Raspberry Pi Gaming thread - Cheap emulation and gaming projects

Current Humble Book Bundle includes Raspberry Pi and Arduino ebooks - https://www.humblebundle.com/books

Pay what you want for Make: Raspberry Pi and AVR Projects, MintDuino: Building an Arduino-compatible Breadboard Microcontroller, Make: Getting Started with Adafruit Trinket, Make: Getting Started with Adafruit FLORA, Make: Making Simple Robots, and Make: Arduino Bots and Gadgets.

Pay more than the average price to also receive Make: A Raspberry Pi-Controlled Robot; MAKE 38: High-Tech DIY; MAKE 36: Boards and Microcontrollers; Make: The Maker’s Manual; Make: JavaScript Robotics; Make: Getting Started with Sensors; Make: Getting Started with Arduino, 3rd Edition; Make: Getting Started with Raspberry Pi, 2nd Edition; and Make: AVR Programming.

Pay $15 or more for all of that plus Making Things Talk and Make: Sensors.

Plus, everyone who buys the bundle receives $10 off a print and $5 off a digital Make: Magazine subscription
 
I had some difficulty removing overscan from within emulation station. While bootup looked fine and the emulators ran as they should have, emulation station cut off at the bottom of the screen. (I could see part of Menu, but nothing of Start, if that makes sense.)

I looked around for awhile, tried a bunch of fixes, all of which eventually led to me needing to reformat and try again. Should anyone experience similar, this worked in getting it to scale properly for me.

In the boot directory, edit config text. Add the line "overscan_scale=1"
This enabled the overscan settings I entered in the same config.txt file to actually take effect.

Short story of commands used:
cd /boot
sudo nano config.txt

(anywhere it's blank, enter)
overscan_scale=1

Link to FAQ where I found the fix to my overscan problem
 
I should consider that book bundle, thanks for posting it.

I got a Pi last year around this time and tinkered with it a bit, but frustration in using Windows to get the right image and adding ROMs to the Pi (had a very annoying time trying to get my ancient MacBook to speak to the Raspberry Pi via FTP) put it on the backburner.

Also, my Saturn USB gamepads have an incredibly annoying button layout, so I need to figure out what to use that will approximate a SNES controller, which seems to be a clear standard.

I had big plans, I should really get back to making them more of a reality.
 
I had some difficulty removing overscan from within emulation station. While bootup looked fine and the emulators ran as they should have, emulation station cut off at the bottom of the screen. (I could see part of Menu, but nothing of Start, if that makes sense.)

I looked around for awhile, tried a bunch of fixes, all of which eventually led to me needing to reformat and try again. Should anyone experience similar, this worked in getting it to scale properly for me.

In the boot directory, edit config text. Add the line "overscan_scale=1"
This enabled the overscan settings I entered in the same config.txt file to actually take effect.

Short story of commands used:
cd /boot
sudo nano config.txt

(anywhere it's blank, enter)
overscan_scale=1

Link to FAQ where I found the fix to my overscan problem

I've had the same problem! Thank you so much!
 
I've had the same problem! Thank you so much!

Anytime. It drove me crazy for the past 3 days. This was one of many things I'd tried. So, when I first booted up Emulation Station post-fix and saw it'd had an effect, I'm sure my neighbors heard me yell Huzzah!!!! (Wife/friends only roll their eyes when I get excited about something like this; the things only GAF would appreciate and all that.)
 
I was looking at this page for the top single-board PCs in the market and there was afew interesting boards i haven't heard of before.

There is the Orange Pi 2 Plus for 55 to $63

plus2_shuoming_en.png

and a Stripped down version for $15


There is also C.H.I.P the $9 micro PC that looks better than the Pi Zero on paper (Bluetooth 4.0, Wifi B/G/N, R8 1Ghz CPU, 512ram, 4gig on board storage. I did notice there are selling a VGA or HDMI adaptator for $15 each.

http://getchip.com/pages/chip

edit: fuck me saw the ODROID-XU4 and this on Kickstarter !!!
 
So I have no soldering equipment/experience and I haven't ever built anything before. I'm planning on getting a Pi 2 to use as an emulation machine and I have this vague idea of putting it into a PSone shell. Should I not bother and just go with a regular case for it instead? I like the idea of hooking up the power button to the pi and having wires etc leading into the PSone, but I don't really know how I'd do it. I should probably not bother, right?
 
So I have no soldering equipment/experience and I haven't ever built anything before. I'm planning on getting a Pi 2 to use as an emulation machine and I have this vague idea of putting it into a PSone shell. Should I not bother and just go with a regular case for it instead? I like the idea of hooking up the power button to the pi and having wires etc leading into the PSone, but I don't really know how I'd do it. I should probably not bother, right?

Seems like unnecessary work and the PSone shell is big compared to the regular cases around but if you like that sort of thing then go for it. It's also worth noting that a pi doesn't really have a power button but you can always make one for the 5V supply.
 
Seems like unnecessary work and the PSone shell is big compared to the regular cases around but if you like that sort of thing then go for it. It's also worth noting that a pi doesn't really have a power button but you can always make one for the 5V supply.

Yeah that's the other thing, I knew there'd be work in getting the power button for the shell to work with something hooked up to the pi. Think I was just getting excited seeing all the mods on here, ha. I'll stick with a regular set up for now.
 
I bought my brother an arduino for Christmas and some bits and some other bits and bobs as he wants to get into circuitry and the likes. He is pretty proficient with programming. I was wondering as I have a pi lying about if he can use the two in conjunction with each other?

If so I'll give him that as well to tinker with.
 
Anybody else feel like Super Mario World, in particular, has worse input lag than most other games? I'll play other SNES games with the same core (lbr-snes9xnext) like Donkey Kong Country and not feel nearly the amount of input delay as what's present in SMW. Is it just because I remember how the original game felt on a CRT?

When I play Mario Maker on the same TV with the same settings (Game Mode on) under the SMW engine I don't experience any input delay.
 
is that a scanline filter I see going on? surely that would not help with performance and can be turned off, right?

Also that video is encoded at 1080p, I hope he wasn't making the pi zero output at 1080 just for emulation...

Rule number 1 of youtubers who make tech and emulation videos:

- Most of them don't have a clue what they're fucking doing.
 
After posting about those other single board PCs this just gets annouced. Holy shit!!

PINE A64 is a $15, 'high-performance' take on the Raspberry Pi


http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/152c28bd4f1c08a5ed83853e93223f9a/203104651/pine64pricing.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
How do those specs compare with the Pi 2? And as far as finding builds goes, would a Pi build of, say, RetroPi work with it?
Edit: Never mind, just checked the KS page. Not a fan of the physical size, but with those features I guess you couldn't make it that much smaller.

Edit #2: The only difference between the latter two is the RAM. Would that make much difference in trying to use filters and such with emulators? Or actual emulator performance itself?
 
If the main issue with pi zero emulation is frame drops and stutter I still think that's rather good, and maybe could be fine tuned in the future to work smooth at some point if the emulator devs keep working on it, it's interesting to keep in mind I guess.

And this new rival to the pi looks great, the $19 model sounds great to me but i've yet to actually use a micro pc product myself.
 
If the main issue with pi zero emulation is frame drops and stutter I still think that's rather good, and maybe could be fine tuned in the future to work smooth at some point if the emulator devs keep working on it, it's interesting to keep in mind I guess.

And this new rival to the pi looks great, the $19 model sounds great to me but i've yet to actually use a micro pc product myself.

I agree, the specs are most intriguing. Countering this though is whether RetroPie's prebuilt images would work with it/them. I'd never had to use Linux for anything prior, and figuring out how modify the specific settings was difficult for me. (And fun; much more than I thought I'd have with this project.) However, I didn't have to program anything because of the pre-fab build. I don't know if I'd have the skill to properly retrofit a prebuilt image to work with something like this, though I'm sure many of ya'll could.
 
Just ordered a Pi2 Model B Amazon kit yesterday for $70 (includes 8gb card, case for the board, etc)

I'm sure I'll be coming back to this thread for help. I'm terrible at this kind of thing.
 
Just ordered a Pi2 Model B Amazon kit yesterday for $70 (includes 8gb card, case for the board, etc)

I'm sure I'll be coming back to this thread for help. I'm terrible at this kind of thing.

I ordered a similar bundle from Amazon just last week and got everything set up. Since I've so recently been through the troubleshooting process for all sorts of idiosyncratic issues that can commonly arise when configuring this stuff, I'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
 
Just ordered a Pi2 Model B Amazon kit yesterday for $70 (includes 8gb card, case for the board, etc)

I'm sure I'll be coming back to this thread for help. I'm terrible at this kind of thing.

Ha, I was very close to buying the same (or similar) one yesterday as well. Interested to hear how it works out for you.
 
Ha, I was very close to buying the same (or similar) one yesterday as well. Interested to hear how it works out for you.

After some tinkering, mine is all set up and running beautifully with NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Neo Geo, and CPS2 (Arcade).
 
After some tinkering, mine is all set up and running beautifully with NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Neo Geo, and CPS2 (Arcade).

Cool, thanks!

The Buffalo SNES controller seems to be well regarded for Pi builds. Is anyone using a real SNES controller with a USB adapter? I was thinking of going that route since I have my SNES out already. I'm not sure if the extra buttons are used, or if they are required for retropie. [edit, after double checking the price seems about the same between the Buffalo controller and a SNES USB adapter so the Buffalo may be better since it could be used for PC also].
 
Cool, thanks!

The Buffalo SNES controller seems to be well regarded for Pi builds. Is anyone using a real SNES controller with a USB adapter? I was thinking of going that route since I have my SNES out already. I'm not sure if the extra buttons are used, or if they are required for retropie.

I ended up getting two Buffalo controllers for mine, and they work beautifully. But if you wanna go the USB adapter route that should work fine too. Retropie should detect them as standard USB input devices and prompt you to assign their buttons like any other controller. I'm not sure if the USB converters add any perceptible input lag, but my gut tells me that they wouldn't. No extra buttons are necessary. The select button on the SNES controller is the hotkey modifier by default for things like saving/loading states, exiting ROMs... etc.
 
Just backed the Pine64, went for the 2GB version.

Be interesting to see how this handles RetroArch with shaders!

I figured there would be a new thread for this 64 bit board. I didn't see anything but this thread.

I just backed the $29 version too. Looking forward to my first computer like this. I kept skipping out on the Pi boards.

I'll probably use this for an emulation system. I really want to build an arcade unit with something like this.
 
Just backed the Pine64, went for the 2GB version.

Be interesting to see how this handles RetroArch with shaders!
I went for the 1GB one because it was the only one I could get in Feb! Would shaders be dependent on how much RAM there is, 1GB vs 2GB?

I agree, the specs are most intriguing. Countering this though is whether RetroPie's prebuilt images would work with it/them.
It's *supposed* to be exactly the same as the original Pi with the exception of a missing port or two and an increased clock speed... so an image made for the OG Pi should work. I guess?
 
FYI to anyone who uses Mupen64 for N64 emulation on retropie.

The devs just pushed a fix for the audio lag to the binaries, so update your Retropie Setup Script and then update Mupen64plus from binaries to get the new hotness.

Just tested with Mario 64 and the audio lag is gone.
 
I went for the 1GB one because it was the only one I could get in Feb! Would shaders be dependent on how much RAM there is, 1GB vs 2GB?


It's *supposed* to be exactly the same as the original Pi with the exception of a missing port or two and an increased clock speed... so an image made for the OG Pi should work. I guess?

Nah i dont think the amount of ram effects the shaders thats down to what embedded gpu it uses......which i dont have a clue if the Pine has a better gpu than the Pi2 or not!?

Wait so the PINE is the same as Pi1, just faster clock speed??
 
Just bought all the stuff I should need:
-RP 2
-2x32Gb mSD
-Bluetooth dongle
-wireless keyboard touchpad combo
-wifi adapter
-NES30 pro
-Case with tiny fan

Should be good :D
 
I bought my brother an arduino for Christmas and some bits and some other bits and bobs as he wants to get into circuitry and the likes. He is pretty proficient with programming. I was wondering as I have a pi lying about if he can use the two in conjunction with each other?

If so I'll give him that as well to tinker with.


He can certainly use them together. It depends what he decides to build with what he has. For example I use a raspberry pi as a node.js server to send commands to an arduino board with a bluetooth module. Most projects though could be done purely with the GPIO of the Raspberry Pi without an arduino.
 
Just installed Recalbox on my Pi 2. Had some questions...

CPS3:
Final Burn Alpha Libretro? Is that the best choice? I couldn't get any of my roms to work.

CPS2:
Should I use Final Burn Alpha or Mame?

Neo Geo:
The NeoGeo emulator seemed really removed from the rest of Recalbox: My global scanline filter setting didn't apply and once I got into a game, I was locked into the emulator and couldn't "esc" my way out like I can all of the other emulators...Should I use Final Burn Alpha for Neo Geo games?
 
FYI to anyone who uses Mupen64 for N64 emulation on retropie.

The devs just pushed a fix for the audio lag to the binaries, so update your Retropie Setup Script and then update Mupen64plus from binaries to get the new hotness.

Just tested with Mario 64 and the audio lag is gone.

Thanks for the heads-up!
 
has there been any word on more pi zero's being released any time soon? I know they are making more but at this point I feel like they are not going to make it by christmas.
 
has there been any word on more pi zero's being released any time soon? I know they are making more but at this point I feel like they are not going to make it by christmas.

New stock tomorrow.

@ThePiHut This time tomorrow, we'll have the Raspberry Pi Zero back in stock! Get those carts ready!

@pimoroni @mfraz74 More Pi Zero will go on sale at 12pm (midday) on Monday!
 
I looked at the PINE A64 and I backed the A64+ $29 model. I'm wondering if this would run the SNK games or possibly any .exe with sound, a controller, and a power adapter? This would be my first project, so I'm hesitant on starting. I kinda want to get a board and right now I want to buy a PGM 3 board, but they're a little pricey.

The Raspberry Pi looks like a great place to start, but the PINE A64+ really interests me. It would be a start to something new.

12364033_10153803249081465_1015771195_o.jpg
 
I need to find a 10" LCD/LED screen for my Pi project. It would be preferrable if the screen has HDMI-in but where do I find one that isn't ludicrous expensive?
 
Top Bottom