EmulationStation DE - dragoonDorise/EmuDeck GitHub Wiki

THIS WIKI IS NO LONGER MAINTAINED. VISIT https://emudeck.github.io/ FOR THE NEW EMUDECK WIKI.

EmulationStation-DE is a front-end application to manage all of your ROMs.

Introduction

EmuDeck installs EmulationStation-DE, which allows you to manage your ROMs through a single front-end application. It can either be used as an alternative or in tandem with Steam Rom Manager (an application that adds ROMs as game shortcuts to your Steam Library).

Website: https://es-de.org/

EmulationStation-DE's Wiki: https://gitlab.com/es-de/emulationstation-de/-/blob/master/USERGUIDE.md

EmulationStation-DE's FAQ: https://gitlab.com/es-de/emulationstation-de/-/blob/master/FAQ.md

Emulation-Station-DE Releases: https://gitlab.com/es-de/emulationstation-de/-/packages/

EmulationStation-DE currently scrapes art from https://thegamesdb.net/ and https://www.screenscraper.fr/

Read https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/Steam-Rom-Manager to learn more about Steam Rom Manager and how it can be used in tandem with EmulationStation-DE!

Emulationstation-DE Table of Contents

  1. Getting started with EmulationStation-DE

  2. EmulationStation-DE Tips and Tricks

Getting started with EmulationStation-DE

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Emulationstation-DE Configuration

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  • Executable Location: Emulation/tools/EmulationStation-DE-x64_SteamDeck.AppImage
  • Scraped Media Location: Emulation/tools/downloaded_media
  • Config Location: /home/deck/.emulationstation
    • Contains: collections, custom_systems, gamelists, scrapers, scripts, and themes

Note: ~/.emulationstation is an invisible folder by default. In Dolphin (file manager), click the hamburger menu in the top right, click "view hidden files" to see these folders.

How to Update EmulationStation-DE

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How to Update EmulationStation-DE

How to Launch EmulationStation-DE in Desktop Mode

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How to Launch EmulationStation-DE in Desktop Mode

  • Launch the AppImage in /Emulation/tools/EmulationStation-DE-x64_SteamDeck.AppImage
  • Launch EmulationStation-DE from Steam after adding it via the EmulationStationDE parser in Steam Rom Manager

How to Add EmulationStation-DE to your Steam Library

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In Desktop Mode, you can open EmulationStation-DE by opening the executable here: Emulation/tools/EmulationStation-DE-x64_SteamDeck.AppImage. However, it's recommended you add EmulationStation-DE to Steam through Steam ROM Manager so you can use it in Game Mode as a front-end for your ROMs.

Here's How

  1. In Desktop Mode, open Steam Rom Manager
  2. Turn all the parsers off except for EmulationStation-DE
    • It's recommended to turn on the Emulators parser as well so you can configure your Emulators directly in Game Mode
  3. Click Preview in the top left of the application
  4. Click Generate app list, wait a moment
  5. Click Save app list, wait for a message to pop up: Done adding/removing entries
  6. EmulationStation-DE will now be added to your Steam Library.

Watch the following GIF for a visual:

Emulationstation-DE Hotkeys

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EmulationStation-DE comes with a Steam Input profile for Hotkeys. Activate the Steam Input profile by clicking the Game Controller icon in Game Mode, change the template to Emudeck - EmulationStation-DE. The hotkeys below can only be used if you have the Steam Input profile active.

Hotkey EmulationStation-DE
Citra Left Trackpad Touch Menu
Cemu Left Trackpad Touch Menu
No Profile Left Trackpad Touch Menu
mGBA Left Trackpad Touch Menu
RMG Left Trackpad Touch Menu
melonDS Left Trackpad Touch Menu
PPSSPP Left Trackpad Touch Menu
DuckStation Left Trackpad Touch Menu

For a tutorial on how to select Steam Input Profiles, refer to: https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/hotkeys#how-to-select-a-steam-input-profile.

Steam Deck Button Layout: https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/Hotkeys#steam-deck-button-layout

An explanation of the EmulationStation-DE Profile

Some emulators set up by EmuDeck need a unique steam input profile (like Cemu or Citra) since you cannot do combo hotkeys easily. These emulators use a Steam Input profile to bind keyboard keys to buttons on a radial or touch menu.

The EmulationStation-DE combines all of these different profiles into a single menu and allows you to select your emulator profile on the fly. For emulators without a Steam Input profile, use combo hotkeys. Visit https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/Hotkeys for both a list of the specific buttons on the various radial and touch menus as well as the combo hotkeys.

How to Use the EmulationStation-DE Profile

The EmulationStation-DE profile will be automatically applied to your EmulationStation-DE shortcut. If you have an older install of EmuDeck, you may need to re-run Steam ROM Manager with the EmulationStation-DE parser toggled to apply this profile.

After the EmulationStation-DE profile is applied, use the left trackpad to pull up the menu and long-press an icon to switch into the respective profile. The buttons on the various touch and radial menus use a long-press to activate the respective hotkey.

All of the profiles include a Return to Main Menu button allowing you to return to the profile switcher menu.

If you do not see an emulator on the EmulationStation-DE touch menu, it likely uses combo hotkeys. The Hotkeys page covers the combo hotkeys for the various emulators.

Video Showcase

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/108900299/236106511-c24a2f7e-7b9d-4b05-9317-566d39212ac2.mp4

EmulationStation-DE Tips and Tricks

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Tips for Navigating EmulationStation-DE

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Quick-Jumping Through Menus

  • If you use the shoulder and trigger buttons, you can quick-jump through all menus, including the gamelist view menus.

How to Select a Different Emulator for a System

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  1. In EmulationStation-DE, press the Start button
  2. Scroll down and select Other Settings
  3. Select Alternative Emulators
  4. Scroll down to the system you would like to configure, press B, and select your preferred emulator.

Watch the following GIF for a visual:

How to Select a Different Emulator on a Per-Game Basis

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EmulationStation-DE allows you to pick alternative emulators on a per-game basis. This may come in handy when different emulators have different levels of compatibility. You can use this option to switch between Yuzu and Ryujinx on a per-game basis for the Nintendo Switch.

On a game in a console list, press the select button, scroll down and select EDIT THIS GAME'S METADATA, scroll down and select ALTERNATIVE EMULATOR, pick which emulator you would like to use for that game.

Note: This feature is also required to get PrimeHack to work through EmulationStation-DE. For Primehack, place your Metroid Prime Trilogy ROM in the wii folder. Follow the above steps, and choose PrimeHack [Standalone] for Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Watch the following GIF for a visual:

How to Manage Multiple Discs

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Method 1: Directories interpreted as files (Recommended)

  1. Refer to https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/File-Management#how-to-create-an-m3u-file on how to create an M3U file
  2. Place all of your disc files with the M3U file in a folder
  3. Rename the folder to match the M3U file exactly including the file extension .m3u
    • Example:

Note:

Method 2: Create an M3U file and hide each of the disc entries in EmulationStation-DE

  1. Refer to https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck/wiki/File-Management#method-1-creating-an-m3u-file on how to create an m3u file.
  2. In EmulationStation-DE, press Start, Other Settings, toggle Show Hidden Games off
  3. For each disc entry, press select, press Edit This Game's Metadata, scroll down, toggle on Hidden, press Save, Apply
  4. Repeat for each disc entry

How to Download Themes

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Themes List: https://gitlab.com/es-de/themes/themes-list

Prerequisites

  • EmulationStation-DE 2.0.1 or above
    • Update through the Update your Emulators & Tools section on the Manage Emulators page in the EmuDeck application

How to Download Themes

Method 1: Theme Downloader

  1. Open EmulationStation-DE
  2. Press Start
  3. Scroll down to UI Settings
  4. Select `Theme Downloader [Experimental]
  5. Select the theme(s) you would like to download
  6. When you are finished, back out of this menu
  7. On the UI Settings menu, press Theme Set and select your preferred theme

Method 2: Manual

MiSTer Menu will be used as an example in the below guide.

  1. From the themes list: https://gitlab.com/es-de/themes/themes-list, select a theme under EmulationStation Desktop Edition (ES-DE) - Themes
  2. Open the link for the respective theme, it will take you the respective theme section on the EmulationStation-DE themes page
  3. Open the Github link, it will take you to a Github repository
  4. On the Github repository, press the green Code button in the top right
  5. Click Download Zip, download to a folder of your choice
  6. Open the folder with the zipped theme, right click the theme, click Extract, Extract archive here
  7. Move the unzipped theme folder to /home/deck/.emulationstation/themes
    • ~/.emulationstation is an invisible folder by default. In Dolphin (file manager), click the hamburger button, ☰, in the top right, click Show hidden files
  8. To use the theme: Open EmulationStation-DE in Game Mode, press the Start button, UI Settings, Theme Set, and select the theme you downloaded