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    Announcing Pegasus Frontend

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Ideas and Development
    frontendpegasusc++developmentqml
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    • BuZzB
      BuZz administrators @fluffypillow
      last edited by

      @fluffypillow assuming people are launching via runcommand, it can launch a bash script before/after launching a game - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Runcommand/#runcommand-onstart-and-runcommand-onend-scripts

      To help us help you - please make sure you read the sticky topics before posting - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • fluffypillowF
        fluffypillow
        last edited by

        I've ended up implementing it (for cross platform support and because why not), it's now available in the alpha. The relevant directories are game-start and game-end; you can add scripts just like for the other events.

        Note that unlike the runcommand method, the scripts Pegasus calls do not receive any additional information (at least, not at the moment).

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        • AndersHPA
          AndersHP @fluffypillow
          last edited by AndersHP

          This post is deleted!
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          • D
            dudleydes @fluffypillow
            last edited by

            @fluffypillow Thanks for implementing this so quickly.

            I have updated Pegasus and I am now running version pegasus-frontend alpha3-36-ge792314. I have removed ; sudo killall >/dev/null xboxdrv from autostart.sh and restarted my Pi.

            I created a script kill-xboxdrv.sh in the game-start folder with the following contents:

            #!/bin/bash
            sudo killall >/dev/null xboxdrv
            

            Then I created a script start-xboxdrv.sh in the game-end folder with the following contents:

            #!/bin/bash
            sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv --detach-kernel-driver --mimic-xpad -s >/dev/null
            

            I have made both scripts executable.

            Now when I launch a rom in lr-mame2003, no text appears informing which controller is configured. Checking the processes running using top, xboxdrv is being killed and retroarch is running without it but it doesn't seem to be picking up the PS3 controller config.

            fluffypillowF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • fluffypillowF
              fluffypillow @dudleydes
              last edited by

              @dudleydes so the scripting part works correctly (kills xboxdrv before the game, restarts on end), but RetroArch does not recognize the PS controller? And everything works fine using ES2?
              Hm, Pegasus should not "own" the devices or deny access to them... I wonder how RetroArch detects controllers...

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              • D
                dudleydes @fluffypillow
                last edited by

                @fluffypillow I've had a further look at this and I believe the issue is with configuring xboxdrv rather the Pegasus frontend.

                If I run cat /proc/bus/input/devices with the setup above, then the virtual Xbox 360 pad appears as js0 with no sign of the PS3 controller.

                In my xboxdrv configurations for the Doom ports, I include the following flag

                --evdev /dev/input/by-id/usb-Sony_PLAYSTATION_R_3_Controller-event-joystick
                

                If I include this in autostart.sh, then the PS3 controller appears when I run cat /proc/bus/input/devices as js0 while the virtual Xbox 360 pad is js1. Of course, this means I can't use my PS3 controller in Pegasus though the controller is fine in lr-mame2003.

                I'll take a further look at the xboxdrv documentation to see if there is a way of making the virtual Xbox 360 pad js0 while Pegasus is running and reverting to js1 when a emulator is launched.

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                • D
                  dudleydes @fluffypillow
                  last edited by dudleydes

                  @fluffypillow I have managed to get the PS3 controller working in Pegasus and in emulators using the Linux Joystick Mapper. I have used this utility previously to map the mouse to the left analogue stick and face buttons for use in DOSBox. It doesn't use jsX assignments but creates extra events for each mapping in /dev/input/.

                  I will write up some documentation in the wiki on how I set this up but I would like to do some more testing before I do so.

                  I have mapped the arrow keys, Enter and Esc. Are there any other keystrokes in Pegasus I should be aware of?

                  While I am here, I am impressed with the flixnet theme. In the built-in theme, I get icons appearing in the RetroPie menu but when I switch to flixnet theme, they don't appear. Could you advise how I can get images to appear in this theme?

                  Also, if I add roms or add images/metadata, what is the best way for these to appear in Pegasus without rebooting? In ES2, I have the option to restart ES.

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                  • fluffypillowF
                    fluffypillow
                    last edited by

                    @dudleydes here's the current input scheme:

                    Keyboard Gamepad Effect
                    arrows dpad navigation
                    enter Cross select/ok
                    escape Circle cancel/back
                    ctrl Square filter menu (used in the main theme)
                    A or Q L1 or L2 previous platform (used in the main theme)
                    E or D R1 or R2 next platform (used in the main theme)

                    For some operations multiple keys/buttons are provided to support multiple layouts and play styles.

                    when I switch to flixnet theme, they don't appear

                    That sounds like a bug, will take a look on it.

                    restart

                    A hotkey for reloading the theme was planned, but yeah a whole restart might be useful too.

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                    • fluffypillowF
                      fluffypillow
                      last edited by

                      Or maybe a "Rescan" option.

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                      • fluffypillowF
                        fluffypillow
                        last edited by

                        @dudleydes the Flixnet theme didn't show the RetroPie icons because it was set to only show the "grid icon" picture. I've just added support for the box art image, which should now show up instead if there's no grid icon. The result isn't as nice, but I guess it's better than having no image at all.

                        0_1503592331795_Screenshot from 2017-08-24 18-31-44.png

                        lilbudL D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • lilbudL
                          lilbud @fluffypillow
                          last edited by

                          @fluffypillow What do you use to scrape the images for Pegasus? I'll have games with scraped art that show up as nothing.

                          Creator of the Radiocade: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6077/radiocade

                          Backlog: http://backloggery.com/lilbud

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                          • fluffypillowF
                            fluffypillow
                            last edited by

                            @lilbud I've used Universal XML Scraper to get the box art images, then added the -boxFront suffix to the files (with the linux tool rename) and moved them all into <romdir>/media. Similarly did the same for the logo, screenshot and video files. The "grid icons" (wide images used by eg. Steam/Ice) are from consolegrid.com, for which I've manually wrote a simple scraper. I'm also using the files from https://github.com/mattrixk/es-toolkit for testing as well.

                            If you have troubles loading some images, make sure they have the right suffix. If ES can show the box art of a game, it should also work in Pegasus; if not, that's likely a bug.

                            HurricaneFanH lilbudL 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • HurricaneFanH
                              HurricaneFan @fluffypillow
                              last edited by

                              @fluffypillow One thing with ES though is it doesn't need a suffix to show an image. My gamelist has box art and videos in ES and they are the exact name as my rom. Just with a .png or .mp4 extension.

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                              • lilbudL
                                lilbud @fluffypillow
                                last edited by

                                @fluffypillow said in Announcing Pegasus Frontend:

                                The "grid icons" (wide images used by eg. Steam/Ice) are from consolegrid.com

                                consolegrid.com is somewhat dead, try using retrogaming.cloud

                                Creator of the Radiocade: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6077/radiocade

                                Backlog: http://backloggery.com/lilbud

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                                • fluffypillowF
                                  fluffypillow
                                  last edited by fluffypillow

                                  @HurricaneFan yup, that's also supported; suffix-less media/<romname>.png/jpg maps to the box front image, and video files to -- oh, looks like I've actually forgot that, thanks. ES loads whatever it sees in the image/video tag; Pegasus too can read the same XML files, which is why if an asset works in ES, it should work in Pegasus as well.

                                  @lilbud indeed it is, but its interface was easier to work with and I was lazy.

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                                  • D
                                    dudleydes @fluffypillow
                                    last edited by

                                    @fluffypillow Thanks for the info. I have updated the mapper file so that I can switch between themes and navigate them with my controller.

                                    I have also updated the flixnet theme and the RetroPie menu icons now appear. I used ImageMagick to resize the icons to a 16:9 aspect ratio. @HurricaneFan I can confirm that gamelists and boxart from ES2 work fine without any further work.

                                    On exiting Pegasus, there is a segmentation fault and the error evdevkeyboard: Failed to query led states in the lastrun.log. I don't know if this is an issue.

                                    I would like to play around with themes as I would prefer to have box art in the flixnet theme rather than grid icons. Do you have any links that may be useful to get to grips with QML?

                                    Finally what does Live Theme Reload refer to? And how do I get the clock in the corner?

                                    fluffypillowF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • fluffypillowF
                                      fluffypillow @dudleydes
                                      last edited by

                                      @dudleydes "On exiting Pegasus, there is a segmentation fault": yeah it's quite annoying, but luckily not critical. Some underlying component seems to crash at exit sometimes; I'd suspect one of the GStreamer plugins. I'll see if I can find out what fails exactly.

                                      Personally I've found most QML guides somewhat lacking/incomplete (at least if you wish to build a full program from the ground up), but the language isn't hard and you can get the hang of it after a while. There's a short tutorial here and a longer one here (mainly chapters 4-6), and the QML documentation is useful as well when you have to look up a component. In practice you won't need to know that much to create a simple theme, but you can also make it very fancy if you wish.

                                      Live Theme Reload

                                      Well I've planned to add a function to reload the current theme on a key press (eg. F5), but I haven't implemented it yet.

                                      And how do I get the clock in the corner?

                                      Heh yeah that's still missing, I'll start experimenting with it the weekend.

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                                      • D
                                        dudleydes @fluffypillow
                                        last edited by

                                        @fluffypillow Thanks for the links. Can I use Qt Creator on my Linux Mint desktop to create a theme?

                                        No rush on the Theme Reload or the clock. I think learning QML will keep me occupied.

                                        fluffypillowF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • fluffypillowF
                                          fluffypillow @dudleydes
                                          last edited by

                                          @dudleydes sure, I'm using Qt Creator too, it works really well for Qt/QML projects.

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                                          • fluffypillowF
                                            fluffypillow
                                            last edited by

                                            Weekly recap:

                                            • added support for calling scripts before and after launching a game
                                            • added support for suffix-less video file assets
                                            • the Flixnet theme can now use box art images

                                            Other than that, I was tidying up the source code; this should make it easier to read, extend and test it in the future.

                                            D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
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