es_input.cfg wont update; retroarch autoconfigs not created - error saving manually

icebear81

Linux 4.9.35-v7+
Setup Script: Version 4.5.3

pi@retropie-cdaze:~/RetroPie-Setup $ git show
commit bad854f4c1e1ce155cf9c8b6b4c20c415ddc1e0c
Author: Jools Wills <buzz@exotica.org.uk>
Date:   Thu Nov 21 09:41:14 2019 +0000

    amiberry - fix the "make clean" for capsimg by moving to after configure stage

I don't know if these are related, but I'm having trouble finding more reference to possible causes fixes

When I add a new gamepad and configure it, all works until I come out of game back into ES. At that point the gamepad stops working. I've narrowed it down to the gamepad does not get written to es_input.cfg. I have noticed that it is referenced in es_temporaryinput.cfg. If I copy that entry over, the gamepad continues to work after coming back to ES.

I thought it was a file perm, but It doesnt appear to be:

pi@retropie-cdaze:~/.emulationstation $ ls -la
total 232
drwxr-xr-x 6 pi pi  4096 Jan  6 03:20 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 pi pi  4096 Jan  6 03:17 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 pi pi  4096 Jan 13  2018 collections
drwxr-xr-x 3 pi pi  4096 Jan 13  2018 downloaded_images
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi  4871 Jan  5 14:42 es_input.cfg
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi  2097 Nov 30 05:45 es_input.cfg.20191129.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi  2314 Nov 30 06:38 es_input.cfg.20191130.working.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi  1577 Nov 26 04:16 es_input.cfg.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 87306 Jan  6 15:06 es_log.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 91962 Jan  6 03:19 es_log.txt.bak
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi  2407 Jan  6 15:06 es_settings.cfg
-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi    47 Jan  6 02:58 es_temporaryinput.cfg

In addition, ES does not create retroarch autoconfigs for these controllers. At first I thought it was unrelated, but Im leaning towards this being a bi-product of the es config not properly saving.

Ive also stepped through https://docs.libretro.com/guides/joypad-autoconfiguration/ to try manually create the autoconf file. After doing the Bind All and trying to save I get "error saving autoconfig file"

Again, checking directory permissions:

pi@retropie-cdaze:/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch $ ls -la
total 64
drwxr-xr-x 16 pi pi 4096 Nov 30 06:42 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 pi pi 4096 Jan  6 03:17 ..
drwxr-xr-x  2 pi pi 4096 Jan  6 03:07 autoconfig

Luckily I've found the autoconfig templates for the gamepads that are troublesome (TOMEE NES USB and Mayflash MegaDrive USB) . Manually adding those to the autoconf directory seems to work. After adding these retroarch does load them when in retroarch config menu.

Granted, I've manually found work arounds to get these controllers into the system and working as desired, but I would love to get to the root of the issue.

If any one has any ideas how to troubleshoot/rectify this it would be grand. Even this was also some known edge case bug, that would at least put my OCD to rest as I am able to workaround it up till this point.

mitu

Please add more info about your system, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

What version of EmulationStation are you running ?

icebear81

Pi Model or other hardware: 3B+
Power Supply used: CANAKIT
Built From: Retropie Site Image
EmulationStation

EmulationStation, a graphical front-end for ROM browsing.
Written by Alec "Aloshi" Lofquist.
Version 2.7.6rp, built Nov 26 2019 - 18:33:22

mitu

Built From: Retropie Site Image

It looks like you're using an older image - based on Raspbian Jessie and no Raspbian Stretch. Is that correct ?
Can you check the /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/configscripts folder and see if the input configuration scripts are there ?

icebear81

correct, Im on an older version w/ Jessie. There was a bit of a catastrophe once when I did a kernel upgrade.

That directory referenced does not appear to exist.

pi@retropie-cdaze:/opt $ ls -la /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/
total 5424
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 Nov 26 18:39 .
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root    4096 Nov 30 06:14 ..
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 5514964 Nov 26 18:39 emulationstation
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root     444 Nov 26 18:39 emulationstation.sh

I wonder if those config scripts missing are the reason. I was hoping that there was something that might have been twisted that I could unravel to keep this working ...

mitu

@icebear81 said in es_input.cfg wont update; retroarch autoconfigs not created - error saving manually:

I wonder if those config scripts missing are the reason. I was hoping that there was something that might have been twisted that I could unravel to keep this working ...

Yes, that's the reason your input configuration from EmulationStation is not creating any RetroArch/Mupen64plus/Reicast/etc input configuration. There should be a scripts folder that takes care of that and which contains some scripts used in a post-configuration step.

You probably have seen the message that says Jessie is not supported anymore, right ?

icebear81

yes, Ive seen it a few times ;) .... I had a system meltdown during the upgrade, so Ive been limping.
Thanks for the dianosis, Ill maybe try to full upgrade or try to backpost those scripts in

mitu

Did you try to update from source the EmulationStation package ?

icebear81

I did not, I only tried the retropie 'FULL UPDATE' and it went south.
Are you suggessting run just the ES update from the package config ..that sounds like a plan if so

mitu

@icebear81 said in es_input.cfg wont update; retroarch autoconfigs not created - error saving manually:

Are you suggessting run just the ES update from the package config

Yes, re-try the source installation (since binaries are no longer available for Raspbian Jessie).

icebear81

Thanks will report back once I compile, verify, test it .. appreciate it!

mitu

@icebear81 Well, even if it works, you're still running on an unsupported system. Is there a reason you don't want to upgrade ?

icebear81

Cause the last time I tried, I suffered some pain ... I will probably end up doing something from the ground up soon as, what Im think you are implying, the pain in not upgrading will continue to get worse ;)

mitu

@icebear81 Upgrading in place is not a recommended approach - you should backup your settings, ROMs and BIOS files and reinstall from the latest image (based on Raspbian Strech).

icebear81

@mitu I know -- I need to bite the bullet and upgrade.

BAD NEWS -- source update failed.

Could not successfully build emulationstation - EmulationStation - Frontend used by RetroPie for launching emulators (/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/emulationstation not found).

Found this: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10467/solved-error-updating-es-from-source ... but didnt help me.

I did however find the referenced config scripts (probably from the original build) here:

/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/emulationstation/configscripts

and copying them over, ES gamepad config saves to es_input and makes retroarch autoconf files ..... GOOD NEWS

Second piece of less BAD NEWS ... if I go into retroarch, change device index to the newly found gamepad, and SAVE AUTOCONFIG, I still get the "Error Saving AutoConf file" message. If you have any idea, that would be great, otherwise, this is probably as close to getting this back in order as I'll have till I can do the upgrade.

Thanks

mitu

@icebear81 said in es_input.cfg wont update; retroarch autoconfigs not created - error saving manually:

Found this: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10467/solved-error-updating-es-from-source ... but didnt help me.

I don't know if that's relevant - from the topic it looks like it's failing to compile from the lack of available memory. The full log should be available in $HOME/RetroPie-Setup/logs/, timestamped and zipped.

icebear81

Yeah, wasnt sure if that was relevant, it was the only reference to the same error> looking through the log, I didnt really see anything ... BUT its more or less working .. great call in checking the scripts

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Installing 'emulationstation' : EmulationStation - Frontend used by RetroPie for launching emulators
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

‘/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/CREDITS.md’ -> ‘/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/CREDITS.md’
‘/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/emulationstation’ -> ‘/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/emulationstation’
‘/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/emulationstation.sh’ -> ‘/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/emulationstation.sh’
‘/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/GAMELISTS.md’ -> ‘/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/GAMELISTS.md’
‘/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/README.md’ -> ‘/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/README.md’
/home/pi
Could not successfully install EmulationStation - Frontend used by RetroPie for launching emulators (/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/tmp/build/emulationstation/resources not found).

Log ended at: Mon  6 Jan 20:51:25 UTC 2020
Total running time: 0 hours, 16 mins, 22 secs

mitu

Try updating your RetroPie script and re-installing again, see if it works this time.

BuZz

Just to note I only reluctantly accepted the change from @mitu (Because we already had a workaround for Jessie in this file, but we may remove things like this later) - you need to upgrade at least to Stretch - Jessie support was dropped ages ago and we can't guarantee stuff will work. Certainly you shouldn't try and update from RetroPie-Setup (after this time to get emulation station working).

You should also backup, so you can roll back your system if needed. I won't be accepting any more fixes for Jessie.

icebear81

@BuZz Im not tracking, was there some fix that was submitted? I was just looking for some help unwinding an issue, I would have fought this thing to submission even after an upgrade, as I just want to know what is going on under the hood - but thats just my OCD.