So I just received my GS yesterday, and a few minutes ago I tried to change the key binds in the Retroarch.Well, finally, I used “cp retroarch.cfg.bak retroarch.cfg” under ssh, which is not what I originally wanted.
So can someone share with me a original cfg file modified by clockworkpi? Thanks in advance.
From an earlier post:
Close RetroArch, SSH into your GS and then do
cd ~/.config/retroarch
rm retroarch.cfg
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/clockworkpi/GameShellDocs/master/retroarch.cfg
Or;
Not sure why it copied the whole file contents and not just the link 
It works! Thanks for your solution, I’ll be much more careful later, lol.
Lol, not needed you can just revert 
Also follow the retroarch thread, some great tips there ! Enjoy the GameShell !
Be sure to make a backup copy of it so you have it on the ready!
cd ~/.config/retroarch
cp retroarch.cfg retroarch.bak
Definitely right, I’ll make sure there’s a backup before trying something new next time!
Info path is wrong!
Please use:
libretro_info_path = “D:\Amir\RetroArch\info”
Hullo there! Welcome to the forums.
Just making sure you’re referring to Retroarch on a Gameshell. That directory structure looks like a path of your own personal computer, using your name as the home directory. Unless we change the user from CPI to Amir, we won’t see this directory.
Perhaps this was more what you meant?
libretro_info_path = “~/.config/retroarch/info”That said, the info directory isn’t created by default. You will also need to create it in order to use it.
It makes more sense to have it in the cores directory, as it is storing information regarding individual cores that are by default stored in the same directory, once downloaded.
You can have your directories set to whatever you want at the end of the day; just as long as you are happy with a) it being populated by whatever files are supposed to be there and b) putting the files it expects to be there in the correct place.
I messed up my retroarch.cfg again, and tried the
cd ~/.config/retroarch
rm retroarch.cfg
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/clockworkpi/GameShellDocs/master/retroarch.cfg
but it didn’t work. Still not getting into Retroarch. Returns an error on WinSCP when I try and run that last command. But I can just drag and drop the cfg file myself in and it still won’t work.
I tried to restore the cfg with Wizz’s guide. Still can’t get into retroarch despite ssh’ing into my Gameshell and issuing the 3 commands above I get this error:
The only way I was able to restore Retroarch was using this special cfg I found made for Clockworkpi:
Only that one gives me very pixelly, choppy resolution version of retroarch that is nothing like what I had before.
So as it stands retroarch is unusable on my GS, And I don’t want to have to format again lose all my save files lose all my themes, icons, etc.
I just wish it didn’t wreck your entire Gameshell OS every time you accidentally change 1 setting in retroarch config. Only thing I tried to change was the resolution so my Gameboy games weren’t totally stretched. The problem is they made the GS screen in a wide , 16:9 resolution. Why? Most if not all retro games are in 4:3. Even PS1/N64.
They should have made the GS screen in a 4:3 resolution so it would fit Gameboy, Genesis, SNES, NES, PS1, and practically every emulator Pre 2002 onto the screen CORRECTLY and not stretch them.
WHY IS THE Gameshell screen a WIDE screen when 99% of the games it’s made for are going to be in 4:3. If you think about it , it makes no sense.
I don’t really have any useful Retroarch advice (there’s lots of documentation about it online though), but when the Gameshell came out in 2018, there weren’t nearly as many other devices out there, with the kind of screen variety that’s around today. So that probably had something to do with it. They also chose an odd sort of display technology, but it gives it a unique quasi-retro look.
There are tons of better, cheaper options out there now for just playing retro games, at least in terms of screen, tech, performance, and price. The Gameshell arguably still has better ergonomics than many of them, for a gameboy/portrait style device. And of course it’s far more hackable and customizable in terms of hardware and software (if someone wants to put in the work of writing their own software or building their own hardware mods for it), so that’s still something that sets it apart. But ease of use has never been a focus, rather the focus was a sort of DIY kit project that people could hack around with and customize in ways well beyond a usual device.
It’s been a while since I used my Gameshell, but the community built OS releases like what @javelinface put together might be more stable, and likely offer performance improvements as a bonus. Retroarch has always been a bit of a mess in terms of configuration and usability, so it might be better to go with standalone emulators for some, or all systems. It would be less consistent in terms of controls and such, but it might be less fragile and perhaps more performant.
Alright , I went ahead and just flashed the OS with the new DEOT 0.5 OS, after all my complaining. I guess it doesn’t take that long to just flash a new OS in Balena esher.This one looks … SO much better.
