Hiding useless executables for DOSbox games by default?

mitu

@mrdowntempo I think if you run Emulationtation set up with Kiosk/Kid mode they're always hidden.

Spiky

@mrdowntempo easiest way by far is to move all your DOS games to other folder than /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc, for example /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pcdata

then you just create .sh file for each game in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc

MrDowntempo

@spiky @dudleydes @edmaul69 Ok, well... it sounds like the .sh method is the universally accepted one (though it bothers me that it requires a change to es_systems.cfg) Is three a resource of prewritten .sh files that have been tested to work for various games?

psyke83

The .conf method is more favourable than .sh, but you need to ensure that you've updated your RetroPie-Setup script and installed DOSBox recently.

You don't need to edit es_systems.cfg. Simply put your conf files in the main folder ~/RetroPie/roms/pc, and store all of your game data in a subfolder. If you want to hide the folder, prefix the folder name with a full stop to prevent EmulationStation from showing it.

Your .conf files would look something like:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
# You can put your MOUNT lines here.

MOUNT c /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/.games
C:
cd WOLF3D
WOLF3D.EXE
EXIT

mitu

@mrdowntempo The es_systems.cfg for PC should already accepts .sh scripts, so there's not need for any modifications. You can find a few examples linked from the docs page - e.g. http://dosonthepi.blogspot.ro/2015/01/run-dos-games-in-retropie_15.html#add-dosgames or http://dosonthepi.blogspot.ro/2015/02/dosbox-configuration-for-individual.html.

edmaul69

@mrdowntempo as @psyke83 stated .conf files is the better way. And yes I actually have all of my games in a roms folder called pc2 and only .conf files in my pc folder. You dont have to edit your es_systems.cfg if you do this.

MrDowntempo

Do the sub-directories have to follow DOS naming restrictions? Or can I have them named things like /roms/pc/.games/raptor - call of shadows/

edmaul69

@mrdowntempo that all depends. If you set that folder up as your c: drive then you can do that. but you cant access it after you switch from drive z: to drive c: However the spaces is an issue in a .sh or .conf file. To get around that you need to replace the spaces with / in the .sh or .conf file. Example:

mount c /roms/pc/.games/raptor/-/call/of/shadows/
c:
RAPTOR.EXE

MrDowntempo

@edmaul69 ok thanks, wasn't sure if / or %20 was the way to go. I think I'll just use shorter names like /raptor/ since I'll have to do a lot of moving around anyway. Thanks!

edmaul69

@mrdowntempo no problem. Just remember one thing, linux is case sensitive so caps and lowercase are important. Even though if you are inside dosbox and you want to run say WOLF.EXE you can type wolf or wolf.exe, when you do it in a .sh file, even though it actually runs the commands inside of dosbox you have to have it say WOLF.EXE.

However, if you do it in a .conf file it doesnt matter.