Launch custom images on boot of games

IanDaemon

@Krakatoa I actually use different images for the "launching images" than the ones scraped for ES selection. If you want the scraped images to be the same as the launching images that should be even easier. I think there is a setting in RetroPie menu under Runcommand settings to do that.

Krakatoa

@IanDaemon I tried that setting in the runcommand for doing that and it fails, I think its because of the way ARRM names the files, but I am not entirely sure. That why I went this route.

To be honest I am good with whatever way is the easiest, as long as it works.

johnodon

@Krakatoa said in Launch custom images on boot of games:

@johnodon yes the files are named like that. Its how the ARRM scraper names the files automatically.

I figured changing the code would work, my question though is where do I make the change?

If you are following my process, it would be in /opt/retropie/configs/all/runcommand-onstart.sh

johnodon

@Krakatoa said in Launch custom images on boot of games:

@IanDaemon I tried that setting in the runcommand for doing that and it fails, I think its because of the way ARRM names the files, but I am not entirely sure. That why I went this route.

To be honest I am good with whatever way is the easiest, as long as it works.

The problem with doing it in runcommand.sh is if that script is updated, you will lose your changes.

Krakatoa

@johnodon Doesn't your script call variables from the runcommand.sh?

ROM_BN="**${ROM_BN_EXT%.*}**"
LAUNCHIMAGE="/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/$1/images/launching/$ROM_BN-launching.png"

The bolded is what I'm assuming needs to change. I don't really want to mess wit the runcommand though because it changes with updates. So that's where I'm stumped.

Krakatoa

@johnodon I agree I don't want to change to touch he runcommand.sh. Maybe I can copy the variable from the script, rename it and add it to the runcommand-onstart.sh.

johnodon

@Krakatoa said in Launch custom images on boot of games:

@johnodon Doesn't your script call variables from the runcommand.sh?

Yes...my runcommand-onstart.sh captures the values for the runcommand.sh variables so they can be used for my purposes:

#! /bin/bash
ARCH=$(uname -m)
SYSTEM="$1"
RACORE="$2"
ROMPATH="$3"
ROM_BN_EXT="${ROMPATH##*/}"
ROM_BN="${ROM_BN_EXT%.*}"
LAUNCHIMAGE="/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/$1/images/launching/$ROM_BN-launching.png"
case $ARCH in
  armv7l)
    fbi -1 -t 0 -noverbose -a "$LAUNCHIMAGE" </dev/tty &>/dev/null &
    IMAGEVIEWER="fbi"
    ;;
  i386 | i686 | x86_64)
    feh -F -N -Z -Y -q "$LAUNCHIMAGE" & &>/dev/null &
    IMAGEVIEWER="feh"
    ;;
  *)
    ;;
esac
export RACORE
export IMAGEVIEWER
( /opt/retropie/configs/all/pause.sh ) &

These two lines get the romname.extension and trims off the extension (i.e. zaxxon.zip --> zaxxon) and writes it to a local variable (ROM_BN)

ROM_BN_EXT="${ROMPATH##*/}"
ROM_BN="${ROM_BN_EXT%.*}"

The LAUNCHIMAGE variable is then constructed by concatenating the full path to the romfile (/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/$1/images/launching/ <-- where $1 = the system name) + $ROM_BN (zaxxon) + -launching.png

This translates into /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/images/launching/zaxxon-launching.png

I don't see why this wouldn't work...

LAUNCHIMAGE="/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/$1/downloaded_images/$ROM_BN_screenscraper_boxart_arrm.png"

...again, unless the _ after the variable is screwing it up. Launch a games and then look at the runcommand.log by doing cat /dev/shm/runcommand.log. Sometimes you will catch the error in there.

Krakatoa

@johnodon Thanks for the detailed info. I will do some debugging when I get home from work tonight.

Actually the more I think about it, that's the issue. If I place the variable in braces it should work. Basically escaping it.

LAUNCHIMAGE="/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/$1/downloaded_images/${ROM_BN}_screenscraper_boxart_arrm.png"

Clyde

@Krakatoa Just to throw another possible solution on the table, I recently wrote a little script to link Skyscraper's cover artwork to the corresponding launching images. Maybe with a little rewrite, you could use that for your undertaking.

See https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/223113 for the script.

Krakatoa

@Clyde Thanks, I'll take look.

Krakatoa

Ok, Adding the curly braces works, but its very buggy. It loads the screens when exiting games, also loads it when going into config menus. So it must be caching it somewhere.

Does anyone know the directories/files it looks for when setting this up from the run command?

IanDaemon

@Krakatoa Can't you use -onstart.sh and -onend.sh?

Krakatoa

@IanDaemon Maybe. though that's probably beyond my skills. Does anyone know what folders the runcommand looks for when it runs lunch menu art?

"Launch Menu Art: If enabled, any scraped box art you have for a game will show up as a splashscreen while your game loads up."

IanDaemon

@Krakatoa Depending on where you have the system save it could be \\THINCOCKTAIL\roms\arcade\media\screenshots where the machine is named "THINCOCKTAIL" and the system is "arcade".

Krakatoa

@IanDaemon Is that path hardcoded? My path to the images are

\\retropie\roms\atomiswave\media\images\game.png

IanDaemon

@Krakatoa Hmm,
I create custom loading images in Photoshop and put them in
\\[machine]\roms\\[system]\images\\[game]-launching.png.

I find scraped images (from Skyscraper) in
\\[machine]\roms\\[system]\media\screenshots\\[game].png
and
\\[machine]\roms\\[system]\media\marquees\\[game].png.

Krakatoa

@IanDaemon that’s why I am looking for the path as each scraper uses different folders. I use both AARM and Skraper https://www.skraper.net/ For scraping. I’m planning on going fully to Skraper if I can get these images loading on boot.

IanDaemon

On my system Skraper and Skyscraper both save in the same folder.
(However I did select "use rom folder for scraped images" somewhere so that may be having an effect.)

WeirdH

@Krakatoa Changing one uniform underscore in thousands of files is no hassle at all with Bulk Rename Utility. Check out my posts here.

Krakatoa

@IanDaemon thanks. I’ll try that.