/retroarch-install

Scripts to easily compile and install RetroArch/Libretro in Linux.

Primary LanguagePython

Retroarch Install is a set of scripts and utilities that allow easy compilation and configuration of Retroarch. It has been tested in Debian and Ubuntu.

Table of Contents

Readme me first

In this tutorial it is assumed that the user running Retroarch is named kodi with home directory /home/kodi/. Actually, the user name is only used to determine the paths. The character ~ means the user home directory, /home/kodi/ by default. The following table summarizes the default paths.

Name Path
This repository installation directory /home/kodi/retroarch-install/
Retroarch binary installation directory /home/kodi/bin/
Libretro cores directory /home/kodi/libretro/
Configuration file directory /home/kodi/.config/retroarch/
Retroarch data directory /home/kodi/.retroarch/
ROMS default directory /home/kodi/AEL-ROMs/

With these defaults you get the following directories. Note that in this guide $SYSDIR$/pcsx2/ actually means /home/kodi/.retroarch/system/pcsx2/.

Name Path
Retroarch executable /home/kodi/bin/retroarch
Retroarch configuration file /home/kodi/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg
Configuration file backup /home/kodi/.config/retroarch/retroarch.initial.cfg
System directory $SYSDIR$ /home/kodi/.retroarch/system/

Defaults can be changed in the file configuration.xml. Feel free to change the default user name kodi, but do not change the directories after the user name unless you know what you are doing. For example, <ConfigDir>/home/myuser/.config/retroarch</ConfigDir> is OK but <ConfigDir>/home/kodi/.config/retroconfig</ConfigDir> may cause trouble.

<!-- Configuration for Retroarch compilation utilities. -->
<Configuration>
    <!--
        Use a tag or branch name.
        'v' will be added automatically at the beginning of the tag name.
        In other words, for the git tag "v1.9.6" write here "1.9.6"
        Examples: 1.8.7, 1.8.8, 1.8.9, master
    -->
    <Version>1.9.9</Version>

    <!-- No trailing / here in directory names. -->
    <RetroBinDir>/home/kodi/bin</RetroBinDir>
    <LibRetroDir>/home/kodi/libretro</LibRetroDir>
    <ConfigDir>/home/kodi/.config/retroarch</ConfigDir>
    <RetroDataDir>/home/kodi/.retroarch</RetroDataDir>
    <ROMsDir>/home/kodi/AEL-ROMs</ROMsDir>
</Configuration>

Cloning this repository

Before you start, make sure git is intalled on your machine. If you don't already have it, create the directory ~/bin/. To clone this repository execute in:

$ cd /home/kodi
$ git clone https://github.com/Wintermute0110/retroarch-install.git

This will create a directory named /home/kodi/retroarch-install.

Preparing Retroarch source code

Go to the directory ~/retroarch-install and execute:

$ ./clone-libretro-super.sh

A new directory named libretro-super will be created inside ~/retroarch-install.

Compile Retroarch and the Libretro cores

This is not recommended anymore because the Libretro compiled cores can be downloaded with the Retroarch Online Core updater, which saves a lot of time.

To customise the cores you want to download/compile, edit the file ~/retroarch-install/libretro-super/build-config.sh and comment out the cores you don't want. Note that if you don't customise the cores you want, the source code of all the available libretro cores will be downloaded and compilation times may be very long. Some cores compile fast (about a minute) but each MAME core can take as long as on hour even in a fast machine.

Compile only Retroarch

This is the preferred option. After the installation of Retroarch then you can download the Libretro cores you want with the Online Core updater.

Edit the file ~/retroarch-install/libretro-super/libretro-fetch.sh and comment the following stuff at the end of the file:

# for a in $fetch_lutros; do
#       libretro_fetch "${a%%:*}"
# done

# for a in $fetch_devkits; do
#       libretro_fetch "${a%%:*}"
# done

# for a in $fetch_cores; do
#       libretro_fetch "${a%%:*}"
# done

Download source code

Go to the directory ~/retroarch-install/ and execute ./update-retroarch.sh This will download the source code of both Retroarch and the cores you configured.

Then, as root user execute ./setup-build-dependencies.sh This will install the C/C++ compiler and some other dependencies such as libraries required to compile Retroarch.

Compiling Retroarch

Before compilation, go to the directory ~/retroarch-install/ and execute ./show-retroarch-tags.py. Each tag corresponds to a released version of Retroarch and usually the latest released version is the last one. Use PgUp and PgDn keys to scroll up and down, respectively:

...
v1.9.7
v1.9.8
v1.9.9

Pick the version you want (usually the latest released version), edit the file ~/retroarch-install/configuration.xml and change the context of the <Version> tag. Note that you don't need to include the leading v character and also you can use the special label master for the current development version.

    <Version>1.9.9</Version>

To compile the Retroarch executable, go to the directory ~/retroarch-install/ and execute ./compile-retroarch.sh.

Additional repositories

Some cores require additional steps if you want to use them.

PPSSPP

If you want to execute the ppsspp core to run PSP games you need to clone an additional repository. This will create a directory named ppsspp.

./clone-ppsspp.py

The runtime files from the ppsspp directory will be copied by the install-retroarch.sh script into the Retroarch system directory.

PSP fonts

PPSSPP includes a set of custom fonts which are different from the PSP default fonts. If you happen to have the PSP fonts place them in the psp-fonts directory and the install-retroarch.sh script will copy them to the appropiate place in the system directory.

Retroarch installation and configuration

To install Retroarch, execute ./install-retroarch.sh This will place the Retroarch executable file in ~/bin/retroarch and all the libretro cores in ~/libretro/ (if you compiled them). Also, it will create the directory ~/.retroarch and copy all Retroarch assets, databases, core info files, etc.

Finally, execute ./create-retroarch-default-config.py to create the default Retroarch configuration file ~/.config/retroarch/retraoarch.cfg. This configuration file is automatically edited so all paths will point to the correct places in ~/.retroarch/ and also many default options are edited to sensible values.

A backup of the original configuration file is created in ~/.config/retroarch/retroarch_initial.cfg. To see the changes between both files, go to ~/.config/retroarch/ and execute diff -u --color retroarch_initial.cfg retroarch.cfg

Updating Retroarch

It is recommended that you recompile Retroarch when you upgrade your system. This is specially important if you update the Mesa/OpenGL libraries to avoid problems.

Go to directory ~/retroarch-install/ and execute the following steps:

$ ./update-libretro-super-using-git.py
$ ./update-retroarch.py
$ nano configuration.xml
$ ./compile-retroarch.py
$ ./install-retroarch.py
$ ./create-retroarch-default-config.py

nano is the editor I use but feel free to use any other one such as vim or emacs.

To create a default configuration file required by ./create-retroarch-default-config.py, first delete the current configuration file, then execute your new Retroarch (it will look ugly without a proper configuration file), and finally copy the default file with the retroarch version. For example, for Retroarch v1.9.9:

$ rm /home/kodi/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg
$ retroarch # (and press Esc key 2 times to quit)
$ cp /home/kodi/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg /home/kodi/retroarch-install/retroarch-1.9.9.cfg

Optional stuff

Execute this optionally before upgrading Retroarch.

./update-ppsspp.py

Core installation notes

Random notes to install or fine tune for some notable cores.

PCSX2 - Placing the PS2 BIOS

The BIOS files must be placed in directory xxxxx.

PS2 BIOS files have 4 megabytes. There could be additional/auxiliary files.

PCSX2 scans all files in the xxxx at starting time, looks for valid BIOS files and places them in a list.

PPSSPP - Core assets

Write me.

Dolphin - Executing the GameCube BIOS

Write me.

Dolphin - Dolphin core assets

Write me.

Post installation notes

  1. The System directory $SYSDIR$ is located in /home/kodi/.retroarch/system/ Here you have to put BIOS files for the cores that require them.

  2. The option sort_savefiles_enable is activated. Your saved games will be stored in ~/.retroarch/savefiles/core_name/rom_name.

  3. In order to use vulkan in cores I think Retroarch video_driver options must be set to vulkan, otherwise cores will use OpenGL if video_driver = "glcore".

  4. If Retroarch is configured to use vulkan video driver and an OpenGL-only core is loaded, for example mupen64plus_next_libretro.so, Retroarch crashes with a Segmentation fault. What about the setting to allow cores to switch video driver?

  5. If the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf does not exists (in Debian/Ubuntu) then Xorg uses the modesetting driver. In order to use the intel video driver a minimal xorg.conf is required. This minimal file requires a Section "Device" with tags Identifier, Driver and VendorName.

  6. The intel video driver seems to have better performance compared to the modesetting video driver.

Internal notes

Creating a new Retroarch default configuration file

After a clean Retroarch installation, delete ~/.config/retroarch/retraoarch.cfg and then execute ~/bin/retroarch. This will create a default configuration file. Copy this file with a name like ~/retroarch-install/retroarch-<version>.cfg, <version> matching the Retroarch version.

Getting system information for debugging

$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep intel
$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep modeset

$ glxinfo | grep version

$ vulkaninfo | grep Version

Debug notes

Issues in Linux Debian/Ubuntu and Intel graphic cards

XMB menu driver causes Retroarch to freeze. This freezing is rather random, sometimes happens, sometimes not. One solution is to use the rgui menu driver. Other users propose to set DRI option to 2. Users report a loss of performance when using DRI 2.

# In Debian file /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Device0"
  Driver      "intel"
  VendorName  "INTEL corporation"
  Option      "DRI" "2"
  Option      "TearFree" "false"
  Option      "TripleBuffer" "false"
EndSection

Lakka xorg-i915.conf for Intel video cards.

# https://github.com/libretro/Lakka-LibreELEC/blob/master/projects/Generic/filesystem/etc/X11/xorg-i915.conf
Section "Device"
  Identifier  "Device0"
  Driver      "intel"
  VendorName  "INTEL Corporation"
  Option      "TripleBuffer" "false"
  Option      "TearFree" "false"
EndSection

Post in Retropie forum

Yeah, i said it countless times on various forums (including this one i think), intel/nvidia open-source drivers on linux are kinda crappy, setting DRI to 2 in your xorg configuration files is also generally a good fix for this kind of issue.

References: MODESETTING xorg driver manpage / intel xorg driver manpage

Testing Retroarch 1.7.7 with the intel driver in Ubuntu

First, create a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf for the X server to use the intel driver and not the modesetting driver. In this test Kodi uses the default video settings. The reason to use the intel driver is that it seems to have better performance than the modesetting driver (at least when Retroarch is running in the foreground and Kodi in the background).

DRI TripleBuffer TearFree Result
"3" false false Seems to work OK, performance *----
"3" false true Seems to work OK, performance ***--
"3" true false Seems to work OK, performance ***--
"3" true true Seems to work OK, performance ****-
"2" false false Seems to work OK, performance **---
"2" false true Seems to work OK, performance ***--
"2" true false Fails.
"2" true true Seems to work OK, performance ***--

Does Retroarch 1.7.7 works on Debian using RGUI and no xorg.conf?

Interesting: in Debian, if file /etc/X11/xorg.conf does not exist then Xorg uses the modesetting driver by default for an integrated intel videocard. The list of drivers installed in the system is in the directory /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/.

user $ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep modeset
[  3222.762] (==) Matched modesetting as autoconfigured driver 0
[  3222.762] (II) LoadModule: "modesetting"
[  3222.762] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/modesetting_drv.so
[  3222.763] (II) Module modesetting: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[  3222.765] (II) modesetting: Driver for Modesetting Kernel Drivers: kms
[  3222.793] (II) modeset(0): using drv /dev/dri/card0
...
[  3222.818] (II) modeset(0): glamor X acceleration enabled on Mesa DRI Intel(R) Haswell Mobile
[  3222.818] (II) modeset(0): glamor initialized
...
[  3222.893] (==) modeset(0): DPMS enabled
[  3222.894] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2] Setup complete
[  3222.894] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2]   DRI driver: i965
[  3222.894] (II) modeset(0): [DRI2]   VDPAU driver: i965

OK... Now it seems to work well with no xorg.conf file, the modeset driver, and xbm menu, for both standard and OpenGL cores. I have no idea what configuration option I changed to make it work.