Custom Splashscreen in x86 Retropie on Ubuntu 16.04

abontherun

Hello, this is my first post here. I did a search all over this site and the Internet to see if there was a solution for this and couldn't find anything. All I could find was editing Plymouth so if this is common knowledge or in the wrong location please delete this I apologize.

The feature to add a custom splash-screen video is not currently built-in to the x86 flavor of Retropie. Also, I had difficulty auto starting Retropie after playing a video first in a bash script. Emulationstation would load after the video but fail to play emulators. This fix is kinda rough but works for me and allowed me to add a custom video to my friend's arcade machine and also allow me to play the emulators. So here is what I did to add my own splash screen video and boot into Retropi on startup. I am using Retropi x86 on Ubuntu 16.04.

First I made a little bash script that looks like this:

#!/bin/bash
#hides the menubar and desktop
gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar
#Plays video in VLC then exits. Replace quoted part with your video's location.
vlc --play-and-exit --fullscreen "/home/bill/Documents/ChopSueyRPI720.mp4"
#starts Retropie
gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar -e emulationstation

Create this file in a text editor and save it as yourfilename.sh

Go to the terminal and give it executable privileges by using:

sudo chmod +e yourfilename.sh

Now, go to the search on your Ubuntu sidebar and type/find startup applications icon.

Click the add button and select the location of yourfilename.sh

Restart your computer and you should be good to go.

Maybe put in a custom wallpaper because that could be visible during startup.

When you quit Emulationstation you will see a fullscreen terminal window. Just type "exit" to return to the desktop.

I know this is kinda rough but if anyone has a better way or could improve my script I would be very happy to hear it.

numlocks

Thank you so much for this. Not sure why splash screens are not supported on the x86 version out of the box but this helped me a lot.

I did make a few changes, mainly to have the splash screen play, while Emulationstation loaded in the background.

I also had to go into VLC's settings and set it to always be on top. Tools >> Preferences. Select "All" under "Show Settings" (located at the bottom.) Select Video, then check mark "Always on top"

Here is my modified script:

#!/bin/bash
#hides the menubar and desktop
#gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar

#starts Retropie
gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar -e emulationstation &

#Plays video in VLC then exits. Replace quoted part with your video's location.
vlc --play-and-exit --fullscreen "/home/username/Documents/splash.mp4"

numlocks

Update. So this doesn't really work consistently (the changes I made...) but I'll leave it there for anyone wanting to see if they can fix it. It works some of the time for me but not everytime the system boots up...

bigbill1013

Is this under any dev. for x86 version or is this dead topic

bigbill1013

@bigbill1013 Can i get some help from abontherun or numlocks if avail to explain i am a noob at x86 and would like to add my own custom splash please ... Also i just want splash at start of retropie . I don't auto start retropie i use my Ubuntu

MrCoolSpan

okay i have mode you script a bit
im using ubuntu 19-04 x64
make a folder named splashscreens in $HOME/RetroPie and put all your videos in that folder
put this in you script
chmod 755 you script

this script plays a random video form this folder and load emulation station
the only isuse i have whit this is it show a little splash screen on top of video that emulation station is load-et, but it diapers ;)

 #!/bin/bash
#hides the menubar and desktop
#gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar
#starts Retropie
gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar -- emulationstation &


#Plays video in VLC then exits. Replace quoted part with your video's location.
vlc --random --play-and-stop --play-and-exit --fullscreen --video-on-top --no-video-title-show "$HOME/RetroPie/splashscreens"

exit