Hide Systems - Only Keep Custom Collections?

Denyou

Greetings,

I'm trying to see if there is a way to hide/disable grouping games by system (Arcade, SNES, Genesis, etc.). I'm looking to have an "All Games" page and then several custom pages like "Shooters", "Beat'em-Ups", etc. I'd prefer not to have system groupings mixed in with all of that.

I read through this thread from 3 years ago and at the time the consensus was that it was not possible, but I'm hoping that 3 years later there may have been some changes.

Re: Hide systems/consoles and only show "all games" section

Just to test it out, I did remove (commented out) the SNES from my es_systems.cfg, which did remove they system in the list, but also removed any SNES games from collections (I expected this to be the case from the above thread, but thought it worth a test anyways).

Any ideas for hiding the systems but keeping the games?

Thanks.

sleve_mcdichael

I think, instead of custom collections, you might be best off with custom systems for your groupings.

You'd need to give each one an entry in es_systems.cfg with all appropriate extensions, a roms folder as defined in the systems.cfg, and a system folder in /opt/retropie/configs with an emulators.cfg with definitions for all appropriate emulators (copy them from their native systems' respective .cfg files). Put the rom files in the custom systems' rom folders instead of their native systems. Finally, you'll need to set the emulator for each game through the runcommand launch dialog .

Denyou

@sleve_mcdichael

Hmmm....I see what you mean. The setting the emulator per game is not ideal, but achievable. Could mindlessly do while watching a movie.

I guess my question with that idea is what if I wanted game(s) in more than one category (system in your case)? I'd have to place the rom in both folders right? This would then create separate save files for each instance right?

Would a workable alternative be to just create one system to hold everything (essentially acting as an "All Games" collection), then create collections all pulling from that one bloated system?

mitu

@denyou said in Hide Systems - Only Keep Custom Collections?:

Any ideas for hiding the systems but keeping the games?

If you're using collection, then the answer is still no. Collections build upon an existing system (from where the launching command is inherited), so it's not possible to hide the system, but keep the games in the collection.

sleve_mcdichael

@denyou said in Hide Systems - Only Keep Custom Collections?:

I guess my question with that idea is what if I wanted game(s) in more than one category (system in your case)? I'd have to place the rom in both folders right? This would then create separate save files for each instance right?

Yes, or you could soft-link them with ln -s to avoid duplicate files. Saves would save to their own folder for each "system" or you could soft-link those too and they'll sync up across systems.

Would a workable alternative be to just create one system to hold everything (essentially acting as an "All Games" collection), then create collections all pulling from that one bloated system?

Yeah that would probably work too. I see pros and cons either way; on the one hand, if you make separate "systems," then in the "all games" list it'll say like Super Gun-Bomb Crusader [SHOOTER] or Fists of Angry Punchtown [BEATEMUP] etc. depending on how you have the systems named. If you use one "all games" system you won't need the "all games" collection but if you did use it, they would all just say [ALL].

On the other hand, lumping then all in one system means you can have one rom in as many custom categories as you want, while having separate systems means they are seen as separate entries (even if you soft-link them in the filesystem) and so you'll get Shooty-Punch [BEATEMUP] and Shooty-Punch [SHOOTER] in your "All Games" list if you want it in both categories.

Denyou

@sleve_mcdichael said in Hide Systems - Only Keep Custom Collections?:

If you use one "all games" system you won't need the "all games" collection but if you did use it, they would all just say [ALL]

That's true, but this can be disabled under 'Game Collection Settings'. There is an option in there to turn off 'Show System Name in Collections'.

Thanks for your help.