separating snes/super famicom games

jdorion

@groviar - I've done this too, separated our famicom from nes, sfc from snes, etc. Following this link (like @herb_fargus said) is what you need to do:
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Add-a-New-System-in-EmulationStation/

I find it nice to keep this organized. The only pain is that not all themes have the japanese systems configured by default. Pixel definitely has famicom, sfc, megadrive, pcengine, tg16, tg-cd, etc.

Basic steps:

make the copy of the default es_systems.cfg:
sudo cp /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg
in the new copy of es_systems.cfg copy the < system > tag and change its info so you now have (for example) a nes and famicom entry
don't forget to change the 'nes' word in the < command > line of your new system entry to be 'famicom':
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS nes %ROM%</command>
should be
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS famicom %ROM%</command>
make a copy of the nes folder in /opt/configs/ and rename it famicom so you have /opt/configs/famicom
edit the emulators.cfg in /opt/retropie/configs/famicom to change any references from /opt/retropie/configs/nes to /opt/retropie/configs/famicom
double-check the retroarch.cfg in the same folder for similar things.
done!!

One thing I do too (this is just for bonus points) is make a folder called " All" in the rom folder for a system and put all the roms in there. So, for nes all my roms are in "/home/pi/Retro-Pie/roms/nes/ All/". The space before the A in " All" is just to make sure that it would always be at the top of the list. Then I make a 'sym-link' for my favorite roms from the " All" folder back to the /home/pi/Retro-Pie/roms/nes folder. That way my favorites show up when I navigate to the NES system in emulation station, but I always have access to every rom if I need it! You use the 'ln -s' command for this, it's not too bad:

ln -s "/home/pi/Retro-Pie/roms/nes/ All/mario3.zip" "/home/pi/Retro-Pie/roms/nes/mario3.zip"

If you do this, you'll need to make sure to change the default save state folder in the /opt/retropie/configs/nes/retroarch.cfg file - it's super-easy to do:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/3dyki2/changing_the_location_of_savefile_directory_and/

groviar

@FlyingTomahawk,

Okay, I'm following your guide since I'm more comfortable working within Windows a bit more currently. All is going well so far, but I'm stuck here:

"If you want to know the definitions for other systems open the original es_systems.cfg file, but don't edit that file just copy&paste code from there into your es_systems.cfg file."

I can't find that file anywhere. I was going to copy all that data and paste it into my new es_systems.cfg file, and just make the necessary changes for the additional systems, but I can't find the file. I searched the entire RETROPIE folder (bios, configs, roms, splashscreens, themes) and it's nowhere. Is it hidden or in a different location?

Also, I downloaded "es-theme-carbon-master.zip" from your link and extracted all the carbon folders for each system into my new "carbon-custom" themes folder. There were 84 total folders. Is it okay to copy them all in there or just the systems I plan to use? And there are 5 additional files in that zip file:

.gitattributes
.gitignore
carbon.xml
readme.txt
theme.xml

I'm guessing I should leave those out, and just copy the folders, but I wanted to make sure?

groviar

Ok, so I figured out what I was doing wrong with finding the es_systems.cfg file. I went into putty and typed:

sudo cp /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

which made a copy, then I copied that copy over to my desktop through Filezilla so I could edit it.

That's where I'm at now.

jdorion

@groviar - now that you've copied it to /opt/retropie/configs/all, you should be able to find it in Windows Explorer by going to

\RETROPIE\configs\all

you can edit it directly there, but I'd make a backup copy first just in case!

FlyingTomahawk

@groviar

How is your cold? Any better?
Very good. You are doing fine thus far.

If you are done editing the new es_systems.cfg file put that into the emulationstation folder via Filezilla. Folder is here /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation
Or access /home/pi/ and click on the emulationstation short cut there.

groviar

Hi,

thanks for asking about my cold. It's still hanging on. I had a 3rd rough night last night, waking up every hour. Lots of cold sweats. But right now I feel pretty good. I've been taking Sudafed (the real Sudafed, not the otc) and while it's been reducing my stuffiness/sinus pain, I think it's contributing to my poor sleep.

Anyways, I just finished up editing the es_systems.cfg on my desktop and I'm about to copy it back over to:

/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

using Filezilla. But I have a question about the new systems I added. I just used the exact copy of the es_systems.cfg on my desktop and copy-pasted the nes, snes and pcengine system entries to add tubo16, famicom, and superfamcom according to your example. But I'm curious - under "name" or "fullname", would I still leave those as they orignally were, like in your examples? For instance:

<name>pcengine</name>
<fullname>PC Engine</fullname>

For the turbo16 entry, I wouldn't change <fullname> to "TurboGrafix-16" and/or <name> to turbo16? Just curious - I'm trying to figure out how these lines affect the configs. Right now I have those entries exactly as you typed them. Does the <fullname> entry change what is actually displayed in Retropie when I scroll through the systems?

And what about those extra files in the carbon themes zip I downloaded:

.gitattributes
.gitignore
carbon.xml
readme.txt
theme.xml

Do I just leave those files out and just copy all the folders over, even the systems I'm not currently using?

groviar

And once I finish copying over the new es_systems.cfg, what do I do to create the new themes for turbo16, famicom and superfamicom? In the new "carbon-custom" folder I created, with all the carbon themes I extracted from the downloaded zip, I see there is a folder named "pcengine" and also one named "tg16". I'm guessing "tg16" is the Turbografix-16. Should I rename that to "turbo16" to match the roms folder and es_systems.cfg file? Or should I leave the folder named "tg16" and change the cfg entries and rom folder to "tg16" to match? Does it matter as long as the names match? There is no carbon folder for famicom and superfamicom. So do I just copy the "nes" and "snes" folders and name them "famicom" and "superfamicom"? What about the files inside? Inside the custom "nes" carbon folder I see 1 file and 1 folder. The file is named "theme.xml" and the folder is named "art" with the following files inside:

controller.svg
system.svg
system2.svg

Do I need to make any changes to those files? Where do I put the new logos? There doesn't seem to be any images or logos in the new carbon theme folders I downloaded, unless I'm missing the obvious.

If you could share your logos for the turbografix-16, famicom and superfamicom I'd be very grateful. The only thing I'm stuck on now is just how to move forward with setting up the custom themes. I guess like you said the easiest way is to copy the current themes folders and just replace the logos, but that's what I'm stuck on. Where are the current themes on my Retropie with the graphics and logos - i don't see them in Filezilla? And should my "carbon-custom" folder have all the carbon folders from that zip file or just the new systems I'm adding - famicom, superfamicom, and turbografix16?

Sorry for all the questions - it's really just the themes I'm confused with now.

FlyingTomahawk

Regarding the Fullname and name tags in the system cfg file. I left them as they are in my theme setup. But you can rename them if you want to

<name>famicom</name>
<fullname>Family Computer</fullname>

You seem to be in luck because the carbon theme comes with a TurboGrafx 16 theme already so you only need to copy&paste the PC engine system definitions and change the paths to the t16 roms folder inside the es_systems.cfg file. Also rename the name and full name to t16 and TurboGrafx16 if you like.

  <system>
    <name>tg16</name>
    <fullname>TurboGrafx16</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/t16</path>
    <extension>.bin .smc .sfc .fig .swc .mgd .zip .BIN .SMC .SFC .FIG .SWC .MGD .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ tg16 %ROM%</command>
    <platform>tg16</platform>
    <theme>tg16</theme>
  </system>

Not sure about the <platform> tag but I think that needs to stay as pcengine since that is used for scraping the roms later. Maybe I someone else can chime in and confirm that.
These two files you won't need

.gitattributes
.gitignore

delete them.

There is no carbon folder for famicom and superfamicom. So do I just copy the "nes" and "snes" folders and name them "famicom" and "superfamicom"?

Yes exactly. Copy and paste those folders, create also the rom folders, don't forget to add the systems definitions for them with the path to the correct rom folder.
Most theme creators name their logos system.svg and they sometimes add alternative logos and name them system2.svg
You can edit the theme.xml file to use either one. So if you want to use the system2.svg logo just change the image name inside the theme.xml file.
you will need the famicom and super famicom logos which I have. I am currently working on some Japanese MegaDrive logos and will offer them for download later. (Tomorrow?)

groviar

Okay, I see jdorion mentioned:

"don't forget to change the 'nes' word in the < command > line of your new system entry to be 'famicom':

<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS nes %ROM%</command>
should be
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS famicom %ROM%</command>"

I see you hadn't done that in your examples. Did you just overlook that by accident?

How about the

carbon.xml
theme.xml

files from the carbon zip folder? Should those 2 stay in the "carbon-custom" folder?

backstander

@FlyingTomahawk
In your es_systems.cfg example the TurboGrafx-16 is tg16 and not t16.

I could be wrong but I think when you use like <platform>pcengine</platform> it will scrape the Europe art and if you put <platform>tg16</platform> it will scrape the USA art. Not sure where the Japan art fits in this but I would assume it's with the "pcengine" platform.

groviar

@backstander,

That's good to know. So I'll change the <platform> entry to "tg16" for the Turbografix entry. I'll leave the famicom and superfamicom <platform> entries alone since I don't know how they will scrape.

FlyingTomahawk

@groviar

Not sure about that one. I didn't do it in my RPi and had no issues thus far. But if he says you should do it, do it and see what happens. If you have any issues just revert it back.

Inside the carbon-custom folder you should have an art folder (includes all the necessary images for the theme.), various system folders and in each of them the theme.xml file and another art folder with the system.svg logos.
and usually at the bottom the carbon.xml file and probably a readme.txt file.

FlyingTomahawk

@backstander

Yeah thanks for pointing that out, my bad. Fixed it.
Not sure about the platform thing. Last time I scraped some PCengine games it gave me mostly TG16 images. Isn't that a rom thing? If it is a Japanese version rom it will scrape Japanese images? Something like that I thought, not sure though.

backstander

@groviar
Here's the list of supported platforms for Steven Selph's Scraper:
https://github.com/sselph/scraper/wiki/Supported-Platforms

...but it doesn't tell you exactly what to put in the <platform> entry. Does anyone have a list like that?

Not sure about the platform thing. Last time I scraped some PCengine games it gave me mostly TG16 images. Isn't that a rom thing? If it is a Japanese version rom it will scrape Japanese images? Something like that I thought, not sure though.

Yeah, Steven Selph's Scraper uses the hash of the file to check against a database of known hashes to get box art. I think the one built into EmulationStation might rely on this <platform> entry more.

jdorion

@groviar @FlyingTomahawk - changing nes to famicom in the <command> portion of es_systems.cfg will tell retroarch to look in the /opt/configs/famicom folder for its emulators.cfg and retroarch.cfg files when launching a rom. It's not 100% necessary, but would help if, for instance, you are doing the "All" folder thing and want the savegames for nes and famicom to be saved in the correct folders.

FlyingTomahawk

@jdorion

I see... then I guess it's up to him.

jdorion

platform is definitely there to help the scrapers - it would help them distinguish between a famicom rom and a nes rom with the same name, as @FlyingTomahawk mentioned

groviar

Okay so then should I definitely change the <platform> entry for the TurboGrafx-16 to "tg16"? How about the Famicom? Should I change the <platform> entry to famicom since it's on the list of scraped systems? That list doesn't mention superfamicom so I guess I should leave that as "snes"?

FlyingTomahawk

@groviar

to be honest I don't know. Try to use famicom once and if you can't scrape any games then change it back to nes. Same goes for the super famicom.

groviar

Okay, so here are my new entries in es_systems.cfg:

<system>
<name>famicom</name>
<fullname>Family Computer</fullname>
<path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/famicom</path>
<extension>.nes .zip .NES .ZIP</extension>
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS famicom %ROM%</command>
<platform>famicom</platform>
<theme>famicom</theme>
</system>

<system>
<name>superfamicom</name>
<fullname>Super Famicom</fullname>
<path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/superfamicom</path>
<extension>.bin .smc .sfc .fig .swc .mgd .zip .BIN .SMC .SFC .FIG .SWC .MGD .ZIP</extension>
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS superfamicom %ROM%</command>
<platform>snes</platform>
<theme>superfamicom</theme>
</system>

<system>
<name>tg16</name>
<fullname>TurboGrafx-16</fullname>
<path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/tg16</path>
<extension>.pce .ccd .cue .zip .PCE .CCD .CUE .ZIP</extension>
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS tg16 %ROM%</command>
<platform>tg16</platform>
<theme>tg16</theme>
</system>

All the other entries are exactly as they were in the original es_systems.cfg file. I don't see the super famicom listed in sselph's scraper, so I left that <platform> entry as snes. If my entries look okay to you guys, I'll copy it back over to /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg.