Confusion Over Bootcore / Lastcore etc

[Morfious]

I have been working with my MiSTer and loving its capabilities. It is currently sitting in a Ms. Pacman cabinet and serving as the frontend for that cabinet. I want to be able to boot directly to Ms. Pacman as default. I am aware that the Mister.ini settings can get this to work. I am confused on how the format is supposed to be laid out. I can get this to work if I pick lastcore, but I cant figure out the format for any of the other options. The ini talks about rbf files, but we now use MRA files to launch games/cores.
The part of the ini file is as follows:

Code: Select all

; lastcore - Autoboot the last loaded core (corename autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; lastexactcore - Autoboot the last loaded exact core (corename_yyyymmdd.rbf autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; corename - Autoboot first corename_*.rbf found on the SD/USB
; corename_yyyymmdd.rbf - Autoboot first corename_yyyymmdd.rbf found on the SD/USB
bootcore=lastcore    ; uncomment to autoboot a core, as the last loaded core.
;bootcore_timeout=10  ; 10-30 timeout before autoboot, comment for autoboot without timeout.

The setting I think I need is:

Code: Select all

bootcore=corename

this would seem to require that I also place Ms. Pacman.mra (Pacman.rbf?) in the root of the drive (renamed to corename.mra (corename.rbf?). Doesn't seem to work no matter what I try.

What I want to do is something like this

Code: Select all

bootcore=_Arcade/Ms. Pacman.mra

When I try this, the Mister boots to the menu screen. Any help, guidance or formatting would be greatly appreciated.

[Alkadian]

Please refer to the notes below which I put together some time ago:

1. Open the mister.ini file in the main SD folder.

2. Look for the line ;bootcore=lastcore.

3. Uncomment it and replace ‘lastcore’ with the .mra file corresponding to the rom you want to start with. For istance if you want to start Galaga, just use bootcore=Galaga.mra.

4. You can speed up the the timeout with the line bootcore_timeout=1. It should be possible to disable the timeout completely with the option bootcore_timeout=-1, but it didn’t work at least for me.

5. Please note that if the arcade name is composed of two or more words like ‘Black Tiger’, I would recommend to rename the .mra file to something like ‘Black_Tiger’ and then you can edit the usual line with bootcore=Black_Tiger.mra

Maybe there is a better/different way to do it, but these procedures worked for me

[zakk4223]

There's no need to rename mra files with spaces in the name, bootcore works fine with them.

[Morfious]

Thank you for the guidance. I have changed my Mister.ini file to the following and it works 100% as expected. Spaces in the name are no problem and I did not have to change the location of the mra file for it to work.:

Code: Select all

; lastcore - Autoboot the last loaded core (corename autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; lastexactcore - Autoboot the last loaded exact core (corename_yyyymmdd.rbf autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; corename - Autoboot first corename_*.rbf found on the SD/USB
; corename_yyyymmdd.rbf - Autoboot first corename_yyyymmdd.rbf found on the SD/USB
bootcore=Ms. Pacman.mra    ; uncomment to autoboot a core, as the last loaded core.
;bootcore_timeout=10  ; 10-30 timeout before autoboot, comment for autoboot without timeout.

Commenting out the bootcore_timeout allows the machine to boot directly into the game as expected!

[Alkadian]

Thank you for the guidance. I have changed my Mister.ini file to the following and it works 100% as expected. Spaces in the name are no problem and I did not have to change the location of the mra file for it to work.:

Code: Select all

; lastcore - Autoboot the last loaded core (corename autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; lastexactcore - Autoboot the last loaded exact core (corename_yyyymmdd.rbf autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; corename - Autoboot first corename_*.rbf found on the SD/USB
; corename_yyyymmdd.rbf - Autoboot first corename_yyyymmdd.rbf found on the SD/USB
bootcore=Ms. Pacman.mra    ; uncomment to autoboot a core, as the last loaded core.
;bootcore_timeout=10  ; 10-30 timeout before autoboot, comment for autoboot without timeout.

Commenting out the bootcore_timeout allows the machine to boot directly into the game as expected!

Great, I am glad to be of help.

[jfml1974]

Thank you for the guidance. I have changed my Mister.ini file to the following and it works 100% as expected. Spaces in the name are no problem and I did not have to change the location of the mra file for it to work.:

Code: Select all

; lastcore - Autoboot the last loaded core (corename autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; lastexactcore - Autoboot the last loaded exact core (corename_yyyymmdd.rbf autosaved in CONFIG/lastcore.dat) first found on the SD/USB
; corename - Autoboot first corename_*.rbf found on the SD/USB
; corename_yyyymmdd.rbf - Autoboot first corename_yyyymmdd.rbf found on the SD/USB
bootcore=Ms. Pacman.mra    ; uncomment to autoboot a core, as the last loaded core.
;bootcore_timeout=10  ; 10-30 timeout before autoboot, comment for autoboot without timeout.

Commenting out the bootcore_timeout allows the machine to boot directly into the game as expected!

It hadn't occurred to me! It's perfect now it turns on and my favorite game appears directly... Thanks