(2015-11-17, 05:32)hansolo77 Wrote: Zach, come up with any other ideas? I'm really excited to make this work!

(2015-11-18, 13:26)bakito Wrote: Edit: just one request i just think about: the possibility to remove menu entry of system that we don t use...i don t play saturn game because donwloading is too long for me so i would like to remove the saturn entry of the menu ( and from random playing by extention, to be sur that whatever game is chosen for me i have the system ready)
Again it is just a fancy request not essential at all

Thank you!

(2015-11-19, 21:40)zachmorris Wrote: I finally got external launching on OpenElec/RPi to work (Note to other users, OpenElec on x86 already was working). I also learned a lot about shell scripts in the process
Looks like what was happening was that the script was running, but as soon as Kodi was exited, the thread that had started RetroArch was also exiting.

Anyway, here's the new method.

1) Create the following file:
/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.iarl/resources/bin/romlaunch_OE_RPi2.sh

Here's the contents of the file:

Code:

#!/bin/sh

. /etc/profile

#oe_setup_addon emulator.tools.retroarch

systemd-run /storage/.kodi/addons/emulator.tools.retroarch/bin/retroarch.start "$@"

2) Edit the file:
/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.iarl/resources/data/external_command_database.xml

Here's an example launcher for Nestopia and Genesis Plus GX (I verified both work). Note I didn't try every single emulator, but it should be the same for all:

Code:

<launcher name="RetroArch Genesis Plus GX (Sega GG/MS/MD/Gen/PICO/SG-1000)" os="OpenElec">
        <launcher_command>/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.iarl/resources/bin/romlaunch_OE_RPi2.sh genesis_plus_gx "%ROM_PATH%"</launcher_command>
    </launcher>
<launcher name="RetroArch Nestopia (NES)" os="OpenElec">
        <launcher_command>/storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.iarl/resources/bin/romlaunch_OE_RPi2.sh nestopia "%ROM_PATH%"</launcher_command>
    </launcher>

Follow the same method for your core of choice.

3) I edited my retroarch.start file to the following. My edit removes the --appendconfig command. You can use the appendconfig command if you like (just uncomment the line with the appendconfig command and comment the line below), but then you'll also have to edit the launcher commands listed in #2 above to append the config you want.

4) Run the following command from ssh to your OE box:
chmod a+x /storage/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.iarl/resources/bin/*
chmod a+x /storage/.kodi/addons/emulator.tools.retroarch/bin/*

5) From the IARL addon, select your archive of choice, then update the launcher to "External", then update the launcher command and select the launcher name you want (which will run the commands you edited in #2).

I tested NES (Nestopia), Genesis (Genesis_Plus_GX), and Stella. All worked great!

Note, that I'll add some additional code into my next release to automate this whole process. Unfortunately, my laptop screen decided to kick the bucket this week
Thankfully, nothing happened to all my data, but it'll be a while before another update comes.

(2015-11-19, 22:44)hansolo77 Wrote: I'm really digging this. It's like the perfect solution to the Pi users. The only thing I have an issue with now is the load time of the game lists. I had a thought about that. Does IARL store a temporary list? If so, maybe you can make it more permanent and allow loading of different lists according to the consoles. I realize that the online lists are probably updated periodically, so you wouldn't really want a permanent list. Maybe something like this; have it download the list, then have it do a silent update in the background at like midnight or something. Then you always have an up to date list. Something else you could do is have it just assume you have the latest, then have it pop up a dialogue when you start the addon a week or so since the last update and ask if you want to check for new data. I think this would help a lot in terms of load times, because it looks like it's downloading the list (at least for me) every time I bring up the console list again. If I only play an NES game for like 10 minutes, then go back to pick a different one, it can sometimes take 10 minutes again to get that list! If it was all cached some how, that would be a big help.