I am new and old and really need help please

[bradyv1929]

I am 54 and pretty much computer illiterate. I managed to put together a raspberry pi, xin-mo and 4:3 monitor.
I also managed to flash the retropie image. And it boots up correctly. I  downloaded some roms and I think I have 3 problems:
1.  No sound. I will worry about this later.
2.  Not sure I configured the buttons and joysticks correctly. All I have is 2 players. 2 joysticks, 6 buttons, 1p and 2p buttons.  I will worry about this later.
3.  I want to fix this one now. When I go into games, they don't look like the originals. For example, Donkey Kong isn't the correct color. Pac man isn't the correct color. And they look really low tech.
These are the only games I am interested in: defender, joust, Mario brothers and super mario brothers, Ms Pac Man, donkey kong, Galaxian, dig dug, galaga, space invaders, centipede, frogger, zaxxon, missile command, Pac man ans asteroids.
So if you can please help me, I would appreciate it. Also pretend like you are talking to a 5 year old when giving me help so I can understand what you are saying. Please no smart alecs. ThanksF

[Titchgamer]

Hi Bradyv.
Welcome to the forum.

I hope some of this answers your q's:

1) The pi's sound is pretty poor as standard, I use a HDMI to VGA converter with a sound jack in which seems to work better.
But regards your problem, stupid as it sounds check the volume settings!

2) The 2 player xin mo's are a notorious PITA to set up in retropie as it recognises them as the same game pad.
The good news is its a well documented problem with a easy fix so just google that one (theres a video tutorial on you tube)

3) Colour issues are more likely to be a problem with your monitors settings, go through the menus and have a play.
If you are using a LCD screen everything will be brighter and you will not have scan lines etc but there are filters which can be applied to help with that, may help your colours to.

Again a quick google for retropie filters will yield lots of results

[ark_ader]

I am 54 and pretty much computer illiterate. I managed to put together a raspberry pi, xin-mo and 4:3 monitor.
I also managed to flash the retropie image. And it boots up correctly. I  downloaded some roms and I think I have 3 problems:
1.  No sound. I will worry about this later.
2.  Not sure I configured the buttons and joysticks correctly. All I have is 2 players. 2 joysticks, 6 buttons, 1p and 2p buttons.  I will worry about this later.
3.  I want to fix this one now. When I go into games, they don't look like the originals. For example, Donkey Kong isn't the correct color. Pac man isn't the correct color. And they look really low tech.
These are the only games I am interested in: defender, joust, Mario brothers and super mario brothers, Ms Pac Man, donkey kong, Galaxian, dig dug, galaga, space invaders, centipede, frogger, zaxxon, missile command, Pac man ans asteroids.
So if you can please help me, I would appreciate it. Also pretend like you are talking to a 5 year old when giving me help so I can understand what you are saying. Please no smart alecs. ThanksF

If you want just to play the games you mentioned you can with ease.  I would look at getting a Xarcade gaming disc or some other legal rom source.  Saying that there are home brew versions of the arcade classics for linux.

Answers:

1. You will need to change the sound output from headphone socket to HDMI in the configuration settings in RetroPie.

2. You can remap all the buttons anytime.

3. Get the Mame4All from Experimental Packages in the RetroPie config screen and go from there....

So for the 5 year old in you watch this nice video:



Apparently DeL says it is OK to post this video. 

[bradyv1929]

Ok thanks. I just tried it again after hitting auto adjust. And they are the correct color.
1.  Now I need to fix the no sound issue.
2.  Figure out something for the buttons.

I think I need to add a select button, a start button and an exit button. PLEASE someone tell me how many buttons I need. Thanks in advance.

[bradyv1929]

Ark_ader that's funny. That is the youtube video that I used to get as far as I did. It was the best video that I found on YouTube after watching many videos! Thanks.

What is Mame4all and what does it do?

[yotsuya]

How do you plan to play Missile Command and Centipede without a trackball?

[bradyv1929]

I bought a track ball that I will use later. Right now centipede works with the joystick.

[yotsuya]

I bought a track ball that I will use later. Right now centipede works with the joystick.

You mean "works".

I'm glad you got a trackball. Don't compromise!

[jennifer]

    NAP TIME!, and if your good a cookie and some Kool-Aid when you get up (Jenn laughs at her own smart alec=ness) *Snort .... No really I have no help to you as Mame and me ya not-so much, But your list of games were fun Few people would include pac man (all-be it @the end of the list) but he was the craze back in the early days... Just wanted to say olleH, and good luck.

[Titchgamer]

Ok thanks. I just tried it again after hitting auto adjust. And they are the correct color.
1.  Now I need to fix the no sound issue.
2.  Figure out something for the buttons.

I think I need to add a select button, a start button and an exit button. PLEASE someone tell me how many buttons I need. Thanks in advance.

Depends on you really.

My Pi build has 4 action buttons per player (its a neo geo machine), a start button for each player, a credit button for each player and a exit button.

You dont need a select button really but some people add one.

[barrymossel]

Ok thanks. I just tried it again after hitting auto adjust. And they are the correct color.
1.  Now I need to fix the no sound issue.
2.  Figure out something for the buttons.

I think I need to add a select button, a start button and an exit button. PLEASE someone tell me how many buttons I need. Thanks in advance.

1) How did you connect your 4:3 monitor? HDMI -> VGA adapter? Then get one with a 3.5 jack out as suggested earlier, like https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-hdmi-to-vga-convertor or http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-to-VGA-converter-adapter-3-5-mm-audio-jack-full-HD-1080P-black-N3-/122087176610. I own both and they work fine for me. If you want to use the 3.5 video/audio jack (which apparently has quite low quality) you can configure that this way: http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/blog/2014/04/03/switching-audio-output-between-jack-and-hdmi-on-retropie/
2) I am going to use 6 standard buttons per player, as well as a select/coin and start button per player. And I am still thinking about a pause and exit button, but you can do that with combinations of buttons as wel (for example select and one of the standard buttons).

[bradyv1929]

To hook up my monitor I bought a dvi-d  male to hdmi female monitor display adapter. I don't understand where the adapter that you mentioned plugs in. Can you please give me step by step instructions? Where does it plug in?  Do you hook up speakers to the jack?
I don't know how this goes together. Thanks.

[barrymossel]

To hook up my monitor I bought a dvi-d  male to hdmi female monitor display adapter. I don't understand where the adapter that you mentioned plugs in. Can you please give me step by step instructions? Where does it plug in?  Do you hook up speakers to the jack?
I don't know how this goes together. Thanks.

Ah, you own a DVI monitor. You actually have a couple of possibilities. First off, you need an amplifier or active speakers. There you plug in an audio cable. The audio could come from four options:

1) The combined analog audio/video jack (red arrow in picture below) using a standard audio cable with a 3.5mm connector. That combined jack doesn't provide the highest audio quality though, but it is the easiest.
2) HDMI to DVI-D and audio out (like http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-HDMI-to-DVI-Coaxial-DVI-D-With-3-5mm-Audio-Converter-Adapter-HD-1080P-HDTV-/332032557862). HDMI goes in, DVI-D goes to the monitor and audio out (or optical) goes to your amplifier/speakers.
3) A USB sound card (like these: https://goo.gl/skFGmG). Audio out goes to your amp/speakers.
4) A DAC like the HifiBerry that you connect using the GPIO pins. Audio out goes to your amp/speakers.

For video to your monitor with option 1, 3 and 4 you use your current DVI-D adapter.

If you run in any problems try configuring audio first: http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/blog/2014/04/03/switching-audio-output-between-jack-and-hdmi-on-retropie/

[bradyv1929]

Thank you, thank you,  thank you!