Batocera: A loading and shutdown screen for your marquee

When Batocera starts up, the main screen displays a splash screen?a static image (or a video, depending on your configuration) to keep the user waiting during the few seconds it takes to load. I wondered if it was possible to also display one on the marquee, which functions as a second screen.

Natively, unfortunately, nothing is provided to do this, so you have to use a specific script. This was created on the latest version of Batocera to date in 2026 (v43) on a Raspberry Pi 5 using Wayland as the display server (some steps may vary slightly depending on your system).

Test the display

Before moving on to the final configuration, it is best to check a few elements. Switch to the command line to do this.

• Verify that multiple video outputs are indeed recognized on Batocera:
  batocera-resolution listOutputs
  batocera-settings-get-master global.videooutput2

  This should display HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2 for the first command and HDMI-A-2 for the second.

• Find the window name for the Wayland Labwc display manager:
  grep -B 4 -i "HDMI-A-2" /userdata/system/.config/labwc/rc.xml

  This should display <windowRule title="backglass">

• Push 2 images into a directory for startup and shutdown (I placed them in a directory created for the occasion /userdata/system/marquee).
  I am sharing the ones created for this occasion with you:My screen is 1920x360, but only the upper part is visible to the user (the first 260 pixels), hence the off-center title.
• Display the image by entering the target window name (backglass) in the title:
  mpv --no-config --title=backglass --fs --video-align-y=-1 --image-display-duration=inf /userdata/system/marquee/demarrage.jpg
• If everything went well, you can proceed to the final setup.

Setting up a service

To display the image, we will use a Batocera service, as it is recommended by the developers, suits our needs perfectly, and can be easily enabled or disabled through the interface.

• If you haven't already done so, send your 2 images to the /userdata/system/marquee directory.
• Create the service file (named Marquee Splash):
  touch /userdata/system/services/marquee_splash
  chmod +x /userdata/system/services/marquee_splash
  nano /userdata/system/services/marquee_splash
• In the file that opens, paste the code that will handle the display and termination. You can, of course, adapt the parameters:
  #!/bin/bash
  # Affiche une image au démarrage et à l'extinction de EmulationStation
  # Eric Quillévéré (10/2026)
  TITLE_NAME="backglass"
  IMG_BOOT="/userdata/system/marquee/demarrage.jpg"
  IMG_STOP="/userdata/system/marquee/extinction.jpg"
  OPTS="--no-config --really-quiet --title=${TITLE_NAME} --fs --video-align-y=-1 --image-display-duration=inf"
  
  # Configuration des durées (en secondes)
  SLEEP_WAYLAND=0.05    # Pause entre chaque vérification de Wayland
  SLEEP_ES_CHECK=1        # Pause entre chaque vérification d'EmulationStation
  SLEEP_POST_BOOT=6      # Pause après la détection d'EmulationStation au démarrage
  SLEEP_POST_STOP=3      # Temps d'affichage de l'image d'extinction
  
  find_wayland() {
      for i in $(seq 1 400); do
          sock=$(ls /var/run 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^wayland-[0-9]+$' | head -n1)
          if [ -n "$sock" ]; then
              export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/var/run WAYLAND_DISPLAY="$sock"
              return 0
          fi
          sleep $SLEEP_WAYLAND
      done
      return 1
  }
  
  case "$1" in
      start)
          (
              find_wayland || exit 1
         
              mpv $OPTS "$IMG_BOOT" &
              for i in $(seq 1 90); do
                  wlrctl toplevel list 2>/dev/null | grep -q "EmulationStation" && break
                  sleep $SLEEP_ES_CHECK
              done
         
              sleep $SLEEP_POST_BOOT
              pkill -f "title=${TITLE_NAME}" 2>/dev/null
          ) &
          ;;
      stop)
          pkill -f "title=${TITLE_NAME}" 2>/dev/null
          export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/var/run
          sock=$(ls /var/run 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^wayland-[0-9]+$' | head -n1)
          [ -n "$sock" ] || exit 0
          export WAYLAND_DISPLAY="$sock"
          mpv $OPTS "$IMG_STOP" &
          sleep $SLEEP_POST_STOP
          ;;
  esac
• Run the script to test it:
  /userdata/system/services/marquee_splash start
• Finally, install the script as a service:
  batocera-services enable marquee_splash

There you go, you can now reboot to check the display when Batocera shuts down and boots up!

Upon shutdown, you will see an image like this one:

Going further by displaying the startup image earlier

You have probably noticed it: the startup image does not display right away. It is a bit annoying to have the loading standby image appear after 9 seconds on a Pi 5... But it is difficult to do better on this machine if we use services, because they launch late, after everything else in fact!

Therefore, here is how to scrape a few seconds off by displaying the image even earlier, before the services start up, by modifying the boot partition.

Warning: using this script carries more risk. Make sure you have network access to your machine via SSH in case you need to roll back

• Create a specific shell file:
  touch /userdata/system/marquee/early_marquee.sh
  chmod +x /userdata/system/marquee/early_marquee.sh
  nano /userdata/system/marquee/early_marquee.sh
• Paste the following script that will detect the startup of the Wayland display server and display the startup image:
  #!/bin/bash
  export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/var/run
  
  for i in $(seq 1 300); do   # 15 s max
      sock=$(ls /var/run 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^wayland-[0-9]+$' | head -n1)
      if [ -n "$sock" ]; then
          export WAYLAND_DISPLAY="$sock"
          wlr-randr >/dev/null 2>&1 && break
      fi
      sleep 0.05
  done
  [ -n "$WAYLAND_DISPLAY" ] || exit 0
  
  exec nice -n -10 mpv --no-config --really-quiet --title=backglass --fs \
       --video-align-y=-1 --image-display-duration=inf --load-scripts=no --ytdl=no --osc=no \
      /userdata/system/marquee/demarrage.jpg
• Link it to startup by modifying the boot partition:
  mount -o remount,rw /boot
  cat > /boot/postshare.sh << 'EOF'
  #!/bin/bash
  setsid /userdata/system/marquee/early_marquee.sh >/dev/null 2>&1 </dev/null &
  EOF
  chmod +x /boot/postshare.sh
  mount -o remount,ro /boot
• Test it: you should gain an additional 4 seconds of display time!