Please test: Random Game selection/launch via Video Screensaver

**Scannigan**

@pjft Don't have an option for Random Video just Black or Dim

pjft

@__Scannigan__ Hm. That's unfortunate.

I can't claim that there wasn't something wrong with the binary I uploaded. There's a possibility that I uploaded the wrong binary. I will try to check later today.

That being said, there's also the chance that one of the steps is either missing or went wrong, meaning that you may still be running the old emulationstation binary version.

In the current version, you should not only have a "random video" option, but also - if you scroll down in the UI settings menu - you should have three new options: screensaver controls, show game name on screensaver, and launch game from screensaver (or something to that effect). Oh, and there should be an option for "use experimental video player".

If you don't see these there, it's likely something went wrong.

Can you check the contents of .emulationstation/es_settings.cfg , and see if there are any options around OMXPlayer, ScreensaverControls or such?

If you do

ls -l /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/

What's the date of the emulationstation binary there?

Could you try downloading it on your desktop and copying it to your Raspberry Pi in some other way?

Let me know. I want to make sure I can help you!

**Scannigan**

Nope nothing about OMXPlayer in es.settings.cfg

and this is what I get: -
rw-r--r-- 1 root root 451 Feb 4 00:54 CREDITS.md
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4331160 Mar 10 12:02 emulationstation
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 444 Feb 4 00:54 emulationstation.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5667 Feb 4 00:54 GAMELISTS.md
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11862 Feb 4 00:54 README.md
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Mar 10 11:48 scripts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19449 Feb 4 00:54 THEMES.md

pjft

@__Scannigan__

I am so, so sorry. :/ The only reason I can come up with is whether I've uploaded the wrong binary here. I'll have to check when I get home. I imagine this is what a botched launch may be!

Let me try one last thing:

Can you kill emulationstation (i.e. go back to the command line) and then explicitly run emulationstation from there?

cd /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/
./emulationstation --debug

I just want to triple check that it's running the actual binary you just put there (which I can tell from the date it was just put there).

I will say that my binary file on my computer, at the moment, seems to be slightly larger, taking up 4332016 bytes, but that may be a file system difference. And, also, it might just be the wrong binary.

This is the MD5 for the file I currently have here (can't promise it's the one that it should be):

MD5 (emulationstation) = 891b3b4327a130f31dce82962235cabd

I suspect you may be able to get the MD5 for your file by going to the folder and performing

openssl md5 emulationstation

Is it the same?

Worst case scenario, you could try to compile it (assuming you're comfortable and familiar with the process) but I wouldn't think it'd be necessary to go to that extent.

If you have the latest binaries from RetroPie, this should probably do it. In it I'm including the creation of a folder to compile ES in:

cd /home/pi
mkdir tmp-es
cd tmp-es
git clone https://github.com/pjft/EmulationStation.git
cmake .
make

and then, if all went well,

chmod +x emulationstation
sudo cp emulationstation /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/

I am sorry for having you spend your time here. Please let me know what you come up with. I'll also double check the binary on my Pi in a few hours when I get home, but I am almost sure that I copied it from my Pi before uploading it so I'm kind of at a loss.

Thank you for your patience and help in troubleshooting this!

**Scannigan**

I can run ES from the command line.

Wouldn't know where to even start with compiling :/

MD5(emulationstation)= 577ffbc8171d5909992dd842f9538900

pjft

Hm.

That doesn't look right.

Can you do this?

cd /home/pi
mkdir tmp-es
cd tmp-es
wget https://github.com/pjft/EmulationStation/releases/download/v0.2/emulationstation
openssl md5 emulationstation
ls -l

And share the results? I'm completely stumped, but I will make sure to get to the bottom of this, though.

EDIT: worst case scenario later at home I'll make sure to get the binary from my Raspberry Pi and upload it again. It might be a case of a wrong binary, but the fact that I'm getting a different MD5 and file size on my end, from the downloaded file, makes me suspicious that something else may be afoot.

If you download the file from https://github.com/pjft/EmulationStation/releases/download/v0.2/emulationstation on your computer, what does it tell you?

Don't worry about compiling, it's more trouble than it's worth it :)

Thanks!

EDIT: ok, I'm a bit more positive about the uploaded binary being correct. I just used a hex editor on the binary, downloaded from GitHub, and I can at least find strings related to random video and the latest additions, so hopefully we should be able to find out what's happening here :)

**Scannigan**

This is everything, sorry I don't know how to do that embed thing :/

pi@retropie:~ $ cd /home/pi
pi@retropie:~ $ mkdir tmp-es
pi@retropie:~ $ cd tmp-es
pi@retropie:~/tmp-es $ wget https://github.com/pjft/EmulationStation/releases/do wnload/v0.2/emulationstation
--2017-03-10 15:56:58-- https://github.com/pjft/EmulationStation/releases/downl oad/v0.2/emulationstation
Resolving github.com (github.com)... 192.30.253.113, 192.30.253.112
Connecting to github.com (github.com)|192.30.253.113|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://github-cloud.s3.amazonaws.com/releases/83220450/d63306da-0333- 11e7-8b5b-74bc0582739b?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIST NZFOVBIJMK3TQ%2F20170310%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20170310T155 658Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=f0d90a82f4beb97024b1f6918cae7f2b10905fda5 fcb0f63fa8cc9fd7591b58c&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&actor_id=0&response-content-dis position=attachment%3B%20filename%3Demulationstation&response-content-type=appli cation%2Foctet-stream [following]
--2017-03-10 15:56:58-- https://github-cloud.s3.amazonaws.com/releases/83220450 /d63306da-0333-11e7-8b5b-74bc0582739b?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Cre dential=AKIAISTNZFOVBIJMK3TQ%2F20170310%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Da te=20170310T155658Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Signature=f0d90a82f4beb97024b1f6918c ae7f2b10905fda5fcb0f63fa8cc9fd7591b58c&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&actor_id=0&respo nse-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Demulationstation&response-con tent-type=application%2Foctet-stream
Resolving github-cloud.s3.amazonaws.com (github-cloud.s3.amazonaws.com)... 54.23 1.40.59
Connecting to github-cloud.s3.amazonaws.com (github-cloud.s3.amazonaws.com)|54.2 31.40.59|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 4332016 (4.1M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: ‘emulationstation’

emulationstation 100%[=====================>] 4.13M 1.36MB/s in 3.0s

2017-03-10 15:57:02 (1.36 MB/s) - ‘emulationstation’ saved [4332016/4332016]

pi@retropie:~/tmp-es $ openssl md5 emulationstation
MD5(emulationstation)= 891b3b4327a130f31dce82962235cabd
pi@retropie:~/tmp-es $ ls -l

pjft

@__Scannigan__ ok, perfect!

So, you see, the MD5 of the file you just downloaded is now matching the one I have, and yet different to the one you have on the ES folder :)

MD5(emulationstation)= 891b3b4327a130f31dce82962235cabd

so, now, in that folder, and as long as you have quite ES, do:

chmod +x emulationstation
sudo cp emulationstation /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/

and hopefully it should all be good now (fingers crossed, knock on wood!).

Zigurana

@pjft said in Please test: Random Game selection/launch via Video Screensaver:

I agree that the kidmode branch could probably be split in a couple of deliveries:

Metadata additions (favorites and children)

Filtering based on metadata (favorites and children)

Hiding the menus

Random game (because, why not) :P

Yeah, but I'm not sure what the functional use of #1 without #2 would be. In any case I was expecting that the screensaver stuff would land before anything else, so Random games are delivered along with that.
I am not sure what @fieldofcows timeline is however.

I'd love to give some feedback on the PR you sent to @fieldofcows , as there are some considerations I'd like to make on it. I'll probably add them there on that conversation. :)

By all means! Let me know what you think!

Anyway, good times ahead for ES.

Agreed!

pjft

@Zigurana Yeah, I mean, I get that #1 without #2 is not as useful as it could be, but really the same case can be done for any other type of metadata like ratings and such. :) It's just a way for someone in passing to know whether the game is appropriate for children, or is one of your favorites. Meaning, I don't see it as a big deal doing #1 before #2, and it might make it easier on the merge process to the main branch.

@Scannigan - I updated the binary now, to fix a problem in retrying the random video selection, should the video file not exist, and will update the URL in the first post.

We should now do

wget https://github.com/pjft/EmulationStation/releases/download/v0.3/emulationstation

Did you get things sorted yesterday?

I may make a shoddy video with my mobile and upload it here, even if just for people to know what they're getting into should they install this.

Cheers.

pjft

Added a small video to the first post:

I start the screensaver using select, and then skip a few games using "right" until I launch a random one. It has no sound, as the kids are asleep. On the regular screensaver will rotate every 30 secs.

The captions disappear after 7-8 seconds.

**Scannigan**

Still not working for me, very strange!

pjft

@__Scannigan__ Hm. And you still don't have the "Random Video" option in the UI Settings menu?

Ok, let's try again, then. You clearly have been able to download the right file. We might as well download the most recent version of it as well.

Can you do the following commands in order, and send me the results?

Step 1:

cd /home/pi/tmp-es
wget https://github.com/pjft/EmulationStation/releases/download/v0.3/emulationstation
openssl md5 emulationstation
ls -l emulationstation

You should get the following:
MD5 (emulationstation) = d40fae299cc9197285acd4754e7239e6

and the file should have 4373592 bytes (give or take filesystem specifics).

Get those two values.

Step 2:

Now, do

cd /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation
ls -l emulationstation
openssl md5 emulationstation

and get the values for the length, and the MD5 hash. They will be different to step 1's values.

Step 3:

sudo cp /home/pi/tmp-es/emulationstation /opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation
ls -l emulationstation
openssl md5 emulationstation

Now they should hopefully be the same as Step 2's values, and matching what I pasted:

MD5 (emulationstation) = d40fae299cc9197285acd4754e7239e6

and the file should have 4373592 bytes (give or take filesystem specifics). It should be the same, at least, as in Step 2.

If that's the case, if you start ES by rebooting the Pi, or running it from the command line, in the options menu you should now see the Random Video option as a screensaver, in the UI Settings.

You may also want to turn on "Use Experimental Video Player". You may need to scroll down to see some or all of these options there.

Let's tackle this today. :)

**Scannigan**

Step one:
MD5(emulationstation)= 891b3b4327a130f31dce82962235cabd

-rw-r--r-- 1 pi pi 4332016 Mar 7 12:44

Step Two:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4331160 Mar 12 09:49 emulationstation

MD5(emulationstation)= 577ffbc8171d5909992dd842f9538900

Step Three: values appear to be the same and I now have the options however WSOD has kicked in with a vengeance

pjft

@__Scannigan__ ah, of course. Sorry about that. This does not have the wsod fixes yet, it's a different branch. :/

What theme are you using?

I am using carbon, with video support.

I can look into the wsod fixes from @fieldofcows and see if it's something easy to merge here.

Let me get back to you on this, but even if I take it on it might take a handful of days.

Do you know how to reinstall your old version with the fixes? Were you on the main branch or were you using one of the development builds?

Thanks for trying it out, though.

pjft

@Scannigan Actually, it might not be a big deal (famous last words).

Let me get back to you with a new binary later today or perhaps tomorrow.

It seems most of the changes from the wsod fix are in different files, so fingers crossed it won't be drastically hard to merge. Just need to test it a bit afterwards.

I do not have a lot of time, though, but I'll look into this and get back to you.

**Scannigan**

That's great, yeah I've reverted back to pixel video for the meantime

pjft

@__Scannigan__ I see. What theme were you using? And does the screensaver and stuff work as expected or is there still something not writing?

And just confirming, you're using the development builds from @fieldofcows for the wsod fix, correct? Could you confirm the right thread or link you got it from, just so I make sure to merge the right code?

Best.

**Scannigan**

Yeah it was fieldofcows thingy

pjft

@__Scannigan__

Hm. I'm sorry, but can you try setting the theme back to the one you wanted?

If I'm reading the GitHub history correctly, the wsod fix should be in it already. I'm puzzled.

EDIT: Yes, it should be there. In the "Other Settings" menu you should have a Max VRam option, I believe.

Still, I believe the binary might benefit from being recompiled with a specific option for threaded applications on the Pi. Will upload a new binary shortly.