Release Candidate: Cooker Testing

If you are on SteamOS make sure you are in Desktop Mode before you begin.

Do not use the the Rowan Skye Method We do not recommend to blindly install the Cooker without reading this guide and just hope for the best aka the Rowan Skye Method. This is only recommended for chaotic blue dragonic wolfkin testers living on the edge.

Step 1: Take some Backups

First take some backups:

Make a copy of ~/.var/app/net.retrodeck.retrodeck/ folder and name it old.net.retrodeck.retrodeck
Make a full back up or partial backups of the retrodeck folder normally under ~/retrodeck or sdcard/other drive.

Notes on the retrodeck folder back up:

Generally, very few things would target the roms folder, but the other folders could be targeted for various scripts. Our recommendation would be to back up the full /retrodeck folder, but as a tester you can decide how much you want to risk.

Disclamer:

The RetroDECK Team also had never had any major data loss so far and we do cooker updates almost daily.

Step 2: Download the Cooker

Download the latest cooker release from: https://github.com/XargonWan/RetroDECK-cooker/releases/latest to your download folder
Make a note of the version id, is a randomly generated word written like cooker-0.8.0b-HelloWorld, in this example it's "HelloWorld"

Step 3: Terminal

Open the terminal window.

Remove and Install

flatpak remove net.retrodeck.retrodeck and press (y) yes to remove RetroDECK. If you have more then one version installed for some reason choose to remove all versions.
flatpak install --user --bundle --noninteractive -y "~/Downloads/RetroDECK-cooker.flatpak" this will install RetroDECK Cooker.

Step 4: Upgrade

IMPORTANT:

Under NO circumstances press the Full Wipe and Fresh Install button. That is NOT to be confused with Configurators Reset RetroDECK option. This in fact a Nuke Everything option, it will remove all of RetroDECK including all ROMS/BIOS/Downloaded Media and everything else you have in RetroDECK's folders...forever.

Upgrading:

After the installation is complete type: flatpak run --command=sh net.retrodeck.retrodeck followed by retrodeck.
Press the Upgrade button and keep the installation moving until all the steps are complete and RetroDECK will launch.
Quit RetroDECK again and save all the output from the terminal into a text file.

When upgrading

IMPORTANT:

Check for the message "In version 0.8.0b, the following changes were made that required config file updates/reset or other changes to the filesystem:" in the terminal. This is a sign that tell you the post update migration is running, this is crucial for RetroDECK's upgrade to fully happen.

This is what should happend in the post migration.

- Remove any of the following files, if they exist:
	"$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_config.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_generic_standard.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_ps3_dualshock3.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_ps4_dualshock4.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_ps5_dualsense.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_steam_controller_gordon.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_neptune.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_switch_pro.vdf"
    "$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_xbox360.vdf"
	"$HOME/.steam/steam/controller_base/templates/RetroDECK_controller_xboxone.vdf"
- The line "[nintendo_button_layout]" should be renamed "[abxy_button_swap]" in retrodeck.cfg
- The folder "/var/config/emulationstation" should be renamed to "/var/config/ES-DE" (internal Flatpak paths)
- ES-DE should be put through a reset process (verify via logs)
- MAME should be put through a reset process (verify via logs)
- Vita3K should be put through a reset process (verify via logs)
- GZDOOM should be put through a reset process (verify via logs)
- If the folder ~/retrodeck/.logs exists, it should be renamed to ~/retrodeck/logs
- The RPCS3 saves should be migrated by the following steps:
	- The folder ~/retrodeck/backups should be created if it doesn't already exist
	- A backup of current RPCS3 save data should be created at ~/retrodeck/backups/(date and time backup started)_rpcs3_save_data.zip
	- The symlink and real folders for save data should be switched:
		- The folder at ~/retrodeck/saves/ps3/rpcs3 should now be real
		- The folder at ~/retrodeck/bios/rpcs3/dev_hdd0/home/00000001/savedata should now be a symlink back to ~/retrodeck/saves/ps3/rpcs3
- Rename the folder ~/retrodeck/bios/switch/registered to ~/retrodeck/bios/switch/firmware
- Default ROMs folders should be recreated by ES-DE to add new systems

Step 5: Start testing

On the SteamOS return to Game Mode for this step.

Feel free to test all the new features of 0.8.0b and report any issues.

Configurator functions
Controller Layouts
Emulators / Engines

All logs will be saved in the new retrodeck/logs folder

Thank you! ❤️

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