[PR #287] add ares emulator to base-emu and pegasus #278

New issue

Open

opened 2026-10-15 12:50:30 +00:00 by bsakaguchi · 0 comments

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 12:50:30 +00:00

Owner

📋 Pull Request Information

Original PR: https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/pull/287
Author: @Ackernym
Created: 2/2/2026
Status: 🔄 Open

Base: master ← Head: ares-emu

📝 Commits (5)

f2cb59f add ares emulator to base-emu and pegasus. also remove dwarfs from dolphin emu pkgforge downloader
bb00f26 Merge branch 'games-on-whales:master' into ares-emu
9abbe8e fix for ares readonly path error
63710ea add audio parameters to settings.bml
2fe19bf add option to rom_launcher.sh to use snes-ares to give user the choice if they want to use snes9x retroarch core or ares-emu

📊 Changes

6 files changed (+439 additions, -1 deletions)

View changed files

📝 apps/pegasus/build/configs/app/metadata.pegasus.txt (+7 -0)
➕ apps/pegasus/build/configs/ares/settings.bml (+406 -0)
📝 apps/pegasus/build/scripts/startup.sh (+15 -0)
📝 images/base-emu/build/Dockerfile (+4 -1)
➕ images/base-emu/build/launchers/ares.sh (+6 -0)
📝 images/base-emu/build/launchers/rom_launcher.sh (+1 -0)

📄 Description

This is a relatively simple pull request that replaces the snes9x retroarch core with Ares emulator. Despite it being marginally more difficult to set up, Ares does have very good SNES and Nintendo 64 emulation, so if a user wanted to, they could replace other emulated systems we currently use Retroarch for with Ares.

I have run into a couple minor issues that I would appreciate some guidance on if anyone has the time:

Issue 1
Even though I manually set and created the default save game, screenshot, and debug log directories Ares seems to view these directories as read only until I manually set them from the emulator paths setting.

Issue 2
The current ares launch options in launchers.sh specifies that the game should start in fullscreen mode, but waybar is still visible. Strangely, when launching a game from the emulator I can hide waybar by setting hotkeys for fullscreen and pseudofullscreen and then enabling them, but even if I changed the launch option to pseudofullscreen it doesn't seem to hide waybar.

Issue 3
This might be due to the fact that I was using podman on an ancient computer, but it doesn't seem like audio is being played from the pegasus container. If someone could confirm that audio does play and this is just a computer/podman issue I would appreciate it.

As for merging this request, I'm not sure if we should do that at this point, since I know there is a plan in place to eventually allow users to modify current apps and add their own more easily. I chose to create this pull request knowing that in the hopes that this will serve as some type of base example for how users could modify an already existing app.

_{🔄 This issue represents a GitHub Pull Request. It cannot be merged through Gitea due to API limitations.}

## 📋 Pull Request Information **Original PR:** https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/pull/287 **Author:** [@Ackernym](https://github.com/Ackernym) **Created:** 2/2/2026 **Status:** 🔄 Open **Base:** `master` ← **Head:** `ares-emu` --- ### 📝 Commits (5) - [`f2cb59f`](https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/commit/f2cb59f30769df1e4559c73e49dc5124c72d2c70) add ares emulator to base-emu and pegasus. also remove dwarfs from dolphin emu pkgforge downloader - [`bb00f26`](https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/commit/bb00f26b028558f3e0923e58b59137cefa95b3f7) Merge branch 'games-on-whales:master' into ares-emu - [`9abbe8e`](https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/commit/9abbe8e87b31ee670be97cffdc4b349d2d1bd8c0) fix for ares readonly path error - [`63710ea`](https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/commit/63710eaf5fd5672ef0bf08344d5109cc8fb24af8) add audio parameters to settings.bml - [`2fe19bf`](https://github.com/games-on-whales/gow/commit/2fe19bf01a3a36487f32760cebb3f204227ca0d1) add option to rom_launcher.sh to use snes-ares to give user the choice if they want to use snes9x retroarch core or ares-emu ### 📊 Changes **6 files changed** (+439 additions, -1 deletions) <details> <summary>View changed files</summary> 📝 `apps/pegasus/build/configs/app/metadata.pegasus.txt` (+7 -0) ➕ `apps/pegasus/build/configs/ares/settings.bml` (+406 -0) 📝 `apps/pegasus/build/scripts/startup.sh` (+15 -0) 📝 `images/base-emu/build/Dockerfile` (+4 -1) ➕ `images/base-emu/build/launchers/ares.sh` (+6 -0) 📝 `images/base-emu/build/launchers/rom_launcher.sh` (+1 -0) </details> ### 📄 Description This is a relatively simple pull request that replaces the snes9x retroarch core with Ares emulator. Despite it being marginally more difficult to set up, Ares does have very good SNES and Nintendo 64 emulation, so if a user wanted to, they could replace other emulated systems we currently use Retroarch for with Ares. I have run into a couple minor issues that I would appreciate some guidance on if anyone has the time: **Issue 1** Even though I manually set and created the default save game, screenshot, and debug log directories Ares seems to view these directories as read only until I manually set them from the emulator paths setting. **Issue 2** The current ares launch options in launchers.sh specifies that the game should start in fullscreen mode, but waybar is still visible. Strangely, when launching a game from the emulator I can hide waybar by setting hotkeys for fullscreen and pseudofullscreen and then enabling them, but even if I changed the launch option to pseudofullscreen it doesn't seem to hide waybar. **Issue 3** This might be due to the fact that I was using podman on an ancient computer, but it doesn't seem like audio is being played from the pegasus container. If someone could confirm that audio does play and this is just a computer/podman issue I would appreciate it. As for merging this request, I'm not sure if we should do that at this point, since I know there is a plan in place to eventually allow users to modify current apps and add their own more easily. I chose to create this pull request knowing that in the hopes that this will serve as some type of base example for how users could modify an already existing app. --- <sub>🔄 This issue represents a GitHub Pull Request. It cannot be merged through Gitea due to API limitations.</sub>

bsakaguchi added the

pull-request

label

2026-10-15 12:50:30 +00:00