enjoy for RetroArch

Play any game ROM with associated emulator in RetroArch on Linux

• Author: Tuncay D.
• License: MIT License
• Documentation: Wiki
• Source: Github
• Download: Github
• Rust Package Registry: Crates

Introduction

enjoy is a wrapper around RetroArch on Linux to help running emulator cores through the commandline. This functionality can be used to configure your system to launch games from RetroArch directly within your file manager by (double) clicking the ROM files too. The main magic comes from a user configuration file with rules and aliases to extensions and emulator core names.

Example

bash $ enjoy '~/roms/snes/Super Mario World (U) [!].smc'

Features

• run RetroArch games directly from your console or file manager
• combine it with other programs output like grep, ls or dmenu to play a game from a list of ROM files
• fast startup
• easy to configure in a single INI file format

Quick Start

1. Install and setup RetroArch first, if not done already: RetroArch
2. Download enjoy from Releases and unpack it.
3. Optionally, install it in a directory within $PATH. The default "install.sh" script that comes with the downloadable distribution archive does it. Read a more detailed description about the installation process in the Wiki: Installation
4. Execute enjoy --open-config to open the default configuration file or create one at "~/.config/enjoy/default.ini" if it does not exist. Read more about the configuration at User Configuration File.
5. Optionally, register enjoy as the default program to the specific ROM file extensions (in example ".smc").
6. Enjoy.

User Configuration File

Read a more detailed description about the file in the Wiki: User Configuration File

The default configuration file at "~/.config/enjoy/default.ini" will be automatically loaded up each time enjoy is executed. It is in an easy to understand and editable INI format. Here a quick overview:

```ini [options] retroarch = /usr/bin/retroarch

[cores] snes = snes9x gb = sameboy_libretro.so

[.smc .sfc] core = snes

[/home/user/roms/psx/] core = psx ```

There are 4 different categories of sections.

• [options] - Main Options: These are the same options found in the commandline interface of the program. Use enjoy -h for short overview or enjoy --help for a longer description of all possible options.
• [cores] - Core Rules: Custom alias to any "libretro" core from "RetroArch". On the left side is the name of the core and on the right side the path or filename of an emulator core. If the filename has no directory part, then it will be searched in the "libretro-directory". The part "_libretro.so" in the filename part is optional.
• [.ext1 .ext2] - Extension Rules: When a game ROM is loaded up, it's extension is compared if one of these matches. Each extension rule consists of a single or a group of space separated extensions. Each has to start with a dot in their section names. Their rules can include a core rule, which will be looked up at section [cores]. Or it can directly have libretro rule, which is a path to an emulator.
• [/path/to/directory] - Directory Rules: Any section with a slash in the name is a directory rule. In this case the folder in which the loaded up game ROM is compared, instead it's extension. If the game is in one of these folders, then these rules kick in. These are the same core and libretro rules.

Directory Rules should be used sparingly.

Known Bugs, Limitations and Quirks

• Some options from retroarch itself are not supported yet.
• When executing the emulator command, the GUI of RetroArch is still loaded up and will not close automatically. It is recommnded to use 2 times ESC to end the play session, if the GUI is not needed.
• The Flatpak or Snap version of "RetroArch" might not work with this program.