RLUI Emulators

Emulators

This is where you can configure all your emulators to use in RocketLauncher. Before starting make sure you have all the needed modules in your modules folder, you can check the Modules Tab to see your currently installed modules. You are also supposed to have your emulator installed on your hard drive before adding them to RocketLauncher.

Before starting to create emulators you should take some time to think on how you will want to organize them. RocketLauncher allows you to create Global Emulators and System Emulators, the first ones are created under the GLOBAL system and can be used on any system while the latter are created under a specific system context and can only be used within that system.

This is up to you, it's highly suggested that you have only a single instance of each emulator installed and then create them under GLOBAL in RLUI, at least for emulators that you will use on several systems like Mednafen or Demul this is highly advised. For emulators that are specific to a single system you can create them under that particular system, but you are free to choose the best way for you, just spend some time planning this first so you won't regret your decision later down the road.

The image above shows all emulators created under GLOBAL, you can also noticed the small red sign near each emulator which basically is telling me something is wrong with all of them, in this case it's complaining the defined paths cannot be found as I captured that screenshot on a machine without any emulator configured.

Adding a new emulator

Press the button and you will be presented with the Emulators Form:

1. Type any name you want to use for the emulator.
2. Use the file browser to select the emulator executable from your hard drive.
3. Type the supported file extensions for that emulator split by the | character (ex. bin|cue|etc). Order matters as RocketLauncher will search for roms in the order you set here. So if bin is placed before cue, it will pick the bin as your rom!
4. Use the file browser to select the module you want to use (A list with your installed modules will appear, make sure you have that module installed). If you have the "Only show modules/emulators that are appropriate for the current system" checkbox selected in the previous screen it will only list the modules that support this system. Of course if you are creating the emulator under GLOBAL all modules will appear every time.
5. If the emulator requires an external GUI or command line parameters to be sent in order to be able to configure it (like Mednafen for example) you can also set the GUI Path and CLI Parameters if you want. This is just so you can launch that emulator from within RLUI as you will see later.
6. If you are creating a virtual emulator such as PCLauncher or MUGEN that doesn't require any executable files to be run, you will only need to set the module and make sure you select the Virtual Emulator checkbox so you won't get an error.
7. When done press the button and you'll be back at the Emulators screen and your new emulator will appear in the list.

Editing an existing emulator

Simply double click an emulator in the list or select it in the emulators list and press the button. The Emulators Form will appear, simply edit the desired fields and they will be automatically saved as soon as you edit them.

Removing an emulator

Select the emulator from the emulators list and press the button, after confirming the emulator will be deleted from RLUI. This WILL NOT delete the actual emulator files from your system, it simply removes it from RLUI. If you are deleting an emulator, make sure you are not using it on any system otherwise that system will stop working until you fix it.

Configuring Save State keys

This is what will allow you to use the load and save state feature of your emulators directly from the Pause menu. Be aware that for this to work the emulator must support save states obviously. To configure this simply select the emulator from the emulators list and press the button, after that you will be presented with the Save States editor:

A maximum of 10 save states are supported, but if the emulator only supports a lower number that's how many Pause will support as well. Rows are numbered, so for each row you simply need to type the key combination that emulator uses to save that particular save state and the key combination it uses to load it.

Commands need to use AutoHotkey Send command syntax, if you are not familiar with it you can find the documentation for it here: AHK Docs

A global emulators.ini file is also provided that already has these fields properly filled for most emulators that support it.

Configuring your Rom Paths

Once you select a system from the systems list the Rom Paths list at the top of the screen will become editable and you can add the paths where you have the roms for that particular system. Multiple rom paths are supported, so you can store your roms for a system in several locations. You can have for example your MAME roms and CHDs stored in separate folders without a problem. To add a new rom path simply press the button near the list and then browse to the desired folder, to edit a rom path press the button near the list and browse to the new folder and to delete a rom path from the list press the button and that rom path will be removed.

A small colored circle will show before each rom path showing you if that path exists (green) or not (red), this way if you for example rename a rom folder in your hard drive and forget to update the path in RLUI you will be shown that folder cannot be found.

Setting the default emulator

Each system must have a default emulator defined, this is the emulator that will be used to launch each game from that system. You will be able to define different emulators for specific games, through the Games tab, as you can see here: RLUI_Games Setting a default emulator is as simple as pressing the button near the Default Emulator field and then select the desired emulator from the list. That list will show you all emulators found under that system emulators list as well as all global emulators. If you have the "Only show modules/emulators that are appropriate for the current system" checkbox selected the list will be filtered to only show emulators for which the modules support the current system.

The other features

	Launch the selected emulator This will launch the selected emulator on the list. This is useful if you need to make any configurations on it. This isn't supposed to start any game, it will simply run the emulator executable. If the emulator requires an external GUI or CLI parameters make sure you set those fields properly in the emulators form.
	Edit Module global settings This will allow you to edit the global settings for the module of the selected emulator in the list. If there are no emulators in the list, the default emulator for this system will be used (if one is set). This will open the module settings form, you can read more about it here: RLUI_Module_Settings
	Edit Module system specific settings This will allow you to edit the system specific settings for the module of the selected emulator in the list. If there are no emulators in the list, the default emulator for this system will be used (if one is set). Only a few modules support this, most modules will only make use of a global settings file. This will open the module settings form, you can read more about it here: RLUI_Module_Settings

Video Guide on understanding the differences between Global Emulators and System Emulators

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siDfD-NYLio