Retro Pie – Configuration Questions

[magic]

Hi all,

In short, I’m setting up a Raspberry Pi for the first time. I’m making it a Retro Pie as birthday present for my girlfriend, a compilation of classic console games.

So I have assembled the standard parts with a Raspberry Pi 2, power adapter, case and peripherals. I’ve followed a few guide to get it up and running:

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation
http://emulationstation.org/gettingstarted.html

This includes the update and upgrade commands. I have an 8GB mini SD card for the OS with a Retro Pie image loaded onto it. Due to problem #1 below, I’ve been putting roms onto a 28GB USB stick for now.

1. For the 8GB mini SD card (the OS), the size is 37/56MB. As per the instructions, I ran raspi-config and then ‘expand root fs’. However the rest of the space hasn’t appeared (at least when I put it back on my PC). Where am I going wrong?

2. I’d like to set up a custom splash screen, so where would I find home/pi/retropie/splashscreen ? I feel like I’m missing a partition on the Pi…? Or do I create it?

3. [s]I’ve set up a stack of Game Boy Advance roms, but on loading I get to a black screen and then it just fades back out to the menu. These work on a PC emulator, so why won’t they work through Retro Pie?[/s]

Fake edit: I think it’s that gba_bios.bin is required. Question #2 covers this – how do I place it in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/gba?

4. What’s the easiest way to disable some of the systems on the menu ? I can do without Macintosh and Apple II. I tried deleting one of the folders (The corresponding rom\game folder I think) for one them but it’s still there.

5. I originally had one Snes rom on the SD card and I’ve copied a stack over to the USB stick, but the USB stick roms don’t appear. Why? Do I need to refresh the Retro Pie’s view of them or add them?

6. Any other simple tips on customising or enhancing my set up?

Any answers are appreciated – I’ll likely add more here as I experiment.

Thanks!

[Floob]

1. You’re not doing it wrong, the 56MB partition is all you can see in windows filesystem.
You can access the rest of it like this:
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Transferring-Roms
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/ssh

2. The above methods will help you navigate, but you can set splashscreens using the retropie setup menu script:
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/splashscreen

3. Question 1 will help you navigate

4.

5. This may help:

6. Check out the wiki, plus I like to apply overlays:

[magic]

Hi Floob,

Thanks very, very much for the reply. However, I’m still a little stuck…

1. Ok, so I can’t do the first USB method as I’m in Windows (So, as you said, there’s only the 56MB partition available)

A. FTP method:

RetroPie – ifconfig: 127.0.0.1 (responds to ping)

My Plus Net router: 192.168.1.68 (doesn’t respond to ping)

Device comes up as ‘not currently connected’. Any ideas? Would I have to allow access on my router by default? I’ll spend

some time googling this… (Note to self: http://community.plus.net/forum/?topic=136132.msg1193538 )

B. “Manually copy files from USB-stick” method

I’ve eventually got this working (Copy /media/usb stuff to /retropie/emulators), though FTP would be damn easier.

For GBA, I’ve copied the gba.bin over to the opt/retropie/bios folder as per this guide:

Setting up GameBoy Advance for RetroPie

But selecting a game leads to a ‘no space left on device’ message. I’ve deleted a few sizeable ROMs and ran the expand file system from the menu again, but this keeps appearing..? It occasionally happens when I go into File Manager too. Any ideas?

4. Removing Emulators – I’ve deleted folders from /opt/retropie/roms and /emulators but they’re still appearing on the menu after a restart? I’ve tested removing my USB transfer stick too (i.e. just the system SD card is in) but it’s the same.

[Floob]

Have you expanded your filesystem?
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/First-Installation#expand-file-system

[magic]

Yes, I did when I first started and I’ve done it again for good measure. I deleted some large roms before to free up space so not sure what’s happening. I also find that save states are no longer saving.

Oddly, after I deleted folders from emulators and roms (and I’m fairly sure I was careful with what I removed), my RetroPie menu has different text – it’s shorter than it was before, e.g. ‘File System’ instead of ‘RetroPie File System’ or whatever it was.

I think I’ll try wiping and rebuilding from scratch…

[dankcushions]

[quote=115931]Ok, so I can’t do the first USB method as I’m in Windows (So, as you said, there’s only the 56MB partition available)[/quote]
i’m not sure i understand this. you don’t need to see the SD card file structure on windows if you’re doing the USB method – (reiterating the video) you put the USB in the pi whilst retropie is running, and it will create a folder structure. connect the USB to your pc then put the roms in the relevant directories on the USB, and then you put it in the pi and it will transfer everything to your SD card. you never need to access the SD card on your PC.

[magic]

[quote=116149]i’m not sure i understand this. you don’t need to see the SD card file structure on windows if you’re doing the USB method – (reiterating the video) you put the USB in the pi whilst retropie is running, and it will create a folder structure. connect the USB to your pc then put the roms in the relevant directories on the USB, and then you put it in the pi and it will transfer everything to your SD card. you never need to access the SD card on your PC.

[/quote]
I’ve got it now, thank you – I was getting myself mixed up on the Transferring Roms page where it seemed to list 4 methods, but ‘USB’ and ‘Manually copy files from USB-stick’ seem to be the same process.

Ok, here’s where I’m up to. I’ve been adding more roms, got ScummVM working (I guess we’ll find out if she likes adventure games like Fate of Atlantis…) and added some more roms.

1. File issues are re-occurring.

Last night everything was working fine. Tonight I copied over a second bunch of snes roms but they don’t appear – in fact Snes has totally disappeared from RetroPie now. They’re definitely there on the system SD card. Space is 953M / 7337M. I’ve restarted without my USB stick in and re-ran expand file system but it’s the same.

In my Genesis, I’ve deleted some roms, but they still appear in the RetroPie UI and can be loaded…?! I’m back to the problem with my original build where files aren’t being refreshed.

4. Removing emulators – this has re-occurred. I’ve went to opt/retropie/roms and moved folders to /unused in the same location, restart Pi but a number of emulators are still on RetroPie. I wonder if this is part of #1.

7. N64 performance is poor. Lots of slow down and stuttering music. Any suggestions? I’m on a Raspberry Pi 2 so I’d have thought it would be better.

[dankcushions]

1) what does it say when you navigate into the Roms folders via command line? I’m guessing they didn’t transfer properly or are in the wrong format. I’m not clear on how you’re copying files. you don’t need to leave USB the stick in using the USB transfer method – just long enough for them to transfer

7) this is normal. you can see what games run well (and using what plugin) looking at the n64 compatibility spreadsheet on the wiki.

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/nintendo-64

[herbfargus]

4: the location is /home/pi/RetroPie/roms

[magic]

[quote=116177]1) what does it say when you navigate into the Roms folders via command line? I’m guessing they didn’t transfer properly or are in the wrong format. I’m not clear on how you’re copying files. you don’t need to leave USB the stick in using the USB transfer method – just long enough for them to transfer[/quote]

In File Manager and command prompt:

View post on imgur.com

(Sorry if the quality is too poor)

[quote]
7) this is normal. you can see what games run well (and using what plugin) looking at the n64 compatibility spreadsheet on the wiki.

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/nintendo-64
[/quote]
Ah.

[quote=116178]4: the location is /home/pi/RetroPie/roms

[/quote]
That’s done it. Thanks!

[magic]

1. Tonight I built a splash screen, put it onto my USB stick and put it into the Pi. I booted up, the Snes option is still missing and the RetroPie sub-menu is back to single words – see attachment.

Restarted without USB stick in, same. Ran RP setup – binary installer… then after a restart it is now behaving. This seems really strange. Am I getting something wrong or does the SD card seem faulty? I still have rom files deleted in File Manager that appear on the menu’s. I’m selecting them, F8 – ok and when I finish I press F10 to exit. Hmmm.

8. Splash screen: I created a simple movie file in Windows Movie Maker, exported it as wma, converted it to mp4 (http://video.online-convert.com/convert-to-mp4) and copied it over to the right folder and selected it in the Retropie folder. However, when it plays there’s no sound. Is that to be expected? (I checked the tutorials on it and there’s no mention of sound, while one guy showing his Chrono Trigger splash screen has audio in it)

[magic]

Further thoughts:

1. The only causes for this that I can think of is:

A. Hardware issue related to the SD card or even the USB stick I’m using for transfers. I’ll see if I can source replacements and test with them.

B. I’m doing part of the installation process or another step wrong. I may download the whole image again and try everything from scratch, step by step, and test with one ROM per emulator.

[b]NOTE:[/b] As an incentive, I’ll send a small fee over Paypal if someone can help me fix this.

[dankcushions]

[quote=116249]1. Tonight I built a splash screen, put it onto my USB stick and put it into the Pi. I booted up, the Snes option is still missing and the RetroPie sub-menu is back to single words – see attachment.

Restarted without USB stick in, same. Ran RP setup – binary installer… then after a restart it is now behaving. This seems really strange. Am I getting something wrong or does the SD card seem faulty? I still have rom files deleted in File Manager that appear on the menu’s. I’m selecting them, F8 – ok and when I finish I press F10 to exit. Hmmm.[/quote]
looks like there’s an outstanding issue with the USB transfer here: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/1211

i can’t explain your other issue. i’ve never deleted roms from the file manager, but you can use command line to find out exactly what is in these folders. just go

cd /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes
ls

then you should get a list of everything in the snes folder (change snes to whatever system you’re deleting from). if file manager isn’t deleting things properly then i guess it has a bug, assuming you’re deleting them from the directory above?

8. try it with someone elses splash video (eg one of the ones you’ve seen working online). if that works then it must be how you’ve encoded it.

[magic]

1. Just at work now but I’ll read the link again later or tomorrow. I’ve already plugged in a network cable and updated RetroPie.

To be clear, what’s the difference between these two sets of folders?

/opt/retropie/rom/snes

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes

If I recall, I’ve been copying the roms from the /media/usb0 (or whatever it was) to /opt/retropie/rom/snes …

I may experiment with wiping the opt/retropie/roms and see what happens.

8. Good idea, thanks. On the subject, does the splash just play and then resume loading? Or is it meant to ‘mask’ the screen as long as it plays?

[dankcushions]

/opt/retropie/roms/snes isn’t the right folder. it shouldn’t even exist!
if memory serves, the /opt/ directories should just be
/opt/retropie/emulators (the actual executable files for the various emulators)
/opt/retropie/configs (the config files for the same)

all roms are transferred to and run from /home/pi/RetroPie/roms – the contents here should match what you see in emulationstation.

8. not sure, sorry :(

[labelwhore]

The splashscreen comes up for a set amount of time, while ES and whatever else starts up behind it. After the set amount of time, (or if you’re using a video splashscreen, after the video ends) you’ll see the ES loading screen.

[magic]

[quote=116298]/opt/retropie/roms/snes isn’t the right folder. it shouldn’t even exist!
if memory serves, the /opt/ directories should just be
/opt/retropie/emulators (the actual executable files for the various emulators)
/opt/retropie/configs (the config files for the same)

all roms are transferred to and run from /home/pi/RetroPie/roms – the contents here should match what you see in emulationstation.[/quote]
Right, I think I may have worked it out then. Whenever I’ve had my USB stick in (and I’ve put files into that /opt/retropie/roms/snes folder) then it’s overwriting important stuff on the Pi. So does it copy over roms automatically? That would explain why they’re appearing twice. I’ll tinker more with it this weekend.

[quote=116306]The splashscreen comes up for a set amount of time, while ES and whatever else starts up behind it. After the set amount of time, (or if you’re using a video splashscreen, after the video ends) you’ll see the ES loading screen.
[/quote]
Great, thank you.

[magic]

Ok, nearly there! Playing around with arcade roms at the moment – as MAME4All won’t work I’m trying NeoGeo, but some don’t work. I’ll try that Clrmamepro program at some point.

9. I was trying to set Select as Insert Coin through RetroArch, but now I’ve lost the ability to quit roms with Select + Start. I’ve tried to get it back with the input menu on RetroArch but I’ve only managed to make Select quit. How do I get Select + Start back to quit a rom?

10. Scummvm – I renamed the menu’s display name for some games (Metadata – i.e. the menu within EmulationStation) and it saves but on reboot they changed back. Can I make these permanent? Not a huge problem, I can just leave them as they are, or the user can just load up ScummVM itself.

11. Let’s say I want to get another Pi and put the current contents on (or make a backup), could I create an image through Win 32 Disk Imager? (The one I used to put the RetroPie one on)

[magic]

Bump.

[magic]

Arcade roms: still working around Clrmamepro…

9. Worked my way around this. I’ve lost the Select + Start to reset but at least I’ve stopped Select resetting roms. It just means a user has to press Esc every time on the keyboard.

10. Still not sure about this one but not a big issue.

11. Will try this sometime, in theory I should be able to and it’ll mean I can work on V 2.0 of my Pi when I get a second one.

[magic]

Hi all,

I just wanted to say thanks for the help – I showed the ‘Woo Station’ to my girlfriend last weekend (Not a euphemism) and she loved it. While not a huge gamer, she’s found some classic favourites like Paperboy and Mario Kart.

I’ll make an updated version some day but for now this is a great start.

As you all helped, I’m putting my donation of $20 to petRockBlog. Cheers!

[Author]

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