Core VS Roms VS Bios

Plex Labs
1

Hello,

I’m still trying to understand why I can’t launch anygame on my Plex Arcade, so I will ask, maybe, a stupid question.

Can you confirm this :

1. CORE is the DLL using for emulate the platform, we have 1 line by platform in the CoresRetro.xml. Correct ?
2. ROMS is the game, 1 rom by game, this can be ZIP IF the Core accept the extension, if not, we have to Unzip it. Correct ?
3. BIOS, ... I know what is the bios on a computer but in this case, I don't understand what is it. I read that the Bios can be in the roms folder. What is the bios in PLEX Arcade ?

I’ve just try to launch a game on the following platform and I got the error :

- SNES : "A critical error occurred. Error code: 6 (Unknown)"
- Arcade : "Network configuration prevents direct connection to game session. Error code: -6200 (Network)"
- N64/Genesis/Atari5200 : "The game transcoder exited unexpectedly. Error code: 8005 (Game Server)"
- Atari 2600 : "Unable to start game session. Error code: 99 (Game Server)"

Thank you for your help,
I continue to search !

Fyi : PMS running on a Windows Server 2019.

2

Donwload snescore9x. (You can use retroarch for download the cores.

  • Put the snes core in you PMS folder (use to be C:\Users"Your user"\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Game Cores
  • Go to C:\Users"Your user again"\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support and edit “retrocore.xml”
    You’ll see something like this:


<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Mappings>
  <Mapping platform="Super Nintendo Entertainment System" core="bsnes_mercury_balanced_libretro"/>
  <Mapping platform="Nintendo Entertainment System" core="fceumm_libretro"/>
  <Mapping platform="Nintendo 64" core="mupen64plus_next_libretro"/>
  <Mapping platform="Nintendo Entertainment System" core="nestopia_libretro"/>
  <Mapping platform="Nintendo 64" core="parallel_n64_libretro"/>
</Mappings>

Add the phrase for each platform (for example, if you wan nintendo 64, add:

<Mapping platform="Nintendo 64" core="parallel_n64_libretro"/>

For try differents cores, change de “parallel_n64_libreto” for the core you wish (remember have the core in the “Games core” folder)

Any question, ask.
regards!

3

Thanks Marcos,
I’ve already did it

My RetroCores.xml looks like that, (don’t look the platform that is not supporting yet like Lynx :slight_smile: )) :

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<Mappings>
<Mapping platform="Arcade" core="mame_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Atari 2600" core="stella_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Atari 5200" core="atari800_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Atari 7800" core="ProSystem_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Lynx" core="handy_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Game Boy Advance" core="mgba_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Nintendo Entertainment System" core="fceumm_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Super Nintendo Entertainment System" core="bsnes_mercury_balanced_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Nintendo 64" core="parallel_n64_libretro" />
<!-- Mapping platform="Super Nintendo Entertainment System" core="snes9x_libretro" / -->
<!-- Mapping platform="Nintendo 64" core="mupen64plus_next_libretro" / -->
<Mapping platform="Sega Game Gear" core="gearsystem_libretro" />	
<Mapping platform="Sega Genesis" core="genesis_plus_gx_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Sega 32X" core="picodrive_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Sega Master System" core="picodrive_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Amstrad" core="crocods_libretro" />
<Mapping platform="Dos" core="dosbox_core_libretro" />
</Mappings>

After, when I launch a gem, I have this in the log, (I’ve copy paste also in a CMD and no message, no error. strange)
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Game Transcoder\Plex Game Transcoder.exe" "E:\Program\Plex Media Server\Game Cores\bsnes_mercury_balanced_libretro.dll" "D:\Data\Multimedia\Games\Super Nintendo Entertainment System\ACME Animation Factory.smc" f236871911a7eb7c3874fc56044973eeecd1d015ca3ad1c809e589c5fea7100e768 "E:\Program\Plex Media Server\Game Saves\0\b25328232269f22cfdaca2842eeee7a3fd214576c0c\1" 0 "E:\Program\Plex Media Server\Logs\Plex Game Transcoder" "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" ""

File log “Plex Game Transcoder” is that :

Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.237 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Parsec: hostname      = AIRDOUGG
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.237 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Parsec: ctrl_support  = 0
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Unhandled env #16
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Unhandled env #34
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Unhandled env #35
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - superfx_freq_orig: 0
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - SuperFamicom::superfx.frequency: 0
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Overscan mode: 0
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Region mode: 0
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.247 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Aspect ratio mode: 0
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO - BML map:
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO - cartridge region=PAL
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO -   rom name=program.rom size=0x100000
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO -   ram name=save.ram size=0x8000
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO -   map id=rom address=00-7f,80-ff:8000-ffff mask=0x8000
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO -   map id=ram address=70-7f,f0-ff:0000-ffff
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO - [Memory]: ID 7, Request "manifest.bml".
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.305 [0x00003b3c] INFO - Complete load request.
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.307 [0x00003b3c] INFO - [Memory]: ID 8, Request "program.rom".
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.307 [0x00003b3c] INFO - Load ROM.
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.314 [0x00003b3c] INFO - Complete load request.
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.314 [0x00003b3c] INFO - [Memory]: ID 9, Request "save.ram".
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.314 [0x00003b3c] INFO - Complete load request.
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.336 [0x00003b3c] INFO - [Memory]: ID 6, Request "".
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.336 [0x00003b3c] INFO - Complete load request.
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.551 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Unhandled env #65572
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.551 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Base height: 224
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.551 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Base width: 256
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.551 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Aspect ratio: 1.584216
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.551 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - FPS: 50.006979
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.551 [0x00003b3c] DEBUG - Setting pixel format to BGRA8888.
Feb 04, 2021 17:03:51.551 [0x00003b3c] INFO - FPS reported as 50.006979.

You didn’t answer on Bios, what is a bios in this story ? Cores, Roms, I know, but bios… ???

Thank you

4

BIOS here is basically the same thing as it is on a regular computer, but in the context of emulation it refers to the actual copyright protected code that was contained in the original hardware. It’s generally not possible for emulator makers to include the BIOS with the emulator any more than it’s possible to include games, unless they have a license from the original maker.

Fortunately, most of the emulators Plex Arcade supports currently don’t need or can’t even use a BIOS; some of the oldest systems didn’t really have one as the most basic code was included on the game cartridge. BIOS files tend to be more important on CD-ROM systems, but even there many emulators are moving towards reverse-engineering the BIOS so they don’t need a copy of the original code.

But for some emulators a copy of the original BIOS is necessary for the emulator to work (or at least work better), and that’s why Plex Arcade has an entry for them I’m assuming.

5

Ok, thanks, no Bios file have to be somewhere then, only the CORE, the line in the XML and the Rom.

Thank you !

6

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