Homebrew Retroarch Emulation Thread (Nightly Builds Included)

[deathblade200]

last time I tried mgba, I couldn't even get above 40 fps with 9 frameskip... audio sounded terrible. Aside from gpsp dynarec crashing, I have no clue why its recommended, unless its a N3ds only thing.

mgba and gpsp never run as good as people like to claim idk if its because they have low standards of how they expect the games to play or just don't know what they are even talking about but compare either mgba or gpsp performance to gba mode simulation and you will see how wrong they are....also fuck frameskip I can't stand it

 

[Player-1]

mgba and gpsp never run as good as people like to claim idk if its because they have low standards of how they expect the games to play or just don't know what they are even talking about but compare either mgba or gpsp performance to gba mode simulation and you will see how wrong they are....also fuck frameskip I can't stand it

i just don't see the point in you coming on this thread and continuously badmouthing mgba and gpsp. we all know they're not perfect but some still prefer it over vc. i've played pokemon emerald and the first three megaman zero games on gpsp with dynarec turned off and, while it has some minor framedrops from time to time, was still very playable for me. i was aware i could have played it via vc but i chose to play it on gpsp because of emulator benefits (save states, screen resizing, etc) but that doesn't mean i have "low standards" because of it. also it doesn't matter if the games play at a constant 60 fps as long as you can play them at decent speeds then that's fine for some people.


we're all aware of vc, if you wanna stick to using gba vc then do that but don't criticize the rest of us who would rather use emulation.

 

[Stack3r]

I compiled the Vecx (GCE-Vectrex) core.
The games run at full speed so far. *n3ds

I also recompiled the Stella (Atari2600) core.
This has a unique ID which doesn't install over the 'retroarch.cia'

I've included the corresponding .core files for detection by other cores.
Place them in: SD:/retroarch/cores/

How did you get collections to work properly? I tried scanning my directories and it only picked up genesis and snes

 

[deathblade200]

i just don't see the point in you coming on this thread and continuously badmouthing mgba and gpsp. we all know they're not perfect but some still prefer it over vc. i've played pokemon emerald and the first three megaman zero games on gpsp with dynarec turned off and, while it has some minor framedrops from time to time, was still very playable for me. i was aware i could have played it via vc but i chose to play it on gpsp because of emulator benefits (save states, screen resizing, etc) but that doesn't mean i have "low standards" because of it. also it doesn't matter if the games play at a constant 60 fps as long as you can play them at decent speeds then that's fine for some people.


we're all aware of vc, if you wanna stick to using gba vc then do that but don't criticize the rest of us who would rather use emulation.

its called being truthful while I keeping seeing people saying how the emulators are working "fullspeed" without sound glitches and most of them don't even realize that the audio for the games aren't even being emulated properly...I'll never understand the point of emulating a system when that hardware for the system is already in your device....after YEARS of trying to emulate gba the VC has been the most enjoyable way to play it no screen tearing, no graphical glitches, no frame drops, perfect audio, perfect performance

 

[Stack3r]

Alright guys that's enough, back on track people.

 

[TimX24968B]

mgba and gpsp never run as good as people like to claim idk if its because they have low standards of how they expect the games to play or just don't know what they are even talking about but compare either mgba or gpsp performance to gba mode simulation and you will see how wrong they are....also fuck frameskip I can't stand it

true. but some people just cant live without savestates, and certain games have issues saving on VC. (pokemon emerald)

 

[deathblade200]

true. but some people just cant live without savestates, and certain games have issues saving on VC. (pokemon emerald)

if you patch the game save correctly it works fine as for save states I'll never understand why people love them so much it practically feels like cheating and removes the authentic feeling I mean even when I do use emulators I never use save states

 

[MrHuu]

How did you get collections to work properly? I tried scanning my directories and it only picked up genesis and snes

Nothing special actually.
Retroarch first scans for known extensions, then it will check CRC against a database.
Only scan for one system (folder) at a time, doesn't matter which core is loaded.

Example:
-SD:/ROMS/NES/Punch-Out!! (USA).nes
.nes, Punch-Out!! (USA)
Will get detected.

-SD:/ROMS/SNES/Dragon Ball Z - Legend of the Saiyans (J) (V1.1)-ENGLISH.smc
.smc, Dragon Ball Z - Legend of the Saiyans (J) (V1.1)-ENGLISH
Will NOT be detected.

For snes .smc isn't supported, and the ROM is english patched which changes CRC.
(^wrong example, it is supported!)

So, make sure the extension is supported. And try an other (original) ROM if not found.

*optional
You could add supported extensions to cores by editing:
SD:/retroarch/cores/info/*CORE*.info

Also notice i don't use compressed ROMs. Only .zip seems to be supported now, but i haven't tested it yet.

 

[Stack3r]

Nothing special actually.
Retroarch first scans for known extensions, then it will check CRC against a database.
Only scan for one system (folder) at a time, doesn't matter which core is loaded.

Example:
-SD:/ROMS/NES/Punch-Out!! (USA).nes
.nes, Punch-Out!! (USA)
Will get detected.

-SD:/ROMS/SNES/Dragon Ball Z - Legend of the Saiyans (J) (V1.1)-ENGLISH.smc
.smc, Dragon Ball Z - Legend of the Saiyans (J) (V1.1)-ENGLISH
Will NOT be detected.

For snes .smc isn't supported, and the ROM is english patched which changes CRC.
(^wrong example, it is supported!)

So, make sure the extension is supported. And try an other (original) ROM if not found.

*optional
You could add supported extensions to cores by editing:
SD:/retroarch/cores/info/*CORE*.info

Also notice i don't use compressed ROMs. Only .zip seems to be supported now, but i haven't tested it yet.

I have .bins for ps and it found one of the games but gba collection scanning didn't see any of my .gba roms or gbc

 

[deathblade200]

I have .bins for ps and it found one of the games but gba collection scanning didn't see any of my .gba roms or gbc

if you trim GBA roms they are not going to show up

 

[Stack3r]

if you trim GBA roms they are not going to show up

Hmmm, think because they are rom hacks?

 

[deathblade200]

Hmmm, think because they are rom hacks?

that can be the case as well any form of editting them will make so they are not detected

 

[Stack3r]

that can be the case as well any form of editting them will make so they are not detected

Gotcha, thanks

 

[xdarkmario]

Make PSX emu great again!

 

[geheim]

Did you exit and tried again? That's how I got audio working. Yeah, it's weird.

Just tried it, but it doesn't work for me, unfortunately... Still no Audio

 

[_Shebang]

Seems like a lot of people complaining about them not being able to work on this as much even though the Patreon raises $860 / month don't have a real understanding of how little that is. Considering the size of the Libretro, this is peanuts, even if they were giving it directly to developers (which they aren't). I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of hosting and domains takes up a huge chunk of this. If you check out their GitHub organization, there's 17 people in the organization. If they were to split that up evenly, each person would get a little over $50 / month, and then they'd have no servers or domains for the project. Go out and try to hire a developer today, and if they're anything but junior you'll be lucky if you can get them for $50 per hour.

The fact that this project is still going strong is pretty insane and you'd think people would be a bit more grateful for a project that costs you nothing to download, and is as feature-rich as this. Their expenses have gone even higher, as they are looking to trademark LibreELEC, which is going to cost up to $5,000 alone (i.e. nearly 6 months of Patreon income). Furthermore, isn't it a little bit selfish that they currently support something like 15 platforms, but the fact that you can't run certain games at full speed on one platform is enough to say the project isn't moving forward?

The system demands for emulation are high, and when the idea of the project is to try and provide as consistent of an experience as possible on each different platform, sometimes you have to take things away that were there because they don't perform. N64 has not and probably will not be fast and accurate in the near future, hell SNES emulation in almost every case (aside from bsnes/higan at 3Ghz, 5x the N3DS speed) is very imperfect and inaccurate and there isn't a way around it. Hell, there's the DICE emulator for emulating arcade games before CPUs were a thing, and each circuit board had 60-odd different components for timers and the like. DICE still doesn't run on full speed for these games because the focus is on being accurate to the original system, i.e. what should really be the point of emulation in the first place IMO.

I got a bit ranty at the end there but you get the point. Be grateful this project wasn't abandoned entirely. Fun fact - if you didn't have libretro, Kodi, Phoenix, Bizhawk, Arcan, Minir, EmuVR and others wouldn't exist in their current state. All of these use the libretro backend to function.

 

[mario-lucis-caelum]

Do I need to install every cia file in the cia folder on retroarch_cia/cia? Or just the ones I want? Also where do I put the roms?

 

[MrHuu]

Do I need to install every cia file in the cia folder on retroarch_cia/cia? Or just the ones I want? Also where do I put the roms?

Only install the cores you want to use. ROMs can be placed anywhere on your SD.
Make sure you place the 'retroarch' folder in the root of your SD.

 

[mario-lucis-caelum]

Only install the cores you want to use. ROMs can be placed anywhere on your SD.
Make sure you place the 'retroarch' folder in the root of your SD.

Ah thanks dude

 

[GammaLyrae]

Seems like a lot of people complaining about them not being able to work on this as much even though the Patreon raises $860 / month don't have a real understanding of how little that is. Considering the size of the Libretro, this is peanuts, even if they were giving it directly to developers (which they aren't). I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of hosting and domains takes up a huge chunk of this. If you check out their GitHub organization, there's 17 people in the organization. If they were to split that up evenly, each person would get a little over $50 / month, and then they'd have no servers or domains for the project. Go out and try to hire a developer today, and if they're anything but junior you'll be lucky if you can get them for $50 per hour.

The fact that this project is still going strong is pretty insane and you'd think people would be a bit more grateful for a project that costs you nothing to download, and is as feature-rich as this. Their expenses have gone even higher, as they are looking to trademark LibreELEC, which is going to cost up to $5,000 alone (i.e. nearly 6 months of Patreon income). Furthermore, isn't it a little bit selfish that they currently support something like 15 platforms, but the fact that you can't run certain games at full speed on one platform is enough to say the project isn't moving forward?

The system demands for emulation are high, and when the idea of the project is to try and provide as consistent of an experience as possible on each different platform, sometimes you have to take things away that were there because they don't perform. N64 has not and probably will not be fast and accurate in the near future, hell SNES emulation in almost every case (aside from bsnes/higan at 3Ghz, 5x the N3DS speed) is very imperfect and inaccurate and there isn't a way around it. Hell, there's the DICE emulator for emulating arcade games before CPUs were a thing, and each circuit board had 60-odd different components for timers and the like. DICE still doesn't run on full speed for these games because the focus is on being accurate to the original system, i.e. what should really be the point of emulation in the first place IMO.

I got a bit ranty at the end there but you get the point. Be grateful this project wasn't abandoned entirely. Fun fact - if you didn't have libretro, Kodi, Phoenix, Bizhawk, Arcan, Minir, EmuVR and others wouldn't exist in their current state. All of these use the libretro backend to function.

Their release schedule is scattered, the official website doesn't include meaningful changelogs, and 'stable' versions are routinely pushed out as Betas. What's the formal testing process? How do I report bugs? The devs don't seem to be active here, and even their own forums are nearly completely inactive. The build bot doesn't help - What good is making a new build available at least once a day if specific ports (such as the 3ds) have no changes at all, or only contain changes that undo platform specific work that went into the last stable build? What indication do we even have that 1.4.1 actually has 3DS specific work done on it and that it wasn't just pushed out by the build bot alongside every other port?

Performance problems alone are fine - the 3DS isn't very powerful, that much we can accept. With that said though, what indication do we have that the 3DS ports are properly utilizing the advanced processing of the N3DS? What measures are being taken to stabilize the cores we do have? (Many users report crashing issues with dynarec enabled on cores that have it)

There are major communications problems between the developers and the community that wants to use their software - a community that is graciously donating their own money to keep the project alive. They set their own incentives and decided their own budgets to meet certain goals, and they are telling us that $850/month is enough to do Quality Assurance checks on all of the ports, and buy new hardware as necessary to facilitate that - which, I imagine, includes 3ds/n3ds hardware to developers that currently don't have them so they can assist in the QA as well.

There would be many ways for them to be more honest here - rework their patreon goals to reflect the income they'll actually need to make it worth their time to more openly communicate with us and polish each port of RetroArch. Or maybe even pick a version of RetroArch, get everyone on board to polish it for every platform, then declare that 3ds/wii/etc (any port that is receiving little to no attention) are now legacy versions that are no longer supported, so their patrons can make an informed decision as to whether or not they want to continue donating. The support they lose from people that were hoping their money was funding work on the build of their choice may be replaced by more people deciding that they're now comfortable giving money to a project with more focus and clearly defined goals.