Can't fetch Core list (solved)

RetroArch Linux devices
#1

i try to get a core list on Arch-Linux but whatever i do the list remains empty. I tried updating pretty much everything i could (databases, controllers etc) yet i can’t seem to fetch any core. Any clue what’s the issue?

Edit Okay, this is kinda becoming a tradition that i will discover the solution right after creating a topic here… :smiley: So here’s the solution get the package libretro-core-info (i kept searching the repository for retroarch… who would guess that you need something like that) I found the solution here though then you will into another issue - you can’t install the cores.

The reason for this is that the core installation path defaults to /usr/lib/libretro which i guess can’t be created due to limited writing access. To solve this either just download the cores from the repository (which i just found out that it is possible), for example just try seeking for “sega” and you might find some libretro-cores for different sega systems, change the path to a location with writing access, or add writing access to the /usr/lib/libretro folder. Personally i just changed the parth to ~/.config/retroarch/cores (the folder exists there already anyways). And it worked fine. I also don’t know if you could as well just replace the path for the libretro-core-info. Maybe that way you wouldn’t even need that package. But that i haven’t tested.

1 Like
#2

I use RetroArch on Arch-based distros as well and solved this issue quickly too. And yes, you are right. Installing any package with the package manager are managed by your package manager (sounds weird to type it out, as it is obvious). And they are saved in folders where you cannot change without permission.

I just changed every path to .config/retroarch/* and the only package that is installed is retroarch itself. Even the assets. You could just copy the assets over to your .config/retroarch/assets folder over, then uninstall the assets package. From then on you can update the assets through RetroArch Online Updater as well. If you change the path for info files, then the Online Updater will download and unpack the info files in the new folder. Everything (besides the Roms) are in my .config/retroarch folder. I am using it like that for 2 or 3 years.

There is also the official Buildbot page: https://buildbot.libretro.com/ where you can download newest individual cores in example (Linux link): https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/linux/x86_64/latest/ or as a package and other files: https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/linux/x86_64/ Just throwing it out there, so no need to search, as this is the place to look for this kind of stuff.

#3

Honestly i didn’t find that so obvious. But yeah it makes sense. Next installation i might as well just use the retroarch package and change the folder instead.