Release EmulationStation 2.7.1


I haven't gotten to try the latest build of this, but I did have a go at version 2. Should the core choice option have appeared on first running the PND, or is it a case of running them afterwards if you want to change the emulator core being used? Also, and it might well be because I've far too many roms added, but how long should it take for Emulation Station to boot up? With version 1, it took maybe around a minute or so (loads of errors being logged), but in version 2 I had to give up on it after around 6-7 minutes of a loading screen. Could it be as I'm using a card formatted as exfat? Would it be faster if I used one in Fat32 format instead?
 
@PokeParadox Confirmed blackscreen after game choice but *only with* the powervr.ini in ES root folder, if I remove it no blackscreen and no tearing. pnd_run.out shows EGL_NOT_INTIALIZED and EGL_BAD_MATCH *with* powervr.ini. Not sure where to go with this as I can't recreate tearing on my system

@Stouffa There is only v.02 at the moment. I have 30GB of ROMS and a further 30GB of scraped images and videos from a retropie setup, first load takes about 1-2 min, after that about about 30 sec. Core choice happens after you choose a game. Maybe try uninstalling, redownload from scratch?
 
Yes, in every script, RA and ES.

EDIT

I did notice the first game choice gui shows but fails to load and thereafter game selection produces blackscreen.
 
[QUOTE
@Stouffa There is only v.02 at the moment. I have 30GB of ROMS and a further 30GB of scraped images and videos from a retropie setup, first load takes about 1-2 min, after that about about 30 sec. Core choice happens after you choose a game. Maybe try uninstalling, redownload from scratch?[/QUOTE]

I'll try on a different card this evening, that was always my original plan, I simply discovered I had enough room on a card I was already using. Thanks for the clarification on the core selection usage. I had thought maybe the reason it was taking so long to start up was that I needed to go in and perform that core selection myself on each available script
 
Yes, in every script, RA and ES.

EDIT

I did notice the first game choice gui shows but fails to load and thereafter game selection produces blackscreen.

I added:
Code:
killall emulationstation
To the snes run script just before the zenity dialog is displayed and this does work around the black screen when using the powervr.ini.
However, I couldn't seem to get back to ES after, no matter what path structure I used in the call to the runES script or bin file.
 
I will build a package with --debug enabled in ES soon. Right now I have an interview to prep for.

Actually, you could try to adding it in run _ES.sh and check pnd.out.
 
Updated, see OP. The repo description says RA 1.7.2 I hate those bloody .xml files! I have this working with the same systems as above and the powervr.ini in .emulationstation, see how you get on..

Cheers.
 
It's not quite working with the powervr.ini. It loads ok but the powervr.ini is essentially doing nothing :/

Putting the powervr.ini in the root of ES app data folder fixes the tearing but causes the black screen as before.

I'm surprised you don't see any tearing - easiest way to notice in ES itself is to press start to bring up the option and just move up and down on the selections.

Also the retroarch emulators vsync does work to an extent but creates a constant shimmering box in the top right corner..

ES without the powervr.ini is bearable if you keep the transition as fade

Perhaps copying and deleting the powervr.ini before and after retroarch running would work? (Goes to try it)

UPDATE: Yes renaming the powervr.ini looks like it would work. I have only tested it manually when the core selection is displayed, but it could be added in the run scripts! :)
[doublepost=1527632440,1527628944][/doublepost]
Updated, see OP. The repo description says RA 1.7.2 I hate those bloody .xml files! I have this working with the same systems as above and the powervr.ini in .emulationstation, see how you get on..

Cheers.

I finally got it working! Basically you copy the powervr.ini before the zenity script and ensure you delete before running ES. Please see code examples below.

run_ES.sh
Code:
#!/bin/sh

pwd="/mnt/utmp/EmulationStation"

export PS1='\w\$ '
umask 022

version="03"

export PATH=$pwd/bin:/usr/local/sbin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$pwd/lib:$pwd/RA/lib:/lib:/usr/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export HOME="$pwd" XDG_CONFIG_HOME="$pwd"
export XKB_CONFIG_ROOT="$pwd/share/X11/xkb":"/usr/share/X11/xkb"
export SDL_AUDIODRIVER="alsa"
export SDL_HINT_VIDEO_ALLOW_SCREENSAVER=0
export SDL_HINT_GRAB_KEYBOARD=1
export LIBGL_FB=1
export LIBGL_ES=2
export LIBGL_BATCH=1
export LIBGL_VSYNC=1

if [ ! -d "$HOME/roms" ];then
    cp -r $HOME/share/roms $HOME
fi

if [ ! -d "$HOME/.emulationstation" ];then
    cp -r $HOME/share/.emulationstation $HOME
fi

if [ -e .version ];then
 lastrun=`cat .version`
else
 cp RA/init/.version $pwd
 lastrun="00"
fi

if [ ! -d retroarch ];then
    mkdir retroarch
    mkdir retroarch/assets
    mkdir retroarch/autoconfig
    mkdir retroarch/bios
    mkdir retroarch/bios/keropi
    mkdir retroarch/cache
    mkdir retroarch/cheats
    mkdir retroarch/config
    mkdir retroarch/config/remaps
    mkdir retroarch/cores
    mkdir retroarch/database
    mkdir retroarch/downloads
    mkdir retroarch/filters
    mkdir retroarch/info
    mkdir retroarch/overlay
    mkdir retroarch/playlists
    mkdir retroarch/records
    mkdir retroarch/records_config
    mkdir retroarch/roms
    mkdir retroarch/states
    mkdir retroarch/saves
    mkdir retroarch/screenshots
    mkdir retroarch/shaders
    mkdir retroarch/thumbnails
    mkdir retroarch/wallpapers
fi

if [ ! -e retroarch/retroarch.cfg ];then
    cp RA/init/retroarch.cfg retroarch/
    cp RA/init/retroarch-core-options.cfg retroarch/   
fi

if [ ! "$version" = "$lastrun" ];then
    echo "$version">.version
fi

if [ -e "/mnt/utmp/EmulationStation/powervr.ini" ];then
rm /mnt/utmp/EmulationStation/powervr.ini
fi
 
cd $HOME
[ -e "$HOME/scripts/pre_script.sh" ] && . $HOME/scripts/pre_script.sh
if [ -e "$HOME/scripts/post_script.sh" ];then
    ./bin/emulationstation
    . $HOME/scripts/post_script.sh
else
    exec ./bin/emulationstation --debug
fi

run_megadrive.sh
Code:
#!/bin/sh
export ESPND=/mnt/utmp/EmulationStation
export ESSET=$ESPND/.emulationstation
export PATH=$ESPND:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ESPND/lib:/usr/lib
#export HOME=$PATH
export XKB_CONFIG_ROOT="$PATH/share/X11/xkb":"/usr/share/X11/xkb"
export SDL_HINT_VIDEO_ALLOW_SCREENSAVER=0
export SDL_HINT_GRAB_KEYBOARD=1
export LIBGL_FB=1
export LIBGL_ES=2
export LIBGL_BATCH=1
export LIBGL_VSYNC=1

pico="picodrive_libretro.so"
genesis="genesis_plus_gx_libretro.so"

cp $ESSET/powervr.ini $ESPND/
core=$(zenity --list --radiolist --column 'Select' --column 'core' FALSE "$pico" FALSE "$genesis" --title="Megadrive")

exec retroarch --verbose -L RA/cores/$core "$@"
rm $ESPND/powervr.ini
 
Here's my report on trying to use the most recent build, I like that it is based on a more up to date emulation station that now includes favourites and custom collections. I had thought the extreme startup time on my Pandora was due to having too many roms (I had coped them from a prebuilt RetroPie image), so I deleted a few systems. It still took a few minutes to initialise, but was definitely less then before. It took me a few attempts to get all the systems to be recognised (the settings for a few needed to be amended to recognise zipped roms etc). Emulation speed in Mame is much faster, and I'm not seeing visual tearing in gameplay, so that's great! I didn't notice it on the main emulation station menu either as I'm using the fade transition option

I got a startup speed increase after I deleted the game.xml files that had copied across from the RetroPie image, this means I'll have to rescrape the images again, I'll get around to that! Also it's a pity the Simple theme doesn't support collections and favourites (that's for the original developer of that to update), as the custom collections option is one of the best additions made to emulation station in ages I think! It's possible to create collections on the Pandora (very slow though for me at least), but I couldnt get them to display (even using the Carbon theme)

Thanks again for everyone's hard work on this, I think it's a really impressive port!

Sent from my F5121 using Tapatalk
 
I've been playing with this powervr thing for while now, and honestly I don't see a difference with/without. @PokeParadox can you confirm where you want the file to be at RA runtime?

the only place it appears to do anything is in the Base of the appdata folder for ES

I take this as appdata/EmulationStation but in your script edits you want it here

export ESSET=$ESPND/.emulationstation

Which is where it is already after first ES run, no need to copy it in or rm it, because in "/.emulationstation" it doesn't cause black screen problem. I don't mind it being there or anywhere I just want to put it in the right place!

Thanks @Stouffa , appreciate your feedback. Did you try the video previews in Carbon theme? They rely on vlc backend and are known to be slow on raspi, I found some work well and others are like a slideshow. I want to look at using omxplayer instead as does raspi.

btw, if you guys have run_{system}.sh scripts you want added then let me which cores go with which system and I will put them in the pnd.
 
I've decided to try deleting all the extra info I carried across from my RetroPie image apart from the roms and letting the scraper grab all the images for me. I didn't think video previews would work on the Pandora version, so I didn't try copying any of them (and they can be picky on an actual Pi to get running as you mentioned). I'll let you know if I get my startup times to improve

Sent from my F5121 using Tapatalk
 
I've been playing with this powervr thing for while now, and honestly I don't see a difference with/without. @PokeParadox can you confirm where you want the file to be at RA runtime?



I take this as appdata/EmulationStation but in your script edits you want it here



Which is where it is already after first ES run, no need to copy it in or rm it, because in "/.emulationstation" it doesn't cause black screen problem. I don't mind it being there or anywhere I just want to put it in the right place!

Thanks @Stouffa , appreciate your feedback. Did you try the video previews in Carbon theme? They rely on vlc backend and are known to be slow on raspi, I found some work well and others are like a slideshow. I want to look at using omxplayer instead as does raspi.

btw, if you guys have run_{system}.sh scripts you want added then let me which cores go with which system and I will put them in the pnd.

I think I have confused things for you by using variables in the paths. Check the megadrive run script again.

Code:
cp $ESSET/powervr.ini $ESPND/
core=$(zenity --list --radiolist --column 'Select' --column 'core' FALSE "$pico" FALSE "$genesis" --title="Megadrive")

This is
Code:
cp /mnt/utmp/EmulationStation/.emulationstation/powervr.ini /mnt/utmp/EmulationStation/
core=$(zenity --list --radiolist --column 'Select' --column 'core' FALSE "$pico" FALSE "$genesis" --title="Megadrive")

The problem with putting the ini there in the first place is that it causes the black screen issue currently. This solution only copies it when the RA emulator launches and with the run_ES script deletes the ini before launching ES. The trade off is that the UI has tearing (only for some people it seems¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

And the
Code:
rm $ESPND/powervr.ini
does nothing on the megadrive run script and can be removed.
 
So with the rm cmd not working (same here) you cant launch two games in row due to blackscreen?
 
To be fair, I am confused. I just tried it with powervr in the home dir and it all works, videos, core choices the lot. So if just put powervr in top level at launch it should fine...(he said).

@Stouffa got favorites to display by selecting 'group unthemed custom collections = no'
 
To be fair, I am confused. I just tried it with powervr in the home dir and it all works, videos, core choices the lot. So if just put powervr in top level at launch it should fine...(he said).

@Stouffa got favorites to display by selecting 'group unthemed custom collections = no'
The problem with just leaving the ini file there is that you get the black screen problem.
That's why I think deleting it before loading ES and copying it back before ES loads RA is the best solution unless someone cleverer than me figures out why the blackscreen occurs.
 
I had been using the simple theme, I don't think that one supports favourites or custom collections, I've set up a few now under the carbon theme to see that they work correctly. I had deleted all my previous image files in the hope that this would speed up the startup time for this software (it didn't, it still takes a few minutes). I used the scraper PND to scrape all the images it could, but for some of my systems (eg c64 and MAME), it's still not displaying them. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
 
Hi, when I run this it launches and I can see the outline of the controller configuration window and if I hold a button it then goes into the controller config screen but I don't see any text.

I am guessing it is a graphics driver issue as when I tried RetroArch I got the issue where the buttons don't work.

What do I need to do to fix this and will it break anything else?

Thanks
 
Back
Top