The RetroPie Project

On this site, you find a summary of all essential posts that are related to the RetroPie project, which started with the post about SNESDev.

  • The idea about the Raspberry Pi as a universal console and the description of a hardware interface for NES/SNES controllers. The beginning of the RetroPie project.
  • An assembly guide for connecting the controllers to the Raspberry Pi.
  • The RetroPie Setup script: An auto-installer and maintaining script that should make the whole software part easy.
  • PetRockBlock PIE, the case for the Raspberry Pi with pre-cut slots for two SNES connectors.
  • A wiki for the RetroPie script and all components that can be installed with it.
  • A GPIO driver for connecting (S)NES Controllers via the GPIO pins of the RPi.
  • The RetroPie GPIO adapter board: a dedicated GPIO adapter for the Raspberry Pi that allows an easy and safe connection of up to two NES or SNES controllers.
  • RetroPie Project SD-card image for download.
  • Recipe for creating the RetroPie image download.

I would like to enhance this page of the RetroPie Project and you can help! What information would you like to see here? What were you looking for when you entered this page? Feel free to post a comment below!

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  • Cuppernicus

    What is the best way to update RetroPie once it is installed?

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com/community/members/petrockblog/ Florian

      Start the script and choose the source-based installation. From there you can choose which components to be updated. The script will then checkout the most recent sources and recompile them for each chosen component. Please note that some of the options in that menu modify the retroarch and/or Emulation Station configurations, so make sure to deselect them if you want to keep them.

      • Mike

        It would be helpful to have an “Update” option that only downloaded the new source for the coresRetroArchEmulationStation, and left configs alone. Which options impact config files?

      • http://blog.petrockblock.com/community/members/petrockblog/ Florian

        I totally agree!
        The source-based installation menu can be used for an update. I have modified the entry titles to make more clear which entries change the settings. Simply deselecting these will update all other components to the most recent versions and keep the configurations untouched.

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  • mikie

    Hi,

    It’s a question about the retroarch really, but I’m assuming it applies to RetroPie…

    Does RetroPie replace the individual emulator configuration files? I’m particularly interested in the MAME implementation; A standalone MAME executable (based on 0.37) needs a file called mame.ini. Is this still the case for the retrolib version? If not, how can I specify things like screen rotation when using RetroPie? I can’t figure out how to do this at the moment (Raspberry Pi version).

    Many thanks,
    Mikie

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com/community/members/petrockblog/ Florian

      Hi!
      I have no experience with the standalone MAME emulator. But, at least, I can tell you that the whole configuration for the RetroArch-based emulators is done in the file /etc/retroarch.cfg per default. The RetroPie script uses this config file per default. I hope this helps!?

    • http://petrockblog.wordpress.com Florian

      RetroArch configs can be set in /etc/retroarch.cfg. Of you are using the RetroPie script together with Emulation Station, you should modify ~/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg. The config files are well documented and I assume that they contain all possible parameters (see also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/RetroArch). Regarding the MAME core O must say that I do not have a clue about that.

  • mikie

    Hi,

    thanks for the quick reply! I must admit I was aware of the retroarch.cfg file, but haven’t really taken a close look. The default retroarch.cfg doesn’t seem to mention anything about screen rotation for example. Do you know if the default contains all the config options available? If not, would there be a definitive list somewhere perhaps?

    Thanks again,
    mikie

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  • Dominik

    Hi, i installed RetroPi on my rpi model 2 (512MB) and it works well (at least when i start it by hand)

    The problem i have on my pi is the performance. When i try to play Super Mario World on the snes emulator i get lacks of almost 1 second between pressing a key (keyboard and jostick doesn’t matter) and seeing the result on the screen.

    Do you also see that problems on your pi (I already tried to overclock the pi to 950Mhz but that doesn’t help)

    thx
    Dominik

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com/community/members/petrockblog/ Florian

      No, I do not see these lacks with my installation.
      Do you maybe have SNESDev and the gamecon driver polling the game pads at the same time? Or are you using an USB pad?

  • Dominik

    It’s an usb pad and i also see the laag on my keyboard… so this is really odd.

    I started a rebuild yesterday, maybe the problem is now away. Is there any way how i can debug what is causing this ?

    I’m not sure but i tried to install the SNESDev driver, but currently i don’t have a snes gamepad connected. Do you think this can have some side effects because it tries to poll from the USB gamepad ?

    Dominik

  • Dominik

    Mhh the update didn’t help… i just had a look at the cpu load while playing super mario world, first world on the right, where there are about ten turtles, my cpu load goes to 91%… but on my overclocked cpu… is this normal ?

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com/community/members/petrockblog/ Florian

      I cannot check the CPU load on my RPi right now, but do you see the same load without the game pad being connected?
      SNESDev does not interfere with other USB devices and (I assume) it is not the source of the problems.

  • spirit222

    Hi.

    Thanks for making amazing retropie. I have problem with dgen. My gamepad’s d-pad don’t work in dgen, but it works in other emulators. I have modified dgenrc file and got buttons to right place, but cannot understand how to set d-pad directions. In retroarch d-pad works fine and in retroarch.cfg d-pad axes are -2,+2 and -3,+3. But i can’t figure out how to set these axes to dgenrc file. Can you give me a hint to fix d-pad in dgen?

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com/community/members/petrockblog/ Florian

      I have not used it yet, but the “interactive prompt” of DGEN seems to allow you to interactively set the game pad mapping. See http://dgen.sourceforge.net/#dgen

  • Steve88

    Wow!
    This project (and RetroArch itself) pretty much is the coolest thing I’ve encountered in a looong time.

    Please keep up the good work!

    Just a few minor issues I’ve stumbled upon:

    * The Atari2600-emulator doesn’t seem to work (some failure-message about “Paddles” and “MouseSensitivity” comes up).
    * Also please add the “.a26″-file-extension to the default-settings for the Stellar-emulator (Atari2600).
    * “eduke32″ ignores ANY .grp-file passed on the command-line (it will always load the “internal” shareware-episodes).
    * The “GameBoy”-emulator isn’t active by default (“.emulationstation”-settings). “GameBoy Color” and “GameBoy Advance” are available though.

    Other than that… everything else (NES, SNES, MasterSystem, GameGear, NeoGeo, MAME, Genesis, etc.) all works fine out-of-the-box… simply awesome!

    Again… thanks a lot!

    • http://blog.petrockblock.com/community/members/petrockblog/ Florian

      Thanks a lot for your feedback!

      I have created corresponding issues at the Github repository of the script!
      Do not hesitate to do this on your own as well in case of future issues that you or someone else might find.
      Update: Most of the issues mentioned above have been fixed with the recent update of the script.

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  • Moises Jimenez

    Just updated to the latest build! AMAZING work!!! great job to everyone involved! Thanks for all the hard work!

  • apro che

    I just started to collect data about my gaming experience with the RetroPie.
    Who wants to join ?
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApduqOApj8sodDIwMXRxbHc1ZmtfVVF4dDU0NW9IN3c&usp=sharing
    This may lead to a RetroPi-certified list of games.

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

      Interesting idea! I have posted that link also in the forum.

  • Jo

    Hi everyone, i’ve installed retropie on my pi.
    But my graphics aren’t good…
    Dus somebody know how to alter them to play on my 1920 x 1080 lcd screen (hdmi)?
    Thnx

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  • alienfetus

    I love this project, me and my son play snes and nes games ever day on it =)

  • Dean Evans

    Not enough space to install on my 4GB sd card. Is there any way you could reduce the size some?

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

      I would need to look this up – maybe someone can point me to a guide that describes how to use the dd command for that?

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  • Makel

    I have my PS3 controllers running through bluetooth. Emulationstation starts before the controllers are recognized by the system. I have to wait for a minute then exit and restart emulationstation with the keyboard for the controllers to work with emulationstation. Is there a way to have emulationstation delay for a certain amount of time before starting, or get the controllers recognized even if they are connected after emulationstation has already started? I would like to not have to hook up a keyboard at all.

    • Makel

      Found a solution. Not very elegant. I disabled the splash screen and at the end of the rc.local file, I added a message to say press the ps button. Then I had the program sleep for 30s. That gives the Bluetooth time to setup js0 before emulationstation starts.

      • Florian

        Hello Makel,

        It would be great if you could provide me with the commands you put into /etc/rc.local to start emulationstation some seconds later. It seems I have the same odd behaviour with my PS3 controller and the bluetooth dongle.
        I tried it out on my own yesterday but it did not work properly. Maybe I am missing something.
        THX in advance

      • Florian

        I have figured it out. Now it works with these two commands in the rc.local file

        sleep 20s
        emulationstation &

        Thanks for this awesome Emulator on the RaspberryPi!

      • Royale

        Hi! I have the same problem, could you perhaps provide the code? the part where you have to press the PS Burton before the emulationstation would start is really interresting

      • Florian

        Hi, The 2 commands are the only code I write into my rc.local file. You have to write them above the exit 0 command and it will work. Like Makel mentioned you have to disable the splashscreen in the RetroPie Setup so you can see what is happening during the boot, When the sleep command starts press the PS button on your controller and it will connect to your BT dongle. After 20s Emulationstation will start and you can use your controller. That´s the way it works for my setup. Hope I could help.

      • Royale

        Got it to work! Thanks a bunch!

  • Kim Royale

    The case look really good, however im looking for something larger where i can add extention cables to panel mounted hdmi, ethernet and usb ports to the back of it. It would be more appealing as a gamestation having most of the cables at the back of the case. Like now fully connected there is cables at every possible location on the board, hard to fit and make it look nice in the tv bench.

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

      I agree that this minimalistic design has some flaws. Maybe I will design a larger case in the future …

      • HDDguy

        Use an old NES console. With some “Cutting and pasting” you can have this working in no time. I’m working on mine, unfortunately I spent well over 120 dollars getting the H/W. But for the amount of games and platforms I will have available, I think it is WELL worth it

      • HDDguy

        Here’s My List (Definitely got the idea from jbaker on imgur):
        RaspberryPi w/ 512 MB
        ATXraspi (connect the NES power button to this and then connect to GPIO pins for On/Off switch)
        HDMI extension cable (M->F 6″)
        2 USB extension cables (M->F 12″)
        Ethernet extension cable (M->F12″)
        Single Pin PC Cables – connect between ATXraspi pins and GPIO pins on Pi
        32GB SD Card
        A Pack of Sugru (bonds within 24 hours, forms into semi-hard rubber)
        A dremel tool (Going to cut the panels clean off and make my own with sugru)

        Hopefully that inspires someone to a DIY conclusion. I thought it was a neat project, and so far I’m learning a lot!

  • Marc Call

    Can anyone tell me if they are running SNES games at full speed with Retro Pie? I spent the whole weekend messing with my RPi and Retro Pie, and could not get Donkey Kong Country or Super Mario World to play at a good speed. What am I missing?

    • Marc Call

      I just came across the pre built SD-Card install file, I think I’ll try that tonight and see if I have any better luck with game speeds.

  • 4cidBurnD

    Awesome project!! Brought my childhood back to the living room. A very big “thank you” for that. Even the GBA runs smoothly now, but unfortunately I couldn’t remap the controls for the gpsp so far. Is this a common problem, or is it just me? tried editing the retroarch.cfg in /configs/gba (did nothing) and also created a gpsp_input.cfg in emulators/gpsp/raspberry/ (also no luck). Moreover I wasn’t able to play anything with more than 2 gamepads. Is this a game- or emulator specific problem? Would be awesome to play CTR in 4 player mode. Anyway, thanks for your hard work…you’re awesome!

    Greetings from the Netherlands

  • Jonathan Lemonde

    Hey guys,
    Never done that before, but that project has me so stoked!
    Would there be a way or a link where there is a -clear- list of everything I have to buy in order to make mine?
    I see some parts are explained but there’s no real clear list of hardware parts you need to buy.
    Thanks!

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  • 6th Sense

    Do you have any italian or german site or translate? A cant read very well english, so please give me anyone an answer ^^ Thanks

  • Dani

    hello, I’ve gotten several roms via samba, but I can not get it to work.

    Snes-> Blackscreen

    Dgen->freezes on the logo

    Any ideas? Thank u

    • Chisleu

      I’m also hunting a solution for this. I get a black screen when trying to use analog with an NES emulator.

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  • Waz

    Hello ! First of all thank you very much for the RetroPie script :)

    But I have an issue… I managed to install RetroPie/emulstation and everything went well. I can launch the gui of emulstation and start Duke Nukem for instance. But when it comes to use Gensis/GB/GBA/SNES emulators, none of them works … My ROMs are well displayed on the gui, but when i try to start a game, emulstation jumps directly to command line, witting a bunch of “=================================” and display that damn white dot in the middle (OpenGL), and then crashes to come back to the emulstation GUI! I have a raspi B and my memory split is well set to 256/256 !

    Any ideas what’s going on ??

    Thanks,

  • Wolf13

    Hi there,

    Great job on the script. You guys did an amazing job.

    I have installed it fine- and have gone through the initial setup of the game-pad on the first boot.

    Though- when I start an emulator (NES in this case)- my gamepad is completely unresponsive.

    What am I doing wrong? Have I missed a step?

    Any help appreciated.

    Regards

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

      For now, you need to configure the inputs for every emulator. It is not too complex: Please have a look at https://github.com/petrockblog/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Control-Issues.

      • Wolf13

        Thank you, I will try this tonight.

        Though, a couple of quick questions, and apologies, Im quite a novice with this.

        Where you write:

        “To configure USB joystick / gamepad for RetroArch run…
        retroarch-joyconfig”

        What are the steps I need to carry out to run that?

        “You need to insert the output of retroarch-joyconfig into ~/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg.”

        Also, one thing that I’ve had some confusion with when reading up about various commands- is the ~ symbol?

        Do I type the ~ symbol?
        Where I have previously, its come back with bad directory commands.

        “and uncomment the joystick lines. Putting your own button numbers corresponding to your joystick / gamepad.”

        Where do I find the button numbers?

        Thank you for your help.

        Regards

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

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  • Сергей Беляев

    hello, petRock! im want to use like frontend xbmc media center. may be you know how adapt xmbc for retropie, or can you tell me how rewrite emulationstation for my needs?

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  • DirkDiggler

    Does anyone have any quick instructions on how to add this to berryboot?