How to add icons on the homescreen that link to emulators?

GameShell
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How to add icons on the homescreen that link to emulators? I know how to remove them but add them is something different. I like to have some icons to some favorit emulators

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The menu items themselves are in ~/apps/launcher/Menu/GameShell. Likewise, there is a theme directory under ~/apps/launcher/skin/default, which kind of mirrors the menu. I was able to add icons by putting some .png files named after the menu items. Note that changes to the menu don’t show up until the menu is restarted, both for new menu items and changed icons, this was what I observed anyway.

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I’ve added a menu item…so far so good… But what should be in that file? I want to start Galaga in Retroarch using CORE fbalpha directly from that ICON…

No I’ve made a .sh file but it won’t start the game and just returns to the menu itself.

I’VE DONE IT!!! IT WORKS!!! :grinning::grinning:

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NICE ! And now for the write-up :rofl::joy:

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WOW! Congrats dude! Could you share how to make it, please? :smiley:

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@Serj_Targarien He made some custom icons for the emulators.

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My menu looks like this now DSC01173

Tomorrow I’ll show you how to do it

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video with menu structure and start of Galaga with just one click

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Cool ! Great job ! Looking forward to the how to… currently struggling and thinking i am making a stupid mental mistake

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Thank you VERY MUCH! I think can I help the community making some funky icons for the people <3 <3 <3

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Here it i…can’t sleep because of the heat :slight_smile:

STEP 1:
Make a new file in:

/home/cpi/apps/launcher/Menu/GameShell

and name that eg.:

Galaga.sh

then edit that file and put this command line in:
retroarch -L /home/cpi/.config/retroarch/cores/fb_alpha_libretro.so /home/cpi/games/MAME/galaga.zip

In my example I use the: fb_alpha_libretro.so core to play GALAGA…
GALAGA is located in the folder:

/home/cpi/games/MAME/galaga.zip

Hope this explanes the commandline so everybody can use it with there own favorite games

STEP 2:
make an icon for the launch menu and place that in :

/home/cpi/apps/launcher/skin/default/Menu/GameShell

Name it (in my example given) Galaga.png

Hope it works for everybody…

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We’ve added a #design channel to the GameShell Discord Server. Everyone who is designing new icons is welcome to join the conversation there. ^^ Here’s an invite to the channel if anyone is interested. https://discord.gg/YH2r3vw

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It would be cool if Clockwork could make a wiki so a topic like this could turn into a proper guide so other users can learn how to add these themselves.

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@DisruptItYourself You´re right, I think this part is totally necesary!

I make my first shortcut and icon for the menu and its works thanks to @Sammie <3

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YES! Wiki, it’s a good idea, do you like github’s wiki?

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Yes @hal I do! Might as well keep it all in one place. That way they can be connected to files and pull requests, etc.

@Sammie would you like to take a wack at it? You pretty much already wrote it and others can add to it. It would be a good starting point. I can then test it and make sure your instructions work and maybe add some images or something.

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More icons! Can I put anywhere if someone wants to set up in his system!

image

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Ive already started digging into how we can do the same things for folders and it looks pretty easy. Thanks to @Sammie for writing the wiki post. It’s too bad the wiki pages are on a repository level and can’t be accessed from the Project. That means more digging for people unfamiliar with GitHub.

But anyway… it seems all we need to do is

  1. add a folder to launcher/Menu/GameShell/20_Retro Games/ example SNES
  2. in that folder create a file called action.config
  3. in that file it should contain:

ROM=/home/cpi/games/[FOLDER-WITH-COMPATIBLE-ROMS]
ROM_SO=/home/cpi/apps/emulators/[DESIRED-CORE-TO-USE]
EXT=[EXTENSIONS-COMPATIBLE-WITH-CORE] ie zip,sfc,smc
LAUNCHER=retroarch -L
TITLE=[Title to display by Launcher]
SO_URL=http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/linux/armhf/latest/[NAME_OF_EMULATOR].so.zip

  1. Then place your thumbnail in launcher/skin/default/Menu/GameShell/20_Retro Games/
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We have the discord of the community and there is a design channel if you want :slight_smile:
https://discord.gg/HTa52uf

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Oh gawd thank you, this is what we need! (if we make this, the folders can appear like a circle icon but once inside we can make square icons for each game :stuck_out_tongue:

Could you please, put a real example code of one folder dedicated to snes emulator from retroarch (with 3 roms inside of this folder) to see more clearly for my side? (sorry for my ignorance)