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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Trouble getting Commander Keen (Commander Genius) working on RetroPie

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    • J
      jplank
      last edited by

      I'm having some trouble running the Commander Genius port. When I run it, I'm shown a completely blank screen with a cursor. I can move the cursor with my mouse, but nothing else appears. I've read the documentation here (https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Commander-Keen/) as well as some threads on the forum.

      I've purchased the Commander Keen pack from GOG.com and the games play fine on my Windows PC. I've copied each of keen1 through keen5 to folders on my RetroPie. I've tried it as:

      \roms\ports\cgenius\keen1
      ...
      \roms\ports\cgenius\keen5

      as well as

      \roms\ports\cgenius\games\keen1
      ...
      \roms\ports\cgenius\games\keen5

      In both cases I was faced with a black screen. Some posts mentioned that Commander Genius took a long time to load, so I left it for 10 - 15 minutes, but nothing changed.

      Just wondering if anyone else has any other suggestions I can try to get this to work? (I'm aware that a workaround might be to simply use DosBox, but I was hoping to see if I could get Commander Genius working before I resort to that.)

      I'm using RetroPie version 4.7.8. The Pi model is 3B rev 1.2. Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • mituM
        mitu Global Moderator
        last edited by

        With the game folders (from GOG) copied to ports/cgenius, this should work. Can you look in /dev/shm/runcommand.log to see if any errors are logged there ?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • J
          jplank
          last edited by

          @mitu said in Trouble getting Commander Keen (Commander Genius) working on RetroPie:

          With the game folders (from GOG) copied to ports/cgenius, this should work. Can you look in /dev/shm/runcommand.log to see if any errors are logged there ?

          Here is the content in the runcommand.log file. I accessed the file while the black screen was still visible on my RetroPie:

          Parameters: 
Executing: pushd /opt/retropie/ports/cgenius; ./CGeniusExe; popd
/opt/retropie/ports/cgenius ~
n: Initializing ThreadPool...
n: ThreadPool: creating 5 threads ...
n: Configuration filename is: cgenius.cfg
n: I have now the following searchpaths (in this order):
n:   /home/pi/.CommanderGenius
n:   .
n:   /usr/share/commandergenius
n:  And that's all.
n: LogFile
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: Logfile
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: Commander Genius v2.4.4-Release
n: BUILD: RELEASE
n: PLATFORM: Linux
n: Compiled against SDL version 2.0.10 ...
n: and linked against SDL version 2.0.10.
n: Build date: Jan 24 2021
n: by The Commander Genius Team 2021
n: BY FANS, FOR FANS. ALL "COMMANDER KEEN" GRAPHICS,
n: SOUND, AND LEVEL FILES ARE THE PROPERTY OF ID SOFTWARE
n: EXCEPT THOSE WHICH WERE MADE BY FANS FOR EXTENSION.
n: Send E-Mail to me
n: Created Log file...
n: 
n: Initializing TTF driver...
n: 
n: Initializing Video driver...
n: 
n: SDL was successfully initialized!
n: Loading driver settings...
n: 
W: cgenius.cfg:Video.BorderColorsEnabled: '0' is an unknown keyword
n: Starting timer driver...
n: 
n: Loading game options...
n: 
n: Your personal settings were loaded successfully...
n: Initializing the Sound system...
n: 
n: Starting the sound driver...
n: Mix_OpenAudio: 
n: mAudioSpec.freq = 
n: 44100
n: mAudioSpec.format = 
n: 32784
n: mAudioSpec.channels = 
n: 2
n: mAudioSpec.samples = 
n: 1024
n: 
n: 
n: There are 
n: 3
n:  available chunk(sample) decoders
n: 
n: 
n: 	
n: WAVE
n: 	
n: AIFF
n: 	
n: VOC
n: There are 
n: 2
n: available music decoders:
n: 
n: 
n: 	
n: CMD
n: 	
n: WAVE
n: Opened audio at 
n: 44100
n:  Hz 
n: 16
n:  bit 
n: stereo
n: , 
n: 0
n:  bytes audio buffer.
n: 
n: Sound System: SDL sound system initialized.
n: Starting App cycle...
n: 
n: Loading hardware settings...
n: Starting graphics driver...
n: Trying OpenGL...
n: OpenGL Init(): Interface successfully opened!
n: will be using OpenGL...
n: Gamesurface creation of 320x200!
n: 
n: ScrollSurface creation of 512x512!
n: 
n: ScaleX is at 1!
n: 
n: ScreenSurface creation of 320x200!
n: 
n: Screen pointer set to game surface directly
n: Creation of main screen texture 320x200!
n: 
n: Gamesurface creation of 800x600!
n: 
n: ScrollSurface creation of 1024x1024!
n: 
n: ScaleX is at 1!
n: 
n: ScreenSurface creation of 800x600!
n: 
n: Screen pointer set to game surface directly
n: Creation of main screen texture 800x600!
n: 
n: Running Thread: Loading Resources
n: Starting the input driver...
n: JoyDrv_Start() : 
n: Game Autodetection Started
n: Search: .
n: Search: games/Keen7
n: EXE processed with size of 263488 and crc of DD8DB331
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/Keen7/keen4e.exe Version: v1.40
n:    Using for in-game menu resources
n: Search: games/Keen8
n: EXE processed with size of 271696 and crc of A9A2B5CD
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/Keen8/keen6.exe Version: v1.40
n: Search: games/keen1
 unpacking............end
n: EXE processed with size of 100484 and crc of 586BE7FA
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/keen1/keen1.exe Version: v1.31
n: Search: games/keen2
 unpacking..............end
n: EXE processed with size of 118672 and crc of BAFF21E8
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/keen2/keen2.exe Version: v1.31
n: Search: games/keen3
 unpacking...............end
n: EXE processed with size of 127616 and crc of F5D8BD71
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/keen3/keen3.exe Version: v1.31
n: Search: games/keen4
 unpacking..............................end
n: EXE processed with size of 263488 and crc of DD8DB331
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/keen4/keen4e.exe Version: v1.40
n: Search: games/keen5
 unpacking...............................end
n: EXE processed with size of 266096 and crc of 4BEAD24D
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/keen5/keen5e.exe Version: v1.40
n: Search: games/keen6
 unpacking...............................end
n: EXE processed with size of 266032 and crc of 4A35EE01
n: 
n: Detected game Name: games/keen6/keen6.exe (Unknown Version)
n: Search: games/keen9
n: Detected 1 joystick(s).
n: 
n: The names of the joysticks are:
n:     8Bitdo SNES30 GamePad
n:      Axes: 6
n:      Buttons: 16 
n:      Balls: 0 
n:      Hats: 1
n: Gamesurface creation of 800x600!
          mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mituM
            mitu Global Moderator
            last edited by

            It looks like there's a problem with the display in the CGenius version we use (works on a Pi4 though). I'll see if it's solved in later versions.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • mituM
              mitu Global Moderator @jplank
              last edited by

              @jplank Can you try to update your RetroPie-Setup script and then do a source installation for Commander Genius ? We updated the version included in RetroPie, let's see if it fixes the blackscreen you get.

              J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • J
                jplank @mitu
                last edited by

                @mitu I still get the black screen, unfortunately. In case it's helpful, here's the runcommand.log file:

                Parameters: 
Executing: pushd /opt/retropie/ports/cgenius; ./CGeniusExe; popd
/opt/retropie/ports/cgenius ~
n: Initializing ThreadPool...
n: Installing CrashHandler .. registered simple resuming signal handler
n: ThreadPool: creating 5 threads ...
n: Configuration filename is: cgenius.cfg
n: I have now the following searchpaths (in this order):
n: 
n: /home/pi/.CommanderGenius
n: .
n: /usr/share/commandergenius
n:  And that's all.
n: 
n: LogFile
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: Logfile
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: 
n: Commander Genius v2.7.7-Release
n: BUILD: RELEASE
n: GIT_SHA: 0b56993
n: 
n: GIT_BRANCH: HEAD
n: 
n: PLATFORM: Linux
n: Compiled against SDL version 2.0.10 ...
n: and linked against SDL version 2.0.10.
n: Build date: Feb 24 2021
n: by The Commander Genius Team 2021
n: BY FANS, FOR FANS. ALL "COMMANDER KEEN" GRAPHICS,
n: SOUND, AND LEVEL FILES ARE THE PROPERTY OF ID SOFTWARE
n: EXCEPT THOSE WHICH WERE MADE BY FANS FOR EXTENSION.
n: Send E-Mail to me
n: Created Log file...
n: 
n: I have now the following searchpaths (in this order):
n: 
n: /home/pi/.CommanderGenius
n: .
n: /usr/share/commandergenius
n:  And that's all.
n: 
n: Initializing TTF driver...
n: 
n: Initializing Video driver...
n: 
n: SDL was successfully initialized!
n: Loading driver settings...
n: 
W: cgenius.cfg:Video.BorderColorsEnabled: '0' is an unknown keyword
n: Starting timer driver...
n: 
n: Loading game options...
n: 
n: Your personal settings were loaded successfully...
n: Initializing the Sound system...
n: 
n: Starting the audio driver...
n: Mix_OpenAudio: 
n: mAudioSpec.freq = 
n: 44100
n: mAudioSpec.format = 
n: 32784
n: mAudioSpec.channels = 
n: 2
n: mAudioSpec.samples = 
n: 1024
n: 
n: 
n: There are 
n: 4
n:  available chunk(sample) decoder(s):
n: 
n: 
n: 	
n: WAVE
n: 	
n: AIFF
n: 	
n: VOC
n: 	
n: OGG
n: There are 
n: 3
n:  available music decoder(s):
n: 
n: 
n: 	
n: CMD
n: 	
n: WAVE
n: 	
n: OGG
n: Opened audio at 
n: 44100
n:  Hz 
n: 16
n:  bit 
n: stereo
n: , 
n: 1024
n:  bytes audio samples.
n: 
n: Sound System: SDL sound system initialized.
n: Starting App cycle...
n: 
n: Loading hardware settings...
n: Starting graphics driver...
n: Trying OpenGL...
n: OpenGL Init(): Interface successfully opened!
n: will be using OpenGL...
n: Gamesurface creation of 320x200!
n: 
n: ScrollSurface creation of 512x512!
n: 
n: ScaleX is at 1!
n: 
n: ScreenSurface creation of 320x200!
n: 
n: Screen pointer set to game surface directly
n: Creation of main screen texture 320x200!
n: 
n: Gamesurface creation of 800x600!
n: 
n: ScrollSurface creation of 1024x1024!
n: 
n: ScaleX is at 1!
n: 
n: ScreenSurface creation of 800x600!
n: 
n: Screen pointer set to game surface directly
n: Creation of main screen texture 800x600!
n: 
n: Running Thread: Loading Resources
n: Starting the input driver...
n: JoyDrv_Start() : 
n: Game Autodetection Started
n: Search on vfs: .
n: Search on vfs: games/Keen7
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen7/ck4patch.exe 
n: 
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen7/keen4e.exe 
n: 
n: EXE processed with size of 263488 and crc of DD8DB331
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/Keen7/keen4e.exe Version: v1.40
n:    Using for in-game menu resources
n: Search on vfs: games/Keen8
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen8/ck6patch.exe 
n: 
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen8/keen6.exe 
n: 
n: EXE processed with size of 271696 and crc of A9A2B5CD
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/Keen8/keen6.exe Version: v1.40
n: Search on vfs: games/keen1
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen1/catalog.exe 
n: 
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen1/dealers.exe 
n: 
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen1/keen1.exe 
n: 
 unpacking............end
n: EXE processed with size of 100484 and crc of 586BE7FA
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/keen1/keen1.exe Version: v1.31
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen1/swcbbs.exe 
n: 
n: Search on vfs: games/keen2
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen2/keen2.exe 
n: 
 unpacking..............end
n: EXE processed with size of 118672 and crc of BAFF21E8
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/keen2/keen2.exe Version: v1.31
n: Search on vfs: games/keen3
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen3/keen3.exe 
n: 
 unpacking...............end
n: EXE processed with size of 127616 and crc of F5D8BD71
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/keen3/keen3.exe Version: v1.31
n: Search on vfs: games/keen4
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen4/keen4e.exe 
n: 
 unpacking..............................end
n: EXE processed with size of 263488 and crc of DD8DB331
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/keen4/keen4e.exe Version: v1.40
n: Search on vfs: games/keen5
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen5/keen5e.exe 
n: 
n: Detected 1 joystick(s).
n: 
n: The names of the joysticks are:
n: Joystick/Gamepad detected:
n:     8Bitdo SNES30 GamePad
n:      Axes: 6
n:      Buttons: 16 
n:      Balls: 0 
n:      Hats: 1
n:      GUID: 05000000c82d00004028000000010000
n: SDL: A Joystick just got added: Idx 0
n: 
 unpacking...............................end
n: EXE processed with size of 266096 and crc of 4BEAD24D
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/keen5/keen5e.exe Version: v1.40
n: Search on vfs: games/keen6
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen6/keen6.exe 
n: 
 unpacking...............................end
n: EXE processed with size of 266032 and crc of 4A35EE01
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/keen6/keen6.exe (Unknown Version)
n: Search on vfs: games/keen9
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen9/ck5patch.exe 
n: 
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen9/keen5e.exe 
n: 
 unpacking...............................end
n: EXE processed with size of 266096 and crc of 4BEAD24D
n: 
n: Detected game file: games/keen9/keen5e.exe Version: v1.40
n: Scanning /home/pi/.commandergenius/games/keen9/unlzexe.exe 
n: 
n: Looking for games/Keen7/preview.bmp ... found!
n: 
n: Reading Games from Store...
n: 
n: gce.mVersionCode=
n: 223000
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mName=
n: Keen 4 Coop
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mLink=
n: Keen4Coop.zip
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mDescription=
n: More playable Characters more stuff!
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mPictureFile=
n: keen4special.png
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mVersionCode=
n: 230000
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mName=
n: Keen 4 Short Ciruit
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mLink=
n: ShortCircuit14.zip
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mDescription=
n: Modern Take on Keen 4
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mPictureFile=
n: ShortCircuitBeefy.png
n: 
n: 
n: Reading Games from Store (Legacy)...
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Coop
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Short Ciruit
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 1 Special
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 1
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 1 Coop
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen Dreams
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen Dreams Plus
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Plus
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Ultimate
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Buried in Oblivion
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 6 Demo
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 7
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 7 Coop
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: The Eight Accumulators
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Perilous Persuit
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Silcar 1
n: "
n: 
n: Running Thread: Loading catalogue file in the background
n: Game Autodetection Finished
n: Loading Resources [finished]
n: 
n: base-url: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/clonekeenplus/Downloads
n: Gamesurface creation of 800x600!
n: 
n: ScrollSurface creation of 1024x1024!
n: 
n: ScaleX is at 1!
n: 
n: ScreenSurface creation of 800x600!
n: 
n: Screen pointer set to game surface directly
n: Creation of main screen texture 800x600!
n: 
n: Finished downloading from "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/clonekeenplus/Downloads/gameCatalogue.xml", destination: "tempgameCatalogue.xml"
n: Loading catalogue file in the background [finished]
n: 
n: Reading Games from Store...
n: 
n: gce.mVersionCode=
n: 223000
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mName=
n: Keen 4 Coop
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mLink=
n: Keen4Coop.zip
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mDescription=
n: More playable Characters more stuff!
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mPictureFile=
n: keen4special.png
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mVersionCode=
n: 230000
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mName=
n: Keen 4 Short Ciruit
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mLink=
n: ShortCircuit14.zip
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mDescription=
n: Modern Take on Keen 4
n: 
n: 
n: gce.mPictureFile=
n: ShortCircuitBeefy.png
n: 
n: 
n: Reading Games from Store (Legacy)...
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Coop
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Short Ciruit
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 1 Special
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 1
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 1 Coop
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen Dreams
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen Dreams Plus
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Plus
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 4 Ultimate
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Buried in Oblivion
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 6 Demo
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 7
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Keen 7 Coop
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: The Eight Accumulators
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Perilous Persuit
n: "
n: 
n: Scanning "
n: Silcar 1
n: "
n: 
n: Saving Display settings...
n: 
n: Tearing down thread pool...
n: 
n: End of logfile
~
                mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • mituM
                  mitu Global Moderator @jplank
                  last edited by

                  Can you try and remove the existing configuration file (cgenius.cfg from /opt/retropie/configs/ports/cgenius) and start again ?
                  I'll give it a test on a Pi3 when I have some time, I only tested this on a Pi4 with the latest updates.

                  J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • J
                    jplank @mitu
                    last edited by

                    @mitu I just tried again. I removed cgenius, deleted cgenius.cfg, installed again from source. Same issue, screen is completely black.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • mituM
                      mitu Global Moderator
                      last edited by

                      I think I may have found the problem, let's see if I could find the solution.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • mituM
                        mitu Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        The easiest method is to modify cgenius.cfg and replace

                        OpenGL = true

                        in the [Video] section with

                        OpenGL = false
                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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