Games cannot start - problem with /dev/tty

[speendo]

Hello and thank you for RetroPie!

I tried to search the forum but I didn't find something similar. I only found this entry in github, which however didn't help:
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/issues/1044

I installed the latest version of RetroPie as "standalone" on a Raspi with Raspbian on it. It also has KODI installed.

I tried to write a small addon for KODI that would start RetroPie. It looks like this:

# addon.py
import xbmc

xbmc.executebuiltin('XBMC.System.Exec(/usr/local/bin/startscript.sh)')


# /usr/local/bin/startscript.sh
#!/bin/bash

# quit kodi
sudo /bin/systemctl stop kodi

# wait (if necessary)
# sleep 3

# start emulationstation
sudo -u retropie /usr/bin/emulationstation

# wait again (if necessary)
# sleep 3

# start kodi again
sudo /bin/systemctl start kodi

As you can see, retropie has it's own user (called "retropie"). KODI runs as a service and is owned by another user called "kodi".

When I activate the addon in KODI, emulationstation would start, just as it should. However, I am not able to start any rom. The screen would go black for a moment and show me the shell. Afterwards I it takes me back to the game selection of emulationstation.

To debug the error, I looked in the es_log.txt. But I didn't find anything suspicious there. You can find the log here: https://debianforum.de/forum/pastebin.php?mode=view&s=39461

I tried to search a little deeper and added

set -x
exec 2>/tmp/mylog

to /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh.

Please find the content of /tmp/mylog here: https://debianforum.de/forum/pastebin.php?mode=view&s=39483

As far as I can tell, I think the problem is here

/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh: Zeile 760: /dev/tty: Kein passendes Gerät bzw. keine passende Adresse gefunden

(sorry it's in german - in English that would say something like "Line 760: /dev/tty: Suitable device or address not found.)

Can you help me with that?

Some additional information: Strangely everything works better, when KODI does not start as a service but as an ordinary program. However, for different reasons I would like to keep KODI as a service.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[BuZz]

see how retrosmc do it - https://github.com/mcobit/retrosmc

I find it's just easy to launch Kodi on boot, then exit to Emulation Station.

[speendo]

thanks for your reply!

It will take some time for me to study and reproduce this solution.

Can you give me a hint on what to consider?

As far as I see so at the moment this script does the following:

1. start retropie in a new terminal, as another user and independent from all other running processes (with nohup)
2. quit KODI
3. start a watchdog process that monitors if retropie is still running
4. as soon as the watchdog detects retropie is no more running, kodi is restarted.

Is this right so far?

[RetroResolution]

@speendo Hi,

My system is built from a Raspbian Jessie image, with RetroPie (3.8) manually installed, and Kodi installed via RetroPie.

I added a text-mode menu which displays on boot, or after exiting RetroPie, Kodi, or Raspbian Lxde desktop.

I wrote a guide which may help you:

Multipurpose Raspberry Pi – Part 2: Adding a Menu to Access RetroPie, Kodi, and the Raspbian Desktop