# Emulator confusion

**URL:** <https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/emulator-confusion/3901>\
**Category:** Emulators\
**Created:** [June 26, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/emulator-confusion/3901 "2019-06-26T19:47:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@ante](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/ante)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/emulator-confusion/3901/1 "2019-06-26T19:47:19Z")

</div>

I have a brand new GameShell - it’s all assembled and it boots and everything seems to work fine so far. I have some emulation questions, however.

There are four emulators listed under “Retro Games” - MAME, mGBA, Nestopia, and Pcsx. Then there’s RetroArch.

Are the emulators under “Retro Games” stand-alone emulators or links to RetroArch cores? I presume they’re standalone, as when I launch RetroArch, I get a “no cores” message.

Is there a benefit to using the standalone emulators versus RetroArch or vice versa?

How up-to-date is the info in the RetroArch Megathread? It seems to have originated some time ago and it seems that the author of that thread has recently ‘retired’ from the forums.

I’m fairly familiar with MAME, but have never used the other emulators or RetroArch. In MAME, it’s critical that you use the proper roms versions appropriate for the version of MAME you’re running. Is this true of the other emulators that come on the GameShell, and if so, is there a listing of the emulator versions and associated rom versions somewhere?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lix](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.clockworkpi.com/lix/32/3394_2.png) [@Lix](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/Lix)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/emulator-confusion/3901/2 "2019-06-26T22:38:01Z")

</div>

I can’t answer for the pros and cons of standalone vs retroarch but I can say that MAME and FBA works with some roms as you mentioned but its not the case for other platforms.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dowdheur](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/forum.clockworkpi.com/dowdheur/32/1368_2.png) [@Dowdheur](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/Dowdheur)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/emulator-confusion/3901/3 "2019-06-27T12:33:56Z")

</div>

Hi !

Out of the box all the emulators are RetroArch’s cores.

The emulators under _Retro Games_ are in fact some kind of shortcuts.

First you need to know how **launcher** works.

For instance in _/home/cpi/launcher/Menu/GameShell/20\_Retro Games/Game BOY Color_ you will find an action.config file :

```
ROM=/home/cpi/games/roms/gbc
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/gambatte_libretro.so
EXT=gbc,zip
LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=Game BOY Color
SO_URL=

```

ROM\_SO is the name of the executable or the core and LAUNCHER is the unix command you use to launche the app.

The reason why when you launch Retroarch it says “no core” is that by default Retroarch search the cores in _/home/cpi/.config/retroarch/cores_

And don’t worry with the roms, the versions are not crucial.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b19c9b/32.png) [@ante](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/u/ante)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://forum.clockworkpi.com/t/emulator-confusion/3901/4 "2019-06-28T18:08:57Z")

</div>

Thanks for this explanation, very helpful.