(Pitendo) Games That Used to Work - Stopped

RetroArch Linux devices
#1

So, I was configuring a Pitendo, and something very frustrating occurred. I had loaded a SNES ROM on the system using the USB transfer method. It was working just fine. I then took the USB stick out to load additional ROMs, both for the SNES and other systems. When I plugged it back in, suddenly the SNES ROMS which used to work no longer function. Retroarch displays messages like it is trying to load, gets as far as a line of equals signs: " ================== " and then crashes. A small number of SNES ROMs still function, but the vast majority have this behavior.

I don’t even know where to begin to troubleshoot. I’ve been up and down the Retroarch menus so many times to no avail. There’s not much space left on the Pitendos’ internal drive, so perhaps this a memory issue? Has anyone seen this before?

#2

if the roms are on a USB drive and the drive got assigned another mount point when you reconnected it, the paths saved in the history and/or playlists wouldn’t apply anymore. That’s what I suspect is going on, at least. I might be able to tell more if you can get a log (run with --menu --verbose and it’ll print errors to stdout).

#3

From what I can tell from looking at the directories using the Retroarch software, it did successfully copy the ROMS over into the internal storage device. Is there a way to tell Retroarch to delete the old paths and reload new ones? Telling it to load from directory LOOKS like it works, but it doesnt actually change anything.

#4

You’ll need to delete the old playlists from your playlists directory and re-scan to pick up the new paths.

#5

Sounds like the key. Is there a way to do that using the Retroarch interface directly, or do I have to get it on the network and connect using my PC?

#6

I think deleting an individual entry was just added to the interface in the latest nightlies, but not deleting an entire playlist. You’ll have to do it via network.

#7

I got it working. In the interests of including the resolution in any google search for future people, here’s the deal:

(1) Don’t fill up the whole SD card / internal storage on the Pitendo. You can easily do this if you are using the USB method to transfer files; no error will be apparent, but the space will get filled up. It LOOKS like what happens then is that the Pitendo does not have space to unzip files, create save files, etc, and this is bad news bears.

(2) Retroarch is picky about which ROM version you use. I don’t think ripping your own ROMS is a good idea. It wants very standard versions. Ensure you’re using the simpliest, US release of ROM files. It will recognize other versions of the ROM, and list them, but they won’t actually run.,

(3) The USB approach is… not great. You really want to just plug in the Pitendo into your network (if it won’t connect wirelessly). Adding ROMS via network is seamless and intuitive. Adding via USB keeps all the goings-on hidden inside the Pitendo. You won’t have any idea what the hell is going on.