Easy RetroArch SetUp Guide 2019 Windows Also Works On MAC And Linux

In this video, I show you how to easily set up Retroarch so you can play your favorite retro games on your Windows MAC or Linux Computer.
Get Retroarch Here: www.retroarch.com/
Get 7Zip Here: www.7-zip.org/
Need a Gaming PC? Get One On Amazon: amzn.to/2Hbx8TR
💙 Become a Patron: / etaprime
💙 Support The Channel: Paypal - bit.ly/2gy2ffr
💙 Facebook Group: bit.ly/2rkuKPK
Computer Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 2200G
GPU: MSI 1050Ti 4GB
Ram: 8Gb Dual Channel Corsair 3400Mhz DDR4
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.THIS VIDEO IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY! DISCLAIMER: Under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. No Games Or Applications Are Included Or Added On Or To Any Device In This Video

[@thefallinglink]

I still find this video very helpful! But there are a couple things not covered that might help some of you, so I'm gonna comment it here and hopefully that doesn't get lost. Not trying to solve every problem, just intro stuff: 1) The interface looks different, it's all grey and weird! They changed the default interface. Go to settings -> Drivers -> Menu and change to xmb. Save the config, restart Retroarch, update the assets and it should look just the same. Feel free to check out the other interfaces though. 2) Keyboard navigation: left/right arrow keys to navigate across tabs (main menu, settings, favorites, etc.). This also works for toggling settings on/off or cycling through the options. Up/down to navigate selection up/down. Enter will send you down a level (making a selection), as will left-click. Backspace will send you back up a level (like from video settings to settings menu). 3) Further UI customization (like missing the 'import content' section). Go to Settings -> User Interface -> Views to hide/show tabs in the main screen, change or hide the date/time format, etc. Edit: 4) Menu toggle gamepad combo, where is it? It's just hidden down another level. Go to Settings -> Input -> Hotkey Binds and you'll find it there, along with many other useful hotkeys.

[@Twisted_-bp2fc]

best comment award goes to: you

[@JohnSmith-mr6wp]

Thx

[@FilthyWeeb1]

is there a way to play this with mouse and keyboard ? I dont have money to get a new usb port

[@toyotatacoma1616]

Dude, you’re an absolute saint, this is one of the most coherent, comprehensive tutorials on emulation I’ve ever seen

[@rrc7t3]

One of the best guides I've ever watched. So clear and straight forward. Thanks a lot eta prime!

[@darkobelisk4076]

This was just what I needed to get started thanks! I'm 2 days into it now and it's a bit of bastard to configure, lots of Googling needed, but hey it's free. A couple of tips to add to the video; Controller - The GUI is meant to be navigable with a controller. If you get a message that your controller isn't configured, you'll need to Google up the keyboard navigation instructions because they're not intuitive (i.e. "backspace" to go up a level in the menu) then you'll need to go to input settings and Bind All to set up each button/direction. Audio - will be missing on a fresh Windows 10 install. You need to install Direct X to fix this. There is an option to tick this in the Retroarch install wizard but it's unticked by default. Video - Your games will look blurry as bi-linear filtering is switched on by default - go into Settings / Video and turn it off. Shaders will give you a much more faithful CRT look, so head into Quick Menu, go into Shaders, and you'll see three folders CG GLSL and SLANG. Select GLSL, then CRT, then you have a bunch of different shaders to try (crt-easymode-halation is a good one to get you started - a lot of configuring available beyond that). I believe you can set up different Shaders per Core, and per Game if you're willing to research further. Maximise screen real estate - Assuming you have a widescreen 16:9 display, you should have black borders on the sides which is normal, but you may also have them at the top and bottom effectively reducing the viewing size. In video settings, turn off Integer Scale. A few more notes, Box art thumbnails are currently broken for most cores, and a some ROMs get ignored by the file scanner and won't appear in your play list. These two issues I'm yet to figure out but somebody smarter than me already has I'm sure.

[@doomey5]

Thank you thank you thank you I've been waiting for a proper tutorial on retroarch yours is the best eta thank you

[@gimik1214]

I'd love to see more advanced settings. I learned a few tricks I didn't know even from this basic video.

[@jimmycruz81]

I gotta say, I subbed you're channel based on your ability to communicate to me what your doing. I have watched MANY channels and their tutorials or set up guides, Your videos are my number one choice. Thank you.

[@barrygibson1848]

thanks for a step-by-step and easy to understand tutorial. up to this point, i was loosing my mind trying to understand how to get rom/emulators to work. great job! baz

[@ryukjoga]

Excellent video man! I was thinking about setting it up on Steam to stream it over to my living room TV, it'd also be a great idea for a tutorial i believe.

[@AtomicTreeDude]

This does not work very well currently. They are releasing a version on Steam for this very reason. Should be out in a month or so and I am very much looking forward to it.

[@FilthyWeeb1]

the ui just broke my brain

[@FilthyWeeb1]

@@AtomicTreeDude I am from the future and no it hasn't it is now 2/25/2021

[@AtomicTreeDude]

@@FilthyWeeb1 Yeah it was delayed due to some backend nonsense with the way Steam works. However you can get a beta key pretty easy from their website periodically and I currently have it on Steam working well :).

[@h3x3r29]

I never knew that setting it up is so easy , Thanks brother

[@AxiomofDiscord]

I find this to be the most difficult set of emulation I have ever touched. I cannot get the settings to not randomly change without my input. It is frustrating it just eventually breaks and the limits on options makes it frustrating. It is ok for the exclusive cores but I recommend going with stand alones when you can.

[@Aaronius_Maximus]

@@AxiomofDiscord I would also be curious as to what issues you had and if you fixed them eventually. I'm still trying to get my PC setup with this thing but the more I dig in the more I realize that it's really only easy to setup for the 'older' consoles and games. Anything from PSX/Xbox/Wii/WiiU etc is just not a straight forward setup. I'm starting to think just making shortcuts on my Windows desktop for each emulator would be easier than this crap. The interface looks nice but not worth this much trouble.

[@AxiomofDiscord]

@@Aaronius_Maximus I recommend using shortcuts to other emulators or getting a different front end. The problem I find is the emulators are set up well on retroarch and some cores I have not been able to figure out when divorced from Retroarch like redream. But for the most part I use Mame/Mess and Mednafen for almost everything. I try to save changes in retroarch and lose everything and have to start over so often or something i don't want overwritten gets overwritten. It is very frustrating to what seems like random have to start over again with all those emulators. Even saving the settings to another folder for recovery does not always seem to work for me.

[@lexicdys2823]

I think you would find it easier to downtown stand alone emulators and ROMs and sort them into their own folders instead of all being under the same tree

[@Aaronius_Maximus]

@@lexicdys2823 definitely starting to agree the more I've dug into this especially things like MAME64..

[@BakedPrawns]

I’m so glad you’ve done this video. I’ve been messing around with launchbox but this look a lot better

[@SoumalyaBarai]

This is probably the most helpful, understandable, and comprehensive setup i saw on youtube.. you are the best.. I am a new linux user, migrated from windows, and frankly, know nothing about ubuntu. Was banging my head to setup this emulator (and frankly cursing because it seemed like everyone considered that the user already knew some part of using the system to use the softwares), but you, you saved me.. i am subscribing

[@saiblades6672]

I knew there gonna be Altered Beast!

[@bugginfelix]

Would love to see an advanced setup for the amazon firestick

[@stridermt2k]

The problem I had (past tense) with Retroarch is that there are so many settings that it's easy to be overwhelmed by it all. Using THIS guide I went at it again, only this time with total success. THANK YOU!!!

[@biglipzit]

Bruh, I had no clue this thing was so powerful and easy. Last time I opened it I was like "dafoq is dis?" and had no clue. Thank you.

[@daverhodus]

I'd love to see an Advanced setup for more difficult systems and more accurate emulators.

[@LateNightGhost]

8:52 "Always go with Altered Beast. One of the best games ever made" I second that emotion! ❤️

[@micolino83]

same here ^^

[@glogicrodney2175]

First of all I want to tell you that you are the first ever person on KZbin to make a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to do something everyone else that I have seen needs to take a note to how you perform this video it is very helpful and I applaud you 10 Stars hands down the best tutorial that I've ever seen on KZbin keep up the good work if you can please try to do tutorials for a PlayStation Vita and how to install and setup apps I will greatly appreciate it

[@johnnypopovich905]

almost bought a switch or 3ds just to play old school games....luckily im smart and found retroarch....AWESOME...your vids help a lot keep up the great work

[@1337rofl]

Thanks man! Could you do a setup for PS1 on RetroArch?

[@tommypigskin2552]

you can play the games just fine if you just drag the rom file over the RetroArch window

[@tyzerro]

my goto video for setting up a new install of retroarch thanks again! i finally watched it to the point where you upscaled!!!! holy cow mind blown, goes to show, always stick around for the end of the vid

[@Hornet85]

Thanks for the guide. Following this, I was able to successfully setup RetroArch at first attempt

[@trajectoryunown]

Question: Why is it that my RetroArch core list doesn't include any for Nintendo 64? I literally spent 5 hours trying to figure out how to install one manually and wound up at a dead end.

[@ravirajgulati9790]

Great video but I would like to add on to it. If anyone is using an old laptop with Intel HD graphics as the only graphics solution, retroarch won't run on windows 10. You need to download wtfi.exe file from one of the forums to patch retroarch that will get it up and running.

[@kylevanwagn3r]

Just getting into emulation and your videos have been ridiculously helpful, thank you!

[@kingnessingtoniii8529]

Thanks for the tutorial man. I was having a bad day, but this was so helpful and now my day is better.

[@claytonrosie4216]

when you install your ROMs... do you always install zip files? will other file types work as well?

[@charmilla5098]

lol i didnt knew how to go back when i clicked on a option just click right mouse

[@raandomplayer8589]

how about going left and right?

[@pimb2253]

Literally what ive been needing, thanks eta prime!!!

[@scamp_media]

Thanks for this, stuck down at home for a few days with the folks so hopefully this will pass the time!

[@albertlopez8078]

Yes more advanced

[@annadenaro9919]

Same

[@bobg58]

Installed on Ubuntu Linux... USB drive is properly mounted and appears on the desktop. RetroArch does not find the thumb drive.

[@InklanUtterfield]

Thank you, pal. This was really helpful; I appreciate it. Well-delivered, too.

[@Kyle_Nelson]

Thanks much ETA Prime, very informative as always!

[@Cdaddyx1212]

Video needs an update as RetroArch has changed a lot since this version. Lots of changes to options and some explained here no longer appear in the new version of RetroArch. Looks completely different.

[@Cdaddyx1212]

@@turnstxne just keep in mind some people are new to all of this and can thus get confused. If you have been dealing with emulation and RetroArch for a while then yes this is clear enough.

[@ALX3rdS]

This interface still exist. Settings / Drivers / Menu

[@WreckerALeX]

I'm very confused... The video seems more simple with a Playstation kind of menu(XMB?) while on my screen it looks more complicated. Also when scanning directory, it doesn't show neatly. I'm still testing

[@WreckerALeX]

@@turnstxneJust found you have to go to DRIVER>MENU(Change to XMB) to follow the video. None of the boxart is showing despite its set default to THUMBNAILS > BOXARTS. It looks like the version he has is much less troublesome if setting up an emulator pc. Might go to individual programs for each console

[@TheBenjamingough]

Yeah I'm on the noob side

[@jasonlaird2744]

I know this is a 2 year old video, but most of these options have been removed or hidden well. For example, Menu toggle gamepad combo and the ribbon graphics are missing in the current version. Anyone know how to access "menu toggle gamepad combo"?

[@SLAYER-nm5zw]

thank you soooo much for this my friend,you just gave me infinite happiness and nostalgia,you are the best

[@bernardmarlow9727]

Cheers for uploading just got retroarch running with some games from my past 👍

[@StiekemeHenk]

Madlad has 7zip and winrar installed XD

[@look_its_wesley8252]

after watching this im just as lost my Doms isn't even showing up

[@MaxIboy889]

This is so good. @ETA PRIME helped me out heaps! Thank you

[@questionable8243]

Thank you so much for this little guide, it's helped immensely. Thank you too for how you presented everything, was very easy to follow.

[@nikiiv]

Why did you miss controller setup. Also the basic navigation buttons. Often novices get confused of the standard navigation with RetroArch

[@daveyfromdownsouth7889]

Ive never seen any videos on retro arch and i downloadid and used some mame roms and it worked fine

[@soraphobic]

Controller setup is un-needed because if you plug In a controller it automatically uses it

[@darksaturn1007]

For some reason my cores wont load "Task failed".. Help

[@Shaneq718]

@@vitaldreamer8981 it should default to keyboard settings unless it detects a controller.

[@soraphobic]

James Cav I was talking about PS4, Xbox, Etc

[@kajaakaj]

when i scan directories i dont have nicely catalogued consoles like you do .. im on ps vita .1.7.3 is version of retroarch. ? help

[@fn0va]

Not all retroarch versions look the same. Just look up a tutorial for ps vita and it should help

[@RetroGameRarities]

I just started dabbling in Retroarch to build an emulator box out of an old PC. This video helped immensely. Thank you!

[@TechiesUnofficial]

Love that fact that you don't even need to install to play. Great vid, sir!

[@kevinmarkham6385]

WHAT IS THAT INTERFACE? Mine doesn’t look ANYTHING like that?

[@didyz]

Many of my roms don't show up and they work perfectly fine in individual emulators

[@kylehill3643]

Individual is the way to go! Front ends are in it for the money honey! They lost their way to greed.

[@kylehill3643]

The newest RA update is a major screw up. It won't find my roms either.

[@A_Man_In_His_Van]

It isn't retroarch that is the problem. You have to manually scan your directories where your roms are, and if they are not extracted, or in .zip the scan won't find them.

[@donalddupont9229]

Hey, would love to see the more in depth video you were talking about! Thanks for this one as well!!!

[@spiralings]

You speak well. Also, I have no idea how I never heard or retroarch until today. Super excited to try it out!

[@helderaeso]

pls, show sega saturn and psx on retroarch with high resolutions.

[@MrJholshouser41]

Yeah I have about 5 file not founds.

[@stingyjack]

Another vote for the advanced video. It would be great if you talked about setting up controls per core, shaders, and bezels. Thanks for the highest quality emulation videos on KZbin.

[@treypop123]

I really appreciate this video. I've been trying to use retro arch but I've been lacking on how to get it set up and running

[@Chaosfoxx]

when i scan my game wont pop up

[@najjmx2422]

sweetchaos Fox did u save your games in data or (D:)

[@najjmx2422]

The roms should be saved in (d:) folder

[@supermariodinosaurs]

oof

[@jean-michelb7290]

Really easy.... right.. im a it tech and i cannot even figure out how to start a emu game.. not friendly user at all!

[@2chinsofficial828]

user friendly* XD

[@rehansaid6768]

fat

[@MrValz0]

Videos like these are an absolute godsend with the current pandemic. Thanks a lot ETA Prime. :)

[@haroldasraz]

These sort of videos are really appreciated.

[@shannax7834]

My ROMs are not being picked up

[@Twizzler101]

Mine too. Did u find a way to fix them?

[@shannax7834]

@@Twizzler101 no, just ended up getting separate emulators. If you just have me in a folder with folders for ROMs for the designated emulators, you basically have everything you need. Just without the sleek design and maybe easiness of RetroArch

[@Twizzler101]

@@shannax7834 just wanted to let you know I successfully put in 2 n64 roms into retroarch

[@shannax7834]

@@Twizzler101 wow

[@Twizzler101]

@n s I put my roms on a flash drive and put scan my directory

[@AxiomofDiscord]

I hate how some of these cores can only be found on Retroarch. Maybe it could be more tolerable if Retroarch did not make me feel like I am playing on a modern console. Making the fact you got a PC kinda pointless. Also the lack of flexibility is annoying when the standalones tend to have plenty of options missing in Retroarch. Can you even use different controllers? I have struggled just using my 6 button controllers on Genesis/Megadrive while wanting a 4 button controller for SNES.

[@ravagingwolverine]

Aberran Fox there may be an easier way to approach it, but I just have different configs for different controllers and I load them manually when I want to use different controllers. It's only a tiny inconvenience to me.

[@AxiomofDiscord]

Do you make a separate install/folder?

[@RobLoach]

There's a Qt client in the works, to give it a more WIMP interface. To have a 6 button layout, visit the Input configs. It's usually remappable as L3 and R3. The remapping will be easier in RetroArch 1.7.2 too.

[@ravagingwolverine]

Aberran Fox I do make a new folder for config files. That is just my preference. I change the directory in Retroarch settings to where the configs are. I set my favorite controller to be my main, default config. Then I change controllers and do the controller binding and then I save it as a new config. After that, I'll rename the configs so I can understand them. So my main config is for a Saturn controller. If I want to use something else like PS1, I use the keyboard to manually load another config for it. It may not be the best way, but it works.

[@AxiomofDiscord]

I wish those who work on this program cared to make this easier. Seems so silly to make it this fiddly to run multiple setups. It is weird to me that they would make a frontend that actually takes away options that the original emulators had.

[@jazenrocker6377]

Thanks! I've been messing with emulators since my first PC but RetroArch completely confused me when i was trying to get it working for my son. Thanks!

[@nevergone3424]

Thank you so much, your voice, your pacing was very clear and easy to understand

[@lordbeerus6346]

It just keeps crashing every time it launches help

[@rajundoal5406]

Same here on Mac, are you experiencing this issue on Windows or Mac?

[@jaxfan]

Same here. Did you ever figure it out?

[@GreeneAlien]

jaxfan it worked just fine until a couple days ago And now it won’t work, it crashes and won’t load up

[@wickedsmith6994]

cant get to work the roms dont show up

[@rajundoal5406]

Same

[@JRock424]

This is the Issue there KZbin channels don't address and it's pissing me off.

[@shineonnent.7951]

U have bad files

[@shineonnent.7951]

Scan you hdd

[@salty_8224]

You can go to load content and start the roms directly but idk how to get the console icons

[@clancyr1696]

Oh dude! I love you!!! I've been goofing with mame for such a long time, But this one is really really nice! Tysm!!!! very cromulent.

[@agirlyman]

I can't wait to go home and try this out! thank you so much for the video!

[@ByGraceThroughFaith777]

2019 Guide but uploaded on Apr 2018??? Confused

[@Aribbonofsoundmen]

He updated the title so he still gets views on it.

[@punaforager]

Retroarch bites!!! Navigation is through the interface is insanely frustrating. Mac

[@U2cantrustme]

Awesome Video, you did a great job. Took your time with each step, very helpful THANK YOU :)

[@gnote206ify]

It took all day and some brain racking with each individual thing from games on flash drives configure a controller but I finally got it!!!

[@LaceyFilm]

Retroarch has such an awful UI. Everything is so counterintuitive and over complicated.

[@me000]

My biggest complaint is that Esc quits the program instantly, no confirmation or anything. Did they forget that everyone has hitting Esc associated with a pause menu, because that's how its done in literally every game?

[@LaceyFilm]

@@me000 I know. It's amazing how poorly thought out that aspect of the program is. It negates so much of the great work they've done.

[@ItsTacosDude]

From what i understand, it was created on the ps3 for the ps3, so it follows that style of UI, i think it would be nice if they updated it though.

[@kylehill3643]

@@ItsTacosDude In their minds nobody uses a Pee Ceeee. They have sold themselves to the marketing hype that consoles are computers. They are as much of a computer as a electric moped is a car. Both have engines so they must be the same right? Why I live only 1 mile from work and I never use a car so why should you? LOL.

[@kylehill3643]

Lacy Film I couldn't upvote you enough!

[@verylowendgamers7426]

03:24 is something I was looking for. I also made one setup guide but forget to include this. Thanks ETAP

[@GreyfoxNL]

Awesome video, Thank you so much for this. Going to install it tonight.

[@eljigantieman3750]

hey prime the only thing i need to figure out is how to pass my skills onto.some lovely nurses in a hospital in glasgow scotland thanks for all your helpfull videos. you are the man thank you

[@butlersescape2015]

yes sir lets see an advanced one! i love the content you make. I have played around a decent amount with Retro and it is nice, but i cant seem to get it quite right.

[@u2zero2u]

Thank you very much. Now I need to download this video and put it with my roms so if years later I want to play them, I know how. Thank you.

[@benoit--martin]

Thank you so much for your very serious work :) I discovered so much funny things because of you ! Really nice channel !

[@luke070610]

An advanced settings tutorial and explanation of what each setting does would be a big help for everyone. Maybe even show how to add non-standard cores like project64. Thanks again for the great content ETA. 👍

[@racer4200]

Awesome vid man. Got me up and running! Thank you.

[@emajica]

Wow!! Incredable tutorial.. Well put across & explained everything id want to know to kick start this program. Thanx

[@Chimpdonger]

Best tutorial video I've watched, thank you

[@I3ordo]

very well done video and your mic sounds as if captured in a sound-cured environment... and the front end(retroarch) seems very nice, just wish there was some unofficial rom downloader add on...

[@hapcampbell]

Definitely do an advanced video. A lot of people will find it useful. Thanks for the great tutorials!!!

[@DiggoryJiggory]

This was extremely in-depth and helpfull. Thankyou.

[@tylerclemons9491]

A video on the more advanced features would be awesome!

[@heroic-manrhoden2650]

I love Retroarch. Retroarch rocks!

[@runner2274]

Thanks for the info! I run 1.8.5, so some options were put in other submenus. Love to see more videos on advanced options

[@mstrgamesp0t882]

You are the coolest guy when it comes to emulation ^_^ i really idolized your work

[@flameplayz1787]

thank you I spent so long trying to make project64 work but this work in a second thank you!!!

[@57henar]

Thank you for taking the time to make this.

[@danilenkodn]

Thank you, helped a lot. Not afraid anymore with basic config :)

[@notnintendo]

Wow, incredible. I've been wanting to play some games I previously could not play.

[@ToxicLastChaos]

Please make an hour long video on advanced settings. You are fantastic and really good at making simple to follow guides. Would love to see what a real project can do.

[@DeidaraTriops]

Thank you so much for your numerous great videos!

[@BrokenBeats94]

I cant believe how easy this is to set up, thanks! Sub +1

[@maximilianomendoza3057]

this worked omg!!! i love your vids thank you

[@spikeds60]

Perfect to get me running, thanks!

[@Saahib_K]

You are amazing and am an instant fan and sub. Cheers!