@mitu Thanks for responding. I figured out a solution minutes after posting my question... maybe.

My solution was (ironically) to "update all installed core packages" within RetroPie-Setup. This caused the missing "autoconfig-presets" directory to be re-generated in the correct place.

Everything seems to work fine for now, but hopefully doing this won't cause new bugs elsewhere. If I encounter any more problems I will also make sure
retroarch is updated.

@mitu I see... Thanks for the info. At least I can stop wasting time trying to change this.

@mitu This was it! I have a script that controls an LED light/Power button on my case, (as well as shows heat/fan speed, etc) and it seems that the new update doesn't like it. If I delete the python line, the retropie command line and the RetroPie UI work as expected. Not sure what the conflict is, but it's clearly to do with the script on my end.

Below is the autostart.sh if you're curios. Thanks so much for your help!

python /home/pi/scripts/picontrol/picontrol.py&
emulationstation

@omg209 got it figured out. Had to use key bindings in retroarch. Bind all for player 3 and 4.

@mitu I had the same issue! I also noticed somehow all the files inside the /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch directory was missing, so I forced the updated in the core packages configuration menu inside the Retropie Setup screen. (Manage packages -> core -> retroarch -> Update from binary)

@herb_fargus That seemed to work, thanks!

Memory card has failed, yep.

Anyone know of a fix?

The first place to visit is certainly the official Kodi wiki/manuals:
http://kodi.wiki/

@TheSwedenGuy When you configure input in emulationstation, it automatically create the retroarch-joypads/YOUR_JOYPAD_NAME.cfg file. Try to configure your joypad input in emulationstation again and look if the "retroarch-joypads" file will be created.

@NecroCorey When you go directly to it that way, it can sometime rebuild the master browser tables.

To be honest, Network Neighborhood has always been flaky (especially in the Windows 98 and XP days) so I always just type in the name directly.

I despise the backslashes since everything else in the world uses forward slashes. I think it was just baked into Microsoft stuff for so long that once the WWW appeared, it was too late to change things.

If you want, once you are connect to the pi, you can click on the little icon to the left of the address bar and drag it to the desktop to create a permanent link to "\retropie" (or once you see it in network again, click and drag to make a desktop shortcut). That might save future hassles.

EDIT: You are welcome for the help. My programming skills aren't good enough to contribute to Retropie, but I have years of tech support experience, so I just try to help out where I can.

@NastyWays85
So I was never able to get the USB interface that i was using to work. I ended up buying a new one on Amazon and it worked great! I bought an Easyget 2 player zero delay generic game controller USB to Joystick for MAME & Raspberry Pi 1/2/3 retropie DIY projects. it was very easy to set up and worked instantly. Your arcade looks awesome, hope this helps, good luck!

Is the pi connected to a LAN? I'm asking it because you can connect to to it via SSH and investigate what is happening. Maybe your bro needs to configure port forwarding in his router to let you connect to his pi...