# 4 Player GPIO + Raw Elf Export **URL:** \ **Category:** Arcade\ **Created:** [January 5, 2026, 6:15pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/4-player-gpio-raw-elf-export/41383 "2026-01-05T18:15:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![Vegz78](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/vegz78/32/1201_2.png) [@Vegz78](https://forum.makecode.com/u/Vegz78)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 11:19pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/4-player-gpio-raw-elf-export/41383/3 "2026-02-05T23:19:23Z")
While we are still waiting for your official [CreationStationArcade](https://github.com/Kikketer/CreationStationArcade) thread on this forum, and since I do not want to hijack @UnsignedArduino’s thread about his amazing executable solution, where this discussion would be off topic, I guess this topic functions as the CreationStationArcade thread in the meantime. > Also adding more “push this button to absolutely kill the current game” safety checks and possibly drop McAirpos completely in an effort to track the PID myself. Nothing would be better than getting rid of the the need for launchers for helping to get the .elf MakeCode Arcade game executables to run as they should on ARM Linux in the first place! With your already proven record on making both an advanced arcade solution and navigating the rich pxt codebase to make targeted PRs, I am hoping you could please also chime in on the long ongoing efforts for getting there eventually?: > > > \*\*Describe the bug\*\* > SHORT: > When running MakeCode Arcade ELF executables on Ra…spberry Pi OS, the main process turns defunct/zombie and the game hangs on exit. > > LONG: > 1. When running the game from the local console, tty1, in a bash shell, the game itself runs fine, with keyboard controls, reseting/restarting and everything, even though the game process turns zombie/defunct(first/main light weight process of 8 LWP, the other 7 seem normal). > > 2. When exiting the same already running game in however way(in-game options or kill -9(kill -INT or -TERM does not work) command from ssh, or any keyboard shortcut) the game process dies and is reaped, but control/session is not handed back to the calling parent bash process at tty1, which: > \-still has framebuffer filled with the last frozen image of the game, > \-has no visible command prompt or response to remote commands to the console, > \-local keyboard is unresponsive > > 3. The only way I’ve found to regain control of the tty1 console is to issue a reboot or kill the running bash/parent process(requiring new login), or rebooting using CTRL+ALT+DEL, which for some reason works for rebooting on my systems… > > \*\*To Reproduce\*\* > Steps to reproduce the behavior: > 1. Go to 'http://arcade.makecode.com/' and compile and download a game as ELF with '?hw=rpi&compile=rawELF' in the browser URL > 2. From the console/shell on a Raspberry Pi, make the game executable and run it with the command './anygame.elf' > 3. Try to quit the game with 'CTRL-C' or from the in-game menu or shortcut keys > 4. The console/shell and whole system hangs/freezes with a frozen image of the game and unresponsive inputs. Can only regain control of system by ssh and killing the calling console/shell process or rebooting the system. > > \*\*Expected behavior\*\* > The game process runs without turning zombie/defunct and exits gracefully by clearing the framebuffer and handing control back to the calling console/shell process. > > \*\*Screenshots\*\* > Not relevant. > > \*\*Desktop (please complete the following information):\*\* > - OS/Browser: Any OS/Browser for compiling and downloading, running on Rasperry Pi OS(tested stretch and buster) on Raspberry Pi 3 or 4. > \- Version: Many different versions of MakeCode Arcade and Raspberry Pi/RPi OS'es. > > \*\*Additional context\*\* > With reference to the latest posts in the forum thread https://forum.makecode.com/t/how-to-launch-makecode-arcade-uf2s-in-raspbian-retropie and of lately absent responses from @mmoskal and @pelikhan. As soon as this bug is fixed, MakeCode Arcade would run great natively on Raspberry Pis and open up a large platform for hobbyist arcade coders and gamers. I would be more than happy to help out testing changes/bugfixes, and to help writing a tutorial for compiling and running MakeCode Arcade games natively when this bug is fixed. Don't hesitate to contact me(here on GitHub, on the MakeCode forum or by mail, which @mmoskal has)! > > Br, > Vegard This would, together with your suggested simplified and improved compilation and downloading directly from [arcade.makecode.com](http://arcade.makecode.com), be beneficial for both of us and [everyone who wants to run their games natively](https://forum.makecode.com/t/play-makecode-arcade-game-in-app/10787). Especially if @MakeCode eventually would iron out the ever more regressing state of the .elf compiler in relation to the continued development of the rest of Arcade and of the Raspberry Pi OS and hardware, too, where more and more of the [new and advanced stuff](https://github.com/microsoft/pxt-arcade/issues/4847), the raycasting extension etc. is failing. Nothing would be better than for McAirpos to focus just on gamepad support and integration into the retro game systems’ menus, instead of increasingly complex ways to get the .elfs to execute correctly in environments which have their own ways of juggling the ttys and ioctls around. This probably applies to CreationStationArcade and other applications as well. As mildly funny side note, where we both have been struggling to wrestle the execution challenge of “…kill the current game safety checks and…to track the PID…”: [Why reinvent the wheel?](https://github.com/Vegz78/McAirpos/tree/master/McAirpos/launCharc) 😉 --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.makecode.com/t/4-player-gpio-raw-elf-export/41383)._