Just raising a couple of issues with the libretro runner. Lutris version 0.5.22, running on kubuntu 26-04.
The situation is the when the libretro runner is not installed and running an install script (I used Sonic the Hedgehog - Lutris for Sega Mega Drive, though that should not matter, should be the same for any game/script). Running the install script is good the runner and bios are successfully.
The first issue occurs when, rather than launching the game instead cancel. Go into the launcher configuration, on the ‘Game Options’ tab the Core dropdown has the incorrect value. It should display ‘Sega - MS/GG/MF/CD (Genesis Plus GX)’. It does correct after restarting Lutris.
The second issue occurs when attempting to run the games, it fails with the following error’
[ERROR:2026-09-14 00:16:50,630:jobs]: Error while completing task <bound method libretro.prelaunch of <lutris.runners.libretro.libretro object at 0x7f70d7660bb0>>: <class 'lutris.exceptions.MissingBiosError'> The emulator files BIOS location must be configured in the Preferences dialog.
[ERROR:2026-09-14 00:16:50,783:exception_backstops]: Sonic the Hedgehog (libretro) has encountered an error: The emulator files BIOS location must be configured in the Preferences dialog.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/lutris/exception_backstops.py", line 35, in wrapper
result = function(*args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/lutris/game.py", line 777, in configure_game
raise error
File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/lutris/util/jobs.py", line 62, in target
result = self.function(*a, **kw)
File "/usr/lib/python3.14/site-packages/lutris/runners/libretro.py", line 245, in prelaunch
raise MissingBiosError(
_("The emulator files BIOS location must be configured in the Preferences dialog.")
)
lutris.exceptions.MissingBiosError: The emulator files BIOS location must be configured in the Preferences dialog.
[WARNING:2026-09-14 00:16:50,799:game]: The game has run for a very short time, did it crash?
I have got running by by setting the BIOS files location in Storage to ~/.local/share/lutris/runners/retroarch/cores.
Also it strikes me that that it should be runner property rather than a global option as the location of the BIOS files is specific to libretro runner.