RetroFE forums

I have released RetroFE 0.7.20 on the download page.
My thanks go out to Tom, catelite, KMetalMind, and PinealServo for helping me out on this one.
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Changes since 0.7.19 are:
- Fixed menuSort = no behavior for include.txt files.
- Fixed Windows expansion of %RETROFE_EXEC_PATH%.
- Fixed local language support.
- Fixed container scaling.
- Fixed input queue when returning from a game.
- Fixed crash on exit when a controller is connected.
- Fixed incorrect sRGB profile errors for PNGs (Tom).
- Rewritten menu scrolling and input handler.
- Added support for hierarchy in the roms directory via list.romHierarchy parameter in collection's settings.conf file.
- Added playlist support via the keys favPlaylist, nextPlaylist, and prevPlaylist. The playlists should be placed as <playlist name>.txt in the collections/<collection name>/playlists directory.
- Added MacOS support (Tom).
- Added support for /home/user/.retrofe RETROFE_PATH setting for linux / mac (Tom).
- Added brew install option for mac (Tom).
- Added trurip Super DAT support. .dat files are expected in meta/trurip.
- Added collectionInputClear parameter to the global settings.conf. When set to true, the input queue will be cleared when entering/exiting a collection.
- Added automatic update of meta.db when any of the meta xml/dat files are updated/added. No more manual deleting of meta.db required.
- Updated Overview instructions in readme (Tom).
- Support for multiple rompaths using the ; separator for list.path in the collection's settings.conf
- Removed requirement for the presence of the collection's settings.conf file.
- Recreated meta.db whenever any of the meta files or the executable changes.
- Support for launchers per game via the directory collections/collection name/launchers/game name.conf
- Support for multiple keys for the same action in controls.conf, comma separated (catelite)
- Improved video performance and playback, including aspect ratio (PinealServo)
- Improvement of input handlers (PinealServo)
- Support for launchers per OS via the optional launcher directories launchers.linux, launchers.windows, and launchers.apple
- Enable gdb debugging symbols in debug build for non-Windows (PinealServo)
- Fix crash when launcher files don't have extensions (PinealServo)
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I'm planning to update the documentation next to make sure all information to use the new features is available. The PDF will disappear in the future; I've set up a new wiki to recreate and update the documentation. The PDF was a temporary measure to keep the information in case the old website was closed down.

I would really like a new promotion video for RetroFE, something to show on the RetroFE home page. Anyone handy with video creation willing to show off some RetroFE themes?
This is an oldy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXi_RhpI7rU

I figured it was time one of these threads was started. Who are YOU?

I'll kick off:

My name is Pieter Hulshoff, born on the 7th of October, 1972, and living with wife and 2 children in the Netherlands. I hold a masters degree in computer science, and have been working as an ASIC/FPGA design engineer (till 2013) and (since then) as a network consultant & systems architect in the Telecom industry. My hobbies include Kuk Sool Won (martial arts), reading, D&D, and playing with my huge organ.

I started playing with Linux and MAME in the mid-late 90s, and after programming some minor features for xmame I figured I could write my own front-end (just in case you were wondering where that MAMEd theme came from). I lost interest for a while, and when I wanted to restart with my front-end in 2013, I found out there were already plenty of alternatives. Few of those however were F/OSS, so after a bit of investigation I started helping out with RetroFE rather than do everything on my own again, and now here we are.

You can find the latest MAME/MESS XML and include files for RetroFE in the download section.
For RetroFE, simply install mame_full.xml as MAME.xml (or Arcade.xml, or whatever name you use for your MAME collection), and rename the include file of your choice to include.txt in that collection. Don't forget to delete meta.db so RetroFE will add the latest information to your meta database.

I recently switched to Mint, and tried to set up a RetroFE xsession today. The .desktop file was easily created, and RetroFE starts properly, but when I return from a game my RetroFE window refuses to take focus. This setup worked perfectly fine on my previous Kubuntu setup. Any ideas what might be causing this problem?

To be clear: this problem only exist if I run RetroFE without a window manager. Under KDE everything works without a hitch.

I have created an issue list on bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/phulshof/retrofe/issues?status=new&status=open
You can find all the feature requests there, and I will update it as features get added and/or as feature requests come in.

Dear all,

Welcome to the new RetroFE website. For the time being we will operate under www.retrofe.nl; in time I expect that www.retrofe.com will also point to this site. I apologize for any quality issues of this site; I'm not a web developer, and I would welcome any and all help to improve the quality of this site. Let me know if you experience any issues with this new site, and I will try to resolve them as quickly as possible.

A few months ago, Emb, the original developer of RetroFE, asked me to take over control of RetroFE from him. Unfortunately I have been unable to move over the old forum, so we're starting with a clean slate here. If there's any information you want to copy over from the old site, do so now before it's gone. If you wish to use the new forum without the surrounding banners, just use http://www.retrofe.nl/SMF/

I hope that we can start an active community here, and work together with the art developers at HyperSpin and EmuMovies to keep a vibrant emulation scene up and running. We're not in competition with other front-ends; just working together to enjoy a common hobby. If you feel you can help out in any way, please let me know.

Now that the new site is up and running, I plan to get back to programming new features. Let's make RetroFE even better, together!