Windows PC - Attract Mode - Retroarch - MESS systems
Hey group, ever wanted to tinker around with MESS based systems on a Windows PC build with Retroarch?
I've slowly been working through this process and adding MESS based systems using Retroarch. So far, I've been able to figure out quite a few systems using this method.
It's easier on a Raspberry Pi / RetroPie build to do it - but i wanted to also get it working on my Windows PC build.
I've worked out a method to get any MESS based system working and it's easy to add new ones (it might take a little bit to figure out the exact MESS command line arguments though).
Using this method, you do not need to adhere to the old MESS convention of using the Hash files. Setting up Retroarch/MAME core to not use software lists makes this possible.
The latest MAME Retroarch core includes MESS built into it so there is no separate MESS core.
Sorry for the long post and I hope it makes sense.
If anyone would like to see a video demo of this method, let me know and I'll make one and post it.
I'll work through the method here and demonstrate it using the Bally Astrocade system.
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High level overview of this method:
Attract Mode will launch a special Windows *.bat file and pass it the '[romfilename]' value.
This special *.bat file is located in the Retroarch directory.
The *.bat file is used as a command line launcher script so we can pass MESS based command line arguments to it.
This allows the ability to setup cassette, floppy assignments, memory expansions, etc.
The *.bat file creates a secondary MESS *.cmd file with the MESS command line parameters and then launches it.
This launches Retroarch with the MAME (MESS) core with the new command line parameters and our rom file.
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Pre-requisites:
Windows PC Attract Mode
Retroarch with the latest MAME core installed (it has MESS built into it)
MAME/MESS BIOS files (obtained from latest MAME and latest MAME Software List versions)
The BIOS files go into the Retroarch\system folder