Change resolution of emulation station in retropie

[maestroni]

This is identical to the request from issue 55. I was not able to get the noted fix to work because the script has changed and I’d also like to know if I can modify the overscan. https://github.com/Aloshi/EmulationStation/issues/55

I am running emulationstation on my raspberry pi with retropie version 4.3 and am having trouble with a very specific resolution setting. I have a HDTV mounted in an arcade cabinet in portrait mode like attached in the pictures and would like to trim down the aspect rato to be a 4:3 format, and maybe change some overscan settings to move the display up a little.

I was able to modify the config.txt file in retropie to get my games to show up with the modified resolution but those settings are not passed to emulationstation. I bet this is an issue with retropie and not emulationstation but I figured you’d be best equipped to help me. This situation has me stumped for years.

Thank you for all your work and thanks in advance.

[zachazlett]

I know it’s been a few months now but I’m wondering if you have your issue figured out yet? I’m doing pretty much the same thing as you by hiding that extra parts of the wide screen inside the cabinet. You’re the only other person that I’ve found that’s tried it.

The good news is I’ve figured out how to fix emulationstation. It involves editing the theme xml files. Let me know if you’re still stuck and I’ll do a step by step or something.

[maestroni]

Thanks for the response, I did figure out how to modify the .xml files in retropie. I started out with a skin that was already in 4:3 aspect ratio and it took some experimentation.
I did want to keep this thread open in the hopes someone will see it and allow a config file to make the change, similar to mine.

[zachazlett]

Cool that’s the same thing I came up with. I agree having an easier way to do would be nice.

On Sat, Feb 3, 2018 at 11:33 PM maestroni notifications@github.com wrote:

Thanks for the response, I did figure out how to modify the .xml files in retropie. I started out with a skin that was already in 4:3 aspect ratio and it took some experimentation. I did want to keep this thread open in the hopes someone will see it and allow a config file to make the change, similar to mine.

— You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/Aloshi/EmulationStation/issues/712#issuecomment-362845302, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AiaAfOhvcQ3teuPQnp5sh6Dp7kErmbjGks5tRK1rgaJpZM4P00ir .

[RIJOSROBERTO]

hello hope all is well I have the same issue iam trying to make a retro pi cocktail , but the main menu from emu station is huge looks like the one from your pics exactly , where you able to do that step by step thingy to be able to learn how to fix it please thank you in advance .

[maestroni]

hello, I was able to change it but with some tweaking. I have to look into which tutorial worked the best for me. I think I searched custom emulation station themes. that post has been there for a year now so in the next couple days I'll try to make a proper response with what I changed.

On RIJOSROBERTO notifications@github.com, Mar 26, 2018 9:20 AM wrote:

hello hope all is well I have the same issue iam trying to make a retro pi cocktail , but the main menu from emu station is huge looks like the one from your pics exactly , where you able to do that step by step thingy to be able to learn how to fix it please thank you in advance .

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/Aloshi/EmulationStation/issues/712#issuecomment-376224720, or mute the threadhttps://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AfJpION4O3pwFP4DnqC3wuSkecdhkg5Zks5tiRU_gaJpZM4P00ir.

[RIJOSROBERTO]

that would be a blessing thank you , because if I can make the tittles of the games readable it would be awesome , here is my email just in case since for some reason I don't get notifications from here rrijos3@gmail.com thank you .

[maestroni]

ok, don't worry though. i think you can get it to work properly.

On RIJOSROBERTO notifications@github.com, Mar 26, 2018 10:38 AM wrote:

that would be a blessing thank you , because if I can make the tittles of the games readable it would be awesome , here is my email just in case since for some reason I don't get notifications from here rrijos3@gmail.commailto:rrijos3@gmail.com thank you .

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[RIJOSROBERTO]

so you where able to turn your raspberry I into a cocktail by the the same ?

[maestroni]

It took a couple of years but I figured out two ways to make emulationstation accept a 4:3 resolution in portrait mode like shown in the picture of my first post. Both ways take a lot of trial and error but the end product looks good.

THE FIRST WAY I made this work was by choosing a 4:3 theme and modifying it like zachazlett mentioned in his post back in February.
these files are locatd at /etc/emulationstation/themes/ComicBook_4-3

I used the link below as a guide https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Creating-Your-Own-EmulationStation-Theme This is an example of what needed to be modified:

0.73 0.325 0.5 0.5 0.28 0.1 It took a lot of trial and error, and I recommend downloading putty or winSCP so you can edit the files from your computer, and undo the changes if necessary. THE SECOND WAY, takes about three steps. 1- Go into the startup.sh script under /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart,sh and add an argument after emulationstation. The command will look something like this: emulationstation --resolution 1024 768 #auto this is a 4:3 resolution. but your user interface will likely be at the bottom of the screen. 2-Change the overscan settings under /boot/cofig.txt # uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console # goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border overscan_left=-35 overscan_right=-35 overscan_bottom=350 overscan_scale=1 display_rotate=1 The important thing here is to make sure overscan_scale=1 otherwise emulationstation will not recognize this setting. Unfortunately moving the "overscan_bottom" command will squish your screen so it is not 4:3 resolution. so I will adjust this setting until the screen starts from the bottom, to where I want it. Then go back into the autostart.sh script and modify the --resolution command to make the screen taller. This involves a lot of trial and error. I started by calculating what the height should be, for instance if my screen is 24.25"wide, at a 4:3 resolution that would be about 18.2" tall. I ended up making this my command in the previously mentioned startup.sh script. emulationstation --resolution 1050 1250 #auto 3-Modify retroarch screen settings If you did these two things you'll notice the screen is messed up when you play a game. Never fear, there is a final fix for that. Go in a game and select the retropie menu by pushing the hotkey +x. In my case that is select+x like this guy did in his video at around 2:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pJYkv3njAk you can change the resolution per game, or just one game at a a time which makes it nice because you can modify the portrait games like donkey kong or pacman to be different than the standard games like x-men or street fighter II. So you go into a game, go into the retroarch menu (select+x in my case) hit "b" (or back) a couple of times, go to video, make sure "aspect ratio" is set to "custom" and modfy the "x- pos", y "pos", and "ratio height" and "ratio width" commands until you are happy. When you are ready to save, go back to "quick menu" and save in "configurations" then "save current configuration" if you want this to be the default. Otherwise go to "quick menu" then "save game overrides" to save the setting for this game only. So there it is. It is a bit of a pain, but worth having a larger screen in its native 4:3 ratio. One thing I do not like about new cabinets is when they put a wide screen in there, or a 17" screen when the game had a 25". I will add pictures and update this post at the following site: http://www.bossrobotgames.com