RetroPie / OpenELEC (KODI) Dual Boot Disc Image

[smithers]

Thanks, I appreciate your feedback!

Sounds like you are up and running then which is good. If you don’t wish to download again for the other minor changes then I can just post up a copy of the retropiemenu folder and gamelist.xml file for the ‘RetroPie Settings’ menu if you want? It just re-enables all the various options in there and adds a picture for each menu item.

Let me know if you want it or if you are just going to download the new image I’m uploading.

Cheers.
Steve

p.s. out of curiosity – are you finding it easy to rename the roms to match mine? I couldn’t think of any easy way to go about it, but you could use a program called Fat Match which will take most of the pain out of it for you.

[thatguyinfl]

I’ll definitely take the new image. Will be easier for others. It looks like your rom names matched the mame file names (from dat files) and console ones matched no-intro so it all worked perfectly. I took your rom list, put them in a batch file, then copied out all the roms you had as my baseline.

I then added my own roms and used emumovies downloader to get new images and appended -image to each picture and created a new gamelist based on a script i saw on your image.

It all just works. I been diving into your image, very creative with the dualboot, noobs, and scripts to switch and mount back and forth.

Love the transition in the theme, bigger posters and now it finally makes sense while you killed the menus. No one can screw it up and looks so clean. Another thing i like is how you cant scroll left or right within a system and you have to back out to scroll.

The little things you did make it my favorite so far.

Thank you.

I only had 1 issue, when creating my own navigation for emulationstation, the keys would be in es_input_temporary) something like that, but not in es_config so i just copied them over and bam!! worked.

Luis

Great job!!!!

[lozzajp]

Please let me know when you upload this final image with a readme file. I will try put it on dropbox and share out the link to help others.

[smithers]

@ Luis – That’s great to hear! I’m glad it is all working out ok and the renaming of roms isn’t too much of a headache. And yes, I completely forgot to mention about the .XML generator program that I installed. It certainly takes the pain out of creating the gamelists! Do bare in mind however that Linux is case sensitive so you may need to do a couple of sweeps to cover all your roms (for example it would pick up Goldenaxe.md different to Goldenaxe.MD or Goldenaxe.Md, so you would need to do 3 different runs using a different extension each time in this example).

Thanks for the feedback though – much appreciated and it sounds like we are on the same wavelength on build preferences!

@lozzajp – that would be great, thanks very much for your help! As it happens the upload has just this moment finished – see new link below:

[links removed]

I will now update the original post if I can to link to this one.

Many thanks.
Steve

[kamovsky]

Aaa!!! Guys, please help me!!!
I can’t download the image ;(
Please anybody upload it to other file server.

[thatguyinfl]

@ smithers – Looks good. Only one issue so far. After you configure your emulationstation controls (example keyboard) for the first time, it writes to es_temporaryinput.cfg but not to es_input.cfg.

It remains untouched calling

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inputList>
  <inputAction type="onfinish">
    <command>sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
  </inputAction>
</inputList>

So it prompts you configure the controls every time you reboot.

easy fix, copy the code from the temp file to the permanent one.

Besides that, looks great so far.

[smithers]

Well that’s annoying! Not sure why it’s doing that. :/ May be incorrect permissions on the es_input.cfg file?

As long as it can be worked around then I am happy enough. I don’t want to re-upload again for the sake of 1 file that’s for sure! :o

[deoite]

hey guys im an new to retropie.
Ive got the first image up an running but came across some some issues with controller and also when trying to resize the partition (i use 16gb card) it didnt allow me to resize it saying that I use noobs card and its already resized.
but i really like the build cant wait to get sensible soccer on it.

Thanks for great project will save me time switching the sd cards.

btw using kodi i couldn’t find input devices for joystick, pad

Thanks again!

[pieguy123]

Thanks a lot for this smithers. I’ll be attempting this install in a little bit. Quick question, does anyone foresee any issues with me using a wireless usb keyboard (logitech k400) with this for kodi, and in conjunction with a ps3 controller via bluetooth dongle for use with retropie?

arrgh – been trying to set this up but running into some issues that others have reported. Also everytime I hit F4 at the ES controller config menu, it brings me to the terminal for a second, then keeps looping back to the ES controller config menu.

I set up the kepboard, but unable to expand filesystem and mentioned above (noobs error etc), then back at the setup menu, i lose my keyboard config and have to go through the mapping process again.

[mjfox]

thanks a lot for all the hard work that went into creating this image

I too run into the problem with expanding the filesystem

also I can not connect my bluetooth keyboard

I followed this guide: http://www.correlatedcontent.com/blog/bluetooth-keyboard-on-the-raspberry-pi/ … but for some reason it just doesn’t seem to work (I tried to use it in the file manager)… the keyboard works fine with the latest retropie image

any ideas?

greetings

MJFox

[smithers]

[quote=102389]hey guys im an new to retropie.
Ive got the first image up an running but came across some some issues with controller and also when trying to resize the partition (i use 16gb card) it didnt allow me to resize it saying that I use noobs card and its already resized.
but i really like the build cant wait to get sensible soccer on it.

Thanks for great project will save me time switching the sd cards.

btw using kodi i couldn’t find input devices for joystick, pad

Thanks again!

[/quote]

:(

Indeed there is an issue with re-sizing the partition. An oversight on my behalf but it seems that the standard ‘Expand Root Filesystem’ doesn’t work when you have NOOBS installed.

This is becoming alot of hassle!

Ok so I’ve been looking at options. Easiest by far is inserting you memory card into a linux PC (or live CD) and using Gparted to re-size the partition.

Other options are pretty long-winded and involve a reasonable amount of code being input.

I was wondering something though – OpenELEC handles its expanding of partition on first boot via a script. I have a copy of this script and have attached it – could this be modified to be ran on my build if the correct partitions etc. are specified?

Any Linux pros out there who could help out here please?

As for the es_input.cfg issues – I have checked the permissions and they are set to ‘Read/Write’ so that cant be the problem? Was there an issue in RetroPie v3 B2 in regards to this? Thats the version on which my build is based upon.

I’m starting to think this has all been a waste of time for everybody! My apologies for the bugs – its all working perfect at my end with my original 32GB SD card setup! If I had the bandwidth then I would just upload a 32GB version and be done with it!

[pieguy123]

Smithers,don’t give up on us yet lol. If I could send you a donation or buy you a beer in Canada, I would. Your hard work is SOOO much appreciated and it’s only a matter of a short time until everyone stumbles upon this and makes you everyone’s hero. ;) Thanks again.

[thatguyinfl]

I absolutely love the image as is.

I keep my roms on usb so i mount it with a single command and all my roms show up and not configs to change. Use sshelper to scrape and all works. Images, gamelist, roms, etc all on a thumb drive. No need to expand sd card.

For es_input, just map is normally and copy the text to es_input.cfg.

Besides that, it all works like you intended so thank you.

Luis

[thatguyinfl]

Another thing regarding es_config, the inputconfiguration.sh located in /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts seems to be the issue. After you input the keys, it doesnt seem to run.

[febrile]

Just wanted to add a BIG thanks to you smithers. Trying this out and it looks very nice – will now run through the mods that are suggested.
Cheers!

[tank]

hey! can someone just post the scripts and files to make the noobs/retropie/openelec switching possible? thanks!

[cudencuden]

will image work for odroid-c1? Link: http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G141578608433

[kamovsky]

Guys,
please anybody upload the image file to other fileserver.

[mjfox]

ok, I tested the image a little more and I found some problems (some of them were already mentioned):

1.) it’s not possible to resize the partition
2.) each time retropie launches it asks for the controller configuration
3.) if you launch any console command (for example the file manager or the ip configuration) and go back to retropie again you end up with no controls
4.) no samba share (to access the ROM directories)

2.) und 3.) can easily be fixed by copying es_temporaryinput.cfg over es_input.cfg

greetings

MJFox

[smithers]

Hi folks.

Quick update – I have decided that the best way to address these issues will be to start again with my build and base it upon the latest RetroPie version – v3 RC1. This seems to have controller fixes in place and of course will have more up to date emulators included.

As for the partitioning issues – I have tried to build scripts that will expand the filesystem automatically but nothing seems to work. NOOBS partitioning is very weird and using fdisk/parted on the Pi it just doesn’t seem to like it at all. :(

I have an idea of a way around this – I will set up my new version as a NOOBS installer which has a preconfigured OpenELEC and RetroPie. I will make it have different ‘flavours’ to cater for different memory card sizes, e.g. 8GB, 16GB, 32GB etc. Then all you do is select the correct size and it will expand the partition itself upon install.

In my head this all seems feasible, but I am away for a weekend break at the moment so without my Raspberry Pi (the missus wouldn’t have been too happy had I of brought it! ;) ), I can’t test it out. I can’t see there being any issues however.

Anyway – just thought I’d update you, in case you thought I’d given up already haha!

Cheers.
Steve

P.s. what is the maximum size sd card that the Pi supports? 128GB?

*Edit – forgot to ask about the inclusion of screenshots and gamelist.xml files – should I:

A) leave then all in my build
B) remove them all
C) offer a separate download for screenshots and gamelist.xml

They are not complete romset packs but cover a lot of good games on the systems I have installed. I see no harm in leaving in the MAME and FBA .xml’s and screenshots as they will always have the same rom names as mine do, but the others? Let me know what you think.

[thatguyinfl]

Thanks for ng this and coming back. Much appreciated. here area a few of my thoughts.

1 – I personally prefer my roms on usb/external. This also makes it easier to add/remove roms, especially for my non-technical friends. Plug it in PC and do what you need/ LoL

My directions for this –
-sudo apt-get install ntfs-3g (I have a 500Gb drive hooked with with psx games)
-sudo mount -t ntfs-3g -o uid=pi,gid=pi /dev/sda1 /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/
-Edit fstab and add /dev/sda1 /home/pi/RetroPie/roms ntfs-3g 0 1

Done. No configs to change. No need to expand SD card. Maybe some users might like this and you do not have to make multiple versions?

2 – Your arcade classics gamelist is fantastic. I would keep them maybe and and users can overwite if they want to. If you do the usb thing above, and scrape, it saves the game list on the usb along with images and yours remain on the sd and just ignored.

Hopefully this helps and gives ideas.

Thanks

Luis

[febrile]

Hi smithers, thanks for sticking with this – I am using the openelec end of your build as my default media centre, but have not made as much headway with the retropie end. Because of the difficulties with expanding the filesystem, I held off adding roms to this (also I was a little confused as to what needed to be done with respect to renaming roms to match your names – this seems like it might take quite some time) – may try thatguyinfl’s suggestion above and move them to an external…

A new build based on RC1 would be welcomed for sure, and probably would resolve many of the issues folks have had with controller setup, but i understand this would take quite a lot of effort, and time (esp. given your slow upload speed…)

Cheers!

[smithers]

Thanks for the tip. Maybe I could add in a script that would switch between external and internal storage? Hmmm….

I would welcome any other requests that people would like to see in this build, like pre-built ports etc (ZDoom for example), as I know it can sometimes be a pain to compile binaries if youre unfamiliar. I am no expert, but have a reasonable understanding of Linux now so can muddle my way through most things by trial and error!

Would be good to get some suggestions for inclusions as there will undoubtedly be some ports etc that I am unaware of.

Cheers.
Steve

[smithers]

@febrile – the best way to rename your roms to match my screenshots would be to use a Windows program called ‘Fatmatch’. It does require you to copy over both screenshots and roms into a Windows pc however. You point it to your roms and screenshot directories and it will match them up and rename accordingly, ready for you to copy back over to the pi. I would recommend pointing the roms path to the screenshots folder and the screenshot path to the rom folder, as by default it renames the screenshots (which would be no good if you wanted to use my .xml files), but you need it to rename the roms to match my screenshots.

Hope that makes sense!?

[febrile]

thanks smithers, i’ll have a go at doing this….
your help is much appreciated!

[kamovsky]

Hi folks,
is there any problem to upload the image file to another file server?
I’m asking you guys once again please help me, please upload it to other file server.

Thanks.

[smithers]

Ok update – good news first – I have finished porting my changes to the newest RetroPie build (RC1), and all is working *except* Atari Lynx (I am just getting a coloured screen with music?). Everything else seems to be working great including joypad setup. Happy days.

Now the bad news. I am having major issues with expanding the filesystem when noobs is installed. It seems that as soon as Noobs does its initial partitioning then it won’t allow any further partitioning to be performed either by raspi-config tool or by Noobs itself.

I have scoured the internet and tried all sorts of Linux partitioning commands but nothing works.

Is there anybody that knows of a reliable method to expand a noobs as card?? Otherwise I’m completely stumped.

[pieguy123]

I wish I could be of help Smithers re: the sd expansion :(. I also googled a ton.

Kamovsky….just use the link that smithers provided. If you cannot DL from this link, then you’re going to have a bunch of problems setting all this RP2 stuff up. (Sorry I dont meant to sound rude there, but you know)

[smithers]

[quote=103050]I wish I could be of help Smithers re: the sd expansion :(. I also googled a ton.

Kamovsky….just use the link that smithers provided. If you cannot DL from this link, then you’re going to have a bunch of problems setting all this RP2 stuff up. (Sorry I dont meant to sound rude there, but you know)

[/quote]

No probs – thanks for looking. It certainly is a pain!

So I’ve been working on a solution pretty solid all this week and I *think* I’ve nailed it. I’ve managed to make custom NOOBS installer versions of both RetroPie and my modified KODI build (with the games launcher script built in). I tested it out late last night and it all worked out fine BUT Emulation Station froze at the ‘Welcome’ screen…. Doh! :(

I didn’t have time to check the filesystem out to try and find the problem as it was getting too late (and I had to get some sleep for work today!), but I will do that tonight and hopefully find out what the problem is and fix it. That would mean I could get a new release out there this weekend.

If this all works out ok then the file size should be smaller, perhaps halved or less, as it won’t be a disk image, rather some .tar files and the NOOBS setup files. This means I can upload it to multiple servers for those who are having problems with Mega.

Question – does anyone know if Emulation Station keeps a log which would tell me why it had crashed?

[kamovsky]

[quote=103050]
Kamovsky….just use the link that smithers provided. If you cannot DL from this link, then you’re going to have a bunch of problems setting all this RP2 stuff up. (Sorry I dont meant to sound rude there, but you know)

[/quote]

It’s ok ))
But don’t you think that you can be wrong?
We live on a different continents with you and most likely the problem is on the provider side. I asked all my friends, even in other cities, to download the file but they all failed.

[smithers]

Ok then. Good news – I have figured it all out, finally! :o

Currently uploading a new build which seems perfect, i.e. it will partition itself correctly to your SD card and controller setup is working.

Going to take a while for it to upload so I’ll leave it overnight and post a link tomorrow (well, today really since it’s 2am!).

I am using Drop box this time and the file is much smaller at around 850MB. Hopefully this will quash any download issues that people were having.

I’ll post more info about it when I have the link.

All the best.
Steve

[thatguyinfl]

Thank you!!!! Excited!!!

[boothy]

Cant wait for this i recently tested your first version and it seemed almost perfect :) good luck

[smithers]

Right then – here is a link to v3 of my build:

[ links removed ]

I have taken a different approach for this build in that it is no longer a disk image and instead is a custom NOOBS installer. This has multiple benefits over a disk image, i.e. smaller file size (~800MB vs ~3.7GB!), and best of all NOOBS will handle all partitioning during install. This means it will always expand the filesystem to the max on the RetroPie partition no matter whether you use a 8GB, 16GB, 32GB or beyond. No need for any partition tinkering any more!

Here is the changelog for v3:

* Based on RetroPie v3 RC1 for stability, controller and emulator improvements (controller setup seems perfect now)
* Re-enabled all of the RetroPie menu and themed all items accordingly
* Updated some system background themes for a better look
* Removed all gamelists and screenshots aside from MAME, FBA and SCUMMVM (I will offer these as an alternative download for those who want it)
* Amended the KODI script so it no longer shows as a ‘Favourite’. This means you can now add in favourites again without it cluttering the ‘Games’ section in KODI!
* Added extra menu items into KODI home screen which I had overlooked in the last build

Known bugs:
Atari Lynx emulator is not working properly Roms will load and play fine but there is no picture output.

Full install instructions are included in the ‘README’ file – please be sure to read them to avoid any issues!

I hope this works out ok for you as it seems perfect at my end and I have tested it on an 8GB and a 32GB SD card and both worked fine.

Please let me know if this works out ok for you and report any bugs should you find them (cringe!).

All the best
Steve

p.s. I will offer my screenshot and gamelist packs as a separate download for those interested. I removed them to cut down the file size on your SD card.

[mjfox]

smithers, your post made my day, thanks a lot!

[Author]

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