How to test an experimental core in Retroarch ?

Andearoid

Hello,

I’m currently running the 5.25 release. And I would like to be able to test a DOSBox core with Retroarch.
With previous Batocera’s release I had an option “load core” in the Retroarch menu.

In my retroarch.cfg file I can find the line to unlock this option :
menu_show_load_core = “true”

But no… I can’t see the “load core” option to let me manually load the core I want.
I don’t understand why ?!

So, is this option is now fully locked in the Retroarch binaries ?
Or is there a new trick to do, to import my experimental cores in Batocera ?

Genetik57

Hi,

This is impossible with Batocera.linux. If you want to add a another core your need to add the core on the source code and compile your own build

You can check the source here: https://github.com/batocera-linux/batocera.linux

Andearoid

Thank you for your reply.

I find this code in the libretroRetroarchCustom.py file :

retroarchSettings.save('menu_show_load_core',               '"false"')

This means the option is hardcoded to hide the “load core” option in RetroArch’s menu.

In this file, I can see this 2 lines code too :

retroarchSettings.save('menu_show_load_content',            '"false"')
retroarchSettings.save('menu_show_online_updater',          '"false"')

However I can access the “load content” and “online updater” options in RetroArch’s menu. I use overide configurations in RetroArch to force my favourite settings.

Here is the libretroRetroarchCustom.py file content :
https://github.com/batocera-linux/batocera.linux/blob/master/package/batocera/core/batocera-configgen/configgen/configgen/generators/libretro/libretroRetroarchCustom.py

This means this script, to hide options in RetroArch’s menu, is probably unefficient. Where can I take a look of the RetroArch source code used in Batocera 5.25 release ? Perhaps this restriction is hardcoded in RetroArch. Or ‘menu_show_load_core’ setting was renamed for another one. Breaking compatibilities with old overide setting files.

—- UPDATE —-

I find the RetroArch source code at the libretro repository. In the config.def.h I can see at line 497 :

static const bool menu_show_load_core          = true;

You can take a look of this file here : https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/blob/master/config.def.h

This means in RetroArch default setting the “Load Core” option isn’t hidden. I can’t retrieve this config.def.h file in Batocera’s source code to compare RetroArch (Batocera) with RetroArch (standalone).

Andearoid

I was able to try my experimental DOSBox core with RetroArch, and without compiling a new Batocera build. I renamed my experimental core file as “dosbox_libretro.so” and push it to the /usr/lib/libretro directory with an SSH/SCP tools.

It seems Batocera build RetroArch with a dynamic core mode, locking now (in the 1.8.4 release) the ability to manually load libretro’s cores from the RetroArch’menu, like I was able to do with oldest Batocera releases.

I tried the same trick with “mame2016_libretro.so”, downloading from RetroArch itself. And with a newest “mame_libretro.so”. But MAME games don’t play. That’s strange ?! I probably missed something.

In a next step, it could be great to let advanced users to add their own cores (for special needs), shaders (for optimized rendering on the owned hardware), etc. It’s more friendly than rebuild it’s own Batocera every release. And advanced retrogamers should love this.

rosagio

Hello Andrearoid,
have you found a way to change a mame core (by renaming?)
I have tried but I don’t know how to save the new rename file at restart