Ok, I see what you mean. thank you.
Finding a ROM set with the IGT roms still in it is going to be next to impossible.
They work fine on the Windows version, so I should probably look for some sort of battery powered DOS machine?
/cry

@dankcushions Hey, thanks. That worked perfectly, thank you!

Just in case anyone comes across this later this is what I did:

the "Load content specific core" option is enabled by default. Start your game, open the retroarch menu, then select Quick Menu > Options > Create Game options file. Exit the game. Once you do this a file should be generated in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/config/PCSX-ReARMed, or \retropie\configs\all\retroarch\config\PCSX-ReARMed on the network, called something.opt. Open this and set the plugin to disabled.

@edmaul69 it's identified as a USB game pad, it's only the up/down axis that won't work, I'll try the lr-vice tomorrow, I can live without daphne :)

@ZeroTX

I'm installing via the web interface of retropie manager.

I don't think I've ever tried to install anything using the web interface.

I usually transfer them over using something like FileZilla, WinSCP or Cyberduck.
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Transferring-Roms/#sftp

Not, you might need to enable SSH before you can do this.
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/SSH/#enable-ssh

Also check your .cue file and make for dang sure that the .bin file referenced in the .cue file is the exact same case.
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/PC-Engine/#pc-engine-cd
(Linux filenames are case sensitive but Windows is not)

Plug it in directly to the router.
Or, you could find themes online, download them onto a flash drive, put that in your pi and move the folder in the file manager.

Ok, that did the trick. Strangely though, after I changed the setting and tried getting back into the UI, the graphics were all black sans the menu options in the lower left. Went ahead and did a basic install, and now I'm back in business. Thanks @AlexMurphy and @BuZz !!

Now to get Reicast working...

Did you happen to resolve the issue? I've been having the same problem and can't seem to get around it.

Have you tried setting audio_sync to on in RetroArch? I'm not sure it solves the same thing you're experiencing, but I had audio distortion when frame rates skipped and this helped a bit. It was a long time ago so I might be misremembering things though.

That worked! Took forever to update the script but once it finally finished and I did a reboot there it was. The new emulationstation black loading screen and the random button. Very exciting thank you very much!

works like a charm thanks

ok all sorted

you can see what games are supported by retropie's various arcade and mame cores by looking at the compatibility lists here:
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Mame
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/FinalBurn-Alpha

@AlexMurphy is what it says anyway i can fix this?

I have my roms on a NAS alogn with all of my other files, so when I download a new rom, i stick it on the Pi and the NAS, so my roms are all backed up, I dont care about that,

what I care to backup is the scraping which takes a bloody age to get done, I do not want to repeat that!

then I stick saved games over on the NAS as and when I decide I have any that I care about.

I prefer to spend my time playing though, I spent an hour last night watching the screen flash text while LR-Mame installed, only to find that the game ran slow :(

@Daily

I don't believe so. You'd have to have something that Emulation Station would see as a ROM, even if it were just a dummy file.

Thanks I'll try that first chance I get!

@Everett1954

When you install/remove emulators, that gets updated in /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg but if you also have /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg, well that one will take precedence but it doesn't get updated so you have to manually update it.
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation/#es_systemscfg-edits

Ok got it working. My issue and this doesn't seem to be stated directly, was that I linked the controller to my OS first. This is wrong. Do not connect to your gamepad to your actual device, connect it through the retropie set up only! Hopefully this will help others. :)