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Retrodeck support - #236

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rommapp:mainfrom
pawndev:retrodeck
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Retrodeck support#236
pawndev wants to merge 19 commits into
rommapp:mainfrom
pawndev:retrodeck

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@pawndev

@pawndev pawndev commented May 30, 2026 •
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This is the continuation of #213

Next things to think of:

  • If grout is a component of retrodeck, needless to create a gamelist.xml in port for that ?
    • Surely we can omit this part
  • games downloaded and media in gamelist.xml in the roms folder doesn't seems to be read by retrodeck
    • because they does not go in the roms folder, but in the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ES-DE/gamelists/{core}/ folder
    • make sur to not override something else (e.g. alternateEmulatore)
    • same for images/videos/etc, paths: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ES-DE/downloaded_media/{core}/{3dboxes, backcovers, covers, fanart, manuals, marquees, miximages, physicalmedia, screenshots, titlescreens, videos}
    • can we put absolute path in the gamelist.xml ?
    • the medias does not seems to appear in the gamelist.xml when scrapped from scrapper, not mandatory ? (only fields: path, name, desc, rating, releasedate, developer, publisher, genre players)
  • how to retrieved the path where the roms/saves/bios folders are ?
    • In the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/retrodeck/retrodeck.json there are many paths defined

Next things to do:

  • get paths from retrodeck.json
  • remove grout gamelist from port
  • Change grout log path
  • change gamelist path to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ES-DE/gamelists/{core}/
  • change medias downloaded (in the actual version, we can't download all, we need to choose which art to get)
  • do not fill all gamelist field like other ES cfw integration (cfw options on which field to allow, and not filled will be all ?)
  • Once AmberElec PR feat(CFW): added AmberELEC support with RG351V and Rg351P devices #234 is merged, get the relative path function for gamelist

Initial description:

Adds initial support for RetroDECK, so it can be added as a non-Steam game.
Feel free to request any change, especially if I forgot something.

This is a follow-up of this issue: #210.

EDIT: Added associated documentation.

EDIT2: Got inspired and added an automatic install script with media, so it looks nice in the Steam game library.

It currently looks fine on Bazzite, but I have an issue with nonsteam not detecting the Steam install on SteamOS. I'll investigate when I have a bit more free time.

@pawndev pawndev self-assigned this Jun 3, 2026
@XargonWan

XargonWan commented Jun 5, 2026

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Note: in RetroDECK users can move the folders, so better to read their location from the retrodeck config (json format).

@pawndev

pawndev commented Jun 6, 2026

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Note: in RetroDECK users can move the folders, so better to read their location from the retrodeck config (json format).

Yep I already did the parsing of the config json in my local changes

@BrandonKowalski BrandonKowalski added this to the v5.0.0.0? milestone Jun 6, 2026
@pawndev
feat(retrodeck): correct paths & gamelist handling
81a4f4b 
Parse the retrodeck.json file to handle properly all of the paths (bios, roms, etc.)
Handle gamelist that are not in the roms directories
sdhibit pushed a commit to sdhibit/grout that referenced this pull request Jul 26, 2026
Steve Hibit
feat: add ES-DE support (vanilla, EmuDeck, RetroDECK)
7fb0fb9 
Add a new ESDE CFW target covering EmulationStation Desktop Edition
setups on desktop Linux (Steam Deck, SteamOS, Bazzite): standalone
ES-DE, EmuDeck, and RetroDECK — one binary, with the flavor selected
via a first-run variant wizard and switchable in a new ES-DE Settings
screen.

Directories resolve through a precedence chain: explicit config
override > environment variable > variant discovery > variant default.
Discovery reads EmuDeck's settings.sh (emulationPath), RetroDECK's
retrodeck.json (as requested by the RetroDECK maintainer in rommapp#236), and
ES-DE's es_settings.xml, so relocated/SD-card installs work without
manual configuration. Every directory (base, ROMs, BIOS, saves, ES-DE
data, media) can also be overridden individually in settings.

ES-DE layout differences from Batocera-style ES are handled:
- gamelists are written to <appdata>/gamelists/<system>/gamelist.xml
  with ./-relative game paths (new gamelist.Options hook)
- media is written to <media>/<system>/{covers,marquees,backcovers,
  fanart,screenshots,videos,manuals} matched by ROM basename; a new
  UsesArtSuffixes() predicate disables the -thumb/-marquee/-boxback/
  -fanart filename suffixes for ES-DE
- no ES restart scheduling (grout runs as ES-DE's child); the bezel
  art option is hidden (no such media type in ES-DE)

Grout installs as an ES-DE port in <roms>/ports/. The launcher exports
GROUT_ESDE_ROMS_DIR from its own location so the ROMs dir is correct
for any variant, and carries the Steam Deck input workarounds from
PR rommapp#235 (ignore axis-motion event flooding, suppress Steam keyboard).
The amd64 build now bundles the full SDL library stack for SteamOS's
sealed OS and RetroDECK's flatpak sandbox.

Includes platform table (docs/platforms/ESDE.md) generated into
cfw/esde/data/platforms.json, packaging target (Grout-ESDE.zip), CI
release wiring, in-app updater support, install/settings docs, and
unit tests for path precedence and the three config parsers.

Closes rommapp#210, closes rommapp#238. Builds on rommapp#235, rommapp#236, and rommapp#213.
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@pawndev @XargonWan @BrandonKowalski @Namaneo