This being his so called “final image” (again?) Virtualman promises an image to end all images, nicknamed “Retro Paradise” and heavily based on 2Plays playbox with even more scripts, tweaks and modifications, this -could- be the best image yet we have seen from Virtualman.

I’m like a band on a never ending tour like KISS but I truly love doing this but it’s really consuming my life and have to take a very long break.
I have gone through this build inside and out (so many things behind the scene/fixes you won’t see from presentation but I aimed for “Pi-rfection” to give you best user experience and stability Pi has to offer!
I have truly reached the pinnacle point and maximized the Raspberry Pi3 to death and it’s time that I move on to my outdoor pursuits and focus on life in general and hoping to find a day job. There is no such thing as perfect/perfection build but we can only aim for “Pi-rfection”
If I were to make another build in the future, it would be 512GB “PALLADIUM” Edition on Pi4 2020!

-Virtualman

** IMPORTANT NOTES **
** Use Etcher or WinDisk32 and burn to recommended SD 256GB Samsung EVO/SELECT U3 or Sandisk if all possible! ** 
** Burned and fully tested with 256GB Sandisk Ultra A1/U1 (1.0+GB free) and 256GB Samsung EVO U3 (1.3+GB free)**
** This Pi image is pre-pishrinked (this facilitates people that don’t have recommended card)! **
1. What this means only on FIRST BOOT you will see splash screen video load, right after you will see blank cursor.
2. THIS is NORMAL, as it’s AUTO expanding drive behind the scenes (GIVE IT AT LEAST 1-3 MINUTES TURN IT OFF/THEN REBOOT)
3. After rebooting your pi (WILL TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO RESIZE AND ITS DONE!, ALL WILL BE OPERATIONAL!)
NOTE: IF YOU KILL IT it wont expand and you ll get errors that you have 0KB space and wont save any settings you do afterwards and will give you errors in any emulator.
** PLAYBOX is Pre-Enabled usb mode, so what what this means you also have the option to burn to external HDD without the need of SD card and your Pi3B or Pi3B+ will boot.**
– If you plan to burn image on HDD: It won’t autoexpand like it does for SD cards

Grand TOTAL: 10625 (+emulators in some case) 

** KNOWN ISSUES / SUGGESTIONS **
– N64: I was rather tired of hearing people complain so I only focus on games that actually run well and pre-tweaked for you this time around with stock clock.
– Dreamcast: All games I have tested in this build and works and playable with stock clock. You can switch emulator to tweak for performance boost.
– Non liberator emulators (reicast, drastic, OpenBOR etc…) don’t follow the same rules for controller configs, so you may have to plug a keyboard to configure initially only once to your own controller.
– I was using Xbox 360 usb controller, so all should work plug/play as is.  But it does support several controllers please refer to retropie.org.uk.
– If you have multiple controllers USB/Bluetooth you may have to use new script (Joypad Select for Retroarch) – ES->Config->Joypad select script
– Some of those emulators looking for specific port 0 or 1 controller, it will look for port 0, 1, 2, 3…
– Anyone using 8bitdo controller fix long lag loading issues with Retropie 4.4.x!! Depending on your controller type (in my case I was running 1.27 Firmware SN30 and was experiencing this long load issue for any emulator) – YOU MUST UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE of the controller to latest in my case 1.29 and works flawless!
– Reconfigure controller and your good to go will also fix initial bind issues with left and right trigger.
– Enable udev rules from Bluetooth menu to sn30 as most 8bitdo requires like DC (reicast etc…)
– Hit and miss with certain controllers when first initially bind your controller (right/left trigger won’t bind), when you get to the bottom (don’t press OK, simply role back and manual rebind it will work!) Supported controllers -> https://retropie.org.uk/docs/
– Handheld console bezels/overlays: As you all know this image was tailored for 1080p (progressive scan) TV’s – if you have lower rez tv you have to alter retroarch bezels/overlay configs accordingly to your screen (Press X+Select and make your way to Overlays).
– 4K TV’s or DMT Monitor: Image is tailored 1080p 16:9 out of the gate.
– On your specific monitor/tv, you may have to switch picture mode 16:9 to “fit to screen/auto” depending on your tv model.
– Force HDMI 1080p -> https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Se … deo-Issues and https://elinux.org/RPiconfig#Video_mode_options
– For BT controller use Pi built in BT to connect NOT a dongle. For dongle it has to have a sync/connect button or if you disable the onboard Pi BT then ok to use a dongle.
– PS4 controllers read this: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Se … Controller
– PLAYBOX is Pre-Enabled usb mode, so what what this means you also have the option to burn to external HDD without the need of SD card and your Pi3B or Pi3B+ will boot.
– If you plan to burn image on HDD: It won’t autoexpand like it does for SD cards
– MK3 Arcade tends to lag, but your best to play Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (runs flawless from Arcade).
– Crackdown Arcade tends to lag, but playable (OC may help) – (runs flawless from Sega Genesis).
– SORR (Streets of Rage Remake) Ports – Only way to exit game is to use a keyboard pressing Esc. However there is a workaround using controller to exit: Change the game video to scanline, and go back (causes the game to crash and exits).
– ES quite / shutdown – might boot you out of the terminal (sporadic) – this is known issue with ES 2.8.3 and dev team is looking into it.  It is suggested to update Retropie and all core apps to 4.4.12.
– ES crash free (all xml/artwork gone through, cleaned up with xmlvalidation.com and optimized/fixed snap/images to avoid any memory leaks/ES crashes) with current ES version2.8.3.
– All video snaps have been compress and re-sized accordingly to save space! (Saved about 3.5GB!!!)
– Tweaked EmulationStation (Options and Kodi to be first in list and rest alphabetical to make it easier to find).
– Fixed NES/Famicom/fds emulator game view port: lr-nestopia and lr-fceumm (Options Overscan Horizontal and Vertical set to on/enabled)
– Fixed Mastersystems emulator to use custom view port so it aligns with bezel (assuming your using 1080p required setup).
– Changed Default emulator for NES from (lr-nestopia to lr-fceumm so it’s consistent with Famicom)
– Fixed/Change Updated latest PS1 emulator from Source vs Binary
– Enable Interlace On/Off only has to be on for Pro Pinball Series games, it’s set and no need to do it manully as it will obey game override/game config now.
– Wing Command IV will boot now only from source at this point.
– Fixed and tweaked all Arcade games with proper emulator & bezel/overlay settings and video alignment (tested one by one).
– Fixed lr-mame… emulators to support pressing TAB from keyboard to access input/menu etc…
– Bezel Project applied to Arcade and Vectrex
– Added Rygar for NES (was missing for some reason)
– Added Brapboys for Arcade
– Added Space Fury for Arcade
– Fixed: Arcade games like MortalKombat, Wrestle Mania Arcade have built in diagnostics to increase volume, enabled dip switch and set to max volume.
– Fixed: SNES Star Fox and Star Fox 2 loads now with proper rom in place.
– Fixed: PS1 N20 – Nitrous Oxide (USA) music fix, Tony Hawk 4 Music fix
– Fixed: Arcade disc of tron switch vertical to horizontal
– Fixed: Arcade did full pass of all games and set proper bezel (I may have missed 1 or 2 but just press X+Select and set it to standard MAME/Final Arcade vertical/horizontal).
– Fixed: Scummvm set all games that require keyboard to old emulator and at same time made it compatible with ES to support artwork and can revert back with lr-scummvm has better support for those specific games.
– Fixed: Quest for Glory 4 Scummvm – (Could not pass character creation new lr-scummvm) – now configured to use old core emulator and works.
– Fixed: Broken Sword 2.5 – The Return of the Templars (Audio was not working with new lr-scummvm) – now configured to use old core emulator and works.
– Added missing video snaps for Scummvm (had to create them manually).
– Fixed: Remove Zelda NDS (still now patch fix as it leverages local microphone and crashes)
– Updated Retroflag safe-shutdown scripts (pre-installed).
– Cleaned up and fixed several retroarch global overrides and directory overrides is way to go now.
– Revamp/Addition: Amiga and Amigacd32 have been completely revamp roms in order to support new WHDLoader so you get a fast loading experience.
– AmigaCD32 top 25 some of those games are actual CD format cue/bin file and will load properly as we had to tweak es_systems and amibery emulator to make it load.
– Using new SDL2 enhanced binary… GPU accelerated displays in SDL2, so it will be super fast and smooth regardless if it’s on a 640×480 surface or a 1080p one. And it will always be full screen, automatically keeping the correct aspect ratio. on 1080p …, the GPU will do the scaling.
– Removed: Attractmode pre-install state to save space but you can still install Attractmode from scripts menu.
– Hurty’s Top 50+ random themes (Sweet, Cool, Spin and Neon!)
– Added dedicated ES collection theme for Virtualman Arcade oldschool collection for all 4 base themes (Sweet, Cool and Spin!)
– Added  9 Virtualman Custom Virtualman Video Splashscreen
– Updated RetroPie and all core applications to 4.4.11!
– Updated OS Kernel and Firmware to the latest!
– Updated Kodi to 18! and add-ons to the latest
– Fully tested for following controllers: Bluetooth (8bitdo SN30 Pro), X-Arcade Dual Joystick, Xbox 360 USB, Logitech PC USB
– Updated all main core applications (Emulation Station 2.8.3, Retroarch 1.7.6)
– All retroarch overlay opacity now set to 1.000000
– All retroarch will support used of analog left stick to play games
– All retroarch set volume db to 5.000000
– Added several more custom collections that you can enabled and expand on.
– Fixed snes-collections (shows up in ES now)
– Enabled retroachievements.org (you will need to register account) for any given system.
– Modify the following files \\playbox\configs\all\retroarch.cfg, \\playbox\configs\arcade\retroarch.cfg and \\playbox\configs\fba\retroarch.cfg
– Modify the following parameters:
cheevos_enable = “true”
cheevos_badges_enable = “true”
cheevos_username = “yourusername”
cheevos_password = “yourpassword”
– Updated all Playbox base scripts to be Upgrade friendly without impacting other dependencies.
– OC and fixed scripts have been optimized.
– Arcade games that required “samples” for sound now fixed (samples placed in proper location)
– Fixed some DC games not loading.
– A Dreamcast soft-reset (A+B+X+Y+Start buttons at the same time) at the ROM’s title screen will also take you into the Dreamcast BIOS to manage the VMU’s. After formatting VMU’s, exit the emulator and reset.
– Or you can simply remove ../configs/VMU…bin files , emulator will recreate them as empty files.
– Added new emulator lr-reicast emulator (Testing all games 1 by 1!)- BGM will resume now instead of reset a new track 🙂 between playing games.
– Converted to ogg format with consistent standard encoded rate and saved space.
– 10 unique custom splashscreen videos on boot
– Attractmode has been removed but you can still install the front-end (scripts menu) is the 2.5.1 Hyperpie Edition customized further by 2Play! Its compiled and added from scratch and not from Retropie Setup. More details in PDF.
– Compressed all ROMS (zip) and CD based games (PBP,CHD,CSO)
– Compressed all SNAP/Videos to save room for more content 🙂
– 16 Ports (Quake Bundle, Duke Nukem 3D & **BRUTAL DOOM!, SORR – Streets of Rage Remake ported to Pi and much more **) (Most will work with controller but some best experience with keyboard/mouse)
– Completely cleaned and revamped all artwork (skraper.net) and all gamelist.xml have been optimized and validated error free!
– All ROMS gone through and have at a minimum artwork (mixart, wheel and video snap).
– Pre-Generated top 16 ES Custom Arcade Classic collections, enable all of theme by default. Enable/Disable from ES->Start->GAME COLLECTION…
– Custom ES Theme Collection (Virtualman’s Arcade Old-School) collection – 425!!
– Custom ES Theme Collection (Virtualman’s Racing) collection – 200+!!
– VMAN’s Top 51 Favorites
– Fully tested Arcade Set (All Working!!)
– OpenBOR with Top 50 games exclusive for first time on this image and have been added with unique xml/artwork by Virtualman.
– Heavy emphasis on quality CD based games across several systems
– 100% Pre-installed ARCADE BEZEL PROJECT Enable (Arcade and Vetrex), configured and tweaked with proper emulator and BP bezel applied when applicable.
– Additional scripts/drivers to support X-Arcade, XIN, Lightgun etc…
– Clean up script of unneeded media (mixart/boxart/cartart/wheel/snap – for roms that not present it will remove media to save space).  Pre-ran the script to save you all space.
– Scummvm & ResidualVM collection (90% CD content, top 90+ games including All Sierra Quest series (Space Quest, King Quest, Police Quest, and much more…) Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island and much more!! **Works with controller, some games maybe best experience with mouse/keyboard**

**SCUMMVM/RESIDUALVM** – (controller is supported but best experience with keyboard/mouse depending on the game)
Start+Hotkey or keyboard CTRL+Q (returns you back to EmulationStation)

**INTELLIVISION** – (controller is supported but at times you will need to hold down right shoulder button to select input buttons E for enter etc… depending on the game.)
Start+Hotkey (returns you back to EmulationStation)

**PORTS and PC** – (controller is supported but best experience with keyboard/mouse)
X+SELECT will work only on few games, but you can easily quite from in game menu and it will take you back to ES.

**Daphne**
X or Y (insert quarter) and Start to begin game.
Select (return you back to EmulationStation)

**AMIGA** (controller is supported but best experience with keyboard/mouse)
keyboard F12 for GUI or if custom control activated is home button or X+Start.

**C64** (controller is supported but best experience with keyboard/mouse)
C64 Space = Normal Space Bar
C64 ESC = Run Stop key

**ZX SPECTRUM** (you may have to switch controller type from Sinclair 2 to Sinclair 1 in Retroarch. Best experience with keyboard)

**AMSTRADCPC** (you may have to switch controller type to Amstrad Joystick/Keyboard in Retroarch. Best experience with keyboard)

**MSX2** (controller friendly, some games maybe best experience with keyboard)

**Sharp X68000** (controller friendly, some games maybe best experience with keyboard)

**REICAST** (you will need to pre-configure controls using RetroPie-Script menu (configuration tools/reicast)
– You will need keyboard to configure and bind buttons to your selected controller try to stick to port 1
– Select will exit emulator.

**DRASTIC** (you will need to pre-configure controls, use right analog stick left/right to access drastic menu or use keyboard to map your controls)
– By default I have set the t button to “right shoulder”
– To exit, use right analogue left and select exit emulator.

**OpenBOR** (you may need keyboard to configure and bind buttons to your selected controller and save default configs)
– Start and exit from menu.

**FDS** (Famicom Disk System – You may get occasional prompt to swap disk like good old-days “Please set side A or B…”)
– By default with emulator it’s set to L (shoulder button) press once and done.

**POST-FIXES & SUGGESTION**
1. Zelda II Nes – overlay won’t stick , simply apply ../Boarders/Nintendo.cfg overlay and save directory override not core.
2. Replace corrupt video snap for “Who Shot Johnny Rock (USA).mp4” -> vman-image-troubleshooting-support-t9-s270.html
3. Openbor – Battletoads Double Dragon IV – The Return of the Dark Forces -> Replace rom with this one -> https://mega.nz/#F!YyxxmIqS!uGXcY10yTZHipxBrJZxWvw
4. I Kill Zombies – PSPMinis (delete as this game will boot but won’t play at all) – I have a nice replacement “One Epic Game” extract to \\playbox\roms\pspminis\ -> hxxps://mega.nz/#F!E2wXCSDC!SqfwXMWgEcfx8hmD7hX9Yg

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