Editing Frontends & Launchers

| Free. Fast. Immensely and overwhelmingly theme-able (can be skinned to look and behave exactly like any other frontend, given the time and effort). Open-source and actively in development. An absolute pain to configure, and lacks built-in scraping support. Actively being developed (an official Retroid Handhelds launcher is currently being developed with this frontend). Here's a very helpful [https://basvroegop.nl/pegasus guide] to help you set it up. Dev is optimizing it for the RP2. Not available on the Play Store. Download from [https://pegasus-frontend.org/#downloads here].

! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| Dig

| Free. Slow. Theme-able. Super easy to configure, and does have built-in scraping. Development has been abandoned and the app is closed-source. Consequently, this will never be able to launch certain emulators like Flycast and the GBA build of Retroarch included on RP2. Pre-installed on the RP2. Available on the Play Store [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digdroid.alman.dig&hl=en_US here].

| $5. Fast. Not theme-able (yet). Slick and easier than both Pegasus and Dig to configure. Built-in scraping. Actively being developed. Being optimized for the RP2 by the dev, Jav. Available on the Play Store [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.retroloungelab.resetcollection&hl=en_US here].  

| $12/year. Fast. Theme-able. The easiest to configure. Uses built-in emulator cores, giving you handy universal shortcuts in all of your games. Some systems might be faster in RetroX than on the RP2s pre-installed emulators, while some might be slower (currently). Emulation is less customizable than with other emulators. The subscription covers cloud saves, letting you stay synced across any device you use RetroX on, but its worth noting that internet access is required to open your games. Actively being developed, with a RP2 optimized performance version coming shortly by the dev, Franco Catrin. RetroX offers a 5 day free trial to see if its right for you. Not available on the playstore. Download from [https://RetroX.tv RetroX.TV].

! scope="row" style="text-align:left;"| ClassicBoy

| $4. ClassicBoy is an all-in-one emulator that uses RetroArch cores. It has cores for PlayStation, GB, GBC, GBA, Nintendo 64, NES, SEGA, and NeoGeo. Contains standard features like audio settings, and save states. The developer hasn’t updated the app since 2014. It gives you free access to basic functions. Paying the upgrade fee is needed for it to be objectively usable. Pre-installed on the RP2. Available on the Play Store [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.portableandroid.classicboyLite&hl=en_US here].

A full guide can be found [https://basvroegop.nl/pegasus here].

- First you need to allow non trusted APK installs. Open Settings, Security and mark "Unknown sources"

- Download the app in https://pegasus-frontend.org/#downloads and install it in your RP2

Pegasus needs to have a file called metadata.pegasus.txt per system to specify which emulator you want to use, this can be a bit tedious but we've got you covered!

You can download config files for the RP2 emulators here: https://github.com/dragoonDorise/pegasus-rp2-metadata/

All the configs are done using the best emulators as described in this wiki, for DS you should install DraStic, all other systems are emulated with the stock emulators.

FYI: We're still working out the kinks to get N64 configured.

Again, please reference the [https://basvroegop.nl/pegasus full guide] for a more complete tutorial on Pegasus with the RP2.

You can use several themes, you would need to create a folder in your SD Card called "pegasus_frontend/themes" and put the theme files in a folder for each theme you want to use.

Here are a couple of Pegasus Themes adapted for the Retroid Pocket's Screen:

[SwitchOS RP2 Edition](https://github.com/dragoonDorise/switchOS)

[gameOS RP2 Edition](https://github.com/dragoonDorise/gameOS)

Download and install from PlayStore https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digdroid.alman.dig&hl=en_US.

=== Configuration ===

You can also refer to the tutorial video from here.

Basic set-up tutorial for dig (with troubleshooting guide) on Retriod pocket 2:

https://youtu.be/45MW6vinmpA

Copy your desired DIG theme zip file to your device. Do not unzip it as DIG will install themes in zip format.<br /><br />Themes are installed and selected from within the DIG app in Options tab by clicking on Themes.<br /><br />- Select "Install theme" and browse the zip file.<br /><br />- Once installed select the theme from the dropdown menu by clicking "Select theme".

<br />Tutorial for installing themes for DIG on Retriod Pocket 2: https://youtu.be/xzD32TZ_ZRk<br /><br />

[<u>Wii 640x480</u> based on Riivive v1.1] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kz-lFvt7ErDtrpyn3Qcz97L96d3TWIrp/view?usp=sharing)

[<u>Switch 640x480</u> based on Riivive v1.1] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qHdXgRyIeEGwy8ZWkXT2HODcozoufmh3/view?usp=sharing)

[<u>Switch 640x480 Dark</u> based on Riivive v1.1] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DhE_LPv5XqXBqVpxjqblAf8w-ycr9938/view?usp=sharing)

[<u>Retro Switch</u>] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vjl3ez9mW7Uk-ySXPXrVrR74jCrFeDYQ/view?usp=sharing)

[<u>Retro Switch Dark</u>] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KyzjO81ZC364wNPop5B7hCPB_saxqvmy/view?usp=sharing)

<!-- #######  YAY, I AM THE SOURCE EDITOR! #########-->

<h2>Basic Tutorial for making themes for DIG frontend</h2>

<p>This is a basic tutorial and in no way an official tutorial or documentation of DIG frontend.</p>

<p>written by /u/CricoidRiver 2020-09-29 12:25:15 AM 2690 words</p>

<table style="width: 303px; height: 338px;" border="1">

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Software you need</td>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Things to know</td>

</tr>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Backgrounds</td>

</tr>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Foregrounds</td>

</tr>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Toolbar</td>

</tr>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Audio</td>

<tr>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Text</td>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">List Type</td>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">Getting Started</td>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">

<td style="width: 293.8px;">

</tr>

<td style="width: 293.8px;">

<p>Example of a theme folder</p>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Software you need</h3>

<ul>

<li>https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/ <strong>Notepad++</strong>(free)&nbsp; or any other text editor to edit the theme config.</li>

<li>https://www.ldplayer.net/blog/ldplayer-4-review.html<strong> LDPlayer4</strong> (free)&nbsp;Android emulator for PC. Not necessary but makes it easier to preview your theme's layout without needing to transfer the file to your handheld to test it. This guide is going to be based around this emulator.</li>

<li>https://www.getpaint.net/download.html<strong> Paint.net</strong> (free) but if you have Photoshop that will work too.</li>

<li>https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/1964-grid-maker-plugin-v30-updated-july-2-2014/<strong> GridCheckerboard plugin</strong> for paint.net (free) this will allow to measure elements on screen at a glance. (60 pixel is a good grid to begin with).</li>

<li>A theme you like and wish to edit and customize, put it on your desktop for easy access. Themes can be found on the https://digdroid.com/forums/categories/themes <strong>DIG forums</strong>, some on https://www.reddit.com/r/retroid<strong>/r/retroid</strong> and here in the /r/retroid <strong>wiki</strong>.</li>

<li>A <strong>DIG apk</strong> either extracted from your phone, RP2 or downloaded and copied to your PC.</li>

</ul>

<h3>Things to know</h3>

<li>The majority of DIG themes are formatted for 16:9 phones, tablets or screens but the RP2 displays in 4:3. This will make those themes look cropped on the handheld.</li>

<p>Your DIG theme consists of <strong>7 home screen menu shortcuts</strong>. The images used as shortcuts are inside a Home Icons folder. Home screen menu shortcuts will display in the following order named:</p>

<ul>

<li>Systems (nes, snes, n64, psx, etc.)</li>

<li>Collections (games menu lets you create a collection)</li>

<li>Favorites (add your favorite games from games menu)</li>

<li>All Games (games sorted a-z, will fetch backgrounds from currently selected game)</li>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">home_icons = "Home Icons"</span></p>

<p>would be the the config entry for the folder <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"Home Icons"</span> which is placed in the same root as <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"Background Default"</span> or as the <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"config.cfg"</span> file.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">name = "theme Retro" </span>lets you edit the name of the config as displayed after installation when selecting it in the dropdown menu in DIG.<span style="background-color: #99cc00;"><br /></span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">author = "Theme Author"</span><br /><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">author_contact = "theme%40author.com"</span> personal information.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">description = "theme theme"&nbsp; </span>Description of the theme can also contain credits to other themers or links to assets used in the creation of the theme.<span style="background-color: #99cc00;"><br /></span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Backgrounds</h3>

<p>Your DIG theme consists of one main background image and several secondary background images (gif, png, jpg, etc. PNG over JPG prefered for transparency modifications). Each home screen shortcut can have its own background image as well as the gameinfo menu which pops up just before launching a game making it <strong>8 secondary backgrounds</strong> you can modify:</p>

<li>Background Default</li>

<li>Background Home</li>

<li>Background Systems</li>

<li>Background Collections</li>

<li>Background Genres</li>

<li>Background Favorites</li>

<li>Background Gameinfo</li>

<li>Background Options</li>

<li>config.cfg</li>

<p>These secondary backgrounds will override the default background when properly linked to in the config. Hence the importance to name those png, gif, jpg images and their folders correctly to avoid unnecessary confusion.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">media_path = "Background Default/BackgroundDefault.png"</span></p>

<p>This is the config entry for the default background called "BackgroundDefault.png" which will display if no other secondary background is appointed to a menu.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_media_path = "Background Systems/BackgroundSystems.png"</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_system_backgrounds = "Background Systems"</span></p>

<p>This means an image called <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"psx.png"</span> inside Background Systems will be displayed if the user selects the Playstation system when browsing inside the Systems menu.</p>

<h3><br />Foreground</h3>

<p>Allows you to add a foreground to your backgrounds usually in the way of a semi transparent .png image allowing for advanced effects like shadowing an area or blurring a background. Works very similar to background entries and Foreground images should also be saved in their own Background Foreground folder.</p>

<h3>Toolbar</h3>

<p>Your DIG frontend supports up to (at least? or more) five toolbar elements which are clickable when displayed.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">tool_icons = "Toolbar"</span> links to Toolbar folder for the icons to display inside DIG.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<li>Home Icons</li>

<li>Toolbar</li>

<p>would be a current breakdown of the example of the root folders of your theme, config.cfg does not need a folder to allow for short path naming when editing in the config file.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">genres_toolbar = "icons_top"</span> refers to where the toolbar icons are placed. <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"icons_bottom"</span> is afaik the only other option together with <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"default"</span> for the text based menu style toolbar and <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"none"</span> to disable it.</p>

<p>Since one could just use the homescreen shortcuts to navigate to options toolbar icons are not a necessity and some themers leave them out for a cleaner look on most screens.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">icons_toolbar_scale = "15.5"</span> determines the size of the icons. A larger number means smaller icons here.</p>

<p><strong>Home</strong>, <strong>mediaplay</strong>, <strong>mediapause</strong>, <strong>pagemenu</strong>, <strong>options</strong>, <strong>systems</strong> are the<strong> 6 main toolbar icons</strong>. Home, Options and Systems are the same as if clicked from the home screen but allow for faster navigation on touchscreens. Mediaplay and mediapause start or stop a themes audio track.</p>

<h3>Audio</h3>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">sound = "folder"</span><br /><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">sound_path = "Audio"</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">game_sound_path = "Audio"</span>&nbsp; Audio being your folder for sounds being played when inside the gameinfo screen.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_sound = "folder"</span><br /><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_sound_path = "Audio"</span> Audio being your folder for sounds being played when inside the systems screen.</p>

<ul>

<li>Background Genres</li>

<li>Background Favorites</li>

<li>Background Gameinfo</li>

<li>Background Options</li>

<li>Home Icons</li>

<li>Toolbar</li>

<li>config.cfg</li>

</ul>

<h3>Text</h3>

<p>You can edit text color but it has to be in 8 digit HEX format aka. ffffffff for white. 363636 for grey will not work for example. Again you can edit text color for each menu if needed. Usually there are multiple text edits available for each menu. (Header, description, etc.)</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_text1 = "ffffffff"</span><br /><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_text2 = "ffffffff"</span></p>

<h3>List type</h3>

<p>This will determine the way your icons are displayed. They can be displayed in a carousel, coverflow, list, linear, wheel, etc. You can change this from inside DIG by clicking pagemenu icon in the toolbar or by assigning a shortcut on your gamepad via options menu.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_list_type = "linear"</span></p>

<p>this determines what type of "flow" is used for the systems menu. Linear flow in this case. Your consoles and handhelds will display in a linear motion and scroll sideways. Retro Switch theme uses the linear list type by default for all screens.</p>

<p><br /><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">home_list_type = "grid"</span></p>

<p>determines the default flow for the home screen. In this case it puts your icons one next to each other in a grid pattern. Also adds a selection animation to the icons by enlarging them when selected. Can be seen in the Wii 640x480 theme.</p>

<p><br /><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">home_linear_scale = "0.8"</span><br /><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">home_linear_spacing = "1"</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_block_size = "140"</span></p>

<p>determines the size of your icons and images. A "psx.png" home icon of 100 square pixels becomes 140 square pixels by this formula without further variables.</p>

<p><span style="background-color: #99cc00;">systems_aspect_ratio = "1.0"</span></p>

<p>determines the aspect ratio of the systems screen. This allows for interesting editing but is tricky to get it right. A lack of comprehensive padding, margin and centering rules due to lack of documentation is a big issue to succesfully edit a theme. "1.333334" would be a default for the RP2 4:3 screen (4:3=1.333334) but not mandatory for themes that use sidescrolling flows (linear, coverflow, etc.).</p>

<h3>Getting started</h3>

<li>Fetch the <strong>DIG.apk</strong> and place it on the desktop next to your copied theme folder.</li>

<li>Install and launch <strong>LDPlayer4</strong> and set display size to <span style="background-color: #ff0000;">230 DPI and 640px width 480px</span> height in the settings like the RP2 has. This will make things you change in the config look just like it would on the RP2.</li>

<li>In <strong>LDPlayer4</strong>, open the small home screen folder and drag and drop the file manager on the emulators home screen. You are going to click this and the DIG app a lot.</li>

<li>Start <strong>Notepad++</strong>. Later when loading your config select edit, line operations, sort lines lexicographically ascending.</li>

<li>Install <strong>paint.net</strong> and install the <strong>GridCheckerboard</strong> plugin. Do this by unzipping the plugin and placing the .dll file in programs, paint.net, Effects. Accessible through Effects, Render, Grid menu later on inside paint.net.</li>

<li>Have a<strong> basic "ROMS" folder ready</strong> that includes a couple unzipped gb, nes, snes, gba, n64 and psx games each in their own subfolder with the same name (gb, snes, n64, etc.) inside a main folder called <strong>"ROMS"</strong>. This will allow DIG to easily load the ROMS when starting up.</li>

<h3>Using LDPlayer4 to visualize DIG themes</h3>

<li>Open LDPlayer4.</li>

<li>Open DIG and click on File Manager tab. Allow root access if prompted.</li>

<li>Click on the left on the 3 horizontal lines (hamburger menu) then select internal shared storage.</li>

<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">To successfully test your modified themes you will need to delete both the "theme.zip" file located in <span style="background-color: #ffff99;">File Manager-&gt;Internal Shared Storage-&gt;Pictures</span> <strong><span style="background-color: #ff0000;">and</span></strong> the DIG app by dragging and dropping it to the bin icon on the homescreen <strong>after each test run</strong>, before installing the theme again.</span></li>

<li>This is to delete the DIG cache and config file it locally stores which would stop the updated version to be loaded correctly.</li>

<li>After you made and saved your edits to the theme config, editing folders, adding/removing background images, icons, etc, <strong>create a zip archive</strong> by selecting every folder (Background Default, Background Systems, Home Icons, Toolbar, etc.) <strong>and</strong> the config file.</li>

<li><strong>DO not zip the folder holding the Background Default, Home Icons or config file</strong>, zip them by <strong>selecting them individually</strong>. DIG will not be able to install the theme otherwise. Make sure to delete the old archive first which should be in the same root directory.</li>

<h3>Techniques and tips</h3>

<li>keeping things coherent with spacing and scale like <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">collections_block_size = "140.0"</span> or <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">home_block_size = "140.0"<br /></span></li>

<li>Leave config entries you are not sure about their function as they are or put them to <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"1"</span> or <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">"0" </span></li>

<li>You can specify wether DIG reads a file or a folder from a directory like&nbsp; <span style="background-color: #99cc00;">game_sound = "folder" ; game_sound_path = "Audio" </span>will look up any audio file inside the Audio folder to play when entering the game menu in DIG.</li>

<h3>Example of a theme folder</h3>

<p>sound = "folder"</p>

<p>sound_path = "Audio"</p>

<p>systems_sound_path = "Audio"</p>

<p>game_sound_path = "Audio"</p>

<p>favorites_media = "file"</p>

<p>favorites_media_path = "Background Favorites/BackgroundFavorites.png"</p>

<p>genres_media = "file"</p>

<p>genres_media_path = "Background Genres/BackgroundGenres.png"</p>

<p>home_media = "file"</p>

<p>home_media_path = "Background Home/BackgroundHome.png"</p>

<p>options_media = "file"</p>

<p>options_media_path = "Background Options/BackgroundOptions.png"</p>

<p><em><strong>(etc. for the backgrounds)</strong></em></p>

<p>default_covers = "Default Covers"</p>

<p>home_icons = "Home Icons"</p>

<p>systems_icons = "Systems Icons"</p>

<p>tool_icons = "Toolbar"</p>