RetroPie-Setup: An initialization script for RetroArch on the Raspberry Pi

If you want to install and setup RetroArch on the Raspberry Pi (TM) together with various emulator cores, all needed libraries for the SNESDev controller interface, and a graphical front end you can now go to https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup. There you will find an easy-to-use script that installs all essential packages for retro gaming on the Raspberry. I call it RetroPie script.

I prepared a Github repository with a shell script that automatically installs all needed packages. It has a console-based GUI and makes the installation of everything you need for retro gaming very easy. The script was tested on the Raspbian distribution. The following instructions can also be found directly on the Github site.

Download

To obtain the installation script you first need to install two packages with

Then you can download the latest RetroPie setup script with

Installation

The script is executed with

You are welcomed with the following screen

Here, you have the choice between two different ways of installation:

UPDATE: Github disabled the ability to upload project related files. Because of that the possibility to install pre-compiled binaries was removed from the RetroPie Setup script.
UPDATE 2: After migrating the blog to another provider the binaries-based installation is enabled again.

  1. Binaries-based installation: This way of installation will download per-compiled versions of RetroArch, various cores, Emulation Station, and SNESDev. In comparison to the second way of installation this is much faster. Even though the binaries will be updated from time to time, a disadvantage is that you probably will not have the most recent versions of the programs.
  2. Source-code based installation: This way of installation will download and compile the most recentsources of all programs and cores. Compiling everything takes some hours, but you will have the most up-to-date releases of the programs. When you choose this option in the menu a screen will appear that lets you select (with the space and arrow keys) the individual tasks to be done by the setup script:

    The default selection will install the complete set of packages.

Usage

With it’s default configuration the RetroPie setup configures the graphical front end EmulationStation such that a set of emulators can directly be used by the front end. You can start the front end with

Before that, however, you need to copy your ROM files into the according RetroPie/roms/ folders. Every emulator has its own subfolder here. Due to the early stage of the ALSA implementation on the Raspberry you can expect some creaking when using the analog output. I made quite good experiences with the HDMI output. For now, another solution for that seems to be the use of an external USB soundcard until the problems with the ALSA implementation are solved.

I really would like to see this script be further developed by you and me!! I think that Github is the right place for that.

Enjoy!

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  • SeattleSinner

    How do you set up emulation station to boot on start up after you’ve installed everything (and exited out of the setup)?

    • http://petrockblog.wordpress.com Florian

      You can configure this with the RetroPie script in the menu “Setup”.

  • http://www.posesionfriki.com Dragonkhanrider

    I tried 3 times to run the script, and after 5 hours of compiling, installing and configuring through the script, I get a message which says: “Could not successfully compile and install RetroArch. Could not successfully compile Amiga emulator. Could not compile Atari 2600 core. Could not successfully install ScummVM. Could not successfully compile Emulation Station. See debug.log for more details.” I have the latest Raspbian installed, via BerryBoot. Do I need anything else, like dependencies etc.? Also, where is debug.log located? Thank you.

    • http://petrockblog.wordpress.com Florian

      I did not test the script with the latest Raspbian yet. There might be dependency issues. Unfortunately, I do not have access to an RPi for the next three weeks so that I will need this time to fix the script. But, maybe, someone else takes care for that sooner than me and creates a pull request via Github. I could merge the fix then.

      • Chad Adams

        I saw your post on raspberrypi.org and I am eagerly waiting for the update!!

    • dragonkhanrider

      I copy-paste:

      I finally managed to run the script successfully, but I had to install an older image of Raspbian. I don’t know if this is important, but I skipped the apt-upgrade part, just in case. Everything is working now except for the gamepad, which it seems to work in EmulationStation but not in the games. Also, gba is slow and laggy as hell.

  • http://gravatar.com/smandrel smandrel

    Hi,

    I have had the same problem for 1,5 weeks, compiling fails for some reason. Earlier it worked perfectly. The code lines imply that some files are missing.

    You Installed via BerryBoot, do you have the overclocking option in raspi-config? I installed raspbian also with BerryBoot and it had some weird repository address (mirror to somewhere). I changed it to the official one found in here http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianRepository.

    The debug.log is in RetroPie folder.

  • Andre

    Hey I’m having a bit of an issue with my emulation station. I believe everything downloaded and installed correctly. I can run emulation station, doom will work no problem, however other rooms seem to not work. I put the rooms in the correct folder, with correct extensions through x. When I select and try to open a rom, it makes a noise goes blank shows the white dot and goes back to emulation station.

    • http://petrockblog.wordpress.com Florian

      The latest version of RetroArch needed an update of the RetroPie script, which I have just uploaded. You can update your RetroPie setup script by changing to its directory and typing “git pull”. Then you can select to only install RetroArch, which should work now. In case you are using XBian also have a look at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/issues/96.

      • http://None Zak

        Florian, I have ran the entire retropie setup, and I have some roms running (snes, Atari 2600, gba); however, the debug shows that doom core, gameboy color, and nes did not compile successfully
        At this point I have tried everything, and am left with no more options, if you could please help me that would be great
        E-mail: stealthycow369@hotmail.com
        Thank you for you consideration

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Hi Zak, this is issue also reported in the Github repository at https://github.com/petrockblog…. I will take care for that this evening or tomorrow.

  • Micha

    i’ve got an error at the installation. NES Core is not successfully install

  • Poutine

    This is Awesome! Have everything up and running except MAME the roms show but selecting them takes it back to selection screen. Also i see psx roms folder.. do i need to install something else for this to work or just drop iso in the folder.. Cheers to you my children and I are enjoying this very much

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      Currently, the MAME emulator is based on iMame4All, which is quite limited with regard to its supported ROMS. AdvMAME is said to support far more ROMS. However, AdvMAME still has to be included into the script. So, if someone finds some time to do that … ;-)

  • ghostwheel

    This script is very cool! Thank you!
    I managed to get psx working by putting cd images in the psx folder. I had to edit the emulationstation es_system config file and add the .pbp type, because that is the type of image I have, but it worked.
    However – it seems that the emulator is based on pcsx_rearmed, which I have also installed independently. But my pcsx_rearmed seems to work much better and faster than the one in retro arch. I tried ff 7, and psx_rearmed is playable, whereas retroarch gets stuck at the stars right at the beginning, and is much slower. On the positive side, retroarch rescales to fill the screen, which just pcsx_rearmed doesn’t.
    Ideas?

    Oh, and another question: can one upgrade? Can I just rerun the script to get a new version? Will anything get overwritten? Is there a new version?

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com petrockblog

      Thanks for the hint with the .pbp extension!
      Could you give some directions about how you installed pcsx_rearmed? Maybe I will integrate this into the RetroPie script then.

      An upgrade option for the script itself will be part of the next commit for the RetroPie script. To upgrade the components installed by the script you can simply re-rerun it and de-select all steps that write config files. The entries of these steps are marked with “(C)” at the beginning.

      I hope this helps!?

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  • hoblin

    Thanks for the script but i encountered some troubles with NES. It can’t find libretro.so. This lib has name fceumm_libretro.so and symlink solves the problem. Also, themes files in ~/.emulationstation path has wrong paths for images and sounds. It can’t find files with relative paths but when i changed them to absolute all works. Still have troubles with sound. debug.log here http://pastie.org/6094176

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      It seems as if some of the RetroArch cores have changed the file name of the .so libraries. This is also reported in the Github repository at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/issues/100. I will take care for that this evening or tomorrow.

      Regarding the sound – what exactly is the problem? The sound is working quite well for me (both, analog and via HDMI).

      • hoblin

        Sound issue solved now (with hdmi_drive=2 in /boot/config.txt). But i get one another with PS emulator. Get “Segmentation fault” after “ari64_reset” in log. Tried to run Crash Bandicut for my wife =)

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Glad to hear!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=771194663 Shaun Anthony

    It would be nice to be able to choose which emulators to install, when the install script starts. Most of them I’m never going to use, and it seems tedious to spend hours waiting for them all to install.

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com petrockblog

      You can select exactly what you want the script to install by using the arrow keys for navigation and the space key for (de-)selection.

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      You can select which emulators are installed by using the arrow keys for navigation and the space key for (de-)selecting the components in the source-based installation.

  • devini01

    Hi there, quick question. I got the emulation station to load correctly and was able to play a SNES game and it was working great. I then set it up to boot emulation station on startup but now the menu appears when it loads and I cannot seem to get rid of the menu. I have tried f1 to get rid of it but I am still unsuccessful. Do you have any ideas on what could cause that?

  • chelleyf

    Hi folks. Setup is mostly working here (Big thanks to all for the serious work gone in to it this far)
    On a different note, My X-Arcade Dual is not being recognised by the Pi in any form. By a game or in Terminal. Any tips to get it up and running??? I have an issue with NES emulation but from reading, a “pull” should sort it.

    • Phillip Britain

      I just ordered one recently so I too would like to to know how to get it the X-Arcade Dual working!

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Unfortunately, I do not own such a such. But I have to admit that it looks tempting!
        First of all you would need to look for how the device registers (if at all) in the system (joystick, keyboard, etc.). You could do that, e.g., with “dmesg”.
        Maybe someone at the official Raspberry Forum has written about this?

      • Phillip Britain

        From my understanding, it acts just a usb keyboard so I guess it would be just a matter of matching up the right buttons to the right inputs. Speaking of, how might I go about changing the key mapping for the emulators?

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        You can change the key mapping for most of the emulators in the file /home/pi/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg.

        The wiki also has some information about this: https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/RetroArch-Configuration and https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Control-Issues

      • Phillip Britain

        Sorry to keep bugging you but when I run “dmesg” it defiantly is being recognized as shown in this picture http://imgur.com/gKvgRL2, but I am confused about the path that it is supposedly in. Also I have found that it is working “out of the box” to a certain extent with some games that I’ve tried but the issue is that the keys are mapped to random buttons and neither of the joysticks are working so I’m not quite sure where to go from here.

      • Phillip Britain

        when I run “./retroarch-joyconfig” its says “Couldn’t open joystick #0.” Any suggestions?

        Also, I have discovered that the X-Arcades buttons and joysticks are basically configured like a keyboard. In the terminal I have verified that all of these (http://www.xgaming.com/service/images/Layouts/PC-MAC.htm) are correct. The issue that I’m still dealing with is how to set the keymaps so that “2″, “1″, “Left Shift”, etc. is the same things as “down”, “enter”, “A” (SNES games for example), etc. respectivley on the keyboard.

        I know its a simple fix, I just can’t figure out how to do it!

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Also keyboard mappings are configured in the file /home/pi/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg!

        You can edit it, e.g., via “nano /home/pi/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg” and save your changes with “CTRL-X”.

      • chelleyf

        Hi. Sorry for the delay. Time on this project is at a premium these days. So far, I can confirm that the X-Arcade registers as a keyboard when the Pi boots. So if you have this and a keyboard plugged in, the X-Arcade registers as keyboard 1 instead of keyboard 0. I haven’t got around to mapping the keys yet. There are different programmable pre-sets on the arcade but I’m not sure if they are useable on the Pi yet!
        On another note, I’m trying the pre-compiled version on another card at the moment but same problem with SNES emulation. Black screen…

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        If it registers as a keyboard I assume that you “only” need to adapt the key mapping in ~/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg.

        I tested the script with a Samsung TV via HDMI and with a Packard Bell LCD screen via HDMI. Sound and video is working there without any issues. People have reported several issues with sound over HDMI oder video over composite/HDMI depending on the devices the Raspberry is attached to … There still has some work do be done, until these kinds of problems have been solved. Community feedback like this is the best way, I would say :-)

      • chelleyf

        Hi again. I have looked into the retroarch.cfg file (451 lines). To be honest I don’t know where to start. I know the X-Arcade defaults to 2-4-6-8 for up-down-left-right etc. but how can I map a NES/SNES controller a megadrive/Mastersystem controller through here? Default mappings for the X-Arcade are as in the pic? Any direction would be much appreciated

      • chelleyf

        Hi. I am wondering if there is a resource to refer to the keys correctly while trying to map the X-Arcade. e.g. do you type:

        input_player1_a = lctrl OR
        input_player1_a = left ctrl
        Just wondering is there a reference guide anywhere that explains the correct way to refer to the extended keys

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        I do not know an “official” list of keys except the source code itself. By looking into https://github.com/Themaister/RetroArch/blob/master/input/linuxraw_input.c#L134 I would guess that the left Ctrl key would be described as “lctrl”. I did not test this, but I would be glad if you would give some feedback here when you are done with your configuration :-)

      • chelleyf

        hi, any luck with mapping the keys to the X-Arcade yet?

      • Phillip Britain

        Not yet, I’m still trying to figure out how to get “Player 2″ controls to work on things like the SNES emulator. Let me know if you get things working!

  • Louie

    Hi guys. I’ve managed to run through the setup and have gotten to the stage when at startup I have a red stripe running across the screen with “prboom” written, and Doom at the top of the page. My problem is that keyboard input has completely stopped working so i can’t navigate away from this page or even launch Doom. What am I doing wrong here ?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      You need to copy your ROMs to the RPi first, so that the front-end can find them.

      • Louie

        all the ROMs are in the appropriate folders, all unzipped and in the correct formats, all tested before they were uploaded. Another strange thing ive noticed is that if i move the mouse when the white dot appears, more dots appear and move with the mouse and then i get a red, garbled screen that is clearly reacting to mouse input but is too garbled to see. Don’t know if this is related. Is there a way of bypassing emulation station booting at startup ? As I said, keyboard input when it loads is completely disabled.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        I have not heard of such a behavior so far … maybe it is a powering issue. Does the same thing happen, when you restart the RPi and disconnect the keyboard from the very beginning?

        You might be able to ssh into the RPi, start the RetroPie Setup Script and disable auto-start on boot of Emulation Station in the setup menu.

      • Sam

        Has this bee resolved? I am having the same problem. The emulation station boots and it just sits on the doom “prboom” screen. No key press will work except for the enter key, and when I hit enter it just runs a couple lines really fast an comes back to the doom screen.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        It sounds as if Emulation Station cannot find any ROMs in your case. The image has no ROMs pre-loaded. You need to copy ROMs into the folders ~/RetroPie/roms/[snes|megadrive| ...]. Afterwards you can switch the systems with the left and right keys, start games with ENTER, and so on. I think @Louie has a different kind of problem with his setup.

  • http://www.facebook.com/MRKSTWRT Mark Stewart

    Is it possible to play roms on a usb drive with this setup?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      Right now, there is no “plug-and-play” functionality with respect to ROMs on a USB flash drive. You can find a tutorial about mounting an USB drive at http://raspi.tv/2012/mount-a-usb-flash-drive-on-raspberry-pi.
      Maybe this should be a function to be implemented in future!?

  • acott

    Hey, Thanks so much for this amazing piece of software its the only reason I bought a Pi! I have run the install from the project image and emulation station is showing, I can play Duke Nukem but cant play any other roms! I placed all roms in their correct folders and unzipp they accordingly. But when I try to luanch a rom it cuts out and takes me back to emulation station, when i look back it says ‘segementation fault’ any way to fix this?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      Which emulators did you try to run?
      To make sure that you have the correct file extensions you could have a look, e.g., at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/blob/master/retropie_setup.sh#L1128.

      “Segmentation fault” is a quite general error message, unfortunately.

      • acott

        Hey I did a fresh install and all seems to be working now! Just a quick question, its listing games I havent installed roms for, is there a way of clearing these so they dont show and only games which I have the roms for are displayed? Thanks again for all your help and for this cracking piece of software

      • http://blog.petrockblock.com petrockblog

        Glad to hear!

        You can manually edit ~/.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg, e.g., via “nano ~/.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg”, delete the systems that are not wanted via Ctrl-K, and exit via Ctrl-X.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Glad to hear!

        You can manually edit ~/.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg, e.g., via “nano ~/.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg”, delete the systems that are not wanted via Ctrl-K, and exit via Ctrl-X.

  • Nino

    It is normal that Super Mario Allstars (SNES) doesnt work?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      I have heard from several people that they loose control after they have selected a game. Seems as if it is an issue with the combination of this particular rom and the emulator.
      Maybe another SNES emulator is working with that rom? Welshy did a great job by explaining the installation SNES9X at http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=24318. I did not have the time for trying that, did someone else try this?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      Ok, I just had another try. I found out that after the selection a game, the control goes over to the second controller! This seems to be somehow a specialty of the Allstars ROM. But at least, it is playable :-)

  • RetroFan

    Is there any change that parts of this project …

    http://chameleon.enging.com/

    … will merge in to RetroPie?

    ChameleonPi already has working (console-based) versions of C64-, Amstrad CPC 464- and other emulators running.
    Although I still prefer this initialization script – compiling (most) of the emulators itself and utilizing EmulationStation – there sure would be some parts in ChameleonPi we could benefit from.

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      The Chameleon project looks very interesting and it seems as if a lot of work is going into that!

      If you find that some feature should also be included by the RetroPie Project just tell it here or at Github. It would even be better if someone posts a short shell script that could be added to the RetroPie Script without major modifications ;-)

      I really see the RetroPie Project as a community project that lives from the contributions, comments, suggestions, and reports to it! As long as people take part in this project it will further evolve.

  • http://www.facebook.com/MRKSTWRT Mark Stewart

    When installing this on Xbian using your script it seems to install fine but when I try to run emulation station I get:

    “error while loading shared libraries: libbcm_host.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory”

    It also seems to break xbmc as the pi boots properly and then Just stays on a black screen forever, I can still ssh into the pi so I think it’s just xbmc that’s broken. The weird thing is I installed retropie without problems on the same version of Xbian (alpha 4) last week and it worked perfectly.

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      Sorry to hear that!

      Did you use the binaries-based installation? I have also observed this problem recently – running sudo rpi-update from a remote shell, followed by a restart solved that problem for me. I hope to upload a fixed version of the RetroPie script today.

      • http://www.facebook.com/MRKSTWRT Mark Stewart

        I had the same results with both source and binaries-based installations.

        I just ran rpi-update and have a similar error when starting xbmc but this time referring to “libtag.so.1″

  • Bill

    Kind of a noob here.. I made this setup for my nephews. I am able to start ES up by running the ‘emulationstation’ command, but want it to autostart. Is there a way to do this, so that the only input device I need connected is my gamepad?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      You can select to Start Emulation Station on boot in the “Setup” menu of the RetroPie Script. That should do it.

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  • Phillip

    I know you’ve probably already answered this before but I am having some difficulty figuring out the key mapping for RetroArch. For example, I can’t figure out the “Player 2″ controls for SNES and MAME. Thanks!

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog
      • Phillip

        I guess I should have been more specific. I would like to have the “Player 2″ controls be on the same keyboard as those for “Player 1″ and from what link me to, I’m not sure how to go about that.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        The key mapping for player 1 is configures with the entries

        # input_player1_a = x
        # input_player1_b = z
        # input_player1_y = a
        # input_player1_x = s
        # input_player1_start = enter
        # input_player1_select = rshift
        # input_player1_l = q
        # input_player1_r = w
        # input_player1_left = left
        # input_player1_right = right
        # input_player1_up = up
        # input_player1_down = down

        Note that you need to remove the diamond in front of each line to enable the commands. The settings for player 2 look nearly the same, you only need to replace the “1″ by “2″ and use different target keys.

  • Frank

    Thanks for the possibility to play these games on the RPi.
    Sadly I also have control issues with my RetroArch. When I am in the emulator e.g. for a Game Boy, I am able to use all control keys on the keyboard (left,right,up,down,A,B,start) except ESCAPE. So I am not able to quit or save the game and the emulator. All modifications of the retroarch.cfg at were unsuccessful. Perhaps you can help me! Thanks!

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      I have heard of some USB keyboards that need too much power and, hence, lead to some strange behavior when it comes to key inputs. Maybe using another keyboard solves this!?
      Usually you do not need to alter retroarch.cfg for this function, but just to make sure that you are editing the right file: It should be ~/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg. If you have a game pad, you could also try to use that for exiting RetroArch emulators.

      • http://www.facebook.com/acarr89 Alan James C

        I’m having exactly the same problem, tried with with two keyboards both 5V 100ma, and I can’t escape either. I’ve also tried changing the key in the config. It seems the cfg changes are being ignored? I’ve also tried putting my keyboard into a powered USB hub, this doesn’t fix the issue and causes a constant weird buzzing sound when retropie launches.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Could you try and test if disabling SNESDev via sudo service SNESDev stop changes this behavior? Just an idea …

      • http://www.facebook.com/acarr89 Alan James C

        When do I do this? I installed from the image so my pi automatically boots into retropie, I just tried it remotely from my PC then entered a SNES rom and nothing has changed

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Ok, @kalehrl has reported this issue together with a fix at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/issues/133. Disabling the joystick/gamepad configuration from retroarch.cfg seems to circumvent this problem.
        Maybe I do not configure RetroArch for gamepad use as default for the SD card image!?

      • http://www.facebook.com/acarr89 Alan James C

        Thank you, works fine now!

  • bonesawguntram

    I cant stop a emulation. There are no keys that breaks me out

  • PI-RO

    I am having the same issues with keyboard. Pretty sure it is not a power issue considering it works will all other OS fine. No ESC assigned (or I don’t know the key combo), unable to back out of game once emulation has started. Must unplug (sure Pi loves that) each time I start a game, just to get back to main screen. Also, is there a way to config HDMI for audio output? I have no sound over HDMI, haven’t tried analog, heard it is real poor so I thought I’d save myself the aggravation. Most games run great (just won’t stop)…

  • http://www.facebook.com/Therealjefflampert Jeffrey Delorean Lampert

    This is most likely a stupid mistake on my part, but when emulation station runs I can navigate perfectly fine with my keyboard, but my Xbox controller doesn’t seem to be have any effect. However once I actually start a rom I have full control. Does anybody know of a way to fix this?

    • PI-RO

      https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Control-Issues, I think that may help, I am going through the same issue, and have recently found this. I hope it helps, if I get anywhere, I will let you know.

      • PI-RO

        then again… I couldn’t find anything there, I am sure when Florian gets back to you, he will have an answer.

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      I would try and delete the file ~/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg, which contains the control settings for Emulation Station. If you have a joystick / game pad connected, Emulation Station will come up with a config screen on the next start to map your joystick buttons to the controls of Emulation Station. Hope that helps!?

      • PI-RO

        Works like a charm. Have my PS3 controllers working well. Still trying to figure out how to get audio over my HDMI. IS there a force audio over HDMI command? Or is there a better way to remedy this?

  • PI-RO

    Does Audio work over the HDMI op? If so, could someone pass this bit
    of information on. I had it working over analog but very poor sounding,
    at 44000 and 44100 it is next to unbearable. I heard of someone getting
    audio over HDMI and was rather impressed by the results…

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      I have my RPi attached to the TV over HDMI only and it works very good. The sound has no statics at all.

      • PI-RO

        I normally get audio over the HDMI. Raspbian, OpenELEC are working but I get no audio over HDMI with RetroPi… Is there an HDMI setting in config that will force audio over HDMI? Or what am I not doing to get that working? Thanks a lot for all of your work guys, I have tried a couple of other setups, including Glint, and I say, HANDS DOWN, this is the best work done thus far. (I just need the HDMI audio working)

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Some users reported that they solved HDMI audio problems with settings in /boot/config.txt. See http://blog.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/audio/#post-1138

  • http://www.pixelcustard.com/ cjschris

    Is this possible on a Pi without networking (the A model)?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      For now, the only way would be to use the SD card image. The RetroPie Setup Script needs internet access to download the binaries or at least the sources for compilation (depending on the chosen installation type).
      I have added an enhancement suggestion to the repository that will add an automatic copy service for attached USB sticks. I cannot tell, however, when exactly this feature will be implemented.

  • Frank

    I´ve also solved the problem. I use a german keyboard with the german keymap. I think, because of activating the additional AltGr button, the emulator does not recognize the ESC button. So deactivated the additional AltGr button in raspi-config and it works like a charm!

  • Flipp

    Hey again, sorry for my many questions, i am a real linux noob. Did you ever test RetroArch with the SDTV out? Genesis has just a black screen with sound and the duke3d switches back to the menu after showing a red screen for 1/10 second. Don´t have a HDMI cable and also wanted to use a old school tv. Tried manual installation and your image 1.3. Always the same problem. Doom, SNES and NES work, the others i didn´t test.

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      DGEN, the emulator for Megadrive/Genesis is not reliably working with the analog output. There is an issue thread at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/issues/82. Someone explained a workaround, but it was not tested thoroughly, so that it is not included in the RetroPie Script yet.

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  • retroarch_fan

    First of thanks for setting up this amazing script :-) I have my wireless xbox controller connected and everything start automagically (after some hacking with xboxdrv in bashrc) and boot directly into emulationstation. But sadly my xbox controller drops out every now and then, so I have decided to go for wired generic pc joypads/controller instead. So yesterday I bought a generic pc joypad/controller, I thoght this was gonna be easier to setup than the wireless xbox controller, but I can’t get it to work :-(

    I run ./retroarch-joyconfig and get the controller mapped (so it is connected and works), then I add the output of my mapping in the retroarch.cfg file (I got mine in /etc), then I reboot, but the controller just don’t work, the led is lighting up, but nothing happens when I push the buttons. Kind of weird as it does work when mapping in ./retroarch-joyconfig.

    I have also tried ./retroarch-joyconfig >> ~/.retroarch.cfg and map the controller, reboot, but still nothing :-/

    I would be very grateful if you could help me out here, thanks in advanced :-)

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      The RetroPie Setup script configures Emulation Station such that it uses the RetroArch config file loacated at ~/Retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg as default. So, all configurations that you want to apply should go in there!

      There is more information about setting about various controllers in the wiki at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Control-Issues.

      • retroarch_fan

        Thanks for the fast reply :-)

        I do not have any folders named /Retropie/configs/all. Should I do a re-install?

        I am pretty sure the retroarch.cfg file placed in my /etc folder has been used by emulation station before, when using the wireless xbox controller I did changes to the retroarch.cfg in /etc and that worked.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        The folder should have the absolute path /home/pi/RetroPie/configs/all/. Otherwise I would suggest that you re-install the components with the RetroPie script according to the steps provided, for example, in the wiki.

  • RetroGameLover

    Hi,

    Thanks for this awesome script :-)

    I got everything up and running, but got a problem with my controller in the Emulation Station menu, when pushing up/down, it jumps several places down instead of just one step down. So I can’t really scroll in the menu :-/

    The controller works in the game and I can move left, right, jump up and down. But the problem in the menu limit the fun, as I can’t choose the games I want, it jumps 10-15 steps,, making it impossible to choose the games I want.

    Example:
    I arrive in the menu and it start with game 1 (a), when pushing the controller button down I would like to go to Game 2, but it jumps 10-15 places down, so instead I go to Game 10-15.
    Game 1
    Game 2
    Game 3
    Game 4
    Game 5
    Game 6
    Game 7
    Game 8
    Game 9
    Game 10
    Game 11
    Game 12
    Game 13
    Game 14
    Game 15

    Would be great if you could help me out. Thanks a bunch :-)

    • RetroGameLover

      I got it fixed. I had messed up the es_input.cfg file, I just deleted the /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg file and did a reboot, after that I got to map my controller when I reloaded emulation station. Sorry for spamming your page with a stupid question like this. Thanks again for making such a awesome script! Have a nice day :-)

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Glad to hear that it is working now!

  • Duke3d

    Thanks for making this script! :-)

    Just a quick question. I got everything up and running, but how do I install Duke 3D? I have run the binary installation, should I run the source based also to get Duke 3D? just check of only the duke 3d in sourcebased installation and push run? Or can I just download Duke 3D as I do with roms and put it in the duke rom folder?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      I think the easiest way is to run the RetroPie Setup Script, choose “source-based installation” and then choose only Duke 3D to be installed. That should work.

  • Ernest Sheldon

    Hello i install and when it boots up i see apple II then while pressing left key i see cave game and then duke then back to apple II .Not seeing snes,or any other console help please.Iam now installing advanced menu see if that helps

  • Cain

    I have followed the instructions to the letter yet get nothing but a blank screen after the “Apple start” screen. What am I or have I done wrong?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      This might be related to the HDMI video mode, which I set to VGA with a recent script update. To undo this change you need to comment (i.e., put “#” in front of the lines) the lines “hdmi_mode=1″ and “hdmi_group=1″.
      The system-wide VGA mode will be discarded with the next update of the RetroPie Script and be replaced by a more sophisticated way for changing the video resolution in HDMI mode.

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  • gpalmq

    This works great overall, but I have a couple of issues. The SNES roms all have an odd green tinge to them. I can’t seem to find a fix in the config file, but I may be overlooking something. Has anyone run into this problem? Also having an issue where emulationstation seems to change the overscan adjustments that sticks after I exit to the terminal. Is there some config file for ES beyond the es_systems? Any thoughts? Thanks.

  • DJB

    I am having some trouble with my tomee usb snes controller, I have it configured correctly, however the L and R buttons act as save state and load state buttons which is not the desired effect. I’ve tried to find a fix but to no avail, does anyone have any idea why it does this?

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      Thanks for pointing that out – this is a bug in the RetroPie script and will be fixe with the next commit. You need to remove the lines with the keywords “input_save_state_btn” and “input_load_state_btn” in the file /home/pi/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg.

      I hope that helps!

  • diego

    a question, can be put to full screen GnGeo 0.7?

    PD: I speak Spanish I translated in google translator.

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      For HDMI or composite video output? For me, HDMI is fullscreen per default. The overscan parameters in /boot/config.txt also have big influences on the display.

      • diego

        all emulators I work in full screen, less than neogeo (GnGeo 0.7) change the “overscan” to “disable” in raspi-config but only occupies a small percentage of the screen.

        PS: thanks for trying to help me.

  • alex carter

    hi friends of this great blog,and admin too.
    when i want to compiled script in a new raspbian,2 times,my eth0 is blocked after some moments in the install.(i don’t think it’s a script problem,but raspbian or hdcp.)
    have you see a report of a same problem.i desperate,and i really want to compile it)
    ps:put the image on the card directly ,is the same problem) eth0 cut after some times.
    thanks for help if can,(2 raspi,same effects)

    • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

      Just a guess: you forgot to extend your root file system after copying the sd card image and starting the RPi for the first time. You could do this with the raspi-config tool.

      • alex carter

        thanks for your help petRock”Blog”.but no,it’s the first thing i made “expand root file system”.sorry,i know it’s not à retropie problem,and i love your work.it’s magic.i search,and test many solutions for that,and tell here when resolved it.thanks from France.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        I have not heard of such a problem so far, so I do not have the 100% solution for that. Maybe your power supply is too weak!? Strangest things can happen in this case.

      • alex carter

        ok,thanks,i make an new install today,and the problem come to.install finish badly at 84%.like all the time.
        i see some people have problem with ethernet/usb hardware.when i see install is finish,internet is off.i search for a log of the operation inthe terminal;i see bcm problem.
        i test with my other raspi and report after.thanksand sorry for the new thread.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        How do you see that it breaks at exactly 84%?

      • alex carter

        at the end,its write 84% :) and seem operations are finished.(the end of instal wasn’t good)no connection internet.but i have similar problem with my other raspi (maybe my network isn’t so great).i finally take your “img” and work great now :) i make other test for understand the problem.
        i try to setting up xbox 360 controller.i have successfuly assigned fonction with gamepad ‘but i dont understand after “add your cfg files to your default RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg”
        sorry for solicitation and grand merci tout plein ;)

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        There is a tutorial for XBox360 controllers at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Setting-up-the-XBox360-controller. I suppose that you are following that one?

        In order to start the automatic button mapping screen of Emulation Station again, you need to delete the file /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg and restart Emulation Station.

        Maybe that helps!?

      • alex carter

        ok,i found my error.
        in https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Setting-up-the-XBox360-controller
        xboxdrv –trigger-as-button –wid 0 –led 2 –deadzone 4000 –silent &
        sleep 1
        the first problem i make is wid 0 ,but you say id 0 for wired (my english is poor
        and make this mistake .”wid” i replace by id 0.
        after my second error,is i copy “sleep 1″ but i have not another joystick.
        i finally understand it,and delete the “sleep 1″ and after the reboot,my joystick
        is detected fine.
        your information is very good,but for a noob in linux like me,some subtility and hard
        to understand.
        copy /paste isn’t all without understood.
        i love your work and appreciate your help.
        scuse my english.if i can help ,tell me,it’s a pleasure if a can contribute.
        thanks

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Glad to hear that it’s working now!

        The issues list at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/issues?state=open always provides various issues that need to be solved ;-)

      • alex carter

        hi petRock”Blog”.could you,maybe,help me or informed me?(bios loaded fine)I try play psx (game) ,working fine,but colors seem not been good,or quality image.when i quit game (F4) in terminal,i can see the following lines.
        RGB565 Supported,using it
        (other lines seem not important)
        Retroarch (WARN) :: Stock GLSL Shaders will be used
        Retroarch (WARN) :: Failed to init rewind buffer.Rewinding will be disabled

        i see we can modify options in retroarch.cfg/dgen.cfg/…cfg in emulatorn but i’m purely noob;is there a place who indicates the list of options,and what/why we can modify?

        sorry for the relance,i searched everywhere,but not find.(i see on youtube a guy play psx game with retropie in an excellent quality,i dream of that)
        since i have my raspi,i’m addicted,and many projects in my head.
        yours is mine,thanks for help and work.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Hi Alex,
        I cannot help here since I do not have experienced that issue yet. But maybe someone at the forum here has an answer.

      • http://www.petrockblock.com/ petRockBlog

        Another one just told me that the download link for the binaries is broken. I fixed this right now, maybe this is also related to your issue!?

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  • James Miller

    Whenever I run

    sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

    It returns ‘Command not found’. I have no idea why because when I remove the ‘sudo’ it returns ‘Permission Denied’. What is going on?

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