separating snes/super famicom games

groviar

Thanks again. I think for now since I'm just learning I'll keep the NES/Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, and Turbografix-16/PCEngine together, to make it easier to get started. Ideally I wish Retropie was set up with separate system selectors/logos and rom folders by default just like it is for nes and snes, just for those of us who would like to separate the US and Japanese games for easy browsing. IT could work exactly the same way as nes and snes other than just having the additional folders and system selectors. I know they uyse the same emulators but they are different systems with different games, so they shoud be treated as such. Just my opinion. It would make it so much easier for newbies like myself to have a few extra rom folders to make separating the different systems easier.

groviar

@FlyingTomahawk,

Hmm, describing it like this doesn't sound too hard actually. So if I did that, in the main system selectors, I would have both nes and Famicom systems listed, each for their own folder, and the same for snes/Super Famicom and Turbografix-16/PCEngine?

How/where do I find the themes folders to copy/paste the theme.xml file? And what exactly do I do with the es_systems.cfg file? I'm guessing I need to use WinSCP to do this? I've only used the USB method so far to copy roms, but I have WinSCP installed and ready to run.

backstander

@groviar

Ideally I wish Retropie was set up with separate system selectors/logos

The issue with this is that the RPi has a small finite amount of memory and the more separated systems you have in EmulationStation, the more memory it uses and also when there is a lot of systems, you'd get the White Screen of Death (which I believe has been fixed?):
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/themes#white-screen-of-death

The other issue is that the Theme creators have to make graphics for all those systems. Some theme creators do already have those extra graphics like Pixel. See all the supported systems here:
https://github.com/ehettervik/es-theme-pixel

If you look on that page you can see "snesEU" which is the European version of the SNES.

Also @FlyingTomahawk has his own theme he's working on as well ;-)
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/7032/futura-theme

FlyingTomahawk

Yes.
It is really not difficult.
You'll need access to your RPi for example via FTP to access the files. I think the hardest part will be to find a matching system logo.
What theme are you using?

groviar

Right now I'm still in the process of getting my games in order and putting them in the respective folders, which is where I'm at now with the Famicom games. I'm totally new at this so I haven't done any editing with config files. Whatever is the default settings is what I'm using currently. I haven't actually even played any games yet. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to organize my games. It's tempting to just group all the US and Japanese games together and make it simple but it would be great to have them separated.

FlyingTomahawk

I currently am writing with my phone so I don't have full access to any data or folder structure to guide you further. I'll be back at a later time with more info.
For now just create those rom folders that you need like famicom, super famicom etc... and separate your roms.
Also please check if you can get a connection to your RPi via FTP or any other method. Check the wiki area for more info on that.

groviar

Much appreciated.

backstander

@groviar
Here's the info to connect to your RPi via SSH like what FlyingTomahawk was talking about:
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/ssh

groviar

Thanks. Will I need to log in as root to make the changes I would need? If so I'll have to re-read that part of the doc a couple times to make sure I don't set anything wrong.

backstander

@groviar

Will I need to log in as root to make the changes I would need?

No, you login as "pi" but if you need to do anything as "root" you just preface sudo in front of your command.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudo

FlyingTomahawk

I am still writing this from my phone so I apologize for not going too much into detail.
The RPi 3 has WiFi activate that by accessing the setup through the RetroPie menu in Emulationstation.
Once you set that up you'll be able to access some of the RPis folders using the network in your PC. Create a new folder and name it themes or do that through FTP (/home/pi/.emulationstation/themes)
Assuming you use Windows, download a program called Putty and also Filezilla or other FTP program.
Check your RPis IP address by going again into the RetroPie menu in Emulationstation. Write that down.
Back in the FTP program input that IP address and use SSH as connection type and pi as username and raspberry as password. Save that connection setting.

Now open Putty and type retropie into the input field and hit enter.
Same as before username is pi and password is raspberry.
Now you should see the linux command prompt.
There you'll have to do the following.
Type

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Scroll all the way to the bottom and add the following:

[themes]
comment = themes
path = "/home/pi/.emulationstation/themes"
writeable = yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 0644
directory mask = 0755
force user = pi

Hit ctrl+x then y hit enter to save.
After that, you will need to restart the samba service:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba stop
sudo /etc/init.d/samba start

Now you can put any theme into that new themes folder and access it through the network access of your PC.

Sounds like a lot right? Don't be afraid. Just do one step after the other and once this is set up you'll have it very easy to work and edit your roms, gamelists, images and theme data.

Tell me if you have this all set up till here then we continue.
Now I'll have to go cool down my finger. Typing on a phone ain't much fun.

groviar

I really appreciate all the help. I'll try to tackle this but I might not get to it until tomorrow. I have a nasty cold right now and today has been hectic so I'm going to try and relax for the rest of the evening. I've got Putty and Filezilla installed. I'll be connecting via ethernet since I don't have my wireless enabled currently. The Raspberry Pi is connected to my gigabit switch via ethernet cable and should be part of my network.

EDIT: Okay, I'm giving it a try now, but I'm already stumped - you said "Create a new folder and name it themes or do that through FTP (/home/pi/.emulationstation/themes)". Silly question probably but how do I create that new folder?

Also, I've never used Filezilla before. I've got it open but I'm stumped here too since I've never used it. I don't know where to put the Retropie's ip in or how to connect.

I think this is more than I had planned. I don't mind doing a bit of work but I'm totally lost here. I really wasn't planning on tinkering too much with this. I just want to play my systems and keep it simple. I was almost tempted honestly to go with Recalbox due to the ease of use I keep reading about, but the lack of ColecoVision and Intellivision support (and a couple smaller systems) was a huge drawback, and Recalbox sounds too restrictive honestly. But Retropie seems very daunting to do even seemingly simple things. Maybe it's a lot easier if you know what you're doing (like anything I guess), but right now I'm pretty lost. I really would like to keep my Japanese games separated in a different system from US games, which I would think should be simple, but it seems I'd need to find artwork, create a new theme, change config files...it's just too complicated. I know you've given me some good advice here but really I feel like I need my hand held literally 1 step at a time because even the few steps you've typed above has me lost. Which is weird because I'm pretty good with Windows stuff. Retropie seems intimidating to me.

FlyingTomahawk

Don't give up just yet.
I will write you a better tutorial with images for visual help as soon I get access to my PC. Here in Japan it is 10 am right now and I am currently working and therefore got no access to a PC at the moment.

Until I can write a better tutorial take a rest. But before you do so tell me what theme you want to use and what systems you intend to run?

backstander

@groviar
You probably need to get some rest if you've got a nasty cold and when I'm sick like that I can't think clearly. Drink plenty of fluids and maybe takes some vitamin C. After you're feeling better you can revisit this and when you get stuck, just post something about here.

groviar

Thanks guys. Yeah, I think I just need to put this to bed for the night and take it easy. It's been a trying day - my cold woke me up every 90 minutes last night, then I realized this morning I had a doctor's appointment (they didn't call and confirm) so I rushed out and then discovered they sent me to the wrong office, then they told me the doctor was out and couldn't see me anyways. So it's been a tiring day for sure. Sorry, just venting.

Anyways, I'll check back in here tomorrow after I get some rest.

@FlyingTomahawk,

I've got the basic systems all set I think, since all I really need to do is copy the games over to the respective folders. Like I said, I was using the USB method for starters so I just have the folder structure copied over to my PC currently, and I'm moving games to the directories, then I was planning to copy the structure back to the USB thumb drive and put it back in the Retropie to copy over the data.

The theme right now is the default theme for 4.1 (is that Carbon I think?) and I guess I'm pretty happy with that for now. I've installed a few additional systems from the optional systems folder, but none from the experimental folder. Here are the folders in my retropie>roms folder:

amiga
amstradcpc
apple2
arcade
atari800
atari2600
atari5200
atari7800
atarilynx
atarist
coco
coleco
dragon32
fba
fds
gameandwatch
gamegear
gb
gba
gba
intellivision
mame-libretro
mame-mame4all
mastersystem
megadrive
msx
n64
neogeo
nes
ngp
ngpc
pcengine
psp
psx
sega32x
segacd
sg-1000
snes
vectrex
videopac
virtualboy
zxspectrum

Many of those folders are already taken care of, but the amiga, amstradcpc, msx, atari800 and atarist folders need a lot of sorting so I may deal with those later. Those are headaches due to the large amount of games in various formats. Some systems look like a headache to run - the Amstrad CPC seems like it may have a lot of issues loading games. I'm not sure about the apple2 yet. I'm using the mame-libretro folder for MAME 2003 (0.78).

Basically I'd like to be able to have separate systems/locations for:

nes
famicom (not the disk system)
snes
super famicom

Even better if I can also separate:

pcengine
Turbografix-16

I'm not going to complicate things with Supergrafix since there's only a few games anyways.

herb_fargus

@groviar btw I made a FDS page just for you!

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Famicom-Disk-System/

groviar

I thought fds was a disk system and separate from the Famicom? No? Do I have that confused? Isn't the fds a disk add-on for the Famicom? I thought the Famicom base system was the Japanese version of the NES?

herb_fargus

@groviar no my apologies I had it confused. Depends on how you prefer to theme it. You are correct.

groviar

Ah, okay then. I wanted to make sure I had that part right at least. Thanks for that link!

FlyingTomahawk

@groviar

So here we go...
This is a small tutorial with images that should help you to connect to your RPi so that you can later add or edit themes, even themes that are only available on github or other sources. I will use the words ES and RPi which stand for EmulationStation and Raspberry Pi

What we need:

WiFi connection or ethernet cable
Putty
Filezilla
Notepad++ or any other text editor
Carbon theme (files from github) https://github.com/RetroPie/es-theme-carbon
If you're not British try to find an image of a UK keyboard layout might be useful later in Putty

Plug in your Ethernet cable and power on your RPi or power on your RPi and setup your WiFi through the RetroPie menu in EmulationStation.
Now find out what IP address your RPi has by going to the RetroPie menu in ES under show IP

Then install or/and open Filezilla.
Follow these 6 Steps

alt text

once you did that and could create the connection you should see this on your right side

alt text

double click on the emulationstation folder

create a directory and name it themes

alt text

Now open Putty.
Under Host Name (or IP address) enter the word retropie and hit enter.
login as: pi
pi@retropie's password: raspberry

you should see something like this

alt text

Type

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Scroll all the way to the bottom and add the following:

[themes]
comment = themes
path = "/home/pi/.emulationstation/themes"
writeable = yes
guest ok = yes
create mask = 0644
directory mask = 0755
force user = pi

Ctrl+x then y hit enter to save.
After that, you will need to restart the samba service:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba stop
sudo /etc/init.d/samba start

Access your RPi through the Network in Windows. You should be able to see these folders.

alt text

You could access the carbon theme folder that is already inside your Pi but I like to keep them separated since I customize the themes a bit to my liking.
You should have the carbon theme files already so open the themes folder and create a new folder and name it to what you like for this example we call it carbon-custom
Put the files in that new folder.

Now we need to create a new es_systems.cfg file which contains the system launch data. here you will enter the codes for all the systems that you want to use in future.
In your case you want the SNES and stuff separated so you could use something like this.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<systemList>

  <system>
    <name>megadrive</name>
    <fullname>Sega Mega Drive</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/megadrive</path>
    <extension>.smd .bin .gen .md .sg .zip .SMD .BIN .GEN .MD .SG .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ megadrive %ROM%</command>
    <platform>megadrive</platform>
    <theme>megadrive</theme>
  </system>

  <system>
    <name>nes</name>
    <fullname>Nintendo Entertainment System</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/nes</path>
    <extension>.nes .zip .NES .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ nes %ROM%</command>
    <platform>nes</platform>
    <theme>nes</theme>
  </system>

  <system>
    <name>snes</name>
    <fullname>Super Nintendo</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/snes</path>
    <extension>.bin .smc .sfc .fig .swc .mgd .zip .BIN .SMC .SFC .FIG .SWC .MGD .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ snes %ROM%</command>
    <platform>snes</platform>
    <theme>snes</theme>
  </system>  
  
  <system>
    <name>snes</name>
    <fullname>Super Nintendo</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/superfamicom</path>
    <extension>.bin .smc .sfc .fig .swc .mgd .zip .BIN .SMC .SFC .FIG .SWC .MGD .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ snes %ROM%</command>
    <platform>snes</platform>
    <theme>superfamicom</theme>
  </system> 

  <system>
    <name>nes</name>
    <fullname>Nintendo Entertainment System</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/famicom</path>
    <extension>.nes .zip .NES .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ nes %ROM%</command>
    <platform>nes</platform>
    <theme>famicom</theme>
  </system>  

  <system>
    <name>pcengine</name>
    <fullname>PC Engine</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pcengine</path>
    <extension>.pce .ccd .cue .zip .PCE .CCD .CUE .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ pcengine %ROM%</command>
    <platform>pcengine</platform>
    <theme>pcengine</theme>
  </system>
  
    <system>
    <name>pcengine</name>
    <fullname>PC Engine</fullname>
    <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/turbo16</path>
    <extension>.pce .ccd .cue .zip .PCE .CCD .CUE .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ pcengine %ROM%</command>
    <platform>pcengine</platform>
    <theme>turbo16</theme>
  </system>
  
  <system>
    <name>retropie</name>
    <fullname>RetroPie</fullname>
    <path>~/RetroPie/retropiemenu</path>
    <extension>.rp .sh</extension>
    <command>sudo /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/retropie_packages.sh retropiemenu launch %ROM% &lt;/dev/tty &gt;/dev/tty</command>
    <platform/>
    <theme>retropie</theme>
  </system>   

</systemList>

If you want to know the definitions for other systems open the original es_systems.cfg file, but don't edit that file just copy&paste code from there into your es_systems.cfg file.
Save that file on to your desktop. Of course name it es_systems.cfg
Now back in Filezilla again access that emulationstation folder from before (/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation) and transfer the es_systems.cfg file. This file now has priority over the other cfg file that is already inside the Pi.
In this cfg you can edit things add or remove systems as you please.

Now access your Pi through the PC Network again and go into the roms folder to create the famicom, superfamicom, turbo16 and all other roms folders that you need and are not there yet.
The last task for now would be to create the themes for those systems. So either you copy&paste an existing system and replace the logos with Famicom, Super Famicom, Turbografx16 and so on or you contact the creator of the carbon theme and ask him if he could do that for you. He is a busy guy though so don't hold your breath.
I took the freedom to create the Famicom and Super Famicom logos so if you need them just tell me any time. Other logos like Turbografx are sometimes included in varous themes as alternative logo, sometimes named as system2.svg. You can find the turbografx16 logo in my theme for example in the pcengine folder.

I hope this will help you a bit. I know it's a lot for just wanting separate systems but that is how it works with RetroPie & Co.
I didn't know more than you, I never touched Linux before 3 months ago when I first time registered here in this forum but I had certain basics regarding file transfer and access to other devices.
Within those 3 months I created a theme, converting PNG logos to SVG format and are helping out people. So hang in there. Anything is just ask in the forum there are plenty of skilled, kind people around.