Autostart function not working

[mitu]

@Razak If it's installed, then boot to Emulationstation, run the game and then use the Runcommand launch menu to choose stella as the default emulator for atari2600 system. You won't have to modify the autostart file, just leave it as is, runcommand will choose the correct emulator.

In stella, you can press Tab on the keyboard to access the configuration menu and map your inputs the way you want.

[Razak]

Hey @mitu
When you say boot to Emulationstation, do you mean through the GUI/booting up the pi as normal or through the commandline?

I was able to see the runcommand launch screen, like in the picture below a few days ago, but for some reason I can't anymore. I changed the runcommand on the Retropie-Setup back to

emulationstation #auto

[Clyde]

@Razak said in Autostart function not working:

Hey @mitu
When you say boot to Emulationstation, do you mean through the GUI/booting up the pi as normal or through the commandline?

Though I'm not @mitu, it shouldn't matter as long as you don't add custom commands to your autostart.sh.

I was able to see the runcommand launch screen, like in the picture below a few days ago, but for some reason I can't anymore.

Any chance that you've disabled it? See here how to check on that: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Runcommand/#configuring-runcommand

[Razak]

@mitu Nevermind. Just realized that the runcommand launch menu was disabled on Emulationstation.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU'RE AN ANGEL!!

[Razak]

@Clyde You too, Clyde! Thanks a million for your patience!!!

[Razak]

Wait, wait. I'm a bit confused.

After using the runcommand launch menu to choose stella as the default emulator for atari2600, do I have to go back to the retropie-setup menu to manually edit the autostart script of emulationstation?

I'm still not booting up to my game. I want for the pi to boot directly into the game and eliminate the emulationstation and/or retropie splash screens or console menus.

[mitu]

@Razak said in Autostart function not working:

do I have to go back to the retropie-setup menu to manually edit the autostart script of emulationstation?

if you disabled the auto-start line, then yes.

[Razak]

Ok, and should I manually edit the autostart script like so?

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0_SYS_ lr-stella ~/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/Yar_rev.bin

or

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0_SYS_ lr-stella ~/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/Yar_rev.bin

and do I need to eliminate the emulationstation #auto on the second line?

Can you confirm that I'm supposed to disable the auto-start line in which menu?

[Clyde]

Your first line has one error: There shouldn't be a ~ before /home/pi/…. In Linux, ~ stands for the home directory of the logged-in user, i.e. /home/pi in this case. So, ~/home/pi would expand to /home/pi/home/pi which is wrong. Is my explanation comprehensible? :)

Apart from that, both lines should work, since /home/pi/Retropie/… and ~/Retropie/… are interchangable.

If you keep emulationstation #auto after your custom line in the script, Emulation Station will be started when you exit the game. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Razak]

@Clyde Yes, now I understand much better! I inserted the line like so. and included the emulationstation #auto line at the bottom.

After re-booting–quitting out of emulationstation and the system, the pi will boot back into the retropie/emulation station menu.

I would it that after I interrupt the power on the pi (like, disconnect from the wall for example) that the pi boots directly into the Game and that I don't have to select the emulator/game. Is there a way to do this?

[Clyde]

@Razak said in Autostart function not working:

After re-booting–quitting out of emulationstation and the system, the pi will boot back into the retropie/emulation station menu.

Seems like that for some reason lr-stella doesn't start the game, or exits immediately, after which Emulation Station is started. You could look into /dev/shm/runcommand.log for any error messages.

Does the game start if you enter the line with lr-stella directly in Retropie's command console?

For further diagnoses, please show us the complete contents of your autostart.bat and, to check the validity of your path and file permissions of Yar_rev.bin, also the output of this command:

ls -l ~/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/Yar_rev.bin

[Razak]

Does the game start if you enter the line with lr-stella directly in Retropie's command console?

I get the 'launching screen/ press button to configure menu'

Where is /dev/shm/runcommand.log and autostart.bat?

[Clyde]

And what happens after the Runcommand menu (i.e. the "launching screen") is shown?

/dev/shm/runcommand.log is the full path of the file. The first / marks the top of the directory tree in Linux. There's nothing "above" it in the directory hierarchy.

Sorry, I meant autostart.sh (shame on me for involuntarily typing a Windows file extension 😳 ). It is located at /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh.

In the Retropie console, you can display these files easily by adding a cat before them, i.e. cat /dev/shm/runcommand.log, or copy them to your home directory via cp /dev/shm/runcommand.log /home/pi and cp ./opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh /home/pi, if you have better access to that location over the network or otherwise.

edit: I'm going to sleep now. "See" you tomorrow.

[Razak]

I get this on the cat /dev/shm/runcommand.log

Executing: stella
/opt.retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh: line 1002: stella: command not found

[Razak]

With /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh
I get:

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0_SYS_ stella /RetroPi/roms/atari2600/Yar_rev.bin

It's supposed to be /RetroPie/roms/atari, right?

[Clyde]

As a last quick post before bedtime …

• Why stella and not lr-stella? The error clearly says that it can't find a command named stella. You should look into that.
• The path to the rom should begin with either /home/pi/RetroPie/… or ~/RetroPie/…. Your path is missing the ~ at the beginning.

Good night. 😴

[Razak]

Hi @Clyde

Hope you had a restful weekend.

I'm trying this again with another Pi.
-Have not yet installed Stella on this one. I'm doubting whether that was necessary?
-I dropped the ROM into /retropie/roms/atari2600/Yar_rev.bin
-I manually edited the autostart script in Retro-Pie Setup to this:

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0_SYS_ atari2600 /home/pi/retropie/roms/atari2600/Yar_rev.bin

I performed a reboot to the system and when booting back-up I get a screen that states 'launching Yar_rev....press any key to configure'

I press a key and get to a menu where I can setup video. If I press 'Launch' I'm sent back to the Retropie GUI menu. If I don't press any keys, I'm set back to the Retropie GUI menu.

The runcommand log; cat /dev/sh/runcommand.logsays this:

Parameters:
Executing: Atari 2600
/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh: line: 1002 atari2600: command not found

So the pi knows and attempts to boot into the game, but something happens int the process that makes it crash? Any thoughts on what that may be?

[mitu]

@Razak You mis-spelled the autostart line - there should be a space between the 0 and the _SYS_.

[Razak]

@mitu Ok, just added the space.

And still getting the same results where the runcommand displays a screen like the pic below:

And so, now, cat /dev/shm/runcommand.log gives me these results:

Parameters:
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretocores/lr-stella2014/stella2014_libreto.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/atari2600/retroarch.cfg "home/pi/retropie/roms/atari2600/Yarrev.bin" appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg
Failed to open /home/pi/retropie/roms/atari2600/Yarrev.bin: No such file or directory

By the way, I changed the name of the ROM from Yar_rev.bin to Yarrev.bin out of suspicion that it may have to do with the way the autostart script is failing. Is the runcommand log telling me I need to get lr-stella2014 or that I need to configure something in retroarch?

[mitu]

@Razak said in Autostart function not working:

By the way, I changed the name of the ROM from Yar_rev.bin to Yarrev.bin out of suspicion that it may have to do with the way the autostart script is failing. Is the runcommand log telling me I need to get lr-stella2014 or that I need to configure something in retroarch?

Linux is case sensitive, so if the filename doesn't match exactly, then the file cannot be found. The error message is pretty clear - the file is not where you tell the emulator it is.
Please post the complete command line.