Retropie Games on the SD card

[SquidCoder]

I am kinda new to retropie and i want to put some games on the micro SD card with the retropie operating system. Currently I am using a USB to store all the games, but it is annoying having to keep the USB stick in at all times. I cant do the SSH because my laptop cant find the pi. I have made sure i have the right IP address and even enabled SSH on the pi. I think it may be an issue with the WiFi, so i am wondering if it is possible to use my windows laptop to transfer the ROMs directly from the USB stick to the micro SD card. When i open the micro SD on my laptop I am met with a bunch of files and none of them look like they have the ROMs. Here is the link to the screen shots on the micro SD card: https://imgur.com/a/CcqFOYy
If you want pictures of the overlays file, just comment. It is a pretty big folder and I don't think it wold have the ROMs but i could be wrong.

[sugarfree]

@SquidCoder

I believe the easiest way to transfer your ROMs is with Samba share. Take a look at the RetroPie docs: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Transferring-Roms/

Another good option is to use the included file manager.

[SquidCoder]

@sugarfree What is the $console? I don’t see that file anywhere on the micro sd. I don’t think it is in the overlay folder either.

[sugarfree]

@SquidCoder
With $console, it means the name of the console, for example, nes,snes..

[SquidCoder]

@sugarfree Will I find this in the micro SD files? I am really new to this and have virtually no computer skills.

[sugarfree]

@SquidCoder Yes, you have to find the roms folder, Is in this path: /RetroPie/roms . Did you try the Samba share ?

[SquidCoder]

@sugarfree I don’t think samba share will work. My WiFi is terrible and I don’t think it will allow sharing with SSH because there are so many firewalls that come preinstalled to the Wi-Fi tower that I believe are permanent. Is it possible to just use my laptop to plug the USB drive that has the games loaded on it and the micro SD card that has the OS (retropie) and just transfer the games from the USB stick to the micro SD?

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

Is it possible to just use my laptop to plug the USB drive that has the games loaded on it and the micro SD card that has the OS (retropie) and just transfer the games from the USB stick to the micro SD?

No, unless you're running Linux on the laptop. Windows cannot read the EXT4 format that most of the card (besides the small boot partition) is formatted as.

Currently I am using a USB to store all the games, but it is annoying having to keep the USB stick in at all times.

So, do THIS, instead of THAT.

TRANSFERRING roms from a usb stick, instead of RUNNING roms from a usb stick.

retropie folder instead of retropie-mount folder

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Transferring-Roms/#usb-stick

...instead of:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive/

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael So just leave the USB in the retro pie?

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael Can I do it on an old Mac book?

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

@sleve_mcdichael So just leave the USB in the retro pie?

Until you copy the roms off of it and onto the SD card, yes.

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael How do I copy the files over to the pi without SSHing!

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

@sleve_mcdichael How do I copy the files over to the pi without SSHing!

You want me to transcribe the instructions from the docs page?

1: Ensure that the USB stick is formatted to FAT32 or exFAT, and that the SD card has enough free space to hold all ROMs

2: Create a folder called retropie [ed: NOT repeat NOT called retropie-mount] on the USB stick

3: Plug it into the RetroPie system. If the USB stick has an activity light, wait for it to finish blinking, else wait a few minutes

4: Remove the USB stick and plug it into the computer containing the ROMs

5: Add the ROMs to the USB stick inside their respective folders within the retropie/roms/$CONSOLE folder, where $CONSOLE is the name of the target console, e.g. snes or arcade.

6: Plug it back into the RetroPie system. If the USB stick has an activity light, wait for it to finish blinking, else wait (with many GBs of ROMs, wait several hours)

7: Remove the USB stick. The ROMs have now been transferred from the USB to the RetroPie system's SD card

8: Refresh the game listing in EmulationStation by pressing F4, or press Start on your controller > Quit > Restart EmulationStation

9: The transferred games should now be visible within EmulationStation. If any are missing, return to step 6

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael I’ve done this. For whatever reason, when I take the USB out of the pi, it takes the games along with it, meaning that if I want to play a game, I have to have the usb plugged in.

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

For whatever reason, when I take the USB out of the pi, it takes the games along with it, meaning that if I want to play a game, I have to have the usb plugged in.

Plug the USB into your laptop. What's the name of the folder on the USB when it's in the laptop?

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael I named it to “retropie-mount”

[SquidCoder]

@SquidCoder oops. I just saw the issue. I feel like an idiot. But out of curiosity, why does this happen if I name it retropie-mount? And how do I fix it? Do I just rename the folder or do I have to delete the entire folder and rename it?

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

@SquidCoder oops. I just saw the issue. But out of curiosity, why does this happen if I name it retropie-mount? And how do I fix it? Do I just rename the folder?

Because running games from the USB drive and transferring them from it are two different actions, both supported by the usbromservice. Whichever folder you use tells it which one you want it to do.

No you can't just rename the folder, not quite anyway. retropie-mount probably has inside it, BIOS, retropiemenu, roms, splashscreens. Whereas retropie should have inside of it the rom folders such as arcade, megadrive, nes and so on. Right now, these are probably in roms inside of retropie-mount.

So what you can probably do, is: take the roms folder and rename it as retropie, and move it outside of retropie-mount and onto the root folder of the USB drive. Then delete retropie-mount leaving only retropie (with the individual rom folders inside.)

Edit this might be wrong. retropie should have roms inside it with the rom folders inside that. Let me check real quick.

Now plug it into the RetroPie -- it should see the retropie folder (with rom folders inside like arcade, megadrive, nes), and start copying things over. Give it a good long while to transfer everything, and then you can remove the USB. Refresh EmulationStation and if all went well, you should still see your games on the SD card now.

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael OK. So to recap. Make a new folder on the usb, name it retropie, move all the emulators and games from the retropie-mount to the new folder named retropie, then delete the retropie-mount folder. Right? Also, how long will the transfer take? Is it like 30 minutes or is it like an overnight thing?

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

@sleve_mcdichael OK. So to recap. Make a new folder on the usb, name it retropie, move all the emulators and games from the retropie-mount to the new folder named retropie, then delete the retropie-mount folder. Also, how long will the transfer take? Is it like 30 minutes or is it like an overnight thing?

Well hol' up, I just double checked https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/blob/master/scriptmodules/supplementary/usbromservice/01_retropie_copyroms and actually it looks like what retropie should have roms and BIOS in it (but not splashscreens, retropiemenu).

So yeah, now I think you can just rename the main folder (and optionally delete the two unneeded ones inside it, but I don't think they'll do any harm just being there, either.)

How long depends on how much data there is to transfer. If you've only got a few GB of cartridge games, it'll be pretty quick, but if there's gigs upon gigs of like psx, pce-cd, and dreamcast discs, it could be a several hours. You can restart EmulationStation (not the whole system) to refresh the gamelist and check its progress, it won't interrupt the transfer to do that.