| name | retroid-sync |
| description | Sync the Retroid Pocket Flip 2 handheld with roles/games/files/retroid/syncretroid.py over adb, and understand the device's storage and config layout. Use when asked to "sync it" with the handheld plugged in, when changing syncretroid.py or profile.yml, or when working on RetroArch/ES-DE config, cores, BIOS, shaders, playlists, thumbnails, or the ROM library mirror on the device. |
Retroid Pocket Flip 2 (games role, syncretroid)
Ansible cannot run on the device, so syncretroid reproduces the games role's convergence over adb: it reads roles/games/vars/main.yml as the source of truth, applies profile.yml, and reconciles retroarch.cfg (only the keys it owns), playlists, per-core overrides/options, shaders, BIOS, thumbnails, the ES-DE <alternativeEmulator> choices, and the ROM library mirror.
Everything lives in roles/games/files/retroid/. Read these before changing syncretroid:
| Source | Covers |
|---|
| files/retroid/README.md | The values that must be read off the device by hand, the shader rationale, the failure modes |
syncretroid.py's module docstring | What it owns on the device, and what it leaves alone |
profile.yml's inline comments | Each Android divergence, with the reasoning in ../til/docs/retro-games.md |
| roles/games/README.md | How the retroid tag installs the wrapper on the controller, and when an edit needs the tag re-run |
To test an edit without the wrapper: python3 roles/games/files/retroid/syncretroid.py --library-dir <library> --dry-run (--serial is needed only when more than one device is on adb; the run refuses any device that does not have both RetroArch and ES-DE installed).
Sync runbook (device plugged in, "sync it")
Run from the controller, where the ROM library is local and the command is on PATH.
-
adb devices should list the device (games_retroid_serial in host_vars) as device; if unauthorized, accept the prompt on the device.
-
Close RetroArch on the device. syncretroid force-stops it and ES-DE, but a manual reopen mid-run clobbers the push (config_save_on_exit).
-
Run it:
syncretroid
ROMs and thumbnails are mirrored by default. The ROM mirror is hundreds of GB over USB, so a first run takes hours, but it is resumable and pushes only new/changed files: re-runs are usually quick and finish an interrupted transfer. Run it in the background and report progress periodically.
-
Skip flags for a faster or narrower run: --skip-roms, --skip-thumbnails (ES-DE uses its own scraped media), --skip-bios, --skip-shaders. Preview any run with --dry-run.
The device
- Retroid Pocket Flip 2, Snapdragon 865 (kona), Android 13 / SDK 33, ABI
arm64-v8a.
- Removable sdcard: exFAT, mounted by uuid. It drifts, so
sdcard_uuid in profile.yml is left empty and discover_uuid finds it at run time.
- Single 60.000Hz panel mode, so
video_refresh_rate: 60.000000 is correct, not a placeholder.
- Apps
syncretroid touches: com.retroarch.aarch64 (cfg at /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.retroarch.aarch64/files/retroarch.cfg, per-core overrides at rgui_config_directory = /storage/emulated/0/RetroArch/config), org.es_de.frontend (the frontend the user launches; gamelists at /storage/emulated/0/ES-DE/gamelists), and the standalone emulators it pins as ES-DE alternatives: org.dolphinemu.dolphinemu (GameCube) and xyz.aethersx2.tturnip (NetherSX2-Turnip, PS2). Apps are installed with Obtainium from the RJNY/Obtainium-Emulation-Pack single-screen list; syncretroid only reconciles their config.
Things that bite
- Cores are never synced: storage is mounted
noexec, so they come from RetroArch's in-app Core Updater and playlists just point core_path at the app-private cores dir. That and the other device-side failure modes are in the README's "Gotchas".
- ES-DE ROM dirs use North-America short names (genesis, segacd, sega32xna, tg16, tg-cd, ...), not the library's No-Intro names; the
rom_dir_names map bridges them.
<alternativeEmulator> is a second root element in gamelist.xml (invalid single-root XML), so it is edited as text, and labels must match an ES-DE es_systems.xml <command label> (bundled, or from the installed custom_systems for PS2).- Two values
syncretroid cannot derive and that fail silently: core library_names and the pad rewind/FF indices. See the README's "Verify on the device" section.
