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RetroArch Windows devices
#1

Hi everyone. I just discovered RetroArch today and downloaded the latest build for my Win 7 x64 PC. I bought a Xbox 360 wired controller today after reading an article on how I can use one to play games on my PC. I was following a tutorial on YouTube about how to use RetroArch, but I’ve hit a snag. The guy in the video starts off on the main screen then he moves right and goes to the settings screen. I don’t even have that. When I move right from the main screen (where it says “Load Core”) and then choose Video I don’t get any settings. All I have is “No playlist entries available”. In fact it says this everytime I try to access any of the items on the main screen.

I found this forum and joined so I could get some help with this. Appreciate any advice, suggestions. Thanks :slight_smile:

#2

Ah, nevermind. I see it’s about which button I push. I managed to find the settings (hitting the B button on my Xbox controller). Have to get used to which button does what with this thing I guess.

#3

Nice looking program, but it doesn’t always load/play the ROMs I have. I know the ROMs work, because I can play them just fine in my other emulators (Visual Boy Advance, FCEUX, etc.).

#4

It should be able to play any ROMs that are functional by loading a core and then loading content (i.e., using manual loading). Scanning for content only picks up certain ROMs that match our index databases.

#5

Yeah I have a couple games that when I go to open them RetroArch just closes down. EXAMPLE: Load Content > Select File > Directory > Folder (ROMs) > Gameboy Advance (folder) > then click on the Rom and RetroArch closes.

#6

I’d need to see a log to guess what’s going on.

#7

How do I get a log?

#8

Follow the instructions in my signature.

#9

Did as you said, but got this: ‘retroarch_debug.exe’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

#10

You have to run it from a command line inside your retroarch installation directory. Open it up and shift+right-click and choose ‘open command window here’ and then run the command.

#11

Shift right click on the RetroArch .exe file?

#12

No, inside the window but not on any items.

#13

Ok, that worked. Thanks. Now how do I save it?

#14

The steps from my signature should leave you with a file named ‘log.txt’. Take the contents of that file and copy/paste them somewhere like pastebin.com or pastie.org and then post a link to it here.

#15

I don’t see a log.txt file anywhere.

#16

Then you’ve done something wrong or missed a step.

  1. open retroarch folder
  2. shift+right-click somewhere in that folder and ‘open command window here’
  3. type: retroarch_debug.exe --menu --verbose --log-file log.txt
  4. reproduce behavior
  5. exit
  6. upload log contents to hosting site.
#17

I followed your steps, which were also the same steps I did before, and I still have no log file anywhere. I even searched my computer for ‘log.txt’ and found nothing.

#18

dunno what to tell you about the logs, then.

For your actual problem, i.e. cores closing down when you tried to load games, perhaps you’re missing BIOS images?

#19

Did you put your Retroarch folder in Program Files? That can cause write-protection problems like this (log.txt not being created). Running everything as an administrator can usually fix this, but it’s much better to just move your install to a normal folder (your user folder, for example). Also maybe try creating a blank log.txt file in your RA directory if that doesn’t work.

If you don’t have a bios file and need one, usually nothing works, but hey maybe. If you’re using mGBA (recommended), VBA Next, or gpSP you need gba_bios.bin in your system dir. It needs to be called “gba_bios.bin”, otherwise RA won’t be able to find it. By default, your system dir is simply retroarch/system/, but you can change it in options if you ever want to. This is also the way you would check where the directory is if you forget. (It’s also in retroarch.cfg.)

VBA-M and Meteor don’t need a bios file, so if you’re using either of those cores, it can’t possibly be the problem. In that case, maybe try another GBA emulator core? Don’t forget about the bios if you take that path.

For future reference, information about the bios etc. for each core can be found on the wiki.

Also, sometimes you need to explicitly choose a core, then open a file. If I have a rom saved as a .rom or a .bin, for example, there are multiple cores that can open it because of its generic extension (a .zip could be a NES rom, a SNES rom, an arcade game, etc.). So, I need to choose the correct core for the rom ahead of time. Otherwise, RA freaks out and crashes, since it can’t tell what core to use. You can avoid this with playlists, but that’s another story, involving romsets, CRC hashes, and scripts. There are other threads with more detail on that. (In other words: Load core > (…) > Load content > Select file > (…).)

One last thing: you said you’re using the latest build, by which I assume you mean a nightly. Using them is usually fine, but sometimes they contain weird bugs or are missing features, since they are being actively developed, so they aren’t guaranteed to be good to use. I usually stick with the stable builds, and try the nightlies only to see if bugs have been fixed sometimes. So maybe try out 1.3.6 stable with a blank config file (default settings) and see how that goes.

Welcome to Retroarch! I hope you like troubleshooting.