WOW – They always said Wolfanoz had a big one and now y’all get to share it! The first public SSD Raspberry Pi 4 fully loaded image – named RETROMANIA – this image is designed for the Raspberry Pi 4 and tested on both the 4gb and 8gb models – you are going to need to make sure they are set to boot from SSD (more on that below) and you can then remove the MicroSD card, plug in your SSD and enjoy this 1 terabyte offering!
HIGHLIGHTS
– Built on Supreme Ultra base 1.5 (Current) which has all the bells and whistle scripts you can ask for as well as the new Sinden Lightgun script and has already been added.
– Includes a new .bashrc file (hosted by Arcade Punks) that you will have to add to the /home/pi folder with WinSCP or FileZilla to get proper updates for Supreme Team Online tool and possibly avoid locking down the system – more on that below.
– Updated to Retropie 4.7.1 (Current)
– 90+ platforms that are fully functional and a whole bunch of categories that are turned on by default which can easily be turned off if you don’t want them all in the EmulationStation menus.
– Massive CD based media categories like Dreamcast (280+ games), Sega Saturn (100+), Playstation 1 (600+) / PSP (100+), PC Engine / TG-16 thanks in part to being able to use CHD / CSO compressed files. Added Metal Slug 6 Atomiswave port to the Dreamcast as well converting it to CHD. A first for a Pi image!
– N64 mostly runs without an overclock (with a bit of hitching in some games) but a 1750GHz (with a good cooling solution) it almost runs near flawless. Configurations were changed to suit the Pi and sound hitching as well.
– Bally Astrocade and Fairchild Channel F (pre-Atari 2600 consoles, pioneers!) work now. Took a little elbow grease but they’re worth having!
– Arcade set has been further refined adding some older Capcom titles that weren’t in there for some reason. (Wolfanoz is a Big Capcom fan!)
-No Packs to add, no hassle, just good honest RETROMANIA
Well, here’s the work of about 10 months of work (pre-COVID) coming to a head ready for you all to enjoy. Hope you’re all doing well despite things. I’ve gotten plenty of emails and notes saying thanks for getting them through this mess. That and the fact their kids are addicted to classics now from my (and many others) images. That alone keeps me doing this considering most of us have families and full time jobs but use this as a hobby to keep from drinking heavily having a teenager of my own. 🙂
Learning a lesson of my own, bigger images need reserved system space on larger USB drives as it seems and for temp file systems. I couldn’t chock it full like I normally do on a micoSD card. However, there’s about 30GB+ to do whatever you like after expanding. I spent about a week shrinking and imaging my test drives wondering why it wouldn’t expand. It needs that space. So, if you’re all making big USB SSD images, leave about 5% of the drive free or it won’t shrink and expand properly. Word to the wise!
Now, the highlights from this build vs. previous efforts:
1) Performance / Overclocking – Some systems like Sammy Atomiswave, Sega Naomi/Dreamcast, Sony PSP, Sega Saturn, N64 and some 3D intensive Arcade games will benefit from an overclock that the Supreme Online Toolkit provides. I highly suggest overclocking when you have a good cooling solution for your Pi (I’m not responsible for burned out Pi systems from overclocking without any cooling solutions as my images ALWAYS come with default clocks). Although games will run decent with some slowdowns without it, those systems mentioned will thank you for it to get smoother games.
2) Video Tearing Questions – I know a lot will say that there was tearing in my last couple images. This is due to the MESA (video) driver needing an update. For now, I dropped the resolution of the overall image to 720P and tweaked consoles here and there to handle it. Quite honestly, I don’t notice much of a difference and I have a 65″ Sony TV so you can see all the warts if there are any. That being said, I see no to very little tearing in games if that happens now. Plus the fact that the majority (if not all) of these games weren’t made in higher resolutions anyway.
3) Dreamcast – There was an issue with previous image defaulting to Reicast it seems for some. That’s been resolved with Redream being used in full now. You may need to set your controls using a keyboard (WSAD to move around, L to confirm your choices) or use a mouse to do so (easier). With 270+ games, you wont be bored with it. Added Metal Slug 6 port from Atomiswave to Dreamcast. Converted it from GDI to CHD and Redream likes it.
4) Sega Saturn – Mostly playable now thanks to the RetroPie crew. Games are still not fully running at 100% but it’s eons where it was before the lr-yabasanshiro emulator. Some games run slower than others (and look janky) but it’s making definite progress! Fire up some Golden Axe – The Duel. One of my favorite fighters.
5) N64 – MUCH better improvement of games with some personal tweaking of the Mupen configuration files. Once, mesa (video drivers) are updated and Vulkan is more integrated with emulators, it should be even better. I’ve played a lot with that and the resolutions and think I’ve found a sweet spot that makes games playable now (some dont look right but thats the emulation that needs tweaking vs. the hardware GPU). I would say if you have a good cooling solution (and case), use the overclock tool in the Supreme Toolkit. It works great.
6) Nintendo DS – Drastic works on the Pi 4. However setting controls to back out dont for whatever reason, even after a full emulator reinstall. Apparently theres a known issue with it. You can back out with the ESC key on your keyboard but controls are already set down to the stylus pen with the right analog stick.
7) PC Based Games – As always, you’ll need a keyboard for the majority of PC based games here (other than maybe a Sharp X68000 or PC-FX) and there’s a lot here. C64 has a built in keyboard hitting the select button as well. As for individual PC’s, you may want to look at the Retropie page regarding each PC based system to figure out how to escape back to Emulationstation. Astrocade will also need a keyboard input as it originally had a console with a keypad of sorts.
8) OpenBOR – It works booting directly to game now. You will have to have a keyboard connected to set up your controls under Options -> Supreme Online Tools -> Emulation Tools -> OpenBOR Autoconfig. Once set for the X-Men game that it boots into, it should be set for all, if not most. Easy to do!
9) Arcade – Last but not least, Killer Instinct runs better (much better with an overclock as well). I weeded out more games that didn’t work or I didn’t include (about 100 overall) with my previous efforts. Naomi and Atomiswave run great. Dolphin Blue, Metal Slug 6 and MvC 2 all run mostly full speed as it seems. If for some reason it doesn’t, reinstall lr-flycast under RetroPie Setup and reboot. I found that seemed to work.
10) Attract Mode is included (as well as Pegasus), but you will need to configure them if you prefer those platforms. I feel Emulationstation does it all and those other platforms are slower on the Pi. PC is a different story.
Regardless, I REALLY wanted to get this out before the holidays as that was my ultimate goal starting this monster back in January. You’ll be able to update easily in regards to Retropie, drives and emulator updates in the Supreme Toolkit. One thing you’ll have to change after doing a full update is splash screen randomization again under Retropie Setup -> Splashscreens under the second option for location folder or just choose one you like. I put a ton in there as well as a ton of game soundtracks.
Big thanks to the Supreme Team for Ultra (been fun testing), Kio Diekin, Level1Online, Dwayne Hurst, Brian Damaso, Arcade Punks and many others for their hard work and willingness to assist me and assist others who want to do this all themselves.
Enjoy and God bless!
Wolfanoz
SET UP YOUR RASPBERRY PI 4
You need to update your Pi 4 and update the eeprom (or at least check its up to date) before you even plug a SSD drive into it, you will need to connect your Pi to the internet to do this either via WIRED or WIRELESS LAN for this we recommend either using a pre existing image you use and exiting EmulationStation to the command prompt (press start, then quit, then exit EmulationStation) and then setting up your Wireless network.
The video below shows the complete process to get your Pi ready for SSD booting and playing SSD images from SSD drive – this involves downloading a fresh Raspberry Pi O/S from the official source with the downloader (HERE) and setting the Pi up, as well as all the commands to do so – if you already have a PI IMAGE RUNNING ON SD CARD on the PI 4 then exit EmulationStation and follow it from PART 2 of the video (1 minute and 22 secs in) – remembering to exit EmulationStation again after rebooting to continue the process.
LOGIN/PASSWORD FOR STANDARD RASPBERRY PI OS
login pi
password raspberry
If you are not using the standard Raspberry Pi OS prompt – the login/password credentials may differ (so once installed it will be login = pi password = supremeteam )
SET UP YOUR PI TO BOOT FROM SSD
EXTRACT THE RAR ARCHIVE
This image is downloaded in multiple rar parts, you will need WINRAR installed to extract them (yes other programs such as 7zip may work – but this was created with the new RAR4 format which really should be handled by winrar!) – You will need to extract them by simply RIGHT clicking on the first file and EXTRACTING ALL
Download WINRAR HERE (2nd one down x64 bit 6.0)
BURN IMAGE TO SSD
Firstly, you cant just go burning ANY image to the SSD, it MUST BE CREATED FOR SSD booting, so please dont think your downloaded images from MicroSD card are going to boot up – they could do with some tinkering but for now lets learn how to burn a IMG to SSD – if you use WIN32DISKIMAGER you already know how , its the same process as to Micro SD card…
Download Win32DiskImager HERE
DRIVES AND CADDIES/CABLES
OK, So there are numerous potential issues with running via a USB cable adaptor and also some dependence on what SSD Drive you have.
Basic rule of thumb, a KNOWN GOOD brand of drive (Every Sandisk we have thrown at it works) , and a decent 3.1 USB SATA Adaptor/adapter cable (plugged in to the bottom Blue USB next to the Network plug) , here are a couple of links to known working ones
USA: (Amazon) Drive , Cable
UK: (eBay) Drive, Cable (Amazon) Drive, Cable
BOOT IMAGE AND RUN SECURITY FIX & UPDATE
NOTE: 3rd December a small update to make this image the FINAL EDITION has been released, we have amended this section accordingly
There was a little confusion over the new Supreme Ultra Base, there is a file that needs to be updated before you start to enjoy the image, this is down to anti-tamper protocols in the new base – if you are never taking your Pi online then you can skip this, but remember if you dont go online with it you potentially miss out on future updates – our advice is get this out the way now – it will take you 2 minutes!
You need to connect to the internet again either via a wired connection, if you are going wired simply plug a cable in before booting up the image, if you are going wireless (wi-fi) you need to connect to your wireless network – the video below shows you how – plug your SSD adaptor and SSD Drive in and go boot that image up – then once you set your controller, exit EmulationStation to apply the fix, so firstly if you are WIRED then skip this next video and move to THE FIX, else set your wireless connection back up like so :-
THE FIX (and update!)
You can either follow this simple guide :-
- If you haven’t already then EXIT EMULATIONSTATION (Press start and choose QUIT)
- login with username pi and password raspberry
- type
sudo wget -O – http://punkwhore.com/wolf.sh | bash - When it is done it will give you a message and then reboot
THATS IT, NOW ITS TIME TO ENJOY THIS BEAUTIFUL FULLY LOADED SSD IMAGE.
| RELEASE NAME: | Wolfanoz_Retromania_Rpi4_1TB.torrent |
DOWNLOAD
Highly advise using USENET (NZB) to download this, it’ll come SCREAMING down your line if you use one of our approved UseNet suppliers – see this page for more information. Note if your usenet (nzb) client is claiming there is a password then you need to use a different client – we DO NOT share password protected archives unless otherwise informed.
If using torrent we highly recommend using TIXATI on larger images as can handle large chunks BIGGER and FASTER!!
