Adding Support for Pixelcade

Hey there, i'm the creator of the Pixelcade active marquees http://pixelcade.org and have a couple of requests to add Pixelcade support to Retrobat. As Retrobat is EmulationStation based, I'm wondering if this build of Retrobat supports EmulationStation script events (specifically at the bottom of this page https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation/). If so, I can use this hook to add support for Pixelcade. Basically the script will call the Pixelcade API http://pixelcade.org/api whenever a new game is selected or launched. If not, any other hooks I can use to call the API whenever a game is selected and/or launched is what I would need, any guidance would be great, thanks.

Hello @pixelcade, and welcome here.

Yes, Retrobat use EmulationStation, the same version that Batocera (the Fabrice Caruso fork).
So the script function works also.

thanks for the quick reply, that is good to know!

a couple of questions:

1. There are two additional script events in the latest Batocera that Pixelcade uses:

game-selected
system-selected

Without those, the Pixelcade marquee can only update when a game is launched vs. with these Pixelcade can also update during game and system scrolling through the EmulationStation front end (before a game is launched).

I'm wondering if those can be added? I know the guy who did the script engine PR there for Batocera and RCade so could ask him to do a PR here if you're open.

2. For EmuELEC, we added an additional mod to RetroArch such that RetroAchievements can trigger Pixelcade too , see here https://youtu.be/kgJjrWW8HBU. If you're open to add this, I can work with the devs there for a PR request assuming you have your own RetroArch fork?

V5 Events are the same than batocera ( it's the same EmulationStation )
you probably need the "game-selected" event. Parameters are <systemname> <gamepath> <gamename>

thanks, I did try that but am only seeing the events fire for game-start and game-end

On Retrobat V5 (actually in Alpha version), you should get the same script as Batocera

V5 indeed has the additional script events, thanks for that

now just need to figure out how to parse the params that have a space in it

ie, Bermuda Triangle (USA).zip

right now that is showing up as 2 command line params when it's only 1 in reality, just need to see how to handle that correctly in windows batch or auto hot key

so it looks like this will work out, I'm going to use AHK (Auto Hot Key) for the scripts, that way no dos window pop-ups and easier to work with. One request if possible to add " " around all incoming params as for example on game-start, the first param will show up like this for rom names with spaces

param #1: c:\RetroBat\roms\atari2600\3D
param #2: Tic-Tac-Toe
param #3: (USA).a26

where in this case the ROM is 3D Tic-Tac-Toe (USA).a26 and it should only be one param

If it's too much trouble, it's ok , I can do a work around, just cleaner if possible to include all params in quotes, thanks!

It's already the case. ES sends parameters with double quotes "
I just tested it and it works just fine.

ah ok, something on my end then, I'll futz with it, thanks

Maybe it's possible to adapt this future script to just display a second marquee on a second screen without pixelcade ?

certainly that could be done, the plumbing is there. For now, I'm going to focus on Pixelcade but anyone can take the work and extend it for this use case

initial code is here ==> https://github.com/alinke/pixelcade-retrobat

@f.caruso pretty sure on the game-start event in V5, the first param is not in double quotes. I was able to work around it but if that is indeed the case and possible to add, that would make things cleaner.

I'm able to get the last param just fine which is the game title where those typically have spaces and no issues there, just the first param can't get all as one line for the roms with spaces in the names.

nonetheless, working version is here https://github.com/alinke/pixelcade-retrobat

thanks for all your help!

Every argument is quoted. See the code :

for (auto arg : { arg1, arg2, arg3 })
{
if (arg.empty())
break;

script += " \"" + arg + "\"";
}

@f.caruso gotcha, well thanks for confirming that. Something weird on the windows side then I guess, the third arg comes across fine, just the first one. But I have a work around which I think will work, just need to test a bit more. As of now, have things working on both 4.x and 5.x, thanks again for your help!

No... Everything's just fine.

perhaps something on my end, I did try that:

on this game: 3D Tic-Tac-Toe (USA).a26

@echo first %1 second %2 third %3 > al.txt

returns this:

first ""C:\RetroBat\roms\atari2600\3-D second Tic-Tac-Toe third (USA).a26""

Note though I'm on windows 7 right now (am away from my normal dev machine, I'll try win10 when back home) so maybe that has something to do with it?

Nonetheless, I have a work around and things seem to be working, albeit needs some more testing.

So V1 of the Pixelcade integration for RetroBat is released on http://pixelcade.org including an automated installer to make it easier for the user to get up and running

Feel free and would also be much appreciated if you can mention the Pixelcade integration on your channels and I will do the same on my end. Thanks again for all your quick help!

Git Repo is here https://github.com/alinke/pixelcade-retrobat





Best,

Al

Good job!

Is it possible to use it just for a "simple" second screen without pixelcade ?

as of now, this is specific to Pixelcade but the source could pretty easily to modified to do that, I made this open source so anyone can make the mod https://github.com/alinke/pixelcade-retrobat

Is any good soul working on putting in the second marquee screen?

sio03 wrote:Is any good soul working on putting in the second marquee screen?

Hello,

Were you able to come up with any sort of solution with this situation? Getting a second screen marquee working with retrobat?

Hello @pixelcade

Have you test with the RetroBat V6 version if it's still OK ?
As we don't have your material, we don't have the possibility to test