Scraper

mitu

mitu, tried what you suggested , got " pi@retropie:~$ _ ( flashing cursor ).

So no output ? Are you sure you've typed the commands correcly ? l is lowercase L, make sure you are not typing I (uppercase i).

Daddyz

Good afternoon all, last nite turned the system off and just turned it back on and tried again the " ls -l /home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/nes/gamelist.xml " and made sure that the spelling was right and now I get this .
" -rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 0 Oct 31 14:21 /home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/nes/gamelist.xml... ( and yes both times I used the lowercase l and s )

mitu

@daddyz This indicates an empty file (has 0 bytes size), hence the error in the log. I don't understand why the previous rm command would fail with a file not found, since the file clearly exists.

Anyway, even if the file has 0 size, EmulationStation should still be able to write all the scraped/changed information on the games when stopping. If you're sure that you have the 'Save Metadata' configuration option set to 'On Exit', then a possible reason for ES not being able to write to the SD card.
What kind of SD card do you have ? Is it a reliable one - did you use before or just bought it for RetroPie ?

Daddyz

Ok, mitu, brand new 32G ScanDisk bought specifically for Retropie.
Now as far as the " save metadata " , this is what I do :

Highlight NES game
Press SELECT
Go to EDIT THIS GAME'S METADATA
A for select
A for edit
add 75 ( just for fun )
B for stop editing
A for OK
Back to EDIT METADATA
Scroll down to SAVE
Back to OPTIONS
B to close

Daddyz

I just added the "75" at the end of the game title .
After that , the change I made in the name is there as long as I don't restart or quit ES , like the Scraped images

Daddyz

Also , I read that you shouldn't unzip games that are in Arcade , does this matter if this NES game is still zipped , I mean , it plays just fine , not sure if it would make a difference .....
Trying to put as much info that I can on here

mitu

Arcade games should stay zipped, for NES either option should work.

But that's not the reason of the problem you're having, since emulators don't affect the way EmulationStation works. Not sure what to advise to be honest. Looks like a sd card corruption, maybe save your ROMs and try to test the card first , then re-install ?

Daddyz

mitu , thanks again , how do I TEST the SD card ?..or should I get a new one and start from scratch ?

mitu

For testing the card, use something like H2Testw just to check if the card is ok and the entire card's capacity is usable. No need to get another one for the moment.

Clyde

Another tool to test sd cards and any other storage media is f3 - Fight Flash Fraud. It can test the card – or actually, its free space – even from within RetroPie, and thus, it doesn't require a re-installation just for this purpose. To install it, your Pi has to be connected to the internet, of course.

To install f3 in RetroPie, simply drop to its command shell by pressing F4 in Emulation Station and enter:

sudo apt install f3

To test the free space on the card, enter:

f3write /home/pi

(There's no space after f3!) This will write 1GB sized files with test patterns to the user pi's home directory until the card is full. After that, run the following command to check these files for any write errors:

f3read /home/pi

After that, you can delete the test files with rm /home/pi/*.h2w, and exit the command shell with exit or by pressing Ctrl+d.

Daddyz

Morning all , I'm doing the f3 test as we speak .....anything in particular to look for ....or is it self explanatory ?

Daddyz

Ok , this is what I got IMG_2741.JPG1.JPG .
All good ?

mitu

Looks like the capacity is ok.

Daddyz

Thanks again mitu , so , what's my next step , get rid of everything and start from scratch , or any other steps I should contemplate...?.
( I did " image " Retropie on anew SD card but when installed in the unit , it gives me a whole bunch of text that I don't understand ).
My thinking is that I have to erase all on the Raspberry Pie before installing the new " image " .?
Thanks for your time

mitu

@daddyz said in Scraper:

My thinking is that I have to erase all on the Raspberry Pie before installing the new " image " .?

There's no need to erase anything, installing the image will automatically erase everything that's on the micro-sdcard - if that's what you're using.

Daddyz

Thanks again , ( yes on the micro card ) will try.....cheers

Clyde

@daddyz said in Scraper:

Ok , this is what I got

All good ?

You seem to have only used f3write, did you? That's only half of the test. Alhough it already shows that the card is writable and has the promised capacity, you'll have to run f3read afterwards to check that the files were actually written correctly. And don't forget to delete them afterwards, because your card doesn't have any free space left as long as they remain! (That only matters if you keep that RetroPie installation, of course.)

edit: I just noticed that my instructions above about f3read were somewhat abivalent. I changed them now, saying clearly that the user has to run f3read after f3write.

Daddyz

Hello all , first I'd like to thank you all for your help on the Sraping issue .
I replaced the SD card and now everything is working .
Thank you for the suggestion.
Now I have another issue , I cannot get to the desktop , had this problem a few months ago but was resolved , the thing is , I cannot remember how it was done .
Does the forum keep archives , perhaps I can look back at the messages and find the answer there to what was suggested to me .
Thanks

mitu

See https://retropie.org.uk/docs/FAQ/#where-did-the-desktop-go on how to install the desktop and start it.

Daddyz

Thank you mitu ....now I remember !!