@11fdriver the image was slimmed down and optional ports can be installed from the setup script if the server is lagging thats something that will be sorted server side or it is a network issue on your end

thegamesdb website is slow currently - you can use openvgdb with sselph's scraper.

sudo ./retropie_packages <NAME OR ID/PACKAGE>

which could be used in a loop

eg

for pkg in lr-mame2003 scummvm; do sudo ./retropie_packages.sh $pkg; done

or building all # ids from 200 to 210 (note ids are not static and change when new modules are added/removed)

for pkg in {200..210}; do sudo ./retropie_packages.sh $pkg; done

run retropie_packages with no parameters for a list of support modules and their functions.

Yup. Def pifba. Have just popped the control panel to check it's wired correctly. It is, however just as I was puting it back together I noticed I had to rotate the player 1 stick to make it fit! This would make left and right swap and up and down swap. This also explains why the configuration menus outside emulationstation were working this way too. I had just put up with that as it wasn't too much of a pain. Hopefully re-wiring it will solve my problem as I can't mount it the other way

{edit}
That solved it. Thanks!

My apologies.

So i looked into my retroarch.cfg files and they are all messy as hell now, so i figured i better follow @Concat 's advice and edit my .cfg files manually, which is really no big deal as soon as you have all your settings figured out through RGUI, so here is the updated guide:

Overlay Settings

Open any Rom within the Emulator you want to set up -> Open RGUI (Hotkey SELECT+X) -> Settings -> Onscreen Overlay Hide Overlay In Menu -> OFF Overlay Preset -> Browse to and select your overlay.cfg (I put mine in /home/pi/overlays with WinSCP)
(if you can't get there directly set: Settings -> Directory -> Overlay Dir -> Choose folder with overlays) Settings -> Video Aspect Ratio Index -> Custom Integer Scale -> ON (with this setting the gameimage will be centered, so you can't move it anymore with "Custom Viewport X/Y, but it helps shaders and to keep the original aspect ratio) Set "Custom Viewport Width/Height" Settings -> Onscreen Overlay Set "Overlay Scale" if necessary Overlay Opacity -> 1.00 Write down all the values you just set Quit Retroarch without saving (default as long as you didn't change it) Retropie Menu -> Configuration Editor -> Advanced Configuration -> Configure Libretro options -> Choose emulator you want to set up
Now you can set all the values that you just wrote down.
The only thing i didn't figure out how to set in this menu was the overlay.cfg file.
So for this you will actually have to go into the retroarch.cfg (eg. /opt/retropie/configs/gb/retroarch.cfg) for each emulator and copy the path into it.
Of course you can also go directly into the .cfg and write down the settings manually.

At the end the retroarch.cfg will look like this (here are also shader settings included):

# Settings made here will only override settings in the global retroarch.cfg if placed above the #include line input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/gb/" aspect_ratio_index = "22" input_overlay_enable = "true" input_overlay = "/home/pi/overlays/gb.cfg" video_scale_integer = "true" custom_viewport_width = "640" custom_viewport_height = "576" input_overlay_opacity = "1" input_overlay_scale = "1.04" video_shader_enable = "true" video_shader = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/shader/gameboy-screen-grid.glslp" #include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"

In case somebody wants to make their own overlays you have to make shure that the part of the picture where the game is going to be is exactly in the middle of the picture and is transparent.
To use it with RGUI you have to make a .cfg file (overlayname.cfg) which looks like this:

overlays = 1

overlay0_overlay = overlayname.png

overlay0_full_screen = true

overlay0_descs = 0

just put it together with the overlayname.png file

Here are my custom overlays for 1280X1024:
https://mega.nz/#!jRMmgThD!5upxCfwq4EKL18FcDa3Irhk5W4AJ3Du-YNkorFln940

This only contains GB/GBC/GBA overlays as with this screen ration these are the only ones that make sense for me, except maybe (vertical) arcade games which i might add later, if i can be bothered to make them :D

@roary It says in "retropie setup". That's an option in the RetroPie menu in EmulationStation. Much of the RetroPie configuration is there.

Thank you. I'm such a noob ;). That is perfect. I just could not remember what I had done.

Cheers

If someone wanted to boot directly into mame on ES, the only way currently is to have just mame enabled and nothing else.

Well if no one else is gonna root for any other controllers, how about a couple non-portable ones (I like a beefy controller):

Logitech f310/f710. Good solid controllers, can be found lots of places (local and online), and they work with zero fuss (and have for a while). The analog triggers make good Z triggers in N64 games. The right analog usually substitutes for the C buttons.

PS3 controllers. Also easy to set up (auto-registers with bluetooth upon plugging in: no pairing needed). Also full-sized. Also available all over the place.

I also like that both have "unused" buttons (the PS/Logitech "guide" buttons) that make great hotkey buttons. It's a godsend in games that make heavy use of the select button.

The wired Logitech should never be over $20, and the other two can be had for $30-$40.

Don't get me wrong: the 8bitdo controllers are great. I just think that for N64/PS play, both original controllers had grip handles (to compensate for fingers manning the shoulder buttons more frequently), so using a controller with them helps. I find L2/R2 harder to use effectively on an NES30Pro.

If I was sticking primarily to the less shoulder-button/trigger-heavy games, I'd be all over a paddle-style controller like an 8bitdo.

@edmaul69
Yeah, I am considering that too. I can't justify having the sega and PCE sections different from each other.

@bazmonkey - turning off 'Wait for network at boot' has solved the problem, and also sped up my boot time - thanks! :)

@Russelkm - Thanks for your input also.

Cheers all.

Thought I had made that clear already :-) Yes.

I found the answer. I ordered a second RPi Zero to test the theory that I had hardware issues, and sure enough the exact same peripherals, SD card, and RetroPie image fired right up on the first try. I don't know exactly what happened, but replacing the main board did the trick. Thanks for your help, @herb_fargus!

They should all control ES if you have configured them (press enter to bring up the menu to add a new controller), works for me anyway - i.e. you can press buttons on both/all at the same time.

Moving to Carbon fixed it. I removed the extra systems that got put into ES after the install but I noticed the simple theme now still gives the "white screen of death" makes me wonder if with the changes with ES in Retropie 4.0 that the simple theme is just completely broken now?

@herb_fargus

thanks :) managed to work it out in the end it was a permissions issue

@BuZz Ohh thanks, i followed the whitescreen guide and it works despite of my screen wans't white but showed Emustation Logo when freezing.

Just looked through the settings, do you mean the "Windowed Scale" - I dont think that would kick in when running it on the Pi as its always in full screenmode? Unless it ran under X or something?

Your mockup is exactly what happens when running it (1.3.6) in windowed mode in MS Windows.

So yes, I think if people want a small video output they are best to use a custom viewport setting.