Is there any way to lock down retropie?

Capeman

@dunginhawk Yes, i recommend what @lostless says.

It's very easy to disable specific hot key commands (such as retroarch menu and reset) from the controller while still keeping the hotkey functionality for exiting.

Simply navigate to this folder:
/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads

Open the file that corresponds with the controller you want to remove the hot key functions from

Inside that file you'll see settings that looks like this;

input_device = "USB gamepad           "
input_driver = "udev"
input_r_btn = "5"
input_save_state_btn = "5"
input_start_btn = "9"
input_exit_emulator_btn = "9"
input_l_btn = "4"
input_load_state_btn = "4"
input_up_axis = "-1"
input_a_btn = "1"
input_b_btn = "2"
input_reset_btn = "2"
input_down_axis = "+1"
input_right_axis = "+0"
input_state_slot_increase_axis = "+0"
input_x_btn = "0"
input_menu_toggle_btn = "0"
input_select_btn = "8"
input_enable_hotkey_btn = "8"
input_y_btn = "3"
input_left_axis = "-0"
input_state_slot_decrease_axis = "-0"

Simply # out any functions you want to disable from hotkey activation.

Retroarch menu corresponds to input_menu_toggle. I'd also recommend removing save state functions and RESET for kids, they would get confused if the game suddenly backtracked for or jumped to the title screen for no discernible reason.

And you can switch the exit emulator button to something a little harder to press if you choose, i usually do select + L since that's a weird feeling on the left hand thats less likely to be pressed than start+select. But that's personal preference.

ohmycommodore

Can a triple button press be set up? High degree of difficulty and therefore less chance of being selected accidentally. My use case is a system that I use, turn on and let my kids use on occasion, insist on shutting down myself, and when necessary I (and I alone) drop into something advanced like RP config or into menus.

In other words, if it's an interesting discussion... what's the best balance of protection vs not disabling things so completely that it's a hassle?

lostless

@capeman actually I would leave reset, it's absolutely needed for one game in the world and one game only. X-men on genesis/mega drive. Can't beat the game without it.
Maybe 2 games. x-men 2 on genesis/mega drive it's used to select the character in the opening level.

cyperghost

@hex @BuZz
chattr -R +i to

/etc/emulationstation/
/opt/retropie/configs/
.... other folders???

Will surly lock files from changing

pjft

@capeman this is exactly how @Zigurana 's kids mode works.

As for your hack to lock down the ES menus, how do you exit ES? Do you have an external shutdown switch or something? That sounds like a big roadblock, or am I missing something obvious?

ohmycommodore

Hang on, is it possible at all to simply set a password, and protect some of these things that way? Then they don't need oddball multiple button presses, etc. In my head it's still about keeping things open for who they need to be open for... the "admin" essentially. Closed for the rest who wouldn't (and shouldn't) have the password.

lostless

@pjft basically the way that @Capeman is recommending locks down the system per controller. If you always use the same controllers, you can lock those down and have a another controller or keyboard ,that isn't locked down and use that to shut Down or restart. Or even adjust retroarch setting. The only thing that you still can't get to is the retropie menu without editing the essystems.cfg from a computer or using a keyboard on the pie and manually edit it from there. That's

Capeman

@pjft said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

@capeman this is exactly how @Zigurana 's kids mode works.

As for your hack to lock down the ES menus, how do you exit ES? Do you have an external shutdown switch or something? That sounds like a big roadblock, or am I missing something obvious?

I put a posted above with a couple videos to solve this issue. One of them is the GPIO shutdown button and the other is a way to add a shutdown/reset menu as a system to the carousel. These method's do effectively kill the ability to shutdown, as a powerblock user i kind of take that for granted, haha.

I haven't tried @Zigurana's kid's settting, only mostly because I usually stick to the officially updatable version of ES. Is his version merged with favorites/collections? I'm hooked on those now, haha.

HurricaneFan

@capeman If you own the necessary hardware, it makes sense to use your approach. :)

Capeman

@HurricaneFan
Doing this shutdown method wouldn't require anything extra, set this up before disabling everything else and ES would be pretty kid friendly.

@capeman said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

There are also lots of demos online of people setting up a "system" on the carousel. Here's one i found on youtube:

Hex

I think we can do better if there is a need for Shutdown system

Capeman

@hex said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

I think we can do better if there is a need for Shutdown system

What about a single ES lock code that would:

deactivated the start/select options menus, making just a shutdown option if start is pressed.
Hides the "retropie" system on the carousel
locks add/remove favorites command
Disable runcommand (this might be harder to do since this option isn't integrated into ES)

Activated by pressing select 10 times or something similar. Pressing select 10 times again would restore the unlocked state.

Zigurana

Hi guys,
There was something very similar to this in the kid-mode ui branch of ES I build ages ago (terribly outdated by now, I'm afraid).
It featured the hiding of menu items, systems, and games. It unlocked via the Konami code.
There were two locked modes: kiosk (hiding all configuration menus, but showing all games) and kid (hiding menus and showing only white-listed games).
My plan is still to bring that to the main ES branch, which should be easier to do, now the filtering is in place. However, I want to have the theming refactoring done first, because that would make the theming implementation much cleaner (ie. Not breaking ES when running older themes).

dunginhawk

capeman thats exactly what I would love to see... while the workarounds you mentioned arent hard, it would be much easier to have a button combo or 10 presses etc... would be a great option.

lostless

I was thinking that we can somehow make the retropie menu into a custom collection. So that way only the golden controllers (the ones programmed without restrictions) and a keyboard can easily turn it off and on. I will have to test and see if I can get a solution to work.

pjft

@lostless That would be quite ingenious.

I'm not sure that will work, I am very much under the impression that I don't allow stuff from the RetroPie menu to show in some collections - at least Last Played.

Do give it a go and see how it goes. :)

lostless

no go and i realized that custom collections relies on the run command commands from the es_systems.cfg to work. i made a retro pie custom collection, but having a system that is now hidden won't work. still thinking how it can be done. I'm no coder.