Updated EmulationStation for Windows

[AndrewH]

@mitu said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

It's not my build. Strangely how nobody reads the first post anymore ?
As for the upgrade, just give it a try, but move the existing es_config.txt out of the way (make a backup).

Doh!

I did actually read the first post, you know... just completely failed notice that it was posted by someone else.

Anyway, I got it working, as follows (for anyone interested);

• Renamed the existing Emulationstation folders
• Copied the extracted files from the link in the first post into a new Emulationstation folder at the same location the existing one had been at
• Backed up the .Emulationstation folder in my user directory
• Deleted es_input.cfg

When I tried to start it, I got "Missing VCRuntime140.dll" and "Missing MSVCR100.dll" errors. To fix them;

• Installed this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52685
• Installed this: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26999

And now it seems to be working - I can start it up, got the controller mapped, and can play games. Just one or two minor irritations;

• When selecting a system, it exits Emulationstation, displays a dos box for a few moments, and then launches retroarch with the rom. It's not a slick and seamless as RetroPie.
• The built in scraper isn't the best.

[mitu]

@andrewh said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

When selecting a system, it exits Emulationstation, displays a dos box for a few moments, and then launches retroarch with the rom. It's not a slick and seamless as RetroPie.

This depends on how you configured your 'run command' for the system. If the command is a .bat or .cmd file, then it will start a cmd.exe to run the command (hence the cli window).

The built in scraper isn't the best.

Use Universal XML scraper or Skraper to scrape on Windows, they're pretty nice.

[A Former User]

Skraper is great.

[ppuspfc]

Here I created a script for easy user of scraper on Windows:
https://github.com/Francommit/win10_emulation_station

[mitu]

@ppuspfc Nice ! Some time ago, somebody created a similar script, adding both ES and emulators in the the mix - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/13828/retropie-like-script-for-windows-7-8-and-10-retrocake.

[ppuspfc]

@mitu said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

@ppuspfc Nice ! Some time ago, somebody created a similar script, adding both ES and emulators in the the mix - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/13828/retropie-like-script-for-windows-7-8-and-10-retrocake.

The projects are similar I think. On the one I posted (and I am a contributor) you can set up EmulationStation entirley by running the specified script.

[jero]

@ruckage said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

@jero said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

I do not know if it works in pi, but in Windows the sounds do not work or at least I do not, it only works if I do not remember badly in the game selector screen only a sound effects

That's normal, there is only sound support in ES for the selector bar. The other sound effects I believe were either never implemented or removed in an earlier version of ES.

it would be a big thing to be able to implement those sounds in windows, I would not be programmed, if it was a safe programmer it would work. It would be a very good update

[PittStone]

I noticed that the preview videos (snaps) show several interlaced stripes. Is this due to the video player of emulation station? Can I somehow enable deinterlaced?

[lockescow]

Maybe I'm dumb here but I haven't been able to get the continuous build to work with my Windows 10 Home. I got ES 2.2.2.220 from jrassa github to work flawlessly, but when trying to upgrade to 2.7, continuous build crash immediately upon launch, with no output in es_log. For continuous, I can just download EmulationStation-Win32.zip and extract all its contents to C:\Program Files (x86)\EmulationStation and overwriting the old files, right? Is there anything I'm missing?

[mitu]

@lockescow The continuous build is 2.8-dev, not 2.7. What version did you use before and how are you starting the .exe ?

[lockescow]

@mitu I had the 2.0, then I downloaded the 2.2 EmulationStation-Win32.zip
from jrassa, extracted contents directly into C:\Program Files (x86)\EmulationStation and was able to get it working as 2.2 via desktop shortcut "C:\Program Files (x86)\EmulationStation\emulationstation.exe" --resolution 1280 720. When I tried to update via continuous build, I tried the same method extracting continuous build -win32.zip, but running the shortcut just doesn't do anything, looks like it's about to launch, but app fizzes out before reaching ES splash screen. I also tried launching continuous with a bat file with commands "set HOME=%~dp0
emulationstation.exe --windowed --resolution 1920 1080", which also didn't run ES. nothing gets written to es_log when ES crashes in either launch method.

[mitu]

I can launch the ES from the dev build as long as the %HOME% path contains a valid .emulationstation folder, with valid es_settings.cfg and other files. Where are your configuration files located ?

[lockescow]

I've launched 2.0 and 2.2 with all settings intact, so I don't think there's anything invalid with the current cfg and file structures. In anycase, I actually got 2.6 working with Flerp's 2.6.4 windows build, and that got the retrorama theme working, which actually was my only reason in wanting the upgrade. I'll stick with 2.6 for the time and may try again for a newer update in the future. Thanks for the attempted assist!

[duiz]

Did @jdrassa stop doing updates to the windows version? All i see now is a source code zip but no windows executable.

[mitu]

@duiz Where exactly are you looking ? The download link for the binary is in the 1st post .

[duiz]

The download binaries available now are from February, up until a few weeks ago there was a continuous build that was up to date with mainline RP.

[EctoOne]

hmm, @duiz is right. the version is 2.7.4 from february. I have 2.8.0 from Oct 27.

Edit: There still is this version, but I believe it has not the new datetime element.
This version has the datetime update but not the updated variables support.
I wasn't able to find the latest version on appveyor.

[lilbud]

@EctoOne said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

datetime element

What is this supposed to do? Replacement for releasedate?

[jdrassa]

@duiz There was an issue with the automated build process that updates the release assets on github. The latest should be available now. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

@lilbud said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

@EctoOne said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

datetime element

What is this supposed to do? Replacement for releasedate?

The datetime is the themeable element that is used to render the releasedate and lastplayed metadata. Previously, datetime was limited in its theme options compared to text. I recently rewrote it to support all of the same options as text, as well as exposing the ability to specify an output format (allowing for example to only display the year).

[EctoOne]

@lilbud As @jdrassa already said, yes. It was discussed here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3710/ability-to-just-show-year-for-release-date/11
There's also a link with the updated themes.md