Add-on package to integrate GKD Pixel's standalone stock emulators into the MinUI navigation interface
While the MinUI launcher greatly improves the GKD Pixel's navigation and user experience, some of the MinUI cores struggle to play certain games at full speed on the device (mostly SNES and PS1). Using MinUI's pak function, we can create alternative folders and scripts to launch problematic games with the Pixel's stock standalone emulators instead of the default MinUI core, while still taking advantage of MinUI's clean navigation interface. It's a great option for those who can stomach a little jank.
Features:
- adds option to launch problematic SNES, PS1, and GBA games with the stock standalone emulator
- integrates browsing experience between the various launchers, leading to a more seamless navigation experience
- adds alternative emulators not supported in MinUI, such as arcade cores
- adds the stock mp3 player app in the Tools section
- adds the missing Fake08 core for Pico-8 emulation (which is a great fit for the GKD Pixel)
- handy "Revert to Stock" tool if you want to get out of MinUI and back to the stock OS experience!
Caveats:
- launching games from the standalone emulator loses some core MinUI functionality (like its minarch frontend)
- standalone emulators don't support MinUI's sleep or power quicksave/resume features
- the standalone PS1 emulator doesn't support CHD files
** Note: this guide assumes that you have a stock SD card that came with your device. If you don't, you can flash StockOSv2 from game-de-it onto a new card. This "v2" StockOS image has some nice QOL updates which you can read about here
- Install the latest MinUI release onto the GKD Pixel's stock SD card by following the MinUI instructions. Add both the "base" and "extras" packages!
- Download the latest release of this package. Extract the zip file and place its contents into the root directory of your microSD card's ROMS partition.
- In the Roms folder, you will now see new alternative folders for problematic systems (SNES, PS1, and GBA), and a bunch of arcade folders. Each folder is detailed below.
After installation of this add-on pack, place any problematic SNES games in the Roms > Super Nintendo Enterainment System (SFC-ALT) folder. Now, those game will still appear in the SNES folder in your MinUI interface, but will launch with the GKD Pixel's stock standalone PocketSNES emulator.
After installation of this add-on pack, place any problematic PS1 games in the Roms > Sony Playstation (PS-ALT) folder. Now, those game will still appear in the PS1 folder in your MinUI interface, but will launch with the GKD Pixel's stock standalone PCSX4All emulator. The stock microSD card should come with BIOS files already loaded, but if you need to add your own, they should go in the /media/data/local/home/.pcsx4all/bios folder on your card's Linux partition. Note that CHD files are not compatible with this emulator, so you will need to use ISO, IMG, BIN/CUE, or PBP files instead.
In the unlikely event that you find a GBA game that doesn't play at full speed with the standard MinUI setup, I've added the GBA standalone emulator as an option. Simply load your problematic GBA games into the Roms > Game Boy Advance (GBA-ALT) folder.
There are two version of FinalBurn Alpha available, FBA35 (0.2.97.35) and FBA44 (0.2.97.44). I have found that the FBA35 core is the most performant and compatible among the two, so by default I use that as my FBA core. After installation of this add-on pack, you will find two FBA subfolders in the Roms folder (FBA35 and FBA44). You can place your FBA-compatible ROMs in either folder, and they will all be found in the "Arcade" folder when navigating MinUI on the device.
I've also added access to the FinalBurn Neo standalone emulator, which is based on FBN 1.0.0.03. This emulator seems to perform the best with CPS3 games, but may not be as performant as FBA35 with other titles. Adding games to the Roms > Arcade (FBN) folder will also make them appear in the Arcade folder alongside the other FBA titles.
Neo Geo has its own folder within the Roms folder, so that it will show up as its own menu item within the MinUI interface. Because these ROMs launch with a standard FBA (FBA35) emulator, you can also just place your Neo Geo ROMs within an Arcade (FBA35, FBA44, or FBN) ROM folder so that they are integrated into your general Arcade MinUI list. You could also make a "Neo Geo" subfolder within the Arcade (FBA35) folder to clean up the main MinUI interface even more. Be sure to place the neogeo.zip BIOS file in the same folder as your Neo Geo ROMs.
For some reason Pico-8 wasn't added to the GKD Pixel version of MinUI, even though it is an officially supported system by the platform, so I added it back in. Thanks to game-de-it's work in collecting all those cores in one spot, which is where I grabbed the Fake08 core. Because it's running via emulation, expect that some Pico-8 games won't boot or will have inaccurate audio.
The XMAME app will allow you to play some arcade titles that aren't compatible with FBA or FBN, like classic 80s arcade games. The app doesn't launch ROM files directly, but just the emulator itself. After some hemming and hawing, I've decided to put it in the Tools directory. So just go to Tools > XMAME and start up the app. The app looks in a specific folder for the ROM files, which can be found in ROMS > apps > xmame_2_0. There are three MAME subfolders (mame4all2, xmame69, and xmame84), which should all be pre-populated on the stock GKD Pixel microSD card. Within each of these subfolders will be a roms folder, where you can add your files. Samples can also be added to the corresponding samples folder. If you do not want to see the "_launch XMAME" prompt in your Arcade folder, simply delete the Roms > Arcade (XMAME) > _launch XMAME.zip file.
Note that I am not sure which romset is compatible with the mame4all2 core, but for the other two, MAME 0.69 = v0.69u3 (05JUN2003) and MAME 0.84 = v0.84u6 (03AUG2004). If you don't have access to the specific romset that matches those cores, the MAME 2003 Plus romset will generally be the most compatible. Once you are in the XMAME interface, press L1 or R1 to cycle through the three MAME cores and their games lists. To exit a game, press L1 + R1 + SELECT + START.
I've added the stock Gmu Music Player as an app within the Tools folder. Once booting it up, navigate to wherever you've saved your music files (I recommend media/roms/music) and play them from there. When you start up the app it will give you a text walkthrough of how to use the app. To return to the instructions at any time, press SELECT + Up on the d-pad. For the best results, add your songs to a playlist first; navigate to the folder where your album is stored, then press SELECT + Y on the GKD Pixel to add that directory to the playlist. You can swap between the navigation, playlist, and track info menus by pressing the START button. The app supports mp3s and FLAC files (but not m4a), and the screen will turn off after 30 seconds of being on idle (press any button to wake). You can also lock the screen by pressing SELECT + B. If you'd like to make adjustments to the shortcuts, oyu can do so by adjusting the .config/gmu/gcw0.keymap file.
If you want to get out of the MinUI interface and return to the stock IUX interface, I've added a Tool (created by MinUI developer Shaun Inman!) which you will find after installing this pack. To go back to MinUI afterwards, just follow the MinUI installation instructions.
- Special thanks to MinUI developer shauninman for the tips on how to get this all set up, and for the "Revert Stock" pak file.
- Special thanks to game-de-it for the Fake08 core within their GKD Pixel StockOSv2 project.
- You can create similar MinUI paks for other standalone emulators available on the GKD Pixel, such as DOSBox, EasyRPG, Java, Flash, OpenBOR, and so on. To do so, go to the Emus folder and simply copy one of the other paks from this repo and change the third line in its launch.sh file to match the standalone OPK (minus the .opk file extension). You can find the standalone apps in /media/data/apps/ (you will need to read a Linux file system, or use the MinUI "Files" tool available in its "Extras" package). Here are the names of the standalone emulators in my stock test card:
-
- dosbox-v11.opk
- easyrpg-test.opk
- Flash.opk
- gkdmini_java.opk
- OpenBOR.opk
- After making the requisite .pak within the Emus folder, make a corresponding ROMs folder within the Roms section and make sure it features the pak name in parenthesis. For example, if you make a DOSBox pak and name it DOS.pak, name your ROMs folder something like MS-DOS (DOS).
- You could also launch OPKs on their own if you place them in the Tools folder and follow the coding for those launch.sh files. This will be good for standalone emulators that don't directly launch a game (like XMAME), or the standalone ports that are included on the GKD Pixel (like SORR).
- If you're feeling really squirrely, you could see if these libretro cores work within MinUI's interface. You'll want to follow the same file and folder structure as what you can find in MinUI's "Emus/gkdpixel" folder. Try it out, tinkering is fun! You might get DOOM working. I was also able to get MAME 2003 Plus working, but the performance was terrible.
