emulationstation feature requests here

meleu

[EDIT: I'm aware that Aloshi abandoned the upstream development. When I started this topic I was aiming at the RetroPie fork, but since then I realized that this fork isn't exactly at active development too.
But there is a hope! :-) There are some guys working on it. here and here.]

I think there's a lot of feature requests for RetroPie that is actually for emulationstation. So let's try to concentrate the feature requests for emulationstation on this topic.

Starting with the ones I posted earlier. I'll try to edit this post adding new feature requests that will appear.

1. A simple way to choose the input for player 1, 2, 3 and 4. Similar to what is done on recalbox:

alt text

[OBS.: there's a way to do it using what is described here: https://github.com/meleu/RetroPie-joystick-selection]

2. Scraper optimization.
Just an "ignore the conflicts" option would be a great improvement. This way, I can scrap my entire romset and don't interrupt the process to decide what to do with the conflicts.
[OBS.: there's a best way to scrap games using what is described here: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/scraper but it's console based and it would be great to see it on ES. Maybe an ES wrapper to sselph scraper is a doable thing.]

3. An easy way to include/exclude system on emulationstation.
[EDIT: the @jacobfk20 emulationstation fork can do this. Github repository: https://github.com/jacobfk20/EmulationStation-RPiE]
There's a lot of users (I know many of them) that just want to play the console videogames (Atari2600/NES/MasterSystem/SNES/MegaDrive/PlayStation), and don't care about Ports, Amiga, Apple II, DOSBox, etc.
I know this can be done editing the es_systems.cfg. But a simple checkbox on emulationstation to choose the systems would be really nice.

Suggested by @Zigurana :

Improved theming

Update nano SVG to properly support strokes (is in nanosvg repo since mid-2015 or so)
being able to set color/opacity of carousel bar
being able to set location of carousel bar
reduced metadata tag complexity, do we really need a publisher, and a studio? Those could be combined (esp. if they are the same)
add shutdown splashscreen
add movies rather than screenshots

Performance

convert from XML to SQL database if this helps performance
better image handling (loading on demand) to be able to handle larger libraries / more complex themes

Other

Redesign screensaver to be able to show random games / screenshots / cover images.
Add background music capability (both MP3/ogg and chiptune formats)

Rion

I agree on all of the above.
Crossing fingers :)

Drakaen391

@meleu would #1 be the change of which controller is #1, #2, ect

meleu

@Drakaen391 exactly.
You can let various controllers plugged to your rasp and choose what you'll use.
It's very useful when you have arcade and videogame controllers. If I'm gonna play NES, I use the videogame controller. If I'm gonna play an arcade game, I like to use my arcade-like controller.

Zigurana

Its good to have a single place to collect these feature requests (I've gotten a few in the past).
Not sure if this is the right place for them though, although I guess it will not hurt either.
I think the preffered location for these would be an issues list on a github repository that might be willing to take a shot at implementing them.

From my todo-list:

Improved theming

Update nano SVG to properly support strokes (is in nanosvg repo since mid-2015 or so)
being able to set color/opacity of carousel bar
being able to set location of carousel bar
reduced metadata tag complexity, do we really need a publisher, and a studio? Those could be combined (esp. if they are the same)
add shutdown splashscreen
add movies rather than screenshots

Performance

convert from XML to SQL database if this helps performance
better image handling (loading on demand) to be able to handle larger libraries / more complex themes

Other

Redesign screensaver to be able to show random games / screenshots / cover images.
Add background music capability (both MP3/ogg and chiptune formats)

So as you can see, there is a lot to do, but the questions are, who is going to do it, and what repository will pick it up the changes. The RetroPie team cannot cope with so many differences, as long as they want to keep -stock- ES as the upstream. Maintaining all these improvements would be much more maintenance work for them.
The Herdinger repo might be a candidate, which could then be installed as an experimental package, much like my UI_mode extension.
Another drawback of all this is that ES is not modular at all, so there is no pick-and-choose once these features are in. Its all or nothing.

I would not be opposed to make a experimental ES available, where I dump in all improvements I see fit, but that might not suit everybodies taste...

robertybob

My number 1 request would be implementation of video snaps instead of box art. Attract Mode and Mehstation have this and it's the only reason I'd considering moving across to either of them (seeing as ES has much nicer themes)

dankcushions

custom sorting would be cool. right now it's just alphabetical, but sometimes that's not what you want. eg, "final doom" should be directly after "doom", or "zelda 2" should be directly after "the legend of zelda" - things like that.

meleu

@Zigurana I admit that the implementation of these features on the upstream would be the perfect solution. If the Herdinger emulationstation is a probable replacement of the current version, I'll go annoy him a little. :D
[please, no need of that sermon to educate myself. I'm just exposing an end user point of view ;-) ]

Zigurana

@meleu said:

@Zigurana I admit that the implementation of these features on the upstream would be the perfect solution. If the Herdinger emulationstation is a probable replacement of the current version, I'll go annoy him a little. :D
[please, no need of that sermon to educate myself. I'm just exposing an end user point of view ;-) ]

No slight intended, sorry if I come over grumpy.
I am not intending to bash you personally, its just that the whole idea of the Raspberry pi was to be (more or less) the opposite of a "works straight out of the box" experience. Tinkering to get it working is part of the deal, at least for me.
And then someone comes along and leaves a wish-list for others to pick up and develop. My gut reaction is then, cool, now do it!
"Annoying" developers* is often a lot less useful than to try and contribute something yourself. (Quicker and more fun too!)

*: We are all end users here, it just happens that the product we are trying to use is unfinished, are you going to help and shape it into something wonderful?

BuZz

I would add we already have a ticket open for controller improvements for player2 to 4. Disabling systems will also likely be added in the future - but not as part of ES, but as part of the retropie-setup script.

Patches welcome for the scraper improvements :)

meleu

@Zigurana said:

And then someone comes along and leaves a wish-list for others to pick up and develop.

I thought it was for this that the "Ideas and Feature Requests" section had been created.

If I want to know how to do things, I go to the "Help and Support" section.

[oh, please please please don't take me as a complainer guy. And don't let's start a little flame here. :) ]

kite

One feature I would like is some kind of API to be able to show a battery level overlay, or if battery is low to show a low battery icon in the corner (flashing or something).. or in the menu it to show the battery status (for example Steam does this when you ALT+TAB and are on battery power).

I say API because there isn't a standard way to measure the level, probably best to use an I2C analog IC and for the user to write their own process to read the level (and convert to volts) to send to an API which can deal with it on screen..

This would be useful in any portable application and a lot better than using an LED or something.. I believe the GPU already shows that multi-coloured square when voltage is low, something like that but a battery icon rather than a weird square thing.. or the very least in a menu (stretch goal to do time based monitoring to predict battery life, or use of current sensor)

ZogZogAkita

An easy way to include/exclude system on emulationstation.
There's a lot of users (I know many of them) that just want to play the console videogames (Atari2600/NES/MasterSystem/SNES/MegaDrive/PlayStation), and don't care about Ports, Amiga, Apple II, DOSBox, etc.
I know this can be done editing the es_systems.cfg. But a simple checkbox on emulationstation to choose the systems would be really nice.

This would be an excellent idea for dummy users to avoid complex configuration. It would be definitely useful !

Drakaen391

@BuZz would a workaround be "commenting" out the other systems in the es_systems file?

BuZz

@Drakaen391 you can remove the files in ~/RetroPie/roms/SYSTEM which might be easier and they will not show. If editing es_systems.cfg copy it to ~/.emulationstation/ and it won't get overwritten (you will need to manually keep it in sync though)

doimus

May I suggest maging the ES user interface more "kid friendly", ie. less confusing when navigating and starting games.

Most importantly, not switching between systems with LEFT-RIGHT keys when already in particular system menu, ie. between NES, SMS, etc.

Also, and I guess this is more of an Retropie issue - the "press a key for options" right after you launch a game is very confusing for kids, especially after they find themselves in a text environment. Changing that to "press a specific key for options" would improve the experience a lot, while still keeping the functionality.

herb_fargus

@doimus read the documentation before asking for things that already exist:

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/runcommand

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Child-friendly-EmulationStation

Rion

@BuZz said in emulationstation feature requests here:

@Drakaen391 you can remove the files in ~/RetroPie/roms/SYSTEM which might be easier and they will not show. If editing es_systems.cfg copy it to ~/.emulationstation/ and it won't get overwritten (you will need to manually keep it in sync though)

What if you just rename the folder foldername to foldername_notshow?

That way you can easy switch back if you want without removing them?

senkun

@doimus said in emulationstation feature requests here:

May I suggest maging the ES user interface more "kid friendly", ie. less confusing when navigating and starting games.

Most importantly, not switching between systems with LEFT-RIGHT keys when already in particular system menu, ie. between NES, SMS, etc.

Also, and I guess this is more of an Retropie issue - the "press a key for options" right after you launch a game is very confusing for kids, especially after they find themselves in a text environment. Changing that to "press a specific key for options" would improve the experience a lot, while still keeping the functionality.

You can set them not to. It's all in the docs. As they used to say, RTFM ;-}

senkun

@Rion said in emulationstation feature requests here:

@BuZz said in emulationstation feature requests here:

@Drakaen391 you can remove the files in ~/RetroPie/roms/SYSTEM which might be easier and they will not show. If editing es_systems.cfg copy it to ~/.emulationstation/ and it won't get overwritten (you will need to manually keep it in sync though)

What if you just rename the folder foldername to foldername_notshow?

That way you can easy switch back if you want without removing them?

Easier way, just set a hidden directory named let's say .hidden. then you move all the directories you don't want showing into it. Come the day you want this or that showing, just move em back out.