New Idea/Help Needed - es_systems.cfg Selector

[cyperghost]

No ... I never released software via git :)
Makes things complicated :)

[mattrixk]

I just want to jump in with a question: There are some new builds floating about that let you filter by Genre, or number of players, etc...

Would it be possible to have a menu option that just lets you turn any System on or off? Basically, all Systems are shown, then you go "start" -> "Visible Systems" and turn off the ones you don't want to see. All the Systems would still be there and active, but they'd just be hidden from the Carousel (and skipped over when cycling left or right in Basic/Detailed/Video View). I don't know if it's viable, but it seems like a simple way to clean up a large System list.

[Syhles]

@mattrixk
Let's say we did what @TMNTturtlguy did and added extra "systems" to the main .cfg wouldn't anytime we did an update to EmulationStation this be overridden?

I really like your idea though being able to "filter" out systems would be pretty awesome for people who have rom collections over multiple systems.

[TMNTturtlguy]

@Syhles If you save a copy of your es_systems.cfg file to /home/pi/.emulationstation the it will not be overwritten after updates. This also is a safety factor, if you screw up the .cfg file in this location, you can delete it and ES will default back to the main es_systems.cfg in the /ect/ location.

[TMNTturtlguy]

Updated 2017-06-29

Here it is! For anyone interested i have created a script that will do exactly what I was asking about above. Get the script here: github - change_es_systems

download the script and place it in /home/pi/RetroPie/retropiemenu/

In order to run the script you must create the following folders:
/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems

Then within that folder create these 5 folders:
All
Consoles
Customs
Favorites
Hacks

Example of the full path: /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems/Favorites

Within each folder you have created place a es_systems.cfg file. The file needs to be named the same in each folder, but the systems can be different.

That is it! Restart emulationstation. Go into Retropie and select Change_ES_Systems from the menu. Select which es_systems.cfg you want to run. It will take a few seconds and your screen will flash. Choose exit. Now you have to restart ES again. Once ES restarts the new systems will be there!

I have tried several methods of restarting ES from the script. I have successfully done it 2 ways, but then i get different errors. Most of the errors are freezing when trying to run the script a second time. I will continue to work on this.

[cyperghost]

@TMNTturtlguy That's a working solution.
Can you please also descripe in your branch what to do with the script.

Where to locate, what it does and so on.
Or simple write a readme.mdand reference to this thread here.
In a few month you've forgotten what you exactly did.

[TMNTturtlguy]

@cyperghost I have updated the readme and updated the script!

Thanks to @cyperghost we now have a method to restart ES. This is probably not the final code we will use, but it works for now. If you would like to test, use the link in the post above.

[pjft]

Oh wow, only now am I catching up with this thread.

Hm. Seems like the RetroPie menu script might be the way to go, especially if we're planning on storing pre-set es_systems.cfg .

That being said, it still requires some manual work to set up those same es_systems.cfg so it still requires some sort of advanced set of skills to pull off - but thanks to the solution, now, it's no longer hard to operate after the initial setup.

I have nothing to add here at the moment. Well done on iterating on this quickly @TMNTturtlguy @cyperghost @meleu .

[cyperghost]

@pjft Well there annother thread about restarting ES via bash files :)

[Syhles]

@TMNTturtlguy
This seems like a cool idea that I'd love to see built into ES.

Some minor suggestions you currently have a folder for

All
Consoles
Customs
Favorites

It would be nice to see this expanded ever so slightly with

Handhelds
Computers
Arcades (Maybe)

This is just my opinion.

[TMNTturtlguy]

@Syhles Thanks for your thoughts. I am away from my pi until Sunday and the script is a work in progress. @BuZz @cyperghost @meleu worked on this a better part of the day today. We got a good script running for restarting ES, but I am having issues with it combined into my script. @meleu has a new solution for us to try, however I am unable to do so at the moment. Also during our process @BuZz updated the retropie setup and in doing this I need to change permissions on the current script. Long story short, the script I have posted works well, until you update retropie startup. The restart ES command is also not ideal. Hopefully Sunday evening I can incorporate @meleu commands and get the script working as intended. Once that is completed we can start talking about what to include in the menu options. The key issue is that this will require each user to create their own es_systems.cfg files for each option in the menu. If you leave one folder empty, the script will run the remove command and won't complete the copy command, ES will default to the es_systems.cfg file located in /etc/ this will then break the script.

Sorry for the long explanation. I think this is a great tool for the right users. When I build my themes i have a master es_systems.cfg with all systems included, however the systems are linked to psp because i only have 8 roms. this allows me to test 40, 60. 80 systems at one time to make sure they look correct before I issue. Being able to run this script to switch from my "ALL" to "Favorites" is a huge time saver, i can change on the fly to test my settings. This will also be great for users that want to use @meleu linking script and create custom systems. Now you can create an infinite amount of systems without adding roms or taking up space on your usb/sd card. This script can allow you to organize them and not show all your systems. Now for the downside - as described above, how do we make this script work for everyone? I am thinking about writing directions on how to modify the script. It is fairly easy, then you could have the script menu contain as many files as you want. Issue here, just one more thing that the user will need to modify. This is a pretty simple tool/script, but a very advanced thought process and understanding of how es_systems and scripts work.

Once this is complete I will be more than happy to create a custom script to send to you with the options you would like!

[TMNTturtlguy]

I have updated the ES System Selector script. After several more hours of playing with the auto restart functions and starting a completely fresh retropie build to make sure that it wasn't something wrong with my build, i am still not able to get the auto restart of ES to run without some sort of undesired effect. I have removed the auto restart feature from the script. You can now run the script from the retro pie menu. You must then exit the menu and manually restart ES by pressing start and going to quite and restart ES. The script works perfectly fine now, just need to manually restart.

@Syhles if you are still interested in a custom script let me know and i can make one for you based on your desired es_systems.cfg setups.

Link to post regarding how to download and install: link to post 16

[FlyingTomahawk]

@TMNTturtlguy

I haven't tested your script yet, will do as soon I get home. Is there a way to load a system file when changing themes?

[TMNTturtlguy]

@FlyingTomahawk There might be, but i think it would have to be coded into ES as you would need to tell the command that switches theme to also switch the config file. That is way over my head! This tool just makes it quick and easy to change what systems you are showing on your setup without having to go into command line or have a computer and ftp to do it.

[meleu]

@TMNTturtlguy EUREKA!

I've found what was causing the problem in the script and submitted a PR: https://github.com/TMNTturtleguy/change_es_systems/pull/2

When I found the bug I had one of those how-could-I-didn't-notice-that moments... :-)

[cyperghost]

@meleu Well and I thought how can meleu do that! An endless loop without break parameter

Well done brother :D
I already made a pull request with breaks loop with argument
https://github.com/crcerror/change_es_systems/blob/crcerror-patch-1/change_es_systems.sh

EUREKA

[cyperghost]

@meleu Can you cleanup code a bit more please?

• Remove unneeded sudo on cp/rm >> done @meleu nice catch
• Instead of copy and delete I would use mv command only >> sorry early in the morning I ment symbolic linking
• No need to work in subfolders
• Add path to point to es_systems.cfg path and then ln -s path$&"\es_syststems_hacked" path$&"\es_systems.cfg"

This will also help if someone loads this script and the systems are not installed then nothing happens and ES will not break because v1 up to v4 delete config file first - Can be problematic imho!

Then we push it together to v5 and the code is much cleaner and easier to maintain

I commented your push Done

[meleu]

@cyperghost said in New Idea/Help Needed - es_systems.cfg Selector:

I commented your push

and I replied there. :)

[cyperghost]

@meleu
I commented my post above. Got a hard week with some nightshifts.
You're right in moving system files ... therefore I still do not recommend not to copy/delete those files I would rather link those.

The original es_systems.cfg should be kept as es_systems.bak.
I also think that this file will be automatically be copied if es_systems.cfg gets lost. So it's alwyas fail safe!

I think it's just the right moment to thank you for investigate even small bash sniplets. I never used bash and I always learn lots from you and I appreciate the help from you (and lots of others users here!)

Öhmm... a downvote? I think you are using your mobile phone :D right?

[meleu]

@cyperghost said in New Idea/Help Needed - es_systems.cfg Selector:

a downvote? I think you are using your mobile phone :D right?

Damn! Sorry, it was an accident (again)! 😌