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Emulator Box

This a computer designed to behave like a typical gaming console; it hooks up to a TV and is primarily controlled via USB controller and a small customizable button pad and/or Android app. A keyboard and mouse should not be necessary to operate the device.

Hardware

Machine

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 3400G
  • Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac
  • RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16
  • Disk: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB - NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD

Peripherals

  • Elgato Stream Deck Mini (6-button pad)
  • 8 port USB hub
  • 4x Rock Candy XBox USB controller

Software

  • Windows 10 x64
  • Emulation Station
    • Graphical, controller-input front-end for emulator systems.
  • Node.js for windows
    • This is responsible for running scripts for the button pad and app.
  • Steam
  • Various emulators:
    • Dolphin
    • Project64
    • ZSNES
    • etc.
  • Stream Deck
    • Software for programming the button pad.

On-system Directory Structure

The config files in the repo are setup to work on the following directory structure:

  • Root: C:/emulator_box/
    • ./EmulatorBox/
      • This is a checkout of this git repo.
    • ./roms/
      • ./gamebube/
      • ./n64/
      • ./gba/
      • ./snes/
      • ./nes/
    • ./emulators/
      • Any emulators can be installed here. The local es_systems.cfg will need to be updated for any emulators in this directory.
    • ./saves
      • For ease of updating emulators, save files should be configured to go here if possible. Each emulator should have a directory here.

Project Directories

  • ./assets/
    • Image assets for any of the sub-projects that need time (ex. app and Stream Deck icons).
  • ./configs/
    • Configuration files for any of the base software that needs it.
    • Emulators have configs set up for xBox controllers.
    • Emulation Station is configured to work on the directory structure listed above.
    • Individual config files need to be move to replace the ones installed with each system.
  • ./ConsolePadApp/
    • An Android app used with the ConsoleUDPResponder to perform the same actions as the Stream Deck but from your phone or device.
    • Automatically detects the console if the ConsoleUDPResponder is running.
  • ./ConsoleUDPResponder/
    • The host software that executes commands issued by the Console Pad app.
    • This should be set to start when Windows starts.
    • All actions performed by this software assume the directory structure listed above.
  • ./ControllerInfo/
    • A commandline utility to read out information about connected controllers in JSON format to std::out.
    • This currently uses the OpenTK library for controller input which is an absolute dumpster fire; axis and button counts are mangled and sometimes connection is flaky. A prototype using GLFW in C++ is in the pipe, but I was also like it to detect and output DirectInput IDs which are obsolete but old controllers still use.
  • ./RunProgramSilent/
    • A wrapper program that tries to execute programs without showing a main window.
    • This is mainly for polish as it looks better when a emulator starts without numerous windows appearing.
    • Use: ./RunProgramSilent.exe <PROGRAM_PATH> [<PARAM_1>] [<PARAM_2>] [...]
  • ./scripts/
    • Node JS scripts to perform various functionality (mostly for the Stream Deck).
    • Prebuilt executables for tools that need them.
  • ./system_wallpaper.png
    • A basic wallpaper to show on system startup and desktop while things are loading.

Setup

Startup

Create shortcuts to both the Emulation Station and ConsoleUDPResponder and put them in the startup directory for windows.

Stream Deck

  • Button 1: Home
    • ./assets/button_icons/house.png
    • C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/RunProgramSilent.exe
    node.exe
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/KillGames.js
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/configs
  • Button 2: Emulators
    • Start or restart Emulation Station.
    • ./assets/button_icons/emulationstation.png
    • C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/RunProgramSilent.exe
    node.exe
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/RestartEmulationStation.js
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/configs
  • Button 3: Steam
    • Start or restart Steam in big-picture mode.
    • ./assets/button_icons/steam.png
    • C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/RunProgramSilent.exe
    node.exe
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/RestartSteamBP.js
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/configs
  • Button 4: Power Off
    • ./assets/button_icons/zzz.png
    • C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/RunProgramSilent.exe
    node.exe
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/scripts/PowerOff.js
    C:/emulator_box/EmulatorBox/configs

Firewall

The following should have all outbound requests blocked:

  • Stream Deck updater: %ProgramFiles%\Elgato\StreamDeck\StreamDeck.exe
    • This is to prevent the UI from popping up a notification for updating the software.