Ubuntu Manpage: retroarch - The reference frontend for the libretro API.

Provided by: retroarch_1.19.1+dfsg-1build1_amd64

NAME

       retroarch - The reference frontend for the libretro API.

SYNOPSIS

       retroarch [rom file(s)] [OPTIONS]...

DESCRIPTION

       retroarch is the reference frontend for the libretro API.  libretro is an abstraction of a
       game system, and can be implemented by any frontend.  The libretro  API  is  designed  for
       games,  emulators  and multimedia.  retroarch focuses on exposing needed functionality for
       the game system through the use of command line and configuration files.  It also features
       a simple built-in UI.

EXAMPLE COMMANDLINE

       Load content, using a specific libretro core and config file.
              retroarch        --config        ~/.config/retroarch/retroarch.cfg       --libretro
              /path/to/libretro/core.so /path/to/rom.rom --verbose

       No command line options will start RetroArch in menu mode.
              retroarch

       Start RetroArch in menu mode, with verbose logging.
              retroarch --menu --verbose

DEFAULT CONTROLS

       By default, only keyboard input is accepted.

GENERAL OPTIONS

[rom file]
If no rom file path is defined on the command line, retroarch will try to load a
core with no rom. This will only work with some libretro cores. retroarch use
uncompressed content, but can uncompress content in the .zip/deflate format if
support for it is compiled in. Content types supported depend on the libretro
implementation used.

--help, -h
Prints help text.

--menu Starts directly in in-game menu if enabled. Does not require content or libretro
implementation to be set. These can be loaded afterwards in the menu. If no
arguments are passed to retroarch, it is equivalent to calling retroarch with this
as only argument.

--features
Prints available features compiled into RetroArch, then exits.

-L PATH, --libretro PATH
Path to a libretro implementation which is to be used. This option will override
any setting in a config file. This option is only available if RetroArch is
compiled with dynamic libretro loading.

--save PATH, -s PATH
Overrides the path used for save ram (*.srm) (deprecated). Without this flag, the
save ram path will be inferred from the rom path name, and put in the same
directory as the rom file with the extension replaced with '.srm'. If PATH is a
directory, RetroArch will treat this as the save file directory, where the save
file name will be inferred from the rom name.

--savestate PATH, -S PATH
Overrides the path used for save states (deprecated). Without this flag, the save
state path will be inferred from the rom path name, and put in the same directory
as the rom file with the extension replace with '.state'. If PATH is a directory,
RetroArch will treat this as the save state directory, where the state file name
will be inferred from the rom name. Do note that save states are bound to the
libretro implementation being used. Using a different libretro could invalidate the
save state file.

--fullscreen, -f
Always starts RetroArch in fullscreen. Disregards settings in configuration file.

--config PATH, -c PATH
Sets the configuration file path. retroarch will use this path to load the
configuration file. Should this not be defined, retroarch will look in platform
specific paths to attempt finding the config file. /etc/retroarch.cfg (when
installed), or retroarch.cfg in the source tarball serves as a skeleton
configuration file. /etc/retroarch.cfg should serve as a skeleton config only.

Unix-like systems will look in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/retroarch/retroarch.cfg first. If
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not defined, it is assumed to be $HOME/.config as per
specification. Then it will try $HOME/.retroarch.cfg. If both paths fail, RetroArch
will try to create a new, default config file in
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/retroarch/retroarch.cfg (or the $HOME/.config default for
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME). If all fails, default settings will be assumed. If RetroArch
creates a new default config file, it will attempt to load the skeleton config file
/etc/retroarch.cfg and use that as a basis. This allows distributions to set up
default paths for libretro cores, and similar things. A configuration file does
not need to define every possible option, only those which should be overridden.

If config_save_on_exit = true is set in the config file, RetroArch will overwrite
the config file on exit. Settings can be changed from within the menu. If
RetroArch overwrites a config file, formatting, comments, etc will be lost. If
RetroArch creates a default config file, it will have config_save_on_exit set
automatically.

Windows will look in retroarch.cfg in same folder where retroarch.exe resides. A
default config file will also be created in the same manner as Unix.

--appendconfig PATH
Appends a different set of config files to the config file loaded in -c (or
default). Multiple config files are delimited by ','. Every config file will be
appended in order where the key-value pairs of the next config file takes priority
over the old ones.

--subsystem SUBSYSTEM
Use a subsystem of the loaded libretro core. Multiple content files are loaded as
multiple arguments. If content is skipped, use a blank ("") command line argument.
Content must be loaded in an order which depends on the particular subsystem used.
See verbose log output to learn how a particular subsystem wants content to be
loaded.

--nodevice PORT, -N PORT
Disconnects an input device from port number PORT. Possible values for PORT are 1
to 8. This may be needed for some odd games to run properly. If set explicitly
here, overrides config file for that port.

--dualanalog PORT, -A PORT
Connects a DualAnalog controller into port PORT. Possible values are 1 to 8. If
set explicitly here, overrides config file for that port.

--device PORT:ID, -d PORT:ID
Connects a generic input device ID into port PORT. Possible values for port are 1
to 8. If set explicitly here, overrides config file for that port. ID is an
unsigned number corresponding to the device for a libretro core.

--record PATH, -r PATH
Activates video recording of gameplay into PATH. Using .mkv extension is
recommended. Codecs used are (FFV1 or H264 RGB lossless (x264))/FLAC, suitable for
processing the material further.

--recordconfig PATH
Sets path to a config file for use during recording.

--size WIDTHxHEIGHT
Allows specifying the exact output width and height of recording. This option will
override any configuration settings. The video input is scaled with point
filtering before being encoded at the correct size.

--play-replay PATH, -P PATH
Play back a movie recorded in the .replay format. Cart ROM and movie file need to
correspond. It also requires to play back with the same libretro backend that was
used for recording.

--record-replay PATH, -R PATH
Start recording a .replay video to PATH immediately after startup.

--sram-mode MODE, -M MODE
MODE designates how to handle SRAM. The format of the second parameter is
{no,}load-{no,}save. These two boolean values tell if SRAM loading and SRAM saving
should take place. Note that noload-save implies that the SRAM will be overwritten
with new data.

--verbose, -v
Activates verbose logging.

--host, -H
Be the host of netplay. Waits until a user connects. The host will always assume
user 1.

--connect SERVER, -C SERVER
Connect to a host of netplay. Will always assume user 2.

--frames FRAMES, -F FRAMES
Sync frames to use when using netplay. More frames allow for more latency, but
requires more CPU power. Set FRAMES to 0 to have perfect sync. 0 frames is only
suitable for LAN. Defaults to 0.

--port PORT
Network port used for netplay. This defaults to 55435. This option affects both TCP
and UDP.

--spectate
If netplay is used, it will go into a spectator mode. Spectator mode allows one
host to live stream game playback to multiple clients. Essentially, clients
receive a live streamed replay movie file. Clients can connect and disconnect at
any time. Clients thus cannot interact as user 2. For spectating mode to work,
both host and clients will need to use this flag.

--command CMD
Sends a command over UDP to an already running RetroArch application, and exit.
The command is formatted as "COMMAND;HOST;PORT". HOST and PORT are both optional.
"COMMAND;HOST" will set PORT to "network_cmd_port" default setting. If only
"COMMAND" is used, HOST and PORT will be assumed to be "localhost" and
"network_cmd_port" respectively.

The available commands are listed if "COMMAND" is invalid.

--nick NICK
Pick a nickname for use with netplay. This is purely cosmetic, and only serves to
help users identify each other.

--ups PATCH, -U PATCH
Attempts to apply an UPS patch to the current content image. No files are altered.
If this flag is not specified, RetroArch will look for a .ups file with same
basename as content specified.

--bps PATCH
Attempts to apply a BPS patch to the current content image. No files are altered.
If this flag is not specified, RetroArch will look for a .bps file with same
basename as content specified.

--ips PATCH
Attempts to apply a IPS patch to the current content image. No files are altered.
If this flag is not specified, RetroArch will look for a .ips file with same
basename as content specified. Note that RetroArch cannot perform any error
checking if patching was successful due to how IPS works.

--xdelta PATCH
Attempts to apply an Xdelta patch to the current content image. No files are
altered. If this flag is not specified, RetroArch will look for a .xdelta file
with same basename as content specified. Only available if RetroArch was built
with Xdelta support.

--no-patch
Disables all kinds of content patching.