New Idea/Help Needed - es_systems.cfg Selector

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
Like duck and cover
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)! 😌

cyperghost

@meleu

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

De nada

Isn't the right thread here... How are your achivements in Terranigma?

FlyingTomahawk

Great that you guys got all figured out.
So what and where can I download this? I mean the fixed version.

cyperghost

@FlyingTomahawk
That's @meleu tidy version.
https://github.com/meleu/change_es_systems/tree/patch-1

FlyingTomahawk

@cyperghost

Thank you.

TMNTturtlguy

@cyperghost @meleu thank you both for your help. Unfortunately my schedule remains very busy with little time to actually sit and work on my pi. I will take a look at all of this, but it looks awesome!

@cyperghost i will look at you other methods, but I am not sure why you feel my method is "dangerous" as this works with Es_systems.cfg that are copied and moved to a new location. If they get deleted by accident, the main unedited es_systems.cfg should always remain in its original location and be used by default if the .cfg file does not exist in the alternate location.

cyperghost

@TMNTturtlguy It is dangerous. Think about someone loads your script from your repro and starts it but it is not configurated manually. Then he looses his es_systems.cfgbecause all funktions codes do rm /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg first and then copy the changed files (if it exists) :)

So it may be better to get all config files in one folder and just symlink them. Is there no destination file present then symlinking does not work. That should minimize the risk in breaking something. The risk now is at all minimum.... if you know what to do :)

@cyperghost @meleu thank you both for your help. Unfortunately my schedule remains very busy with little time to actually sit and work on my pi. I will take a look at all of this, but it looks awesome!

Thank you in your effords for the nice theme.
I still learn how to get familiar with bash.

TMNTturtlguy

@cyperghost

Thank you in your effords for the nice theme.
I still learn how to get familiar with bash.

This is why the community is so great, we all have so much we can offer and so many different skills, we can't do it all, but with a little help we can all create some really cool stuff!

@TMNTturtlguy It is dangerous. Think about someone loads your script from your repro and starts it but it is not configurated manually. Then he looses his es_systems.cfgbecause all funktions codes do rm /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg first and then copy the changed files (if it exists) :)

This should not be dangerous at all. Again, i haven't looked at your symlink solution, but my solution is not dangerous because if users do not follow the directions and try to run the script, the script will simply do nothing. The default and main es_systems.cfg file is located here: /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg My script only runs in /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg which is the same as ~/.emulationstaiton/ just written out as the full path. As long as the user never deletes the main es_systems.cfg in the /etc/ folder, there is not risk or danger at all. Here is some more information on this from the wiki: Emulationstation Wiki

TMNTturtlguy

@meleu I just tried your script and it does not execute without the sudo commands. BuZz had updated the retropie startup script a few weeks back and he was the one who instructed that I add the sudo command as he changed user permissions when executing scripts from the retropie menu. Have you tried this script on your build? When did you last update retropie script? Thanks

Edit: adding the sudo command back in to both the copy and remove seems to have worked. With my brief testing it appears that the script works well and all other restart functions work properly. I have to take my girls out for a while so i will test more extensively later.

meleu

@TMNTturtlguy maybe you changed the ownership of those files with your previous script. If they're owned by user pi there's no need for sudo.