The Omega Man
Member
Sad, I hope Pi 4 can propel us into proper N64, Dreamcast/Naomi, Model 2 and Model 3 emulation.
Raspberry Pi Gaming thread - Cheap emulation and gaming projects
- Thread starter Card Boy
- Start date
Sad, I hope Pi 4 can propel us into proper N64, Dreamcast/Naomi, Model 2 and Model 3 emulation.
hooijdonk17
Member
Yes, there are several ARM releases of major linux distributions available for the pi but the two you can run easiest (with ready to burn images for an sd-card) are Raspbian and Ubuntu MATE.
Of these, Raspbian is the de-facto and default desktop release but feels a little less like a desktop PC due to some of its quirks than you may like. Regardless, it's well maintained and pretty snappy. It's what I use because it's well maintained.
Ubuntu MATE is probably the distro that would fool you best with regards to being a real PC experience, aside from read/write speed issues. But it's as fast as Raspbian (faster according to some tests) and quite stable. It relies on Ubuntu repos, so that means if you go with an LTS release you won't get a well maintained distro, and the quarterly Ubuntu releases can be hit or miss.
Other distros like Fedora and openSUSE also have ARM distributions and are very good linux distributions overall but this will be more difficult than just burning an image onto an SD Card. Then there is Arch Linux which is pretty much hardcore, but if you can set it up for ARM on a pi it would probably be the best of the lot. Don't try it if you're a linux newbie though.
I would also suggest doing a search on distrowatch for linux distributions available for pi, and going through them one by one to see what you like best personally.
StrangeRoboMemory
Member
Yoooooo, just picked up a Pi 3, case, and 32gb SD card! Excited to turn this into a nice little project. Will surely be back with questions in the next week or so. 
Not surprised, they have pretty much maxed the current arch of the SoC from what I've read.
A die shrink and general angst regarding the GPU is the logical next step IMO. BC and openness kind of limits the options for the foundation I'm thinking, so who knows how that will end.
4k output would be sweet, tho.
CrashPrime
Member
Made my religious voyage to my homeland of microcenter last night. 2 Raspberry Pi Zeros and way more other stuff I didn't need later, and I am ready to get some emulators up and running. Genesis Classic edition here I come.
Had to cheat the system. They wanted me to pay $10 for additional Zeros. Just ran #1 out to the car and checked out #2 in another line.
Power Supply twice as expensive as the computer. Hilarious.
So much stuff I want in that store.
Had to cheat the system. They wanted me to pay $10 for additional Zeros. Just ran #1 out to the car and checked out #2 in another line.
Power Supply twice as expensive as the computer. Hilarious.
So much stuff I want in that store.
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
My Tankstick arrived. It's cool, but it seems weird to have two controllers for the pie-- one for console games and one for arcade games. The Tankstick appears to the system as a keyboard, so I'll have to figure out the best way to make it so that I can comfortable switch between Mame and consoles without restarting Emulation Station. I might not be able to, and I suppose that's OK.
Retropie is better because it let's you do more stuff and supports more systems. Recalbox is easier to use though and slightly prettier. My experiment with Recalbox today showed me that it's good enough for what I need. The only thing I am missing is the option to eliminate sprite flickering on NES games. I'll probably stick with it though.
If you are just getting started and are afraid you might need to fiddle too much go with Recalbox for the easier entry.
There will be a Pi 4 i think. Competition will force them. Also there where no plans for a Pi 2 until 2017 and look what happened.
http://www.geek.com/chips/no-raspberry-pi-2-until-2017-software-is-the-focus-for-now-1599210/
Micro Center is cool, I was actually browsing their Raspberry Pi section yesterday afternoon; was in there to return something and was just roaming around the store. Didn't know they had so many DIY kits and Pi programming books.
Plus it's across from one of the few Trader Joe's that sells booze!
hooijdonk17
Member
Only works wit nvidia I think.
eBay is best bet either look for broken consoles or parts or look for shellls if you want the price to be cheaper.
This is moonlight it uses the nvidia protocol for streaming, it's been on raspberry pi for years and works very well.
Lightning_Roller
Banned
Speaking of eBay, I found a good deal on a preassembled raspberry pi 3 b. It includes the case, power supply and micro sd card for raspbian. Just need to replace it with a 64 gb card with Recalbox and done.
Day one was...interesting. Being anal and getting this thing set up may not mix well for a while. I tried RetroPie and Recalbox. Recalbox looks nicer and runs better to boot.
Do people share their custom recovery images? I feel like that may be an easy way to get set up quicker. I also don't know what the ideal resolution would be for general play on a 1080p set.
Ended up going back to my NES Classic quickly. Hah
Do people share their custom recovery images? I feel like that may be an easy way to get set up quicker. I also don't know what the ideal resolution would be for general play on a 1080p set.
Ended up going back to my NES Classic quickly. Hah
CrashPrime
Member
One thing to keep in mind Recalbox vs Retropie is that you can simply obtain the recalbox emulation station theme and it makes Retropie pretty.
I actually prefer Recalbox because it lets you use music tracks. I like playing classic game themes and such while browsing games. Gives it a nice "end user" feel to the product.
I actually prefer Recalbox because it lets you use music tracks. I like playing classic game themes and such while browsing games. Gives it a nice "end user" feel to the product.
I thought that was a nice touch. I'm sure you can get RetroPie to.do the same thing, no?
It seems like something that is pretty easy to wipe and restart process. The only thing I dislike about the Pi is not having a power switch. I've had to yank the micro USB countless times.
It seems like something that is pretty easy to wipe and restart process. The only thing I dislike about the Pi is not having a power switch. I've had to yank the micro USB countless times.
CrashPrime
Member
RetroPie does not support it out of the box but a user came up with a python script to do it. Way over my head though.
Also a somewhat elegant solution is out there to wire up a simple arcade button to handle on and off. Seemed super easy but I like the official raspberry pi case too much.
The Omega Man
Member
How are your Pi 3 temperatures? I have a moderate overclock ( 1.3 ) and my Pi gets close to 80 degrees after a while. I am using an official Pi 3 case and heatsinks. I even ordered a case with a fan to mitigate the issue.
piratepwnsninja
Member
So I'm going to attempt to do this. Is the only difference between these two kits the adapter for the sd card?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CULJVXI/?tag=neogaf0e-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C6Q2GSY/?tag=neogaf0e-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CULJVXI/?tag=neogaf0e-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C6Q2GSY/?tag=neogaf0e-20
beau_beaumont
Member
Thanks a bunch for this guide! I built one for my brother for Christmas. Can't wait to see his reaction.
Looks like it.
I'm a total noob at all this and did RetroPie first, my PS3 pads worked easily, it had a better range of emulators, but the extra ones I liked (Amiga basically) I couldn't get working properly. Also it was ugly.
Reflashed with Recalbox and now my PS3 pads don't work wirelessly, and there's nothing I can do about it, no Amiga, no settings generally really. On the plus side, it's prettier, far easier to use, what works works straight out the box. The hotkey system makes it easy to add a filter in game or other simple stuff that I couldn't figure out on RetroPie.
If you're happy playing the included consoles and your pads will work with it, I'd go for Recalbox for the simplicity. If you want anything Recalbox doesn't do out the box, go for RetroPie. It's kinda Apple and Android type situation.
Polioliolio
Member
Got a Pi3 as a gift. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Can it power 4 or more USB controller ports?
Might put it into an old famicom case and replace the famicom controllers with USB versions but still have them as able to fit into their respective slots, and then maybe a few more USB sockets in the front or something..
Is the OP up to date for the best set ups? Looked like retropie was suggested, but the last page has a bunch of recall suggestions?
Might put it into an old famicom case and replace the famicom controllers with USB versions but still have them as able to fit into their respective slots, and then maybe a few more USB sockets in the front or something..
Is the OP up to date for the best set ups? Looked like retropie was suggested, but the last page has a bunch of recall suggestions?
Read the last few pages or even the previous post to get the idea of which would be better for you.
Short story is recalbox if you don't want to tweak things and are happy with the most popular systems, retropie if you are fine with tweaks or have some more obscure systems you'd like to play. To my knowledge, anything you can do in recalbox can be done on retropie, the opposite is definitely not the case
Lightning_Roller
Banned
Okay, so I'm trying to get my mom a collection of arcade games, of the 80s and 90s. Do you guys have any suggestions for me?
Sounds good, will try this once I am home. Hopefully I don't need to buy a Steam Link
chris121580
Member
I knew I wasn't going to have any luck with the classic so I built a retropie all month for my nephews with tons of ROMs! Being able to play Contra, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade, and Windjammers among many others made it all worth it. They also both said, "these are way more fun than PS4 games." Proud uncle
Noticing stuttering in games at my dad's house with Recalbox. I had eliminated stuttering on my own system by setting threaded video to false in the retroarch config file. I thought maybe I needed to set it to true on my dad's system, but no dice.
Has anyone experienced different performance across different television setups? How did you troubleshoot the issues?
Has anyone experienced different performance across different television setups? How did you troubleshoot the issues?
Yeah, the Pi3 runs hot even at stock speeds in an enclosed case. It won't damage anything, as it will just downclock the CPU gradually once it reaches 82 to keep the temp from going higher than that.
Taking the top off of your case will give some airflow to your heatsinks and lower your temps a bit, but if you ordered a case with a fan then you'll never have to worry about temps again.
Icebergslim
Banned
Ok I think I'm my wits end and I only have 1 day to get this finished. It seems like theres another roadblock after ever turn. I'm trying to get retropie set up for kids by tuesday but the damn Retroarch wont recognize my 2 8bitdo controllers. Then once they were recognized I was using 2 controllers to control one character.
I somehow figured this out already and managed to screw it up again. This isnt even including the issue I was having of exiting emulators but retro arch not closing the process leaving the game running. I had a complete Hyperspin set up some years ago so I have an idea of what Im doing it just seems like Retroarch is a janky program thats not playing nice with my controllers. If I cant figure this out in the next hour or so I'm going to scrap the whole thing and move on to Recalbox since you guys say its easier to set up.
I would just really hate to lose those video previews cause the kids really like those and as far as I can tell Recalbox doesnt offer that.
I somehow figured this out already and managed to screw it up again. This isnt even including the issue I was having of exiting emulators but retro arch not closing the process leaving the game running. I had a complete Hyperspin set up some years ago so I have an idea of what Im doing it just seems like Retroarch is a janky program thats not playing nice with my controllers. If I cant figure this out in the next hour or so I'm going to scrap the whole thing and move on to Recalbox since you guys say its easier to set up.
I would just really hate to lose those video previews cause the kids really like those and as far as I can tell Recalbox doesnt offer that.
Icebergslim
Banned
Well Ive officially failed this Christmas. Wiped the drive and followed all the steps to a T to install Recalbox. Damn thing doesnt even want to boot. Perfect.
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
i got this last night for xmas and went through the setup for retropie but it would only recognize a couple buttons on the keyboard for some reason. it would start in the msdos prompt and go to "pi@retropie" but i couldn't enter anything.
tried out recalbox and it worked perfectly with minimal effort! not saying retropie would've been impossible, i'm sure i could've figured it out but i dont feel like putting the time in
tried out recalbox and it worked perfectly with minimal effort! not saying retropie would've been impossible, i'm sure i could've figured it out but i dont feel like putting the time in
Wow, was thinking of upgrading from a Pi2......mine seemed to run rather cool and well without any heatsyncs or anything extra. Unless I'm imagining things and it did run hotter than I remember. But I ran PS1 games and don't remember any slowing or issues. Also don't remember the thing getting warm
Anyone know any decent game engines or libraries for Raspberry Pi? I'd love to develop some smaller 2D games for it but have been having trouble starting out. I looked a bit into Love2D but the Pi support doesn't seem to really be there yet. Game Maker teased possible support for a bit but it sounds like that's been dropped. I don't really want to use Pygame because I couldn't find much that was made using it.
I'm pretty comfortable using any language, but whatever could speed up development would be welcome.
I'm pretty comfortable using any language, but whatever could speed up development would be welcome.
The Pi 3 runs a good 10-15 degrees Celsius hotter than even an overclocked Pi 2 in an enclosed case in my experience. For a Pi 3 heatsinks and an open air case are recommended for passive cooling, and of course if you go the active cooling route with a case fan then temps will always stay low.
My Pi 3 in an enclosed case with heatsinks would get up into the low 80's under load, and now that I swapped it into a case with openings over the heatsinks for better airflow I'm maxing out in the low 70's. That extra bit of exposure to the open air really makes a difference.
panama chief
Member
Hi all. Is there a simple way to connect the 8Bitdo SNES 30 controller via Bluetooth? I got my pi3 about 6 months ago and fiddled with it but nothing ever worked. At this point I'm looking at wiping it clean and going the simplest route possible.
Icebergslim
Banned
This is the exact issue i ran into. Nothing but headaches with the damn bluettoth. All the turorials online are outdated or referencing old methods. Im going to give it one last shot using them plugged in but if that doesnt work im going to take everything i bought back to the store because nothing has worked as it should.
panama chief
Member
Plugged in it's ok, but we were playing street fighter 2 and all the jostling of the controller would loosen the connection then you're stuck rebooting the entire system. On simpler games like MARIO kart we had no issues.
hooijdonk17
Member
Gaf, please.. Don't make me go to other filthy forums and ask them.. Does Recalbox or Retropi support DS3 clones over bluetooth? 
Rockeeo
Member
I had a lot of trouble setting up my SNES30.
None of the popular tutorials worked. I eventually found one that worked. I did not bookmark it though. Looking through my history, this might be it.
https://howchoo.com/g/mjcxyzcymjj/using-a-wireless-bluetooth-controller-with-retropie
Gaf, please.. Don't make me go to other filthy forums and ask them.. Does Recalbox or Retropi support DS3 clones over bluetooth?
You probably aren't going to get a definitive answer until you try it. As for the official DS3, Retropie supports the DS3 over the built in Bluetooth, while recalbox requires a Bluetooth dongle. Recalbox dues not have the Pi3 built in Bluetooth working properly last I saw.
Gaf, please.. Don't make me go to other filthy forums and ask them.. Does Recalbox or Retropi support DS3 clones over bluetooth?
I don't have personal experience with DS3 clones, but I have seen others talk about it successfully on Retropie (with some tinkering)
That said, I've generally found the Retropie forums to be quite helpful, so no reason to avoid them if you're looking for help.
Icebergslim
Banned
That tutorial only covers the beginning issues. It doesn't cover what to do when you start an emulator and it says controller not configured. Or the problem of one controller controlling 2 characters. And it doesn't show what to do if your controller never shows up after searching. All of these I've experienced and most tutorials I've seen have fixes that are out of date due to a change in file structure.
Rockeeo
Member
My controller would not always show up when trying to initially pair it. It usually showed up on the 2nd try. It will display the controllers name when it finally does show up on the list of bluetooth devices.
Once it was paired and setup, I had some trouble getting it to reconnect after rebooting the system. Many of the tutorials gave conflicting information.
I found that the start button is the only thing I needed when turning the controller on. Some tutorials mentioned holding the R button and start, but this only caused problems for me. If I held start for a few seconds and saw a rapidly flashing blue light, I knew I was in good shape. I could then plug in the Pi and it would connect without issue.
I spent a few hours trying to get the controller to work. It was a frustrating experience. But, once I got it working, there have not been any problems since.
I am going to add two SNES30 to a Pi later this week. I am a little worried that I will encounter the same trouble as I did before. I think many of my problems were caused by not using the start button to power the controller on. I think I was using R and start or L and start.
Feeroper
Member
Hey everyone,
I am thinking of getting a a Pi - but I know nothing about it.
I got an NES mini and it made me want more. I've also heard about the Pi for such a long time and have been interested. Is it easy for a complete noob to this to be able to pick up a kit or whatever to make this work? I want to to get a setup with my tv and a Dual Shock 3, basically want to have as much retro gaming as possible up to whatever console can be reliably emulated.
This is the kit I was considering (I live in Toronto Canada) - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01CCF6V3A/
Can anyone tell if that kit in amazon would be good?
I am thinking of getting a a Pi - but I know nothing about it.
I got an NES mini and it made me want more. I've also heard about the Pi for such a long time and have been interested. Is it easy for a complete noob to this to be able to pick up a kit or whatever to make this work? I want to to get a setup with my tv and a Dual Shock 3, basically want to have as much retro gaming as possible up to whatever console can be reliably emulated.
This is the kit I was considering (I live in Toronto Canada) - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01CCF6V3A/
Can anyone tell if that kit in amazon would be good?