Getting Started

Make sure your MiSTer is on your network over Ethernet or Wi-Fi. SSH makes the install below a copy and paste, and it is enabled by default on most MiSTer setups, but nothing after the install needs it.

Point the MiSTer Downloader at 1Retro once. Every update_all run then installs and upgrades it along with everything else on your card, so there is never anything to re-download by hand.

Over SSH, that is one line:

wget -O /media/fat/downloader_1retro.ini \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/one-retro/1retro-mister/db/downloader_1retro.ini

Or, with the card in your computer, save that file into the root of the card as downloader_1retro.ini.

Then run Update All (or Downloader) from the Scripts menu. Downloader reads every /media/fat/downloader_*.ini on each run, so nothing else needs editing, and your saves folder is never touched by it. When it finishes, 1retro is in the MiSTer Scripts menu.

Pick 1retro from the Scripts menu. The first run shows a QR code and a short code on screen: scan it with your phone, or open 1retro.com/device in any browser and enter the code, to link this MiSTer to your 1Retro account.

The menu is driven with the controller, so there is nothing to type: up and down to move, A to select, B to leave.

Everything lives in that menu:

• Sync saves uploads what changed on the MiSTer and downloads what changed elsewhere. The first run hashes every ROM on the card to work out which games you have, so give it a while; later runs are quick.
• Watch for saves keeps syncing in the background after you leave the menu, so a save reaches the cloud seconds after a core writes it.
• Start watching at boot starts that again after a power cycle. It adds one guarded line to /media/fat/linux/user-startup.sh, and takes it back out when you turn the option off.
• Sign out forgets the login on this device.

Underneath the actions, the menu shows which account this MiSTer is signed in as, when it last synced, and how many saves it is tracking. Background logs go to /media/fat/1retro/daemon.log.

The binary sits next to the script, and does the same jobs without the menu, which is handy over SSH or from your own scripts:

/media/fat/Scripts/1retro-mister sync     # sync once and exit
/media/fat/Scripts/1retro-mister watch    # keep syncing in the foreground
/media/fat/Scripts/1retro-mister --help