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Setup Instructions

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authorblues edited this page Jul 3, 2021 · 16 revisions

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Download and unpack the bizhawk-shuffler-2 folder into your Bizhawk installation directory. If you already have a previous version of the shuffler installed, it is better to just delete it and reinstall from scratch. (Optional: Open Bizhawk and go to the Config > Customize menu. Under the advanced tab, change the Lua Core to Lua+LuaInterface, and restart Bizhawk if you made any changes)

Demonstrating the bizhawk-shuffler-2 folder inside the Bizhawk installation directory.

  1. Run shuffler.lua in Bizhawk (before loading any game) but DO NOT complete the setup. This can be done by either dragging shuffler.lua onto the open Bizhawk window before loading a game, or by opening the script from the Lua Console, which can be opened from Tools > Lua Console.

Demonstrating opening the script from the Lua Console inside Bizhawk.

  1. Place any rom supported by Bizhawk in the games/ folder created by the script. Any rom added to this folder will be part of the shuffler rotation. More files can be added later, and files can be removed as well if needed (but this should not be necessary).

Demonstrating the newly created games folder in the bizhawk-shuffler-2 directory.

  1. NOW complete the setup form - settings are explained below
  2. Press your chosen hotkey (default: Ctrl+Shift+End) to mark a game as complete
  3. Even if everything is working, you may want to browse the Frequently Asked Questions to check to see if there is anything else you might need to know

SETTINGS:

An example of the Bizhawk shuffler setup window for reference.

  • Seed - this value is the seed for the random number generator (if racing with another person, you may wish to choose same seed)
  • Min/Max Swap Time - minimum and maximum number of seconds between game swaps
  • Shuffler Swap Order - how should the shuffler decide in what order games should appear?
  • Hotkey: Completed Game - this is the hotkey (combo?) you will press to mark a game as complete
    • if background input is not enabled on Bizhawk, this hotkey may not work predictably
  • Setup Plugins - open window for enabling and configuring special plugins
  • Resuming a run? - check this box to resume a previous session (uses stored config from shuffler-src/config.lua)

PLUGINS:

An example of the Bizhawk shuffler plugins window for reference.

Select a plugin from the dropdown menu and press "Select" to load its information (this does not enable the plugin). An "Enabled" checkbox will appear. Checking this box will enable the plugin and reveal any settings for you to configure. Once you have enabled and configured plugins, press the "Save and Close" button (just closing the window will discard any changes you have made).

OUTPUT FILES:

  • current-game.txt - name of current game (based on filename, minus the extension)
  • total-time.txt - APPROXIMATE total time spent on this shuffler
    • (this is an approximation. NOT a substitute for a timer, for speedrun/race purposes)
  • total-swaps.txt - total number of times the shuffler has swapped games
  • current-time.txt - APPROXIMATE time spent on current game during this shuffler
  • current-swaps.txt - number of times the shuffler has swapped to the current game
  • completed-games.txt - list of games marked as complete, one per line

To set this up with OBS, create a Text source and enable loading the data from a file, as seen in the properties window below:

An example of an OBS text source properties window demonstrating how to use the output files generated by the Bizhawk shuffler.

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