Game Emulators - clockworkpi/GameShellDocs GitHub Wiki

GameShell ships with preinstalled RetroArch. Instructions how to install it and configure you can find there https://github.com/clockworkpi/GameShellDocs/wiki/Update-RetroArch

You have 2 options if you want to emulate some system:

  • use RetroArch with core (some systems also needs BIOS file) for that system
  • standalone emulator of that system

RetroArch vs Standalone emulator?

Seems standalone emulator can be more performant

How to add new core to RetroArch?

Basically all you need is a action.config file with a link to the games folder and core to use for that games.

ROM=/home/cpi/games/[name of the folder with games for specific system]
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/[Name of the core snes9x_libretro.so]
EXT=[extensions of the ROMs (SNES is sfc,zip,smc, Gameboy gb,gbc,zip] LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=[Title to display by Launcher]
SO_URL=[core will be downloaded from there if doesn't found by path from ROM_SO]

More details https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/how-to-add-new-emulators-gameboy-snes-etc/862

Where to get RetroArch Cores?

Where to find BIOS for specific system?

Google knows better)

SCPH1001.bin BIOS file works nice for PS1.

By default for RetroArch BIOS should be placed in the same directory where games for specific system are located. You can change BIOS folder RetroArch -> Settings -> Directory -> System/BIOS

Emulators (tested with v0.2):

NES (NESTOPIA)

It's preinstalled with GameShell. Original action.config

ROM=/home/cpi/games/NESTOPIA
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/nestopia_libretro.so
EXT=zip,nes
LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=NESTOPIA Roms
SO_URL=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cuu/emulators/master/nestopia_libretro.so.zip

SNES

ROM=/home/cpi/games/SNES
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/snes9x2010_libretro.so
EXT=sfc,zip,smc
LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=SNES
SO_URL=http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/linux/armv7-neon-hf/latest/snes9x2010_libretro.so.zip

Game Boy/Game Boy Color/Game Boy Advance

It's preinstalled with GameShell. But this seems faster:

ROM=/home/cpi/games/MGBA
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/mgba_libretro.so
EXT=gb,gbc,gba,gbx
LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=MGBA Roms
SO_URL=http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/linux/armv7-neon-hf/latest/mgba_libretro.so.zip

Looks like some games may require BIOS. But I'm not shure

PlayStation One

option 1:

GameShell has preinstalled PCSX. But you need a BIOS file SCPH1001.bin (extensions in lower case! not .BIN) and place it there /home/cpi/launcher/Menu/GameShell/20_Retro\ Games/Pcsx/bios/SCPH1001.bin Forum thread: https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/pcsx-rearmed-for-gameshell/436/15

option 2 (RetroArch):

  1. Place your games in folder /home/cpi/games/ps1 (place BIOS in this folder too).
  2. Create action.config file inside /home/cpi/launcher/Menu/GameShell/20_Retro\ Games/30_ps1/ folder
ROM=/home/cpi/games/ps1
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/pcsx_rearmed_libretro.so
EXT=cue,img,mdf,pbp,toc,cbn,m3u
LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=PS one
SO_URL=http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/linux/armv7-neon-hf/latest/pcsx_rearmed_libretro.so.zip

SEGA Mega drive/GENESIS

option 1 (PicoDrive): Instruction https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/picodrive-standalone-and-libretro-core-mega-drive-emulator/2331/18

You can also add file /home/cpi/launcher/Menu/GameShell/20_Retro\ Games/20_SEGA-MGD/action.config to run games from GameShell menu:

ROM=/home/cpi/games/SEGA-MGD
ROM_SO=
EXT=7z,bin,gen,md,smd,zip
LAUNCHER=/home/cpi/launcher/Menu/GameShell/PicoDrive/PicoDrive
TITLE=SEGA-MGD
SO_URL=

So PicoDrive should be inside this folder /home/cpi/launcher/Menu/GameShell/PicoDrive and your SEGA games inside /home/cpi/games/SEGA-MGD:

option 2 (RetroArch):

picodrive_libretr.so core is fastest but it didn't work for me, but you can try it.

genesis_plus_gx_libretro.so works fine (but I had some lags)

ROM=/home/cpi/games/SEGA-MGD
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/genesis_plus_gx_libretro.so
EXT=7z,bin,gen,md,smd,zip
LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=SEGA-MGD
SO_URL=http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/linux/armv7-neon-hf/latest/genesis_plus_gx_libretro.so.zip