Is there any way to lock down retropie?

dunginhawk

wow,, there is a ton of information here and it appears there are many ways to do it, most of which are disputed...
should be fun to wade through all the options lol ;)

Does it change things if retropie will NEVER be updated on this box? :)

Capeman

@dunginhawk My method to hide ES options/main menu works well. (see my first of 3 posts) It's simple controller mapping update, non-destructive and easily reversible. @hex suggested you might need ES kid's version to do this, but in my tests, a simple remapping like this achieves the same effect without needing to install a whole different version.
BUT... the unfortunate side effect of this is you lose the ability to shutdown from a menu, so you would need a different solution.

Hiding runcommand (my second of 3 posts) is standard and well documented, there is no unofficial way to do that. I was just reiterating the wiki on that one.

Hiding the "Retropie" system on the main carousel is your choice. @buzz's way is the official way to hide it semi-permanently, it's definitely better and if you have problems the mods can help you undo it, but if you are not savy with a command line, getting this menu back might be a bit intimidating.

The hacky and unrecommended way that I (and @edmaul69) suggested has unfortunate side effect of needing to be redone every time an update is made, but has the added benefit of re-ordering systems if you want your carousel to not be alphabetical. Only do this if you are comfortable with managing settings on your own with limited support.

Nice thing about working with linux and open-source is you can go with well documented options or you can hack to your heart's content. Just respect the code, know your skill level and don't touch things you don't know how to use and you should be fine.

dunginhawk

thank you for condensing it :)

Capeman

@dunginhawk No prob, the mods are probably laughing at me beause i had to edit it about 20 times to get all the ideas across. haha

ohmycommodore

As someone who never tried the "kids" version – and likely won't now that there's the ability to create a kids collection or custom collection for each of your kids... the idea of lock-down perhaps should remain a feature worth developing.

Has anyone considered a toggle in the menu for (at the very least) showing / hiding the Retropie selection in the carousel? That would lower the probability of accidental button mashing leading down a dark, dark path.

dunginhawk

@ohmycommodore yeah man thats exactly what i mean... it cant be hard to add that, and to unlock it, you type a key combination. UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A B A Start :)

akafox

I as well think there should be a "toggle". I don't have a problem editing stuff by hand. However again updating makes me have to "do it all over again". The problem I have is..I don't want to have to "drag" out my keyboard to make a quick change...so doing everything from the gui would be nice..again though the problem being that I don't want everyone being able to do it either...

The kids/kiosk mode was a great idea..but again it being buggy. I was hoping to stir up some fire to "finish" it..I didn't think that it was this needed!

So I agree we need a better way..we are asking for a better way without having to edit with a keyboard..which is a pain..
and I am sure that there are many of us that will test it and break it and complain until it is done "right."

Thanks all for the ideas I had been wondering the best way myself.

edmaul69

@capeman copy your es_systems.cfg to /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/ to keep it from being overwritten. However if you add a system you need to copy that systems info from /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg to the new one. I keep my systems organized by, first, console that i shoved my pi into, that companies other systems by age, (oldest first) then companies by age with the systems of that company by age, then arcade, then pc, then retropie menu.

dunginhawk

capeman, i must say your advice was 100% spot on... It is EXACTLY what i needed... not hard at all. obviously id love to have a checkbox to do it, but that wasnt hard.. and everything is reversible. by using winscp :)

thank you again.

lostless

@dunginhawk also I was thinking, disable the hot key for the retro arch menu as (hotkey x). Wouldn't want anyone to mess that up. I believe You actually disable it per controller in the controller config files. Meaning you can disable it per controller and if you need access, a keyboard or another controller will work.

dunginhawk

I use the hotkey + start button to back out of the emulator... so i need that.
So actually everything is perfect. thank you

HurricaneFan

@capeman If you change Start and Select button pushes, how do you shutdown?

Capeman

@dunginhawk said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

@ohmycommodore yeah man thats exactly what i mean... it cant be hard to add that, and to unlock it, you type a key combination. UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A B A Start :)

YES THIS! an option to hide and show retropie menu with the Konami code would be literal perfection! Funny thing is this is an exact feature on OpemEmu on mac. Do the combo on your keyboard while the options menu is open and you get advanced options.

Capeman

@dunginhawk said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

capeman, i must say your advice was 100% spot on... It is EXACTLY what i needed... not hard at all. obviously id love to have a checkbox to do it, but that wasnt hard.. and everything is reversible. by using winscp :)

thank you again.

Glad we could help you!

Capeman

@hurricanefan said in Is there any way to lock down retropie?:

@capeman If you change Start and Select button pushes, how do you shutdown?

I noted this was an issue. I find that using one of the many auto shutdown options or addons such as the powerblock are a good match for this issue.

The easiest is the single button GPIO shutdown option detailed in this video.

There are also lots of demos online of people setting up a "system" on the carousel. Here's one i found on youtube:

lostless

@dunginhawk I was actually talking about disabling the retro arch configs menu. Not the hot key itself. Lol

Capeman

@dunginhawk Yes, i recommend what @lostless says.

It's very easy to disable specific hot key commands (such as retroarch menu and reset) from the controller while still keeping the hotkey functionality for exiting.

Simply navigate to this folder:
/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads

Open the file that corresponds with the controller you want to remove the hot key functions from

Inside that file you'll see settings that looks like this;

input_device = "USB gamepad           "
input_driver = "udev"
input_r_btn = "5"
input_save_state_btn = "5"
input_start_btn = "9"
input_exit_emulator_btn = "9"
input_l_btn = "4"
input_load_state_btn = "4"
input_up_axis = "-1"
input_a_btn = "1"
input_b_btn = "2"
input_reset_btn = "2"
input_down_axis = "+1"
input_right_axis = "+0"
input_state_slot_increase_axis = "+0"
input_x_btn = "0"
input_menu_toggle_btn = "0"
input_select_btn = "8"
input_enable_hotkey_btn = "8"
input_y_btn = "3"
input_left_axis = "-0"
input_state_slot_decrease_axis = "-0"

Simply # out any functions you want to disable from hotkey activation.

Retroarch menu corresponds to input_menu_toggle. I'd also recommend removing save state functions and RESET for kids, they would get confused if the game suddenly backtracked for or jumped to the title screen for no discernible reason.

And you can switch the exit emulator button to something a little harder to press if you choose, i usually do select + L since that's a weird feeling on the left hand thats less likely to be pressed than start+select. But that's personal preference.

ohmycommodore

Can a triple button press be set up? High degree of difficulty and therefore less chance of being selected accidentally. My use case is a system that I use, turn on and let my kids use on occasion, insist on shutting down myself, and when necessary I (and I alone) drop into something advanced like RP config or into menus.

In other words, if it's an interesting discussion... what's the best balance of protection vs not disabling things so completely that it's a hassle?

lostless

@capeman actually I would leave reset, it's absolutely needed for one game in the world and one game only. X-men on genesis/mega drive. Can't beat the game without it.
Maybe 2 games. x-men 2 on genesis/mega drive it's used to select the character in the opening level.

cyperghost

@hex @BuZz
chattr -R +i to

/etc/emulationstation/
/opt/retropie/configs/
.... other folders???

Will surly lock files from changing