Updated EmulationStation for Windows

ango

@jdrassa
Would it be possible to add additional command line parameters into metadata of the gamelist.xml?

For example an entry of my gamelist.xml:

<game>
	<path>./psx2game.iso</path>
	<name>psx2gamename</name>
	<image>./images/psx2game.png</image>
</game>

Great would be an additional metadata like:

<game>
	<path>./psx2game.iso</path>
	<name>psx2gamename</name>
	<image>./images/psx2game.png</image>
        <additionalcommand>--cfg=CFGFile</additionalcommand>
</game>

This is the corresponding entry in my es_systems.cfg:

<system>
<name>ps2</name>
<fullname>Playstation 2</fullname>
<path>~.emulationstation\roms\ps2</path>
<extension>.bin .cue .iso .mds .BIN .CUE .ISO .MDS</extension>
<command>%HOME%.emulationstation\systems\pcsx2\pcsx2.exe --fullscreen --nogui --fullboot "%ROM_RAW%"</command>
<platform>ps2</platform>
<theme>ps2</theme>
</system>

Standard command is:
%HOME%.emulationstation\systems\pcsx2\pcsx2.exe --fullscreen --nogui --fullboot "%ROM_RAW%"
But some games need additional command line parameters like:
%HOME%.emulationstation\systems\pcsx2\pcsx2.exe --fullscreen --nogui --fullboot --cfg=CFGFile "%ROM_RAW%"

I think this would be a useful extension for the future.

ango

I´ve downloaded jdrassa´s new "Continuous Build". Do I need the /plugin folder? What is he used for?

jdrassa

@ango The plugins folder contains plugins used by VLC for rendering videos. I didn't really pay much attention to the actually contents when setting this up. Looking at it now, there are likely plugins in there that are not needed and could probably be removed, but without testing it out first, I can't say for certain.

micky72

It seems that lauching .bat (example : genesis.bat %ROM%) doesn't work
It works manually from command line but from emulationstation it exit with return code 1

micky72

@micky72 said in Updated EmulationStation for Windows:

It seems that lauching .bat (example : genesis.bat %ROM%) doesn't work
It works manually from command line but from emulationstation it exit with return code 1

Was a problem in my .bat file, forget this post :-)

onewaytrigger

I haven't tried the Windows ES in a while but is it possible to hide the cmd window and desktop when lauching a game on retroarch?

ango

@onewaytrigger

... That would interest me too. I have an Intel NUC with many emulators to use it on TV and the cmd wondows are disturbing.

greenberet

Hi, I have searched high and low for a solution to this. When you load up emulation station you should have 3 options - Launch portable, launch portable fullscreen and windowed. I realised the 'launch portable' option blacks everything out it the background because it closes explorer in the background when launching. Its not perfect, put as good as i can find. Hope this helps.

greenberet

On a side note. Does anyone know how to shut your pc down when you use the 'shutdown system' in ES. Currently it take you back to the desktop. TIA.

duiz

I'm having an issue where the videos freeze after 10 seconds.

gbpucci

Great job !!!!! Is it possible to include background music in this Windows Builds??

Thanks !!!

duiz

I see there's a Hidden toggle in the metadata edit now, but when I turn it on the entry is still visible. Anything I need to do to enable this?

mitu

@duiz The hidden flag is used when you activate Kiosk mode, not for general use. But once in a system screen, you can use the Filter Gamelist menu option to hide the ROMs marked as hidden.

duiz

@mitu Oh had no idea! Is there a way to save it so that ES remembers to filter the gamelist when I reboot it?

echcoleman

Thanks for this. Looking forward to standardize retro experience across my machines.

The latest Continuous Build release does not seem to be working, when I try to run it nothing happens. After the zip is downloaded and extracted, am I suppose to do something before running emulationstation.exe?

mitu

@echcoleman Probably configure it ?

echcoleman

@mitu I haven't setup the config file yet, but with the original EmulationStation if it has not been setup you get an error message when launching EmulationStation. This also happens with @jrassa normal release branch version 2.2.2.220.

In the new version is the config file required before it will launch at all?

mitu

@echcoleman It seems not, it might be indeed a problem with the latest snapshot (02.2.2018). Even with a 'config' file, it produces an error (Win7)

EctoOne

@echcoleman if you only use this version and try to just start the exe, it can't work. Because you're missing the emulators and more importantly you're not telling ES where to look for those. I suggest getting the ES Toolkit, which I can't link right now but you should be able to search for it here. Then extract the Toolkit and replace the copy/paste this new version into the correct folder. Then you can start ES by using any of the batch files from the Toolkit package.

echcoleman

@ectoone Thanks. Copying over the ES Toolkit and running it's bat file did resolve the issue.

Though I noticed something odd, even with ES Toolkit copied over the emulationstation.exe still doesn't work. I actually found that only copying over the bat file was enough to launch EmulationStation with the expected "systems not found" error that I originally expected.

Not a major issue since I'll just work with the bat file in future, but just thought I should mention it here.