[zachmorris]

Apologies if the answer to this problem is obvious, but I can't seem to get it to work after reading, watching, and Googling for the past many hours.

I am attempting to run IARL (v 1.6.8) on my Nvidia shield with Kodi 17.6. and Retroarch. I've got all the cores updated and have run the wizard. I'm aware of the bios requirements for some systems from setting up a Pi a while back.

My issue arises when I attempt to launch a game. I get the screen showing the box art for an snes game without any issues, but when I launch I find myself back in Retroarch. I assume that the Kodi add-on isn't pointing at the correct place to run the emulator, but I can't seem to find what I'm doing wrong.

Any ideas where my problem might be? Thank you in advance.

A couple things to look at for Android (which is the hardest to setup):

• IARL settings should point to the config file that Retroarch is using.  Some info on that here.  Android command line, for whatever reason, requires the config file to be defined.  Just make sure the IARL setting matches the retroarch setting for the config file location.
  
• Retroarch needs to not be running.  Another quirk with Android is if Retroarch is running in the background, it will not launch with the command line.  For setup with Android, I recommend you setup a hotkey to exit Retroarch from your controller.  When your playing a game, using the hotkey will close the Retroarch app and take you back to Kodi, and then ensure the next time you try and launch a game it will work.
  
• Make sure the core that IARL is trying to launch with is actually in your list of available cores in Retroarch.  The default that IARL sets up for Android for SNES is to launch using SNES9x 2010 (because that apparently has the best compatibility for android), but you can change that to whatever you want, see here on configuring each list manually.
  

[ozzy667]

Retroarch needs to not be running

You Sir are amazing!

This was the problem. Hours spent trying to get it working and I never would have thought of that solution in a million years. Funny because a game actually ran but I couldn’t get it to run a second time. I guess retroarch was closed for that lone successful attempt.

Thank you for the incredible program and for the reply to my post!!!

[sigfunaris]

Hey Zack,

I'm having a issue with your plugin and kodi-retroplayer.
It works fine on my phone but it doesn't work on my Nvidia Shield. Anytime I try to download any game it gives me the option to open only with FBA, Amstrad.
It looks like that the file is .zip and doesn't get extracted so for this reason it doesn't offer me the option to open with different emulators

[zachmorris]

Hey Zack,

I'm having a issue with your plugin and kodi-retroplayer.
It works fine on my phone but it doesn't work on my Nvidia Shield. Anytime I try to download any game it gives me the option to open only with FBA, Amstrad.
It looks like that the file is .zip and doesn't get extracted so for this reason it doesn't offer me the option to open with different emulators

Which system are you trying?
In general, the files are post-processed when necessary:  MAME and FBA are the biggest examples of not-post processing since they launch zips directly.

[sigfunaris]

The shield is an Android box.
I tried with any NES, SNES, GBA, and I always get the same problem. It asks me which emulators I wants to use to open the ZIP file and the choices are FBA, Amstrad...
Anyway, let me try to post a debug log soon

[lefty420]

Hey Zach just checking in to see if you had made any progress with 18. I know it's still early days but since its edging closer to a beta I wondered if you'd managed to solve any of the issues. 
Kind Regards

[zachmorris]

So I've looked into the option of skinning.  And as far as I can tell, there's no way for the window.xml to reside in a skins standard folder structure.

My thought was initially something like:

python:


If path_to_addons/skin.box/720p/IARL.xml exists:

   then use IARL.xml

Else:

  use IARLs default.xml

But the windowxml class doesn't seem to allow this as far as I can tell.

The only solution I can come up with would be:

python:


If path_to_addons/plugin.program.iarl/resources/skins/default/720p/skin_box.xml exists:

   then IARLs skin_box.xml

Else:

  use IARLs default.xml

But this would require I ship IARL with skin_box.xml.  I don't have a problem doing this, but it just complicates things.  Not sure if there's another way around this at the moment, any suggestions?

[malte]

If I understand your issue correctly I am doing something similar in RCB.

When I launch a dialog it looks something like this:

Code:

skin = util.getConfiguredSkin()
ui = xbmcgui.WindowXML("skinfile.xml", xbmcaddon.Addon(id='my.addon.id').getAddonInfo('path'), skin, "720p")

util.getConfiguredSkin() just reads the skin that the user selected in Addon settings. This must be the same name as the folders in resources/skins. One folder should be named "Default". 

You can see the complete folder structure here:
https://github.com/maloep/romcollectionb...rces/skins

This will try to load the skin file in following order:
1. Main skin folder (outside your addon)
2. Selected skin folder in your addon
3. Default skin folder in your addon

At least thats the way it works in RCB. Not sure if there might be something different in IARL as it loads as a video addon and not as a script.

[zachmorris]

Thanks Malte,

Thats exactly what I had in mind and what I've determined is probably necessary on how to set this up.

I finally got what I wanted to working.  This is probably way more complicated than it needs to be, but shows what a bad coder I am:

python:


            for skin_sizes in ['720p','1080p','1080i','16x9','21x9']: #Search through the possible skin xml folders for IARL.xml

                if os.path.exists(os.path.join(xbmc.translatePath('special://skin'),skin_sizes,'IARL.xml')):

                    custom_skin_path = xbmc.translatePath('special://skin')

                    custom_skin_size = skin_sizes

            if custom_skin_window_found:

                xbmc.log(msg='IARL:  Custom skin info page found', level=xbmc.LOGDEBUG)

                MyROMWindow = ROMWindow('IARL.xml',custom_skin_path,'Default',skin_sizes,iarl_data=iarl_data)

                MyROMWindow.doModal()

            else:

                xbmc.log(msg='IARL:  Display default info page', level=xbmc.LOGDEBUG)

                MyROMWindow = ROMWindow('default.xml',iarl_data['addon_data']['addon_install_path'],'Default','720p',iarl_data=iarl_data)

                MyROMWindow.doModal()

The only difference between your method and this one is the skinner has the windowxml file in their skin folder, which is good because then they can change it whenever they like.

[malte]

The only difference between your method and this one is the skinner has the windowxml file in their skin folder, which is good because then they can change it whenever they like.

Same here. If the skinner adds the file to the skin, Kodi will use this one. The skin files shipped with the addon will only be used if there is no file in the corresponding folders of the main skin.

But anyway, if it works all is good. Just wanted to point this out.

[zachmorris]

OK, yeah I see how yours works now.  I did make it too complicated.  Thanks for the input, i'll just shamefully follow your method.

[bit_creepy]

Hi Zach,

I've installed a fresh copy of the latest Libreelec Remix and installed IARL, set device as Libre Elec Remix and selected Kodi Retroplayer as per your instructions, however it doesn't seem to work 'out of the box' like I expected. When launching a game from SNES section for example, it will download quickly and then the waiting Kodi circle timer will appear and then nothing. It just returns to the list of SNES games. 

What am I doing wrong or missing? I would be so grateful to get this setup.

Much appreciated

[sigfunaris]

https://paste.ubuntu.com/26496347/

Here's my log, same issue, it looks like the ZIP file doesn't get extracted so the program select only 3 systems (FBA, vice and cap32) as candidate to open the ROM.

[zachmorris]

This is a confusing log.  It looks like you're using an NVidia Shield, not LibrEelec (or LibreElec Remix).  So settings wise, you would follow instructions for Android if you were trying to externally launch the game.

However, you're trying to use retroplayer.  Bear with me (and Garbear) since v18 is still in alpha.  Some things aren't 100% both in Kodi and in IARL.

I would just ensure all game lists are setup for Retroplayer by:

• Go to the Setup Wizard tab in settings
  
• Choose Retroplayer
  
• Hit Run Wizard
  

That will set all game lists to use Retroplayer.  I will clarify that in the wiki as it's not 100% clear.  Eventually, that won't even be needed and it 'will just work'.  But for now, it's best to do this.

I don't have an android machine and I'm not sure how well Retroplayer is working for that at this point, however like you said it looks like thats not the problem anyway.

The game you're trying to download fails for some reason.  I tried the same exact game with the same download settings you have in the log and it works like a charm.  I'm guessing that the Kodi Alpha version is mucking it up somehow, although I'd be interested in how.  Can you navigate to this file on the machine and see if it's empty, or if you can manually unzip it?  From the log I can't tell if it doesn't download properly, or if unzip is failing for some unknown reason.  In v17 Kodi this works on two different OS's I've tried.

Finally, you could try and add login credentials into IARL.  I doubt that will fix it, but you could always try.  Although last time I checked the settings system for the Kodi Alpha's wasn't working correctly, and I was told it's best to wait it out.  If you can add login credentials in settings, you can see if that makes a difference - hopefully it doesn't.

[zachmorris]

Hey Zach just checking in to see if you had made any progress with 18. I know it's still early days but since its edging closer to a beta I wondered if you'd managed to solve any of the issues. 
Kind Regards

  
The biggest issue at this point is the settings system.  I believe thats 'fixed' now, although I haven't tried any Alpha builds outside of Garbears test builds which still don't have the fix incorporated.