ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers

Lopiv2

Hi there, I have followed exactly the instructions from this URL:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/ScummVM/

But If i do that, I finish having a folder with the SVM inside, and in EmulationStation, I see the folder, click and enter again and i see the game. I execute it, and I get nothing but coming back to the EmulationStation GUI.

But when I add the game via ScummVM GUI, I can play the game without errors. So my question is..What is the right procedure to set the games to be launched from EmulationStation without Permission Denied when doing echo in SH scripts?
The documentation is not updated at all...

Thank you in advance...

retropieuser555

@lopiv2 is this scummvm or lr-scummvm? They have different ways the loader files need to be (for scummv it creates files you use in the directory, for lr-scummvm, those files need to be inside the game folders themselves)

mitu

@lopiv2 said in ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers:

But If i do that, I finish having a folder with the SVM inside, and in EmulationStation, I see the folder, click and enter again and i see the game. I execute it, and I get nothing but coming back to the EmulationStation GUI.

The .svm file needs to be in the scummvm folder, next to the game folder. Usually if you use the +Start Scummvm launcher and add your games there, the .svm files will be created automatically in the scummvm folder and you can start the game from EmulationStation.
The doc page may need some corrections or clarifications, it hasn't been updated in a while.

Lopiv2

@retropieuser555 It´s scummvm. Anyway, I have used +Start Scummvm, I have added Day of the Tentacle game to the list, and yes, It has created the file tentacle-es.svm, restart EmulationStation and done, it appears. But when you click on it and launch the tentacle-es.svm game, as inside is written, in my case "Day of the Tentacle (Floppy/DOS/Spanish)", it says wrong token '(', and not load.

This name "Day of the Tentacle (Floppy/DOS/Spanish)" has been done by Scummvm GUI when i added, so i don´t know....

Edit:

I have done with the solution:

the +Start Scummvm echoes the Scumm description, what it has to echo is this:

/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/bin/scummvm -f tentacle-es where tentacle-es is the ID:

So this should be the script corrected:

#!/bin/bash
game="$1"
pushd "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm" >/dev/null
/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/bin/scummvm --fullscreen --joystick=0 --extrapath="/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/extra" $game
while read id desc; do
    echo "/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/bin/scummvm -f $id" > "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/$id.svm"
done < <(/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/bin/scummvm --list-targets | tail -n +3)
popd >/dev/null

mitu

Normally, when the script is launched for a xyz.svm file, it will run

bash "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/+Start ScummVM.sh" xyz

which means it will execute (correctly)

/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/bin/scummvm --fullscreen --joystick=0 --extrapath="/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/extra" xyz

If you're launching a file named Day of the Tentacle (Floppy/DOS/Spanish).svm, then yes, you'll get the error you mentioned (which is still a bug in the script, since the $game is not quoted).

What .svm files do you have in your scummvm roms folder ?

Lopiv2

@mitu When i add for example Day of the Tentacle, it creates a file called tentacle-es.svm, but inside this file, as the script does, there is a line wich says "Day of the Tentacle (Floppy/DOS/Spanish)". Anyway, if you don´t put the line,

 "/opt/retropie/emulators/scummvm/bin/scummvm -f tentacle-es"

When you launch the game from ES, It will say "Day of the Tentacle (Floppy/DOS/Spanish) command not found", indeed if inside that file is written "tentacle-es" which is the id game, It will say the same, "command not found"

I think what the script does is only creating the .svm file with content inside to be launched after that from ES, and that content is what i think it´s wrong...

mitu

@lopiv2 Post the contents of /dev/shm/runcommand.log after you launch your game.

Lopiv2

@mitu It´s empty, no runcommand.log....

mitu

@lopiv2 The file exists only after you launch your game, it's kept in RAM. If you rebooted, then it's no longer there, that's why I said to post the contents of the file after you launched the game (and got the error).

Lopiv2

@mitu Just because I´m not getting any errors now after launched, I dont get the runcommand.log, and i Haven´t rebooted the pi....so shm folder stills empty...

mitu

@lopiv2 runcommand.log is created regardless of any errors occurred during game launch. For instance, launching a ScummVM game shows:

Parameters:
Executing: bash /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/+Start\ ScummVM.sh "queen"
Virtual keyboard pack 'vkeybd_default' loaded successfully
User picked target 'queen' (engine ID 'queen', game ID 'queen')...
   Looking for a plugin supporting this target... Flight of the Amazon Queen

Make sure you're looking in the correct folder. Did you modify the launch command for the game ? If you've removed runcommand from the launching command, then you'll not get a runcommand.log.

Lopiv2

@mitu ok, my fault, es_config was wrong. I fixed it, and left the +Start ScummVM.sh script as it was at first, with $desc. Now I have all working with the svm files, short name in filename and desc inside this file. Only problem i Have is the next that is in the log:

Parameters: 
Executing: bash "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/+Start ScummVM.sh"
Using game controller: PS3 Controller
Virtual keyboard pack 'vkeybd_default' loaded successfully
Using game controller: PS3 Controller
WARNING: Engine_SCUMM_create: No unique game candidate found, using first one!
Your game version appears to be unknown. If this is *NOT* a fan-modified
version (in particular, not a fan-made translation), please, report the
following data to the ScummVM team along with the name of the game you tried
to add and its version, language, etc.:
  SCUMM gameid 'atlantis', file 'atlantis.000', MD5 'd8b3580b90ec2335f70c47027bfb3336'

ALSA lib pcm.c:8424:(snd_pcm_recover) underrun occurred
User picked target 'atlantis' (engine ID 'scumm', game ID 'atlantis')...
   Looking for a plugin supporting this target... SCUMM [all games]
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/+Start ScummVM.sh: line 6: /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/atlantis.svm: Permission denied
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/+Start ScummVM.sh: line 6: /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/indy3-vga.svm: Permission denied
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/+Start ScummVM.sh: line 6: /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/scummvm/tentacle-es.svm: Permission denied

Anyway i think the solution is the echo file executed as sudo, or some permission problems with that echo line. I have my ROMS in a SMB folder in a server, so maybe that´s the problem...

mitu

@lopiv2 said in ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers:

Anyway i think the solution is the echo file executed as sudo, or some permission problems with that echo line. I have my ROMS in a SMB folder in a server, so maybe that´s the problem...

sudo is not involved in the wrapper script for ScummVM and it shouldn't be - all files in the roms folder should be owned by the installation user and not by root. If you have issues with files being created, check the permissions of your share and try to fix them - it will affect other emulators which will not be able to save in the roms folder.

HappySpaceInvdr

@Lopiv2 Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have the same problem as the OP and, after reading through the posts in this thread, I'm not sure I understand the solution...

Is the documentation at https://retropie.org.uk/docs/ScummVM/ out of date? It says you need to create a .svm inside each game directory that contains the "short name" of the game. I ran Skyscraper and my games were detected, but I've ended up in exactly the same situation as the OP first described.

Is the real setup process to forget about manually created .svm files, instead launch the ScummVM launcher, add your games in there, let that create the .svm files you need... and only then run Skyscraper?

Also, I see reference to lr-scummvm... how would I install that? I don't see that in the main packages (of RetroPie Setup); I only see "scummvm" and "scummvm-sdl1" in the optional packages section.

windg

@HappySpaceInvdr

I came to the same issue few months ago, i found a temporary solution that works well for me:

I put every .svm file, that was generated when i add the games from scummvm gui, inside the game folder and now the full name of the game appear on the emulationstation and the game start fine.

You can install lr-scummvm from experimental packages but i don't recommended because is based to an old version of scummvm.

sleve_mcdichael

@HappySpaceInvdr said in ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers:

Is the real setup process to forget about manually created .svm files, instead launch the ScummVM launcher, add your games in there, let that create the .svm files you need...

Yes, that's how I've done. The .svm files it creates are not inside the individual game directories but beside them, inside the root scummvm directory:

pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/scummvm $ ls
 atlantis.svm
'Beneath a Steel Sky (CD VGA)'
'Day Of The Tentacle (CD Dos)'
'Flight of the Amazon Queen (CD DOS)'
'Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (CD DOS)'
'Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (Amiga)'
 lsl1-amiga.svm
'Maniac Mansion (Floppy DOS v2 Enhanced)'
 maniac-v2.svm
 monkey2.svm
'Monkey Island 2 - LeChuck'\''s Revenge (Ultimate Talkie Edition - DOS)'
 monkey.svm
 queen-fallback.svm
'Sam and Max Hit the Road (CD DOS)'
 samnmax.svm
 sky.svm
'Space Quest 2 - Vohaul'\''s Revenge (Amiga)'
 sq2-amiga.svm
'+Start ScummVM.sh'
 tentacle.svm
'The Secret Of Monkey Island (Ultimate Talkie Edition - DOS)'
pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/scummvm $

HappySpaceInvdr

@windg said in ScummVM and Emulationstation games launchers:

@HappySpaceInvdr

You can install lr-scummvm from experimental packages but i don't recommended because is based to an old version of scummvm.

Thanks for the info. I have tried it out as a comparison but you're right: it's an old version (2.1.1) and a bit glitchy with certain games, for example Blade Runner has visual issues.

HappySpaceInvdr

@sleve_mcdichael Thanks for confirming. It seems the automatically created .svm files are the opposite way round to the recommendataion for lr-scummvm in terms of file name and content.

lr-scummvm: "Day of the Tentacle.svm: should contain the string "dott"
ScummVM standalone: dott.svm should contain the string "Day of the Tentacle"

sleve_mcdichael

@HappySpaceInvdr right, I haven't tried using the lr- version but it does appear from the docs that they are not cross-compatible. My tentacle.svm contains the string Day of the Tentacle (CD/English).

pi@retropie:~/RetroPie/roms/scummvm $ cat tentacle.svm 
Day of the Tentacle (CD/English)

This works with stand-alone ScummVM.

Lolonois

The cumbersome setup (YMMV) of *.svm/*.scummvm launch files and interop between native ScummVM and lr-scummvm is an open issue.

As another user phrased it is a "can of worms". To use this picture, I spilled out the can and aligned the worms: I proposed a setup to unify the requirements between native ScummVM and lr-scummvm.

You can find the gory details at [1] with an option to testdrive, in that thread you can find also the initial topic [2] and the pending PR [3] as there is no decision yet.

[1] https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/32058/scummvm-lr-scummvm-launcher-and-interoperability-improvements
[2] https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/29349/emulationstation-scummvm-and-svm-files
[3] https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/pull/3430