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Note: This article about the initial release of the enhanced RetriX,
Visit RetriX Gold article to get the latest stable version.
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Hi,
As first post, I would like to share with you this copy of "RetriX" Emulator but after I did some modifications and enhancements.
but first I would like to thank "Alberto Fustinoni (Original Developer)" for this project, the base is perfect and helped me a lot with the updates.
The current release is (Retrix Silver 2.6.3.0) based on (RetriX 2.1.1.0)
Note: If you don't like to read long articles scroll to the end for the download links
Why "Silver"?
"Silver" is the initial release, I hope in the future will be different names (easy to remember comparing with the build number).
Supported System?
What's new?
The main enhancements were
1-Performance
Some loops were responsible to transfer the buffer from the core to the output, I was able to replace some of them with one line code.
The performance increased by 50% after these changes, Still the main performance issue coming from the core not form the app it self..
So I added "Expert" Options to modify the core options by the user directly (it's cool to try something more advanced).
More enhancements will be written at the end as headlines.
2-Touch Pad
The main concern from my side was "if I want to play on mobile, how it can be easy?".
The answer is each system should use custom buttons map and the arrangement of the buttons should be like the original console.
I remap all the controls with each system, so you will find the buttons almost exactly like the original console.
3-Reduce Crashes
The most annoying thing is when you in the middle of the game and the application closed.
I did my best to cover almost all the code, to avoid any possible crash so a dialog will popup instead of crash to inform you about the problem.
If you faced any future crash 70% it will be caused by the emulation core for many reasons.
4-Game Assistant
The idea of game assistant came when I was trying a fighting game e.g. Mortal Kombat 3, and it was so hard to play the fast moves with touch buttons
So This feature which called "Actions" created to help you to execute many buttons with one.
There is no limited number of the buttons, you can build your own actions (Up-to 3 actions)
5-Backup
So you are in the middle of the game and you saved many states, but you have to reinstall the app or you like to share the levels with family or friends.
Now you can "Backup" States / Actions to external storage and restore them anytime you want,
6-Advanced
I was able to bring the core options to the user control, so you can tweak many options and customize the emulation as you need.
e.g. Play Game-boy games with colors.
7-Visual Appearance
I Picked almost the nearest icons that match with the original consoles.
The logo is changed to custom logo because the old one used a lot in many app, hope you will like the new graphic elements.
8-Help
The application now contain a help page to help the user to understand how the app works.
A notifications will appear for the first time for the user to attract attention and push the user to visit the help page.
9-N64 (x64 Only) (Gold Edition Now Support all platforms)
This system was prepared by Alberto before, I just turn it on, works perfect with many games specifically now with Analog Direction.
Other Detailed Enhancements:
Check the attached posters for more details.
Download 2.6.3.0 (Available Now):
Windows 10 (x64)
Windows 10 (x86)
Windows 10 ARM / Mobile
Installation Instructions
Visit RetriX Gold article to get the latest stable version.
---------------------------------------------
Hi,
As first post, I would like to share with you this copy of "RetriX" Emulator but after I did some modifications and enhancements.
but first I would like to thank "Alberto Fustinoni (Original Developer)" for this project, the base is perfect and helped me a lot with the updates.
The current release is (Retrix Silver 2.6.3.0) based on (RetriX 2.1.1.0)
Note: If you don't like to read long articles scroll to the end for the download links
Why "Silver"?
"Silver" is the initial release, I hope in the future will be different names (easy to remember comparing with the build number).
Supported System?
- Windows 10 (UWP) x64 / x86 / ARM
- Tested on Lumia 950, 950 XL
What's new?
The main enhancements were
- Performance
- Touch Pad
- Reduce Crashes
- Game Assistant
- Backup
- Advanced
- Visual Appearance
- Help
- N64 (x64 Only) (Gold Edition Now Support all platforms)
1-Performance
Some loops were responsible to transfer the buffer from the core to the output, I was able to replace some of them with one line code.
The performance increased by 50% after these changes, Still the main performance issue coming from the core not form the app it self..
So I added "Expert" Options to modify the core options by the user directly (it's cool to try something more advanced).
More enhancements will be written at the end as headlines.
2-Touch Pad
The main concern from my side was "if I want to play on mobile, how it can be easy?".
The answer is each system should use custom buttons map and the arrangement of the buttons should be like the original console.
I remap all the controls with each system, so you will find the buttons almost exactly like the original console.
- Left Analog control added to the touch pad, it's very important for PSX games.
- Corner Directions added to help the player to move to the corner with one button instead of two.
- Quick Save/Load buttons add at the top of the virtual pad so you can save the game quickly during the play.
- Quick Actions Execute actions.. you will know more with Game Assistant part, keep reading.
3-Reduce Crashes
The most annoying thing is when you in the middle of the game and the application closed.
I did my best to cover almost all the code, to avoid any possible crash so a dialog will popup instead of crash to inform you about the problem.
If you faced any future crash 70% it will be caused by the emulation core for many reasons.
4-Game Assistant
The idea of game assistant came when I was trying a fighting game e.g. Mortal Kombat 3, and it was so hard to play the fast moves with touch buttons
So This feature which called "Actions" created to help you to execute many buttons with one.
There is no limited number of the buttons, you can build your own actions (Up-to 3 actions)
5-Backup
So you are in the middle of the game and you saved many states, but you have to reinstall the app or you like to share the levels with family or friends.
Now you can "Backup" States / Actions to external storage and restore them anytime you want,
6-Advanced
I was able to bring the core options to the user control, so you can tweak many options and customize the emulation as you need.
e.g. Play Game-boy games with colors.
7-Visual Appearance
I Picked almost the nearest icons that match with the original consoles.
The logo is changed to custom logo because the old one used a lot in many app, hope you will like the new graphic elements.
8-Help
The application now contain a help page to help the user to understand how the app works.
A notifications will appear for the first time for the user to attract attention and push the user to visit the help page.
9-N64 (x64 Only) (Gold Edition Now Support all platforms)
This system was prepared by Alberto before, I just turn it on, works perfect with many games specifically now with Analog Direction.
Other Detailed Enhancements:
- Progress ring indicator for each process:
- Stop/Back/Reset Confirmation: to avoid losing the game by mistake.
- Fit Screen: You can fit the game play view-port to the screen and it will goes under the touch pad.
- Overlays: Add (1 of 3) overlays to enhance the quality.
- Sound Effects: Almost every action/button will produce sound effect, you will notice how it's more interactive.
- Notifications: Removed because during the game play they were a problem specifically if you clicked on them by mistake, Replaced by sound effect.
- Consoles Sort: Now consoles will sort automatically by the most used.
- Keyboard Shortcuts: Fixed shortcuts and now the map of the touch pad is the same of the keyboard (A-S-D, Z-X-C).
- Color Mode: Very cool feature to change the mode of the colors e.g. (Black & White, Sepia, Retro..etc).
- On Screen Info: Each action will produce text info on screen to confirm the result.
- New file types icons: If the file match the console extension the icon of the file will change now to the console icon.
- Games Root folder: Because Retrix build with security rules, the app can't access to the files directly, and some games contains many file and it need to re-select the folder again.
Now if you setup Game Root folder you will play the game directly and the app will select the rest of the files automatically. - Arcade Games: I did a resolver for some of the Arcade games + NeoGeo so if you change the name of the file it won't affect on the emulation.
- FPS Counter: You can display FPS counter during the play (I'm not expert with frames but it's almost accurate +-2).
- Audio Options: You can control with the volume of the game, now there is 4 options (Normal, Medium, Low, Mute)
- Render Quality / Sampling: You can pick one of the sampling options (Nearest, Linear, Cubic, MultiSample, Anisotropic, HighQualityCubic)
- Drop Pixels: I made this feature as beta feature it will produce a result like scan-lines but in reality the horizontal pixels dropped from the render, could produce better performance.
- Skip Frames: This will drop half of the frames, you may need it if you want to do some testing.
- Audio Only: This will stop the video and play the audio only, it's helpful to know if the performance slow from the app or the emulation core.
Check the attached posters for more details.
Download 2.6.3.0 (Available Now):
Windows 10 (x64)
Windows 10 (x86)
Windows 10 ARM / Mobile
Installation Instructions
Attachments
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