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Bezel Decorations

KNULLI supports a lot of different emulators for a lot of different systems. Many of these systems originally had an aspect ratio that is different from the built-in screen of your KNULLI device. To fill the black void between the border of the screen and the game area, KNULLI supports using decorations, also referred to as bezels or bezel decorations.

Decorations only work with RetroArch cores

KNULLI comes with a lot of different emulators. However, bezel decorations currently only work with RetroArch-integrated emulators (libretro cores).

The default bezel decoration set

Unlike Batocera, KNULLI supports bezel sets with bezels for more than one resolution/aspect ratio. Consequently, KNULLI already comes with a default bezel decoration set called Default-KNULLI. Default-KNULLI contains bezels for 4:3, 1:1, and 16:9 screens! If you enable it, you will have bezel decorations on the built-in screen of your device and you will also have bezel decorations when connecting your device to a TV via HDMI.

Default-KNULLI contains

You can learn more about the default bezel set from its GitHub repository.

Apply bezel decorations

If you want to apply bezel decorations, you can do this either globally, by system, or by game. Since game settings override system settings and system settings override global settings, it is possible to globally set a specific bezel pack and, at the same time, pick a different one for a specific system, or even just a single game.

EmulationStation does the work for you

You might be used to setting up bezels directly within RetroArch. On your KNULLI device, EmulationStation will take care of this for you. Do not attempt to set up bezel decorations from within RetroArch.

Global bezel decorations

To apply a set of bezel decorations globally

  • press Start on the home screen to bring up the main menu.
  • go to Game Settings and open Decorations.
  • select the Decoration Set of your choice.
  • leave the menu to apply the change.

System bezel decorations

To apply a set of bezel decorations to a system

  • press Start on the home screen to bring up the main menu.
  • go to Game Settings and open Per System Advanced Configuration.
  • select the system you want to apply the bezels to.
  • open Decorations.
  • select the Decoration Set of your choice. (Auto means to inherit global settings.)
  • leave the menu to apply the change.

Game bezel decorations

To apply a set of bezel decorations to a single game

  • find the game on your device by browsing your game lists.
  • hold the button that launches your games (usually A or B).
  • go to Advanced Game Options and open Decorations.
  • select the Decoration Set of your choice. (Auto means to inherit global/system settings.)
  • leave the menu to apply the change.

Adding more bezel decoration sets

If you do not like the Default-KNULLI bezel decoration set, you can find other compatible sets on the internet or even compile a set of your own. Before you attempt to do so, please be aware that most Batocera bezel decoration sets where created with a specific aspect ratio in mind.

Mind the aspect ratio

Most bezel decorations are made for a specific aspect ratio. If the aspect ratio of the screen is different from the aspect ratio of the bezel decoration, either the decoration will not be applied at all or the result will most likely contain odd placement of decorations and the actual game content.

To make sure a bezel decoration set works fine on the screen you want to use it on, make sure that the aspect ratio of the decorations matches the aspect ratio of the screen.

Be aware that most Batocera bezel sets aim at an aspect ratio of 16:9, to provide decorations for the void around the game when playing on a TV screen. Those bezels will not work on your device!

For example, the devices of Anbernic's RG35XX H/Plus/SP series have a 3.5" screen with an aspect ratio of 4:3, hence, a lot of well-known bezel decoration packs which have been designed for 19:6 displays (e.g., The Bezel Project) will not work on the built-in screen of those devices.

Bezel decorations for 4:3 displays

Even though most bezel decoration packs are specifically designed for 16:9 displays, there are a few options for 4:3 displays, too.

drkhrse/antiKk

Some bezels which were originally created by drkhrse and antiKk have been adapted by nvitaterna to work on Batocera-based handhelds with 4:3 displays. To install this set on your Knulli device

  • download the bezel pack from the GitHub repository of nvitaterna, either by
  • unzip the file (e.g. with 7-Zip).
  • find the batocera_4_3_handheld_bezels folder inside the decorations folder you just unzipped.
  • copy the entire batocera_4_3_handheld_bezels folder into the decorations folder of your userdata folder.

The bezel pack should now be installed and ready to use. However, to apply it, you must set it up as explained in the Apply bezel decorations section.