MiSTer Favorites - Menu Shortcuts for Your Cores and Games

[wizzo]

Hi. Sorry for the wait on replies, I've been really busy with work. I've just put out a little update on github/downloader.

Changes:

• Support for deep subfolders in the favourites menu rather than the current one level limit

• Ability to rename existing favourites from the GUI

• Fixed TGFX16-CD support and added GB/GBA 2P support

• Now remembers your place in the list of previous folders when browsing

That said, I want to mention 2 small issues I've had...

Glad to hear you like it. Thank you for picking up on these. I've fixed the bug with detecting the TGFX16-CD folder and added support for both the 2P cores. That should all be fixed now.

Would there be an easy way of adding multiple favourites at one time? As in, select multiple games to add to @Favourites rather than one at a time?

I have added subfolders too, adding directly to the sub folder would be a great feature too?

You're welcome!

For the second one, yes, it now supports any level deep of your own subfolders. Just create them yourself in the @Favorites folder and make sure there's an underscore (_) in front of each one or MiSTer won't see them. I'm not planning on adding the ability to create them from the script though, you need to do it by hand. I looked into doing this but it's too much work.

For the first one, no, I can't do it sorry. It's not impossible but it would be extremely complex. The latest feature I added to remember your place in folders might be useful to you though.

I'd love to put all this stuff in but it's a real pain writing and maintaining all this GUI stuff. Like 90% of this script is just the GUI, not the actual part that handles the favourites.

[wizzo]

Ok I ended up thinking about the subfolders thing a bit more and I've put out a new update with some significant changes.

• favorites.txt file is no longer required. You can safely delete it. That also means you can modify all your favourites on the file system without affecting the script.

• You can rename the "@Favorites" folder to something else now. You can also make more than one favourites folder. They'll all be picked up by the script. Basically just make sure "fav" is somewhere in the name for it to be picked up.

• You can create subfolders from the script.

• You can rename, move and delete all favourites and subfolders from the script.

• .mgl files now get scanned for broken links.

• Some minor improvements on how stuff is displayed and formatted.

This was a big one so there might be some bugs but it looks good so far.

[Haflip]

I've been using shortcuts post-update for the last week or so and haven't run into any issues, but I haven't used folders yet, either. I just want to talk about how I've been using the top-level. What I've been doing is using one or two top-level favorite games for each core like,

GB2P - Tetris Attack
GEN - Toejam & Earl
SNES - Wild Guns
... Etc. ...

I highly recommend doing this if you want to make a visually-pleasing main menu. I put spaces between the core name and the dash to line the dashes up, I try to abbreviate long names if they don't fit on one line, and I try to make a list of exactly 16 entries. All this is so that when I show my setup to guests, I can just press up at the main menu to fill the menu with a list of games and platforms they might be interested in.

I think my next step is to make additional lists in the favorites folder(s) so that I can rotate items in and out of my top-level list more easily. I'll keep an eye out for any bugs or issues but again, none so far. Thanks again!

[zoopster]

Hi Wizzo, Thanks for putting this script together. Is it possible to fast scroll through a games list when adding favourites? Thanks!

[wizzo]

Hi Wizzo, Thanks for putting this script together. Is it possible to fast scroll through a games list when adding favourites? Thanks!

You're welcome. I think so but it will require a custom GUI element and some free buttons. You mean like a pg up/pg down style thing right? Worst case I could add some buttons on the screen to skip pages. I'll check it out anyway

[zoopster]

Hi Wizzo, Thanks for putting this script together. Is it possible to fast scroll through a games list when adding favourites? Thanks!

You're welcome. I think so but it will require a custom GUI element and some free buttons. You mean like a pg up/pg down style thing right? Worst case I could add some buttons on the screen to skip pages. I'll check it out anyway

Yes - exactly a simple key based mechanism to move through pages quicker. Could be connected to L1 / R1 or a keyboard short cut. Keep up the good work as a favorites system is much more important now that we looking at 100s of arcade games.

[wizzo]

Yes - exactly a simple key based mechanism to move through pages quicker. Could be connected to L1 / R1 or a keyboard short cut. Keep up the good work as a favorites system is much more important now that we looking at 100s of arcade games.

I am working on a dialog which has some page up/down buttons at the bottom which will work well enough for what you want. I should get it released this week.

With the L1/R1 suggestions, I really like it and would prefer that, but I don't have control over what keys get sent for each controller button. You're welcome to float the idea on github yourself.

[MunkyBunky]

This is superb thanks for writing it.

Anyone know how to get computer games to work off the vore menu such as spectrum core running manic miner?

[Malor]

Does the Gameboy Advance core support this script/method of launching? I added a GBA ROM, and it does launch the GBA core, but no ROM gets loaded. Possibly tricky bits: the filename has both spaces and parentheses.

This is the MGL that gets generated:

Code: Select all

<mistergamedescription>
¸¸¸¸<rbf>_Console/GBA</rbf>
¸¸¸¸<file delay="1" type="f" index="0" path="../../../../media/fat/games/GBA/ROMs/Final Fantasy VI Advance/Final Fantasy VI Advance (U).gba"/>
</mistergamedescription>

I tried removing all those extra ".." path components, but that didn't change the behavior. This was my modified .mgl:

Code: Select all

<mistergamedescription>
¸¸¸¸<rbf>_Console/GBA</rbf>
¸¸¸¸<file delay="1" type="f" index="0" path="/media/fat/games/GBA/ROMs/Final Fantasy VI Advance/Final Fantasy VI Advance (U).gba"/>
</mistergamedescription>

With both .mgls, the GBA core launches, but that's as far as it goes. I still have to manually load the ROM. It's available at launch time, so I don't see any particular reason why it wouldn't load?

[wizzo]

Anyone know how to get computer games to work off the vore menu such as spectrum core running manic miner?

You're welcome. I'm not sure but if you find out let me know and I'd be happy to add support.

Does the Gameboy Advance core support this script/method of launching? I added a GBA ROM, and it does launch the GBA core, but no ROM gets loaded. Possibly tricky bits: the filename has both spaces and parentheses.

The relative path is required because mister uses a relative path for this field for some reason. The dots are a hack to pull it back up to root. An absolute path definitely won't work. I'm not sure why it's not working for you, I'm pretty sure I've tested this core. I will give it a shot later using the same filename you've given.

What's up with the 4 dots at the start of lines 2 and 3? Are they literally showing up like that in the file or did you just add them to show whitespace?

[Malor]

That's how I have Vim set to show tab characters; I avoid tabs. That's a highlight to remind me to remove them.

edit, the next day: they're also in a different color, pale blue, which doesn't show through the cut and paste. It's meant to look very slightly wrong, but without being obnoxious about it.

[Malor]

I'm getting the same result (eg, core loads, but doesn't load the ROM) with the PS1 core. Here's my mgl:

Code: Select all

<mistergamedescription>
¸¸¸¸<rbf>_Console/PSX</rbf>
¸¸¸¸<file delay="1" type="s" index="1" path="../../../../media/fat/cifs/games/PSX/chd_psx/CHD-PSX-USA/Suikoden (USA) (Rev 1).chd"/>
</mistergamedescription>

Again, the leading dots on lines 2 and 3 are a highlight for a tab.

[wizzo]

I'm getting the same result (eg, core loads, but doesn't load the ROM) with the PS1 core. Here's my mgl:

Code: Select all

<mistergamedescription>
¸¸¸¸<rbf>_Console/PSX</rbf>
¸¸¸¸<file delay="1" type="s" index="1" path="../../../../media/fat/cifs/games/PSX/chd_psx/CHD-PSX-USA/Suikoden (USA) (Rev 1).chd"/>
</mistergamedescription>

Again, the leading dots on lines 2 and 3 are a highlight for a tab.

I've tried to reproduce the GBA one but it seems to be working ok for me. I'm using the same game with exact same path as yours. Same .mgl file contents. Loads up no problem. Haven't tried with the same PSX game but PSX is working ok for me too. I'm not really sure what the problem could be for you.

Is this happening with all GBA and PSX games or only some? Is the problem affecting other systems?

[Tacoguy125]

Thank you for this. I'm setting this up today and it works with arcade games and some console games I've tried including PSX. It's easy-awesome.
I am not able to properly load Neo Geo using an unzipped Darksoft set. This has files like Crom0, prom, etc in the game subfolders.Is this format not supported and/or are there some extra steps?

[wizzo]

Thank you for this. I'm setting this up today and it works with arcade games and some console games I've tried including PSX. It's easy-awesome.
I am not able to properly load Neo Geo using an unzipped Darksoft set. This has files like Crom0, prom, etc in the game subfolders.Is this format not supported and/or are there some extra steps?

No worries! When you launch a neogeo game from that set, what's the exact file you'd select from the cores own file picker? I can probably add that

I seem to recall the neogeo core in particular can launch zip files themselves. So I may need to add those back

[emuola]

Sounds like a totally awesome script. Just tried it, but I presume it requires higher than 15Khz resolution to work? At least I just get a brief flash of text on the screen and then nothing. fb_terminal=0 is there in the Mister.ini. Running a Sony BVM, so no vga resolutions available

[wizzo]

Sounds like a totally awesome script. Just tried it, but I presume it requires higher than 15Khz resolution to work? At least I just get a brief flash of text on the screen and then nothing. fb_terminal=0 is there in the Mister.ini. Running a Sony BVM, so no vga resolutions available

I will look into this. I don't actually own a CRT or know much about how they work through the Linux system but I assume it must be possible somehow

[emuola]

Sounds like a totally awesome script. Just tried it, but I presume it requires higher than 15Khz resolution to work? At least I just get a brief flash of text on the screen and then nothing. fb_terminal=0 is there in the Mister.ini. Running a Sony BVM, so no vga resolutions available

I will look into this. I don't actually own a CRT or know much about how they work through the Linux system but I assume it must be possible somehow

That would be a dream come true. Thank you soo much, no matter what happens in the end

[wizzo]

That would be a dream come true. Thank you soo much, no matter what happens in the end

Unfortunately it sounds like I can't ever make it work with the default mister setup but you can try set these settings and see how it goes. See the third point down:

https://github.com/mrchrisster/MiSTer_SAM#features

Let me know if that doesn't work and perhaps we can investigate further.

[emuola]

That would be a dream come true. Thank you soo much, no matter what happens in the end

Unfortunately it sounds like I can't ever make it work with the default mister setup but you can try set these settings and see how it goes. See the third point down:

https://github.com/mrchrisster/MiSTer_SAM#features

Let me know if that doesn't work and perhaps we can investigate further.

Hmm, sorry, not quite sure, what you meant. Should I add a specific display configuration settings in Mister.ini for the favorites script, e.g.:

Code: Select all

[favorites]
vga_scaler=0
fb_terminal=0
vsync_adjust=1
video_mode=512,38,66,64,224,12,20,6,10689

[wizzo]

Hmm, sorry, not quite sure, what you meant. Should I add a specific display configuration settings in Mister.ini for the favorites script, e.g.:

Code: Select all

[favorites]
vga_scaler=0
fb_terminal=0
vsync_adjust=1
video_mode=512,38,66,64,224,12,20,6,10689

Not quite. You'd still leave it is [Menu] not changed to favorites. If there's already a [Menu] section in your mister ini file then just put those last 4 lines at the end of that section. Does that make sense? My understanding is that will allow you to see terminal output on a crt

Sorry I can't be much more help. I don't own a CRT so I'm going in blind here

[emuola]

Hmm, sorry, not quite sure, what you meant. Should I add a specific display configuration settings in Mister.ini for the favorites script, e.g.:

Code: Select all

[favorites]
vga_scaler=0
fb_terminal=0
vsync_adjust=1
video_mode=512,38,66,64,224,12,20,6,10689

Not quite. You'd still leave it is [Menu] not changed to favorites. If there's already a [Menu] section in your mister ini file then just put those last 4 lines at the end of that section. Does that make sense? My understanding is that will allow you to see terminal output on a crt

Sorry I can't be much more help. I don't own a CRT so I'm going in blind here

Unfortunately the result is the same, tha script just briefly flashes on the screen. Thank you for your effort to help me

[Sagat]

Hi! When I launch `sh favorites.sh` I get:

Code: Select all

favorites.sh: line 3: import: command not found
favorites.sh: line 4: import: command not found
favorites.sh: line 5: import: command not found
favorites.sh: line 6: import: command not found
favorites.sh: line 7: import: command not found
favorites.sh: line 8: import: command not found
favorites.sh: line 10: FAVORITES_NAME: command not found
favorites.sh: line 12: SD_ROOT: command not found
favorites.sh: line 13: syntax error near unexpected token `('
favorites.sh: line 13: `FAVORITES_DB = os.path.join(SD_ROOT, "favorites.txt")'

Hi. This is actually a Python script but with .sh on the end so it will show up in the Scripts menu. You can either run it with “python favorites.sh” or “./favorites.sh”. The intended way to run it though is from the Scripts section of the MiSTer main menu

In case you haven't already - put

Code: Select all

#!/bin/python

(or wherever the path to Python is) and the command interpreter will (should) know to use it.

Uhm so i am feeling this is the solution to my error. (which is a message "?python\r? no such file or directory" when i run the favorites script) And i would assume the above addition def would inform my mister/the script where it can find python BUT where would i add this line?

[cursedverses]

Hi Sagat,

That line should be the very first line of the script. However I'm not sure how you're ending up with that message. It looks like you might have a line endings issue (CRLF vs LF). By all means try what I said before first and let me know how you get on!

[Sagat]

Hi back

Thanks for the reply.

It def did something, though still python (i think?) issues.
No other prerequisites besides dumping the favorites.sh in the scripts folder?

Anyways this is my output now:
/tmp/script: media/fat/Scripts/favourits.sh: /usr/bin/python^M: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

hmmm wonder if the capital S of scripts may disrupt thing, will try.

edit:
the scripts folder is with a capital S on my mister. Also noticed is had a typo in the llapi options (falsee instead of false) correct this but same output.
In the usr/bin folder i do see a python and python3 folder..(well they look like a windows shortcut in my ftp) so maybe that is part of the puzzle?

[wizzo]

Hi back

Hi mate. This definitely looks like a problem with the line endings like cursedverses mentioned. If you have edited the script on windows before you popped it on your mister this is what will happen. Just to be clear, you shouldn't really ever have to edit the script itself, it does a pretty good job figuring things out itself. You should be fine to leave the llapi option on in particular even if you haven't got those cores, it's just a switch to try detect them.

A few options:

• Delete the old script off your mister and computer, download a new copy straight from github, put it on your mister without opening it

• Delete the old script off your mister, ssh into your mister, run

  Code: Select all

  cd /media/fat/Scripts && wget https://github.com/wizzomafizzo/MiSTer_Favorites/raw/main/favorites.sh

• Ssh into your mister and run

  Code: Select all

  dos2unix /media/fat/Scripts/favorites.sh

  and try run it again

Let me know how you go.

[neogeo81]

how do i make manual mgl files for arcade games?

[Sagat]

Hi back

Hi mate. This definitely looks like a problem with the line endings like cursedverses mentioned. If you have edited the script on windows before you popped it on your mister this is what will happen. Just to be clear, you shouldn't really ever have to edit the script itself, it does a pretty good job figuring things out itself. You should be fine to leave the llapi option on in particular even if you haven't got those cores, it's just a switch to try detect them.

A few options:

• Delete the old script off your mister and computer, download a new copy straight from github, put it on your mister without opening it

• Delete the old script off your mister, ssh into your mister, run

  Code: Select all

  cd /media/fat/Scripts && wget https://github.com/wizzomafizzo/MiSTer_Favorites/raw/main/favorites.sh

• Ssh into your mister and run

  Code: Select all

  dos2unix /media/fat/Scripts/favorites.sh

  and try run it again

Let me know how you go.

Hi! First of thanks for creating this. And yeah that did the trick.
Just grabbing the zip with the file from git and dumping directly on mister made it work instantaniosly (well as long as i used my hdmi profile, but the crt issue was already mentioned, also curious if there are options there as my mister is usually connected to crt)

Initally, I indeed was fighting a bit with git hub and thought it faster to just copy paste the script in my self created favorites.sh file!

Curious though why this doesn't work? notepad/np++ still adds garbage in the file that makes it break on mister?

[wizzo]

how do i make manual mgl files for arcade games?

I'm not sure that you can make an mgl file for an arcade core (mra file). The script uses symlinks straight to the mra to make this work. You also need to add a symlink to a certain folder in the link folder to make them work.

Curious though why this doesn't work? notepad/np++ still adds garbage in the file that makes it break on mister?

Glad to hear it's working. This probably does a better job of explaining than me: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/155 ... reak-types

Basically windows and everything else use 2 separate ways to say when a line in a file is split up. When you save the file in windows it changes all the line endings to be windows format. Linux can't interpret it properly. You do have the option to save from notepad++ in unix line end format so it's not impossible to do what you wanted. Just something to be aware of.

[brym]

Thank you for this. I'm setting this up today and it works with arcade games and some console games I've tried including PSX. It's easy-awesome.
I am not able to properly load Neo Geo using an unzipped Darksoft set. This has files like Crom0, prom, etc in the game subfolders.Is this format not supported and/or are there some extra steps?

No worries! When you launch a neogeo game from that set, what's the exact file you'd select from the cores own file picker? I can probably add that

I seem to recall the neogeo core in particular can launch zip files themselves. So I may need to add those back

Hey, having this same issue. (Thanks for the amazing script!) In the Neo Geo core, you don't select an individual file. You select a game by name. The romsets.xml file translates that into a folder name (e.g., <romset name="mslug" pcm="1" altname="Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001" publisher="Nazca" year="1996"/> is the entry for Metal Slug in my file). So you are essentially selecting the folder, not a file, and that's what the .mgl file needs to point to -- the "mslug" folder, not any file within that folder.

I created and tested the following MGL file for Metal Slug, and it works correctly:

<mistergamedescription>
<rbf>_console/NeoGeo</rbf>
<file delay="1" type="f" index="1" path="mslug"/>
</mistergamedescription>

Hope that helps!