I think we finally have a solution for RGUI fans

meleu

[EDIT2: this is trick isn't necessary anymore. The same task is now performed by the runcommand.sh itself.]

[EDIT1: I think I got excited in advance. Because the system specific retroarch.cfg will be loaded with several configs and the repeated configs in the global file will be ignored. The method shown here avoid some confusions, but doesn't solve all the RGUI issues on RetroPie.]

I've just realized that a door was opened in this front after the implementation of runcommand-onend.sh.

If config_save_on_exit is true, the #include line will be put on the first line of the system specific retroarch.cfg (this is not what we want because RetroArch will get the configs from the global retroarch.cfg and will ignore the duplicated configs on the system specific one).

If we tell the runcommand-onend.sh to put this line at the end of the file, I think it'll be satisfactory. Example of how I am doing it:

# put this code in /opt/retropie/configs/all/runcommand-onend.sh
commandline="$4"

retroarchcfg=$(
    echo "$commandline" | grep -o '\/opt\/retropie\/configs\/.*\/retroarch\.cfg'
)

if [[ -n "$retroarchcfg" ]]; then
    include=$(grep "^#include" "$retroarchcfg")
    if [[ -n "$include" ]]; then
        sed -i "/^#include/d" "$retroarchcfg"
        echo "$include" >> "$retroarchcfg"
    fi
fi

Attention: to get runcommand-onend.sh working you need an updated version of runcommand.

Short way: execute retropie_setup.sh and choose "Update RetroPie-Setup script". And then go to "Manage Packages" -> "Manage core packages" -> "runcommand" -> "Update from binary"

BuZz

I might put something like this into runcommand itself but it will remove the use of a global config - see https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/1233 - but it's certainly work making sure the include is last. [edit - I see you have already been on the thread]

meleu

@BuZz
Oh... I see the problem. The system specific will be loaded with several configs and the repeated ones in global will be ignored. I think I got excited in advance...

BuZz

Well, it's still better than what we have now - but users will still get confused I guess. We used to use appendconfig, so the system specific config always overrode the main config - no need for an include - but then the problem was if people saved, it would always save over the global config - and that wasn't ideal for everyone too - although perhaps now we have the configuration editor that is preferable.

Still, nothing has really progressed on the ticket as we have all been busy on other things, so moving the include at least may avoid some confusion. Thanks.

Floob

I'm having difficulty seeing how the concept of a global retroarch.cfg as it stands at the moment can be maintained if users can set RetroPie to utilise the config file that RGUI will generate - even if it does append to the system retroarch.cfg.
Also, I'm not sure how the RGUI output/update will co-exist with the existing configuration editor tool that writes to the system based retroarch.cfg - would it just find and replace as appropriate?

Or maybe I just like manually tweaking them still to keep them tidy :)

BuZz

I think it is a mess to save from RGUI as it just dumps all the settings (and you lose all comments etc), so we should continue to recommend people use the configuration editor (and I will continue to improve it).

herb_fargus

@BuZz I suppose the one benefit from the rgui that maybe doesn't work as well from the config editor would be the input core remapping function

meleu

What do you guys think about this proposal?
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2558/brainstorm-a-way-to-make-the-rgui-fans-happy
Can you predict any problem?

BuZz

@herb_fargus yep - and that works fine without having to save the main config from RGUI - so RGUI still has plenty of uses.

BuZz

I have made the change in runcommand. thanks.

meleu

@BuZz so the trick on the first post is a redundancy, right? I'll edit it.

BuZz

I have made a change in retropie-setup, so when launching RGUI from the retropie menu, it sets config_save_on_exit = "false" after exiting. This means people editing the global RGUI settings won't then get all system configs overwritten later (although they can still do that if they want by changing this setting when in an emulator).

Hopefully this will improve things, although it's still best of course imho to use the configuration editor for most stuff.

Floob

If RGUI wasnt an option within the RetroPie menu, and instead only accessible (easily) via the ingame hotkey could that make it less confusing for users? That way its much more clear that changes made in-game are system specific.

That way it would steer more people to use the configuration editor to make the (often global) changes they want? At the moment, the global RGUI and config editor offer a lot of simialr/same options.

Please ignore if that just confuses matters :)

BuZz

@Floob I'm happy to remove it, but then those that do want to manage global config from rgui can't without using command line.

Floob

I was thinking if someone wanted to edit the global RetroArch config, they can currently do that in a UI via the configuration tool.
In here, each option is nicely commented and often has more info than via RGUI.

Its just that I have a feeling that the main use case for the global RGUI option is along the lines of "I want the game to be widescreen - the option must be here somewhere" or maybe "I want to apply a shader, and I see the option here". All of which are (most probably) better to be done via the configuration editor.

Maybe I'm being pessimistic, but I think that most people dont really understand the implications of updating via RGUI (global or otherwise), and by steering their options into the configuration tool it would be easier to manage and debug problems they had caused themselves.

meleu

I don't have the numbers or statistics, but those who came from a RetroArch on another platform background are used to configure things using RGUI (example: myself, nowadays I'm used to configure things editing the file). So, I think that remove it from RetroPie menu is a little drastic.

I liked the config_save_on_exit = "false" after exiting behavior. My only concern is that it can confuse those who don't know that it's a RetroPie feature (those who aren't following this thread).

I think this, let's say, "RetroPie vs RGUI" issue deserves a wiki ~~page~~ section. I can try to write something later...

herb_fargus

@meleu I don't know if we need yet another wiki page on retroarch.

Probably can be expanded on one of these pages (retroarch docs for RetroPie in general are a little sparse... well actually retroarch in general):

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/RetroArch

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/RetroArch-Configuration

meleu

@herb_fargus I didn't mean an exclusive page. This kind of info fits well in RetroArch Configuration, IMHO.

herb_fargus

@meleu no complaints from me there

Floob

Its this sort of thing that would be good to avoid:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3654/i-did-retroarch-updates-and-now-i-can-t-exit-games