Import Media from Emulators - RetroArch | Import game covers, import platform icons

[OneAngryGamer]

This extension lets you import images from your RetroArch frontend into Playnite.

• You can import cover art for selected games
  

• You can import icons for all matching platforms in Playnite
  

Donations? I'm not taking donations. If you want to donate, donate to RetroArch so they can scan more box covers:

• RetroArch Patreon
  

Compatibility Warning: Due to the breaking changes introduced in Playnite 9, this extension is not compatible with any version of Playnite after v8.15.



If you found this extension useful, you can find more of my extensions here. If these forums are closed, I will not be moving to Discord or reddit.

[Crow]

I really appreciate you taking time and making these extensions, but making them for Playnite 8 hugely decreases chance that people will use it. There's already more people using Playnite 9 than 8 and that user base will only go smaller.

[OneAngryGamer]

I really appreciate you taking time and making these extensions

There is no need to thank me as I made a large number of extensions for my own use. (I now have Playnite 8 doing almost everything I ever hoped to achieve in Playnite.) All I'm doing is tidying up a few of these extensions for others to use.

but making them for Playnite 8 hugely decreases chance that people will use it. There's already more people using Playnite 9 than 8 and that user base will only go smaller.

That is true but I have the following problems:

1. I'm not aware of any tool which will enable me to bulk convert my extensions for Playnite 9.
   
2. Even if there was such a tool, I'm not using Playnite 9 so I have no way of testing my extensions in P9. I'm holding off upgrading to 9 as there are several plugins that I can not do without (e.g. Playnite Sounds) that do not have a P9 release yet.
   

[Crow]

You can use portable version of Playnite 9 just for extension development, it will not affect your main Playnite instance. That's what people normally do for extensions development to make sure they don't mess up their main Playnite installation.

[Luka8989]

I really appreciate you taking time and making these extensions

There is no need to thank me as I made a large number of extensions for my own use. (I now have Playnite 8 doing almost everything I ever hoped to achieve in Playnite.) All I'm doing is tidying up a few of these extensions for others to use.

but making them for Playnite 8 hugely decreases chance that people will use it. There's already more people using Playnite 9 than 8 and that user base will only go smaller.

That is true but I have the following problems:

1. I'm not aware of any tool which will enable me to bulk convert my extensions for Playnite 9.
   
2. Even if there was such a tool, I'm not using Playnite 9 so I have no way of testing my extensions in P9. I'm holding off upgrading to 9 as there are several plugins that I can not do without (e.g. Playnite Sounds) that do not have a P9 release yet.
   

We get Playnite Sounds developer to upgrade to playnite 9 so you can upgrade your extensions

[OneAngryGamer]

Why import cover art from RetroArch when you can just download covers?

Whether you love or hate RetroArch, it is very good when it comes to box covers.

Consider what commonly happens when you download cover art for old games:

• Images that have been stretched. Instead of keeping the ratio of the actual boxes.
  
• Images that have been cropped. (e.g. IGDB)
  
• Images that are low res.
  
• Images that are very high res. (e.g. LaunchBox) (You might not consider this one a negative. But having high res covers for all of your games will impact Playnite performance.)
  
• Cover for a different game which shares the same name as the game you have.
  
• Cover for the correct game but wrong platform. (e.g. you try to download a cover for a Nintendo 64 game and you get a cover for the same game released on PlayStation)
  

RetroArch has none of these problems.

If you have scanned your games in RetroArch and downloaded their cover art, you will have box covers for the correct platforms with the correct ratios at an acceptable res.

[Crow]

We get Playnite Sounds developer to upgrade to playnite 9 so you can upgrade your extensions

That extension is most likely not going to be updated because Playnite 9 has sound support built-in. That's what its dev said.

[Luka8989]

We get Playnite Sounds developer to upgrade to playnite 9 so you can upgrade your extensions

That extension is most likely not going to be updated because Playnite 9 has sound support built-in. That's what its dev said.

I understand, but then how can you make sure that there is a sound / music for each game one selects? Especially in full screen? Basically what PS5 does when you position yourself on a game and its music starts

[OneAngryGamer]

Update Announcement v1.2.0 & v1.2.1

Changed

• Extension name changed (To complement Import Games from Emulators )
  
• RetroArch now detected from Playnite
  
• other code changes
  

Fixed

• importing box art from RetroArch had failed to detect matching images due to an unassigned variable
  

[JameyC]

Any chance you might release these with a permissive license, so that someone else can contribute updates to Playnite 9?

[OneAngryGamer]

Any chance you might release these with a permissive license, so that someone else can contribute updates to Playnite 9?

I'll be upgrading most of my extensions for Playnite 9 after I switch over to Playnite 9.

When / If Playnite 9+ ever reaches the level of user created content available in Playnite 8 then I will upgrade but not before.

UPDATE: Playnite 10 has finally reached user created content parity with Playnite 8 (if you don't include most of my add-ons, especially unreleased addons).

I am rethinking my decision to switch to Playnite 10. Converting P8 addons to P10 is not easy. Some single value fields are now multi value. Platform names have changed. Aside from these known changes, working P8 code breaks on P10 with little explanation why.

[OneAngryGamer]

Update Announcement v1.2.2

Changed

• code rewritten
  

I will not be moving to Discord or reddit after these forums close.

If you found this extension useful, you can find more of my extensions here