Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

Status
Not open for further replies.

Toad King

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
374
Trophies
0
XP
546
Country
United States
Not on Wii due to memory restraints. IIRC only Mednafen supports rewind feature, for Master System, Game Gear, NES, GameBoy and TurbograFX games.

Anyway, happy New Year everyone and may 2013 be the best year for everyone.

Reading the last pages, i'm happy to see the drama about the release date is thankfully behind us, which is as it should, ie it will be ready ready when it's ready.

If it's not too much hussle, i would like to ask ToadKing and Libretroarch about the changelog for the forthcoming 0.9.8 version, just to know what to expect.
1. If i understood correctly, MAME 0.78 (or is it 0.72 for Wii?) will be postponed for later on Wii (0.9.9 or beyond)?
2. Will arguments be supported (saved custom button assignments for each setup)?
3. Will there be an automatic detection of input method (say NC+Wiimote vs Wiimote by itself) on startup?
4. zip support for small roms? (although that is a non issue at this point, just asking ;) )
5.Support for larger neo geo roms?
6. Speedup and performance improvements for sme fba games like Toki, Shinobi etc?
7. Any significant core specific changes?

That's all, thanks again for all the work so far and please take your time.
For what it's worth we can already play 500 arcade games along with thousands of retro console games with FBA, it's already great.
Actually with RetroArch any core that supports savestates can do rewinding, not just the mednafen cores. I think there are some issues with some FBA cores though, plus it's too intensive to work on the Wii for pretty much most cores.

To answer your questions:
1. MAME will probably miss 0.9.8, and I'm unsure on if it would be small enough to fit on the Wii. MAME's binaries are huge and when I developed MAME Wii I had to manually trim it down and remove a lot of cores.
2. Controller setups are still going to be one for everything.
3. Input detection is finicky at best or choose the wrong device at worst, so you'll have to just set it up manually once.
4. We already have zip support, and let's not bring this up again.
5. Not this release.
6. Not unless there were speed improvements for them in FBA 0.2.97.28.
7. Most of the core updates were in Snes9x (for speed improvements, pretty much most games should be fullspeed save for maybe some SA-1 or SFX games) and FBA updates.

New Wii features off the top of my head are:

* Native resolutions (double-strike)
* Debug text
* Alternative SRAM/Savestate locations
* Lots of video backend changes, shouldn't notice these as an end-user
* Fixed that bug where the menu input combo was really finickyhttp://neosource.1emu.net/forums/index.php?topic=1731.0
 

LibretroRetroArc

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
748
Trophies
0
XP
1,258
Country
Netherlands
Will VBA Next ever get fixes for the framerate issues in Iridion 2, Mother 3, etc?

There might be some more speed we can wring out of it - I saw bgK doing some meaningful video rendering optimizations for VBA - if that pans out for VBA Next, we could be looking at quite significant speed gains.

Anyway, I'm not saying that this will happen and this will NOT happen in time for the 0.9.8 release. Remember that the Wii is still limited by the CPU in terms of how fast GBA emulation can be. That not even Nintendo released GBA games on Virtual Console probably speaks to that.

Mother 3 runs at fullspeed at least on Xbox 360/PS3 - Iridion 2 I can't be sure about although I can give it a test.
 

LibretroRetroArc

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
748
Trophies
0
XP
1,258
Country
Netherlands
Not on Wii due to memory restraints. IIRC only Mednafen supports rewind feature, for Master System, Game Gear, NES, GameBoy and TurbograFX games.

Actually, there's no reason I couldn't throw in rewind support for the RetroArch Wii port. Just remember that this will be a feature that will demand much more CPU power - so if your core was just running 'barely' on Wii before, there's no way it will run fullspeed on the Wii since rewinding done with delta frames is quite expensive. Rewind for RetroArch Wii should probably be fullspeed for anything other than SNES9x, VBA Next and some high-demanding games in FBA.

This will be a feature that you will have to turn on/off explicitly before you start playing games on a core due to it making things twice as slow.
 

LibretroRetroArc

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
748
Trophies
0
XP
1,258
Country
Netherlands
Do any of the RetroArch staff have access to a Ouya.

They'll have to offer one to me for free because I surely won't buy one, that's for sure. 800 dollars for that 'devkit' is a joke - if the 'SDK' you will have to target will just amount to a gamepad API then sure, we can put support in - I just wouldn't be able to test it.

While we're on Ouya - I have to call it as I see it and say that people are probably settting theselves up for disappointment by expecting too much from it. I don't put much stock in Android at this point and I surely don't put much stock in what they're offering people right now with OUYA. Android for a gaming console seems doomed to failure right from the beginning. Hell, even going with Blackberry 10 (QNX), iOS or just plain ARM Linux as the OS would have done the job for a games console - but hell no to some Java piece of garbage framework on top of a hacked Linux kernel (aka Android). This OS simply does not meet the requirements for a modern-day gaming console. Having a garbage collector run through your game with 10ms/20ms stalls willy-nilly will make it the laughing stock of the console world. I can see the post-launch reception already, and it will probably be an uncomfortable hangover that will remind people in the worst way possible why consoles are 'consoles' to begin with and why putting a smartphone OS on them is a terrible idea.

If that 'Valve' games console with ARM Linux comes out and if Valve is at least is somewhat more down-to-earth and receptive to opensource stuff than the current console players out there, that could totally eat OUYA's lunch - no contest at this point - ARM Linux will beat Android any day of the week for performance.
 

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
There might be some more speed we can wring out of it - I saw bgK doing some meaningful video rendering optimizations for VBA - if that pans out for VBA Next, we could be looking at quite admirable speed gains.

Anyway, I'm not saying that this will happen and this will NOT happen in time for the 0.9.8 release. Remember that the Wii is still limited by the CPU in terms of how fast GBA emulation can be. That not even Nintendo released GBA games on Virtual Console probably speaks to that.

Mother 3 runs at fullspeed at least on Xbox 360/PS3 - Iridion 2 I can't be sure about although I can give it a test.

Iridion 2 slows down in the menu, and the levels will run fine until enemies show up. While I can't expect miracles, I can safely say it's the fastest I've seen GBA emulated on the Wii, but if/when we get those speed fixes, it will be all the better/
 

4K_future

Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
24
Trophies
0
Age
56
XP
57
Country
They'll have to offer one to me for free because I surely won't buy one, that's for sure. 800 dollars for that 'devkit' is a joke - if the 'SDK' you will have to target will just amount to a gamepad API then sure, we can put support in - I just wouldn't be able to test it.

800 bucks is the developer early edition. The 99$ regular unit released in March 2013 should* be the same SDK but if it needs unlocking I do not know. Six months from now should show what the future for this device is.


Might be an idea to keep tabs on this user as he has been asked to test some emulators on the hardware.

He is only showing a OnLIve test below.



Kinda offtopic considering this is the wii thread I know.............
 

nakata6790

True Player
Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
891
Trophies
1
XP
617
Country
Greece
Thank you ToadKing for taking the time to answer my questions, much appreciated.
I forgot to ask one thing: will it be possible to eventually use the code from SDLmame for IR aiming on FBA too? It would be useful for games like operation wolf, operation tiger, zombieraid etc. that already run fine but are missing IR aiming. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

PS. LibretroRetroArc this multi machine emu really is an ambitious and super impressive project, hope you see it through.
 

LibretroRetroArc

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
748
Trophies
0
XP
1,258
Country
Netherlands
Will GameCube port miss 0.9.8?

It's not really worth it as an independent release - you could compile and build it yourself if you really wanted to. My only way of booting it is with SD Gecko and that's really painful to set up every time with Phantasy Star Online exploit so it's not exactly my favorite port.

It's just a downgraded Wii port basically - nothing special about it really and a lot of ROMs won't fit into the Gamecube's small amount of RAM.

If you want to I can put out a release for it this time - it will just come with zero guarantees and an absolute minimum of quality control on my end.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bm123456

eadmaster

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
102
Trophies
1
Age
38
Website
eadmaster.altervista.org
XP
1,024
Country
Italy
Actually, there's no reason I couldn't throw in rewind support for the RetroArch Wii port. Just remember that this will be a feature that will demand much more CPU power - so if your core was just running 'barely' on Wii before, there's no way it will run fullspeed on the Wii since rewinding done with delta frames is quite expensive. Rewind for RetroArch Wii should probably be fullspeed for anything other than SNES9x, VBA Next and some high-demanding games in FBA.

This will be a feature that you will have to turn on/off explicitly before you start playing games on a core due to it making things twice as slow.
Then I suggest to add the "rewind_granularity" option.
Increasing the default value should reduce the CPU usage.
 

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
It's not really worth it as an independent release - you could compile and build it yourself if you really wanted to. My only way of booting it is with SD Gecko and that's really painful to set up every time with Phantasy Star Online exploit so it's not exactly my favorite port.

It's just a downgraded Wii port basically - nothing special about it really and a lot of ROMs won't fit into the Gamecube's small amount of RAM.

If you want to I can put out a release for it this time - it will just come with zero guarantees and an absolute minimum of quality control on my end.

Speaking of the next version, will FCEU Next finally have the save states not saving/loading issue fixed? Because the issue still persists. I can't create save states with NES ROMs.
 

terpsfan101

Member
Newcomer
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
7
Trophies
0
XP
7
Country
United States
Can DIP switch support be added to FBA and the CPS cores? It is a necessary feature since not all games support changing settings through the service menu.
 

Gamecuber

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Messages
61
Trophies
1
XP
214
Country
Switzerland
It's not really worth it as an independent release - you could compile and build it yourself if you really wanted to. My only way of booting it is with SD Gecko and that's really painful to set up every time with Phantasy Star Online exploit so it's not exactly my favorite port.

It's just a downgraded Wii port basically - nothing special about it really and a lot of ROMs won't fit into the Gamecube's small amount of RAM.

If you want to I can put out a release for it this time - it will just come with zero guarantees and an absolute minimum of quality control on my end.
Please do it, thank you very much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4K_future

LibretroRetroArc

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
748
Trophies
0
XP
1,258
Country
Netherlands
Speaking of the next version, will FCEU Next finally have the save states not saving/loading issue fixed? Because the issue still persists. I can't create save states with NES ROMs.

It's a problem to do with certain NES mappers and FCEUmm - it has endian issues so some games can't be save stated on big-endian consoles.

Not sure if the author finally got around to fixing those.
 

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,967
Country
United States
It's a problem to do with certain NES mappers and FCEUmm - it has endian issues so some games can't be save stated on big-endian consoles.

Not sure if the author finally got around to fixing those.

Ah, bugger, figures. Oh, well. I can't expect the author to fix it, he probably has bigger fish to fry. In the most recent version, it's a huge issue with many games, like Akumajo Densetsu or Castlevania 3 (NTSC-J).
 

Hielkenator

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Messages
4,210
Trophies
0
XP
679
Country
Netherlands
Ah, bugger, figures. Oh, well. I can't expect the author to fix it, he probably has bigger fish to fry. In the most recent version, it's a huge issue with many games, like Akumajo Densetsu or Castlevania 3 (NTSC-J).
aaah, be hardcore!
Play the game like in the old days!
 

yafaiz

Old Salt
Newcomer
Joined
Jan 4, 2013
Messages
85
Trophies
0
Age
38
XP
77
Country
changing to vba core kills the program on wii u, can't even load back into it since the .ini is set to vba boot.
possible fix?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Bigonya uses his wiener to mod 360s
    +1
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    Going to the water park, see ya
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    You should update the 360 to newest dash before RGHing it yes. But not a big deal if you don't, you can install new dash/avatar updates after. It's just easier to do it auto online before, instead manual offline after.
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Have fun @Xdqwerty. If you see a chocolate candy bar floating in the water, don't eat it!
  • AncientBoi @ AncientBoi:
    :O:ohnoes: Y didn't U Tell ME that ALSO? @BigOnYa :ohnoes: 🤢🤮
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Does it taste like... chicken?
    +1
  • S @ salazarcosplay:
    @BigOnYa I wanted to ask you about your experience with seeing south park. Most of the people a bit younger like my younger brother and cousins that are a few younger than me that saw kids found south park funny because of the curse words, kids at school, that seemed like liking the show on a very basic level.

    I could not quite have a in depth discussion of the show.

    How was it for you? As an adult. What did you find the most interesting part about it. Did you relate to the parents of the kids and their situations. Was it satires, the commentary on society. The references on celebrities' and pop culture.
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I remember seeing the very first episode back in the day, and have watched every episode since. I used to set my VCR to record them even, shows how long ago.
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I just like any comedies really, and cartoons have always been a favorite of mine. Family guy, American Dad, Futurama, Cleveland Show, Simpsons - I like them all.
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    South Park is great cause they always touch on relavent issues going on today, and make something funny out of it.
    +3
  • S @ salazarcosplay:
    @BigOnYa were you always up to date on the current events and issues of the time or were there issues that you first found out thru south park
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Most of the time yea I knew, I watch and read the news regularly, but sometimes the Hollywood BS stuff, like concerning actors slip by me. I don't follow most Hollywood BS (example: the Kardasians)
    +2
  • S @ salazarcosplay:
    @BigOnYa there were relevant issues before south park was made, that's why i think a south park prequel/spinoff would be great. Randy and his friends in their child hood
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Yea, like them running in high school together, getting into stuff, and how they got hitched and had kids. And how the town of South Park was back then compared to now. That would be cool to see.
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    yeah
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    @salazarcosplay if they made a prequel, it would still be about current issues, cause it doesn't make sense to make it about stuff that happened 30 years ago that nobody cares about anymore
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    it's too late
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    the older south park episodes about particular issues usually age poorly since the topic is no longer relevant
  • The Real Jdbye @ The Real Jdbye:
    an exception is giant douche vs turd sandwich, that's always relevant :P
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I was gone for like an hour and none of you thought to write or call pos
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    We knew you were going to Sonic to get lunch.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Sonics fast I would've been home in 10 mins
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Meet and greet with AncientBoi then?
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    That would've gone slow he's old
    +1
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: That would've gone slow he's old +1