Retropie Games on the SD card

[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.

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael What should I do? Should I just rename the folder and delete the splash screen folder? Sorry. I’m lost in all this technical stuff.

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

@sleve_mcdichael What should I do? Should I just rename the folder and delete the splash screen folder? Sorry. I’m lost in all this technical stuff.

Yes, try that. I'm away from my box right now so I'm runnning off of memory and what it says on the docs and github; in other words I'm not able to test it myself right now but I think that can work.

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael Thank you so much. I have a question. If I have a small sized usb stick, can I install, let’s say Pokemon, plug it in the pi then take it out, delete Pokémon on the usb, and download more games. Will Pokémon stay on the pi or will the USB basically delete Pokémon on the pi?

[sleve_mcdichael]

@SquidCoder said in Retropie Games on the SD card:

@sleve_mcdichael Thank you so much. I have a question. If I have a small sized usb stick, can I install, let’s say Pokemon, plug it in the pi then take it out, delete Pokémon on the usb, and download more games. Will Pokémon stay on the pi or will the USB basically delete Pokémon on the pi?

I think so, yes, it should stay on the Pi even after removed from USB and resync the USB with new games (I'd keep a copy on the computer until sure though, just in case.)

[SquidCoder]

@sleve_mcdichael Thank you so much for your help.