Windows 98 resurrection plan (eight): RetroArch game selection interface beautification | T Kebang

After finishing the emulator and the game, the next job is to create the game list and beautify the selection interface to make the operation process more pleasing to the eye.

Import game via desktop mode

The author researched several ways to create a game list, and found that the easiest way is to import games through the desktop mode of RetroArch. Although the operation process is a bit cumbersome, the whole process can be completed under the graphical interface, so it is relatively friendly.

It should be noted that if the player will not move RetroArch and the game folder after creating the game list, no additional procedures are required. If it can be moved, you need to manually modify the .lpl format manifest file in “RetroArch -> playlists folder”, change the path of the game file and the emulator core file from the original absolute path to a relative path to ensure that the files can be Loaded correctly.

Relative path description:
To put it simply, we need to modify the path of items such as “path” and “Core_path” of each game in the lpl format manifest file to a relative path relative to retroarch.exe. For example, you need to modify the path of each game in the file as follows.

“path”: “..\Windows Games\\.doc”,

“core_path”: “cores\dosbox_pure_libretro.dll”,

The .. in the first line represents the upper folder where retroarch.exe is located. For more detailed information, please refer to the graphic description below.

▲ After opening RetroArch, press the F5 key on the keyboard to enter desktop mode. First click the right mouse button on the part of the list on the left and select “Add List”.

▲ After entering the name of the list, you can drag the game files (such as .dosz, .iso, .cue, etc. files) into it.

▲ In the project content setting that pops up, enter the name of the game you want to display in the list, and select “DOSBox-pure” in the “Core” field.

▲ Then click the button below the desktop mode window to switch the display mode to “icon”.

▲ Then drag the cover, title, screenshot and other image files in PNG format to the column in the lower right corner. The basic settings can be completed here.

▲ If players will move RetroArch and game folders, they need to solve the path problem. Assuming that retroarch.exe is placed in the “RetroArch folder”, and the game is in the “Windows Games folder”, the hierarchy of each folder is shown in the figure.

playlists folder” to find the game files and emulator core file items of each game.” width=”720″ height=”394″ src=”https://cdn2.techbang.com/system/images/663676/original/0cdcdcfcf4ebc454fb25314281644fba.jpg?1674097471″ class=”lazy”/> ▲ Then we need to open the .lpl format list file in “RetroArch -> playlists folder” to find the game files and emulator core file items of each game.

▲ Change them to relative paths respectively. In the future, as long as the entire set of data is moved together, the files can still be loaded correctly.

set preview image

After creating the game list, the last step is to enable the preview function in the RetroArch menu, so that you can check and accept the results, and enjoy DOS and Windows games comfortably.

Menu -> Appearance -> Primary Preview Thumbnail, Secondary Preview Thumbnail” to specify the type of image you want to display.” width=”720″ height=”568″ src=”https://cdn2.techbang.com/system/images/663678/original/469e0f4342470f2f5f9c0a9db0ecb39e.jpg?1674097475″ class=”lazy”/> ▲ First go to “Settings -> Menu -> Appearance -> Primary Preview Thumbnail, Secondary Preview Thumbnail” to specify the type of image you want to display.

▲ Then go back to the lower half of the left column of the main menu and see the list of previously created games.

▲ When selecting a game, you can see the preview image. At this time, you can switch the preview image type through the handle’s X, Select and other keys.

▲ If the Start key is pressed, the picture will be zoomed in for viewing.

▲ Press the F5 key to enter the desktop mode, where players can also select games through the grid menu.

▲This result video is applied to the various techniques mentioned in the series of teaching articles, so that RetroArch can easily run DOS and Windows games with DOSBox Pure.

This series of teaching articles can be regarded as coming to an end here, but it is not over yet. Not only there are many things to play with RetroArch and DOSBox Pure, but also other options such as PCem and virtual machines. The author will continue to update the follow-up content.

（Back to series article directory）