"Error creating SDL Window" Error when starting emulationstation

[slickromeo]

I need help figuring out why I am getting this error:

May 24 00:28:40 lvl0: Error creating SDL window!
Could not get EGL display
May 24 00:28:40 lvl0: Renderer failed to initialize!
May 24 00:28:40 lvl0: Window failed to initialize!

I searched other posts on this form related to this issue but I still couldn't figure out how to resolve it.

Pi Model or other hardware: Raspberry Pi 3 B+
Power Supply used: the micro usb power plug that came with it
RetroPie Version Used: I downloaded whatever the latest version is
Built From: NOOBS installation, that came with Raspian OS (not the lite version), which i installed the O.S. first, and then afterwards i installed the latest retropie version from their website
Error messages received:
May 24 00:28:40 lvl0: Error creating SDL window!
Could not get EGL display
May 24 00:28:40 lvl0: Renderer failed to initialize!
May 24 00:28:40 lvl0: Window failed to initialize!

How to replicate the problem: install full version of Raspian, next install retropie using installation instructions from

the website clearly says: "RetroPie can also be installed on top of the full Raspbian but you can't run Retropie and PIXEL at the same time, you will need to logout of the PIXEL desktop environment in order to run emulationstation and the emulators RetroPie installs."

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/manual-installation

I started following directions at the part of the webpage titled: "Install RetroPie", which you'll find if you scroll down a little bit.

what is this "PIXEL" the webpage talks about?

I changed the settings in retropie so that the startup boot has it booting directly to retropie (not Raspian). and I still get this same identical error message... whatever PIXEL is, i assumed if i boot directly to RetroPie, it would be out of pixel, and it would boot retropie, but it didn't work.

I updated Raspian, i also updated the firmware by typing sudo rpi-update

what should I do to get RetroPie to work?

Please forgive my ignorance, I am a total newbie at this.

[mitu]

@slickromeo said in "Error creating SDL Window" Error when starting emulationstation:

I changed the settings in retropie so that the startup boot has it booting directly to retropie (not Raspian). and I still get this same identical error message... whatever PIXEL is, i assumed if i boot directly to RetroPie, it would be out of pixel, and it would boot retropie, but it didn't work.

How exactly did you do that ?

I updated Raspian, i also updated the firmware by typing sudo rpi-update

Don't use rpi-update as part of your normal update procedure, it should only be used to test different kernel/firmware combinations when needed.

what should I do to get RetroPie to work?
Please forgive my ignorance, I am a total newbie at this.

Is there a reason you're not installing the RetroPie provided image from retropie.org.uk/download instead of doing a manual installation ?

[slickromeo]

@mitu

How did I change settings in retropie so that the startup boot has it booting directly to retropie (not Raspian)?
This is how I did it.

1. i type sudo RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh
2. this brings up the version 4.6.1 (rpi3 - running on Raspbian GNU/Linux dialogue box with menu options)
3. options are basic install, update, manage packages, configuration/tools, update retropie setup script, uninstall retropie, and perform reboot
4. i select the configuration tools menu
5. i see many options in here, i select 'autostart emulation station / kodi on boot menu
6. i'm presented with more options (start emulation station at boot, start kodi at boot, manually edit opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh, boot to text console (require login), boot to text console (auto login as pi), boot to desktop (require login), and last option is boot to desktop (auto login as pi)
7. i choose the first option "Start emulation station at boot"

every time i reboot, it does not launch Raspian OS, instead it goes to the command line with the error message mentioned previously.

the reason why I didn't use a retropie image is because i was trying to install retropie solely from NOOBS without the use of an external computer to put an image on the sd card. now that i've already installed retropie (although i cannot boot to retropie), should i just format the sd card and start over from scratch?

also, what would happen if i uninstall retropie (leave the full raspbian OS), and then go put the image on the sd card and bring the sd card back to the Raspberry Pi 3b+ ? how would i execute the installation of the image from the sd card?

will there be issues inserted a linux formatted sd card into a Windows PC ?

[BuZz]

@slickromeo you need to choose to boot to console also.

[slickromeo]

@BuZz
I didnt see a boot to console option

I got impatient, and just formatted the sd card, and then went to this tutorial on youtube to get it installed and running without errors, however, i flashed the image of retropie and now raspbian OS is gone.
but it'll do for the time being as i just want to play games right now.

[removed]

[BuZz]

@slickromeo You did:

i'm presented with more options (start emulation station at boot, start kodi at boot, manually edit opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh, boot to text console (require login), boot to text console (auto login as pi), boot to desktop (require login), and last option is boot to desktop (auto login as pi)

Choose boot to text console (auto login as pi) is what I mean (or with login if you prefer to login before going into emulationstation).

[BuZz]

@slickromeo I would recommend the official documentation btw over some youtube video that's 2 years out of date. There's clear installation instructions for the image on the site. I removed the link - as it's not helpful to have out of date guides posted on the forum.

[Ghaleon69]

FYI this happened to me when I downloaded the img for Retropie for raspberry pi 4... when my actual hardware was a raspberry pi 3.

Hope that helps. Download the Retropie for raspberry pi 2/3 instead and try that...

[JAJAmming]

Replying to this if anyone else has an issue using a rasp pi3b+ with latest buster and retropi-setup. The mod is correct in the emulationstation cannot load if the desktop GUI is running. I made a 2 line script that changes the TTY and launches emulation station as a bash script. I see the emulationstation script does have tty logic in it, but I am not sure if its working properly or not. In Bullseye unsupported it was smart enough to switch TTY and launch correctly, but I ran into other issues there and went back to buster.

Basically this will switch your desktop tty from whatever the GUI is built on usually (tty7) and then will execute the command in a new environment on tty1.

file.sh

#!/bin/bash
sudo chvt 1
exec -c /usr/bin/emulationstation > /dev/tty1

after you close the emulationstation app by pressing f4 you will go to the CLI on the tty1, you will need to cnt+alt+f7 to get back to GUI.

[mitu]

@JAJAmming said in "Error creating SDL Window" Error when starting emulationstation:

The mod is correct in the emulationstation cannot load if the desktop GUI is running

Yes, that's explained in the documentation and outlined in countless topics in the forums. Yet here we are, re-discovering the obvious and inventing workarounds for un-supported configurations.