Not able to switch between emulators

z71_avalanche

I am having an issue using Retropie/Emulationstation.

For some reason once I load a rom in one emulator and then exit that rom I can not load another rom in a different emulator, it acts like its trying to load the second rom but eventually kicks me back to the rom selection screen. I have tried multiple roms on different emulators with the same result, I have to reboot the raspberry pi before I can get into the next rom.

my hardware is
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
I am using the power supply that came with the RetroFlag case
Retropie version 4.8
I have the Retropie image on a SD card and the ROMS loaded on a usb connected SSD harddrive
I am using a generic controller that looks like an SNES controller but it came with the RetroFlag case.
I don't see any error messages during any of this but if there is an error log I am not sure where it would be since I am new to this.

Thanks

z71_avalanche

Well it is also preventing me from starting another rom in the same emulator

sleve_mcdichael

@z71_avalanche said in Not able to switch between emulators:

I don't see any error messages during any of this but if there is an error log I am not sure where it would be since I am new to this.

When launching Libretro cores (those prefixed by lr-) the Runcommand launch menu presents the option to Launch with verbose logging. This outputs more information to the log file found in /dev/shm/runcommand.log which is useful, and often necessary, when diagnosing problems. Once the game is exited, the log file can be downloaded via SFTP or viewed directly via the command line

SSH/SFPT connect instructions here: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/SSH/

z71_avalanche

@sleve_mcdichael
so I started the first rom and it ran fine, I then used the Hotkey to exit the rom and move to start another rom this time in the same emulator and here is the runcommand.log after the second rom fails to load. ~~Was I suppose to do something else for it to show more info in the runcommand.log?~~
I see now what you meant by Launch with verbose logging, here is what that updated log shows.

Parameters: 
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-snes9x/snes9x_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes/Dungeon Master.zip" --verbose --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg
[INFO] [Config]: Loading config from: "/opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg".
[INFO] [Config]: Appending config "/dev/shm/retroarch.cfg".
[WARN] [GameMode]: GameMode cannot be enabled on this system ("dlopen failed - libgamemode.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory.") https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode needs to be installed.
[WARN] [Config]: GameMode unsupported - disabling...
[INFO] RetroArch 1.10.0 (Git e9e85f3)
[INFO] === Build =======================================
[INFO] Capabilities:  NEON VFPv3 VFPv4
[INFO] Built: Jan 30 2022
[INFO] Version: 1.10.0
[INFO] Git: e9e85f3
[INFO] =================================================
[INFO] [Input]: Found input driver: "x".
[INFO] [Core]: Loading dynamic libretro core from: "/opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-snes9x/snes9x_libretro.so"
[INFO] [Overrides]: No core-specific overrides found at "/home/pi/.config/retroarch/config/Snes9x/Snes9x.cfg".
[INFO] [Overrides]: No content-dir-specific overrides found at "/home/pi/.config/retroarch/config/Snes9x/snes.cfg".
[INFO] [Overrides]: No game-specific overrides found at "/home/pi/.config/retroarch/config/Snes9x/Dungeon Master.cfg".
[INFO] [Environ]: GET_CORE_OPTIONS_VERSION.
[INFO] [Environ]: GET_LANGUAGE: "0".
[INFO] [Environ]: RETRO_ENVIRONMENT_SET_CORE_OPTIONS_V2_INTL.
[INFO] [Environ]: SET_CONTROLLER_INFO.
[INFO] [Remaps]: Remap directory: "/opt/retropie/configs/snes/".
[INFO] [Environ]: GET_LOG_INTERFACE.
[INFO] [Environ]: SYSTEM_DIRECTORY: "/home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS".
[INFO] [Environ]: GET_SAVE_DIRECTORY.
[INFO] [Environ]: SET_SUPPORT_ACHIEVEMENTS: yes.
[INFO] [Environ]: PERFORMANCE_LEVEL: 12.
[INFO] [Content]: Loading content file: "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes/Dungeon Master.zip".
[ERROR] [Content]: Could not read content file "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes/Dungeon Master.zip"

[INFO] [Core]: Content ran for a total of: 00 hours, 00 minutes, 00 seconds.
[INFO] [Core]: Unloading core..
[INFO] [Core]: Unloading core symbols..
[INFO] [Core]: Saved core options file to "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-core-options.cfg".

sleve_mcdichael

[ERROR] [Content]: Could not read content file "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes/Dungeon Master.zip"

@z71_avalanche This doesn't tell a whole lot, just that it cannot read the content file but it is up to us to find out why.

start another rom this time in the same emulator

What happens if you start the same rom in the emulator? Does it still works, or no?

My guess is that it will have something to do with the retroflag case or the external hard drive. What happens if you restart EmulationStation only, and not reboot the whole system? Do all the roms disappeared?

Which case is it and did you have to install any extra scripts to make the HD work or anything? Is it the one where it plugs in like a NES cartridge?

Or is it just a regular USB hard drive? Is it externally powered or only using the Raspberry Pi for power?

z71_avalanche

@sleve_mcdichael said in Not able to switch between emulators:

[ERROR] [Content]: Could not read content file "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes/Dungeon Master.zip"

@z71_avalanche This doesn't tell a whole lot, just that it cannot read the content file but it is up to us to find out why.

start another rom this time in the same emulator

What happens if you start the same rom in the emulator? Does it still works, or no?

starting the same rom again works but if I try to switch to another rom it doesn't work, if I then try to go back and start the original rom it fails.

My guess is that it will have something to do with the retroflag case or the external hard drive. What happens if you restart EmulationStation only, and not reboot the whole system? Do all the roms disappeared?

If I restart EmulationStation it gives me an error when Emulationstation is done loading that says

We can't find any systems!
Check that your paths are correct in the systems
configuration file, and your game directory has at least
one game with the correct extension.*

Visit emulationstation.org for more info."

With a "quit" button
When I click the quit button it sends me to what looks like the Retropie command prompt.
Also, 99% of the time when I start the system for the first time it doesn't show any of the roms or emulators, I have to do a system restart to get them to show at all.

Which case is it and did you have to install any extra scripts to make the HD work or anything? Is it the one where it plugs in like a NES cartridge?
Or is it just a regular USB hard drive? Is it externally powered or only using the Raspberry Pi for power?

Here is a link to the case I am using, yes it does have the NES style cartridge where the SSD drive is that holds the roms. There is some kind of circuit card in the case that the SSD plugs into (using the SSD connections) that has a usb cord at the other end that plugs into the Raspberrypi 4. The SSD is powered through the Raspberrypi 4 and does not have its own external power supply.
I didn't install any scripts to get it to see the hard drive, it does actually see it once I reboot, their website did have a firmware link for the SSD but it said it was for booting from the SSD harddrive and since I am not booting from it I didn't use it. I boot from the SD card. The only script I added was for the safe shutdown/reset function which seems to work correctly.

nespi-4 case

sleve_mcdichael

@z71_avalanche yeah it still feels like the SSD is failing -- like it can read the first rom but then cannot read a second one, and after you try then it cannot read anything at all.

Sadly this is beyond my skill to diagnose. Maybe someone else can help then.

barbudreadmon

@sleve_mcdichael said in Not able to switch between emulators:

Dungeon Master.zip

I see your roms are compressed, what happens if you launch them uncompressed ?
If you launch compressed roms with emulators that don't expect compressed roms (pretty much everything non-arcade), retroarch will uncompress them to a temp directory (probably on the sd card ?) before passing them to the cores, which will wear down your disk and might cause I/O errors if it already started failing.

It'd also be interesting to see the output of the dmesg linux command after your system refused launching a rom, any I/O error should be shown there.

z71_avalanche

@sleve_mcdichael well I may just give up on the seperate SSD drive and try everything on a micro SD card if it seems to work better I may just have to upgrade to a larger SD card. The disk cartridge seemed like a cool little novelty to have.
Thanks for the help

z71_avalanche

@barbudreadmon oh ok I didn't realize they all should be uncompressed, I will try uncompressing them.

I will try the dmesg command and see what it shows, thanks