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    Games on demand?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Ideas and Development
    demanddownloadroms online
    35 Posts 11 Posters 8.4k Views
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    • mediamogulM
      mediamogul Global Moderator @jkristof94
      last edited by mediamogul

      @jkristof94

      most people download a few thousand ROMs anyway.

      Not everyone is doing this illegally though.

      Would that take the legal stuff off of RetroPies shoulders?

      People from all over the world use RetroPie. The laws are so different wherever you go that you could never hope to stay legally clear everywhere no matter what safeguards were put in place. It's really just best not to borrow trouble with something like this, especially since adding your own ROMs is so easy to begin with.

      RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive

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      • pjftP
        pjft @jkristof94
        last edited by

        The RetroPie project does not want to be in any way associated with anything that's illegal, even if remotely. As you understand, that kind of disclaimer or statement does not in any way prevent sites with illegal content from being targeted by the authorities and shut down.

        TL; DR: worthy exercise in intellectual/conceptual terms, but not something that'll get any traction or interest from the community. Let's please not explore this any further.

        mediamogulM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • mediamogulM
          mediamogul Global Moderator @pjft
          last edited by mediamogul

          @pjft

          worthy exercise in intellectual/conceptual terms

          To that end, it'll be interesting to see what happens with the Kodi team, as they are currently exploring a legitimate addon to host on their own repo that will allow this same functionality with RetroPlayer in Kodi 18. To my understanding, it would only be legal to use in the United States, but of course it would spread everywhere. Seems way too dangerous to me.

          RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive

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          • J
            jkristof94
            last edited by

            Thank you all for the replies. Hosting files on a NAS is a thing though, right?

            mediamogulM pjftP 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • mediamogulM
              mediamogul Global Moderator @jkristof94
              last edited by

              @jkristof94

              It is indeed.

              RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive

              J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • J
                jkristof94 @mediamogul
                last edited by

                @mediamogul Thank you!

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • pjftP
                  pjft @jkristof94
                  last edited by

                  @jkristof94 a private network server for your own use? Sure. No different to using an external hard drive, only through your local network. I actually don't know if that's already supported or not.

                  @mediamogul with the current status of Kodi in the EU, namely the crackdown on Kodi boxes, that's a... brave route they're taking. I wasn't aware of that development.

                  I feel I should add this here:

                  alt text

                  mediamogulM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • mediamogulM
                    mediamogul Global Moderator @pjft
                    last edited by

                    @pjft

                    Too funny! My bet is that they have second thoughts before the final release of Leia, but it amazes me that they've entertained the notion at all.

                    RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • BenMcLeanB
                      BenMcLean
                      last edited by BenMcLean

                      Contrary to popular belief, RetroPie as it stands now actually in fact does ship with a working built-in option to download legal ROMs and other game content, not just emulators. It is just part of RetroArch.

                      To access this, (be warned, I am writing this from memory -- I don't have it in front of me right now) I believe you go to RetroPie > RetroArch Config > Online Updater > Update Content. I am very excited to play Super Boss Gaiden for the SNES which I downloaded this way having never heard of it before. It also lets you download the shareware releases of Commander Keen 1 and 4 for DOS, among other things.

                      That's the good news. The bad news is that RetroArch does not download this content to the correct folders for RetroPie to automatically recognize it. You have to manually move each thing into it's proper folder. Maybe RetroPie + RetroArch could be tweaked to automatically move this free content into the proper folders for convenience sake.

                      I'm going to see about working with the RetroArch team to expand the free content available this way.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • CodeDrawerC
                        CodeDrawer
                        last edited by

                        @BenMcLean How does one get the legal roms?

                        N64 emulation is the next step :)

                        herb_fargusH 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • herb_fargusH
                          herb_fargus administrators @CodeDrawer
                          last edited by

                          @CodeDrawer you consult Sega:

                          https://www.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/6fyex9/i_would_buy_roms_if_they_sold_they_sold_them

                          If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

                          Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

                          pjftP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • CodeDrawerC
                            CodeDrawer
                            last edited by

                            Also did you know that the hacked roms are legal?

                            N64 emulation is the next step :)

                            mediamogulM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • pjftP
                              pjft @herb_fargus
                              last edited by

                              @herb_fargus oh wow. Thanks for sharing that. I have most of those games in some system or the other - either Genesis or the later psp collections - but will look into it tomorrow and complete the library. There are certainly some I never managed to get a hold off.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • BenMcLeanB
                                BenMcLean
                                last edited by BenMcLean

                                I was referring to homebrew ROM files which are freely redistributed by their authors, but it occurs to me that I should write a comprehensive guide on where and how to procure content to play on RetroPie without violating copyright laws, both free and commercial content. If that's allowed then I'll post it on this forum.

                                Not that I have anything against pirates. I just think its also nice to have as much content as possible which we can actually prove is legal to refute stupid claims like "Emulators are illegal"

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                                • mediamogulM
                                  mediamogul Global Moderator @CodeDrawer
                                  last edited by

                                  @CodeDrawer

                                  Also did you know that the hacked roms are legal?

                                  As I understand it, Sega allows the games that they own personally to be hacked and shared through the Steam Workshop, but I think it's important to clarify that this is a very unique and very forward-thinking stance on their part. Outside of this, patch files are normally required to stay legally clear.

                                  RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                  • CodeDrawerC
                                    CodeDrawer
                                    last edited by

                                    I wish nintendo did the same!

                                    N64 emulation is the next step :)

                                    meleuM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • meleuM
                                      meleu @CodeDrawer
                                      last edited by

                                      @CodeDrawer said in Games on demand?:

                                      I wish nintendo did the same!

                                      Maybe that's why they say "Sega does what Nintendon't".

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                                      • CodeDrawerC
                                        CodeDrawer
                                        last edited by

                                        @meleu said in Games on demand?:

                                        @CodeDrawer said in Games on demand?:

                                        I wish nintendo did the same!

                                        Maybe that's why they say "Sega does what Nintendon't".

                                        Ninty never listens to the fans :-(

                                        N64 emulation is the next step :)

                                        lilbudL 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • lilbudL
                                          lilbud @CodeDrawer
                                          last edited by

                                          @CodeDrawer said in Games on demand?:

                                          Ninty never listens to the fans :-(

                                          While your are right, be careful. I could easily turn this into an hour long conversation .

                                          Creator of the Radiocade: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6077/radiocade

                                          Backlog: http://backloggery.com/lilbud

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                                          • CodeDrawerC
                                            CodeDrawer
                                            last edited by

                                            @lilbud What I mean by that, is that ninty mostly ignores the fans. Only every now and then they interact with fans. cough super mario maker cough But then there is that rom hack, captain toad treasure tracker. Then ninty made it into a game. Way to bladdernut steal an idea from a hacker ninty!

                                            N64 emulation is the next step :)

                                            lilbudL 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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