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    Running ROMs from a Network Share

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion and Gaming
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    • XyberDAWGX
      XyberDAWG
      last edited by

      I have been racking my brain. I switched from USB to Network share. I have followed everything in the guide, and in this thread. everything mounts properly, I can see everything when I enter the terminal on my RetroPie, or via SSH.

      Even viewing the Samba Share via windows Explorer.

      But when emulationstation starts, it hangs at checking system config. it will not move past that. I have verified the es_systems.cfg it is all proper, and matches my rom paths exactly.

      there doesnt seem to be any logs, i check every log i can think of for emulationstation and they are all blank.

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

        @XyberDAWG said in Running ROMs from a Network Share:

        But when emulationstation starts, it hangs at checking system config. it will not move past that. I have verified the es_systems.cfg it is all proper, and matches my rom paths exactly.

        Start Emulationstation with the --debug option and post the log you get - in a new topic please where you add the info about your system as requested in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • snydeaS
          snydea @BuZz
          last edited by

          @BuZz said in Running ROMs from a Network Share:

          I avoid using fstab also, and just add the mount to the /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh script (4.0 feature)

          cat /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh

          sudo mount -t cifs -o username=something,password=something //nas/retropie /home/pi/RetroPie
          kodi #auto
          emulationstation #auto
          

          Maybe it is a stupid question but what username has to be put in? The User, i use as a User on my pi? Or the User on the Server?

          BuZzB ClydeC 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • BuZzB
            BuZz administrators @snydea
            last edited by

            @snydea the user for the share on your server.

            To help us help you - please make sure you read the sticky topics before posting - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • ClydeC
              Clyde @snydea
              last edited by Clyde

              @snydea For a better understanding, the username and password is needed to log into the NAS. You don't need the local username and password, because you're already logged in locally when you are in the text console (edit) the autostart already runs as the local user. sudo may ask for your local user's password, however, to gain temporary administrative rights to mount the remote share locally. (It will store the passwort for a short time, so subsequent sudo commands may not ask for it again. edit: And on the official RetroPie image, its password request is disabled alltogether.)

              I hope I could make myself intelligible. :) I always find it better to understand something than to just know the necessary actions.

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

                A much better way (for me) is using overlay file system, that way even if it can't connect to my server I can still play the games stored locally on the pi.

                I have all the MAME ROM's on a share on my Windows PC, and this is what I put in autostart.sh:

                (sudo mount -t cifs //10.88.44.17/Emu /net/emu -o username=Guest,guest,forceuid,uid=pi,ro,nounix,vers=3.0 && sudo mount -t overlay overlay -o lowerdir=/net/emu/Mame/roms,upperdir=/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade,workdir=/home/pi/overlay.work /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade ) &
                emulationstation #auto

                Everything starting with ( and ending with & is supposed to go on one line.

                Now it will mount the Windows share on my desktop 10.88.44.17/Emu in /net/emu (you need to create an empty directory there first), and I have all my MAME roms under Mame/roms under that share, and then it will underpin what was already in RetroPie/roms/arcade and when you make changes it gets written to that directory, but it can access all the files from my server, which is mounted read-only.

                Because I do the mounting in a "( ) &" subshell, it will run in the background and not prevent or slow down the normal startup if the server can't be reached.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • H
                  heythereharpo
                  last edited by

                  Re: Running ROMs from a Network Share

                  I am trying to mount in autostart.sh using the following command:

                  sudo mount -t cifs -o vers=1.0,username=roms,password=password,nounix,noserverino //192.168.0.5/roms /home/pi/RetroPie/roms
                  

                  When I run this manually from the shell it works fine, but when I put it in autostart.sh it doesn't work (the roms directory is empty).

                  Suggestions on how to debug this?

                  ClydeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • ClydeC
                    Clyde @heythereharpo
                    last edited by Clyde

                    @heythereharpo A more elegant way to mount shares on startup would be to use the /etc/fstab. See here for one of the many how-tos on the web:

                    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MountWindowsSharesPermanently

                    Suggestions on how to debug this?

                    Put a > /home/pi/mount.log behind the command to save its output into the text file mount.log in the user pi's home directory.

                    A single > will overwrite the file every time. Use >> to append the output to an existing file.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ClydeC
                      Clyde
                      last edited by

                      Even more convenient could be to let the share be auto-mounted on access to the local mount point, either using autofs or systemd. 😎

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • H
                        heythereharpo
                        last edited by heythereharpo

                        Thanks @Clyde , I went the SystemD option. I found this page very helpful in addition to the ones you shared: https://michlstechblog.info/blog/systemd-mount-examples-for-cifs-shares/

                        Sharing this info for others that are trying to mount to a share on an old SMB 1.0 device.

                        Content of home-pi-RetroPie-roms.mount

                        [Unit]
                        Description=roms mount
                        
                        [Mount]
                        What=//192.168.0.5/roms
                        Where=/home/pi/RetroPie/roms
                        Type=cifs
                        Options=vers=1.0,rw,user=myusername,password=mypassword
                        
                        [Install]
                        WantedBy=multi-user.target
                        

                        Content of home-pi-RetroPie-roms.automount

                        [Unit]
                        Description=roms automount
                        
                        [Automount]
                        Where=/home/pi/RetroPie/roms
                        
                        [Install]
                        WantedBy=multi-user.target
                        

                        People having problems with cifs can check tail -f /var/log/kern.log for more info

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • kdemanK
                          kdeman
                          last edited by kdeman

                          I am running successfully ROMs from my network share using the modification of autostart.sh file. However:

                          • when setting "parse XML gamelist only " to "OFF" the startup of ES is extremely slow - too slow to be workable. I then switched to the next option below.

                          • when setting "parse XML gamelist only " to "ON", the startup of ES is fine, however, now loading the artwork (I presume) is extremely slow - too slow to be workable as well.

                          Any ideas of speeding things up in either options?

                          this is what I have added in the autostart.sh "sudo mount -t cifs -o username=pi,password=raspberry,nounix,noserverino //192.168.1.110/roms /home/pi/RetroPie/roms" where pi is an account I created on my windows 10 server and roms a share (pi has read/write access).

                          Any help would be very appreciated....even if it is confirming running off network is so slow it isn't a viable option. If so, then I will abandon it.

                          ClydeC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • ClydeC
                            Clyde @kdeman
                            last edited by

                            @kdeman The reason for both effects it the same – networks are much slower than local storage, and Emulation Station reads the artwork of a game only when you reach it while browsing the list.

                            Apart from any potential network tweaks that don't really change this ugly fact, the best way to speed up things is to set Parse Gamelists Only to ON and store the artwork locally. Most scrapers have an option (not) to store the media files in the rom folders.

                            kdemanK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • kdemanK
                              kdeman @Clyde
                              last edited by

                              @Clyde thanks for the tips! I have since found a problem with my Ethernet connection though that caused a very, very long delay. Resolving that, made the network operation much faster, even to an acceptable level to use it.

                              In ES there is the option to Get Art Locally (I believe under the Parse XML Gamelist Only option), how would that work actually if I have mapped the Roms folder to a network share (and that is where I also have the art in the Media folder(s))....?

                              many thank in advance!

                              Karel

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

                                @kdeman said in Running ROMs from a Network Share:

                                In ES there is the option to Get Art Locally

                                That option does something else - it will search for artwork by looking in the filesystem instead of using the paths declared in the gamelist. For your setup, it's better to leave it off.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                • ClydeC
                                  Clyde @kdeman
                                  last edited by Clyde

                                  @kdeman The option to save the artwork locally (i.e. not in the roms directory that is remote in your setup) and the actual location both depend on the scraper you are using. At least the popular Selph's Scraper and Skyscraper have such options.

                                  If you don't mind to scrape everything a second time, just flip the option to not use the roms folder and scrape away. The artwork will then be saved outside of your remote roms mount and thus, locally.

                                  If you however want to use your already scraped artwork, you'll have to do a little more homework on how to import it in the scraper. If you have questions about that, ask away. But if you can spare the time and bandwith, I would recommend to go the easy path of re-scraping.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • W
                                    war4peace
                                    last edited by

                                    Hello everyone,

                                    I am a new user of retropie, and after some painful "first time user, no idea why this doesn't work" stint, I have stumbled upon this beautiful guide, which I closely followed and lo and behold, the share is visible. I even managed to make it writable using the alternative mount command from the guide.

                                    Excellent work, congratulations!

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                    • L
                                      luireef
                                      last edited by

                                      Hello friends, after a lot of head banging, I solved the problem in an extremely simple way and without following the steps mentioned in the tutorial...
                                      I just did:
                                      sudo nano /etc/rc.local
                                      I wrote the following line before EXIT=0
                                      sudo mount -t cifs //HOSTNAME/SHARENAME /home/pi/RetroPie/roms -o username=YOURUSER,password=YOURPASSWORD,vers=1.0
                                      saved, exit, reboot and everything working perfectly!!!

                                      T 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                      • I icooney referenced this topic on
                                      • T
                                        Tobaunta @luireef
                                        last edited by

                                        @luireef THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH... I have been banging my head so much with not getting things to work and have tried about anything I can find both in this forum and outside without any solutions. Your help worked like a charm.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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