Attract Mode + RetroPie on Ubuntu help

[yelever]

I saw a video on youtube of someone had setup up attract mode and retropie on ubuntu.  I have both installed but can't get them to talk to each other.  Attract mode can see the roms and art work but can't launch any games.  Really new to this and tried the regular way as if it was a raspberry pi but didn't work.  Any help would great.

[rcampbel3]

So, there's no magic in attract mode - it's awesome, but it's going to take you some time to get to where you see in anyone's youtube video.

Here's what you need to do:

Before you do anything with Attract Mode:
- get your emulators working and configured individually
- get your joysticks and video modes and fullscreen and commandline options and exit keys all bound and set in each emulator

Install attract mode
- bind your controller and keys, configure attract mode
- Create a proper emulator config file for each emulator in attract mode
- scan your roms and scan artwork
- create a display for your emulator
- repeat for your other emulators
- search for additional attract mode themes and install them
- search for missing artwork and add it to each display
- Test, test, test, play, test some more
- read through the forums and spend LOTS of time fine-tuning your setup to your liking
- repeat

[progets]

I saw a video on youtube of someone had setup up attract mode and retropie on ubuntu.  I have both installed but can't get them to talk to each other.  Attract mode can see the roms and art work but can't launch any games.  Really new to this and tried the regular way as if it was a raspberry pi but didn't work.  Any help would great.

RetroPie on Ubuntu doesn't use the RunCommand like RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi does, as a result you need to make changes to the <emulator>.cfg files.

If you post a <emulator>.cfg file you have, I can show you how to fix it.

[yelever]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.2.1
#
executable           /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh
args                 0 _SYS_ mastersystem "[romfilename]"
rompath              /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem
romext               .sms;.bin;.zip;.SMS;.BIN;.ZIP
system               Sega Master System
artwork    flyer           /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/flyer
artwork    marquee         /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/marquee
artwork    snap            /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/snap
artwork    wheel           /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/wheel

This is how Sega Mastersystem is setup.  It sees the roms, video snaps and wheels but just doesn't launch.  When I run retropie on it's own it boots into EmulationStation and runs the games just fine.

[progets]

This looks ok to me if you're running RetroPie 4.2 which was released a couple of days ago. What version of RetroPie are you using? Do you have problems running any other systems in Attract-Mode?

You can try this configuration file:

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.2.1
#
executable           /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch
args                 -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-picodrive/picodrive_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/megadrive/retroarch.cfg "[romfilename]"
rompath              /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem
romext               .sms;.bin;.zip;.SMS;.BIN;.ZIP
system               Sega Master System
artwork    flyer           /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/flyer
artwork    marquee         /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/marquee
artwork    snap            /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/snap
artwork    wheel           /home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem/wheel


[yelever]

Can't any systems to work in attract mode.  Will try that cfg and report back.

[yelever]

Running 4.1.15.  Tried the cfg, getting further but only getting a black screen so doing a total re-install of everything.

[yelever]

Did a fresh install of everything and use the emulator.cfg.  Now it boots to retroarch but just a black screen.  I can get into the retroarch menu and navigate around but can't get any games to load.

[progets]

Do the games run properly in EmulationStation?

[yelever]

Yes.  Everything runs fine through EmulationStation.  With the cfg you suggested it's like it's loading retroarch but no game so just get a black screen but it does show my gamepad text and can access the retroarch menus and settings.

[progets]

Post your /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg file.

This will have the command that EmulationStation is using to launch your Sega Master System games. It should be almost the same in Attract-Mode but the command and the arguments are on different lines and %ROM% changes to "[romfilename]" in the emulator.cfg file

How are you launching Attract-Mode?

[yelever]

Here's my es.systems.cfg file

<system>
    <name>mastersystem</name>
    <fullname>Sega Master System</fullname>
    <path>/home/yelever/RetroPie/roms/mastersystem</path>
    <extension>.7z .sms .bin .zip .7Z .SMS .BIN .ZIP</extension>
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ mastersystem %ROM%</command>
    <platform>mastersystem</platform>
    <theme>mastersystem</theme>

Launching Attract mode from from the Ubuntu menu which has run attract mode as that's the only way it shows up.

Tried the es.cfg and get does the same before I tried yours, just flickers and returns to the attract mode.

[progets]

Open a command terminal and type "attract" instead of clicking on the attract file. Try this with your original emulator.cfg file.

[yelever]

Thank you so much.  It works.  Not sure why isn't wasn't working the other way.  Is there a way to created a shortcut instead of going through the terminal?