Overlays same core diff system??

[Porl Hendy]

Hello, i have Megadrive, Master System and Game Gear all using the same core in retroarch, i was wanting to use overlays/bezels for each system but is it possible seen as tho they all use the same core? thank you

[Porl Hendy]

Doesnt anyone else use overlays/bezels?? I know you can use rocketlauncher for bezels but just trying to avoid using rocketlauncher. Thanks

[Zombeaver]

I don't use bezels myself, but if I wanted to do this I would probably do it via the method I mention in the below post. Basically you would duplicate the core dll, rename it to something different (like adding _Megadrive at the end of one and _MasterSystem at the end of another) and then direct LB to each one in your Retroarch emulator entry - then you can set the bezels/shaders/whatever individually for each when you load RA.

 

[Porl Hendy]

Thanks, i tried that already tho. I think i did it correct, this is what i did:

Opened retroarch and downloaded genesis_plus_gx_libretro.dll core, went to core folder and duplicated it and renamed it genesis_plus_gx_libretro_GameGear.dll

Open launchbox and went to manage emulators, then clicked retroarch and then edit. Went to associated platforms and renamed the game gear to -L "cores\genesis_plus_gx_libretro_GameGear.dll"

Clicked a GameGear game to play and when retroarch opens it still has the Master System bezel, if i change it to GameGear bezel then back out and click a Master System game it loads up with the GameGear bezel

[Zombeaver]

Hmm it sounds like you did it correctly then. Can you upload a screenshot of the associated platforms tab of your Retroarch emulator entry in LB? If you're using two separate core .dlls they shouldn't have crossover like that (unless maybe something funky is going on with configuration files).

[Porl Hendy]

Thanks for your help. I have uploaded a screenshot of both associated platforms and the cores folder of retroarch

[Zombeaver]

So with that setup when you load a GameGear game and set the bezel to GameGear, exit RA, load up a genesis game and then set a Genesis bezel, when you switch back to GameGear you're getting the Genesis bezel? Because that definitely should not be happening. Do those steps, in that order, one more time to make sure.

As an example, I use the same core file, but duplicated multiple times, for FBA. Below you can see that I've got several different variants for the same .dll like "fba_libretro_neogeo" for example. I can load up a CPS-2 game, set a shader, then load up a NeoGeo game, set a different shader, and they're independent of one another (despite actually being the same core dll, just renamed).

[Porl Hendy]

I tried again, and i just uploaded a little vid to show what i mean

https://youtu.be/SivZki2cMxw

Edited October 3, 2016 by Porl Hendy

[Zombeaver]

Err... the video doesn't really show anything. Was RA loading up during recording? It's not visible in the video.

[Porl Hendy]

Oh just watched it myself, wonder y it doesn't show retroarch, it was loading up and I was changing bezels lol

[Porl Hendy]

@ZombeaverHow come you have several systems that have 2 cores? Could u please try a bezel overlay when u get chance? 

[Zombeaver]

I don't have any that have 2 cores (at least not within the same LB emulator entry) - some have a specific config file specified though. That's what the -c "config\blahblah.cfg" sections are for. You shouldn't need that for what you're wanting to do though. I don't for the instances that I mentioned before where I loaded up one, set X shader and loaded up another and set Y shader.

That brings up something pertinent to this though - do you have "Configuration Per-Core" set to on? It needs to be. It's in "Configuration" in RA. If it's not turned on, turn it on and test again. If it still doesn't work, we can try actually specifying the configs. In your Retroarch folder there's a folder just called "config". If you have Configuration Per-Core turned on it should generate configs for each of your cores when you load them. It should be named [core name].dll.cfg. If you want to try adding those in, update your Retroarch emulator entry in LB with them like I have in my screenshot: -c "config\[configname.dll].cfg" and when you load one of the corresponding games, check to make sure that config has been loaded in the RA menu - normally where it will say Retroarch.cfg but instead you'll see the one you specified.

I think "load overrides" may need to be disabled in Configuration as well. I can't recall what I have mine set to as I'm not at home to look at my RA but I can confirm when I get off work in a couple hours. I think overrides are basically designed to do what we're talking about here, except that it doesn't seem to work if you're duplicating core dlls like this. It'd probably be fine if you just wanted each core to be configured differently, but dividing up the same core to do different things like what you're wanting seems to give it some problems.

[Zombeaver]

So I tested this out on my work PC which doesn't have LB but I do have RA on it.

For whatever reason, in order for me to be able to get this to work I did have to specify the configs (and "Configuration Per-Core" is on with "Load Override Files Automatically" turned off). I'm not sure why I don't need to on my home PC but do here, but whatever works I guess.

As I don't have LB here, I had to make do by making custom Windows shortcuts to achieve the same effect, modifying the target path in the shortcut as necessary - one specifying the core + config that I'm using for the bezel and the other specifying the core + config that doesn't use it.

C:\path\to\retroarch.exe -L "cores\bsnes_accuracy_libretro_bezel.dll" -c "config\bsnes_accuracy_libretro_bezel.dll.cfg" "C:\path\to\rom\rom.zip"

C:\path\to\retroarch.exe -L "cores\bsnes_accuracy_libretro.dll" -c "config\bsnes_accuracy_libretro.dll.cfg" "C:\path\to\rom\rom.zip"

Based on this, once you append the config files to your Retroarch emulator entry in LB, you should be good. I hope anyway... again I'm not sure why there's a discrepancy between this instance of RA and the one I'm using at home (they should be the same version) but I was experiencing the same troubles you described on my work computer.

"Big Blur" overlay shader that I set for the _bezel one (using a traditional Overlay works fine too, but for some reason the overlay doesn't show up in screenshots, even with GPU screenshots enabled):

No shader for the normal one:

[Porl Hendy]

Thanks for trying to help, im struggling to understand that an its because im really tired or really dumb lol

But either way my retroarch doesnt have Configuration Per-Core settings, i cant find it. I have checked all of retroarch too

[Zombeaver]

It's in Configuration:

[Porl Hendy]

For some reason it isnt on mine

[Zombeaver]

Weird. Are you using a nightly build? I've never seen that "content-specific core options" thing.

[Zombeaver]

Based on this post it looks like Configuration Per-Core has been deprecated in nightly builds which is... a bit alarming since I use it pretty extensively. Read that post and the one below it though - it sounds like you might be able to get it to work with "overrides". I'm just not sure how that will work within the confines of the same core. I hope all my configs aren't gonna be borked on the next stable because I'll be pretty pissed...

If you use 1.3.6 stable though, the option should be there.

[Porl Hendy]

Thanks Zombeaver i downloaded stable version and its there, now i have bezels working for both systems. Thanks again

[Zombeaver]

Happy to help! Glad it's all sorted now.

I'm genuinely a bit worried about the next stable now though... reading the instructions in that thread for using overrides, it seems like it's even more cumbersome/time-consuming than what I'm doing now... I seriously use this technique for a lot of stuff. I really hope they don't break it in future builds...