Why is the bar for entrance to front loaders set so high

[hojo]

After recently discovering how front-ends can streamline and connect the different emulators together into one program; I started trying to set one up to use on my computer. But every step of the way has been a road block after road block. 
Some front-ends I started setting up become useless once I read further to find out it hasn't been updated in years. Other front-ends have hidden paywalls which make front-ends useless when trying to fully customize. Of the open-source front-ends, the setup instructions are laughably bad and no guides exist on how to properly set it up. When I finally found an already existing setup, it ends up behind a pay wall.

To compound this further. I have read guides stating that rocket launcher should be used for loading games yet many many of the front-ends refuse to even acknowledge it's existence. Try typing in RetroFE and Rocketlauncher setup. You will get 2 forums at most and they are just questions about errors. And the Rocketlauncher wiki explains nothing on how to sync the two together. I have had to resort to looking through old guides to try and setup retroFE with rocketlauncher but in the end nothing worked. And to add further frustration, I recently found out that RetroFE was no longer being updated on the website so it became a waste of time.

At this rate, I will either have to pay 100USD just to get something setup or forget about the existence of front-ends. Why is the bar set so high?

what happened to an easy entry point for new users? It is like being thrown into the deep end when trying to set up a front end and any form of help or aid is behind a paywall.

[phulshof]

I'd like to start with a small correction in your story: RetroFE has recently moved to a new domain while we handle the .com domain name transfer, but it is actively being developed at http://www.retrofe.nl

 

As for your question: There are numerous reasons for the situation being as it is:

1. This is a hobby. People are spending hundreds if not thousands of hours building this stuff for free, but the cost of hosting this material is quite high. While I would love to see this art material distributed for free via torrents, that's up to the people who spent the hours creating it.

2. Most front-ends are free, and the developers work on it in their spare time (LB/BB is an exception). In general it's a very small group doing all the work, and they may burn out after a while or life gets in the way. That's why I'm happy that RetroFE is F/OSS, so when Emb could not find the time to work on it anymore I was able to take over, and if I ever were to quit, someone else can take over from me. In general though: this hobby thrives on the community, so if e.g. the installation instructions are bad: please step up, and write better ones. :) We need people like Simply Austin, who help making using front-ends and emulators easier.

3. I've never used RocketLauncher, so I can't help you there. I know several people have set it up though, and perhaps I can persuade them to write a guide or offer a downloadable setup. I will happily host such a setup; I just won't distribute other people's work without their permission. That's why the RetroFE modular setup is available from the EmuMovies FTP site.

 

As for investing 100 USD: if you can get someone to set it up for you for that price: do it. :) If I add all the hours I've spent on this hobby, and charge my hourly rate, the cost runs into the tens of thousands... It also depends on what you're looking for: setting up a single (MAME?) system is quick and easy; setting up 100s of complete systems with full art takes time.

 

If you're just looking for help setting something up: feel free to ask. I'm generally quite helpful in that regard. :)

[hojo]

This project was actually a labor of love on my end. I would really like to make my own personal emulation box with all the systems organized. I like to go through romhacking.net to look for translation and hacks to see if I can update an existing game, fix known bugs, or translate a game.

I actually created many different box covers, screenshots, and icons for the hacked games. Once I saw that movies are a thing, I plan to make some as well for these games.

But first, I need to get something set up. I will check out retroFE.nl and try and set it up. I noticed that they actually have a rather detailed user manual. Hopefully it will help.

Thanks for the info.

[hojo]

Do you know of any good guides to link Rocket launcher to RetroFE?

I have a feeling that setup would go much smoother if I can use rocket launcher to coordinate the emulators and artwork.

[phulshof]

Do you know of any good guides to link Rocket launcher to RetroFE?

I have a feeling that setup would go much smoother if I can use rocket launcher to coordinate the emulators and artwork.

Not yet, but I will ask on the forums. Since I don't use Windows myself, I've got everything set up without RocketLauncher.

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[TragicallyGeek]

I think this is no different than many other hobbies.  Your investment cost is directly related to what you want to get out of it, and how much work you want to put into it.

[hojo]

so I found out the problem with retroFE and rocket launcher. retroFE updated the layout of the executable which messed with the linking of retroFE to rocket launcher. 

 

Now I'm busy setting up rocket launcher to run the games and emulators. One thing I noticed is that the setup for media is different between rocket launcher and retroFE. As it is simplier for me right now, I am setting up all the media in regards to the RetroFE layout. Is this a good direction or should I start setting up the media for rocket launcher instead.

[phulshof]

I'd ask this on the RetroFE forums; I don't use RL myself, so I cannot help you here.

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