Updated EmulationStation for Windows

thenamesfang

Ideally, I would like a portable version of EmulationStation for Windows.

I have figured out that one of the locations ES will search for a .emulationstation folder is actually in the root ES folder.

Within the es_systems.cfg file, I also found that the "~" points to the root ES folder, and it works well. However, I don't think this applies for the <command> element.

I've taken a look around, and it seems like the most sustainable approach is to rely on this Windows build as other builds aren't continuously updated. Also, for some reason Retrobat didn't work well for me (laggy).

Is there no way to have a portable version that is ready "out of box"?

PittStone

@thenamesfang I made a .txt and renamed it to .bat insert with Notepad++
for Fullscreen:

set HOME=%~dp0
emulationstation.exe

Or for Windowed:

set HOME=%~dp0
emulationstation.exe --windowed --resolution 1280 720

You can use a .bat to .exe Program to made a Portable EXE

To start windows games portable i use another .bat files with this:

cd .emulationstation\roms\indiegames\Journey
.\Journey.exe

thenamesfang

@pittstone
Thanks for the response! My problem really has to do with the es_settings.cfg file and how the <command> field cannot run my emulators with a relative path.

Using a batch file was an interesting idea and I did explore using it, but couldn't figure it out. Ultimately I found an accidental solution with the way Onedrive works - I was looking for a cloud-enabled setup that could be used on multiple Windows devices.

George Spiggott

It's been a while but I'm coming back to this since I made some progress with Yuzu the Nintendo Switch emulator. I'd like to get Emulationstation to support Switch scraping. I need to send Pull Request to the Github, are there any good guides to doing this?

mitu

@george-spiggott I sent a PR for various systems to be updated, including Nintendo Switch.

George Spiggott

@mitu Thanks Mitu, I'll look out for that.

The new 75% and 50% screen modes have really upped the playability for Switch games on lower spec machines.

mitu

@george-spiggott You can always use Skraper for scraping, I think it supports the Nintendo Switch.

George Spiggott

I've been editing the Gamelist file manually. When the update happens I'll be sure to add any data that Screenscraper is missing to their database so everyone can benefit.

George Spiggott

Is there a good guide to the capabilities of the <command> function? I've been using BetterJoyForCemu but it doesn't play well with Retroarch or Xemu. I've been trying to point Emulationstation to a script that will load BetterJoyForCemu when it launches a game and then ideally closes it again when the game closes. Is this possible?

George Spiggott

A new version arrived today. ES now supports Nintendo Switch. Thanks to @jdrassa and @mitu.

VultureStreet

Anyone know why this can't be downloaded anymore?

mitu

@VultureStreet I think there's an issue with the automatic build action in @jdrassa's repository and the binaries are not created anymore.

hrhnick

Since the automated builds are still broken, does anybody have a recent build they could share?

George Spiggott

I've just been checking out the new EmulationStation DE. I don't know what the relationship is with Retropie Emulation Station but it has a few new features. Is there crossover between the two?

I don't have a recent build, but I would be interested in checking it out as this is my emulation front end on my PC.

fallenturtle

Is it just a matter of following the build instructions here?
https://github.com/jrassa/EmulationStation

I'm trying to development a theme for retropie but there seems to be no way to test it on Windows.

mitu

@fallenturtle The build instructions on Windows should be ok, though it may take some time to build with vcpkg. You can download a ready made build from here.