Can't get RetroArch to work at all

[Imgema]

Yeah, you need to add a standalone MESS in your LauchBox, you will be able to use many more systems this way. I found this link where you can see what commands each system needs: https://www.launchbox-app.com/forum/emulation/command-line-parameters-arguments Although the full command doesn't work for me. Instead of, say a5200 -cart -skip_gameinfo -nowindow i only use the first part a5200 -cart. As for RetroArch+MESS core, from what i can gather so far, it appears that it needs the softlist roms. That's what i read in the libretro forums and also in the core information. Still, this doesn't explain how it works with rocketlaucher (the only thing that makes the MESS cores work)... so there has to be a way for my current roms to work. I don't want to use the softlist ones because good luck associating all these with the different named media files, videos, box art, etc. But i kinda gave up on it, since the standalone MESS work, i don't need the RA MESS core as much, unless i want the shaders.

[EviLEd]

Imgema said

Jason Carr said Thanks @Imgema for clarifying that. Just so I'm following correctly, do I need to change the default Retroarch configuration to make this easier? If so, how?

Ok, to avoid any confusion let me wrap this up. My original problem was that i couldn't play Atari 7800 games in LaunchBox when i used the RetroArch emulator option. The broblem was that RetroArch was trying to use it's MESS core to run it. I resolved this by going to "manage emulators", then RetroArch, edit and in the associated platforms there was the atari 7800 but with the -L "cores\mess_libretro.dll" command. I changed that to -L "cores\prosystem_libretro.dll" and it worked. I didn't change anything to my RetroArch settings or anything, i just guided Launchbox to use the prosystem core in RetroArch instead of the MESS core. I couldn't make either MESS core or MESS standalone to work through Launchbox. Now a day later i managed to make MESS standalone to work with Launchbox. That's because i wanted more odd systems like Arcadia 2001. So here's what i did. I added the MESS emulator in the list (because it doesn't exist by default) and in the wizard i selected it to be the emulator for Arcadia 2001. At first it didn't work. What i did to fix it was going to "manage emulators" again, then MESS, then "associated platforms". There i added the Arcadia 2001 tab and in the command line tab i added the line arcadia -cart. This way Arcadia games worked in LaunchBox, by using the standalone MESS, but not the MESS core in RA. Obviously, each system has it's own command line in order to work this way. So, in other words, RetroArch MESS core doesn't play any part in this, i use LaunchBox and a standalone MESS. I haven't managed to make the RetroArch MESS core to work with LaunchBox so far. I also haven't managed to make MESS work in RetroArch itself at all. The only thing that makes the MESS core in RetroArch work for me, is RocketLauncher for some reason. Otherwise, i just use the standalone MESS for everything. By the way, the default emulator check box doesn't matter much. In order to change what emulator to use with a system, go to your system tab, select all the roms with alt+A and right click, then edit. This will bring up a new "bulk edit" wizard that allows you to change the emulator to use with these roms.

Thank you so much for this. I was having this exact same problem. I could not find the setting in Retroarch to complete this. I didn't realize how easy it was to fix in LaunchBox. Launchbox to the rescue! Does anyone know how to specify a core in Retroarch for a platform? In case i ever ran Retroarch without Launchbox and it picks the wrong core again.

[SentaiBrad]

Withouth LaunchBox, in RetroArch you load the core first or use the option to have RA display a list of cores based on the game you chose.

[EviLEd]

I did see that thanks. But when i had it scan a directory of 7800 games it associated the mess core instead of the prosystem core. So it must have a config somewhere with that info.

[SentaiBrad]

If you use the library system in RetroArch, you select the game which opens another menu, you select run which then asks you what Core to use. If you didn't have both cores downloaded it might pick the only one you had available? Otherwise if you don't use that Library feature you load the core then the game or you select the game and RA gives you a list of cores based on the file extension you chose and you choose the core that you want. I am unsure where it is automatically picking cores for you.

[EviLEd]

SentaiBrad said If you use the library system in RetroArch, you select the game which opens another menu, you select run which then asks you what Core to use. If you didn't have both cores downloaded it might pick the only one you had available? Otherwise if you don't use that Library feature you load the core then the game or you select the game and RA gives you a list of cores based on the file extension you chose and you choose the core that you want. I am unsure where it is automatically picking cores for you.

I made sure that everything was up-to-date through the online updater before i launched my first game. I did have both cores. There must be some logic somewhere that tells RA to use one core over another if i don't specify one.

[Jason Carr]

Yeah, LaunchBox will use the command-line parameters for the particular platform of the game. This matches up to the command-line parameters in the Associated Platforms grid when editing the Retroarch emulator.