Configuring VICE in RetroPie install

Question

I am trying to properly configure VICE (the C64 emulator that comes with RetroPie). I've encountered two problems.

1. Based on this link there should be a configuration file for changing the default size of the C64 emulator screen; however I cannot find a configuration file in the RetroPie directory tree with the same name. Where might this information be placed?

2. Making changes to the video settings is causing my RPi to lock up in a mysterious way. The main terminal (HDMI output) hangs on the badly formatted emulator screen and appears frozen. I can SSH in and kill processes, but I don't know what is hanging the emulator. Executing sudo shutdown -r now from SSH does not seem to complete and I need to unplug the RPi to reset the computer. What is the proper way to recover from this problem?

Answer 1

For 1, I believe the configuration file is created only once the software is run. Then it's placed in a hidden directory (.vice) inside of the home directory (/home/pi). If the file isn't automatically created in /home/pi/.vice/sdl-vicerc like your link suggests, I think you can just create it yourself and it will be read when running VICE.

For 2, it sounds like something is trying to enter a bad video mode. The software is probably trying to use a higher resolution than the Pi is configured for, causing the screen corruption you see.