Homebrew The quest for the perfect Retroarch Stella core

[John Player]

Hello guys!

As an emulation enthusiast, I love being able to use double strike resolutions on my CRT screen. However, Atari 2600 has a very unique resolution that´s not available on standard options for Retroarch, so one needs to customize it.

Problem is, I recently bought one of these: http://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/genesis_to_wiimote/index.php. It allow to use genuine Atari 2600 controllers on Wii, making for a much more authentic experience. But, as you know, Atari joysticks only has one button, so I need to go back and forth in input configurations to set the same button to start the game and then to fire.

So far, the only way to achieve a perfect resolution on Atari 2600 is on RetroArch 1.3.6. But, for some odd reason, everytime I plug in my adapter, the software goes bananas and stop recognizing all controllers at once, making it impossible to navigate between menus. Restarting the program doesn´t help either. Unfortunately for me, Retroarch 1.0.0.2 doesn´t allow for customized resolutions on double strike mode.

So I came here to ask you guys: is there a Stella core out there that allows for customized resolutions and won´t freeze the menus?

Thanks in advance!

 

[soniccomcisbr]

I believe you did not buy the best adapter for this.
I am using this:

The name is GTron 4 in 1 Virtua Retro Adapter, so, I plug 2 joysticks - Super Nintendo and Atari.

With The Super Nintendo Joystick I can use the buttons Start and Select + difficult modes of the Atari, and with the Atari controller I play the games.

However, you can also use an Mega Drive controller, because many people do this on the original Atari, they are 100% compatible.

 

[John Player]

That´s a wonderful solution! Where did you buy it?

 

[soniccomcisbr]

Amazon, some years ago.

 

[John Player]

Guess I´m out of luck then. It´s out of stock worldwide. Do you know if there is another version of Retroarch with bundled Stella core that allows for custom resolutions?

 

[SuperrSonic]

Do you know if there is another version of Retroarch with bundled Stella core that allows for custom resolutions?

Yes, my builds are based on 1.0.0.2 but have the CPU filters merged and my own version of resolution saving. It also has some fixes not present in the official versions yet, the button sticking bug is fixed, vsync should be more stable and there's normal2x as a CPU filter, which you can use to make bilinear sharp. And yes, you can change the viewport in 240p as well.
If you mess up when changing inputs in the settings, you can always exit with the power button, as this was not working in main 1.0.0.2.

If you want to always use 640x240p, start the core, and let it create the configs, if using per core settings, open the stella cfg and retroarch.cfg, look for the setting video_vres = "38" and set it to 19.

The link is in the "ripping the NES VC palette" thread, but I guess I need a better place to put it, anyway: http://www.mediafire.com/?cw863hlp0nsmblp

 

[John Player]

Yes, my builds are based on 1.0.0.2 but have the CPU filters merged and my own version of resolution saving. It also has some fixes not present in the official versions yet, the button sticking bug is fixed, vsync should be more stable and there's normal2x as a CPU filter, which you can use to make bilinear sharp. And yes, you can change the viewport in 240p as well.
If you mess up when changing inputs in the settings, you can always exit with the power button, as this was not working in main 1.0.0.2.

If you want to always use 640x240p, start the core, and let it create the configs, if using per core settings, open the stella cfg and retroarch.cfg, look for the setting video_vres = "38" and set it to 19.

The link is in the "ripping the NES VC palette" thread, but I guess I need a better place to put it, anyway: http://www.mediafire.com/?cw863hlp0nsmblp

That´s amazing, bro! Do you know if I can save a custom resolution of 640X208 for Stella? Thanks in advance!

 

[SuperrSonic]

Just set the resolution as stated above and follow the same instructions from the other thread. Set custom ar as needed.

 

[soniccomcisbr]

Just set the resolution as stated above and follow the same instructions from the other thread. Set custom ar as needed.

And what about these cores with game names Pacman, Sailor Moon, Xmen.

Also, can you please look at my request here, please? https://gbatemp.net/threads/mystic-warriors-konami-arcade-on-wii.451273/

 

[John Player]

Remarkable! Resolution is perfect! Pixel perfect! Thank you, thank you very much!

When I´m on input options, however, it won´t detect my gamecube controller nor my Atari to GC adapter. It only allows me to use Wiimote and when I try to change it, the emulator freezes. Is there a solution for this? Thanks in advance!

 

[John Player]

Also, would it be possible to configure two joysticks at the same time? Like gamecube for shooting and wiimote for select and start buttons?

 

[John Player]

Messing around with configurations, it seems like it just can´t detect Gamecube controller at all, no matter what I do. Any workaround for this? Thanks!

 

[SuperrSonic]

And what about these cores with game names Pacman, Sailor Moon, Xmen.

Those cores are the FBA core with very few drivers, intended to just run those games. I did it for me, I just thought it was overkill to load a 12MB dol just to play small arcade games, to my surprise the CPU filters perform better this way.

Also, can you please look at my request here, please? https://gbatemp.net/threads/mystic-warriors-konami-arcade-on-wii.451273/

I don't think I can help you there, but the mame core does run Bucky and Moo Mesa(not full speed). I just tried adding the necessary things to get Violent Storm and Mystic Warriors to run but it didn't work, yet they work in the android version, I'm either doing something wrong or there's not enough memory. Saying that might sound odd, but when I ran Moo Mesa it was already pretty much full.

Messing around with configurations, it seems like it just can´t detect Gamecube controller at all, no matter what I do. Any workaround for this? Thanks!

Mixing controllers for one player is not possible in RA, neither is mapping two keys to the same button. One of the shortcomings of this version of RA is only one controller type can work at a time; wiimote takes priority over GC. Basically the wiimote must be off for the GC controller to work; I realize this is a big problem now because turning off the wiimote will exit the program.

A simple fix would be to change the priority to GC, but it's not an efficient way to solve it, if a user always has a GC controller plugged in, they won't be able to use a wiimote for other cores. I would have to include two dols for every core(I really don't want to do this). For now I will include an alt Stella core, just dl again, you still need to do some more things though.

Autodetect will still use wiimote buttons, so you must change this manually.
Copy your current Stella cfg, name it as the alt dol and update these settings:

input_player1_a_btn = "0"
input_player1_b_btn = "1"
input_player1_start_btn = "4"
input_player1_select_btn = "5"
input_player1_up_btn = "8"
input_player1_down_btn = "9"
input_player1_left_btn = "10"
input_player1_right_btn = "11"

The rest you can change in RGUI.

 

[soniccomcisbr]

Those cores are the FBA core with very few drivers, intended to just run those games. I did it for me, I just thought it was overkill to load a 12MB dol just to play small arcade games, to my surprise the CPU filters perform better this way.


I don't think I can help you there, but the mame core does run Bucky and Moo Mesa(not full speed). I just tried adding the necessary things to get Violent Storm and Mystic Warriors to run but it didn't work, yet they work in the android version, I'm either doing something wrong or there's not enough memory. Saying that might sound odd, but when I ran Moo Mesa it was already pretty much full.


Mixing controllers for one player is not possible in RA, neither is mapping two keys to the same button. One of the shortcomings of this version of RA is only one controller type can work at a time; wiimote takes priority over GC. Basically the wiimote must be off for the GC controller to work; I realize this is a big problem now because turning off the wiimote will exit the program.

A simple fix would be to change the priority to GC, but it's not an efficient way to solve it, if a user always has a GC controller plugged in, they won't be able to use a wiimote for other cores. I would have to include two dols for every core(I really don't want to do this). For now I will include an alt Stella core, just dl again, you still need to do some more things though.

Autodetect will still use wiimote buttons, so you must change this manually.
Copy your current Stella cfg, name it as the alt dol and update these settings:

input_player1_a_btn = "0"
input_player1_b_btn = "1"
input_player1_start_btn = "4"
input_player1_select_btn = "5"
input_player1_up_btn = "8"
input_player1_down_btn = "9"
input_player1_left_btn = "10"
input_player1_right_btn = "11"

The rest you can change in RGUI.

I will test, thanks. Also you can try to create a Final Burn only for Pulilula japanese version (really more funny and silly then the american one). This game runs with big slowdowns on normal Final Burn.

 

[soniccomcisbr]

@SuperrSonic Guess what? Mame 078 core don't works on my wii and I don't know what the problem is. I tried other versions by other users of this core and all of them gimme the same result. When I load a game, its back to the homebrew channel. This is the only core who did this on my wii. Maybe this core are using an cios that I don't have installed on my wii? I tried to use Pimp My Wii to found if had anything wrong with my wii and it's don't found anything.

 

[John Player]

Those cores are the FBA core with very few drivers, intended to just run those games. I did it for me, I just thought it was overkill to load a 12MB dol just to play small arcade games, to my surprise the CPU filters perform better this way.


I don't think I can help you there, but the mame core does run Bucky and Moo Mesa(not full speed). I just tried adding the necessary things to get Violent Storm and Mystic Warriors to run but it didn't work, yet they work in the android version, I'm either doing something wrong or there's not enough memory. Saying that might sound odd, but when I ran Moo Mesa it was already pretty much full.


Mixing controllers for one player is not possible in RA, neither is mapping two keys to the same button. One of the shortcomings of this version of RA is only one controller type can work at a time; wiimote takes priority over GC. Basically the wiimote must be off for the GC controller to work; I realize this is a big problem now because turning off the wiimote will exit the program.

A simple fix would be to change the priority to GC, but it's not an efficient way to solve it, if a user always has a GC controller plugged in, they won't be able to use a wiimote for other cores. I would have to include two dols for every core(I really don't want to do this). For now I will include an alt Stella core, just dl again, you still need to do some more things though.

Autodetect will still use wiimote buttons, so you must change this manually.
Copy your current Stella cfg, name it as the alt dol and update these settings:

input_player1_a_btn = "0"
input_player1_b_btn = "1"
input_player1_start_btn = "4"
input_player1_select_btn = "5"
input_player1_up_btn = "8"
input_player1_down_btn = "9"
input_player1_left_btn = "10"
input_player1_right_btn = "11"

The rest you can change in RGUI.

Thanks for the updated version, bro. However, I´m still unable to use my GC controller even changing the .cfg confuguration. Once the core starts, it reverts the configuration back to default and both wiimote and GC cease to work.

Is there a way to compile this stella core with the good ol´ fashioned input driver from standard 1.0.0.2? Both controllers worked like a charm in that version and you could use them both at the same time.

Thanks in advance!

 

[SuperrSonic]

I did test it and it worked for me. :/ It's possible to get the old input code back, but I remember that not much changed and the problem is caused by something else, I would have to go commit by commit until I find when it changed behaviour. I don't plan on doing this for now.

@soniccomcisbr Wii stuff is only ever handled by RetroArch itself, not the core, and every dol has the same RA build. If a game confirmed to work doesn't boot, it's quite likely the wrong set.

 

[John Player]

I did test it and it worked for me. :/ It's possible to get the old input code back, but I remember that not much changed and the problem is caused by something else, I would have to go commit by commit until I find when it changed behaviour. I don't plan on doing this for now.

@soniccomcisbr Wii stuff is only ever handled by RetroArch itself, not the core, and every dol has the same RA build. If a game confirmed to work doesn't boot, it's quite likely the wrong set.

Maybe there´s something wrong with my .cfg file. Can I borrow yours to see if this fixes the problem?

 

[SuperrSonic]

This will look in sd:/apps/retroarch-wii/stella_gc.dol

 

[John Player]

Thanks! Fortunately, I came up with a more, let´s say, "creative" solution for the problem: I simply remove the batteries when the stella core opens and then I can use my GC controller without problems.

Thank you so much for your work and patience. Now I finally can enjoy Atari on pixel perfect resolution with its original controller!