#retroarch-helpers
Bash scripts for working with Retroarch on ubuntu-based desktops
These are some scripts I'm working on as part of a project to streamline the installation, configuration, and integration of Retroarch on Ubuntu based desktops.
I discovered Retroarch through Emulation-Station and thought it would be a magic bullet for all-in-one emulation. Turns out there is a lot of redundant configuration to integrate it with another front-end.
These helpers are intended to provide a baseline.
I want to be able to scan the current install of retroarch, and generate configuration for other front-ends.
Emulation-Station is my baseline use case, but ideally the project will integrate with others and facilite newcomers.
- Auto-generate an Emulation-Station es_systems.cfg based on the current retroarch install.
By extension, and more generally:
- Provide command line access to information about the current modules available in retroarch.
Retroarch requires explicit static library locations as a command line parameter to launch a rom directly. This is because the system cannot know for sure what to choose without further configuration.
In the emulation station use case, the front-end already knows what the system is, but a universal default can't be configured because it can't know what cores retroarch has installed, nor does Retroarch provide a default core for each system (unlike derivate projects RetroPie and Lakka). This means there is no command line syntax to execute based on the system rather than the target emulator.
I would like to solve this problem by creating an abstraction at the command line level, so that each system has its own command (i.e. nes %ROM% instead of retroarch -L /path/to/core/ %ROM). This will allow a default use case to be deduced, and changed without having to inject such nonsense into the config file
- Create command line aliases to configure and execute the default retroarch core for each system.
I also found the controller configuration in retroarch to be a cumbersome nightmare. I want to streamline that.
I primarily use DS3 controllers on Linux Mint. I want those to work on retroarchs first boot, rather than have to open the app and set it up.
- Configure common controllers, starting with DS3, from the command line. Ideally, this should be an autodetect situation.
The project is currently divided into two sections. All work is currently proof of concept and not well documented.
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This is where early work on the project is taking place.
- With help from the forums, I found the data files where the cores are described. I finished the first night with scripts that can list the cores (i.e.) currently installed on the system. These are dependent on a ppa install standard environment.
- More work centered on making the scripts run consistently and independent of working directory. Also, focus on DRY, and system for debug output.
- With things a little cleaner, I compiled a list of the installed core system_names, and generated a file which assigns the long form names to brief platform identifiers based on emulationstation conventions (see themes/platforms). These should facilitate interoperability with front-ends and command line aliasing. I then worked on mapping each core to those identifiers. During this phase, I continued to streamline the interaction and dependencies between scripts.
- With a little more finagling, I then reached a key goal: list-core-ids-by-platform.sh. This feature demonstrates the ability to list cores based on target platform, rather than rely on the user to explicitly manage the many-to-many relationship.
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Right now, this is just a helper script to install all retroarch resources from the ppa. Later, I might add more fine-tuned install options.
Once I've reached the point where key project goals are executable from the project, this will become the location where the scripts are installed as system resources.
if $DEBUG is set/non-empty, detailed processing information will appear on stderr, colored in yellow.
This must be set outside of the provided scripts.
Ya'll come back now,
- Jolly Wizard