Installing RetroPie/EmulationStation onto Raspberry Pi 2 Model B+ (Playstation 1 Emulator Included!)

Installing ROMs

1. Go download ROMs (please tell me you know where to get them..)
2. navigate to /home/pi/RetroPie/roms
3. Whatever ROM you downloaded, please put it in the matching system console folder.
   • Note: All the ROMs can be placed in there as .zips and will still be able to read, unless you want to extract them. For Playstation ROMs, you're going to need to extract the file and make sure you just place all the files in the PSX folder with no other folder to it (as shown in the picture)

Probably the easiest step there is. Now time to configure our controls!

Step 7: Gamepad Configuration

Restarting Your Pi

First off, shut down your Pi, and then plug in your gamepad. Type this command to shutdown

sudo shutdown -h now

Launching the Configuration Script

After plugging your controller in (one at a time if you have more than 1), boot up your Pi. Once it's ready to receive your command, punch this in:

cd /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/

sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig -j 0 >> /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg

This should launch a command and now asks you to start pressing keys to how you want them keyed in when you play on the ROM.

Note: If you get an error saying “Couldn't open joystick #0”, just replace that number with a 1 or a 2.

Start Inputting Your Keys

Press whatever key you want to output that command when it asks. Simple.

Note: If your controller has less buttons than the config tries to setup (SNES controllers lack the R2/L2, R3/L3, and Joysticks), then you need to select a dummy button (I used left trigger) for the buttons you don’t have. We will edit those out later. Once this is done, it will bring you back to the terminal.

Reboot Your Pi

Now that you're done figuring, reboot.

sudo reboot

Going Back to WinSCP

1. Connect back to your Pi.
2. Navigate to /opt/retropie/configs/all and open the retroarch.cfg file.
   • Note: Alternatively, you could have opened the folder/config for a specific Emulator. This could be useful for making configuration settings specific for each console. Let’s say you want the controller mappings for NES to be different than what you have setup for SNES. You could go into the NES folder under “configs” and edit the retroarch.cfg to your likings, and do the same for the retroarch.cfg file inside of the SNES folder. The code written in the folders for the specific emulator will override the code written in the “all” folder/config.

Editting Retroarch.cfg

Scroll down to the bottom of the retroarch.cfg file, and you should see the lines for all of the button mappings that you did just a minute ago.

If you used a “dummy” button like I did, you are going to see that a lot of the buttons will have the same value. Because I am using a SNES USB controller, I’m going to delete the lines that I won’t be using. I am going to delete the lines:

input_player1_l2_btn = "8"
input_player1_r2_btn = "8"
input_player1_l3_btn = "8"
input_player1_r3_btn = "8"

I am deleting these because I have no L2 or R2 buttons on the controller, and I also have no L3 or R3 buttons.

Further down in the .cfg file, I am also going to delete the Joystick configurations, because the controllers I have, use only a D-Pad. So delete all the line: “input_player1_l_x_plus_btn = “x”” and all of the lines under it.

Now the only things you should have left, are the buttons that exist on an SNES controller (A, B, Y, X, L, R, Start, Select, Up, Down, Left, Right), and one line at the top defining the first controller plugged in as “Player 1″

If You Have Another Controller…

If you have another controller that's a different kind, run the configuration command again after rebooting and pluggin out your old controller and plugging the new one in. Run through those and edit the Retroarch.cfg accordingly.

However, if you have a controller of the same kind just copy and paste all the code start from input_player1_joypad_index = “0” and down again and change the index to “1”. Then, change all of the player1 lines of the code under index 1 to player2.

Hotkey the Exit/Load Games and Saves (Optional)

You can setup an “exit emulator” button combination that will bring you back to the emulator/game selection screen. When you do this, it will dump the ROM and keep any save files that you have. Only do this if you have spare buttons on your controller that you won't be using. Otherwise, just use a keyboard for the time being.

Deleting the Conflicting Config Files

Configuration is the most annoying in RetroPie. There's different configs that always override others.

Navigate to /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/configs/ and delete all the .cfg files in there.

Then, shutdown

sudo shutdown -h now

Proceed to the next step!

Step 8: Changing Gaming/TV Resolution

Forcing the Resolution

Using WinSCP, Navigate to /opt/RetroPie/configs/all/retroarch.cfgagain. Scroll all the way down and find this:

video_aspect_ratio = x.xx

Now, just paste this as a replacement for reference, and just put the number of what resolution you want next to the = sign. Since I have an HDTV, I put in 1.77, like this:

video_aspect_ratio = 
#1.333333 (4:3) Traditional SDTV
#1.56 (14:9) 4:3/16:9 Compromise aspect ratio
#1.6667 (5:3 Super 16mm)
#1.77 (16:9) HDTV US standard 
#1.78 (16:9) HDTV US standard alternate
#1.6 (16:10) Common computer screen ratio
#1.6667 (5:3) Common European widescreen standard
#1.85 Common US widescreen cinema
#2.39 Current widescreen cinema alternate
#2.40 Current widescreen cinema alternate

Don't worry about the extra code, the hashtags cancel it out. It's just there for reference. Just save the file now and reboot if you want to see the changes.

sudo reboot