RetroArch not displaying most bezels anymore :(

[VodkaParalyzer]

Hey Eveveryone!

I'm not sure what I did, but most games that I launch in RetroArch, no longer display their bezels.

I've tried redownloading stuff from within LaunchBox, no luck.

I even deleted the bezel png and config files before doing this, and nothing was downloaded, even when I said pull everything.

I even tried doing everything through the Bezel Project tool itself, still nothing.

I can confirm that Overlays are enabled in RetroArch, along with every other setting I can find being recomended, when I search online.

 

If I look at a particular game, say Dragon Warrior for the NES, I can see the following.

1. I have the game, Dragon Warrior (U) (V1.0) [!].nes
2. RetroArch is configured to use Nestopia as the Core
3. In my \RetroArch\config_nes\Nestopia folder I have, Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg, which consists of
   1. "input_overlay = ":/overlays/GameBezels/NES/Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg"
4. In my \RetroArch\overlays\GameBezels\NES folder I have, Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg, which consists of

   1. "overlays = 1

      overlay0_overlay = "Dragon Warrior (USA).png"

      overlay0_full_screen = true

      overlay0_descs = 0"

5. But when I launch the game, no bezel

6. While in the game, I can go to the Quick Menu, navigate around, manually set it, and then Save Game Overrides to persist things

7. This works, but I don't want to have to do this for every game, nor did I have to do this in the past 😕

8. And oddly, even after I manually set things, the config files look identical. Guessing its creating a new one someplace else 😕

I thought maybe it's that the NES file name is slightly different than what's in the config files, but even if I modify the NES file name to match, still no go.

I'm at a complete loss and hoping someone can point me in the right direction 🤔

If there's an existing post on this, sorry for the duplication, but I couldn't find anything obvious when I tried looking 

[VodkaParalyzer]

And even more weirdness. If I play the USA version of Dragon Warrior 2, I get no bezel. But if I play the Japanize or USA Beta, I get the generic Famicom bezel 🤔

[VodkaParalyzer]

While all of my Atari 2600 games seem to work just fine, as they each seem to have a game override defined 🤯

[skizzosjt]

naming mismatch is your issue.

Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg is not the same as Dragon Warrior (U) (V1.0) [!].nes

 

when you are saving an override it's gonna save it as the ROM file title, Dragon Warrior (U) (V1.0) [!].cfg

 

mine from the BP is Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg so I would assume you either changed your ROM files or renamed them. The BP assumes you are using specific ROM sets that would have all the ROM files named appropriately. if your ROMS are not named the same it's not gonna work.

[VodkaParalyzer]

But even when I've tried changing the names to match, either with the config file or the game file, including the paths within them, it still doesn't show the bezel.

Is there a way to clear things out and start fresh, downloading from within Launchbox again?

[VodkaParalyzer]

Going back to my Dragon Warrior Example

I renamed my game file to "Dragon Warrior (USA).nes"

In my \RetroArch\config_nes\Nestopia folder I have the following file

"Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg"

Which has the following inside it

input_overlay = ":/overlays/GameBezels/NES/Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg"

Jumping over to \RetroArch\overlays\GameBezels\NES folder I have

"Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg"

Which has the following inside it

"overlays = 1

overlay0_overlay = "Dragon Warrior (USA).png"

overlay0_full_screen = true

overlay0_descs = 0"

In that same folder there is a PNG file of the same name, "Dragon Warrior (USA).png"

 

As far as I can tell, everything is lining up, but no bezel gets shown when I load the game.

 

And if I then load the game in RetroArch, manually set the Overlay, and Save Game Overrides, these files don't change.

They have the exact same time stamp as before, despite the bezel now showing when I start the game again.

This is the only installation of RetroArch that I have 😕

[VodkaParalyzer]

Hmm, I searched my RetroArch folder for any instance of a "Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg" and found one in the following folder.

"\RetroArch\config\Nestopia"

This file contains the following

aspect_ratio_index = "22"
input_overlay = ":\overlays\GameBezels\NES\Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg"
video_aspect_ratio = "1.333300"

K, so why is it looking in this folder and not the other folder?

Is there a config entry somewhere that tells RetroArch to look for game configs in "\RetroArch\config\Nestopia" and not  "\RetroArch\config_nes\Nestopia"?

[skizzosjt]

you said...
"In my \RetroArch\config_nes\Nestopia folder I have the following file "

 

did you make a specific config folder for nes? unless this is some new feature I am unaware of that is not where Retroarch looks for a config file. as far as I know it should be in

\RetroArch\config\Nestopia

get rid of that "_nes" bit!

[skizzosjt]

Just now, VodkaParalyzer said:

Hmm, I searched my RetroArch folder for any instance of a "Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg" and found one in the following folder.

"\RetroArch\config\Nestopia"

This file contains the following

aspect_ratio_index = "22"
input_overlay = ":\overlays\GameBezels\NES\Dragon Warrior (USA).cfg"
video_aspect_ratio = "1.333300"

K, so why is it looking in this folder and not the other folder?

Is there a config entry somewhere that tells RetroArch to look for game configs in "\RetroArch\config\Nestopia" and not  "\RetroArch\config_nes\Nestopia"?

you obviously edited the config folder name and therefore borked how Retroarch finds the running game's config. you cannot mess with that as far as I know

[VodkaParalyzer]

That's the thing. I didn't edit any folder names or create my own folders. I went to play some older games and noticed I wasn't getting bezels, so I've been trying to figure out just what the heck happened.

[skizzosjt]

you can set different directories for several things, but you cannot have a bunch of different config directories the way you are trying to. directories can be set via the GUI within Settings > Directories 

if you wanted \Retroarch\config_nes to be your config directory, then ALL your configs are gonna be stored there. so something from say N64 using Mupen core would be in that same directory. that would be confusing to me

I'm fairly certain you cannot have it setup like this....

\Retroarch\config_nes\Nestopia

\Retroarch\config_nes\Mesen

AND

\Retroarch\config_n64\Mupen

\Retroarch\config_n64\Parallel

at the same time. it's either gonna be "config_nes" or "config_n64" or whatever you want it to be. you cannot assign multiple different config folders like that. 

 

if you did really assign "\Retroarch\config_nes" as the config folder then you would have stuff looking like this....

 

\Retroarch\config_nes\Nestopia

\Retroarch\config_nes\Mupen

\Retroarch\config_nes\MAME

\Retroarch\config_nes\Mesen

\Retroarch\config_nes\Snes9x

 

and so on......that is why I said this would be confusing. looks pretty silly to have everything under a folder with "nes" in the title. 

 

Retroarch doesn't work like that as far as I know. it allows you to define a single directory for the configs, and then the individual core specific folders live within that specified config directory. for ex, it should be like this

\Retroarch\config\<core>

 

within those core directories, live the game level configs.

 

 

 

you can only assign one directory to be the config directory

[dragon57]

40 minutes ago, skizzosjt said:

you can set different directories for several things, but you cannot have a bunch of different config directories the way you are trying to. directories can be set via the GUI within Settings > Directories 

if you wanted \Retroarch\config_nes to be your config directory, then ALL your configs are gonna be stored there. so something from say N64 using Mupen core would be in that same directory. that would be confusing to me

I'm fairly certain you cannot have it setup like this....

\Retroarch\config_nes\Nestopia

\Retroarch\config_nes\Mesen

AND

\Retroarch\config_n64\Mupen

\Retroarch\config_n64\Parallel

at the same time. it's either gonna be "config_nes" or "config_n64" or whatever you want it to be. you cannot assign multiple different config folders like that. 

 

if you did really assign "\Retroarch\config_nes" as the config folder then you would have stuff looking like this....

 

\Retroarch\config_nes\Nestopia

\Retroarch\config_nes\Mupen

\Retroarch\config_nes\MAME

\Retroarch\config_nes\Mesen

\Retroarch\config_nes\Snes9x

 

and so on......that is why I said this would be confusing. looks pretty silly to have everything under a folder with "nes" in the title. 

 

Retroarch doesn't work like that as far as I know. it allows you to define a single directory for the configs, and then the individual core specific folders live within that specified config directory. for ex, it should be like this

\Retroarch\config\<core>

 

within those core directories, live the game level configs.

 

 

 

you can only assign one directory to be the config directory

Actually, having different config directories for the cores is a feature of Retroarch, not a bug, like config_nes, config_n64, etc. The newest Bezel Project Windows app creates this config_<platformname> structure with information of how to specify these via the command line. This is the only way to address the issue you run into when certain cores are used that support more than one system, like Genesis and Master System. Using the default Retroarch settings, the last installed set of bezels will take priority when games are run and you happen to have identically named roms between different, but supported systems with some of those cores, like in my example of using the Retroarch core that supports more than one system type, e.g. Genesis and Master System. Hope this is clear, if not ask any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them.

[dragon57]

1 hour ago, VodkaParalyzer said:

That's the thing. I didn't edit any folder names or create my own folders. I went to play some older games and noticed I wasn't getting bezels, so I've been trying to figure out just what the heck happened.

The only thing I can think of that might cause the issue you are seeing is how input_overlay_enable is set in the cfg file you specify on the retroarch command line. Make sure that is set to input_overlay_enable = "true"

[VodkaParalyzer]

20 minutes ago, dragon57 said:

Actually, having different config directories for the cores is a feature of Retroarch, not a bug, like config_nes, config_n64, etc. The newest Bezel Project Windows app creates this config_<platformname> structure with information of how to specify these via the command line. This is the only way to address the issue you run into when certain cores are used that support more than one system, like Genesis and Master System. Using the default Retroarch settings, the last installed set of bezels will take priority when games are run and you happen to have identically named roms between different, but supported systems with some of those cores, like in my example of using the Retroarch core that supports more than one system type, e.g. Genesis and Master System. Hope this is clear, if not ask any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them.

Hmm, trying to follow what you're saying here.

So, the directory structures that I'm seeing are valid then, for the latest RetroArch and Bezel Project. 

K, so what's the fix to my dilemma then?I  didn't quite understand what you were saying.

You said something about using the command line. Command line for launching RetroArch?

And if so, is this per platform? What commands?

Or am I missing it completely 😕

[VodkaParalyzer]

Oh, is it this?

[dragon57]

7 minutes ago, VodkaParalyzer said:

Hmm, trying to follow what you're saying here.

So, the directory structures that I'm seeing are valid then, for the latest RetroArch and Bezel Project. 

K, so what's the fix to my dilemma then?I  didn't quite understand what you were saying.

You said something about using the command line. Command line for launching RetroArch?

And if so, is this per platform? What commands?

Or am I missing it completely 😕

I hate to assume, so all I can do at this point is get some history and maybe some screenshots of your Launchbox emulation setup for the systems you are having problems with.

How did the config_nes, config_n64 directories, for example, come from? Are you familiar with the Bezel Project Windows app and if so, have you used it to install bezels for certain systems? If not, I would have to assume you used the now built in bezel installation feature of LaunchBox itself? If so, what version of LaunchBox?

In LaunchBox, if you use the Tools/Manage/Emulators action, then select Retroarch and click on the Edit button, you should get an Edit Emulator panel. Click on the Associated Platforms in the left column. You should then get a list of the platforms defined in Retroarch along with there command line parameters. Show us a pic of that.

[dragon57]

1 minute ago, VodkaParalyzer said:

Oh, is it this?

Yes.

[dragon57]

It may be helpful for anyone who reads this entire thread to link to the Github release notes for the Windows app that explains the new actions of the app.

https://github.com/thebezelproject/BezelProject-Windows/tree/V1.1.14

Below is the text from that release. The cfg files created in the Retroarch main directory reference the custom config directories mentioned above, e.g., config_n64.

Added the following text to the application Help page:
This utility will created custom cfg files in the Retroarch main directory for any Bezel pack installed for the Retroarch platform. Use the name of the cfg file on the command line when Retroarch is started. Example: retroarch.exe -c "retroarch_mastersystem.cfg"

Updated the logic of the application to mimic more closely the Retroarch config directories used on the
RetroPie Retroarch installation defaults, e.g. separate config directories for each installed platform. This should resolve the issue where cores that support multiple systems can cause references to games with the same name to overwrite each other, with the last installed bezel set being the only set used for supported systems on that core.

[skizzosjt]

1 hour ago, dragon57 said:

Actually, having different config directories for the cores is a feature of Retroarch, not a bug, like config_nes, config_n64, etc. The newest Bezel Project Windows app creates this config_<platformname> structure with information of how to specify these via the command line. This is the only way to address the issue you run into when certain cores are used that support more than one system, like Genesis and Master System. Using the default Retroarch settings, the last installed set of bezels will take priority when games are run and you happen to have identically named roms between different, but supported systems with some of those cores, like in my example of using the Retroarch core that supports more than one system type, e.g. Genesis and Master System. Hope this is clear, if not ask any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them.

ahh ok then. I didn't mean it to be a bug. I figured it was either an intentional on unintentional rename by the user using a "_nes" appended on.

 

so I get it now thanks to your explanation. I haven't had to use the BP since it's been revised and assumed they were using default locations that were used in earlier version.

 

and yea I know exactly what you mean. the only real example I ran into was "Altered Beast (USA, Europe)" uses the same ROM name for Genesis and Master System. I'm sure there are more examples but that's the one I recall making me aware of that conflict between having a single core folder shared across multiple systems.

 

so it seems their real issue was not using the system specific config. (I assume)

[dragon57]

Just now, skizzosjt said:

ahh ok then. I didn't mean it to be a bug. I figured it was either an intentional on unintentional rename by the user using a "_nes" appended on.

 

so I get it now thanks to your explanation. I haven't had to use the BP since it's been revised and assumed they were using default locations that were used in earlier version.

 

and yea I know exactly what you mean. the only real example I ran into was "Altered Beast (USA, Europe)" uses the same ROM name for Genesis and Master System. I'm sure there are more examples but that's the one I recall making me aware of that conflict between having a single core folder shared across multiple systems.

 

so it seems their real issue was not using the system specific config. (I assume)

Correct in all your statements.

Overall, a couple items should be noted. 1. The Bezel Project integration written into the LaunchBox application still uses the old, default behavior for Retroarch installation, so you have to pick which way you want your Retroarch structure to be. 2. This isn't to say you can't mix the behaviors. I have a test virtual machine that uses the older default behavior of Retroarch for cores that only support one system which uses the default config directory and the new way of separate, custom cfg files that point to newly created files and directories for those cores that support multiple systems with known overlay issues.

It is funny that this way of using custom cfg files that point to system-specific config directories and overlays causes many Windows users of Retroarch some issues of just unfamiliarity. Retropi and many other front ends on Linux have always used this structure, so those users never saw overlay conflicts when using cores that support many consoles/systems.