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Using Retroarch for video playback using shaders within Kodi


Eviljubs

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I searched around for the longest time, trying to figure out how I could use big box to switch to kodi, and then have that point back to retroarch so I could utilize shaders for watching shows and movies (specifically Soqueroeu's and Duimon's work, with the HSM shader, I'll link to their work below).  I ended up adding Kodi as a platform in launchbox, and was able to launch kodi from there.  But then, I had quite a time figuring out how to point Kodi back to Retroarch.  So I figured I'd drop the answer in here since I couldn't find it here on the forums.

This assumes you have Kodi installed already, and setup to launch through launchbox/bigbox already.

All you need to do once you've got everything installed and setup for Kodi is to go into your Appdata>roaming folder (it's hidden, in your windows user folder).  You can easily access it also by hitting the windows key and then typing %appdata% and hitting enter (or clicking the link that shows up).  That will take you into the Appdata>roaming folder.  You need to find the Kodi folder there, and then the userdata folder within it.  Once there, find the file playercorefactory.xml.  If it is not present, you can create it with notepad, and input the following into it.  You can just copy and paste the code, but make sure to point the filename section to your actual retroarch.exe path and executable.

<playercorefactory>
<players>
<player name="Retroarch" type="ExternalPlayer" audio="false" video="true">
<filename>C:\put\your\retroarch\path\here\retroarch.exe</filename>
<args>"{1}" /fullscreen /close</args>
<hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>
<hideconsole>false</hideconsole>
<warpcursor>none</warpcursor>
</player>
</players>
<rules action="prepend">
<rule video="true" player="Retroarch"/>
</rules>
</playercorefactory>

 

Save the file, and then rename it to playercorefactory.xml (or just save it, if you're editing an existing file).  Make sure that you put the path to the copy of retroarch that you'd like to use, and make sure that you are pointing it to the actual executable file.  You can also add your own custom rules if you'd like in the lower section.  If you'd like to use it to play only specific file types, or specific aspect ratio videos, or whatever you'd like.  Here is a link to other possible rules and some examples:  https://kodi.wiki/view/External_players.  This will make the default player Retroarch.  If you want to use the regular Kodi player to play media, you can right click on your media within Kodi, and choose "play using..." - this will allow you to select the player of your choice.

 

I hope this helps anyone who had the same issues as me when setting this up.  I'm hoping some later updates will integrate media playing more directly, but it's a decent solution for now and I'm pretty happy with it.  Just be aware that a lot of the bezels and things aren't made for widescreen or funky aspect ratios, they work best with 4:3 content.

 

Here's links to the shaders and overlays I discussed earlier:

 

Hyperspace madness' reflection shaders - https://forums.libretro.com/t/hsm-mega-bezel-reflection-shader-feedback-and-updates/25512

Duimon's overlays and repo - https://forums.libretro.com/t/duimon-hsm-reflection-shader-graphics-feedback-and-updates/28146

Edited by Eviljubs
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