Merge roms folder with the roms folders in memory sticks

dubyte

As far as I know to have your roms in a memory stick, you need to edit your configs to point to the memory stick.

So it could be nice that if you have roms in your retropie microsd, and you add a usb with a roms directory, retropie detect that and "merge" both folders.

Maybe one way is putting the roms folder in a new partition so we can use https://packages.debian.org/sid/utils/mhddfs
to merge them, the problem with mhddfs is that it runs in user level (slow)

But imagine if this feature is implemented in a good way. You could have games in a usb stick and you need just plug the usb and play also allowing to play games that are already in the microSD.

herb_fargus

@dubyte have you followed this guide? https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive

Editing es_systems.cfg is bad practise

dubyte

Hello @herb_fargus :

This guide is better than modified es_systems.conf but its less dynamic that just add memory stick and see your games there, could be nice that we could remove the usb and left a working system.

Because that means that I need to left the memory stick always connected :(

herb_fargus

@dubyte USB romtransfer is also supported:

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Transferring-Roms#usb-stick

dubyte

@herb_fargus Thats true :D thanks

pimpmaul69

@herb_fargus said in Merge roms folder with the roms folders in memory sticks:

@dubyte have you followed this guide? https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive

Editing es_systems.cfg is bad practise

Can i ask what advantages are to not edit the es_systems.cfg? I have always edited it. I point all my roms to the hard drive and i arrange all the consoles in the order i want them. I dont know a better way than keeping a backup of that one file so once the pi files get changed or updated all i have to do is put that one file on and im good to go. I of course keep a backup of all my files but that one is easy to replace everytime i update my emulators, emulationstation or the entire retropie image

mediamogul

@pimpmaul69 said in Merge roms folder with the roms folders in memory sticks:

Can i ask what advantages are to not edit the es_systems.cfg?

When I started using RetroPie a few months back I edited the es_systems.cfg as well. It was a bit like keeping an old steam engine running with the constant care it required, along with the fact that it never worked perfectly in all situations. After moving to the preferred method listed above, I truly noticed the relief of burden it brought and now everything "just works". To answer your question directly, below are a few noted advantages.

Some facets of RetroPie are hardcoded to use ~/RetroPie/roms/ and don't reference es_systems.cfg
Keeping an older es_systems.cfg in constant use prevents possible changes/additions that might be beneficial.
Even with a "system" in place, changing the es_systems.cfg after every update is an unnecessary chore.