Attract Mode issues after updating from source (experimental section)

Striderx99 · 11 Apr 2023, 03:14

Hello everyone. I'm having an issue launching Attract Mode from a command prompt after exiting from RetoPie. Attract Mode tries to launch the display I left off at, but it fails to get the vendor ID of joystick /dev/input/js0 and the product ID of joystick /dev/input/js0. The next message says "Error, could not find default font." It's a real bummer, because I got everything I needed together for several systems and now it does not seem to work. If anyone has suggestions of how I can fix this problem, please let me know. Thank you.

mitu · 11 Apr 2023, 03:26

Update your RetroPie-Setup script and then re-install from source.

Striderx99 · 11 Apr 2023, 04:05

I followed those steps and restarted. I attempted to exit again, entered 'attract' at the prompt, hit enter, and saw the same set of messages again. Do I need to configure any of the files to get my joystick detected again? I don't know where to go from here, but I appreciate your help.

mitu · 11 Apr 2023, 04:07

@Striderx99 Please post the details of your setup and the log file on pastebin.com.

Striderx99 · 11 Apr 2023, 04:15

I'll upload the attract.cfg file along with the es_log.txt file. I'll try to get back to this issue tomorrow. If I should include anything else, please let me know.

mitu · 4 Nov 2023, 05:30

@Striderx99 said in Attract Mode issues after updating from source (experimental section):

If I should include anything else, please let me know.

As I said before, add the details of your system (https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first) and the log file from attractmode, not EmulationStation.

Striderx99 · 4 Nov 2023, 21:02

Here is the information I added (Pi 4B specs and log.txt from the .attract folder) into this Pastebin link: https://pastebin.com/5WmzSKi7

mitu · 11 Apr 2023, 20:25

Did you re-install attractmode after updating RetroPie-Setup ? Do you use a custom theme/layout which needs a special font ?

Striderx99 · 11 Apr 2023, 20:44

I reinstalled Attract Mode after updating the RetroPie setup script. I did notice that the Sega Naomi layout (Great Themes Collection-Sega Naomi) uses fonts called "BigSquareDots" and "BebasNeue Bold" in the layout.nut file. I'm not sure whether this could be the problem, but these font files are inside the folder.

Striderx99 · 11 Apr 2023, 21:25

@Striderx99 I checked attract.cfg and found something that might be an issue. If you go to the section labeled "general" you see a sub-section called default_font. It indicates that it should be arial. Underneath the default_font section, the font_path is /usr/share/fonts. Using Firezilla, I saw that there were two folders labelled "truetype" and "X11", along with a .uuid file.

mitu · 12 Apr 2023, 03:05

@Striderx99 If your configuration/layout references a certain font, it needs to be installed on your system - otherwise attractmode will not load. This is a recent change in the upstream project, which was more lenient with font matching loading before, but now is more strict.

Striderx99 · 12 Apr 2023, 04:08

@mitu I read somewhere in the Attract Mode forums that someone encountered a similar problem (http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2170.0). So I added the path (/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation) to the two that were already listed. I also changed the default_font to LiberationSans-Regular.ttf. Attract Mode loaded up fine afterwards, but now more emulators showed up (as they are created by default), so I deleted those that were not included in my set of roms/isos. I am however, running into another problem. I prepared a Super Nintendo CD section, but the .sfc and .smc games that I included seem to show a "Parameter word expansion failed" error. It's odd, because when you launch these games in EmulationStation, they load up and play the music tracks successfully. I'm sorry if this whole ordeal has been like an ongoing Tennis match, but I'm hoping I can get the solution to this issue.

mitu · 12 Apr 2023, 04:14

@Striderx99 said in Attract Mode issues after updating from source (experimental section):

prepared a Super Nintendo CD section, but the .sfc and .smc games that I included seem to show a "Parameter word expansion failed" error.

That doesn't sound familiar. Is this an Attract Mode error or an emulator error ?

Striderx99 · 12 Apr 2023, 05:00

@mitu I think it might be an Attract Mode issue. I'm just going by what I read here (http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2418.0). The emulators on the EmulationStation end load these images up fine. I just like the bells and whistles of Attract Mode too, so ocasionally I use it. I want to tie up the loose ends on this project so I can save an image of it.

mitu · 4 Dec 2023, 06:45

@Striderx99 I don't think that old topic applies to the error you reported last time. That topic is about launching the RetroPie menu entries and it may not even apply to current versions of RetroPie and AttractMode (especially on a Pi4).

Is this a 3rd party image or not ?

Striderx99 · 12 Apr 2023, 05:50

@mitu The image was made directly from the RetroPie site. I also added Attract Mode from the experimental section of RetroPie. I tried installing another version of Attract Mode on top of Retropie before, but it only ended up giving me numerous sound issues.

mitu · 12 Apr 2023, 15:41

How did you set-up the SNES CD system ? Maybe you've not entered the correct command for starting the emulator.

Striderx99 · 4 Dec 2023, 17:09

@mitu I think I see what you mean. I have my .cfg file for Super Nintendo CD setup like this:

Generated by Attract-Mode v2.6.2

executable /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh
args 0 SYS ''[romfilename]''
rompath /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snescd
romext .fig;.sfc;.smc;.swc;.zip;.FIG;.SFC;.SMC;.SWC;.ZIP
system Super Nintendo CD
exit_hotkey Escape
artwork images /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snescd/images
artwork snap /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snescd/snap
artwork wheel /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snescd/wheel

The args line should say: 0 SYS snescd "[romfilename]" <-----There should be an underscore before and after SYS

Striderx99 · 12 Apr 2023, 16:36

@Striderx99 I tried with the fixed commands, but it still won't launch the games from that set. Here is what showed up on the command line:

Loaded layout: /opt/retropie/configs/all/attractmode/layouts/Great Themes Collection-Super Nintendo MSU-1/ (layout.nut)
Working directory: /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand
*** Running: /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS snescd ' ' /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snescd/Mega Man & Bass (USA).sfc' '
Parameter word expansion failed. [0 SYS snescd ' '/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snescd/Mega Man & Bass (USA).sfc' '].
/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh MODE COMMAND [SAVENAME]
/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh MODE SYS/ PORT SYSTEM ROM

The *** Running line has me a bit confused. I know I added 0 SYS snescd "[romfilename]" correctly to the args line, so I don't have any idea why it is being output that way.

mitu · 4 Dec 2023, 17:56

@Striderx99 said in Attract Mode issues after updating from source (experimental section):

*** Running: /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 SYS snescd ' ' /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snescd/Mega Man & Bass (USA).sfc' '

I think this is either copied wrong in the topic or a mistake in your config. You seem to have added a single quote ' twice before/after the ROM path instead of a single double quote ".