Games on demand?

jkristof94

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I did think about the piracy issue, but then again, most people download a few thousand ROMs anyway.

I guess RetroPie would have to own the games uploaded to it's database and include a line in the TOS which states that people should only download games that they own? Would that take the legal stuff off of RetroPies shoulders?

As for the size, yes, I was only thinking about the smaller games :)

mediamogul

@jkristof94

most people download a few thousand ROMs anyway.

Not everyone is doing this illegally though.

Would that take the legal stuff off of RetroPies shoulders?

People from all over the world use RetroPie. The laws are so different wherever you go that you could never hope to stay legally clear everywhere no matter what safeguards were put in place. It's really just best not to borrow trouble with something like this, especially since adding your own ROMs is so easy to begin with.

pjft

The RetroPie project does not want to be in any way associated with anything that's illegal, even if remotely. As you understand, that kind of disclaimer or statement does not in any way prevent sites with illegal content from being targeted by the authorities and shut down.

TL; DR: worthy exercise in intellectual/conceptual terms, but not something that'll get any traction or interest from the community. Let's please not explore this any further.

mediamogul

@pjft

worthy exercise in intellectual/conceptual terms

To that end, it'll be interesting to see what happens with the Kodi team, as they are currently exploring a legitimate addon to host on their own repo that will allow this same functionality with RetroPlayer in Kodi 18. To my understanding, it would only be legal to use in the United States, but of course it would spread everywhere. Seems way too dangerous to me.

jkristof94

Thank you all for the replies. Hosting files on a NAS is a thing though, right?

mediamogul

@jkristof94

It is indeed.

jkristof94

@mediamogul Thank you!

pjft

@jkristof94 a private network server for your own use? Sure. No different to using an external hard drive, only through your local network. I actually don't know if that's already supported or not.

@mediamogul with the current status of Kodi in the EU, namely the crackdown on Kodi boxes, that's a... brave route they're taking. I wasn't aware of that development.

I feel I should add this here:

alt text

mediamogul

@pjft

Too funny! My bet is that they have second thoughts before the final release of Leia, but it amazes me that they've entertained the notion at all.

BenMcLean

Contrary to popular belief, RetroPie as it stands now actually in fact does ship with a working built-in option to download legal ROMs and other game content, not just emulators. It is just part of RetroArch.

To access this, (be warned, I am writing this from memory -- I don't have it in front of me right now) I believe you go to RetroPie > RetroArch Config > Online Updater > Update Content. I am very excited to play Super Boss Gaiden for the SNES which I downloaded this way having never heard of it before. It also lets you download the shareware releases of Commander Keen 1 and 4 for DOS, among other things.

That's the good news. The bad news is that RetroArch does not download this content to the correct folders for RetroPie to automatically recognize it. You have to manually move each thing into it's proper folder. Maybe RetroPie + RetroArch could be tweaked to automatically move this free content into the proper folders for convenience sake.

I'm going to see about working with the RetroArch team to expand the free content available this way.

CodeDrawer

@BenMcLean How does one get the legal roms?

herb_fargus

@CodeDrawer you consult Sega:

https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/6fyex9/i_would_buy_roms_if_they_sold_they_sold_them

CodeDrawer

Also did you know that the hacked roms are legal?

pjft

@herb_fargus oh wow. Thanks for sharing that. I have most of those games in some system or the other - either Genesis or the later psp collections - but will look into it tomorrow and complete the library. There are certainly some I never managed to get a hold off.

BenMcLean

I was referring to homebrew ROM files which are freely redistributed by their authors, but it occurs to me that I should write a comprehensive guide on where and how to procure content to play on RetroPie without violating copyright laws, both free and commercial content. If that's allowed then I'll post it on this forum.

Not that I have anything against pirates. I just think its also nice to have as much content as possible which we can actually prove is legal to refute stupid claims like "Emulators are illegal"

mediamogul

@CodeDrawer

Also did you know that the hacked roms are legal?

As I understand it, Sega allows the games that they own personally to be hacked and shared through the Steam Workshop, but I think it's important to clarify that this is a very unique and very forward-thinking stance on their part. Outside of this, patch files are normally required to stay legally clear.

CodeDrawer

I wish nintendo did the same!

meleu

@CodeDrawer said in Games on demand?:

I wish nintendo did the same!

Maybe that's why they say "Sega does what Nintendon't".

CodeDrawer

@meleu said in Games on demand?:

@CodeDrawer said in Games on demand?:

I wish nintendo did the same!

Maybe that's why they say "Sega does what Nintendon't".

Ninty never listens to the fans :-(

lilbud

@CodeDrawer said in Games on demand?:

Ninty never listens to the fans :-(

While your are right, be careful. I could easily turn this into an hour long conversation .