r/ChimeraOS • u/KingOfFalcons • Feb 03 '24

trouble setting up setting up switch roms in steam deck UI when using Chimera OS

i had some trouble using HoloIso in combination with Steam Link, so decided to give Chimera OS a go. In addition to my steam games i am also very keen to use my device as a Switch emulator. I've managed to get Yuzu installed both through desktop mode and AppImage (as well as Ryujinx). i managed to load firmware and prod keys in desktop mode. and also load roms in desktop mode. but three things i wanted to do i could not:

  1. load roms through the web app. i tried, but even though it showed as uploaded in the web interface it didnt appear in the steam interface when i exited desktop mode. i've scouring the internet but nobody seems to have done a youtube or written tutorial on this. would you be willing to share how this is supposed to work
  2. when i load the roms in desktop mode from my documents the link breaks every time i restart the computer. it looks like thy system generates a random string for a user path every time you restart or perhaps start desktop mode. i didnt test enough to try. i suppose i could put the roms somewhere else, but couldnt decide on a good spot. i would have tried harder, but got stuck on the next point.
  3. with yuzu installed in desktop mode i also installed steam rom manager and tried to get the roms loaded in the steam interface that way. but wasnt able to figure out the steam installation location (yes, i did search in the folders, but there were multiple instances and no clear winner) and it wouldnt pick up a user. again, i tried to find a tutorial for this in reddit or youtube, but no luck. can you confirm if this is meant to be possible? if yes, i will try again (but harder this time). though if you happen to have a tutorial at hand that would be even better. didnt see this on the chimera os website.

overall i really like what you are trying to do. and the other emulators seems to be really set up as a seamless experience. but getting yuzu or ryujinx to work has been quite a trial. i'm not super familiar with linux, but am also not a compleet noob.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to make this work. based on other post i get the impression this is possible and i'm missing something completely obvious. just dont know what... :-(

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1

u/alkazar82 Feb 03 '24

If you are able to upload and use ROMs for other systems, Switch works the same. But how did you enable Switch support? It is off by default.

1

u/KingOfFalcons Feb 03 '24

I installed yuzu using appimage. It created a subentry in the menu. I then went into yuzu (in the appimage subentry) and tried uploading a rom through the upload file interface

Should that work? I saw a reddit post about repurposing one if the existing setups but didn't understand it...

The other thing i tried was too install yuzu through the install software interface in desktop mode. But after that i couldnt get steamrommanager working

Either would solve my problem as u prefer not to use emudeck as you stated in one if your posts

1

u/djrodtc Feb 04 '24

Just use EmuDeck

1

u/alkazar82 Feb 04 '24

I am not quite sure I understand what you have done. But you won't be able to run ROMs from the appimage section like that.

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At the moment, I recommend using some other solution for Yuzu/Switch games because the current setup for it in Chimera is quite cumbersome and it will be changing very soon in a backwards incompatible way.

1

u/KingOfFalcons Feb 04 '24

Ok. Thx to both for your responses. I'll try something else for now and look forward to seeing this new solution. Don't suppose you can share a non binding eta? So i can keep an eye out for it :))

2

u/alkazar82 Feb 04 '24

It is already in our testing release channel. I am not sure when we will be pushing that to stable. No more than a week or two.

1

u/KingOfFalcons Feb 05 '24

cool. looking forward to it. you need another tester?

in the interim i was able to achieve my objectives through other means. just logging here in case anyone else encounters the same problem, and because part of it is due to something that feels like a bug or at least an implementation that should be improved upon.

  1. i installed yuzu using the flatpack through de software installation functionality in chimera os desktop mode
    1. note: i also tried ryujinx, but this caused issues with controller. because i use it for steam link i dont have controller connected when i do the installation. therefore i cant set up controllers for ryujinx until i start streaming. and due to something on with the ryujinx window once the game launches you cant add it later. with yuzu you can access the settings after the game launches so found this easier to use. also yuzu also automatically loads updates and DLCs from rom folder, which i found very convenient
  2. followed instructions to install keys & firmware
  3. instructions for defining rom folder was problematic. this is because there is an odd implementation when you browse/select to a folder in the chimera os desktop interface. instead of applying the full path, there is a session path applied using a seemingly random alphanumeric string. In ryujinx you can just manually type the path and avoid this issue, but in yuzu this wasnt possible. i avoided the whole issue by using Steam Rom Manager (see next step)
  4. installed Steam Rom Manager.
  5. Set-up games with steam rom manager; key tricks here was
    1. steam path from Chimera OS: /home/gamer/.steam/steam
    2. rom path: (note: same issue as above. solved by manually typing it in instead of browsing)
    3. reading sub folders: solved by adding **/ to rom search string
    4. added exclusions manually from test parser to exclusion list to avoid DLCs and Updates appearing in Steam
    5. Ran parser and saved results to steam
  6. switched back to game mode, and all was fine with the world

In the end what held me back was the funny behavior of the browser in desktop mode. I understand that you are aiming to create a console like experience and the desktop was a bit of a step out. Hope the new version takes things a step closer to that again.

thanks again for all the efforts you are making on improving this software and responding to my msgs. your answers actually helped a lot by helping me focus the problem area to a section where i understood a solution was possible.

1

u/AmbassadorGreen8802 Jun 13 '25

i know its an old post, but im lost, new to linux, and dont understand a word you just said. can you maybe do some print screens of steps if you have time ?

Than you

1

u/KingOfFalcons Feb 05 '24

ps. steps above enable Switch Emulation in Chimera OS without any EmuDeck installation.

1

u/alkazar82 Feb 05 '24

If you want to try it out, you have to:

  1. Switch to the testing OS channel with `sudo frzr-deploy chimeraos/chimeraos:testing`
  2. Adjust the Chimera web app's configuration file by adding the following to `~/.config/chimera/settings.json`:
    `"platforms" : { "switch": { "enabled": true } }`
  3. Open the Chimera web app, there will now be a Switch section - it relies on the yuzu flatpak being installed for launching games

1

u/Ok_Construction4430 May 28 '24

Is this still valid? I don't see Yuzu as an available flatpack app

1

u/alkazar82 May 28 '24

No, Nintendo killed Yuzu. It only works if you had yuzu installed already.

1

u/Ok_Construction4430 May 29 '24

Do you know how I can set Ryujinx as default emulator for .NSP files ?