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    Attract Mode with RetroPie - Alternative to EmulationStation

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion and Gaming
    attractmodeattract modefront end
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    • senkunS
      senkun @Finhead
      last edited by

      @Finhead thanks for checking, I have all the assets in place and "pan-and-scan.nut" is in the modules directory, all the built in Layouts work fine just that blastcity isn't showing anything. I must have messed up somewhere, will check further.

      One more thing, and this seems major, how do you configure a hotkey (preferably the standard select-start combo) to exit a game/emulator once you're playing?

      If I set a hotkey from the AM frontend, it drops me back to the frontend but the game is still running. :(

      FinheadF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • InsecureSpikeI
        InsecureSpike
        last edited by InsecureSpike

        I tried Floobs .img on my pi 2 but the dsmn thing keeps locking up on me after around 10mins, I over clocked to high and upped the memory split to 256, but still no help! any ideas? should I build if myself? would that help?

        edit: ok, is Floob's for pi 3 only?

        RPi 3 - RetroPie + 500gb HDD [consoles] + Razer Onza Tournament
        RPi 3 - RetroPie + 32gb USB [computers] + Keyboard
        both with AttractMode + FuzzBoxx Layout

        BriganeB senkunS FloobF 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • BriganeB
          Brigane @InsecureSpike
          last edited by Brigane

          @InsecureSpike Did you check out the link that Finhead provided us for Pi2 earlier?

          http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=223.0

          Systems: Raspberry Pi 0/2/3 Model B+
          Os: RetroPie 4.5
          Frontend: Emulationstation & Attract Mode

          InsecureSpikeI 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • InsecureSpikeI
            InsecureSpike @Brigane
            last edited by

            @Brigane said:

            @InsecureSpike Did you check out the link that Finhead provided us for Pi2 earlier?

            http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=223.0

            ahh nope, thank you! just wanna play about on the pi 2 before I go for it on the pi 3, although probably be better using the pi 3, I'll have a play around over the next few days, thank you

            RPi 3 - RetroPie + 500gb HDD [consoles] + Razer Onza Tournament
            RPi 3 - RetroPie + 32gb USB [computers] + Keyboard
            both with AttractMode + FuzzBoxx Layout

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • senkunS
              senkun @InsecureSpike
              last edited by

              @InsecureSpike said:

              edit: ok, is Floob's for pi 3 only?

              @Floob said:

              • This image seems to work fine on both the Pi2 and Pi3. If I could find my Pi1 I'd try it on that.

              fwiw I had it running on both pi2 and pi3, better on the pi3 obviously but still having some trouble configuring it on mine.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • FinheadF
                Finhead @senkun
                last edited by

                @senkun said:

                @Finhead thanks for checking, I have all the assets in place and "pan-and-scan.nut" is in the modules directory, all the built in Layouts work fine just that blastcity isn't showing anything. I must have messed up somewhere, will check further.

                One more thing, and this seems major, how do you configure a hotkey (preferably the standard select-start combo) to exit a game/emulator once you're playing?

                If I set a hotkey from the AM frontend, it drops me back to the frontend but the game is still running. :(

                Odd mine does not have this issue, mine you I'm not using Floobs image either. I complied mine about 2 weeks ago and I also installed a few things he did not do on his build. I did that way as it's the only way I could get mine to compile, keep in mind I have never used linux or a Pi until 3 weeks ago so I am 100% sure I did things the wrong way. lol
                I did the extra steps outlined in this thread, and found it was not need (so I have been told) after the fact. But my Pi runs great and I don't have the Keyboard issue or I guess the hotkey issue either.

                senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • FloobF
                  Floob
                  last edited by

                  @senkun said:

                  One more thing, and this seems major, how do you configure a hotkey (preferably the standard select-start combo) to exit a game/emulator once you're playing?

                  If I set a hotkey from the AM frontend, it drops me back to the frontend but the game is still running. :(

                  Exactly in the same way as normal as it uses the RetroPie / RetreoArch configs. You can see me exit games in the video, and I'm just using the select/start exit combo. Obviously if you are using a non retroarch emulator, then you use the config for that but it should be read in the same way as if running from EmulationStation - unless you configure the executabel oddly.
                  I'll do a new image soon with all the emulators pre-configured.

                  Please read the Docs before asking a new question.
                  RetroPie Help Guides: https://goo.gl/3gcNsT

                  senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • senkunS
                    senkun @Finhead
                    last edited by

                    @Finhead hmmm extra steps meaning the patch? Seems the makefile has been updated and there is no need for the patch, but someone else in that thread still had to use the patch so I don't know. Maybe @Floob did patch his?

                    I cleared the game quit hotkey I set from within the AM frontend, it's weird to have it return to the frontend and have the game still running in the background. I think a path got messed up somewhere. Perhaps it's best to wait for Floob to update more config files geared to the RetroPie setup

                    FinheadF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • senkunS
                      senkun @Floob
                      last edited by

                      @Floob ahh thanks for clearing that up, I must have messed up something on my install. Will wait for your new image :)

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • FinheadF
                        Finhead @senkun
                        last edited by

                        @senkun said:

                        @Finhead hmmm extra steps meaning the patch? Seems the makefile has been updated and there is no need for the patch, but someone else in that thread still had to use the patch so I don't know. Maybe @Floob did patch his?

                        I cleared the game quit hotkey I set from within the AM frontend, it's weird to have it return to the frontend and have the game still running in the background. I think a path got messed up somewhere. Perhaps it's best to wait for Floob to update more config files geared to the RetroPie setup

                        Like I said found out later it wasn't needed. ;) I did find AM does not like to use a combonation of key presses in it's control config. If it will only except 1 key per input so the start/select combo press wouldn't work for me at least.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • FloobF
                          Floob @InsecureSpike
                          last edited by

                          @InsecureSpike

                          I tried Floobs .img on my pi 2 but the dsmn thing keeps locking up on me after around 10mins, I over clocked to high and upped the memory split to 256, but still no help! any ideas? should I build if myself? would that help?

                          I've noticed this is in the /boot/config.txt

                          # Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
                          dtparam=audio=on
                          gpu_mem_256=128
                          gpu_mem_512=256
                          gpu_mem_1024=256
                          overscan_scale=1
                          gpu_mem_256=128
                          gpu_mem_512=256
                          gpu_mem_1024=256
                          overscan_scale=1
                          

                          I'm not sure why its duplicated, so maybe take out the last 4 lines. I need to check as I build it to see when that happens really, I cant see why they should be in there twice.

                          Although it seems fine on my Pi2 for whatever reason.

                          Please read the Docs before asking a new question.
                          RetroPie Help Guides: https://goo.gl/3gcNsT

                          InsecureSpikeI senkunS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • InsecureSpikeI
                            InsecureSpike @Floob
                            last edited by

                            @Floob ok, i'll have a look, altho, its still in development so..... these things take time....

                            also, is there a way of running roms from usb's?

                            thank for all your work on this guy's!!

                            RPi 3 - RetroPie + 500gb HDD [consoles] + Razer Onza Tournament
                            RPi 3 - RetroPie + 32gb USB [computers] + Keyboard
                            both with AttractMode + FuzzBoxx Layout

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • senkunS
                              senkun @Floob
                              last edited by

                              @Floob FWIW on a fresh install of Retropie 3.6 those duplicates are there as well. Been wondering about that, but I had taken them out and forgotten until your post.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • RionR
                                Rion
                                last edited by

                                With this setup can you have both emulation station and Attract on the same image.

                                Attract started from Emulationstation,
                                Emulationstation started from Attract?

                                FBNeo rom filtering
                                Mame2003 Arcade Bezels
                                Fba Arcade Bezels
                                Fba NeoGeo Bezels

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • A
                                  ashmck73
                                  last edited by

                                  I downloaded Floobs prebuilt Attractmode image dated April 10 and it all setup fine.

                                  The only issue I have is trying to add another layout to it. I have downloaded the Nevato layout from the Attractmode forum and copied the folder over into the /home/pi/develop/attract/config/layouts folder on the Raspberry Pi but it will not show up as one on the available layouts.

                                  I also see Robospin is listed as one of the available layouts, but I do not see a Robospin folder in the layouts directory as listed above.

                                  Just wondering if it is loading the layouts from somewhere else.

                                  FinheadF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • FinheadF
                                    Finhead @ashmck73
                                    last edited by

                                    @ashmck73 said:

                                    I downloaded Floobs prebuilt Attractmode image dated April 10 and it all setup fine.

                                    The only issue I have is trying to add another layout to it. I have downloaded the Nevato layout from the Attractmode forum and copied the folder over into the /home/pi/develop/attract/config/layouts folder on the Raspberry Pi but it will not show up as one on the available layouts.

                                    I also see Robospin is listed as one of the available layouts, but I do not see a Robospin folder in the layouts directory as listed above.

                                    Just wondering if it is loading the layouts from somewhere else.

                                    Layouts are found in /home/pi/.attract/layouts
                                    And for the nevato layout it doesn't like vertical monitors layout. You'll need to mode the layout.nut to make it work at all.

                                    A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • A
                                      ashmck73 @Finhead
                                      last edited by

                                      Thanks for that - was thinking I just had the wrong folder for the Layouts. Didn't realise there was a hidden folder for it.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • senkunS
                                        senkun
                                        last edited by

                                        I started again from scratch and been playing with AM for a bit, getting to really like it a lot now that I've got everything working more or less properly on my RPi3.

                                        I've got it to now boot directly into AM, and fixed that xkbcomp RALT error by, well, "compose:ralt" to make it happy. It's pretty seamless now, from booting up into frontend then launching and exiting games. So went tweaking and got rid of that annoying flash of a white xterm window/log using a dirty hack of setting -fg and -bg to black, which also helps hide msgs in between starting and exiting a game. I'm sure there must be a more elegant solution by diverting output windows or suppressing msgs, if anyone?

                                        Some surprises, I left it unattended to answer a call with just the frontend displaying, came back and was a tad shocked thinking somehow a game got launched automatically. Then realized it was just the AM screensaver. It has some awesome options, including full screen videos of whatever game videosnaps you have installed.

                                        True to it's name, Attract Mode is very attractive and dynamic. So very end user friendly (with the setup ease and convenience of Retropie behind it), it just beckons one to try out the games installed. It would be fantastic for a cabinet but I'm looking forward to using it in a small portable setup with one of them cheap GPIO TFT screens.

                                        FinheadF InsecureSpikeI 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • FinheadF
                                          Finhead @senkun
                                          last edited by

                                          @senkun

                                          For startup I have mine running the standard RetroPie splashscreen with a Video. About 14 secs is all it needs and you don't see anything other than the video after the inital 4 Raspberries and the 4 lines of code for the breif second.

                                          senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • InsecureSpikeI
                                            InsecureSpike @senkun
                                            last edited by

                                            @senkun said:

                                            I started again from scratch and been playing with AM for a bit, getting to really like it a lot now that I've got everything working more or less properly on my RPi3.

                                            I've got it to now boot directly into AM, and fixed that xkbcomp RALT error by, well, "compose:ralt" to make it happy. It's pretty seamless now, from booting up into frontend then launching and exiting games. So went tweaking and got rid of that annoying flash of a white xterm window/log using a dirty hack of setting -fg and -bg to black, which also helps hide msgs in between starting and exiting a game. I'm sure there must be a more elegant solution by diverting output windows or suppressing msgs, if anyone?

                                            Some surprises, I left it unattended to answer a call with just the frontend displaying, came back and was a tad shocked thinking somehow a game got launched automatically. Then realized it was just the AM screensaver. It has some awesome options, including full screen videos of whatever game videosnaps you have installed.

                                            True to it's name, Attract Mode is very attractive and dynamic. So very end user friendly (with the setup ease and convenience of Retropie behind it), it just beckons one to try out the games installed. It would be fantastic for a cabinet but I'm looking forward to using it in a small portable setup with one of them cheap GPIO TFT screens.

                                            hi are you able to post up your .img?

                                            RPi 3 - RetroPie + 500gb HDD [consoles] + Razer Onza Tournament
                                            RPi 3 - RetroPie + 32gb USB [computers] + Keyboard
                                            both with AttractMode + FuzzBoxx Layout

                                            senkunS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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