Theme potentially crashing emulation station?

mr_no_love

I looked around through the threads and I’ve seen similar issues but couldn’t find a solution. So here goes.

Pi Model or other hardware: Pi 4 B/4gb with argon one v2
Power Supply used: official Pi 4 desktop kit usb-c power supply
RetroPie Version Used: 4.7.1
Built From: Samsung Evo Plus, Raspberry Pi OS downloaded using Raspberry imager
USB Devices connected: official Pi 4 desktop kit keyboard
Controller used: PS3 controller via USB
Error messages received:
Verbose log (if relevant): ???
Guide used: none
File: ???
Emulator: retropie
Attachment of config files: ???

How to replicate the problem: So I finally got my retropie up and running last night after what seemed like forever, this is totally new to me but someone via Reddit was nice enough to point me in the right direction. I only have about 5 games at the moment, all arcade roms(FBNeo). So everything seemed to be running fine until I started downloading themes. First I downloaded the Capcom Horizontal theme, i applied and it worked fine. Next I did the same with Zoid theme, no issues. Lastly I downloaded the Epic noir theme, I tried to set it as the primary theme and emulation station immediately crashed. I used sudo reboot and crashed following the emulation station load screen. Each crash has the same error message

“emulation station crashed! If this is your first boot of retropie - make sure you are using the correct image for your system. Check your rom file/folder permissions and if running on a raspberry pi make sure your gpu split is set high enough and/or switch back to using carbon theme.”

I have network access from my laptop. I tried to delete the them but couldn’t locate it in any folders. Hopefully I provided enough info. Appreciate any help!

sleve_mcdichael

@mr_no_love said in Theme potentially crashing emulation station?:

I tried to delete the them but couldn’t locate it in any folders.

/etc/emulationstation/themes

Or to revert back to the default "carbon" theme:

Edit your es_settings.cfg file with:

nano /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_settings.cfg

Find the line that says string name="ThemeSet" and change it back to the default "carbon" theme:

<string name="ThemeSet" value="carbon" />

Press [ctrl]-s, [ctrl]-x to save and then exit.

Restart EmulationStation.

mr_no_love

@sleve_mcdichael
thank you for responding! I do wonder if I am doing something wrong. I did input the line “nano /home..” command in the terminal, from there it just takes me to a black screen with some commands at the bottom. There’s no line for me to edit. Is there something I’m missing?

mr_no_love

Just realized after entering the command you recommended, it says “read 0 lines” so I guess that’s why I’m unable to edit any lines. I entered the “nano /home” command in the terminal after emulation station crashes

sleve_mcdichael

@mr_no_love said in Theme potentially crashing emulation station?:

from there it just takes me to a black screen with some commands at the bottom.

That indicates the file does not exist at that location (or exists but is empty) and so you are editing a new/empty file. Did you double-check the spelling? Note the leading period in .emulationstation?

Note: ~ is your $HOME directory; it is a shortcut to /home/[user] or in our case, /home/pi. You should already be in this directory when you drop out of ES. From there it should be just one step to .emulationstation/ and then edit the file directly:

pi@retropie:~ $ cd .emulationstation
pi@retropie:~/.emulationstation $ ls
collections       es_log.txt       es_temporaryinput.cfg
downloaded_media  es_log.txt.bak   gamelists
es_input.cfg      es_settings.cfg  scrapers
es_input.cfg.bak  es_systems.cfg   tmp
pi@retropie:~/.emulationstation $ nano es_settings.cfg

Also note: ~/.emulationstation is a symlink, like a Windows "shortcut" it is just a pointer that points to the location of another file or folder. In this case, the directory /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation. So, any of the following actually all point to the same file:

/home/pi/.emulationstation/es_settings.cfg
$HOME/.emulationstation/es_settings.cfg
~/.emulationstation/es_settings.cfg
/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_settings.cfg

Final note: filenames with a .leading period are hidden files and will not be shown with the ls (list) command; you have to use ls -a to show (a)ll files:

pi@retropie:~ $ ls
RetroPie  RetroPie-Setup
pi@retropie:~ $ ls -a
.              .config            .profile
..             .emulationstation  RetroPie
.asoundrc      .gnupg             RetroPie-Setup
.bash_history  .lesshst           .selected_editor
.bash_logout   .local             .skyscraper
.bashrc        .lr-atari800.cfg   .wget-hsts
.cache         .openMSX
pi@retropie:~ $

mr_no_love

@sleve_mcdichael

IT WAS THE THEME! Thank you! I figured out what I was doing wrong. I’m on my phone and the “.cfg” was cutoff, I needed to scroll over. I do have one other question, if you wouldn’t mind? I’m playing on my 4K 65” tv, a lot of the games I’m playing are 2D arcade games. Alien v predator, TMNT, Street Fighter Alpha, I like playing on a bigger monitor but they look really pixelated. Is that something I can adjust/fix?

sleve_mcdichael

@mr_no_love said in Theme potentially crashing emulation station?:

I like playing on a bigger monitor but they look really pixelated. Is that something I can adjust/fix?

Shaders: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Shaders-and-Smoothing/#installation

I use zfast_crt_standard, and zfast_lcd_standard for handhelds. Looks okay on my 720p tv but should look even better in 1080p.

4k tv

You'll also want to force 1080p resolution, if you haven't yet:

raspi-config >> Display Options >> Resolution

mr_no_love

@sleve_mcdichael

Thank you very much for your help! I really appreciate it!

mr_no_love

Unfortunately forcing 1080 has prevented me from being able to play….again. I went through raspi-config and forced 1920x1080. Afterwards it asked if I wanted to reboot, which I did. After rebooting I was met with a rainbow screen and an error message..

“[ 166.138934] EXT4-fs error (device mmcblk0p2): ext4_lookup:1703: inode #2040: comm emulationstation: deleted inode referenced: 2393114

Seems as if I can’t catch a break lol. Wife and kids sleeping, there goes my night of gaming.

Also I don’t have a way to type in any commands. Appreciate any help

dankcushions

@mr_no_love file system corruption. see https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/17881/ext4-fs-error/9

if you can’t access a command line prompt, you’ll just have to re-image.

you’ve never pulled the power without first shutting down. i hope?

you never said what image you’ve used?

mr_no_love

@dankcushions never have pulled the plug without shutting down

This was my second time hopping on after correcting my issue from earlier. I’m using the official raspberry pi OS, I wrote it using the raspberry pi imager.

So am I pretty much starting from scratch?

Also does that mean next time I can’t force 1080p? Seems like every time I want to make a small tweak it causes another an issue

dankcushions

@mr_no_love if your sd card is corrupting with no obvious cause it is likely to be a hardware issue. either: damaged/fake SD card, unreliable/inadequate power supply, damaged SD slot, etc. performing such basic tasks should not cause corruption.

mitu

@mr_no_love said in Theme potentially crashing emulation station?:

So am I pretty much starting from scratch?

Try to change the theme to the default, as @sleve_mcdichael has indicated. If you have access to RetroPie via file shares, you can also edit the es_settings.cfg file from your PC - the location is \\retropie\configs\all\emulationstation.

mr_no_love

@mitu thank you for helping! I’ve resolved the issue with the theme. I’m having an issue with a rainbow screen/error message after forcing 1080p from raspi-config.

No command lines available

mr_no_love

@dankcushions I may try another SD if I need to rewrite the image. I just purchased a new Sandisk extreme from a Best Buy last week. The one I’m using currently I bought from someone, so it’s possible it’s a fake, idk at this point.