MiSTer Downloader

This tool installs and updates all the cores and other extra files for your MiSTer. It also updates the menu core, the MiSTer firmware and the Linux system. The source for all downloads is the MiSTer Distribution repository.

The MiSTer Downloader is a substitute for the MiSTer Updater, and is meant to offer a more safe and robust experience, while being much faster.

As a drawback, the Downloader is not backwards compatible with the old INI files that were configured for the MiSTer Updater. In fact, as of today, this tool doesn't implement many fine-grained features that allow you to customize the updating process in depth. In case you value these features, consider to keep using the MiSTer Updater as usual. Both tools will coexist in the near future.

Setup and Usage

Download this ZIP file and extract downloader.sh to your /Scripts folder on your primary SD card (create that folder if it doesn't exist). You only need to perform this operation once, since this tool self-updates itself.

To use it, on your MiSTer main menu, go to the Scripts screen, and select downloader.

Options

You may create a /media/fat/downloader.ini file to tweak some parameters.

Here you can see the default parameters and the options that you may change:

[MiSTer]
; base_path is where most files will be installed
;   Useful for setups with USB storage, for example: '/media/usb0/'
base_path = '/media/fat/'

; base_system_path is where system files such as 'MiSTer' and 'menu.rbf' will be installed.
;   Warning: It is recommended to NOT change this setting regardless of your setup.
base_system_path = '/media/fat/'

; allow_delete options:
;   0 -> Don't allow this tool to delete anything at all.
;   1 -> Allow this tool to delete any old file from previous updates.
;   2 -> Allow this tool to delete only old cores that receive a new version.
allow_delete = 1

; allow_reboot options:
;   0 -> Don't allow this tool to ever reboot automatically.
;   1 -> Allow this tool to reboot the system after any system file has been updated.
;   2 -> Allow this tool to reboot the system only after Linux has been updated.
allow_reboot = 1

; update_linux options:
;   true -> Updates Linux when there is a new update (very recommended).
;   false -> Doesn't update Linux.
update_linux = true

; parallel_update options:
;   true -> Tries to more than one file simultaneously.
;   false -> Will only download one file at a time.
parallel_update = true

; downloader_timeout: Can be tweaked to increase the timeout time in seconds
;   It is useful to increase this value for users with slow connections.
downloader_timeout = 300

; downloader_retries: Can be tweaked to increase the retries per failed download
;   It is useful to increase this value for users with very unstable connections.
downloader_retries = 3

Roadmap

[x] Initial Release
[ ] Cheats fetching
[ ] First-run optimisations
[ ] Configurable custom download filters
[ ] Handle duplicated games folders through symlinks (GBA <-> GBA2P, and GAMEBOY <-> GAMEBOY2P)
[ ] Integration with MiSTer binary