It's working on my Mac but need help setting up config

RetroArch Apple devices
#1

So I have RetroArch 1002 working and playing games on OSX 10.9.5 with a wireless xbox360 control and it’s awesome, but I’m having some nagging problems that I haven’t been able to figure it out in several hours of fiddling with it and searching.

Every time I open RetroArch, I get an error message saying “No Libretro cores were found. Select “Go->Cores Directory” from the menu and place libretro dylib files there.” When I select Go and drop down to Cores Directory, nothing happens. Where do I need to put my core files to make Retro happy?

From this point, I have to go down to RetroArch Config and browse to the config file. I don’t know what it defaults to or where the default config file is located. I’ve searched my system with spotlight and manually and only found the config files I’ve made. The config it defaults to will play games but if I try to load a state, it wont find it because it isn’t looking in the core specific location. I have core specific configs turned on and it saves that file, but it doesn’t load it when I open a game from my history.

Really appreciate any help. Thanks!

PS I had a lot of difficulty initially because I didn’t know that X is enter and Z is back. Couldn’t find that info anywhere in the documentation or on this site. Also, when you go into Help it says “no button” and is generally incorrect.

#2

IIRC, the cores directory is inside the app bundle. I think the config lives in ~/Library/Application Support/RetroArch or something like that.

#3

There’s no RetroArch folder there. I searched my entire system for retroarch and didn’t find anything except the app.

The download just contains the app and nothing else.

Is there any way to tell where it’s drawing that initial cfg from? It’s weird because some of the changes I make will stick, while most will revert back to a previous change.

Thanks

#4

Hmm. I was pretty sure it would create a config in that directory on first run, but if you can’t find retroarch.cfg anywhere on your system, check and see if it has one internally in the app bundle. That’s all I can think of.

#5

hiden files??

#6

All my hidden files are shown.

It creates a RetroArch.cfg, but it’s not reading from that. When I open that file in a text editor it shows the settings I have saved, but the app reverts to old incorrect settings. Then I point it to RetroArch.cfg and it’s correct.

When I save a new config, it puts it in the folder I have set the path to for configs, alongside my RetroArch.cfg, and names it after the last core I’ve used.

It seems to make a difference if I make the changes while a game is loaded up. That’s kind of like MAME.

Any info on my other problem? What is Go Core Directories supposed to do? Open a finder window and show me where to put the Cores? Anyone know where I should put them to shut the error message up?

Are these problems due to Mavericks?

I appreciate your help.

#7
#8

I didn’t know what an app bundle was. Thanks for the lead.

There’s no .cfg file in there. I tried putting my cores folder in different places in there and I still get the error.

#9

For my RetroArch, i placed the cores in my configuration directory. By default RA uses ~/Library/Application Support/Retroarch/retroarch.cfg Shaders and system (bios, etc) are also in the folder.

Normally, as hunterk said, the cores are inside the app bundle. So if you put the RetroArch binary into your Applications folder, the cores would live in /Applications/Retroarch.app/Contents/Resources/modules. I moved the modules, so whenever i compile a new version of RA, i dont have to redo any cores or anything i have tested.

Also Retroarch 1.0.0.2 seems to have some issues consistently saving/reading the cfg file. Compile the newest version from source if you are able to, it works much better with 10.9/10.10.

#10

Thank you everyone for your help. I’m still at square one though.

I tried setting it up as you described, kaioshade. I put the cores in a folder named “modules” and the app under Contents and pointed the cores path to it. It still gives me the error telling me to go to Cores Directory which doesn’t do anything. Is that functionality blocked by my system security or something?

It still reverts to some old config whether I make changes in RetroArch or to the file manually.

At this point it’s no longer working because when I go to open a config, it goes to an empty folder and doesn’t let me navigate upwards so I can drill down to the correct cfg file. It also doesn’t give me the option to open a game and detect core.

Does anyone have a compiled version they can share? I’ve been spending hours on this stubborn program and I just want to play the games :frowning:

I really hope 2.0 comes soon and clears this all up. I love RA on my Windows desktop.

#11

Just use this one http://buildbot.libretro.com/beta/1.0.0.3/

#12

Thanks for the link.

I still have the same problem. It reverts to some other configuration, losing my xbox360 controller setup and the content path. The games will play, but I have to browse all the way from root every time. Then I have to go into settings and setup the controller. Haven’t gotten any farther than that. I forgot how to back out of the UI and back to the game.

The install wiki’s for other devices mentions a config.def.h. I can’t find one anywhere on my system, but I wonder if this is the config it keeps reverting back to each time I start it up.

Also noticed that if I go into Configurations and choose my saved config file, it makes no difference. The Content path is still set to default and all the input settings are back at their defaults.

Very frustrating.

Each time I try to play a game instead I spend 2 hours trying to get this working. I wish it would work on my Mac laptop as well as it works on my Windows desktop back home. I’m seldom home to enjoy it.