Installing a ES theme not from default list

[soggypete]

I'm trying to install a theme someone made on my EmulationStation. I've looked at all the documentation - but can't find the answer.
Any straight forward help?

[AlexMurphy]

@sphirst Download it, Unzip it and put it in /etc/emulationstation/themes/ or create a folder called themes in /home/pi/.emulationstation and stick it in there.

[liquidzoo]

Create the folder /home/pi/.emulationstation/themes/

cd to that folder

Download and unzip your theme there (will be /home/pi/.emulationstation/themes/sometheme/ )

Restart Emulationstation and it should be in your theme chooser.

Another way to do it (requires less command line, but still some): Create the folder as above.

Issue the command: sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Scroll all the way to the bottom and paste (or type) this in:

[themes]
comment = themes
path = "/home/pi/.emulationstation/themes"
writeable = yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 0644
directory mask = 0755
force user = pi

After that stop and restart samba:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba stop
sudo etc/init.d/samba start

Then you can browse to it over wifi on your Windows network (or Mac), just like you can for Roms

[herb_fargus]

@liquidzoo that path is already there under configs. No need to create it twice.

[herb_fargus]

@sphirst this is the relevant page in the documentation:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation/#themes

[liquidzoo]

@herb_fargus Cool, I didn't know that. I swear I had to create that folder when I was messing around with a custom theme. Maybe it was just the samba entry that I had to add. It's been a while.

[herb_fargus]

@liquidzoo well yes you still have to create the themes folder but you shouldn't have to add it to the samba shares as the themes folder is in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation path (doing this from memory don't remember exactly) but the /opt/retropie/configs/all path is what is set with the samba shares already I believe (I'd have to verify when I get back to my pi)

[liquidzoo]

@herb_fargus You're right. /opt/retropie/configs is already in the samba path. I think at the time I didn't realize that there was a symlink to ~/.emulationstation (or vice versa), so I just made a samba share directly to themes.

[herb_fargus]

@liquidzoo it was something that was changed in the last year and there are lots of configs. Hard to keep track of them all :) lots of ways to do things on retropie

[soggypete]

Great! Thanks for the prompt and succinct help :)
I tried adding the folder using Filezilla but kept getting permission denied so think I'll just take the SD card and sort it out that way.

[soggypete]

Hi guys - been hitting some walls with this as I can't seem to access the necessary folders using filezilla. Any tips?

[AlexMurphy]

@sphirst Are you able to access any files via samba?

[soggypete]

I must confess I think Samba is a little beyond my expertise - will look in to it now but before I was using a ftp client with a GUI to access things on my pi - but certain files on that became inaccessible...

[AlexMurphy]

@sphirst Certain files are already pre-configured to be shared via samba. Are you using a Windows PC? If so, just open any search bar and type \\RETROPIE

[soggypete]

Ah yes, this is how I access my roms and gamelist.
Accessing RETROPIE via my networks allows me to see four folders:
bios
configs
roms
splashscreens

[AlexMurphy]

@sphirst Okay, good. Go to configs > all > emulationstation > themesand you'll be good. If you don't have a themes directory (folder) just create one and put it in there. Reboot and it will be an option to choose from within the ES menu.

[soggypete]

Alex, as always, you're a saviour! I got it working exactly the way you described and am using the CRT theme with my video previews. All working fantastically!

[soggypete]

Your patience with me goes a long way - sometimes people don't have the time to explain in simple terms to someone a little technically challenged like myself.