How to know which emulator is running

ErX

I'm just starting to use RetroPie and I'm building my own game controller. I want to switch the LEDs on for the buttons used for the current emulator. E.g. Snes only A and B. For other emulators I want to activate more buttons. But then I need to know which emulator is running.

Is this possible?

With kind regards.

ErX

obsidianspider

@ErX It's very possible. In a game itself you can see what emulator you're using by pressing Select + X and you'll see it listed at the bottom of the Retroarch GUI.

If you want to automate detecting that and have a program/script use it, you can find that information by hooking into runcommand and you can even automate tasks running when a game starts and ends by using runcommand-onstart and runcommand-onend. That's how I detect what's being played to display the appropriate image on my Super Famicom secondary TFT.

meleu

@ErX as @obsidianspider said runcommand-onstart/onend scripts are the perfect solution for what you want. You can turn on the leds with onstart and turn off with onend. The first argument is the system (nes, snes, megadrive, etc.).

Please, share pictures of your build with us! :-)

ErX

Hi,

I will give it a try :-p. Will dive into the runcommand-scripts first.

All buttons are working now with my mBed 1768 controller, which is connected to my RPi by USB.

I want to control the specific buttons and give them the appropriate color. So besides switching lights on/off, I also want to select a color. (or do some dancing controller lights in 'screensaver'-mode :-D)
So it will take me some days to create this. Hardware is ordered. But have to tweak the buttons to fit a RGB-led inside. 6 buttons (A,B,X,Y and 2 others) results in 24 pwm-channels.

For start, select, 1p, etc. I want to use the white light, so only 6 pwm-channels and the lights already inside the buttons.

Greetings,

ErX

ErX

Software is ready to run my own game controller with dynamic lighting based on the emulator running at the time.
Hardware is being built (waiting for some extra components).

Created a project website for it :-p
Retropie stuff

Hardware schematics, software, photo's and video's will be posted ASAP.

Greetings,

ErX