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Documentation update, including addition of a CONTRIBUTING.md file.

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Leon Styhre 2020-07-11 17:54:30 +02:00
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76
DEVNOTES.md → CONTRIBUTING.md
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@ -1,13 +1,33 @@
Coding Style Contributing to EmulationStation Desktop Edition
============ ================================================
### Help needed:
There are many cards in the Kanban backlog that would be nice to implement. And for this, code contributions are most welcome. There may be a bug or two as well that needs fixing ;)
Apart from code commits, help is especially needed for thorough testing of the software and for working on the rbsimple-DE theme.
It's impossible for me to test every game system (rbsimple-DE has support for almost a 100 different systems!) so it would be especially useful to hear about any issues with starting games using the default es_systems.cfg configuration file and also if there are any problems with scraping for certain systems.
In general, a review of the [es_systems.cfg_unix](resources/templates/es_systems.cfg_unix) and [es_systems.cfg_windows](resources/templates/es_systems.cfg_windows) files including the supported file extensions would be great!
As for rbsimple-DE there are quite some missing graphic files and other customizations for a number of game systems. \
Check out [MISSING.md](themes/rbsimple-DE/MISSING.md) for more details of what needs to be added or updated.
Finally, if someone could make a proper port to macOS, that would be great! There is some code present specifically for macOS but I've been unable to test it. More work is definitely needed but since macOS is a Unix operating system, this port should hopefully be quite straightforward.
### Coding style:
The coding style for EmulationStation-DE is mostly a combination of the Linux Kernel and Google C++ coding guidelines.
Please refer to these documents here:
The coding style for EmulationStation-DE is mostly a combination of the Linux Kernel and Google C++ coding guidelines. \
Please refer to these documents here: \
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/process/coding-style.html \ https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/process/coding-style.html \
https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html \ https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html
There are some deviations though, mostly due to historical reasons as the original code did not use this coding style.
Some key points: **Some key points:**
* Column width (line length) is 100 characters * Column width (line length) is 100 characters
* Indentation is 4 spaces, don't use tabs as they can be interpreted differently! * Indentation is 4 spaces, don't use tabs as they can be interpreted differently!
@ -29,44 +49,6 @@ Some key points:
* Avoid overoptimizations, especially if it sacrifices readability, makes the code hard to expand on or is error prone * Avoid overoptimizations, especially if it sacrifices readability, makes the code hard to expand on or is error prone
* For the rest, check the code and have fun! :) * For the rest, check the code and have fun! :)
### Building and configuring:
Development Environment Please refer to the [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md) file for details on everything related to building and configuring EmulationStation Desktop Edition.
=======================
EmulationStation-DE is developed and compiled using GCC and GDB. Any code editor can be used of course, I use [VSCodium](https://vscodium.com). \
For debugging purposes, starting the application like this could make sense:
`emulationstation --windowed --debug --resolution 1280 720`
Creating a new GuiComponent
===========================
You probably want to override:
`bool input(InputConfig* config, Input input);`
Check if some input is mapped to some action with `config->isMappedTo("a", input);`.
Check if an input is "pressed" with `input.value != 0` (input.value *can* be negative in the case of axes).
`void update(int deltaTime);`
`deltaTime` is in milliseconds.
`void render(const Transform4x4f& parentTrans);`
You probably want to do `Transform4x4f trans = parentTrans * getTransform();` to get your final "modelview" matrix.
Apply the modelview matrix with `Renderer::setMatrix(const Transform4x4f&)`.
Render any children the component may have with `renderChildren(parentTrans);`.
Creating a new GameListView Class
=================================
1. Don't allow the user to navigate to the root node's parent. If you use a stack of some sort to keep track of past cursor states this will be a natural side effect.
Creating a new Component
========================
If your component is not made up of other components, and you draw something to the screen with OpenGL, make sure:
* Your vertex positions are rounded before you render (you can use round(float) in Util.h to do this).
* Your transform matrix's translation is rounded (you can use roundMatrix(affine3f) in Util.h to do this).

12
CREDITS.md
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@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ Programming
=========== ===========
Alec "Aloshi" Lofquist (original version) \ Alec "Aloshi" Lofquist (original version) \
http://www.aloshi.com \ http://www.aloshi.com
RetroPie Community (RetroPie fork) \ RetroPie Community (RetroPie fork) \
https://retropie.org.uk \ https://retropie.org.uk
Leon Styhre (Desktop Edition fork, based on the RetroPie version) \ Leon Styhre (Desktop Edition fork, based on the RetroPie version) \
https://gitlab.com/leonstyhre/emulationstation-de https://gitlab.com/leonstyhre/emulationstation-de
@ -74,10 +76,10 @@ MAME ROM information \
https://www.mamedev.org https://www.mamedev.org
RBSimple-DE theme rbsimple-DE theme
================= =================
Recalbox Multi (RBSimple-DE is based on this theme) \ Recalbox Multi (rbsimple-DE is based on this theme) \
https://gitlab.com/recalbox/recalbox-themes https://gitlab.com/recalbox/recalbox-themes
Carbon (some graphics taken from this theme) \ Carbon (some graphics taken from this theme) \
@ -87,7 +89,7 @@ https://github.com/RetroPie/es-theme-carbon
Sounds Sounds
====== ======
Used by the default RBSimple-DE theme as well as for fallback sounds (for themes that lack navigation sounds). Used by the default rbsimple-DE theme as well as for fallback sounds (for themes that lack navigation sounds).
https://freesound.org/people/adcbicycle/sounds/14066 https://freesound.org/people/adcbicycle/sounds/14066

84
GAMELISTS.md
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@ -1,84 +0,0 @@
Gamelists
=========
The gamelist.xml file for a system defines metadata for a system's games, such as a name, description, release date, and rating.
ES only checks for the `gamelist.xml` files in the user's home directory:
`~/.emulationstation/gamelists/[SYSTEM_NAME]/gamelist.xml`
An example gamelist.xml:
```xml
<gameList>
<game>
<path>./mm2.nes</path>
<name>Mega Man 2</name>
<desc>Mega Man 2 is a classic NES game which follows Mega Man as he murders eight robot masters in cold blood.</desc>
</game>
</gameList>
```
Everything is enclosed in a `<gameList>` tag. The information for each game or folder is enclosed in a corresponding tag (`<game>` or `<folder>`). Each piece of metadata is encoded as a string.
As of EmulationStation Desktop Edition v1.0.0, there are no longer any references to game media files in gamelist.xml. Instead a media directory is used where the images and videos are simply matched against the ROM file names. As well, no absolute paths are used for the ROM files any longer. Instead a global ROM directory is configured and there are only relative references in the gamelist.xml files, starting with `./` as can be seen in the example above.
Please refer to [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md) for more information on how the ROM and media directories are configured.
Reference
=========
(if you suspect this section is out of date, check out `src/MetaData.cpp`)
There are a few types of metadata:
* `string` - just text.
* `float` - a floating-point decimal value (written as a string).
* `integer` - an integer value (written as a string).
* `datetime` - a date and, potentially, a time. These are encoded as an ISO string, in the following format: "%Y%m%dT%H%M%S%F%q". For example, the release date for Chrono Trigger is encoded as "19950311T000000" (no time specified).
Some metadata is also marked as "statistic" - these are kept track of by ES and do not show up in the metadata editor. They are shown in certain views (for example, the detailed view and the video view both show `lastplayed`, although the label can be disabled by the theme).
#### `<game>`
* `name` - string, the displayed name for the game.
* `desc` - string, a description of the game. Longer descriptions will automatically scroll, so don't worry about size.
* `rating` - float, the rating for the game, expressed as a floating point number between 0 and 1. ES will round fractional values to half-stars.
* `releasedate` - datetime, the date the game was released. Displayed as date only, time is ignored.
* `developer` - string, the developer for the game.
* `publisher` - string, the publisher for the game.
* `genre` - string, the (primary) genre for the game.
* `players` - integer, the number of players the game supports.
* `favorite` - bool, indicates whether the game is a favorite.
* `completed`- bool, indicates whether the game has been completed.
* `broken` - bool, indicates a game that doesn't work (useful for MAME).
* `kidgame` - bool, indicates whether the game is suitable for children, used by the `kid' UI mode.
* `playcount` - integer, the number of times this game has been played.
* `lastplayed` - statistic, datetime, the last date and time this game was played.
* `sortname` - string, used in sorting the gamelist in a system, instead of `name`.
* `launchcommand` - optional tag that is used to override the emulator and core settings on a per-game basis.
#### `<folder>`
* `name` - string, the displayed name for the folder.
* `desc` - string, the description for the folder.
* `developer` - string, developer(s).
* `publisher` - string, publisher(s).
* `genre` - string, genre(s).
* `players` - integer, the number of players the game supports.
Things to be aware of
=====================
* You can use ES's built-in [scraping](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping) tools to avoid creating a gamelist.xml by hand, as described in README.md.
* If a value matches the default for a particular piece of metadata, ES will not write it to the gamelist.xml (for example, if `genre` isn't specified, ES won't write an empty genre tag).
* A `game` can actually point to a folder/directory if the folder has a matching extension.
* `folder` metadata will only be used if a game is found inside of that folder.
* ES will keep entries for games and folders that it can't find the files for.
* The switch `--gamelist-only` can be used to skip automatic searching, and only display games defined in the system's gamelist.xml.
* The switch `--ignore-gamelist` can be used to ignore the gamelist upon start of the application.

190
INSTALL.md
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@ -1,11 +1,20 @@
EmulationStation Desktop Edition - Installation EmulationStation Desktop Edition - Installation and configuration
=============================================== =================================================================
**Note:** This is a quite technical document intended for those that are interested in compiling EmulationStation from source code, or would like to customize the configuration. If you just want to start using the software, check out the [User Guide](USERGUIDE.md) instead! **Note:** This is a quite technical document intended for those that are interested in compiling EmulationStation from source code, or would like to customize the configuration. If you just want to start using the software, check out the [User Guide](USERGUIDE.md) instead.
Building Development Environment
======== =======================
EmulationStation-DE is developed and compiled using both Clang/LLVM and GCC on Unix, and GCC (MinGW) on Windows. I'm intending to get Clang/LLVM working on Windows as well.
There are much more details regarding compilers later in this document, so read on!
Any code editor can be used of course, but I recommend [VSCodium](https://vscodium.com) or [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com).
### Building on Unix:
The code has a few dependencies. For building, you'll need CMake and development packages for cURL, FreeImage, FreeType, libVLC, pugixml, SDL2 and RapidJSON. The code has a few dependencies. For building, you'll need CMake and development packages for cURL, FreeImage, FreeType, libVLC, pugixml, SDL2 and RapidJSON.
@ -21,6 +30,8 @@ For this operating system, use `dnf` (with rpmfusion activated) :
sudo dnf install cmake SDL2-devel freeimage-devel freetype-devel curl-devel rapidjson-devel alsa-lib-devel vlc-devel mesa-libGL-devel sudo dnf install cmake SDL2-devel freeimage-devel freetype-devel curl-devel rapidjson-devel alsa-lib-devel vlc-devel mesa-libGL-devel
``` ```
**Cloning and compiling:**
To clone the source repository, run the following: To clone the source repository, run the following:
``` ```
@ -42,6 +53,14 @@ make
``` ```
Keep in mind though that a debug version will be much slower due to all compiler optimizations being disabled. Keep in mind though that a debug version will be much slower due to all compiler optimizations being disabled.
To build with CEC support, add the corresponding option, for example:
```
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DCEC=on .
make
```
I have however not been able to test the CEC support and I'm not entirely sure how it's supposed to work.
Running multiple compile jobs in parallel is a good thing as it speeds up the build time a lot (scaling almost linearly). Here's an example telling make to run 6 parallel jobs: Running multiple compile jobs in parallel is a good thing as it speeds up the build time a lot (scaling almost linearly). Here's an example telling make to run 6 parallel jobs:
``` ```
@ -61,8 +80,6 @@ It's important to know that this is not only the directory used by the install s
Both Clang/LLVM and GCC work fine for building ES. Both Clang/LLVM and GCC work fine for building ES.
The Microsoft Visual C++ compiler (MSVC) could maybe work as well, there are some old settings in CMakeLists.txt for it. Try it if you want, but I recommend Clang or GCC instead of this legacy compiler.
I did some small benchmarks comparing Clang to GCC with the ES codebase (as of writing it's year 2020) and it's pretty interesting. I did some small benchmarks comparing Clang to GCC with the ES codebase (as of writing it's year 2020) and it's pretty interesting.
Advantages with Clang (vs GCC): Advantages with Clang (vs GCC):
@ -82,7 +99,7 @@ This Clang debug build is LLVM "native", i.e. intended to be debugged using the
It's possible to activate the additional debug info needed by GDB by using the flag `-D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG`. I've added this to CMakeLists.txt when using Clang, but this bloats the binary and makes the code much slower. Actually, instead of a 4% faster application startup, it's now 36% slower! The same goes for the binary size, instead of 17% smaller it's now 17% larger. It's possible to activate the additional debug info needed by GDB by using the flag `-D_GLIBCXX_DEBUG`. I've added this to CMakeLists.txt when using Clang, but this bloats the binary and makes the code much slower. Actually, instead of a 4% faster application startup, it's now 36% slower! The same goes for the binary size, instead of 17% smaller it's now 17% larger.
So overall Clang is interesting and perhaps even a better compiler than GCC, but it needs better integration with VSCodium before it's really usable. For macOS it seems as if Clang is the preferred compiler though, so it's good that ES now fully supports it. (It took quite some effort to get all the compile errors and compile warnings sorted out.) I'm expecting this to be resolved in the near future though, and as I think Clang is an interesting compiler, I use it as the default when working on the project (I sometimes test with GCC to make sure that it still builds the software correctly).
It's by the way very easy to switch between LLVM and GCC using Ubuntu, just use the `update-alternatives` command: It's by the way very easy to switch between LLVM and GCC using Ubuntu, just use the `update-alternatives` command:
@ -122,24 +139,21 @@ Assuming the default installation prefix `/usr/local` has been used, this is the
**Note:** The resources directory is critical, without it the application won't start. **Note:** The resources directory is critical, without it the application won't start.
ES will look in the following two locations for the resources: ES will look in the following locations for the resources:
* `[HOME]/.emulationstation/resources/` * `[HOME]/.emulationstation/resources/`
* `[INSTALL PREFIX]/share/emulationstation/resources/` * `[INSTALL PREFIX]/share/emulationstation/resources/`
The home directory will always take precedence, so any resources located there will override the ones in the installation path. It's not recommended to override any resources since they are by nature static. But using the ability to locate resource files in the home directory is very useful when combined with the command line option `--home` (see below), as a fully portable version of EmulationStation can then be created on a USB memory stick or similar. And it will look in the following locations for the themes:
Anyway, after compiling the application, either run `make install` or copy or symlink the resources directory to `~/.emulationstation/resources`. * `[HOME]/.emulationstation/themes/`
* `[INSTALL PREFIX]/share/emulationstation/themes/`
`cp -R resources ~/.emulationstation/` \ The home directory will always take precedence, so any resources or themes located there will override the ones in the installation path.
or \
`ln -s $(pwd)/resources ~/.emulationstation/`
The same goes for the `themes` directory. Although ES can start without a theme, it would be pretty pointless as the application would barely be usable.
**Creating .deb and .rpm packages:** **Creating .deb and .rpm packages:**
Creation of Debian .deb packages are enabled by default, simply run `cpack` to generate the package: Creation of Debian .deb packages is enabled by default, simply run `cpack` to generate the package:
``` ```
user@computer:~/emulationstation-de$ cpack user@computer:~/emulationstation-de$ cpack
@ -175,13 +189,13 @@ sudo apt-get install rpm
``` ```
### On Windows: ### Building on Windows:
This is a strange legacy operating system. However it's still popular, so we need to support it. This is a strange legacy operating system. However it's still popular, so we need to support it.
I did a brief evaluation of the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler (MSVC) but as far as I'm concerned it's an abomination so I won't cover it here and it won't be supported. I did a brief evaluation of the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler (MSVC) but as far as I'm concerned it's an abomination so I won't cover it here and it won't be supported.
At the moment I have only built the software using GCC on Windows, but I may try to get Clang/LLVM working at a later date. At the moment I have only built the software using GCC on Windows, but I aim to get Clang/LLVM working at a later date.
Anyway, here's a brief summary of how to get a build environment up and running on Windows. Anyway, here's a brief summary of how to get a build environment up and running on Windows.
@ -346,7 +360,6 @@ Note that compilation time is much longer than on Unix, and linking time is exce
A worthwhile endeavour could be to setup a cross-compilation environment using WLS/WLS2 (Linux), but I have not tried it. A worthwhile endeavour could be to setup a cross-compilation environment using WLS/WLS2 (Linux), but I have not tried it.
**Creating an NSIS installer:** **Creating an NSIS installer:**
To create an NSIS installer (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) you need to first install the NSIS creation tool: To create an NSIS installer (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) you need to first install the NSIS creation tool:
@ -367,6 +380,60 @@ CPack: Create package
CPack: - package: C:/Programming/emulationstation-de/emulationstation-de-1.0.0-win64.exe generated. CPack: - package: C:/Programming/emulationstation-de/emulationstation-de-1.0.0-win64.exe generated.
``` ```
**Setting up a portable installation:**
It's possible to easily create a portable installation of ES for Windows, for example on a USB memory stick.
For the sake of this example, let's assume that the removable media has the device name `f:\`.
* Copy the EmulationStation installation directory to f:\
* Create the directory `ES-Home` directly under f:\
* Copy your game ROMs into `f:\ES-Home\ROMs`
* Copy your emulators to f:\ (such as the RetroArch directory)
* Create the file `start_es.bat` directly under f:\
Add the following lines to the start_es.bat file:
```
@echo off
EmulationStation\emulationstation.exe --home %CD:~0,3%ES-Home
```
The contents of f:\ should now look something like this:
```
EmulationStation
ES-Home
RetroArch
start_es.bat
```
Now run the batch script, ES should start and ask you to configure any attached controllers. Following this, check that everything works as expected, i.e. the gamelists are properly populated etc.
You can optionally skip the configuration of the controllers by copying any existing `es_input.cfg` file to `f:\ES-Home\.emulationstation\es_input.cfg`.
Exit ES and modify the file `f:\ES-Home\.emulationstation\es_systems.cfg` to point to the emulators on the portable media.
Example change, from this:
```
<command>retroarch.exe -L "%EMUPATH%\cores\snes9x_libretro.dll" %ROM%</command>
```
To this:
```
<command>%ESPATH%\..\RetroArch\retroarch.exe -L "%EMUPATH%\cores\snes9x_libretro.dll" %ROM%</command>
```
The %ESPATH% variable is explained later in this document.
Following this, optionally copy any existing gamelists and game media files to the removable media. By default these files should be located here:
`f:\ES-Home\.emulationstation\gamelists\` \
`f:\ES-Home\.emulationstation\downloaded_media\`
You now have a fully functional portable emulator installation!
The portable installation works exactly as a normal installation, i.e. you can use the built-in scraper, edit metadata etc.
Configuring EmulationStation-DE Configuring EmulationStation-DE
=============================== ===============================
@ -466,8 +533,8 @@ As long as ES hasn't frozen, you can always press F4 to close the application.
As you can see above, you can override the home directory path using the `--home` flag. So by running for instance the command `emulationstation --home ~/games/emulation`, ES will use `~/games/emulation/.emulationstation` as its base directory. As you can see above, you can override the home directory path using the `--home` flag. So by running for instance the command `emulationstation --home ~/games/emulation`, ES will use `~/games/emulation/.emulationstation` as its base directory.
Writing an es_systems.cfg es_systems.cfg
========================= ==============
The es_systems.cfg file contains the system configuration data for EmulationStation, written in XML format. \ The es_systems.cfg file contains the system configuration data for EmulationStation, written in XML format. \
This tells EmulationStation what systems you have, what platform they correspond to (for scraping), and where the games are located. This tells EmulationStation what systems you have, what platform they correspond to (for scraping), and where the games are located.
@ -561,7 +628,7 @@ As of the fork to EmulationStation Desktop Edition, game media information no lo
The default game media directory is `~/.emulationstation/downloaded_media`. The default game media directory is `~/.emulationstation/downloaded_media`.
*You can use ES's [scraping](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping) tools to avoid creating a gamelist.xml by hand.* There are two ways to run the scraper: You can use ES's [scraping](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_scraping) tools to populate the gamelist.xml files. There are two ways to run the scraper:
* **If you want to scrape multiple games:** press the Start button to open the menu and choose the "SCRAPER" option. Adjust your settings and press "START". * **If you want to scrape multiple games:** press the Start button to open the menu and choose the "SCRAPER" option. Adjust your settings and press "START".
* **If you just want to scrape one game:** find the game on the game list in ES and press the Select button. Choose "EDIT THIS GAME'S METADATA" and then press the "SCRAPE" button at the bottom of the metadata editor. * **If you just want to scrape one game:** find the game on the game list in ES and press the Select button. Choose "EDIT THIS GAME'S METADATA" and then press the "SCRAPE" button at the bottom of the metadata editor.
@ -570,22 +637,77 @@ You can also edit metadata within ES by using the metadata editor - just find th
The switch `--ignore-gamelist` can be used to ignore the gamelists upon start of the application. The switch `--ignore-gamelist` can be used to ignore the gamelists upon start of the application.
If you're writing a tool to generate or parse gamelist.xml files, you should check out [GAMELISTS.md](GAMELISTS.md) for more detailed documentation. **File location and structure:**
ES checks for the `gamelist.xml` files in the user's home directory:
`~/.emulationstation/gamelists/[SYSTEM_NAME]/gamelist.xml`
The home directory can be overridden using the `--home` option from the command line, see above in this document for details regarding that.
An example gamelist.xml:
```xml
<gameList>
<game>
<path>./mm2.nes</path>
<name>Mega Man 2</name>
<desc>Mega Man 2 is a classic NES game which follows Mega Man as he murders eight robot masters in cold blood.</desc>
</game>
</gameList>
```
Everything is enclosed in a `<gameList>` tag. The information for each game or folder is enclosed in a corresponding tag (`<game>` or `<folder>`). Each piece of metadata is encoded as a string.
**gamelist.xml reference:**
There are a few types of metadata:
* `string` - just text.
* `float` - a floating-point decimal value (written as a string).
* `integer` - an integer value (written as a string).
* `datetime` - a date and, potentially, a time. These are encoded as an ISO string, in the following format: "%Y%m%dT%H%M%S%F%q". For example, the release date for Chrono Trigger is encoded as "19950311T000000" (no time specified).
Some metadata is also marked as "statistic" - these are kept track of by ES and do not show up in the metadata editor. They are shown in certain views (for example, the detailed view and the video view both show `lastplayed`, although the label can be disabled by the theme).
#### `<game>`
* `name` - string, the displayed name for the game.
* `desc` - string, a description of the game. Longer descriptions will automatically scroll, so don't worry about size.
* `rating` - float, the rating for the game, expressed as a floating point number between 0 and 1. ES will round fractional values to half-stars.
* `releasedate` - datetime, the date the game was released. Displayed as date only, time is ignored.
* `developer` - string, the developer for the game.
* `publisher` - string, the publisher for the game.
* `genre` - string, the (primary) genre for the game.
* `players` - integer, the number of players the game supports.
* `favorite` - bool, indicates whether the game is a favorite.
* `completed`- bool, indicates whether the game has been completed.
* `broken` - bool, indicates a game that doesn't work (useful for MAME).
* `kidgame` - bool, indicates whether the game is suitable for children, used by the `kid' UI mode.
* `playcount` - integer, the number of times this game has been played.
* `lastplayed` - statistic, datetime, the last date and time this game was played.
* `sortname` - string, used in sorting the gamelist in a system, instead of `name`.
* `launchcommand` - optional tag that is used to override the emulator and core settings on a per-game basis.
#### `<folder>`
* `name` - string, the displayed name for the folder.
* `desc` - string, the description for the folder.
* `developer` - string, developer(s).
* `publisher` - string, publisher(s).
* `genre` - string, genre(s).
* `players` - integer, the number of players the game supports.
Themes **Additional gamelist.xml information:**
======
EmulationStation is not intended to be used without a theme. The default theme 'rbsimple-DE' is included in the emulationstation-de repository. * If a value matches the default for a particular piece of metadata, ES will not write it to the gamelist.xml (for example, if `genre` isn't specified, ES won't write an empty genre tag)
For additional themes, the following resources are recommended: * A `game` can actually point to a folder/directory if the folder has a matching extension
https://aloshi.com/emulationstation#themes * `folder` metadata will only be used if a game is found inside of that folder
https://github.com/RetroPie * ES will keep entries for games and folders that it can't find the game/ROM files for
https://gitlab.com/recalbox/recalbox-themes * The switch `--gamelist-only` can be used to skip automatic searching, and only display games defined in the system's gamelist.xml
https://wiki.batocera.org/themes * The switch `--ignore-gamelist` can be used to ignore the gamelist upon start of the application
For information on how to make your own theme or edit an existing one, read [THEMES.md](THEMES.md).

30
README.md
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@ -3,9 +3,15 @@ EmulationStation Desktop Edition
EmulationStation Desktop Edition is a cross-platform graphical front-end for emulators with controller and keyboard navigation. EmulationStation Desktop Edition is a cross-platform graphical front-end for emulators with controller and keyboard navigation.
The difference to other versions of EmulationStation is that this fork is intended for use primarily on desktop computers where it's not the primary interface for the computer. As such, this version does not aim to provide full control over emulator settings or emulator button mappings, or include system administration functions and similar. Instead it's assumed that the emulators and the overall environment has been properly configured upfront. Maybe you're familiar with EmulationStation: yes there are multiple forks available for this software! However this version is intended for use primarily on desktop computers where it's not the primary interface for the computer. As such, the aim is not to provide full control over emulator settings or emulator button mappings, or include system administration functions and similar. Instead it's assumed that the emulators and the overall environment has been properly configured upfront.
The software comes preconfigured for use primarily with [RetroArch](https://www.retroarch.com), although this can certainly be changed as all emulator settings are fully configurable, even on a per-game basis. The goal is to suppport the major desktop operating systems: Unix/Linux, Windows and macOS (although the macOS port still remains to be done).
With that said it's possible that the application still compiles and works on devices such as the Raspberry Pi, I've certainly not deliberately removed any code specific to such platforms and this fork is after all based on the RetroPie version of EmulationStation!
The software comes preconfigured for use primarily with [RetroArch](https://www.retroarch.com), although this can be changed as all emulator settings are fully configurable, even on a per-game basis.
A complete theme set, `rbsimple-DE` (which is based on Recalbox Multi), is bundled with the application and overall the goal is to make this software as easy as possible to install and use.
Check out the [User Guide](USERGUIDE.md) for how to quickly get the application up and running! \ Check out the [User Guide](USERGUIDE.md) for how to quickly get the application up and running! \
(It will also show how to use its more advanced features.) (It will also show how to use its more advanced features.)
@ -13,29 +19,21 @@ Check out the [User Guide](USERGUIDE.md) for how to quickly get the application
### Help needed: ### Help needed:
Apart from code commits, help is especially needed for thorough testing of the software and for working on the rbsimple-DE theme. If you would like to contribute to the development of EmulationStation Desktop Edition, please read the [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md) file!
It's impossible for me to test every game system (rbsimple-DE has support for almost a 100 different systems!) so it would be especially useful to hear about any issues with starting games using the default es_systems.cfg configuration file and also if there are any problems with scraping for certain systems.
In general, a review of the [es_systems.cfg](resources/templates/es_systems.cfg_unix) file including the supported file extensions would be great!
As for rbsimple-DE there are quite some missing graphic files and other customizations for a number of game systems. \
Check out [MISSING.md](themes/rbsimple-DE/MISSING.md) for more details of what needs to be added or updated.
Finally, if someone could make a proper port to macOS, that would be great as then all of the three major desktop operating systems would be supported. There is some code present specifically for macOS but I've been unable to test it. And according to the code comments, some things seem to be missing altogether for this operating system, so it may take some effort.
General information Other information
=================== =================
[NEWS.md](NEWS.md) contains information about new functionality, improvements and bug fixes. \ [NEWS.md](NEWS.md) contains information about new functionality, improvements and bug fixes. \
(An overview of all previous versions will be included here as well.) (An overview of all previous versions will be included here as well.)
[INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md) provides details on how to build and configure the application. [INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md) provides details on how to build and configure the application.
[DEVNOTES.md](DEVNOTES.md) is the place to go if you're interested in participating in the development of EmulationStation Desktop Edition. [CREDITS.md](CREDITS.md) is an attempt to credit the individuals and projects which made this application possible.
[THEMES.md](THEMES.md) is a guide on how theming works and is useful for those who would like to develop a new theme, or perhaps customize an existing theme.
Some feature highlights Some feature highlights
======================= =======================

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themes/rbsimple-DE/theme.xml
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<!-- <!--
Theme: Recalbox Simple (RBSimple) Theme: Recalbox Simple for EmulationStation Desktop Edition (rbsimple-DE)
version: 1.0 version: 1.0
author: Recalbox community (simplified and updated for ES Desktop Edition by Leon Styhre) author: Leon Styhre
license: creative commons CC-BY-NC-SA license: creative commons CC-BY-NC-SA
originally based on: "recalbox-multi" based on: 'recalbox-multi' by the Recalbox community
--> -->
<theme> <theme>