The Sega Model 3 (1996) was the most powerful arcade board of its time: Daytona USA 2, Scud Race, Sega Rally 2, Virtua Fighter 3, The Lost World… Recalbox emulates it with Supermodel, on Raspberry Pi 5 / 500 and x86_64 PC only — it is a very demanding system.
¶ The romset
Supermodel has its own romset, derived from MAME but specific to it. In 10.1 the reference matches MAME 0.277. The reference file ships with Recalbox:
/recalbox/share/arcade/supermodel/supermodel.dat
Audit your collection with that .dat in clrMamePro or Romulus: on Model 3 more than anywhere else, an incomplete set means a black screen with no message.
Games go into /recalbox/share/roms/model3/, as .zip files (do not unpack them).
¶ Supermodel settings
Supermodel exposes its settings directly in EmulationStation: MAIN MENU → ADVANCED SETTINGS → ADVANCED EMULATOR CONFIGURATION → SEGA MODEL3. Four sections are grouped there:
- Controllers: sensitivity, saturation and dead zone of the analogue controls (wheels, handlebars).
- Audio: master and music volume, front/rear balance, number of channels, Digital Sound Board (DSB).
- Video: VSync,
True Hz(the real 57.524 Hz refresh rate), on-screen crosshairs, quad rendering, 2D layer upscaling filter. - Core: GPU multi-threading, emulated PowerPC frequency (70 MHz by default — raising it speeds some games up at the cost of stability) and
Service button, which enables or disables access to the cabinet test menu (enabled by default).
Values are written to /recalbox/share/system/configs/model3/ConfigModel3.ini.
¶ In-game shortcuts
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Quit the game | HOTKEY + START |
| Save state | HOTKEY + Y |
| Load state | HOTKEY + X |
| Change save slot | HOTKEY + UP |
| Screenshot | HOTKEY + L1 |
| Reset the machine | HOTKEY + A |
| Pause | HOTKEY + B |
| Insert coin / Start | SELECT / START |
Cabinet SERVICE and TEST buttons |
L3 and R3 |
¶ The cabinet test menu
Just like on a real cabinet, the SERVICE and TEST buttons (L3 and R3) open the game's test menu: difficulty and region settings, control calibration, diagnostics. Most game-specific Model 3 settings live in there.
If
L3andR3do nothing, check that theService buttonoption is enabled in the Supermodel settings menu.
¶ "Network board not present" error
Several games designed to be linked together (Daytona USA 2, Scud Race…) refuse to start and display Network board not present when they think they are configured as the master cabinet. The fix is a one-off change in the test menu:
- Start the game and open the test menu.
- Move down to
GAME ASSIGNMENTSand confirm. - Move to
LINK IDand change the value fromMASTERtoSINGLE. - Back out of the menus until you leave the test menu.
¶ See also
- Changing a Model 3 game's country and language.
- Light guns on Recalbox — The Lost World, Star Wars Trilogy, L.A. Machineguns and The Ocean Hunter are playable with a gun.
- Arcade in Recalbox.