GameEx and RetroArch

[surfdesign]

Is anyone using RetroArch with GameEx? I really like the idea of having a unified menu within each emulator. It really helps for save states and settings using just the controller (XBOX 360 wireless) instead of having to break into a menu and use a keyboard. I just started messing with it a day ago, so I don't know how good it really is, but being able to adjust stuff with the controller just by hitting 2 buttons really caught my eye. It reminds me of some of the NES/SNES Wii emulators that were so easy to use with just the controller.

The last post I saw looked like it was back in 2014 and I was just wondering if it works well now? If it does, I'd love to know what command lines to use to get it up and running via GameEx.

Thanks for any info,

Jeff

[hansolo77]

I haven't really had much experience with it, but I don't see why this couldn't happen. I use RetroArch on the R.Pi2 I bought and installed Kodi on. I've been playing around with it, and use an addon called IARL (Internet Archive Rom Launcher). It basically acts like an On Demand ROM player like Sega Channel used to be for the Genesis in the 90's. Lets you browse the official online (and free) repository provided by the Government of system ROMs, then downloads the one you want to play, then launches RetroArch via command line and plays it. Then when you exit back to Kodi, it erases the ROM and saves you space on your SD card. So by that fact alone, that the addon is capable of forwarding command-lines into RetroArch, interfacing it with GameEx should be a no brainer.

Now, if you need support or something like that, I'm not the guy to ask. I know absolutely NOTHING about coding and/or Linux. What I've been able to accomplish is by trial and error of examining text and xml files to figure out what the scripts are doing, and make changes to see if it does what I want, etc. In order to make this all work, you'd have to be diligent and determined enough to go through the same trial and error processes. I really don't know anything about it, other than that RetroArch is sort of like a Linux version of MESS. It has a frontend, and various emulators (called cores) that it runs. You can pass a command line telling RetroArch to run, load a specific core, then a specific ROM (just like MESS).

The appealing part of this to me was that I could have emulators on a R.Pi2 and still be able to have a media center experience through Kodi. There are other things you can do for emulating.. Kodi's newest build (Jarvis) will have internal support for playing ROMs through their RetroPlayer program they're actively developing. Other than that, there are various standalone emulators, and then RetroArch. RetroArch to me was the easiest as far as a noob is concerned. Then for interfacing, there was really only a Kodi addon called "Rom Collection Browser". Then along came IARL. GameEx would be the ultimate goal, but I don't know how it would work WITH Kodi. If your goal is to just have a system that runs GameEx standalone, then hell yeah go for it! I believe you would need a specially compiled version of GameEx though to work with your OS/CPU.

If you are planning on attempting this, and it IS with a R.Pi2, and it IS with Kodi along side.. please tell me how you get on with it, because I would love to do that as well. One of my goals is to move all my emulating stuff off my primary computer (since it's prone to failure) and onto my server (with it's backup drive redundancy) and browse ROMs, etc from there while playing them locally on whatever device I setup.

[Draco1962]

You may want to take a look at this thread in the Pinned and Hot Topics subforum.

[Adultery]

I absolutely love RetroArch and have between moving my emulators over to it as they start to match or even beat the alternatives.

It already works with GameEx fine, the Command line is pretty basic, and I can't recommend it enough.

[surfdesign]

I checked the other thread. It's using rocketlauncher? I don't want to add more complexity, just launch straight from GameEx. I'm using Windows 10.

Adultery - do you have a command line example?

Thanks.

[Draco1962]

I pointed out the thread as it does have some info regarding RetroArch that I thought might be useful. I believe there is a post here that speaks to the command line format.

[Adultery]

This is exactly the reason I didn't post my command line, my stuff is pretty specific and I have different configs for each core, and different configs for the same core if it spans multiple systems. I also use specific bezels for each system.

My config are like parkas where they're probably way more detailed than what you're looking for.

His post should be helpful though.

[luger81]

I know that this is old but I'm still having problems using Retroarch in GameEx.

 

Below is my command line for Stella (Atari 2600):

retroarch.exe "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]" -c stella_libretro.cfg -f

But...all it does is bring me back to the rom list after going black for a few seconds.

 

Any suggestions?

 

TIA!

[SonicB00M]

Which version of Retroarch are you using? I was using 1.3.2 just fine until I decided to update to 1.3.4 today. Now I am getting the same issue. Maybe the command line changed?

[luger81]

I'm using 1.34. Maybe I should go back to 1.32 or something.

[Panja]

I dunno if you fixed your problem already...

But your command line should be:

retroarch.exe -L "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]" -c stella_libretro.cfg -f

 

So the "-L" should be added.

See here: https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/wiki/Using-the-command-line

[TheRuralJuror]

I'm using 1.34. Maybe I should go back to 1.32 or something.

Hey there...just curious if you tried Panja's advice. I running into command line issues with latest version of RetroArch too.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[DazzleHP]

Hey folks,

Usually i wouldn't encourage res'in an old thread, but in this case i think a point needs to be made.

luger81 made a point, that his/her commandline is perfect - and that it is, given that his/her paths are correct. However, look at the screenshot they provided. There is something awry in the paths.. can you spot it?

There are certain things you cannot use in a command, they may well include things like punctuation marks, spaces, italics and most certainly emojis

 

[luger81]

Sorry for the late reply. I ended up using another front end for my emulators other than MAME. MAME works fine in this. Btw, I didn't have emojis in my command line. Also, I'm male btw.

[hansolo77]

The problem might have been the working path/etc.  You have a folder name with a period.  I don't think that works with GameEx.

[DazzleHP]

12 hours ago, hansolo77 said:

You have a folder name with a period.  I don't think that works with GameEx.

Exactly Han. That is what i was hinting at. Punctuation in a command is bad news. Good clean paths is the order of the day.

No slashes, no dashes, no stops, no commas etc.

 

I want to point out obvious flaws but i feel people won't learn that way - instead i'm trying to get people thinking. So may be they will spot the errors themselves, and in turn broarden their minds.

 

Should i instead just show the solution for a quick fix and be done?

 

I like to think that people can still think

 

PS: as a disclaimer, i know that a period, or fullstop is not a "world-ending" event, but windows handles a period/fullstop at the beginning of a file/folder as hidden, so does linux in fact, and so permissions are different and a lil complicated, hence probably why there is trouble above

Edited August 5, 2016 by DazzleHP
To make sure everyone knows why a period/fullstop is bad