Category Names and loading in Retroarch

[StarshipUK]

To confirm in Lauchbox edit emulator and in the Associated Platforms tab I have all the cores ticked as default emulator.

 

Inside Launchbox I am importing my systems ROMS into separate categories because for some systems there are so many. For example:

Atari 2600 PAL

Atari 2600 NTSC

Atari 2600 Homebrew

I am using Retroarch as the emulator. However when I double click on the games in these folders, they do not load. However if I import them inside Launchbox to a category called just "Atari 2600" they load fine from Lauchbox. I am guessing that Retroarch uses the category names inside Launchbox to determine what core to load. Is there any way around this to make other categories work, so games in these other categories load with Retroarch?

 

So far, I am also having problems with the Nintendo Famicom Disk System category and Retroarch too. I have imported the games into the default launchbox category of "Nintendo Famicom Disk System" and when I click on them they do not load. The core I am using is Nettopia and I have put the disksys.rom file in the RetroArch\system folder where the games load and run if I manually load them inside Retroarch. Again I am guessing this is a similar problem as above where Retroarch is trying to use the category name, but it is not associating with any core. I am guessing I can add something in Default-Command-Line Parameters in the Edit Emulator section in Launchbox, but I am not sure what I need to add.

 

I was hoping that Launchbox would do the configuration automatically, but am guessing that extra config is needed when not using the default category names in Launchbox, and also for some of the default category names to work like for the Nintendo Famicom Disk System. I am also guessing I would have to create a emulator config file in launchbox Manage Emulators for each core used.

 

If a command line is needed, I have also seen several posts describe the command line for retroarch as: retroarch -L “C:\Path\To\core.dll” -c “C:\Path\To\Config.cfg” “C:\Path\To\Game.rom” but I do not have any files in my retroarch folder called config.cfg so I am not sure if this was something that was part of older versions of retroarch and is no longer required.

[JoeViking245]

8 hours ago, StarshipUK said:

I am importing my systems ROMS into separate categories

Any chance you're actually importing them into separate "Platforms"?  You need to setup each Platform for the emulator (in LaunchBox).

Go to Tools, Manage Emulators, select RetroArch and Edit.  Then go to the Associated Platforms tab. (As you've done so far).  It sounds like you already have Atari 2600 in there.  You need to add the 'other' Associated Platform(s).  And they need to be named EXACTLY as you have them named.  "Atari 2600 PAL", "Atari 2600 NTCS", etc.

Scroll to the bottom of the list of Associated Platforms to the blank/empty cell.  Click the 1st, left cell once, and start typing the name of the Platform you want to add.  When you type, for example "a", it will show a list of the Platforms you have that start with "a".  Select the one you want to add.  i.e. "Atari 2600 PAL".  Next select the appropriate core you want to use.  i.e. "stella_libretro".  Add any Extra Command-Line Parameters you want.  i.e. "-f" ([without quotes] to load RA in Full Screen).  Next check the box for Default Emulator.  

Do that for any other Platforms that may be missing, then click OK, then Close.

Edited March 27, 2021 by JoeViking245

[StarshipUK]

Thank you.

I was presuming the Wizard would do any configuration like that as it had all the information it needed when entering the details to be able to do that, but after following your helpful instructions and doing that bit manually this is now working. 

[neil9000]

Just now, StarshipUK said:

I was presuming the Wizard would do any configuration like that as it had all the information it needed when entering the details to be able to do that

No, it doesn't. For one what core you use for which platform is completely up to you, while we do have defaults for some of the more common platforms, but they are not all covered, and especially platforms just created by you that do not actually exist in the real world, and users may also prefer to use other cores, so that is all editable. Secondly, when using custom names, we have no idea as to what the platform you are importing for is. OK in your case it may be pretty easy to work out, but that's certainly not always the case, some people use all sorts of weird naming and abbreviations for there systems which we could never be expected to understand and decipher, so we make no guess work there, its on the user to specify. The import wizard DOES automate a lot of the import process, but some things will always need manual intervention, especially when going rogue and using non standard naming schemes that have no equivalent emulators/cores as the systems do not exist.

[StarshipUK]

Thank you for explaining. When you say it has no idea of the platform, I am choosing the platform in Scrape As: and thought it might be able to get the platform from that.

[neil9000]

Just now, StarshipUK said:

Thank you for explaining. When you say it has no idea of the platform, I am choosing the platform in Scrape As: and thought it might be able to get the platform from that.

That doesn't necessarily give us the information we need either though. For example take the Super Nintendo MSU-1 platform. That would be a custom named platform, that is scraped as Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but the core you are currently using for actual SNES games may not support MSU-1 games, so you would need to specify a core to use that actually runs those games, if Launchbox just "assumed" it should use the same snes core that is already used due to the "scrape as" being the same platform, then that system wouldn't work, and in this case as it was "automatic" the user would have no clue as top why it doesn't work. So having the user input that information means that we get the actual correct info, but it also teaches the user that the same process is needed for other platforms, as there are platforms out there that people import that are not in our database at all, so even the "scrape as" wouldn't work in those cases.

Launchbox is designed to be as user friendly as possible, and to get your games imported as quickly and easily as we can, but not absolutely everything can be done automatically, and in those cases we prefer to require some user input, than to guess at what a user is doing, getting it wrong and having to have the user go through the process again because of a mistake the program made. It may sound a little harsh, but it's better for a user to make a mistake than the program to make it, as the user can learn from it, while the program will come to the same conclusion every time, regardless if it was correct or not.