[solved] Emulators won't start ubuntu 20.04 RPi4b

doctordruidphd

Pi Model or other hardware: RPi 4b 8gb
Power Supply used: 5v 3amp "official"
RetroPie Version Used 4.8 compiled from current source
Built From: Ubuntu 20.04 server w/ ubuntu desktop (gnome), 64-bit
USB Devices connected: keyboard, mouse ,logitech ps3 controller
Controller used: logitech ps3

The source code compiled and installed with no error messages.
I can start emulationstation, the menu comes up with several systems, selecting the system shows a list of games, but when I select a game to start, the screen reverts to the desktop for a few seconds, then back to the emulationstation menu. This is happening with all of the systems.
There are a boatload of BIOSs in the ~/RetroPie/BIOS directory, and also roms in the ~/RetroPie/roms directory, under the appropriate system names.
I don't see any error messages, just the es menu vanishes, the desktop shows up, then the es menu returns.
Where to start? I'm new to RetroPie, but not to linux. Thanks.

Edit: I found part of the problem -- that path to the retroarch executable was not in my $PATH. When I put it there, the emulators I tried started. So now I am wondering if the install really didn't complete properly, and if other variables need to be set for retropie to work properly.

mitu

How are you starting EmulationStation ?

doctordruidphd

@mitu By typing emulationstation at the command line. The executable is in /usr/bin

mitu

EmulationStation uses runcommand to launch emulators.runcommand needs a terminal to work, so if you don't launch ES directly from the desktop it will not work.
The installation will add a RetroPie application which you can use to launch ES. Try to use it instead of manually launching EmulationStation.

If you still have issues, then post the ES log file (from $HOME/.emulationstation/es_log.txt) and Runcommand's log file (/dev/shm/runcommand.log).

doctordruidphd

@mitu For some reason the installation did not create a desktop application; I had to do that manually, just pointing to /usr/bin/emulationstation. The same thing happens whether I start from that application, or from the command line. The es_log.txt file is some 65000 lines long, mostly about rom files not found, so I can't post that, there must be some other problem. The runcommand.log file is:

greenman@snowball:/dev/shm$ cat runcommand.log
Parameters: 
Executing: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-stella2014/stella2014_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/atari2600/retroarch.cfg "/home/greenman/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/Asteroids (USA).zip" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg

mitu

The app entry is created in /usr/local/share/applications/retropie.desktop , see if you have it there.
This is how EmulationStation is started from the desktop entry here:

gnome-terminal --full-screen --hide-menubar -e emulationstation

The runcommand looks ok, though the error of launching it from ES should be in the ES log.

doctordruidphd

I don't seem to have a /usr/local/share/applications directory, but there is /usr/share/applications. I manually created a repropie.desktop file using your command line, and it works. Some things don't seem to be working -- the sega cd emulator just goes to a black screen -- but some of this may be due to the 64-bit build? Anyway, the initial issue is solved. Thanks.

mitu

@doctordruidphd said in [solved] Emulators won't start ubuntu 20.04 RPi4b:

Some things don't seem to be working -- the sega cd emulator just goes to a black screen

More likely you're missing the SegaCD BIOS - look it up in the docs.

zranx

@mitu said in [solved] Emulators won't start ubuntu 20.04 RPi4b:

@doctordruidphd, how did you compile and install in Ubuntu Server? I am trying the same in Ubuntu Server 22.04 but got lots of compile/install errors. Did you change any defaults in the /boot/firmware/config.txt?

@mitu, do you know if once installed I need gnome or can I run from terminal directly?

Thanks!