LCD/LED Marquees

Remember back in the physical arcades how game cabinets would proudly display the logo of the game they featured on the overhead billboards? Well, thanks to the aid of modern technology, it is now possible to replicate those banners! And since we're in Batocera, we can dynamically change those artworks to reflect the game that's being played at that current moment!

The premier digital marquee manufacturers! Pixelcade has been integrated into Batocera since v33.

Supported platforms include:

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2
• Raspberry Pi 3
• Raspberry Pi 4
• x86_64
• Odroid N2+
• Theoretically, any aarch64/32 and/or x86_64 platform that supports Batocera v33+, but these have not been tested yet.

Pixelcade offer their marquees in two delicious flavors. The installation instructions change depending on which you want to install for.

This is the lower resolution LED panel that's more suited to pixel-art display than full-color images. It's easy to tell this one from the LCD panel as it has a USB port on the back, while the LCD panel does not. This panel comes in two sizes, pictured above is the smaller size next to an Xbox One controller.

Installation is simple. Power on the Pixelcade panel and plug in its USB port into the Batocera machine:

Then SSH into Batocera and run the following:

curl -kLO -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alinke/pixelcade-linux/main/installer-scripts/setup-batocera.sh && chmod +x setup-batocera.sh && ./setup-batocera.sh

After the downloading and installation is complete, you will see the 1941 marquee being displayed on the panel. Confirm the prompt and close it.

If the panel did not display the marquee, refer to the troubleshooting section.

This is the higher resolution LCD panel that's suited to displaying full-color images. It supports Wi-Fi and sends its signals over the network instead of a USB cable. It is also possible to use an Ethernet connection in case a fully wired setup is preferred.

Installation uses a different command from the LED panel, so be careful. Power on the Pixelcade panel, (connect it to the Wi-Fi (how?)), SSH into Batocera and run the following:

curl -kLO -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alinke/pixelcade-linux/main/installer-scripts/setup-batocera-lcd.sh && chmod +x setup-batocera-lcd.sh && ./setup-batocera-lcd.sh

If the panel did not display the marquee, refer to the troubleshooting section.

If you have both panels and want to use them at the same time, it is possible to install both these scripts at once.

A simple web interface can be used to upload new artwork to the panel's SD card. Visit http://batocera.local:8080 (if that doesn't work, use http://<IP of Batocera>:8080) to bring it up.

Pixelcade has a sophisticated API that can be used to make the marquee perform certain actions. These can be programmed into the regular Batocera scripts if desired, but it might be easier to use EmulationStation's scripts instead. The ES scripts installed by Pixelcade's installer can be found in /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/scripts.

For instance, here's a simplified routine that displays the game's marquee when a game is launched by Batocera (if it were installed into the /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/scripts/game-start folder and marked as executable):

pixelcade.sh

#!/bin/bash
 
# Save the arguments into variables.
system="${1}"
rom="${2}"
romname="${3}"
 
# Convert an argument into another value.
if [[ "${system}" == "fbneo" ]]; then
        system="mame"
fi
 
# Switch case for certain systems.
case ${system} in
  fbneo)
    system="mame"
    ;;
  scummvm)
    rom="${rom%.*}"
    ;;
esac
 
# Execute this part every time this event triggers.
curl -G \
        --data-urlencode "t=${romname}" \
        http://127.0.0.1:8080/arcade/stream/${system}/`basename ${rom}`

If you wish to simply see the events that are being fired off by Pixelcade's EmulationStation scripts as you're navigating the menus, run the following in an SSH terminal:

killall java
/userdata/system/pixelcade/jdk/bin/java -jar -Dioio.Seriaorts=ttyACM0 /userdata/system/pixelcade/pixelweb.jar -b -e

Now you'll get the following debug output:

It is possible to use the two HDMI outputs on an RPi4, with one displaying Batocera and the other displaying the dynamic marquee. Link to the original forum post explaining this. Essentially, the Raspberry Pi draws images/videos directly to the framebuffer, which is still visible on the other display even though it's hidden by Batocera on the main display.

Artwork needs to be sourced and placed in the appropriate Marquee and roms/Marquee folders first.

Place game.sh into system/configs/emulationstation/scripts/game-selected

game.sh

#!/bin/bash
System=$1 #system name
Romname=${2%.*} #romname
rom=${Romname##*/}
/userdata/marquee.sh Gameselected $System "$rom"

Place system.sh into system/configs/emulationstation/scripts/system-selected

system.sh

#!/bin/bash
System=$1 #System name
/userdata/marquee.sh Systemselected $System &

Place marquee.sh in /userdata

marquee.sh

#!/bin/bash
 
case $1 in
Start)
Romname=$3
Gamepath=$2
marqueeimage=$Gamepath/images/$romname-marquee.png
if [ -f "/userdata/roms/Marquee/videos/$Romname.mp4" ]
then
ffmpeg -i /userdata/roms/Marquee/videos/$Romname.mp4 -vf scale=1280:720 -sws_flags bilinear -pix_fmt rgb565le -f fbdev /dev/fb0
 
fi
 
if [ -f "/userdata/roms/Marquee/hires/$Romname.jpg" ]
then
fbv /userdata/roms/Marquee/hires/$Romname.jpg -fer
elif [ -f "$marqueeimage" ]
then
fbv $marqueeimage -fer
else
fbv /userdata/roms/mame/images/mame.png -fer
fi
 
;;
Gameselected)
System=$2 #system name
Romname=$3 #romname
 
if [ -f "/userdata/roms/Marquee/$Romname.png" ]
then
fbv /userdata/roms/Marquee/$Romname.png -fer
elif [ -f "/userdata/roms/$System/images/$Romname-marquee.png" ]
then
fbv "/userdata/roms/$System/images/$Romname-marquee.png" -fer
else
fbv /userdata/roms/Marquee/mame.png -fer
fi
 
;;
 
Systemselected)
imagepath="/userdata/roms/sysimages/$2"
if [ -f "$imagepath.png" ]
then
fbv "$imagepath.png" -fer
else
fbv /userdata/roms/mame/images/mame.png -fer
fi
 
;;
 
esac

Place script.sh in system/scripts

script.sh

#!/bin/bash
 
case $1 in
gameStart)
 
gamepath=${5%/*}
romname=${5##*/}
/userdata/marquee.sh Start $gamepath ${romname%.*} &
;;
 
gameStop)
killall ffmpeg
;;
esac

Link to original forum post. Link to video demonstration. Link to sample artwork This can be done using Batocera installed onto a device and another computer/Raspberry Pi connected to a separate display. So far, this has been tested successfully using Batocera installed on an x86_64 computer/Raspberry Pi with another Raspberry Pi acting as the marquee.

1. Install Raspbian OS on the Raspberry Pi to act as the marquee (referred to as Marquee from now on).
   1. Set this up with a static IP to make things easier.
2. On the Marquee run the following:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get upgrade
   sudo apt-get install ffmpeg git libjpeg9-dev libjpeg9 libpng16-16 libpng-dev

3. Now compile FBV on the Marquee using the following commands:

   sudo git clone https://github.com/godspeed1989/fbv.git
   cd fbv
   sudo ./configure
   sudo make
   sudo make install

4. Set up the Marquee to automatically start the appropriate software on boot. Open the text file with root privileges with the following:

   sudo nano /etc/rc.local

   1. Then add the following right before the exit 0 line:

      cd /home/pi
      nc -vklp 5555 | /bin/bash &

      Save with Ctrl + S.

5. Edit the bootup file:

   sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt

   1. Change the following line from:

      console=tty1

      to

      console=tty3

   2. In that same file, add onto the end of the line:

      logo.nologo vt.global_cursor_default=0

   • For example, the resulting cmdline.txt might contain:

     cmdline.txt

     console=serial0,115200 console=tty3 root=PARTUUID=692a6271-02 rootfstype=ext4 fsck.repair=yes rootwait logo.nologo vt.global_cursor_default=0

6. Add the following script to the /home/pi/ folder named as marquee.sh:

   marquee.sh

   #!/bin/bash
    
   case $1 in
   GameStart)
   Systemname=$2
   Romname="$3"
    
   if [ -f "/home/pi/Marquee/hires/$Romname.jpg" ]
   then
   fbv "/home/pi/Marquee/hires/$Romname.jpg" -fel
   elif [ -f "/home/pi/Marquee/$Systemname/images/$Romname-marquee.png" ]
   then
   fbv "/home/pi/Marquee/$Systemname/images/$Romname-marquee.png" -fel
   else
   fbv /home/pi/Marquee/default.png -fel
   fi
   ;;
    
   Gameselected)
   Systemname=$2 #system name
   Romname="$3" #romname
   if [ -f "/home/pi/Marquee/$Systemname/images/$Romname-marquee.png" ]
   then
   fbv "/home/pi/Marquee/$Systemname/images/$Romname-marquee.png" -fel
   else
   fbv /home/pi/Marquee/default.png -fel
   fi
   ;;
    
   Systemselected)
   imagepath="/home/pi/Marquee/sysimages/$2"
   if [ -f "$imagepath.png" ]
   then
   fbv "$imagepath.png" -fel
   else
   fbv /home/pi/Marquee/default.png -fel
   fi
   ;;
   esac

1. On the Marquee computer, create a /marquee folder in the root of the drive.
2. In this folder, create/place the default.png image file you wish to display when no other image can be found.
3. Create a new folder in the /marquee folder named sysimages. This folder will contain all of the system's generic marquees (for when you're on the system list before entering into the game list).
4. Then, for every game which marquee you want to display, create a system subfolder with the same name as the system shortname Batocera uses and place the marquee image with the name of the game itself inside of an image subfolder in that system.
5. In addition, any “high resolution” versions of the images can be put into a separate subfolder in marquee/ named hires.

Here's an example of the final folder structure:

/marquee/
 ├─ 3do/
 │  └─ images/
 │     └─ Space Hulk - Vengeance of the Blood Angels (USA)-marquee.png
 ├─ atari2600/
 │  └─ images/
 │     └─ Air Raid (USA)-marquee.png
 ├─ daphne/
 │  └─ images/
 │     └─ ace-marquee.png
 ├─ hires/
 │  ├─ 1943.jpg
 │  ├─ a51site4.png
 │  ├─ Air Raid (USA)-marquee.png
 │  └─ Space Hulk - Vengeance of the Blood Angels (USA)-marquee.png
 ├─ mame/
 │  └─ images/
 │     └─ a51site4.png
 ├─ nes/
 │  └─ images/
 │     └─ Super Mario Bros. (World)-marquee.png
 ├─ sega32x/
 │  └─ images/
 │     └─ BC Racers (USA)-marquee.png
 ├─ sysimages/
 │  ├─ 3do.png
 │  ├─ atari2600.png
 │  ├─ daphne.png
 │  ├─ fbneo.png
 │  ├─ mame.png
 │  ├─ nes.png
 │  └─ sega32x.png
 └─ default.png

Install Batocera on the main machine. This is only supported in Batocera v33 and up.

Navigate to /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation and create a folder named scripts.

Create the following scripts and download them to the mentioned location on the Batocera computer:

• Create a folder named game-start, save the following as 01-marquee.sh (eg. /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/scripts/game-start/01-marquee.sh):

  01-marquee.sh

  #!/bin/bash
  Marqueeip=192.168.123.147 #enter your marquee computer ip address here.
  case 1 in    gameStart)
          romname={5##*/}
  gamename=${romname%.*}      
  echo ./marquee.sh GameStart 2 "\\"gamename\"" | nc $Marqueeip 5555 >temp.log &
  ;;
  gameStop)      
  echo sudo pkill ffmpeg  | nc 192.168.123.147 5555 &   
  ;;
  esac

• In game-selected save the following as 01-marquee.sh (eg. /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/scripts/game-selected/01-marquee.sh):

  01-marquee.sh

  #!/bin/bash
   
  Marqueeip=192.168.123.147
  System=$1 #system name
  Romname=${2%.*} #romname
  rom=${Romname##*/}
   
  echo ./marquee.sh Gameselected$System “\”$rom\"" | nc $Marqueeip 5555 >temp.log &

• In system-selected save the following as 01-marquee.sh (eg. /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/scripts/system-selected/01-marquee.sh):

  01-marquee.sh

  #!/bin/bash
   
  SMarqueeip=192.168.123.147
   
  System=$1    #System name
  echo ./marquee.sh Systemselected $System | nc $Marqueeip 5555 >temp.log &

Once done, make all those scripts executable (chmod +x <name of file> or right-click and check “Executable”)

Pixelcade takes a few more moments after ES has started before it “kicks in”.

If it's still not working, it could be that it's simply not plugged in correctly. Ensure that the USB cable on both ends is firmly secure in their ports (or if using the LCD panel, that it's paired to the same Wi-Fi network as Batocera). On the Batocera machine itself, it might be worth checking if it's functional on a different port (such as a USB 3.0 port if you were using a 2.0 port, or vice-versa).

If it's still not working, try out the following:

• If the Pixelcade software was installed before the 7th of February, 2022, a bug prevented the script from working on boot. The script at /userdata/system/custom.sh containing the Pixelcade instructions must be removed completely and then the installation run again. Choose “yes” to wanting to reinstall Pixelcade.
• The script can be called manually with

  killall java && cd ~ && ./custom.sh

  • If the marquee starts working then the problem is that the script itself is failing to launch. Ensure that it contains /userdata/system/jdk/bin/java -jar pixelweb.jar at least twice in the file. If it does not, it is outdated and will not work.
  • If the marquee still does not work, then this is (likely) not the issue.
• A command can be sent to the marquee manually for testing purposes. For example:

  ~/jdk/bin/java -jar pixelcade.jar -m stream -c mame -g 1941

• If using the LED panel (not the LCD one), run ls /dev and search for ttyACM0 or ttyACM1. If neither are present, then your machine has not detected the Pixelcade LED device.