RetroArch - Fix missing thumbnails and boxart!

[@WatsonatorTV]

If your game is not in the database AND for whatever reason the Desktop Menu is not letting you drag and drop .PNG files into the little box there is one final method: -Locate your thumbnails folder wherever your RetroArch is installed (for me this is: This PC\Local Disc C\Programs\RetroArch\thumbnails -You will see all of your platforms listed here and the boxart, title screen, screenshot folders within them -Drag and drop your custom .PNG image into the appropriate folder -Go into the folder and rename the custom image the EXACT same name as the RetroArch display name (just copy and past the title from Desktop Menu to be exact) -It should then show up automatically if the display name matches the PNG image file

[@johnheror5564]

Can you tell me where to download the Amiga boxart? Thanks.

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@johnheror5564 Sorry for the delay in responding. I believe the database in the video actually has an Amiga section here: thumbnails.libretro.com/Commodore%20-%20Amiga/ I usually do not use RetroArch for my older computer emulation as things can get a bit weird, but they do have a decent list of boxarts. Alternatively you could also look into a program called Skraper: www.skraper.net/ This is a very nice boxart tool where you can sort of setup your own parameters and it even has Amiga support and other home computers. There are some good tutorials out there if you need help figuring out how to use it. Cheers.

[@adrianhernandez4303]

Thanks, was searching how to do it for Apple TV Retroarch and this manual step definitely did the trick.

[@RuthlessX77]

I didn't understand what happened after going to the thumbnails folder. Could you please explain it one more time? I really need it. Explain it as if you were explaining it to an idiot.pls?(i fixed it no problem

[@AlexVideoGamesandLongplaysYT]

Can You Please Make A Guide On How To Add Games That Won't Add

[@Mr.Fishward]

Truly a godsend. The only video that seems to exist on how to get the box art to work.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Thanks! It was driving me mad and I figured it was probably annoying some other people too, it's certainly not something you would be able to figure out off the top of your head either.

[@Mr.Fishward]

@@WatsonatorTV No problem! By any chance, you know how to get custom thumbnails to work? There are some games not in the database that I still want to get art for. I followed the guides online, but they don’t seem to work for me at all.

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@Mr.Fishward If you try to do it like the 2nd game I did in the video (Thrasher) does it not work ya? I show what to do if you need to add thumbnails for a game not in the database at the end there. If it's not in the database, grab a pic from google or something, change the type to .png in a paint program, and then drag and drop in the desktop menu. Should resize it and everything for ya.

[@powerhouse884]

IT WORKED FOR iOS Retroarch. -Had to Rename: Pokemon - Black Version 2 (USA, Europe) (NDSi Enhanced) - Then go to Download Updated >>>Thumbnail download and it finally got the Box Art Thanx my dude.

[@WatsonatorTV]

THANK YOU for that response because I always get tons of iOS questions and that is something I have very little experience/knowledge.

[@Russell_Powell86]

This helped a lot. I had done everything correct. However, i had downloaded random pics i got of the internet and saved them as .png then renamed them to the same as my roms before adding them to the retroarch. It couldn't find them. As soon as i downloaded the ones from the database you linked, worked perfectly. Thank you very much sir! My OCD can be at peace haha!

[@CordedStudent76]

Help tramendiously, thank you. Also.... If these methods do not work for you and no images appear at all, it may be because the thumbnail is cycled to either a title screen or screenshot image instead of the boxart. try going to your blank playlist and hit square(playstation controller) or X(Xbox controller) this will cycle the art around.... This was the primary issue I had, hopefully it helps someone else. Cheers!

[@jjtaot2661]

This was extremely helpful, I was pulling my hair out wondering why my boxart that I downloaded wasn’t working. Turns out it was because I changed the file extension when downloading. Thanks!

[@WatsonatorTV]

Happy to help out! I never understood why you couldn't just change it while downloading either, I was surprised when I found out how that worked.

[@squeegee_ouija]

Thank you! You explained everything perfectly. I got all my box art in order, it was driving me crazy. Not as crazy as Crazy Taxi, but still crazy. Speaking of which, I’m gonna go play that!

[@SeanScorpion]

Perfect. I was having a hell of a time getting this to work on my own because I was chaining the extension during download and NOT using the Retroarch desktop version which I forgot existed. I'm filling in my "full" NES collection which includes a bunch of Japanese and pirate carts.

[@Dougulol]

Nobody talked about this paint part before. Thanks for this video.

[@gianz73]

Thanks sooooo much!!! Absolutely clear, concise and detailed description!

[@Th99thKnight]

Bro, thank you so much, I was trying to find a website with Box Arts in HD for a long time, really, thank you very much

[@TRyan7698]

cheers mate, had to end up doing it myself as didn't work but didn't know how easy it was lol. ty

[@tylerblock3377]

Amazing. The process is not intuitive but you explained it perfectly.

[@Rovelius]

For people on Steam: Settings ---> Playlists ---> scroll all the way down to "On-Demand Thumbnail Downloads"

[@meloman-rrr]

doesn't work for me tbh

[@Rovelius]

@@meloman-rrr Try viewing each game individually and waiting for the download to complete. The option doesn't download them in batch.

[@meloman-rrr]

@@Rovelius that's what i also did. I've pressed "download miniature" for each individual game, and it just doesn't appear anywhere, even in files

[@nikpav]

One of the most informative and helpful video guides I've read for a while. Thankfully I only had to rename my games (wonderswan games) so all's good, but that extra bit of info about custom covers was super helpful. Thanks a lot!

[@WatsonatorTV]

Such a great comment, I totally need to try out the Wonderswan again, I remember playing one somewhere randomly as a kid, just one of those random memories I have from a long time ago, I don't even have a context for it, I just remember playing The Wonderswan once haha.

[@LeandroSorinhach]

some names in the website are missing the complete name. How to know the full name of the file for these roms?

[@WatsonatorTV]

If the name runs off the side I just click the link and then look at my web address URL and copy paste directly from there. For example if you take a look at the Donkey Kong Country 3 for the Super Nintendo, it runs off the edge. If you click it though and then look at the URL, you can copy and paste the name directly and see that the full name is: "Donkey Kong Country 3 - Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (USA) (En,Fr)" You can also right click on the box art image once you click on a database entry and then click on "copy image link" and you will automatically have the name copied somewhere in the url if thats easier for ya. You will just need to remove the www and other website parts. I am going to

[@wari0599]

Thank you! I was trying to add boxart for a game not in the database and couldn't figure out how to add it. You are the only person I have found who knows how it all works.

[@ganggreengoliath]

First off tnx for the tips.. but I found it easier to open that desk top menu u mentioned and drag n drop my png like that.your tutorial lead me in that direction

[@dizzard5297]

I tried renaming it to what was on the thumbnail database but it still didn't work. I also tried to manually add it following your steps but retroarch still wouldn't let me update the thumbnail. Followed the steps in the video (and also the pinned comment) and still nothing so I've no idea what I'm doing wrong... Can't helping feeling like Retroarch have found a way to make something that should be simple unnecessarily complicated... Edit: I got it to work but I have no idea how, just button mashed the download thumbnails button until something happened.

[@rossrankin4980]

Thank you so much for the solution, a shame it's going to be such a job renaming all the MAMEs

[@WatsonatorTV]

Thank you so much for the kind words! Read on for some info on MAME: MAME is a bit trickier than with consoles for most stuff but I should be able to help you out. I am personally using MAME 2003+ as it is a good compromise between compatibility and not having to update the romset too often. Usually when I am setting up playlists I do a manual scan but I actually just did the normal "Scan Directory" for the MAME romset I downloaded (which has like 4,300 arcade games) and most of the roms showed up with thumbnails just fine (I'd say about 80% of them, though it showed more title screens than boxarts for arcade). After looking at the titles it seems like they all correspond to the thumbnail database which means it should work the same way as it does in this video. But read on because I think I understand what you are referring to (all arcade roms come with a shortened title). Check this out as an example, I am going to post a screenshot of my RetroArch MAME playlist selected on a game: i.imgur.com/ZvI8NOq.png That image shows my MAME playlist selected on Alien Vs Predator. You will see that the title is "Alien vs. Predator (USA 940520)" which is the same name as it has in the MAME libretro database that I linked in the video. Here is the MAME list: thumbnails.libretro.com/MAME/Named_Boxarts/ So in that sense it should just work the same way as I explained in the video. BUT it may get weird because when you download a Romset and you look at all of the individual roms you will notice that they have shortened Arcade rom names, for example my Alien Vs Predator USA ROM is labeled as something like "avspu.zip" in my MAME 2003 Plus reference set. Check out this screenshot of my Rom list that I scanned: i.imgur.com/gGhgfvu.png You can clearly see that the list of roms looks nothing like the the titles in the database, BUT all I had to do was a normal scan of this MAME reference set and RetroArch was smart enough to recognize the rom names and add it with it's full title that matches the database. Basically it is changing the display name to be different from the file name. So long story short, if you get a good reference set, RetroArch should automatically adjust the arcade titles to the proper full titles that you see in the database and thus it should be the same as it is in the video. I hope that made sense and I hope this is what you were referring to. If you would like to know the exact reference set I am using, it can be found here: archive.org/details/MAME_2003-Plus_Reference_Set_2018 Just make sure you are using Mame 2003 Plus core and do a scan of the roms folder.

[@rossrankin4980]

@@WatsonatorTV I must have imported content wrong, letting it scan the directory worked this time and they have proper names, now the thumbnails are downloading correctly! This worked on my romset and the one from Archiveorg. Thank you soooo much for your help!

[@Mahfy3w]

Thanks a lot! Hate how you need a full college course to customize retroarch lmao

[@ΘεοδωροςΖωης-β7σ]

i try do this for neo-geo core but never shows the Thumbnails

[@jeffsguitarwork]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

[@Dozey48]

thank you so much bro! You explained everything perfectly ♥

[@jodyjohnson265]

Sometimes if you download a full rom collection from internet archive it will take a while for retroarch to scan all of the games for box art

[@WatsonatorTV]

Yes it can take a little while if you have hundreds of games in your list, that is pretty normal. One thing you can do, if you go over to the "Settings" column and scroll down to "Playlists," you can find a setting at the very bottom called "On-Demand Thumbnail Downloads." If you turn this setting on it will then try to search for a game's thumbnails as soon as you select it in your playlist, I usually have this on myself and can help if you ever don't want to do a scan or if it missed something in the past, or if new thumbnails are added. It's important to make sure when you get giant romsets that they are in the correct "no-intro" naming format, that way it should pull in the majority of game titles correctly without you having to manually name dozens or hundreds of them. Whenever I pull in a new romset, I also like to make sure that I import it using "manual search," being sure to correctly enter the file path, file types, platform, etc. Doing it this way will make sure that it directly uses the exact names of your files.

[@onetnecghoti3473]

was driving me nuts, thanks and subbing

[@arist7922]

Hello, thanks for the guide! Can we not get this manual process to work for the 'Favorites' playlist too? I can't seem to find a way to drag and drop the image when it comes to that playlist..

[@WatsonatorTV]

That is a good question and something I am not ENTIRELY sure on. For me I just went ahead and searched for all of my roms and then they all appeared in their own platform menu (like PSX games under the playstation, and NES games under the NES, etc) and I usually just access my games from the platform lists, I don't really use custom or manual playlists or mark games as favorites. BUT I just went ahead and tried to create my own manual list (like say I wanted a playlist of games from different systems, like Pokemon for example), it would just pull the entries from the games that I already have images for and it seems to work just fine. I also just tried marking my "Thrasher" as a favorite and the image shows up just fine on the "Favorites" list that is there by default. I would make sure you are saving the image in it's normal spot on the platform list and it will then follow it over to the favorites. Might have to refresh the games already in there if you had a list of favorites BEFORE they had images. So don't try to drop images into the favorites list, just drop them in their original platform spot.

[@arist7922]

@@WatsonatorTV Thank you for the quick reply! Wish you good luck with the channel my guy!

[@APEXGuerilla]

Why would it not detect the ROM in the RetroArch database? Mine aren't and it's annoying me. Should I just find another ROM?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmmm, im confused is RetroArch not finding your game file or is your renaming of the game file in the playlist not showing your thumbnail? These are two very different things. If you are having trouble importing the game you should try a manual import and search for the folder that the file is in and manually input the file type (iso or whatever). If you are having trouble renaming the game but the game is already in your RetroArch playlist then Im sure the ROM is fine. I would try to go the desktop menu by hitting F5 and rename it in there by copying and pasting the title from the database. When i say database I mean the thumbnail website.

[@69funnynumber48]

Dude thank you SO MUCH FOR THIS it was pissing me off when it wouldnt do box art for sonic 3 and knuckles no matter when i got the name perfect.

[@jayjay-il7fk]

My thumbnails are not downloading into my directory. I can see them downloading but I can not figure out where they are going? I have my directory setup as mentioned

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmmm. This is odd. The first thing to check is that the download directory wasn't changed somehow in the options. So go into your RetroArch settings (the second option), and then go all the way down to the bottom option that says "Directories." This setting shows where all of your downloads, updates, thumbnails, cores, etc are stored when they are downloaded. Scroll down to where it says Thumbnails and make sure that the directory it shows is correct. It should match wherever you have your RetroArch installed, generally this is something like "C:\Program Files\RetroArch\thumbnails". Also go into a file browser and follow that same file path and make sure that your RetroArch is indeed installed where the directory leads and that it has a thumbnails folder in there. Wherever RetroArch has the thumbnails directory set up is where it is going to be downloading those thumbnails, so if that all looks correct and you are positive that your RA is installed correctly with the same file path, I am not sure what could be the problem. You could try manually adding a PNG image into the thumbnails folder (in the correct system and boxart subfolder of course) and see if it shows up this way (just make sure the PNG image name matches the exact same name as a playlist entry and if you put it in the boxarts folder for the correct system it should show up, this is the manual way of doing it).

[@jayjay-il7fk]

@@WatsonatorTV Man I am really glad you responded because I was really frustrated. I installed using another popular guide, and I said screw it, and decided to start over. I found your "RetroArch Startup Guide - Play classic games on PC NOW!" video and followed it. Worked like a charm! really appreciate the help, and the great easy to follow tutorial. I have been using just the old emulators by themselves for years, and decided to take a shot at one of these stand alones. This was very easy to follow with your video.

[@JoChobo]

so I tried this and definitely entered the correct title but the PSP games are still not showing? the games are wipeout pure and pulse. any tips or help you can give me?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, sorry you are having some issues getting it working, luckily I have both of these PSP games in my collection and the boxart is showing for me so hopefully we can get it working for you too. I will just post a couple of screenshots of the games first: Wipeout Pulse: i.imgur.com/quxJ7Fn.png Wipeout Pure: i.imgur.com/hJ9Rx9P.png I am not really sure what could be causing the problem other than maybe double checking you have the spaces and capitalization and commas in the correct locations. I will copy and paste my exact titles so you can try to copy and paste the text: WipEout Pulse (USA) (En,Fr,De,Es,It) WipEout Pure (USA) (En,Fr,Es) (v2.00) They are kinda some oddballs considering the "E" is capital and there arent spaces between the country codes in parentheses like there are for most games. Good luck, I hope this helped.

[@KperaJogando]

in the steam version that im using, the commando to activate the desktop menu doesnt apear, same for the online updater, what should i do?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hello. I prefer to use the Windows version over any other versions (including the steam one) since they are not full versions and have some things changed like what you are describing. I would honestly recommend using the full Windows versions if you are able to do so. If you are not able to do so and you are on a game console or something, the steps are going to be slightly different and I honestly have no experience using these other versions and wouldn't know how to go about it. if i had to guess though, you are going to need to go into your steam folder and find where the RetroArch install directory is located. In here there should be a folder that says "thumbnails" and all of the cores/systems should then be in the thumbnails folder (you might have to create these subfolders if you don't see them). If you put in a correctly formatted PNG file into the corresponding folder and you name it the exact same as a playlist rom entry, the boxart should appear (if it works this way). I have an example of this method pinned as the first comment if you would like to see that example in more detail. Like I said though, I really have no experience with these other versions and that method might not work. If you can't get the windows one and you must use this other one, then you may want to talk to the folks at the RetroArch reddit or the libretro discord, they will know better than me: www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/ discord.com/servers/libretro-184109094070779904 Good luck, sorry I wasn't more help.

[@gabrielbackflip]

my retroarch does not have the online updater option and the desktop menu option im using the steam version

[@WatsonatorTV]

Unfortunately the steam version seems to be lacking a lot of the options that the standalone version does simply because everything installed through steam flows through the steamapps folder which causes issues. Also since everything through steam updates through the steam app, this causes more issues. There might be a way to change it up but I HIGHLY recommend just getting the standalone version. If you want to keep all of your playlists and settings, you should be able to download a fresh standalone RetroArch and then merge your folder into it so that you can use the newest, updated version while keeping all of your settings and playlists. You can then go into your steam and click the button that says "add a non steam game" and then you can still have RetroArch listed in your steam like you usually do but it loads up the standalone one. Edit: If you can find how the folder structure works within your steam you can also go into there and locate your thumbnails folder and label the PNG files correctly for each console's folder. This will bypass the need for the desktop menu but its a bit more tedious, I def. recommend the standalone.

[@chrisryan8894]

No matter what I do this doesn’t work on the iOS version. All my boxart shows except in my PSP playlist. I tried renaming to match. Still nothing , any ideas ?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmmm, unfortunately I haven't used RA with any other platforms or consoles so I am not entirely sure how different versions function. The only thing I can think of is trying to find where the files are saved. You said all of your other boxart shows, this means that those thumbnail files must exist somewhere. For PC, if you find the install directory for RetroArch, there is a folder that is called "thumbnails" that is then divided into subfolders for all of your playlists/platforms. If you can find this folder, you can then go in and see if the PSP folder is there and try to manually add PNG images this way. Not saying you have to manually do every single PSP game or anything, but it may at least shed some light on what is going on and where it is getting hung up. If you can find your other thumbnails that ARE working in the file system it might help us find out what is going on. Sorry I don't have any other ideas, in the future I want to do some videos about getting RA to work on other platforms but as of now I'm pretty uninformed on how it all works. You may be better off asking on the RetroArch reddit, I think they also have a discord with a help channel that could be of more assistance.

[@MajykOyster666]

None of the "name" of my numerous roms matches the database. Would replacing my roms change anything ? Where does that name come from since it's not the filename ?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hello there. So this can get a little tricky and it all goes back to the particular romset list that you are using as well as the way you are adding these roms to your playlist. If you do a manual scan in RetroArch when you are adding roms and specify the correct filetype, it SHOULD match-up the actual playlist "names" to be the exact same as the filename. So you would want to use that if the filenames themselves DID match up to the database perfectly OR if you are naming them yourself. If you do a normal "Scan Directory" then it will search the hash and serials of each individual rom and match them up based off of what is called a "no-intro" set (this is what RetroArch uses as it usually results in the best quality of rom). So in this case it doesn't matter the exact filenames of the games because it will be searching their internal data to see if it matches the no-intro setup. I have had to use both "manual scan" and "scan directory" depending on the type of playlist I am creating and how I acquired my romset. For example the file names of MAME rom files are always all crazy and shortened to a simple tagline, so in that case I had to be extra sure I get the correct romset because I knew I would be doing a "scan directory" and it would be searching the internal data to create the playlist names. Even then sometimes you have to go back and fix a game or two, it might not get them all 100%, but usually it's pretty accurate. So if neither your filenames nor your hash/serials (internal data stuff) are correct for your roms, then it is likely that the romset you are using is not a "no-intro" type of romset or RetroArch is somehow reading it incorrectly. If I was in this situation, to save the most time I would probably just try to find different romsets. Be sure to search for "no-intro" when you are looking. When you do get the set, see if the file names themselves match up to the database, if they do you can just do a manual scan, if they don't, then a normal "scan database" SHOULD work (at least that is how it has worked for me in the past). Technically if you HAD to use the roms that you already currently have, you could MAKE it work by individually renaming each individual file name to match up exactly to the database names and then do a "manual scan" and specify the filetype to directly match up with the file names. Like I said though, I would probably just find a different set. Keep in mind that some sets might be no intro but come with A LOT of extra stuff. Like different versions of the same game, demo versions of games, hacks, etc. All of these aren't going to have names in the database so you may see a ton of thumbnail holes in your playlist but it might still technically have all of the official roms with the correct names. If you are unsure where to look, archive.org/download/no-intro-2021 is a good start.

[@MajykOyster666]

​@@WatsonatorTV Thanks a ton for that detailed reply ! I just came across a post on Reddit mentioning manual search actually skips the database step. Running a regular scan indeed solved my thumbnails issue !

[@Max040fficial]

are there any other alternative programs that could add the cover art to these roms?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, you might want to look into a program called Skraper: www.skraper.net/ I have a Miyoo Mini Plus handheld emulator and in order to create thumbnails for that I had to use Skraper first. It might take a little learning about it in order to configure it exactly how you want it, but it might do the trick. Once it has completed the process you can likely drag all of the thumbnails into the correct RA folder.

[@Mark00864]

i mean sure this works if you have a few images not loading but my whole NES and SNES images arent showing, so i have to add them all manually?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there. So if you have a situation where your ENTIRE library isn't working for a system or platform, it likely means that the name formatting of those roms is not in the "no intro" style. If this is the case I will just get my rom list from a different source, that way I don't have to spend a long time doing everything manually. Generally your list should bring in the majority of thumbnails on its own and then you can go back in fill in any blanks that may not be working or fix weirdly named or homebrew or something. Using the rom lists from here: ( archive.org/download/no-intro-2021 ) it should generally pull in the majority of thumbnails correctly. If you get a new list from here, instead of doing a normal scan and import, try to do a manual scan of the list and make sure you include the file type and all that, here is a screenshot of how the manual scan should look for SNES for example: ( i.imgur.com/05sFefO.png dont forget to include the file location at the top, mine i left blank since it will of course be different) If for some reason the manual scan is still failing you, you can try to do the normal scan and see if it pulls it in correctly that way also, but usually the manual scan should take care of the lists that are named correctly from the start (i might have an example of this in my multiple disc video). Anyhow, doing it like this you shouldn't have to spend TOO much time filling in the blanks unless you insist on using your own lists that are not formatted correctly to begin with. I have THOUSANDS of roms, with my MAME list having literally like 12,000 games and i'd say about 90% of the thumbnails were brought on automatically using this method, that percentage is probably even higher for NES, SNES, genesis, etc. Occasionally I will have to go through and manually name a big chunk, but this is pretty rare. Good luck.

[@Mark00864]

@@WatsonatorTV omg thanks so much for the detailed reply , yea turns out i did manual scan on my nes/snes roms but when i scanned directory instead it pulled up all the thumbnails when i did that, so turns out if manual scan doesnt work , just scan directory, and it seems to be ok, i appreciate the fast and detailed reply , thanks so much!!

[@haroldg1688]

thanks my ocd kicks in seeing blank games

[@psyqualiaxd]

just started using retroarch now and im confused, my psp games downloaded the boxart but not my gamecube ones, and after following this video i still don't know why but if i manually put it to download from the desktop menu it works.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmmm. I honestly can't tell off the top of my head what is going on with that. I know in my situation my Gamecube games were all from different sources and definitely not the correctly formatted titles so I just individually and manually renamed them all (didnt take too long). In this case though I'm not sure why they wouldn't come in automatically but then when you did it through the other menu it then worked, quite odd. At least it's working. Are you on the most up to date windows version? Edit: I wanted to add that I have had RetroArch act really odd sometimes as of late when it comes to thumbnails. Now that you mention it I have also had some not showing up and it wasn't until I went in and forced them to download that they worked, even though the auto download was already on.

[@psyqualiaxd]

@@WatsonatorTV yeah, they all was names correctly but didn't auto-downloaded. and yes im on win 11 updated frequently.

[@Diegus-]

Great video very informative!! Subscribed!!

[@Twan2kool]

Works great but for certain games like Donkey Kong country 2 the title is to long and I can’t see the rest of the name title listed on the database website, what do I do next?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey, if you have a long title, I usually just click on the game and then look at the URL at the top of the page. So for example when I click on one of the USA DK 2's for SNES, I can see at the top of the URL that it says "Donkey Kong Country 2 - Diddy's Kong Quest (USA) (En%2CFr) (Rev 1)" If you ever see the "%2C" tag, this is code for a comma for whatever reason, so it should be "Donkey Kong Country 2 - Diddy's Kong Quest (USA) (En,Fr) (Rev 1)"

[@Twan2kool]

@@WatsonatorTV ok thank you and do %20 means space in between?

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@Twan2kool Yes I think you are correct about that, I don't know why they do it like that, some kind of encoding or different types of text I guess. I think RA can read it either way, so if you just copied it directly from the URL with the % sign it would work too.

[@Twan2kool]

@@WatsonatorTV ok thanks so much I’ll try that tomorrow!

[@TheOmenVi]

Thank you, this was very helpful✌

[@nickcook7464]

I’m extra confused… mine won’t pull ANY of the thumbnails. I just installed like 700 snes games and the names seem to match but it isn’t showing any of them

[@nickcook7464]

Well… I uninstalled retroarch and reinstalled…. And boom. Now it’s working lol

[@SuTheory]

Nice! I was trying to add boxart for Mame games.

[@WatsonatorTV]

NICE! MAME can definitely be a headache for emulation sometimes but some of the best games ever come from the arcade.

[@SuTheory]

@@WatsonatorTV yeah I was finally able to find versions that work with Mame current. I just got the first 3 Mortal Kombat games on it to work and I was gonna add a normal boxart but decided to add images of the arcade machines instead and it looks funny. I've been making them transparent as well so only the arcade pops up on retroarch without a colored background so It made setting this up fun instead.

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@SuTheory I recently had someone post asking about using Paint because it deletes the alpha channel which handles opacity/transparency. Since you are getting creative and doing some customization to the images (especially with transparency) you might want to use a different program aside from paint. I originally suggested paint since everyone has it and it makes it easy, but if you are doing editing of the images beyond just a simple copy/paste it may have some problems like that. I have been using Paint.net which is a free program and it may work a bit better for ya (unless you already have something like photoshop).

[@SuTheory]

@@WatsonatorTV hey thanks for the recommendation.

[@alinasir27]

So if I scan directory manually or auto..will have to effect on thumbnail search results. Problem is with 4k plus roms for mame plus 2003 we would have to go one by one...that is heavy. Having same issues with other consoles roms. Wish there was a way toe get all tn

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there. You are correct that depending on how you scan can have a different effect on how it appears in the list so I will try to explain how I like to handle things so that you don't have to manually name everything, I apologize if this gets a little long winded. For the time being ignore MAME/Arcade/Final Burn stuff as these follow a different method. For everything else though, you want to make sure that you are getting a rom set from the correct location. If you have gotten a giant set of say Super Nintendo roms for example, they need to be in the "no intro" format. Generally I like to just pull all of my sets from the same locations, I think from these two sites on archive: archive.org/details/no-intro_romsets and archive.org/download/no-intro-2021 . After downloading a set, I take a look at all of the files and see what they look like, if the files seem to generally match how they appear in the database, a manual scan will pull them in exactly how they are written and for some sets this pulls in the majority of the thumbnails. For other sets, an auto scan seems to work better since the names aren't directly labeled word for word like they are in the database, it will then try to automatically fill in the correct information with the auto scan. So for some sets auto pulls in the majority of thumbnails and works better, you may need to try both. After I have found which way to import and imported the entire romset and scanned for thumbnails, I will then go through and manually update the images it didn't pull in (like translations, rom hacks, weird versions, etc). But for the most part you shouldn't have to do TOO much manual work. If your set is not pulling in the majority of correct rom titles then I would start over with a different set and try my method because most of the time my sets pull in like 95% of the correct names for the thumbnails give or take and you shouldn't have to do much work. Now for MAME/Arcade stuff I am going to paste a response to someone else: I only very recently added a romset for MAME so I am still learning and it's a bit trickier than with consoles for most stuff but I should be able to help you out. I am personally using MAME 2003+ as it is a good compromise between compatibility and not having to update the romset too often. With arcade stuff you need to make sure you are getting a FULL NON MERGED SET that matches your core. Usually when I am setting up playlists I do a manual scan but I actually just did the normal auto "Scan Directory" for the MAME romset I downloaded (which has like 4,300 arcade games) and most of the roms showed up with thumbnails just fine (I'd say about 80% of them, though it showed more title screens than boxarts for arcade). After looking at the titles it seems like they all correspond to the thumbnail database which means it should work the same way as it does in this video. But read on because I think I understand what you are referring to (all arcade roms come with a shortened title). Check this out as an example, I am going to post a screenshot of my RetroArch MAME playlist selected on a game: i.imgur.com/ZvI8NOq.png That image shows my MAME playlist selected on Alien Vs Predator. You will see that the title is "Alien vs. Predator (USA 940520)" which is the same name as it has in the MAME libretro database that I linked in the video. Here is the MAME list: thumbnails.libretro.com/MAME/Named_Boxarts/ So in that sense it should just work the same way as I explained in the video. BUT it may get weird because when you download a Romset and you look at all of the individual roms you will notice that they have shortened Arcade rom names, for example my Alien Vs Predator USA ROM is labeled as something like "avspu.zip" in my MAME 2003 Plus reference set. Check out this screenshot of my Rom list that I scanned: i.imgur.com/gGhgfvu.png You can clearly see that the list of roms looks nothing like the the titles in the database, BUT all I had to do was a normal auto scan of this MAME reference set and RetroArch was smart enough to recognize the rom names and add it with it's full title that matches the database. Basically it is changing the display name to be different from the file name. So long story short, if you get a good reference set, RetroArch should automatically adjust the arcade titles to the proper full titles that you see in the database and thus it should be the same as it is in the video. I hope that made sense and I hope this is what you were referring to. If you would like to know the exact reference set I am using, it can be found here: archive.org/details/MAME_2003-Plus_Reference_Set_2018 Just make sure you are using Mame 2003 Plus core and do a scan of the roms folder. Edit: Long story short, try using a normal scan directory instead of a manual scan which I would normally recommend and if you have a good romset to begin with that matches the core, it should pull in most of the correct titles like it did in the example above, rather than the zip name. It may not work 100% but it should get the majority of them.

[@alinasir27]

@@WatsonatorTV thank you for the detailed reply. I guess I will go back to your videos where I had to rename the roms to match retroarch database. Simple scan means going in and scanning roms one by one and that's like 4800 roms.

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@alinasir27 No problem, im happy to help. 4800 roms shouldn't take that long, it usually scans them all really quickly. if you reread the long reply I sent you shouldn't have to do things one by one and it should bring in the majority of thumbnails as long as you get a good set. The method in the video is just for the few thumbnails that didn't make it in or if you have rom hacks or something like that.

[@sharpshorts4254]

im a noob, how do you have this layout like a playstation? mine is just black and different?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, you want to find settings -> User Interface -> Menu -> and then change it to XMB from Ozone (which is default). From here you can then go into Settings - User Interface -> Appearance and there is a lot you can alter in here such as the Menu Icon Theme, the color schemes, background wallpapers, etc. If you need to see some of this, I go over a little bit of the beginner stuff in this video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZWogp6ih8tlaqs&ab_channel=WatsonatorTV including how to change it to the XMB theme. Cheers!

[@sharpshorts4254]

thank you!!! @@WatsonatorTV

[@jalenfoster4131]

What if I don’t have the menu for show desktop

[@WatsonatorTV]

That is a great question. Are you on PC with the most recent version? I am not familiar with RA outside of PC (I know its available on a TON of platforms). If you ARE on PC and you ARE on the most recent version, then the only think I can think of is that it's been turned off maybe? If you go to the second column -> User Interface, you can look around at things that may be displayed on or off. If that still doesn't do anything then I am unsure why that is, I have used RA on PC for a while now and have never NOT had that available to me before. BUT, even if you can't find it, this is still possible. If you have a game like the first one that needs to be renamed, you can just click on the game within RA and rename it there to match up with the database (just press on 'rename'). If you have a game that isn't in the DB at all, you can drop a .png image in to the appropriate folder. If you go to your RetroArch install directory there will be a folder in there that says Thumbnails that corresponds to all of your games with thumbnails and you can name the .png thumbnail the same thing as your game and make sure that it's less than 500x700 pixels. Just drop it in the appropriate platform folder within Thumbnails. It's a bit harder if you can't go to desktop, and I'm still unsure why you can't, but it's doable.

[@jalenfoster4131]

@@WatsonatorTV I found the solution. I was continuously running the Xbox version on my PC so the OS for it would have everything that it would have for console versions of RetroArch rather than the PC. I do appreciate it tho! Good video

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@jalenfoster4131 Excellent! I was thinking it may have been a different version haha. I am glad it is working though, such a fun program to have around.

[@Mahvelous21]

@@WatsonatorTV I’m having trouble as I’m using a PS Vita I made the thumbnails in paint and saved them but when I try to insert them onto the Vita they don’t show up I assume it’s what I name them. I named the images the title of the game but I’m assuming I did it wrong For example I put let’s say “The Legend of Zelda.zip” as the name for my custom box art. The rom file I downloaded for Zelda is also the same name When I go back into RetroArch they don’t appear or work

[@Boulingoal]

Great video, very useful. How to go about Arcade/MAME games though? Since ROM names are shortened to be able to play in RA (and thus do not correspond to thumbnail database).

[@WatsonatorTV]

Thank you so much for the kind words! I only very recently added a romset for MAME so I am still learning and it's a bit trickier than with consoles for most stuff but I should be able to help you out. I am personally using MAME 2003+ as it is a good compromise between compatibility and not having to update the romset too often. Usually when I am setting up playlists I do a manual scan but I actually just did the normal "Scan Directory" for the MAME romset I downloaded (which has like 4,300 arcade games) and most of the roms showed up with thumbnails just fine (I'd say about 80% of them, though it showed more title screens than boxarts for arcade). After looking at the titles it seems like they all correspond to the thumbnail database which means it should work the same way as it does in this video. But read on because I think I understand what you are referring to (all arcade roms come with a shortened title). Check this out as an example, I am going to post a screenshot of my RetroArch MAME playlist selected on a game: i.imgur.com/ZvI8NOq.png That image shows my MAME playlist selected on Alien Vs Predator. You will see that the title is "Alien vs. Predator (USA 940520)" which is the same name as it has in the MAME libretro database that I linked in the video. Here is the MAME list: thumbnails.libretro.com/MAME/Named_Boxarts/ So in that sense it should just work the same way as I explained in the video. BUT it may get weird because when you download a Romset and you look at all of the individual roms you will notice that they have shortened Arcade rom names, for example my Alien Vs Predator USA ROM is labeled as something like "avspu.zip" in my MAME 2003 Plus reference set. Check out this screenshot of my Rom list that I scanned: i.imgur.com/gGhgfvu.png You can clearly see that the list of roms looks nothing like the the titles in the database, BUT all I had to do was a normal scan of this MAME reference set and RetroArch was smart enough to recognize the rom names and add it with it's full title that matches the database. Basically it is changing the display name to be different from the file name. So long story short, if you get a good reference set, RetroArch should automatically adjust the arcade titles to the proper full titles that you see in the database and thus it should be the same as it is in the video. I hope that made sense and I hope this is what you were referring to. If you would like to know the exact reference set I am using, it can be found here: archive.org/details/MAME_2003-Plus_Reference_Set_2018 Just make sure you are using Mame 2003 Plus core and do a scan of the roms folder.

[@Boulingoal]

@@WatsonatorTV Thank you for such a detailed answer! Meanwhile I just renamed all my MAME Roms in Retroarch, one by one (I have about 60), so that they match the thumbnails' name from the database. Took me a long time ^^ I'll definitely try your solution next time, should be a lot more simple :)

[@PetrisonRocha]

@@Boulingoal on PC I did it all manually, downloading the arts, placing them in the thumbnails folder, then manually editing the playlist file to add the games matching the file names and display names I had, it was a pain, very time consuming. Then yesterday I was setting up Retroarch on a TV set top box and again my arcade roms were not scanning. Then I realized there was an option for manual scan where you could use a ".dat" file which serves as a reference, linking file names to adequate display names on the database. I just downloaded some dat file I easily found online with thousands of roms listed and used it in the manual scan, Retroarch found the names and thumbnails for all my arcade roms this way, no exception.

[@twitchybarber]

Thank you! You'd think the name of the game would be good enough, but no, they all have to say "(USA)"

[@WatsonatorTV]

You are welcome! Yeah it's pretty unfortunate. You can at least turn off everything in parenthesis from being displayed in the settings so that you don't see " (USA)/(Japan)/etc" in your playlists but that doesn't change the fact that you still need it for the original naming.

[@APEXGuerilla]

Hmm for some reason WWF WrestleMania 2000 (Europe) and WCW-nWo Revenge (Europe) thumbnails on the directory linked infinite load. Broken links probably. I had to rename the USA ones to Europe so at least I have some box art for them now. Hopefully they update the libraries in future so I can just refresh. I might do a little dig for the PAL artwork when I have a spare moment.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Sometimes I will use the way back machine and access the site a few months, or even years ago back when the link might have worked. I have had that fix broken links on there before. web.archive.org/web/20211202175954/thumbnails.libretro.com/ Or you could always just pull in a google image and keep the name the same worst case.

[@APEXGuerilla]

@WatsonatorTV I ended up pulling the images from the Launch Box site. High quality and they auto scale in Retroarch which was a nice bonus! :)

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@APEXGuerilla Sounds good. I should put that link in the description as a backup, thanks for the info.

[@Chuckinator_85]

It would be better to rename the file. Then the file will be recognized by all your RetroArch installs on all your different platforms.

[@WatsonatorTV]

For sure!! I personally wanted to avoid altering any file pathways just in case people got confused and didn't understand they needed to re-import after changing the file name. I can see explaining this and getting a ton of comments saying "my roms don't work anymore after changing the name!" so I just wanted to keep it simple. In addition I can see some less techy individuals getting confused between the playlist name and the actual file name, so I wanted to keep it inside RA as much as possible. I also only use a single RA instance myself but you are definitely right, this is a great idea for those using multiple installs.

[@gtnasm]

Thank you for the tutorial!

[@APEXGuerilla]

Peach Walker and Portable Ops not loading in the thumbnails for me. Not in the database apparently. Wtf?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmm, seems to be working just fine for me, I assume you are referring to Metal Gear Solid - Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops, both for PSP? Check it out: Peace Walker: i.imgur.com/NUIxFi9.png Portable Ops: i.imgur.com/0aT5Nqb.png Portable Ops Plus: i.imgur.com/90aJEqQ.png They all seem to be in the database for me, make sure you are using these titles exactly: "Metal Gear Solid - Peace Walker (USA) (En,Fr,Es) (v1.01)" "Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops (USA) (v1.02)"

[@APEXGuerilla]

@WatsonatorTV Hmm I'm using Europe ROMs so the naming is different. I'll try renaming them to what you have and check. Thanks.

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@APEXGuerilla you could use the EU names if you want, they are listed too. check the thumbnail databse again: thumbnails.libretro.com/Sony%20-%20PlayStation%20Portable/Named_Boxarts/ "Metal Gear Solid - Peace Walker (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It) (v1.01)" I didnt see one for Portable Ops but there are few listings for Japan and US, either should work. Doesnt matter if the actual rom is a different version, itll match up the name and pull the thumbnail for whatever you name it.

[@APEXGuerilla]

@WatsonatorTV Okay I finally got it to work but it makes no sense. To begin with I had the following - Metal Gear Solid - Peace Walker (Europe).iso Metal Gear Solid - Portable Ops (Europe).iso However, title/information/database entry was empty for both. Thumbnail scrapping did nothing. I then tried your advice and it worked for only one game. Finally I just used the OG filename I had for Peacewalker, loaded that on its own in a playlist which provided all the info I'm looking for + the thumbnail. I then added Portable Ops with the OG name I had and it worked. So now everything is cool again 😂 It's a finicky thing. EDIT: Nope, now both database entries are empty again. Think it was just pulling the thumbnail from the ones I dropped in. Meh I give up.

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@APEXGuerilla Hmm, so Im not sure what all of the info you are referring to when you say "title/information/database" because I think all of mine are blank too, I just keep it like that. You have to remember that the name of the file is DIFFERENT than the name of the entry in RetroArch and this is fine. Your MEtal Gear solid roms could be named "Rip Van Winkle 1.iso" and "Rip Van Winkle 2.iso" and you could still have it appear in your RetroArch with the correct Metal Gear Solid name and thumbnail. ALL you need for RetroArch to appropriately pull in the thumbnail is to rename your playlist entry to whatever it says in the database just like I do in this video. It doesnt matter what the actual file name is, that is just what it will be called if you do a manual import of it, and then you can rename it to match the thumbnail database all within RetroArch, you dont need to do anything outside of it. You dont need to mess with any of the filenames or file meta data or anything like that. Edit: Maybe you are fully aware of everything I just said and we arent on the same page but it seems like you are making it a litte more complex than it needs to be. Should just be a simple renaming to the names in that list if the rom works just fine.

[@samljer]

wait, so i just got to rename a few files. ( renaming the files is better yes? makes the change more permanent if you have to reinstall or something?) JEEEZ.

[@PD-M]

does anyone know if it is possible to change the covers manually in the fire stick app?? Thanks

[@nowayarte]

How’s you get those games on the xmb??

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, not sure exactly what you mean. Are you asking how I imported the rom files? You may want to check out my other RetroArch videos, particularly the setup guide, it goes into how to import games better: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZWogp6ih8tlaqs&ab_channel=WatsonatorTV

[@GabbardPublishing]

UUHG my Playstation Games are in PBP so I can't get any emulators to update the thumbnails

[@WatsonatorTV]

For this, as long as the playlist name matches the database name, it shouldn't matter the file type and the overall file name.

[@Shadowhite]

One question, how do some of your playlists have custom icons (like the NES controller)? Mine all have the default rocket icon

[@WatsonatorTV]

I think it's based on how you identify your games. I never create custom playlists or anything and always just import with the "plus" icon for import content. I usually just do a "manual scan" but honestly the first option that says "scan directory" should work too. you might have to have a core installed so that it can identify your roms as such but honestly it has always just been an automatic thing for me, I've never had it NOT give me those icons. I'm assuming that custom playlists would cause it to be the rocket icon since it could have a bunch of different platforms in one list. I just keep mine to each list being a different platform (how it automatically sets it up). If you need an example of exactly what I'm talking about check out my RectroArch tutorial video and skip to the import playlist part (here is a direct link to the timestamp: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZWogp6ih8tlaqs ), right there is when I import a list of NES and a list of Playstation games using the "Scan Directory" option and it automatically sets up those icons on a fresh copy of RetroArch, the only thing i had done prior is install an NES and Playstation core (not even sure if thats necessary though). Recently though when I am adding to my list of games I already have, I just do a "manual scan" and you can select the type of core and roms you are scanning for and it should automatically update your platform lists that have icons with your new roms. edit: I wanted to also add that it's a pretty neat feature. On my own personal copy of RA I have A LOT of roms and it seems to sort every single one of them to the appropriate icon, it has icons for just about everything (Wonderswan, 3DO, Sega CD, Turbografx-16, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Colecovision, etc, etc, etc just to name a few more obscure ones). Just be sure to do one type of game at a time when you import and I think that should take care of it.

[@exbox-oi5lh]

pick manual scan - system name - whatever system u pick

[@rickeythomas9861]

Just go to user interface - appearance - then icon something. It should be thr

[@Dazreiello-old]

How do you add your console cores on the menu list like that?

[@WatsonatorTV]

It is done automatically when you have the proper core downloaded and then you scan for your roms that match the correct core. Sometimes a normal scan will work but I like to do the manual scan and there you can specify the system and everything. I believe you can check my other videos and my RetroArch setup video has an example and there should be another example in my multiple disc m3u video

[@Dazreiello-old]

@@WatsonatorTV Ah yeah I figured it out, derp lol Sorry to bother! Thanks for the reply!

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@Dazreiello-old All good, happy to help, glad you figured it out

[@BakaWolf9]

My RA already recognized Resident Evil (the information matches the database), I've also checked the thumbnail directory and the correct box art is there, but for some reason, the box art won't still show. It's frustrating af

[@WatsonatorTV]

I have been thinking about this the last couple of days to try to come up with an answer but I am honestly stumped. Usually the only issue you need to overcome is the identification process and once the thumbnail file is in there and it matches I've never had something NOT show up. That would frustrate the hell out of me. I have had some strange issues with having to replace "&" symbols with underscores for whatever reason, and more recently my RetroArch isn't letting me drag and drop images anymore with the desktop menu (I have to drop them into the thumbnails folder manually). So RA can definitely do some weird stuff out of the blue. Maybe we can try something. See if you can rename the Resident Evil thumbnail that is in the RetroArch\Thumbnails directory to something simple like "ABC123" and then rename your display title name for Resident Evil within RetroArch to the same thing and see if it shows up then. If it does, go ahead and rename it to it's normal name but maybe try to change up a single character to avoid having the exact same name as it does in the database (since it apparently doesn't like that name). If that doesn't work then I would go ahead and just delete the Resident Evil thumbnail and try a different image all together and try to avoid the database name entirely. Save a boxart image and then go back into a paint program and resave it as a PNG, drag and drop this into the thumbnails folder, rename it what you want it (just avoid having the same name as the database), use the same name for the display title and then see if this way works. I wouldn't really know what to do other than that. So very weird.

[@clairikus9743]

Just wondering, is it RE: code veronica? Im having the same issue

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@clairikus9743 Is it the PS2 version by chance? It looks like the LibRetro database has it written a very specific way "Resident Evil - Code - Veronica X (USA)" For some reason the have a hyphen before AND after the word Code, as well as spaces before and after the hypehns. So its like Resident SPACE Evil Space hyphen space Code space hyphen space Veronica space X space left parenthesis USA right parenthesis. Just double checking that you are definitely copying and pasting the correct title because I just tried it and it seems to work okay for me, check it out: i.imgur.com/Yi6Xc0G.png If you have double checked everything and you are on the newest RetroArch version and it is STILL not working for you. You can always go into your thumbnails folder (wherever you have RA installed there is a thumbnails folder for all of your systems) and find the PS2 thumbnails and boxart folder. In here you can drop a custom PNG image that matches the same title as your Resident Evil game in your list and it should then show your custom image (I know it's better to have it to do it automatically but if you just can't get it, this is at least a backup method).

[@mariodemon]

Great work, dude

[@tzuheechan6698]

Thank you,it really helpful.

[@waynetech9446]

So I just found your channel and subscribed. Thanks for this tutorial it helped a bunch! I have question regarding retroarch. I recently got an xbox series s and added retroarch to it. I've been able to add a bunch of nintendo, Sega, etc. However, when I added Mame 2003 to it and did manual scan it doesn't give proper name in playlist. It's like the zip name. Do you know how to fix this?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there thank you so much for subbing! I will try my best to help ya but I will say right off the bat that arcade/MAME works a bit differently than just about everything else and it can be a little tricky sometimes, I myself have only just begun figuring it all out so I may not be the best person to explain. Secondly I haven't used RetroArch on any platform but Windows (I think for Xbox series its probably very similar but I can't guarantee it's the same simply because I haven't tried it) so keep that in mind if something seems different. I am going to post a response that I gave someone else recently explaining how the naming convention works for MAME, I apologize if this gets long: I only very recently added a romset for MAME so I am still learning and it's a bit trickier than with consoles for most stuff but I should be able to help you out. I am personally using MAME 2003+ as it is a good compromise between compatibility and not having to update the romset too often. Usually when I am setting up playlists I do a manual scan but I actually just did the normal "Scan Directory" for the MAME romset I downloaded (which has like 4,300 arcade games) and most of the roms showed up with thumbnails just fine (I'd say about 80% of them, though it showed more title screens than boxarts for arcade). After looking at the titles it seems like they all correspond to the thumbnail database which means it should work the same way as it does in this video. But read on because I think I understand what you are referring to (all arcade roms come with a shortened title). Check this out as an example, I am going to post a screenshot of my RetroArch MAME playlist selected on a game: i.imgur.com/ZvI8NOq.png That image shows my MAME playlist selected on Alien Vs Predator. You will see that the title is "Alien vs. Predator (USA 940520)" which is the same name as it has in the MAME libretro database that I linked in the video. Here is the MAME list: thumbnails.libretro.com/MAME/Named_Boxarts/ So in that sense it should just work the same way as I explained in the video. BUT it may get weird because when you download a Romset and you look at all of the individual roms you will notice that they have shortened Arcade rom names, for example my Alien Vs Predator USA ROM is labeled as something like "avspu.zip" in my MAME 2003 Plus reference set. Check out this screenshot of my Rom list that I scanned: i.imgur.com/gGhgfvu.png You can clearly see that the list of roms looks nothing like the the titles in the database, BUT all I had to do was a normal scan of this MAME reference set and RetroArch was smart enough to recognize the rom names and add it with it's full title that matches the database. Basically it is changing the display name to be different from the file name. So long story short, if you get a good reference set, RetroArch should automatically adjust the arcade titles to the proper full titles that you see in the database and thus it should be the same as it is in the video. I hope that made sense and I hope this is what you were referring to. If you would like to know the exact reference set I am using, it can be found here: archive.org/details/MAME_2003-Plus_Reference_Set_2018 Just make sure you are using Mame 2003 Plus core and do a scan of the roms folder. Edit: Long story short, try using a normal scan directory instead of a manual scan which I would normally recommend and if you have a good romset to begin with that matches the core, it should pull in most of the correct titles like it did in the example above, rather than the zip name. It may not work 100% but it should get the majority of them.

[@waynetech9446]

@@WatsonatorTV thanks for the reply. I'm downloading that set now. Ok I got it downloaded and it worked great. This set had the xml Dat file needed to name games properly. Thanks so much for the help!

[@ThomasGaitherJr]

Thanks! This was a big help!!!

[@chokdee365]

I try add the thumbnail for days watching hundred videos and not yet got it. My database show empty. I try all ways to download the thumbnail but i can't. Help guys please. Psvita

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, sorry you have had a hard time trying to get it to work for you. First off though, are you running RetroArch on PC and trying to get PSVita games to work with it or are you running RetroArch through your PSVita device? If it is the first one I might be able to help you but if you are actually trying to run RetroArch through a PSVita, I honestly have no idea how that works because the file structure is going to be set up differently and I've never used RetroArch outside of PC. If you are actually running a PSVita device and trying to get thumbnails to work on it, I would just try to talk to someone on the libretro discord or make a thread on the official RetroArch Reddit, people there are going to know more about these types of topics than I ever would, I have no clue even where to begin with it. This will direct your question much quicker and have someone who can help you with your individual topic rather than just watching videos that may not hit on what you are trying to accomplish. www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/ discord.com/invite/libretro-184109094070779904

[@chokdee365]

@@WatsonatorTV I'm trying to do everything on the PS Vita and that's the device I use but thank you very much for your advice my friend. I'll take a look at the link you sent me. 🤜🏻🤛🏻

[@cdb360]

Great video. I have a question, on the xbox version of retroarch, how do you manually add images? Thanks in advance

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, thank you for the kind words. I will say right off the bat that I have only personally ever used RetroArch on PC so I may not be the best person to ask. I need to do some research on how it works on other platforms, I may end up making another video in the future. With that being said though, if I had to make a guess, you will likely need to find wherever RetroArch installs to on the Xbox hard-drive. It will likely be a bit different than the file structure on PC but SOMEWHERE there must exist an install directory. Inside of there I would guess there is a folder that says "thumbnails". You may need to do a common game first and name it according to the database just so that you can get the thumbnails created automatically and have the folder structure set up. Then once the folders are there you can go in and manually drop a PNG image in the correct thumbnails subfolder and make sure the name of the image is the same name as the game in the playlist. This is just a guess though and I could be completely wrong about that. It might even use a different type of image structure or might need to be a specific size (if you do a common game first to get the folder structure created, you can take a look at the image it automatically imported and see what type and size it is). You may be better off asking on the official RetroArch forums or Reddit, I am pretty much just speculating at this point, I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction. I think they also have a discord for tech support. Sorry I wasn't more help. Cheers

[@cdb360]

@@WatsonatorTV Thank you very much for the quick response. I had found the file where the images are stored but it did not work. And after research, the problem came from the playlists. Thanks again for your videos.

[@engIishmuffin31]

I play PaRappa the Rapper and I'm trying to add the boxart. I've changed the name to the name on the database, yet when I click "Download Thumbnails" nothing comes of it. Why is this?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmm. it's hard to say exactly what could be the issue. I just downloaded Parappa the Rapper for PS1 and tried it and it showed up just fine for me, check it out: i.imgur.com/WeVo5eY.png I tried both of the database title entries for it, that would be both: PaRappa the Rapper (USA) (En,Fr,De,Es,It) & PaRappa the Rapper (USA) and it showed up just fine for me in both. Let me know if there is another PaRappa game that you are using and I will try it with those. Just double check that you are copying it correctly and have the spaces in the right spots. Maybe try copy and pasting the titles directly from this comment and see if that helps. Sometimes deleting the game entry from RetroArch and re-importing it can help too. If for some odd reason it still doesn't work for you then you can always just go into your RetroArch install directory and find the "Thumbnails" folder. In here navigate to your PS1 thumbnails directory, it should look something like this: C:\Program Files\RetroArch\thumbnails\Sony - PlayStation\Named_Boxarts In here you can save the PaRappa boxart directly after you have saved the image separately and made sure its a PNG. Then you can make up whatever title you wanted, just make sure that it matches with whatever title you have of the Parappa game (I would change it from the database title so it doesnt get confused, just call it like "PaRappa the Rapper" dont bother with "(USA)" or aything. So as long as both your title and thumbnail match it should automatically show up without even having to press the "download thumbnails" button.

[@engIishmuffin31]

@@WatsonatorTV Thanks! I managed to get it fixed though. I just switched from the Steam version to the desktop version. Now my real issue is the fact that it doesn't start up, even with the BIOs in 🤦

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@engIishmuffin31 Glad the thumbnail is at least working! As far as getting it running, yeah that sounds like a "real issue" indeed. I have a couple of PS1 games that are finicky with certain cores. For most of my PS1 games I use PCSX ReArmed core, but I have to switch to Beetle PSX for some games so you may want to try out a different core and see if that helps. You might double check that it was imported correctly too. I usually go to the plus icon and do a manual scan, the bottom option, because sometimes the other two don't work very well. When you do the manual scan make sure to navigate to the correct folder where the rom is and select "sony-playtstation" as the system name, and type in "cue" as the file format (as long as that is the format your rom is in, that is how all of my PS1 games are, I haven't tried it any other way). Try re-importing it that way and when you go to run the file try a different core than usual (either beetle or pcsx rearmed) and see if that helps. Since you already have BIOS that is all I can think of, as long as the BIOS is in the correct folder and it's the correct files of course. Good luck! Edit: oh I thought of one other thing too. Under the drivers option, the second column, first choice, go down to video (third option) and possibly try changing this to something else, i usually use Vulkan, try that first if it's not on that.

[@cubemage3336]

there's no online updater for me. what should I do?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmmm, I have personally never been in a position where there isn't an online updater so I'm not positive where to go from there. If you are using a RetroArch platform that is not for Windows then there is likely some other type of instructions that you must follow that is different than this. For example I have RetroArch installed on a Miyoo Mini Plus which is a handheld emulation device, and the whole process is COMPLETELY different and I had to learn different methods. I would try to search how thumbnails and RetroArch work for your particular platform or there might be a Reddit or Discord channel for it too. If you are on Windows though, I would make sure you have the most recent version of RetroArch updated and you are not running it through Steam. You can also add thumbnails manually if you know where RetroArch is installed, I will post my pinned comment here: "If your game is not in the database AND for whatever reason the Desktop Menu is not letting you drag and drop .PNG files into the little box there is one final method: -Locate your thumbnails folder wherever your RetroArch is installed (for me this is: This PC\Local Disc C\Programs\RetroArch\thumbnails -You will see all of your platforms listed here and the boxart, title screen, screenshot folders within them -Drag and drop your custom .PNG image into the appropriate folder -Go into the folder and rename the custom image the EXACT same name as the RetroArch display name (just copy and past the title from Desktop Menu to be exact) -It should then show up automatically if the display name matches the PNG image file" If all of this doesn't help though I would honestly just check out the official RetroArch Reddit page www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/ or the libretro Discord Channel which has a help section: discord.com/invite/libretro-184109094070779904 . There are people there who know about this more than myself. Good luck and cheers.

[@cubemage3336]

@@WatsonatorTV hmm so yeah I dug about a bit and turns out Steam doesn't have that. So I downloaded RetroArch through their website. However now I have Online Updater but STILL no box art. And yes both games are listed in the website you mentioned (Mega Man Maverick Hunter X and Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 - the Phantom Fortress). It's very weird.

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@cubemage3336 You are right, that IS very weird. I can't think of what it could be off the top of my head, BUT I do actually have both of these games in my collection and Mega Man - Maverick Hunter X was in the database so all I had to do was copy the title down correctly and the thumbnail showed. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 is NOT in the database though, at least I couldn't find it, I saw Naruto Ultimate ninja Impact, but NOT Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2, so for that one you just have to find an image online and do like i did in the video. Maybe after seeing mine you will figure out what the issues are: Mega Man Maverick Hunter X: i.imgur.com/0Lmls57.png I would go ahead and copy and paste the Mega Man title EXACTLY like this without the quotations: "Mega Man - Maverick Hunter X (USA)". This is how I have it and how it is in the database, everything must be EXACTLY the same, character for character, and the same upper and lower casing and special characters and spaces and all that. For Naruto, just do a google search for a nice looking PNG image and drag and drop into the box. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 - The Phantom Fortress: i.imgur.com/qmyNUZ3.png Just remember for Naruto that you have to pull in your own image, I just used this one and saved it as a PNG and named it the same name as my naruto game and dropped it in the little white box on the desktop menu (see video again): static.wikia.nocookie.net/naruto/images/a/ac/Naruto_ultimate_ninja_heroes_2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130603032816 Good luck to ya.

[@jadentejada5202]

But what if the titles are too big for the screen, so I can't rename the game to that?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmmm. I'm not sure which screen you are trying to do this on but I just tried to rename something in the desktop menu super long and it lets me make it pretty much as long as I want it, no issues at all, check it out: i.imgur.com/6Y9EGwd.png It shows it just fine in the game list too: i.imgur.com/bymu3kL.png Edit: I have no experience using RetroArch with other devices but it should work just fine on the newest one for PC. Edit 2: If you mean the files on the website (I think thats what you mean after I reread this, sorry about the first post), just grab as much as it has, if you click on the game, the url at the top of your screen will have the name you need to copy character for character.

[@jadentejada5202]

@@WatsonatorTV I still put in exactly, (without quotation marks) "Pokemon - Gold Version (USA, Europe) (SGB Enhanced) (GB Compatible)", but the thumbnail still didn't show up!

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@jadentejada5202 The only thing I can think of is that maybe there is an extra space somewhere that there shouldn't be, I have the same game with the same title in my library and it shows up just fine check it out: i.imgur.com/wX3bdFn.png Copy this from my comment if you want to make sure it is exact: Gold Version (USA, Europe) (SGB Enhanced) (GB Compatible) Make sure that there is a space after the comma after USA and before Europe and also make sure that there are spaces in between ALL the items in parentheses. it's easy to miss the space in between. So its like: Gold Versions space open parentheses USA comma SPACE Europe closed parentheses space open comma SGB SPACE Enhanced closed parentheses space open parentheses GB space Compatible closed parentheses. If you are 100% positive that you have it just like that and you've double checked everything then I am honestly not sure why it's not working, seems to work just fine on my end. There is still an alternative option though. Just click on the pokemon gold link and save the pokemon gold boxart somewhere. Then rename that image to be the same as your game and then drop that in your RetroArch\thumbnails\Nintendo - Game Boy Color\Named_Boxarts folder and it will be forced to show it. You can just make it something simple at this point like "Pokemon - Gold", as long as both items match.

[@dnappi85]

I tried this. Still wont load boxart

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmm, I may be able to at least steer you in the right direction, no promises, but I am going to need something to work with other than "still wont load" as this is the official method for doing it, I'm just passing the information along. I too sometimes get issues with the desktop menu and dragging an image into the box part. Also that method only works on the newest up to date version of RetroArch for Windows, so first double check that you definitely have the newest release. If you are on mobile or a handheld or game system or something, its likely going to be very different and I don't have experience with any of those. I am going to paste the manual method that I pinned in the comments. This route will bypass any settings or RetroArch automation as you will directly be naming the boxart and placing it in the correct folder where RetroArch reads all the boxart from. So try this method once just to see if it works and it will give you a better idea of what is going on. This is actually the method I use as the drag and drop method in the desktop menu sometimes does not work for me either: ---If your games not in the database AND for whatever reason the Desktop Menu is not letting you drag and drop .PNG files into the little box there is one final method: -Locate your thumbnails folder wherever your RetroArch is installed (for me this is: This PC\Local Disc C\Programs\RetroArch\thumbnails -You will see all of your platforms listed here and the boxart, title screen, screenshot folders within them -Drag and drop your custom .PNG image into the appropriate folder -Go into the folder and rename the custom image the EXACT same name as the RetroArch display name (just copy and past the title from Desktop Menu to be exact) -It should then show up automatically if the display name matches the PNG image file If none of that works then I would try a fresh install and double check that there isn't anything that could be interfering with it like an antivirus, firewall, VPN, or Windows security settings. You can save a copy of your settings and playlists and roms and everything before you reinstall that way its a quick and easy process. If none of this helps or you don't care to read it all or if you are not on Windows or a PC then I would see about talking to the folks at the RetroArch Reddit or the libretro Discord, they know way more about this stuff then I do: www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/ discord.com/servers/libretro-184109094070779904

[@MrSoichi]

Thanks man! :)

[@justsurfin5013]

The link no longer works. Get to the main index but now each link when clicked shows a 521 error (we server is down)

[@WatsonatorTV]

Ohh I see that. It's likely just a short routine maintenance though, I was just using it yesterday no problem. Unfortunately this is the only database so hopefully they get their site back online quickly. I would check back a little later.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Looks like it's back finally, I was starting to get worried when I checked a couple of hours ago and it was still out, I use this site almost daily now.

[@monolocco79]

Hi there. Would you have any idea when I try to go to the online updater and then try to download thumbnails for my playslitd (roms) it does nothing. I get no errors nor I get anything happening when I press X for the process to start. I am able to update anything else though like cheats, database , cores and so forth. I am baffled as to why. The gsmes run fine just can't update or download any thumbnails.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hello to you. This is very strange to me and unfortunately nothing jumps out at me right away as to why that would be happening or how to fix it. When you go to updater do you see all of your playlists and then when you click on a playlist is when it just sits there? or does it sit there before without even showing you your playlists? There are a couple of things you could try. When you click on the "Online Updater" settings if you scroll down to the very bottom there should be an option that says "On-Demand Thumbnail Downloads", you could turn this on. What this does is automatically try to download a thumbnail when you browse by it in your playlists. With this on try to browse through your playlists just to see if this happens to work. Also do you know if it works when you go to your desktop menu? If you browse through your playlists in the desktop menu you can right click an entry and then click on "download thumbnail". Obviously that is extremely tedious if you have hundreds or thousands of games but I am just curious if it works AT ALL and it's the setting that is broken or if its ANY type of thumbnail downloading that is broken. I am not sure how this info helps but knowing that could shed some light on the situation. I would also definitely download the newest update and import it over the top of your current version, that way you have the most recent up to date version of RetroArch and it will fix any files that may have somehow been blocked or deleted or quarantined or something and it also won't erase your roms or any of your settings (which would be the case if you downloaded the installer and started fresh). So just be sure to download the newest RetroArch update zip files (not the installer exe setup) from here: buildbot.libretro.com/stable/1.10.3/windows/x86_64/RetroArch.7z and then just drag and drop the folder that says "RetroArch" on top of your install directory where you have your own "RetroArch" folder and overwrite all of the files. This will make sure that all of the correct files are in place and everything is up to date while keeping your settings and games and everything. You may want to save a backup copy of your retroarch folder just in case something goes wrong. The file I linked is for the windows version though, not sure if that is what you are working with. I just grabbed that file link from the main RA website downloads page here: www.retroarch.com/?page=platforms (again, just make sure not to download the exe installer or it will just install a fresh copy without your games). But other than that I am not really sure what else to try. If you have any antivirus software or firewalls, you might want to make sure RetroArch is whitelisted and not being blocked, it is possible that something like this is preventing RetroArch from connecting to the libretro database in order to get thumbnails. It's worth looking into at least. Good luck, I will keep thinking about this. I definitely think making sure you have the newest version installed and imported correctly will be your best bet and a good place to start.

[@monolocco79]

@@WatsonatorTV thanks for the long reply. I will try enabling on demand thumbnails when I get home and see if that works. Also when I go to download thumbnails yes I can see my playlists but when I try to press on then to start downloading nothing happens. I have also tried to do it when I try to run a rom it will give you other options like change core and so forth there is an option to manually download thumbnails for that rom but even that doesn't work. I have downloaded the latest retroarch but it's not for a pc I am using it's for a PS3.

[@ericbeam4074]

Did you ever figure it out? Same issue.@@monolocco79

[@Dash_Rendar3]

Great!! But i have retroarch on Switch! How to make new box art in Nintendo Sw version?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there. So I have never used RetroArch on my Switch so I am not entirely sure how the process works. After looking around a little bit though, it appears that you just have to copy over the thumbnails into the correct location on your SD card. Just like I mentioned in the video, all of the thumbnails need to be the SAME NAME as the rom that it represents and then all of the PNG images need to go on your SD card in the retroarch/thumbnails folder. I have heard that you also must be on the XMB menu style/UI and not ozone or anything else as it is the only menu style that supports thumbnails. If there is no online updater to bring in the thumbnails all at once, you may be better off pulling them in from a PC and then putting on your SD card. There is also a program called Skraper that can automatically download thumbnail files and then you could just drop them onto your SD card. I think it probably requires some type of outside formatting though, not sure if you would be able to do it directly from the Switch. Here are some websites and posts to check out: www.gamebrew.org/wiki/RetroArch_Switch www.cfwaifu.com/retroarch-switch/ www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/b25f3v/thumbnails_on_switch/ www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/13g334o/thumbnails_not_appearing_nintendo_switch/ You may also want to search on YT for some RetroArch videos that are related to Switch as my experience is mostly just with PC and my Miyoo Mini Plus.

[@Dash_Rendar3]

@@WatsonatorTV thanks a lot!! Here a new suscriber! I will chek it out!! I also managed to correct the box arts with the names thanks to you!

[@workingZen]

Do you mind doing a video on how to set up Mame, PS2 and SNES on RetroArch? Be nice to make sure Im doing things right.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, I answered the question on my other video about the SNES core, so you should be able to follow that tutorial video for SNEs, it's fairly straightforward. PS2 might be a bit trickier since some of the games are a little buggy here and there sometimes, but getting it setup is pretty much the same story. I like to have a spot on my hard drive where I keep folders for all of the systems like this: i.imgur.com/Ei6dGSi.png If I was to click on the PS2 folder, I just have all of my PS2 games listed in there as ISO files like this: i.imgur.com/GCle4kL.png (I actually had to move my PS2 folder to an external hard drive since I was running out of space) Now when you go to import the games I just use a manual scan and fill out the appropriate information such as system name, file location, and in the file type you want to type "iso" like this: i.imgur.com/FrpWzap.png And for PS2 I use PCSX2 core. As far as MAME goes, I am honestly not the best person to ask, I am still learning that myself but I can link you to the MAME romset I use and let you know that I use the MAME 2003-Plus core. For MAME you must make sure that the Romset you download matches the correct core and apparently this can change over time so it's something you may have to keep up with. Eventually I may do a MAME video but it may be a little ways off. Here is the romset I used for MAME: archive.org/details/MAME_2003-Plus_Reference_Set_2018 If you end up using that romset and use the Mame 2003-Plus core, do a standard search to import the files, NOT a manual scan. The manual scan is normally what I use but MAME acts a bit different and your game names will be all mixed up if you do a manual scan to import them. Also if you do a standard search it should bring in most of the right title names so that boxart will show up also. Good luck, I may do some more videos in the future but hopefully my two responses can help you a bit in the meantime.

[@ethanporter320]

How you download box art thumbnails show me settings retro arch

[@WatsonatorTV]

What do you mean exactly? This whole video is about that topic.

[@starwarsfan6497]

Can this work for iOS Retroarch?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there. I will say right away that I have actually never used RetroArch for IOS so I can't be 100% certain, but having used RetroArch on a handheld Miyoo Mini Plus, I'm sure that there is definitely SOME way you can get it to work. I'm going to assume that the back-end file structure is setup a little differently than on PC so some of these techniques and pathways might be slightly different in IOS, but just having the correct names for the roms might be enough to pull in the thumbnails if the automatic thumbnail option is on and exists also. This is something I will have to look more into and would like to do a video on in the future.

[@MarioGamer2.0657]

Thanks man

[@midwestmenace9636]

I'm doing it on xbox so I hope I dont have to download every PNG of the covers and import them via usb lol wish this was helpful but my situation is a bit unique

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there. Unfortunately I have no idea how RetroArch works for Xbox as I have only used it for Windows and don't have an Xbox to try it on. I can say though that if it works anything like the PC version, it should connect to the library database and if so, you won't have to bring in ANY PNGs, unless there is a rare case where the game you have isn't in the database at all. But yeah I am not sure how it all works for consoles and other platforms since the file structure is going to be different. A lot of the times though if you get the correct rom set from the start (RetroArch uses the "No Intro" labeling set) then it should automatically pull in the thumbnails on it's own (if that's how it works on Xbox of course). So if it doesn't bring in most of your thumbnails automatically or you have a bunch of holes, I would try to get a better romset, if you start with a good one it should identify most of the roms (if that is how xbox works of course, again I'm not sure). Sorry I couldn't be of more help but I would honestly just be guessing about how it works on other systems. I have a PS4 and a Playstation Classic that both can run RetroArch so I might try to do a video in the future for alternate platforms.

[@gungan5822]

It bothers me that every game needs (USA) after the end. Screw that.

[@eekka1304]

Thank you so much!

[@iyeetsecurity922]

Retroarch is far from user friendly even if you know wtf you're doing. I wish they'd port EmuDeck to the Vita.

[@WatsonatorTV]

I have most definitely had my fair share of issues with it and at times I run into issues that make NO SENSE, and I tend to think I am somewhat savvy with it too.

[@prostocheck]

Bravo!

[@natekong3596]

Can you do any of this on Android without a computer?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hello there, thank you for commenting! To be completely honest, I am not sure how it works on Android or any other devices. I would imagine that it uses the same database because it would be annoying to have to create a new one just for their Android support, so it likely does work, but the steps might be a bit different. I would start out by adjusting some game names to match the database and then see if it downloads the thumbnail. If it doesn't work like that then you might still be able to do something manually. Locate the folder where RA is installed on your device and then inside there should be another sub-folder called "Thumbnails." In here you should have all of your systems and then each of those systems should be divided into 3 more sub-folders (boxarts, screenshots, title screens). Inside these folders if you save a PNG image that matches the same name as a game file, it should force it to show up (if Android has thumbnail support at all of course). If none of that works or you can't find the thumbnails folder, I would maybe do some googling because I honestly have never tried another device. I definitely should give it a go though, maybe it will lead me to doing another video.

[@zynnprod9330]

Thanks for this video, very helpful ! I'm trying to rename so games (a bit longer as i'm using RA on my series X). I have two questions, I have Def Jam Fight for NY (Europe Version) but on the database only the USA is indicated, so I had to put (USA) While my game isnt, but at least i got the thumbnail x). One last thing, some games have very long Names and on the database some of them wont display the full name :S

[@WatsonatorTV]

Thank you for the kind words! As far as the first part goes, once in a while you will run into some games listed that don't have the proper regions, like it might show the USA version only when you actually have an EU or JP copy. It's somewhat rare but it does happen, especially if you have a lot of EU games. What I like to do in this case is just go ahead and label it as "(USA)" or whatever the database has so it will show up anyway, just like what you did OR if you really want to keep the proper title, you can just use the database to get the image and then actually keep the other title. For example, if you were to keep the name "Def Jam Fight for NY (Europe)" go to the database to grab the US image (or use google to find the proper EU image) and then re-save it as a PNG through an outside program (gonna be a headache on console probably) and give it the SAME title as your game "Def Jam Fight for NY (Europe).PNG". As long as you drag and drop that image or place it in the proper thumbnails folder where you have RetroArch installed it should work (might have issues if you change it to a PNG directly using your series X though, havent tried this). The folder location should be something like Programs/RetroArch/Thumbnails/SonyPlaystation2/Named_Boxarts. The second route is likely going to be a bit of a headache since you are on a series X, I am not sure exactly where the files are installed or where to find the proper thumbnails folder for PS2 games but hopefully it is in a similar spot for Xbox (or you can just do the first option which it seems you already did). As for the second question, whenever I have a listed game that ends with "...." in the database and has a longer name than it can show, I will usually click on that title so that it shows the image. When you have that image pulled up, the URL at the top of the webpage will display the FULL display name and you can copy it from there. Again this might be a bit more difficult when on a console but you should still be able to see the full website name/URL even on xbox. There is likely a way to highlight and copy from there too. Or you can write it down (just make sure it's exact with proper capitalization and spaces and all that). Good luck, hope that helps somewhat, I wish I knew a bit more about RetroArch on consoles and phones. I might try to do a video in the future on RetroArch for other platforms, I just have to learn some more haha.

[@zynnprod9330]

Thanks again man, that helped me a lot ! Actually I put some USA thumbnails so i had to change the name with the USA region, but the good thing is that you can actually hide the region on the playlists options ! So you can just have the name of the game and its thumbnail displayed which is pretty cool ! The only "issue" I have now is that for some games I have like some duplication of the files and the thumbnails. For exemple for MGS on ps1 I have two files for Disc 1 (bin and cue I think) and two for Disc 2 so 4 files and the thumbnail box of MGS1.. Can I get rid of some files in order to have only the 2 discs ? Thanks again !

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@zynnprod9330 No prob, glad I could help! I highly recommend you watch my video I put up regarding m3u files because it actually addresses your EXACT "issue" and the example I use in the video is actually MGS1! kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4GoZ4qPiMuXn9U&ab_channel=WatsonatorTV m3u is a MUCH better method to use for games that have multiple discs because if you start a game and save file on disc 1, sometimes it has issues getting it to work for disc 2 but the m3u file will combine all of the discs into 1 entry so you don't have multiple listings of the same game. This makes the save files super easy to use. After you get the m3u file set up that is the only file you will want in your playlists, you can delete any of the bin and cue entries that it still shows.

[@DJumperGo]

Если пропущена 1-2 игры, то не проблема добавить вручную, а если игр 1000, то исправлять слишком проблематично.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Да, сделать больше, чем несколько игр, может быть проблематично, но это не так уж плохо. Однажды я сделал около 500 игр за пару часов. Я рекомендую с самого начала получить правильный набор ромов, чтобы большинство из них уже совпадали. Если вы получите это, например: www.romspack.com/no-intro-rom-set/ не будет больше нескольких недостающих. редактировать: да, если у вас отсутствует куча ромов, может быть проще просто начать с лучшего набора ромов, который имеет правильные имена для начала. Извините за мой русский, я использую переводчик

[@markm75]

How bout for Xbox dev mode retroarch?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Unfortunately I have only ever used RetroArch on PC and my miyoo mini plus. I know a lot of people ask about RA on consoles because the process is apparently slightly different but I personally don't own an Xbox to try it out. In the future I might try to get some information on how it's done so I can provide that as well. Sorry I wasn't more help now though.

[@technologyaddict1857]

Where’s the DS box art 😢

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, I am not sure why but Nintendo DS has been going down a lot recently on the database page, I think they have been updating it or something. In the meantime I have just been using Way-Back-Machine in order to access the page from a date when it worked, this link right here should work for you for now for the NDS: web.archive.org/web/20220122045109/thumbnails.libretro.com/Nintendo%20-%20Nintendo%20DS/Named_Boxarts/

[@anthonywilliams2557]

Thats what i had to do!!!!!!!!! change it to PNG....yeah cause even after updating and changing the names it still does not work so....i just copy pics one at a time. i forgot about the changing them to png

[@AlexandRich89]

Большое спасибо! Очень помогло!

[@kennethdoyle3693]

W Mans

[@MR_DOME]

this is great unelss your 700 rom collection does not show any box art.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, thank you for the kind words! This is more for filling in holes and those pesky games that you have that aren't in the correct format. So if you have a situation where your ENTIRE library isn't working for a system or platform or hundreds of games, it likely means that the name formatting of those roms is not in the "no intro" style. If this is the case I will just get my rom list from a different source, that way I don't have to spend a long time doing everything manually. Generally your list should bring in the majority of thumbnails on its own and then you can go back in fill in any blanks that may not be working or fix weirdly named or homebrew or something. Using the rom lists from here: ( archive.org/download/no-intro-2021 ) it should generally pull in the majority of thumbnails correctly. If you get a new list from here, instead of doing a normal scan and import, try to do a manual scan of the list and make sure you include the file type and all that, here is a screenshot of how the manual scan should look for SNES for example: ( i.imgur.com/05sFefO.png don't forget to include the file location at the top, mine i left blank since it will of course be different) If for some reason the manual scan is still failing you, you can try to do the normal scan and see if it pulls it in correctly that way also, but usually the manual scan should take care of the lists that are named correctly from the start (I might have an example of this in my multiple disc video). Anyhow, doing it like this you shouldn't have to spend TOO much time filling in the blanks unless you insist on using your own lists that are not formatted correctly to begin with. I have THOUSANDS of roms, with my MAME list having literally like 12,000 games and i'd say about 90% of the thumbnails were brought on automatically using this method, that percentage is probably even higher for NES, SNES, genesis, etc. Occasionally I will have to go through and manually name a big chunk, but this is pretty rare. Good luck.

[@MR_DOME]

​This is a combo issue. If I don't do a manual scan, half of them won't show up. If you do, a manual no box art, but all the roms show up. If I scan normally, none of the thumbnails show up. So it's a no-win unless I manually do each one. have a Mame ROM set with over 2000 roms. all zipped. So I can change names on the fly. also issues with extremely long download times if I attempt to download all the artwork, like 4+ hours. after nothing shows up. Atari works, but Sega or Mame are a hot mess. bout to pull my hair out. wasted 2 days only got one list working i have 5 different systems, nothing makes sense. thanks for attempting to help . after fully evaluating my collection i realized its garbage . after a few searches i was able to find collections that were recognized immediately in retro arch and pictures scan is flawless. thank you for all the help .

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@MR_DOMEWow, I would be pulling my hair out too, that definitely sounds like a headache and a half. Let me talk it through some more and see if we can get to the bottom of it, bear with me if this gets a little long, I think I can help though. First off I didn't realize we were strictly dealing with MAME/arcade stuff, there are some things you have to take into consideration that are very different than ALL the other cores and romsets and I MIGHT know what the issue is here. First off though, I want to make sure that it works just fine for you for sets that are NOT arcade related. So for example for everything that IS NOT ARCADE: I can start fresh with a brand new version of RetroArch, install it somewhere, and manually import a "no-intro" romset from the original link I gave you, for example SNES or Sega Genesis. Right after doing that it should immediately pull in the entire playlist of roms with the same title that matches the thumbnail database (since both are no intro). If you then turn on "On-Demand Thumbnail Downloads" under the "online updater" setting, it will pull in any thumbnail right when you select it in the playlist so there shouldnt be hours and hours of importing thumbnails or anything, everything should basically be instant. You should be able to just install a fresh RetroArch somewhere, outside of your normal install and grab a no intro romset from that list (not an arcade one, just try like SNES or something) and try to do a manual import of it and make sure that everything gets pulled in and that the majority of the thumbnails work this way. That way we can make sure we are on the same page and everything works normally outside of arcade, this should be relatively quick and easy. Now with MAME/Final Burn/arcade stuff you have to watch out for some things and it works differently than everything else. First off, if you want to do MAME, grab the core that is called "Arcade MAME 2003-plus" not any of the others, and then you will need to find a matching FULL NON-MERGED romset for it that is up to date. Here is a link to a matching MAME set for the MAME 2003-PLUS core: archive.org/details/MAME_2003-Plus_Reference_Set_2018 . If you don't use a full non-merged set, everything will be very janky, most of the roms wont work, etc. If you instead want to do Final Burn, get the core called "Arcade FinalBurn Neo" and the matching romset to go with it is here: archive.org/details/fbnarcade-fullnonmerged I personally use both of these sets and cores that I linked here. Once you have the core downloaded and the matching full, non-merged romset to go with it, you will need to find an XML DAT file that will come along with any good arcade romset. In the link I provided above the file will be called "MAME 2003-Plus - 2018-12-31.xml". This file will be linked in the manual scan section of RetroARch in the area that says "Arcade DAT File." You will also want to turn on the option underneath it that says "Arcade DAT Filter". Here is an example picture of my manual import with all of this set up for MAME with the settings I just explained, yours should look similar: i.imgur.com/rOiUFXU.png In the example picture there, I just downloaded a brand new RA and used the links I gave you and imported just like I said above and it pulled in all of the roms. I then turned on "On-Demand Thumbnail Downloads" in settings (example pic here: i.imgur.com/ul64zNh.png ) and it seemed to pull in most of the thumbnails no problem (example playlist with thumbnails pic: i.imgur.com/RldKcQ9.png ). I did all of this in under 5 minutes (oviously downloading the entire romset will probably take longer if you dont have the proper one yet, but everything else should be quick). KEEP IN MIND, arcade playlists aren't perfect and there are a lot of missing thumbnails that just aren't in the database at all, sometimes there will be a menu shot, or maybe a screenshot, but maybe not a marquee or "boxart" per say, every title is different but arcade will never be 100%, my lists definitely have SOME holes in them always. Sorry for how long this was but following these steps I think you should be able to get it going as I was able to reproduce it with a new install without much trouble as I wrote this out for you. I hope this helps somewhat. I also want to say that this isn't the ONLY way to go about doing MAME/arcade stuff but it is the simplest and most complete way so that you aren't constantly having to create new sets all the time. You can find more info here as well as more XML DAT files if you need them for your arcade imports: docs.libretro.com/library/fbneo/ Cheers and good luck.

[@INXE00]

Thanks

[@pangtundure]

4:01 I don't have this Menu 😢

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey, I assume this is because you aren't on Windows? Unfortunately I don't have experience using RetroArch with other OS's or consoles or mobile yet, but maybe in the future. I don't want to tell you something and it be wrong because I honestly am not sure. I DO have RetroArch on a handheld Miyoo Mini, but the way thumbnails function is very different, you create individual folders in each rom folder that holds the specific sized thumbnails. If you ARE on Windows, what version are you on by chance?

[@pangtundure]

@@WatsonatorTV on windows 11

[@WatsonatorTV]

​@@pangtundure Hmm that's odd, not sure what is up with that then. I just downloaded the newest version again to make sure and just using it right out of the box without changing any settings and "Show Desktop Menu" is right there on the main settings column for me. You could also try the hotkey which is F5 by default. So I am somewhat stumped on this, what version of RetroArch does it say in the bottom left corner? You may want to just try to redownload the newest version and copy all of the files into your current RetroArch folder (that way you are up to date without having to add your roms again). Or I would jsut start from scratch if you don't have too many playlists already. Sorry I can't be of more help but I see no reason why it shouldn't be there either :(

[@pangtundure]

@@WatsonatorTV yeah the F5 is also not working, btw I downloaded it from steam

[@WatsonatorTV]

​@@pangtundure Ah that is probably why then. Steam puts all of their applications in a different folder location that causes everything to flow through there. I am not positive how it works with RA and I also think they are a little behind in versions and some features. I couldn't say for sure how to go about that menu, there is probably a way or a round about method so I would recommend just getting the standalone version. You can likely pull out all of your files out so that you don't have to re-add all of your playlists. Alternatively if you do not want to get the standalone, you can find wherever the thumbnail folders are located and do it by placing the correctly named Thumbnail in the right folder, not even needing to use the desktop menu. I have this in writing in a comment, I will paste it here: -Locate your thumbnails folder wherever your RetroArch is installed (for me this is: This PC\Local Disc C\Programs\RetroArch\thumbnails -You will see all of your platforms listed here and the boxart, title screen, screenshot folders within them -Drag and drop your custom .PNG image into the appropriate folder -Go into the folder and rename the custom image the EXACT same name as the RetroArch display name (just copy and past the title from Desktop Menu to be exact) -It should then show up automatically if the display name matches the PNG image file Your location in the first step might be different if its through steam don't forget.

[@vikram2708]

Anyone knows how this works on mobile?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hey there, I haven't tried RA yet on mobile but when I get a chance I will definitely do some research. If it seems complex or extremely different from this I might even make another video, hopefully in the meantime someone else will chime in that has more knowledge.

[@vikram2708]

@@WatsonatorTV hello. So i downloaded the latest version dirrctly from the website and i am able to find the option so...thanks. Just having trouble with getting the cores to show up in the menu like you have.

[@wikwayer]

🥰👍

[@bestonyoutube]

RetroArch is the most buggy garbage ever. It is unbelievable that things like box art are still buggy as hell. I cant get it working. I copied the names 1to1 but it is still not working for a lot of boxes, like Super Mario World (USA) just doesnt show up. WHY!? The db shows a png for "Super Mario World (USA)" but it does NOT show up in retroarch even the file is named Super Mario World (USA).smc

[@WatsonatorTV]

Sorry you aren't having an easy time with it. I honestly couldn't tell ya from this comment alone why it isn't working but I can try my best. I will say that anything that shows up in the database has always worked just fine on my end though, my SNES library is at 2,202 games and every one of them has boxart with it (some are custom that I added myself but most are definitely copied from the database). Obviously this doesn't help you in any way, but "Super Mario World (USA)" is indeed working just fine for me: i.imgur.com/lI4JxgN.png If you have the correct name in your lists and it's definitely 1to1 like you said, then it sounds like there is an issue importing the image from the online database into the proper folder on your system, not any issue with the way you are naming it. Have you checked your RetroArch install directory yet where it saves all of the thumbnails? This is definitely the first place you should check, it could be that it is in a write protected area that is preventing the images from saving into the correct folder or it could have something to do with a firewall or antivirus program blocking RetroArch's access or even Windows Security. Where do you have RA installed? For me I have it on my E drive in my programs list but for most people its probably just on their local disc C in program files. So check there and look for the "Thumbnails" folder inside the main RetroArch install directory. The install directory looks like this: i.imgur.com/8AZoeX9.png Inside the thumbnails folder you should see all of your platforms and then it will be divided into boxart/titles/screenshots so check in the boxart folder of the SNES and see if you have the Super Mario World thumbnail in there at all and if you do, see if it has the correct naming convention. If you don't see the image, then try to manually save the PNG and then drag and drop it in there. This will at least give you an idea of where the issue is occurring. You may be better off trying to reinstall RetroArch to a different folder (or even a different hard drive if you have the ability to do that or on your desktop) just to see if that helps. It could also be like you said, just a nasty bug. It's certainly one I haven't come across myself but that doesn't mean anything. I have definitely seen some issues with RetroArch here and there that I couldn't explain at all other than simply "it was a bug," so I agree that it's not a perfect program by any means. I've been pretty pissed off by it before but a lot of the time I was able to figure out that it was something I was doing wrong. In the end though I am super grateful that it exists. I would post a bug report on the RetroArch forums too, the folks there can likely help you out better than I can. I want to add that I ONLY have experience with RetroArch on Windows and I have heard if you are running it through Steam or on a console it functions a bit differently so anything in this video or any knowledge I have may only be applicable to the newest version on Windows.

[@bestonyoutube]

@@WatsonatorTV ​ @WatsonatorTV I cant link links yt will remove the comment... Only 3 of the 5 are working. Donkey Kong, Super Metroid and Mario Kart. Super Mario World 1+2 are not working, even their name is 100% identical with the db from your link. I reset thumbnails, db, reset fav list rescanned folder, nothing works. It only will show the 3 not all 5. The thumbnail folder just contains 3 png, the 2 Mario it never will download. Using latest stable on Android. my files seem to smc though and yours sfc?

[@wilfredwayne7139]

No matter what it doesn't find them.

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hello there, sorry to see you are having some trouble getting it working correctly. I can try to be of some assistance but most of what I know to do is already in this video to be honest. When you say that "it doesn't find them" are you referring to the "playlist thumbnails updater" that is in the online updater? Because if that is the case there are many reasons it might not be finding them, most likely because the formatting for the title is incorrect like the examples in the video. So you may have to go in and manually copy the correct titles from the database. As long as you have copied the name EXACTLY like it has it written on the website and you are definitely on Windows and on the most up to date version, it should work. Are you on Windows with the most up to date version? It won't work the same if you are on a console or steam version or android or something. There will be different methods for all of those which I am not completely sure of. Which games and systems are you trying to get working? I have a very large collection and might be able to give you more examples.

[@wilfredwayne7139]

@@WatsonatorTV believe it or not I didn't have my WiFi on 😂

[@WatsonatorTV]

@@wilfredwayne7139 Haha! At least you realized what it was :D

[@MFDOOMSDAa]

Had this same bug with the Android version as well. Switching to a different theme worked for me as an alternative solution.

[@vlexz97]

I don't see an option to download thumbnails when opening a games menu! Why? Is this a setting I have to turn on?

[@WatsonatorTV]

Hmmm. Do you happen to be using RetroArch through steam or on a console or handheld? I only use the stand-alone version on Windows. The other ones seem to lack functionality and settings and have different file back-ends that might require a different approach. If you are definitely using the most up-to-date Windows version then I am at a loss, I have never seen that before.

[@Dr.Ticklebum69]

@@WatsonatorTV I have this exact same problem. Using Retroarch on android and for some reason the option just isnt there. You can scan the entire directory of course but its odd that its missing that option.