Transform FireTV Stick Into An Awesome Emulation Device, Part 1
7#RetroGaming #AmazonFireOS #FireTV
Full steps can be found at https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0352.html
Prerequisites
- A FireTV device https://amzn.to/3HoQHUa | https://amzn.to/3DanUBj | https://amzn.to/3qjLfuZ
- A 16 GB or larger USB flash drive https://amzn.to/3qkrJ1p | https://amzn.to/3Nhu9b9 | https://amzn.to/3wkR5ju
- A microUSB OTG adapter https://amzn.to/3wlXXgx | https://amzn.to/3imBWWL
- A bluetooth controller, I'm using an https://amzn.to/3InP9sL
- Optionally, a USB keyboard will make things go alot faster, I'm using a https://amzn.to/3qgUQTe
Prepare USB Flash Drive
01. Insert the flash drive into a PC
02. Format the flash drive to FAT32
a. Right Click Start ≫ File Explorer
b. Right Click the USB flash drive ≫ Format...
c. Select FAT32 from the File System dropdown
d. Make sure Quick Format is checked
e. Click Start
08. Create a folder on the flash drive called ROMs
09. Copy retro games into subfolders inside the ROMs directory, ie \ROMs\NES, \ROMs\Genesis, \ROMs\SNES, etc
10. Safely remove the USB flash drive
11. Connect the OTG adapter to the FireTV Stick
12. Plug the USB flash drive into the OTG adapter
13. Plug the power supply into the OTG adapter to power on the FireTV Stick
Pair A Bluetooth Controller
01. Once the FireTV Stick boots, navigate to Settings ≫ Controllers & Bluetooth Devices ≫ Game Controllers
02. Click Add New Game Controller
03. Put your Bluetooth controller in pairing mode
04. Once the controller shows on the FireTV, select it to complete pairing
Install Aptoide
01. Go back to the Home screen and over to search
02. Search for Downloader and install the application
03. Launch Downloader
04. Navigate to https://aptoide.com/
05. Click Download button
06. Click the Download APK button
07. A prompt will display to go to settings and allow installing unknown apps
08. Click Settings ≫ Install Unknown Apps ≫ Downloader ≫ Toggle the setting to On
09. Click back a few times to return to the Downloader app
10. Click Install and then Install again
Install RetroArch
01. Still in Downloader, press back and navigate to https://www.retroarch.com/
02. Click Download from the top navigation
03. Scroll down to Android
04. Click the Download (32 bit) link
05. Click Install
Install Dig Emulation Frontend
01. Go back to the Home screen and launch Aptoide App Store
02. Search for Dig Frontend
03. Click the Install button
04. Click Install on the application dialog
Configure RetroArch
01. Launch RetroArch
02. After the application extracts components, select Online Updater ≫ Core Downloader
03. Download emulation cores that correspond to the systems you want to emulate
04. Optionally, change the RetroArch menu theme by navigating to Settings ≫ Drivers ≫ Menu and making a selection
05. Lastly, set a menu gamepad key combination by navigating to Settings ≫ Input ≫ Hotkeys and setting the Menu Toggle Gamepad Combo to L3 + R3. This will allow you to bring up the RetroArch menu by pressing both of the analog sticks at the same time
06. Back out to the main menu and quit RetroArch
Configure Dig Emulation Frontend
01. From the Home screen launch Dig Emulation Frontend
02. The initial load takes some time to extract assets
03. Select Later if prompted to scan for games
04. Once the menu loads select Options ≫ Game covers
05. Scroll down and select Storage location ≫ Other folder
06. Browse to the USB flash drive
07. Optionally, click the + in the top right of the folder browser and create a folder to store box art and screenshots
08. Click Confirm to set the directory
09. Back in the Options menu, select ROM scanning ≫ Start manual scan ≫ Select folder to scan
10. Navigate back a few folders and find the USB flash drive
11. Select the ROMs directory created earlier ≫ Click Confirm
12. A wrench icon will show in the top right corner of the screen anytime Dig is scanning or processing files
13. Back out to Dig's main menu to watch the game count increase as the scan progresses
14. Dig will automatically pull in game descriptions, box art and screenshots
15. Select Systems from the main menu
16. For each system displayed, configure the emulator by doing the following:
a. Select the system so the games list is shown
b. Press the R1 button on the controller ≫ Manage system
c. Click the top option and set the emulator to use, if using RetroArch make sure the core selected has been installed from within RetroArch or Dig will tell you the core wasn't found
....Full steps can be found on GitHub [link at the top]
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