RetroPie forum home
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Home
    • Docs
    • Register
    • Login
    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Screen rotation for Retropie GUI

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Help and Support
    screen rotation
    20 Posts 9 Posters 18.8k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • eclark5483E
      eclark5483
      last edited by

      So I have a little project in the works since I had so much fun building the last Retropie setup.

      What I am planning on doing, is building a mini cocktail arcade. Project details can be found here: Mini Arcade project

      What this will hopefully end up looking like, is a miniaturized version of the arcade I built my son:

      What I am needing to do, is rotate the screen 90 degrees so that the GUI and of course games, will display correctly. I plan on only using MAME and no other emulators, so I am assuming screen rotation won't be much of an issue there, but I'm wondering about Retropie/Emulation Station itself. Will I need to code my own theme design for it to compensate, is rotation at all possible? Any help is appreciated, thanks.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • B
        blackshadow
        last edited by

        quick copy and paste from another site to save me writing it out lol

        Step 1 – Edit Config.txt

        Start by editing the config.txt file ether via the sd or with:

        sudo nano /boot/config.txt

        Add one of the following lines to the bottom of the file :

        display_rotate=0
        display_rotate=1
        display_rotate=2
        display_rotate=3
        0 is the normal configuration. 1 is 90 degrees. 2 is 180 degress. 3 is 270 degrees.
        If you are using the Official Raspberry Pi touch screen you can use “lcd_rotate” rather than “display_rotate”.

        Save the file by using CTRL-X, Y then ENTER.

        as the site you linked references the 7inch pi screen ill assume thats what your using you can use the lcd_rotate that is mentioned as apposed to display rotate

        P 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • eclark5483E
          eclark5483
          last edited by

          Cool, figured it was probably just a config edit. Now what about the themes themselves? Will rotating change the proportion ratio of the images? And will I need to modify that as well?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • B
            blackshadow
            last edited by

            i would suspect so but i dont personally mess with screen rotation myself in any of my projects though so cant really help in that regard

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • eclark5483E
              eclark5483
              last edited by

              Guess there is only one way to find out, and that's experiment with it. Think I'll do a standard install using the base carbon theme and see what I get. Probably play around with the source code as well. If I find something that works, I'll share that with the retropie team for others to use. If I can't figure it out, well, guess I could always just go with Raspian OS and install MAME that way. Would prefer retropie though, it's a neat little front end/OS.

              mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • mituM
                mitu Global Moderator @eclark5483
                last edited by

                @eclark5483 RetroPie is not an OS in itelf, it's based on Raspbian (Stretch), so you don't necessarily need to install Raspbian (again) over RetroPie.

                eclark5483E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • SanoS
                  Sano
                  last edited by Sano

                  Beware, IIRC, rotating screen 90° (or 270°) through display_rotate have a quite important performance impact.
                  That said, I don't know if it's still the case.
                  See here for example : https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/403#issuecomment-86962019

                  DougAD J 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • DougAD
                    DougA @Sano
                    last edited by

                    @sano I run MAME2003 games in a cabinet with a vertical screen, powered by a Pi 3B , and I haven't seen any performance issues yet.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • eclark5483E
                      eclark5483 @mitu
                      last edited by

                      @mitu Yes, I realize that. To clarify, I'd rather use the Raspian OS utilizing the Retropie/Emulationstation front end over just plain ole' Raspian without all the bells and whistles.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • J
                        jdrassa @Sano
                        last edited by

                        @sano said in Screen rotation for Retropie GUI:

                        Beware, IIRC, rotating screen 90° (or 270°) through display_rotate have a quite important performance impact.
                        That said, I don't know if it's still the case.
                        See here for example : https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/403#issuecomment-86962019

                        EmulationStation now has support for screen rotation to get around this. Details can be found here.

                        Get latest build of EmulationStation for Windows here

                        eclark5483E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • eclark5483E
                          eclark5483 @jdrassa
                          last edited by

                          @jdrassa One of the things I got from reading that, is that a new theme will indeed need to be made. Can someone point me to the correct folders and files I would need to modify, and what is the theme using? .CSS, .XML? C, etc,etc. Kinda like to research it a bit. Sorry if I'm not well versed in Pi frontends. But I can modify most formats without too much assist. I see many others have authored themes, so I am assuming changing aspects on a custom design wouldn't be too difficult.

                          mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • mituM
                            mitu Global Moderator @eclark5483
                            last edited by

                            @eclark5483 https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Creating-Your-Own-EmulationStation-Theme/

                            eclark5483E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • eclark5483E
                              eclark5483 @mitu
                              last edited by

                              @mitu said in Screen rotation for Retropie GUI:

                              @eclark5483 https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Creating-Your-Own-EmulationStation-Theme/

                              Yes, thank you, exactly what I was looking for. Exactly what I figured needed done as well. This is one of the reasons why I inquired in another topic about Retropie in a virtual machine and transferring files. Hey I love coding, great past time, but I prefer doing it on my Windows 10 PC where I have tools at my disposal that I'm more familiar with. I mean, I can squeak by just fine with Linux and all, guess I'm just spoiled by Redmond. But yeah, thanks for the help. I think I can press forward now.

                              mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • mituM
                                mitu Global Moderator @eclark5483
                                last edited by

                                @eclark5483 If you're developing on Windows, check out the ES Toolkit, ES runs also on Windows and you can pretty much do your development exclusively on the PC.

                                eclark5483E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • eclark5483E
                                  eclark5483 @mitu
                                  last edited by

                                  @mitu Thank you, downloading v1.1 right now. Will take a quick look at it tonight. I am only using 1 emulator (MAME), so at least my file structure won't be complex and tedious. I'll probably just do a simple mod of the carbon theme for what I need it for. Then maybe later on down the line when I get bored I'll look at completing other systems.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • eclark5483E
                                    eclark5483
                                    last edited by eclark5483

                                    Hey, can I add code to the ES screen that you get when you are configuring your joystick, to ask the user if they would like to rotate/switch resolution and have their selection sent to the correct theme (without needing source code)? Like I said, I'm just gonna mod the carbon code a bit, make it easier for a "per monitor", maybe add a couple other resolution variables that I wouldn't otherwise need but may prove helpful to others.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • SanoS
                                      Sano
                                      last edited by

                                      @DougA @jdrassa
                                      Thanks for the information guys.
                                      By reading the provided link, I understand that rotating screen via display_rotate (kernel/framebuffer) still has a performance impact, but now ES (as the various emulators do) supports vertical screen (through VG/GL) without this impact.
                                      Good to know.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • JSMJ
                                        JSM
                                        last edited by

                                        I know this is a necrobump, but I just wanted to say thanks for this. I was trying to run my Retropie in my Arcade1up Galaga cab vertically using that config.txt rotate optino, but the screen tearing was driving me nuts. Downloaded a fresh Retropie 4.5 image, installed the Dev version of Emulation station, and not everything is perfect (except the retropie configs/run command stuff that are rotated 90 degrees!) Seriously - thanks for bumping this thread and adding more info. It was very helpful.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • T
                                          treki
                                          last edited by

                                          I know, it's a old topic. But still an info:

                                          /boot/config.txt
                                          display_rotate=1

                                          works perfect.

                                          I also have to uncomment:

                                          disable_overscan=1

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • P
                                            peterisgb @blackshadow
                                            last edited by

                                            @blackshadow said in Screen rotation for Retropie GUI:

                                            quick copy and paste from another site to save me writing it out lol

                                            Step 1 – Edit Config.txt

                                            Start by editing the config.txt file ether via the sd or with:

                                            sudo nano /boot/config.txt

                                            Add one of the following lines to the bottom of the file :

                                            display_rotate=0
                                            display_rotate=1
                                            display_rotate=2
                                            display_rotate=3
                                            0 is the normal configuration. 1 is 90 degrees. 2 is 180 degress. 3 is 270 degrees.
                                            If you are using the Official Raspberry Pi touch screen you can use “lcd_rotate” rather than “display_rotate”.

                                            Save the file by using CTRL-X, Y then ENTER.

                                            as the site you linked references the 7inch pi screen ill assume thats what your using you can use the lcd_rotate that is mentioned as apposed to display rotate

                                            Thanks. This needs the thumbs up as all other routes didnt work. This. Yes. Thanks

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post

                                            Contributions to the project are always appreciated, so if you would like to support us with a donation you can do so here.

                                            Hosting provided by Mythic-Beasts. See the Hosting Information page for more information.