Gadget Guides – For Anbernic RG280V and RG300X Devices

February 12, 2021

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Here’s a quick start guide for the Anbernic RG280V and the Anbernic RG300X that you purchased from Timeless Trinkets PH. Unlike most shops, retrogaming devices purchased from Timeless Trinkets come with optimized game libraries and the best available OS/custom firmware. For both the Anbernic RG280V and RG300X devices, we installed the Adam Image custom firmware, considered to be the best for these devices!

Note that this article will be backdated so that it will not show up in between this blog’s main posts. Also, this article will be a work in progress. As we get more inquiries, we will work it into this guide. For reference, this article was last updated on 2021/12/11.

RG280V and RG300X - Gadget Guide

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

NEVER TURN THE UNIT OFF! ALWAYS DO A SYSTEM SHUT DOWN (LIKE A PC!)

To turn the RG280V and RG300X off:

Exit the software/game/app you are currently using (instructions below).
Press Start anywhere in the system menu.
Session will be highlighted by default with “Shutdown” as the default option. Press A.
Wait for the device to turn off.

BACK UP YOUR MICROSD CARD DATA! These devices come with original SanDisk microSD cards. However, the custom firmware used by these devices are prone to crashing. It is advisable to keep an image of your system SD card for easy restoration.

You may use the following free apps to make backup images of your SD card:

Balena Etcher – an app with versions for both Windows and Mac. This will allow you to clone your microSD card to another microSD card (requires both to be inserted at the same time).
Win32 Disk Imager – only available for Windows. This will let you create an image file of your microSD card.

QUICK RECOVERY GUIDE

In case of firmware failure, here’s how you can quickly get your device up and running again. These instructions are specific to Windows.

Download Balena Etcher. You’ll need this app to install the firmware.
Download the Adam firmware image here (V1.4.2). It is a 544 MB file.
Insert the 16 GB microSD card that came with your device into a laptop/PC. You may need an SD card reader for this.
Using Balena Etcher, flash the Adam firmware image to the microSD card. This process can take 10-15 minutes.
Once you’re done, you’ll need to remove then reinsert the microSD card into your laptop/PC. Ignore the error saying that the disk needs to be reformatted.
Open the drive labeled SDHC and double click on the file select_kernel.bat.
You will get a DOS prompt asking for your console model. Answer 1 if you have an RG280V and 6 if you have an RG300X, then press enter.
When you get the prompt to eject the microSD card, you’re good to go! You can now start using your device again!

HOW TO EXIT FROM GAMES

Method 1

Playstation – Press Select + Start to bring up the app menu, then choose Quit.
Final Burn Alpha – Press the Power button (don’t hold) to bring up the app menu, then choose Exit.
All other emulators – Press Select + Start (do it twice for some apps

Method 2

Press and hold Power then Press Select immediately (best for apps that froze)

HOW TO ACCESS THE APP MENU

Playstation – Press Select + Start to bring up the app menu.
Final Burn Alpha – Press the Power button (don’t hold).
All other emulators – Press Select + X.

RG280V and RG300X SYSTEM MENU NAVIGATION

Up and Down

- Changes the System categories
- Moves one game up/down the list of games
- Hold B + Up (or Down) to switch to a different System

Left

- In the Game Lists, moves one page up
- Hold B + Left to move to the start of the previous Letter (e.g. skip to the first game that starts with the letter C)

Right

- In the Game Lists, moves one page down.
- Hold B + Right to move to the start of the next Letter (e.g. skip to the first game that starts with the letter E)

X button

- In the Game List, marks the highlighted game as a “Favorite”.
- If the highlighted game is already a “Favorite”, this button removes the mark
- Note: There is a Favorites category at the end of every System group

Y button

- Brings up the Favorites group. This can be done anywhere inside a System Group or Game List.
- Contains all games marked as “Favorite”, regardless of system.

Here’s a handy one page PDF guide created by GitHub user ianmeat that has all of the other hotkey functions and shortcuts!

EMULATOR/GAME SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Turbografx CD
- Rondo of Blood will not let you skip the opening credits if you don’t have a save game. The game isn’t broken! Your controls will work fine when you get to the title screen.
- L2 will toggle between 6-Button and 2-Button controller configuration. This game will only work with the 2-Button configuration.

Arcade Systems (M.A.M.E., Final Burn Alpha, CPS)
- Pressing the Select button simulates inserting a coin. You’ve got unlimited credits for all these arcade games!

Changing Cores/Emulators
- If a game in one of these folders doesn’t load or if the performance is bad, try the following:
  - With the non-working game highlighted, press Select.
  - Press Down to highlight Emulator. Press the Left or Right buttons to change it.
  - This will be needed especially for CPS games – some will work with CPS1 and others with CPS2.
  - This also applies to Sega Genesis. The default emulator (Gen.opk) has compatibility issues. Try selecting the alternate emulator (Pico.opk) instead.

The Anbernic RG280V.

HOW TO ADD/DELETE GAMES

One of the best features of the RG280V and the RG300X is that both devices support a second microSD card for games, which makes it easy to add new games or delete existing ones. To do this, you’ll need access to a Windows laptop/PC and a microSD card reader. Here is a quick guide on how to do this.

1. Remove the microSD card in the TF2/EXT slot from your device and insert it in your laptop/PC via the card reader.

2. When it loads, you should be able to see the following folders via Windows Explorer:

rg280v

3. Double-click on the folder named “roms”. Inside will be subfolders that are named after different gaming consoles.

RG280V and RG300X - rom folders

4. Double-click on the folder of the gaming system that you want to add new or delete games from.

5. For Playstation games, if your game is of the cue + bin format, you will need to extract them from the zip file. Because of this, we recommend that you save each game’s files into it’s own sub-folder. Some Playstation games consist of multiple game files, so separating them will help you manage your games better.

Playstation folder contents

6. Please visit the Adam Image developer’s page for more information on specific emulators, such as what file extensions are supported.

HOW TO ADD PREVIEW IMAGES

We chose the Adam OS for our devices because it supports good looking themes and game preview images. However, the device will not create preview images automatically for you. If you decide to add new games to the device, you will need to add preview images of these games manually. There are two methods on how to do this, and both will require a laptop/PC as well as a microSD card reader.

The Easy Method

1. Choose your desired preview image. You may download box art via Google, or use in-game screenshots.
2. Remove the microSD card in the TF2/EXT slot from your device and insert it in your laptop/PC via the card reader.
3. Navigate to the “roms” folder, then go to the folder of the game system that you want to add preview images for.
4. Inside that folder, you will see a subfolder named “.previews”. All you need to do is save your preferred preview image in that folder. Make sure that the filename of the preview image matches the filename of the game. Here is an example:

preview image file name

The Hard Method

The preview images that we installed on your device was created through a method called “skraping”. Each image is a combination of: (1) a screenshot of the game, (2) the game’s box cover, and (3) the game’s logo. If you’d like your preview images to be consistent for all games, you will need to do the following:

Register for free at https://screenscraper.fr.
Install the Skraper app (download the installer from the Skraper website).
Use your screenscraper.fr username and password for the Skraper app.
It’s best to follow the Retro Game Corps guide for Skraper as you’ll see exactly how this is done.
One final note: we used a different image set up from the video. Our preview images use the “3 IMAGES MIX” setting, as seen in the image below.

Skraper

THE BOOT LOOP FIX

Later versions of Adam (from V1.3 and up) have a recurring “boot loop issue” – it just cycles into it’s boot process over and over. Don’t worry! There’s a quick fix to this. Please follow the below instructions:

Adam Boot Loop Fix

Don’t forget to set “Default Launcher” to “Yes” in the SimpleMenu settings after applying this fix! For visual learners, this video will show you exactly how this fix is done.

OTHER RG280V and RG300X REFERENCE GUIDES

Instead of retyping information that’s already available elsewhere, let me help you find them instead! Here are some links that can help you with an RG280V and RG300X related concern or question. Note: Both the RG280V and RG300X have the same chipset as the RG350 so any guides for the latter will work on your device as well!

If you’re reading this, you’re probably already enjoying your new RG280V and/or RG300X from Timeless Trinkets PH! Thank you for being our customer! If you haven’t purchased one but are considering it, don’t hesitate to send us a message at Timeless Trinkets PH!

Update History

Nov. 12, 2021 – Created this guide.
Nov. 15, 2021 – Added the Quick Recovery instructions and how to change Cores.
Nov. 16, 2021 – Added the link to Adam image ver 1.2 and this Update History.
Dec. 11, 2021 – Added Table of Contents and how to add/delete games, add preview images
Mar. 5, 2022 – Updated link to Adam image ver 1.4.2. Added The Boot Loop Fix section.

Written by thegaminggeek