Display active configuration / override files when loading content
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- Dominant language
- C
- Stars
- 14.1k
- Forks
- 2.2k
- Avg merge
- 7h 35m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 51
Description
Currently RetroArch loads global configuration files, core overrides, directory overrides and game overrides silently.
While this is technically correct, it makes troubleshooting input and configuration issues unnecessarily difficult.
Proposed feature:
Display a short overlay on-screen notification when content is loaded, indicating which configuration files are active.
Example:
Loaded configuration:
- retroarch.cfg
- puae-core.cfg
- lotus_esprit_turbo_challenge.cfg
This could be shown briefly as an overlay (similar to controller connection messages) or logged clearly in the frontend log.
Use case:
This would significantly improve usability when dealing with:
multiple controllers
identical controller models
core-specific input behavior
unexpected overrides
Users could immediately identify whether an issue originates from global settings, a core override or a game-specific configuration.
Benefit:
Better transparency
Faster troubleshooting
No functional change to existing behavior
Especially helpful for advanced users and debugging scenarios
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Trace the content-loading path where global configuration, core overrides, directory overrides, and game overrides are applied. Compare the existing controller connection overlay notifications with frontend logging, then define whether the active filenames appear briefly on screen or clearly in the log; done means the loaded configuration list is visible for each content load without changing behavior.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c
- Domain
- frontend
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 38/100