Current RetroArch folks?

[FlightRisk]

I am wondering what the current state of RetroArch support is and who here are fans like me. I have RetroPie setup with RetroArch and Emulation Station. I can't imagine anything easier. It does so much, but I want a few more things for an arcade machine, like the fancier animated intros, popup manuals, controller images, a way to use LEDBlinky, etc. With that in mind I set up an older PC system (see below). That is running Windows 10 with RetroArch, RocketLauncher and HyperSpin. Not bad, sometimes there is a lag in the menus. RocketLauncher's "Pause" feature seems to do a lot of what I want but the pieces seem disconnected, pasted together. GameEX looks like it has more of the style of what I am looking for.

I installed GameEX on the same machine and can switch back and forth between FE's. I think I have some more path issues to iron out because I have everything in an "Arcade" folder and under that are "emulators", "roms", "RocketLauncher", "Hyperspin", etc. I don't want roms or bezels or movies/snaps under a specfic programs folder structure, I want it all generic and able to be shared if possible (at least until I settle on the FE)

There is a lot of overlap because RA, RL, and GameEX all can launch roms. RA and RL both have the ability to do shaders and bezels. If I should not use all 3 (RA,RL & GEX), then I could sure use some tips. I am having trouble determining what I will lose going one way or another.  Right now, I have GameEX Arcade working through RL to RA and also can switch to the standalone MAME emulator and a Sega 32X emulator. Again, not sure I need all that. And there is sometimes a delay or error message when I run a rom from GameEX through RL to RA. But if I do it again, it runs. Soooo much to learn. Any tips from the pros who use RA and/or RL? Or who thought something was better?

 

*** Dedicated Game PC: Dual core 2.8gHz, 3GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive and a decent more modern graphics card). I have a state of the art gaming PC, but not using that for this, though I can install things there to compare if I have an issue.

[stigzler]

Welcome to GameEx, FlightRisk.

I'm hoping I understand you correctly - here's a few tips:

a) "Can I run GameEx, ROcketLauncher and RetroArch together?" - YES. I know RA and GE interface well. I also know others (not me) have set up GE with RL. I can't image why all 3 couldn't work together - it'd effectively be 'daisy chaining' cmd lines together (GE>RL>RA)

b ) Assets (images/videos etc) locations. I don't use GE Arcade, but I assume it works the same as GE. GE does have a default location for asset downloads, but you can change these in the Emulator setup in Setup WIzard. Any further asset downloads will then be placed in the path you're specifying for the emulator. A word of caution though: be careful around asset naming conventions if you're looking to have 'pooled' asset locations for all front-ends. For example, Hyperspin may look for assets named in the No-intro format, whereas GE may look for ones matching the GE database name. 

@Adultery has a big Retroarch setup if I recall correctly. If he's not feeliong too grumpy today (he's old, you see, like myself) he might chime in with his yoda-like wisdom. 

Good luck and keep us posted on your setup.