Thanx @UDb23 and @pjft!
It was the config_save_on_exit = "true" thing that messed it up.
I must have changed that a while back ago when I tried to get hi-scores to be saved.
Got it back to "false" now and the overlays work as intended!

And also thanx for the awesome overlays @UDb23!

This is great! I actually have an empty PlayChoice 10 dual monitor cab that I want to look and feel like a real dual cab, with the instructions/ menus permanently on the top monitor. I'm also using a PC instead of a Pi. This is is sort of possible with PC MAME, but of course only one game at a time. I'd also rather use an NES emu instead of MAME because some PC10 games don't play properly in MAME. Any chance this can be modified to work on a PC instead of Pi and also always be displayed on top of the game play screen?

@SpudsMcToole there are warnings all over to back up your builds! Also, where are you storing all of these? There are certain folders that get overridden during updates. There are other folders like .emulationststion that do not. You should follow tutorials and save you custom work in folders that do not get overridden.

my bad guys, my cfg file was wrong, sorry. its all working now.

You can find over 100 overlays (mainly arcade) in the Overlay Repo.
These are plain artwork (based on original bezels) with no glass, reflection or curvature.
@meleu made a great script to automate install. Instructions in the Repo too.

@jabulator thanks man!

I'd like to highlight that kind messages like this injects enthusiasm in any project.

After 5 years contributing with open source projects related to retrogaming I saw that contributors in general are exposed to a lot of (undeserved) negativity. And messages like this make the difference. ;)

@freakE a grid or grill or cross-hatch, could be any one of those names.

Thanks for looking into this. I'll try it when I get home. Anyone figure out why you can't toggle the "disable" switch in retroarch and have it save?

I could have sworn overlays were in the docs but perhaps not:

may be a good addition to this page:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Shaders-and-Smoothing/

or do we want it on a separate page. paging @dankcushions what do you think?

@ruckage where can I find this set of overlays in pixel perfect mode?

@jozzy1 said in Nice MAME2003 overlays repository:

Any chance of mame overlays for Salamander 1

Salamander overlay made; check here.

@Water-White Check in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfgIs overlay_directory pointing to the correct place?
Looking at this there seem to be 2 paths to the borders... /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/overlays/borders and /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/overlay/borders
I use the second path, note the change of spelling from overlayS to overlay. Change it and see what happens.

@SkittleBrau79 great to hear! Thanks for updating the thread.

Got the MAME ones to work! My folder structure was apparently not the same. Working on the Genesis.

EDIT 1: Got Genesis one to work also. Was in a incorrect size.

@krull My tips are to create game specific overlays. It seems you want to have console specific overlays (one overlay for all games for that specific console).
In this case you don't need to create .zip.cfg files in the rom folders for each game but you just edit the global cfg for each emulator.
Check this page.

@MrBlaschke The problem for me was the system-specific RETROARCH.CFG file, whose settings were overwriting the ones for the individual games. Making sure that wasn't in conflict fixed it.