Games does not launch, goes back to ES menu.

Destron

Hello,

I am using RetroPie version 4.6.6 running on an x86 system with elementary OS 5.1.7 Hera.

I was previously running a similar setup, except on Kubuntu and it worked perfectly. I just switched to elementary OS and I would like a shortcut to launch RetroPie however I am running in to an issue.

When I launch a game, or try to select any option in the config menu it jumps to the desktop a moment and goes right back to ES, won't launch the game, won't launch the menu option.

First I tried just creating a desktop file and put this in it:

Name= RetroPie
Exec=emulationstation
Comment=RetroPie retro games front end.
Icon=/home/***/RetroPie/retropiemenu/icons/rpsetup.png
Version=
Type= Application
Categories= Game

This method has always worked but not this time, it launches but I get the issue above, so I tried to research the issue and found the suggestion to use a bash script and point the shortcut to that, so I tried that with this:

#!/bin/sh
emulationstation
sleep 2
sudo pkill Xorg

This worked, but had the exact same issue. I tried changing things around but no matter what, I get the same result.

Lastly, I tried launching from the terminal directly. I still can't launch any config menu options but I can launch games however there is a considerable delay. It jumps to the desktop a few seconds, then a terminal window pops up, and after a few seconds the game launches.

I did a screen recording because when it jumps to the desktop and back its quick I just see flashes, when I ran it in slow mo I could see the terminal menu pop up and request a password but then quickly close and jump back to ES.

I would appreciate any insight anybody could share on this issue!

Thanks!

k3001993

This is literally mine:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=RetroPie
Exec=emulationstation
Icon=/root/RetroPie/retropiemenu/icons/rpsetup.png
Terminal=false

Change the icon path to yours.

Also if you don't want to get asked how to run it you should do the following:

Open file manager, go to your Desktop directory.

Now, Edit, go to Preferences.

Tick "Don't ask options on launch executable file"

This will apply to every file on your desktop.

Destron

@k3001993 said in Games does not launch, goes back to ES menu.:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=RetroPie
Exec=emulationstation
Icon=/root/RetroPie/retropiemenu/icons/rpsetup.png
Terminal=false

I tried to copy yours, get the same issue unfortunately.

I also tried reinstalling RetroPie, and switched to KDE Neon just to experiment. Still same issue, and there apparently is no solution, so I guess I need to figure out another option unfortunately. The previous setup was an older version of RetroPIe so I can only assume something must have changed.

Destron

@k3001993

One further thing, I found by changing Terminal=false to true, then a terminal window will popup asking for a password, enter the password and it works.

So only conclusion I can draw is that it must be permissions related.