Updated EmulationStation for Windows

mattrixk

Awesome, thanks @mitu. How do I go about getting the latest Windows build? Can I just download it from git somewhere? Is it pre-compiled or do I have to do it myself?

(So, was that a "yes" to Grid View? I don't know if that's a normal ES function yet or not.)

mitu

@mattrixk Go to the first post of this topic, you have a download link. It's a precompiled binary.

mattrixk

Cheers @mitu. I'll have to try this out tonight (or over the weekend).

EDIT: I have a theme that I haven't worked on in over a year that I want to get back into.

mattrixk

I'll have to try this out tonight (or over the weekend)

I did and it is glorious. Huge thank you to @jdrassa for his outstanding work.

Now if I could just find instructions on how to code for the grid layout...

mitu

@mattrixk said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

Now if I could just find instructions on how to code for the grid layout...

The new grid options have been documented in the Wiki page and there are also a few topics on this:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/17968/emulationstation-grid-view-v1-ready-for-wider-testing

mattrixk

Oh wow, you're a fount of knowledge. Thanks @mitu!

UnluckyForSome

Hi Guys, Any progress on fixing the UI sounds?

Currently, within a theme's .xml, only:

<sound name="launch">
	<path>./art/launch.wav</path>
</sound>

seems to be implemented. I read somewhere these were one of the last things that the original ES developer was working on before abandoning the project, so they never got round to adding the rest. Looking at old theme files, it looks like support was originally intended for the following:

<sound name="systemscroll">
	<path>./art/navigate.wav</path>
</sound>

<sound name="systemselect">
	<path>./art/systemselect.wav</path>
</sound>

<sound name="listscroll">
	<path>./art/navigate.wav</path>
</sound>

<sound name="back">
	<path>./art/back.wav</path>
</sound>

<sound name="launch">
	<path>./art/launch.wav</path>
</sound>

<sound name="menuopen">
	<path>./art/menu.wav</path>
</sound>

I know a scroll sound can be selected with:

<textlist name="gamelist">
	<scrollSound>./art/scrollsound.wav</scrollSound>
</textlist>

But I think that tag maybe old? and:

<sound name="systemscroll">
	<path>./art/navigate.wav</path>
</sound>

...was intended to replace it. The system launch sound:

<sound name="launch">
	<path>./art/launch.wav</path>
</sound>

Appears to be coded in and works, so perhaps adding the others wouldn't be so difficult?

Also, when looking at es_log.txt, I seem to get a similar error for every system;

lvl1: 	  Warning from theme "C:/Users/Joe/.emulationstation/themes/simple/psx/theme.xml"
        (from included file "C:/Users/Joe/.emulationstation/themes/simple/psx/../simple.xml")
        could not find file "./art/menu.wav" (which resolved to "C:/Users/Joe/.emulationstation/themes/simple/psx/../art/menu.wav")

Which is weird because I can't fine "menu.wav" referenced anywhere else. Maybe another half-implamented sound file for music on a system screen?

Many thanks!

mitu

@unluckyforsome Why are you tagging me ?

UnluckyForSome

@mitu hahaha sorry, no idea. Think I thought you were a dev looking after ES

mitu

@unluckyforsome I'm not a dev. Regardless, you should open a separate topic with your question and not 'hijack' existing topics that have no relation to it.

UnluckyForSome

@mitu Lol, I'm not trying to hijack an existing topic. It's relevant to ES on Windows and if you read up you will see numerous other posts with feature discussion and bug reports. Thanks for your concern.

mitu

@unluckyforsome said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

Lol, I'm not trying to hijack an existing topic. It's relevant to ES on Windows

So the feature you're describing works on the PI and it doesn't work on Windows ?

jero

@mitu

yes it doesn't work on Windows

mitu

@jero said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

yes it doesn't work on Windows

And it works on the Pi ? What exactly are you referring to ?

jero

@mitu said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

And it works on the Pi ? What exactly are you referring to ?

I do not know if it works in pi, but in Windows the sounds do not work or at least I do not, it only works if I do not remember badly in the game selector screen only a sound effects

ruckage

@jero said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

I do not know if it works in pi, but in Windows the sounds do not work or at least I do not, it only works if I do not remember badly in the game selector screen only a sound effects

That's normal, there is only sound support in ES for the selector bar. The other sound effects I believe were either never implemented or removed in an earlier version of ES.

AndrewH

@mitu said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

@mattrixk Go to the first post of this topic, you have a download link. It's a precompiled binary.

I've recently acquired a GPD Win, running Windows 10. Since I like Retropie so much, I set up Retroarch and Emulationstation to try as near as possible to mirror the Retropie setup, but I used the original Emulationstation (from Aloshi), which is now quite old and lacking many of the great newer features.

It's only after putting a bunch of time into getting it working that I discovered your post and your windows binary of the latest version.

So, my question is if you know whether it should be reasonably straightforward to upgrade to your build. Can I just install or copy over what's already there, or is there much more to it?

mitu

@andrewh said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

your windows binary of the latest version.

It's not my build. Strangely how nobody reads the first post anymore ?
As for the upgrade, just give it a try, but move the existing es_config.txt out of the way (make a backup).

AndrewH

@mitu said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

It's not my build. Strangely how nobody reads the first post anymore ?
As for the upgrade, just give it a try, but move the existing es_config.txt out of the way (make a backup).

Doh!

I did actually read the first post, you know... just completely failed notice that it was posted by someone else.

Anyway, I got it working, as follows (for anyone interested);

Renamed the existing Emulationstation folders
Copied the extracted files from the link in the first post into a new Emulationstation folder at the same location the existing one had been at
Backed up the .Emulationstation folder in my user directory
Deleted es_input.cfg

When I tried to start it, I got "Missing VCRuntime140.dll" and "Missing MSVCR100.dll" errors. To fix them;

Installed this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52685
Installed this: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26999

And now it seems to be working - I can start it up, got the controller mapped, and can play games. Just one or two minor irritations;

When selecting a system, it exits Emulationstation, displays a dos box for a few moments, and then launches retroarch with the rom. It's not a slick and seamless as RetroPie.
The built in scraper isn't the best.

mitu

@andrewh said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

When selecting a system, it exits Emulationstation, displays a dos box for a few moments, and then launches retroarch with the rom. It's not a slick and seamless as RetroPie.

This depends on how you configured your 'run command' for the system. If the command is a .bat or .cmd file, then it will start a cmd.exe to run the command (hence the cli window).

The built in scraper isn't the best.

Use Universal XML scraper or Skraper to scrape on Windows, they're pretty nice.