are already projects out there, but this seems much smaller and slimmer...
 
Is that the first time a computer has been given away free as a cover mounted gift? I seem to remember there were some shoddy tablet things before but nothing quite like this.
 
Is that the first time a computer has been given away free as a cover mounted gift? I seem to remember there were some shoddy tablet things before but nothing quite like this.

I remember there was a smartphone given away with a magazine in the US a couple of years ago, if that counts.
 
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