LibreElec: "New" user trying to get games to work
#1
I'm not a new LibreElec user since I've been using (a very old version of) LibreElec for many years now, but so far only used it for watching movies on an old rPi. I've ectually never installed a single add-on before so all that is completely new to me.

I just bought an rPi 3 B+ and installed LibreElec v9.2.6 (with Kodi Leia) on it. I love the fact you can play retro games on Kodi now, so I set about getting that to work. Unfortunately, that was not as easy as I hoped. Installing IAGL didn't work as described in the many tutorials out there. Every time I tried to install it the "official" way, I would get the following error: "The dependency on xbmc.python version 3.0.0 could not be satisfied.". After a long search I finally found a single post on (I think) Reddit where someone said you need to manually download an older version of IAGL and install that instead. That eventually worked.

Now as I understand it, IAGL is simply a front end hiding the tedious work of finding ROMs and Artwork, and is able to automatically run/install the proper emulator. These emulators are in the Kodi repository. Now for some reason, many of these emulators are missing. For instance, according to the wiki there should be a Nintendo DS emulator. But when I browse the emulators in the "Kodi game add-on repository (alhpa)", it's not there. Therefore I'm unable to play DS games. Checking the official Kodi Leia repo online and the DS emulator is there.

I'm also unable to play Atari ST games. When I launch one from within IAGL, it downloads the game then simply returns to the list of games. It doesn't give me an option to pick an emulator, nor does it give me an error message no compatible emulator is found. I have installed the Atari ST emulator which I found in the emulator list. But that made no difference.

The next thing I tried, was to install DOSBox. I still have a bunch of old DOS games which I would love to play but apparently, DOSBox for Kodi does not support keyboard? That means I can't play *any* of the DOS games I have...

The only games I've been able to play are through MAME. But there are many MAME emulators to choose from and I have no idea which one is best. So I usually just un the games on "Arcade (MAME 2015)". No idea if this is the best option or not.

Anyways, so far this has been a pretty frustrating experience since nothing seems to work as described in the tutorials or the "official" documentation. Please offer me any tips you might have on the issues raised above... Thanks in advance!
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#2
(2021-05-11, 14:14)Zippy1970 Wrote: I'm not a new LibreElec user since I've been using (a very old version of) LibreElec for many years now, but so far only used it for watching movies on an old rPi. I've ectually never installed a single add-on before so all that is completely new to me.

I just bought an rPi 3 B+ and installed LibreElec v9.2.6 (with Kodi Leia) on it. I love the fact you can play retro games on Kodi now, so I set about getting that to work. Unfortunately, that was not as easy as I hoped. Installing IAGL didn't work as described in the many tutorials out there. Every time I tried to install it the "official" way, I would get the following error: "The dependency=1snow rider exhilarating journey into the frozen wasteland on xbmc.python version 3.0.0 could not be satisfied.". After a long search I finally found a single post on (I think) Reddit where someone said you need to manually download an older version of IAGL and install that instead. That eventually worked.

Now as I understand it, IAGL is simply a front end hiding the tedious work of finding ROMs and Artwork, and is able to automatically run/install the proper emulator. These emulators are in the Kodi repository. Now for some reason, many of these emulators are missing. For instance, according to the wiki there should be a Nintendo DS emulator. But when I browse the emulators in the "Kodi game add-on repository (alhpa)", it's not there. Therefore I'm unable to play DS games. Checking the official Kodi Leia repo online and the DS emulator is there.

I'm also unable to play Atari ST games. When I launch one from within IAGL, it downloads the game then simply returns to the list of games. It doesn't give me an option to pick an emulator, nor does it give me an error message no compatible emulator is found. I have installed the Atari ST emulator which I found in the emulator list. But that made no difference.

The next thing I tried, was to install DOSBox. I still have a bunch of old DOS games which I would love to play but apparently, DOSBox for Kodi does not support keyboard? That means I can't play *any* of the DOS games I have...

The only games I've been able to play are through MAME. But there are many MAME emulators to choose from and I have no idea which one is best. So I usually just un the games on "Arcade (MAME 2015)". No idea if this is the best option or not.

Anyways, so far this has been a pretty frustrating experience since nothing seems to work as described in the tutorials or the "official" documentation. Please offer me any tips you might have on the issues raised above... Thanks in advance!

Hello!
Here’s a quick summary to address each issue:
1. IAGL Dependency Issue: This is due to Python 3 incompatibility in Kodi Leia. You correctly installed an older IAGL version. Alternatively, updating Kodi to a Python 3-supported version (like Kodi Matrix) may resolve this long-term.
2. Missing Emulators: The limited availability of emulators in the Kodi repository for LibreELEC Leia is a known issue. Consider manually installing the missing emulator add-ons if available from trusted sources or upgrading to Kodi Matrix, which has better add-on support.
3. Atari ST Issue: This could be an emulator compatibility problem. Double-check if the ROM format matches the emulator requirements (e.g., .st for Atari ST games) or try other emulators within IAGL settings.
4. DOSBox Keyboard Limitation: DOSBox on Kodi lacks native keyboard support, which restricts many games. For now, using an external keyboard or switching to standalone DOSBox on RetroPie might be better.
5. MAME Emulator Choice: MAME 2015 is generally a solid option for compatibility. Alternatively, MAME 2003 has better performance on rPi 3 B+ but might have fewer supported games.
Good luck! Let me know if you need more help!
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