Integrated Music Player for RetroPie [IMP] 2021.10 (Background Music for RetroPie and More)

RapidEdwin08

fadorka

So I tried to install IMP using the standard install option and everything seemed to work well except the first line after confirming the install is.

ln: failed to create symbolic link '/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/music': Operation not permitted

When I start emulation station the music player is there and works. The music that came with the install all works perfectly. However any custom music I try to add does not work, if I put the mp3 files in /home/pi/RetroPie/retropiemenu/imp/music When I try to play the music none of it works. I checked /home/pi/RetroPie/roms but there was no music folder, I tried to make the folder and put the mp3 files in there but that didn't seem to do anything. Did I just miss something? Everything seemed to be pretty straight-forward to install so I don't know what I messed up.

RapidEdwin08

@fadorka Thanks for the feedback.
Any more info about your build you can share?...

Are you using External Storage for ROMs?
Maybe the roms directory is a symbolic link already?

IMP uses the music DIR in imp/ as it's source.
Then it attempts to create a symbolic link to that imp/music DIR.
Sounds like that's where it failed.

IMP won't recognize the music in /roms/music unless it's linked to the main /imp/music DIR.

Try making a sub-directory in imp/music/subDIR and putting .mp3 there.
Basically anywhere BUT the root /imp/music DIR.
Does it play then? (Restart ES after adding /subDIR/mp3s).

fadorka

@RapidEdwin08 Yes I am using a USB thumb drive to store my ROMs. If it already has a symbolic link I wouldn't know how to check if it does.

I don't think I tried to make a sub-directory, so I'll try that when I get home. (I'm away on a trip so I will be back to try in a few days.)

Also thank you for the response! I'm very new to working with RetroPie and ES so I am a bit in over my head!

willyati

Hi! I installed this on my retropie, through PuTTY. However when i was looking for the folders, the A and B sides were missing (just found music, IMP and radio) and my rom folder was empty. Also no option to adjust music in my retropie menu. Turns out i had unplugged my USB with the Roms to be able to connect a keyboard before learning about PuTTY. I think maby this somehow have ruined my installation, and after the first install reboot, my raspberry will no longer connect to the internet, it sees the network we have available, but refuse to connect. Now i dont know what to do, im not shure what commands i need to use to uninstall, and have to internett to connect my retropie cabinet to my pc. Really hope i dont have to wipe my retropie that ive used hours, if not days, to set up... Help anyone?

Edit: When i restarted the arcade once more, with the USB unplugged again like it was during install, suddenly i got my internet back... If i again plug in my usb i loose connection.

Trying to use this code to uninstall, since its the only one provided, but says that ive got no such file in my directory:
To REMOVE the 0lder ~/imp Directory {and ~/imp-setup.tar.gz}:
cd ~ #Change to Home Directory
rm ~/imp -R -f #ALWAYS PROCEED WITH CAUTION USING rm .. -R -f
rm ~/imp-setup.tar.gz
EDIT p2: Yes, i just noticed i had to run the install script again to uninstall IMP, still having the internet connection issue though.!!!! (red line on picture shows up when usb is plugged in)
297650104_3131860813731660_8732901343260679246_n.jpg

RapidEdwin08

@willyati Is there a custom [wpa_supplicant.conf] on that USB?

Could be possible power issue?
Maybe the Power source is lacking when you are +USB.
Try unplugging any extra components that consume power, including JoyPad for testing, does the internet connect with +USB then?

IMP does not modify any Network settings on install, so it should not interfere with anything Network related.

Since you are using a USB, you may want to check these files for any variation in location:
/etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg
~/.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

willyati

@RapidEdwin08 I think the (new) USB itself caused the issue, problem still existed after a clean install. Im now up and running, and will just add games and music through a shared nettwork. Thank you for your response, the music player works great now that im ditching the usb! Sorry for any confusion, this hole ordeal is new to me.

fadorka

So I figured it out. Apparently FAT file systems can't create symbolic links. So I reformat my USB thumb drive to a different file system and the symbolic link worked correctly.

But as it turned out that had nothing to do with why my music wouldn't play. Apparently if the mp3 does not have a specified length in it's metadata it will refuse to play.

Honestly I have no idea why it works this way and the fact I managed to figure this out is a complete miracle. But hey I guess if anyone else is have similar problems make sure to check the metadata of your mp3.

RapidEdwin08

@fadorka Thanks for the info.
Makes sense about the FAT filesystem...

Anything else you can share about the mp3 metadata?
Was it too much or too little metadata?
Maybe some $P3C!AL characters were included in the metadata?

One thing to try is check if the song plays IN a playlist...
As in select a song you know works to form a playlist with the bad.mp3 in the same folder/ list somewhere.
Then skip to that bad.mp3 using next/previous track.
Does the bad.mp3 play then?

If you're up for it, you can try to manually run an MP3 from the Home directory with mpg123 with this command, and see if it outputs an error:

mpg123 ~/bad.mp3

fadorka

@RapidEdwin08 It seems that no other metadata needs to be available for the mp3 to play the only thing that matters is a listed length.

Putting the bad mp3s and skipping to them in a playlist doesn't make them play either.

If you want to try to emulate the problem to test yourself here's how I did it . Take something from youtube e.g

then I used this youtube to mp3 website https://ytmp3.cc/e64c1/ although I'm sure other websites will do the same. Check the properties of the mp3 to see the metadata, it should be all blank. The mp3 will not work with IMP, to fix it import the mp3 in something like Audacity then export to apply track length to the metadata.

Outside of this strange quirk IMP is an awesome program! Thanks for the help to get it set up and working.

smartgenes

I have an older Retropie-BGM-Player in my menu, which only worked in the background briefly, but does still play music in the Retropie menu. Do I need to get rid of this/how do I clean the system of it in preparation for this new music player?

RapidEdwin08

@smartgenes I'd say just try the Standard install of IMP 1st .
I tried to accommodate for most of the known BGM scripts in IMP.
Not sure what you have, but if it's 0lder, you're probably good to go.

If you have issues after install, then you can start looking around at runcommand_onstart and autorun scripts if needed.

0THER BGMs ALREADY INSTALLED:
[IMP] will attempt to Disable (NOT Remove) the following BGMs Indiscriminately upon Install:
Livewire, BGM Naprosnia, BGM Rydra, BGM OfficialPhilcomm, Generic mpg123 Scripts
[IMP] will attempt to Re-Enable them Upon Uninstall
It is still Recommended you Disable your Current BGM Scripts Before Installing [IMP] If you can.

smartgenes

@RapidEdwin08 Did it just obliterate the music folder in roms, I could have sworn one existed before? I'm not sure whether it installed or not, is the installer supposed to make a menu screen in emulationstation... I also get an error message which I think is something not caused by the install:

lvl0: VolumeCintrol::init() - Failed to find mixed elements!
.

RapidEdwin08

@smartgenes said in Integrated Music Player for RetroPie [IMP] 2021.10 (Background Music for RetroPie and More):

@RapidEdwin08 Did it just obliterate the music folder in roms, I could have sworn one existed before? I'm not sure whether it installed or not, is the installer supposed to make a menu screen in emulationstation... I also get an error message which I think is something not caused by the install:

lvl0: VolumeCintrol::init() - Failed to find mixed elements!
.

Are you using a USB for ROM storage via the standard RetroPIe usbromservice?

On Install IMP will MOVE the ..roms/music Folder to the retropiemenu:
/home/pi/RetroPie/retropiemenu/imp/music

It will then attempt to create a Symbolic Link to that new Music Location back in ..roms/music.
However, if you are using USB Storage, this will fail due to the filesystem type of the USB Storage not supporting symbolic links.
Any previous music from ..roms/music should have been moved to the new location in retropiemenu.
This is a known issue with USB Storage, you can see more details a couple posts backin #89 or so.
IMP won't recognize the music in /roms/music unless it's linked to the main /imp/music DIR.

For your issue with lvl0: VolumeCintrol::init() - Failed to find mixed elements!, it sounds like you have the wrong Audio Device selected in ES.
You may want to toggle different Audio Device Settings from the Main Menu -> Sound Settings.
Try different Audio Devices like PCM,HDMI,Headphone,ect depending on your configuration, back out of the Main Menu to apply/test it.

smartgenes

@RapidEdwin08

smartgenes

@RapidEdwin08 You're absolutely right, I'm storing the roms on external USB, so good to know the files should still be there.

There is some issue with audio I had before, bizarrely from cold boot I always had to reboot before the audio worked, not sure if it's still like that after I updated retropie. I just updated yesterday and had to purge pulse audio to get the audio on again.

It may or may not be related to another error I get, 'Failed to get size of gamma for output default'.

smartgenes

@smartgenes @RapidEdwin08
I read back on some of the older posts and I saw you suggested dropping the music folder as a sub folder in music so that IMP could pick up the music there as the symlink method won't work for me on the USB filesystem (it also doubles as storage for my old Wii).

I see IMP is in the Retropie menu (and the whole explanation about that being to avoid issues with last game played etc if you had placed it in the menu as a regular roms list with .XML. )

As for the audio issue:

cd ~/.emulationstation/
sudo nano es_settings.cfg

Then changing "AudioDevice" value = "HDMI"
seems to have solved the error message as you said.

However, though I can see the music in the menu in IMP it's still not playing anything yet, even MMMENU.

RapidEdwin08

@smartgenes
Have you tried manual command line mpg123 on a music.mp3 file?
Try putting an mp3 in your home directory and running it manually.

mpg123 ~/test.mp3

I'm not %100 what all the effects of updating your RetroPie build had on your audio.
It's debated, but typically recommended to NOT update a working RetroPie build.
Wondering if there's an issue with mpg123 outputting alsa vs pulse audio ...

With that said, IMP has mpg123 utilities in the installer.
You might want to try uninstall reinstall of mpg123. Maybe even try install mpg123 from source if you still have issues, just know source install can take a while...

smartgenes

@RapidEdwin08 I think it's some other oversight, mpg123 plays the file from the home menu. There's sound in emulationstation as it clicks on key presses in the menu also. I purged pulse audio so I don't think it would be that?

smartgenes

@smartgenes It might be helpful to know my previous BGM Player was the Naprosnia one. Could this be interfering/what are the instructions for its removal?

When I go to the old BGM and select volume, I get the error message:
amixer: unable to find simple control 'PCM',0