Lets say I want to try to get this game going (FREE DOWNLOAD):

https://locomalito.com/games/maldita-castilla

Is it a matter of putting the necessary files in to the folder...  then changing the games executable to "game.exe"?  Then adding a ROMLIST and adding it to the launchers section (can't remember the extension right now)?

If so... which files need to be copied/moved over to the "new games" folder?

Or am I thinking this too simplistic?

Well now crap.  I did just what I said above.  At least I attempted it... and it didn't work... now i have no idea if this has anything to with that experiment or not but now... EVERY damn PC game doesn't work... and to make matters worse... hotkeys are broke so I can't get out of any other game... If I try to play any of the PC games it kicks back to attract the first time... try again and it crashes to desktop (login screen).  Something ended up ... going bad.

Damn... damn damn damn...

EDIT: Hotkeys may be working... no idea... because it's actual ESC that isn't working any more.  Pressing Escape on the keyboard no longer exits games?!?

I don't even see where that's even assigned anywhere.



No idea how it broke like that...

Welp... here I am a few hours later and I'm back to where I was with the above games working the same, etc... and now my hotkeys work again etc...

Very strange... oh well.  That's what backups are for.  unfortunately,  creating 256gb sdcards take some time.

Quote from: FrizzleFried on Jul 27, 2025, 10:32 AMLets say I want to try to get this game going (FREE DOWNLOAD):

https://locomalito.com/games/maldita-castilla

Is it a matter of putting the necessary files in to the folder...  then changing the games executable to "game.exe"?  Then adding a ROMLIST and adding it to the launchers section (can't remember the extension right now)?

If so... which files need to be copied/moved over to the "new games" folder?

Or am I thinking this too simplistic?

You're actually overthinking it.

Do not rename any part of the game (depending on the game renaming parts may break the game).  Instead add the game(s) you want to run to the arcadepc launcher in /boot/launchers/arcadepc.sh (see next post)

and also /boot/launchers/aml/arcadepc.aml  eg: maldita-castilla;Maldita Castilla;arcadepc;;2015;Locomalito;;2;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
verminian-trap;Verminian Trap;arcadepc;;2013;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
they-came-from-verminest;They came form Verminest;arcadepc;;2013;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
darkula;Darkula;arcadepc;;2019;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
the-curse-of-issyos;The Curse of Issyos;arcadepc;;2015;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
efmb;Endless Forms Most Beautiful;arcadepc;;2012;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
viriax;Viriax;arcadepc;;2011;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
hydorah;Hydorah;arcadepc;;2010;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
8bit-killer;8-bit Killer;arcadepc;;20??;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
gaurodan;Gaurodan;arcadepc;;2013;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
toxic-tomb;Toxic Tomb;arcadepc;;2024;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2


New version of arcadepc.sh launcher with locomalito handling: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NWkiKNMFPJYULVJDrCVQLg8nxjWWG0yQ/view?usp=sharing   (put it in /boot/firmware/launchers/)

Quote from: FrizzleFried on Jul 27, 2025, 12:59 PMWell now crap.  I did just what I said above.  At least I attempted it... and it didn't work... now i have no idea if this has anything to with that experiment or not but now... EVERY damn PC game doesn't work... and to make matters worse... hotkeys are broke so I can't get out of any other game... If I try to play any of the PC games it kicks back to attract the first time... try again and it crashes to desktop (login screen).  Something ended up ... going bad.

Damn... damn damn damn...

EDIT: Hotkeys may be working... no idea... because it's actual ESC that isn't working any more.  Pressing Escape on the keyboard no longer exits games?!?

I don't even see where that's even assigned anywhere.



No idea how it broke like that...

I know what went wrong there... the arcadepc launcher must have been stopped or crashed before it restored regular function to 'esc'.  It actually changes 'esc' to run a script to unfullscreen before sending 'esc', then changes 'esc' back to 'esc' key only.  If the script stops before 'esc' is returned to normal it isn't returned to normal.

If it happens again it is fixable without reimaging.  If ity happens again, from the command line run: /boot/firmware/launchers/hotkeys.sh exitarcadepc   (it;ss the command that should run when you exit an arcadepc game)

if the game folder and the game exe file are named differently, also create a bat file with the same name as the folder that points at the exe.
ie. 
game is in media/pi/ARCADEPC/maldita-castila/ but the exe is called "maldita_castilla_arcade_cabinet.exe"
you can either rename the folder to match the exe, or create a bat file called maldita-castila.bat (same name as the folder) with the following content:@echo off
maldita_castilla_arcade_cabinet.exe

aml info must match the folder name too.

Quote from: FrizzleFried on Jul 09, 2025, 09:22 AMI was hoping for more problems to solved,  damnit.

Careful what you wish for... lol

Quote from: dee2eR on Jul 27, 2025, 09:44 PM

Quote from: FrizzleFried on Jul 27, 2025, 10:32 AMLets say I want to try to get this game going (FREE DOWNLOAD):

https://locomalito.com/games/maldita-castilla

Is it a matter of putting the necessary files in to the folder...  then changing the games executable to "game.exe"?  Then adding a ROMLIST and adding it to the launchers section (can't remember the extension right now)?

If so... which files need to be copied/moved over to the "new games" folder?

Or am I thinking this too simplistic?

You're actually overthinking it.

Do not rename any part of the game (depending on the game renaming parts may break the game).  Instead add the game(s) you want to run to the arcadepc launcher in /boot/launchers/arcadepc.sh (see next post)

and also /boot/launchers/aml/arcadepc.aml  eg:

Code Select Expand

maldita-castilla;Maldita Castilla;arcadepc;;2015;Locomalito;;2;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
verminian-trap;Verminian Trap;arcadepc;;2013;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
they-came-from-verminest;They came form Verminest;arcadepc;;2013;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
darkula;Darkula;arcadepc;;2019;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
the-curse-of-issyos;The Curse of Issyos;arcadepc;;2015;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
efmb;Endless Forms Most Beautiful;arcadepc;;2012;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
viriax;Viriax;arcadepc;;2011;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
hydorah;Hydorah;arcadepc;;2010;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
8bit-killer;8-bit Killer;arcadepc;;20??;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
gaurodan;Gaurodan;arcadepc;;2013;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2
toxic-tomb;Toxic Tomb;arcadepc;;2024;Locomalito;;4;0;joy8way;;1;raster;;;;2


To be clear... all those Locomalito games will work with the Pi5 or they all 'could' work with the Pi5?

*could work*

Maldita Castilla work fine.  Verminian Trap works mostly fine but the text is weird looking (readable but wierd looking).  I think I've loaded most of the others but haven't actually played them.  Only a couple of games I tried by Locomalito didn't work on Pi.

I am unclear about one thing.  Do I need to add the jconfig / jvsloader files to the new folders?  Anything else?

JVS_loader is only for arcadepc titles that used a JVS IO.  Pure PC games have no need of it.

So I need no files added... I'll give it a try...

Yeah... I'm having troubles.

Every game same thing.

What I did:

Copied all 10 games to the ArcadePC thumb drive.

Made bat files for all the games that have different named exe files from the folder names.

I copied the above aml and pasted it in to my aml file (putting them in alphabetical order actually).

I then made zip files for each of the games matching the folder names.

I scanned for roms and it found the game listings.

Should be good to go... right?

Nope.  This behavior happens each and every time:

I choose a game... it loads to black screen for a second then back to menu.  Next attempt to play ANYTHING crashes the system to desktop.

I re-load... I can then try a different game... same behavior... black screen... then back to attract... next attempt to run anything (even mame it seems) crashes to desktop (login screen).

At this point I've lost the ESC key too... I'm going to have to use the command mentioned above to get it back (or maybe I can just run any of the Taito games that work and when it comes back maybe they will bring the ESC button back?  Worth a try I guess.




What step am I missing? 

The 'loco' array in /boot/launchers/arcadepc.sh will need tweaking depending on what you're running.  At the moment it only has
loco=("verminian-trap" "maldita-castilla" "am2r")

There's not actually a need to alphabetize the aml files (although it does make them easier to work with), the rom scanner does it anyway.