Hacking Emulation RetroArch/Libretro Thread: PS Vita Edition! Nightlies Included

[SeongGino]

Does anybody know whats been up with the current nightly builds they've been showing up 32B and when I download it sure enough there is nothing

*Ahem*

Now, no idea if anyone else has caught this yet, but the last two buildbot entries are broken. For the moment, please use the August 29th Nightly, as listed in the OP, for testing.

EDIT: So the two FB Alpha VPKs remain, but in case no one has figured out yet; use fbalpha_libretro.vpk, NOT fpalpha2012_libretro.vpk.
And on another note, I don't know if XMB even works at the moment; RA doesn't accept menu driver change even after saving/updating the configuration file.

(Also my god the new installs are sooooo slooooooooow...)

 

[sj33]

Glad it's not just me having issues with the installs being slow. They're so slow that I've stopped regularly updating and will only do so if something has actually changed.

fbalpha_libretro is just a newer (but presumably slower) version of fbalpha than fbalpha1012_libretro, right?

 

[SeongGino]

fbalpha_libretro is just a newer (but presumably slower) version of fbalpha than fbalpha1012_libretro, right?

Newer, but not slower.
I wouldn't know because fbalpha2012 still doesn't work at all, so I guess the non2012 fbalpha is where the effort is put towards.

And glad I'm not the only one who's only installing essential upgrades. Then again, because I'm the one recording notable updates...

 

[wakabayashy]

me too, the folder is empty

 

[sj33]

Newer, but not slower.
I wouldn't know because fbalpha2012 still doesn't work at all, so I guess the non2012 fbalpha is where the effort is put towards.

And glad I'm not the only one who's only installing essential upgrades. Then again, because I'm the one recording notable updates...

I'm assuming that if there's a major development such as dynarec or cores fixed, then LibretroRetroArc or Radius4 will announce it here. And if new cores are added, it's easy to just check this,

I've asked TheFl0W if he can add an option to VitaShell to batch install all .vpk files within a directory. I don't know if he will, but such a feature would make installing Retroarch much easier. The .vpks would need to be marked as 'safe' however.

 

[SeongGino]

I'm assuming that if there's a major development such as dynarec or cores fixed, then LibretroRetroArc or Radius4 will announce it here. And if new cores are added, it's easy to just check this,

I've asked TheFl0W if he can add an option to VitaShell to batch install all .vpk files within a directory. I don't know if he will, but such a feature would make installing Retroarch much easier. The .vpks would need to be marked as 'safe' however.

Indeed. Having a batch install option wouldn't mitigate the security check prompts for each package ticked.
Maybe the team will see this and consider this in an update. They MUST be hard at work since the buildbot's been broken for the past few days.

 

[TheCasketMan]

I agree with a batch install option. Installing each vpk one by one can become quite tedious.

 

[SeongGino]

And slightly off topic, to @sj33 over here...

If we DO get new cores in the future (Which I half-hope doesn't happen...), would you mind hosting the theme .zips on, say, a Mediafire folder instead? So this way, you can simply add in the updated theme package in the same page and I won't have to constantly re-link the new pack; just tell people to go to this link and download/install whichever zip is latest.

EDIT: Tested Fuse, doesn't load .tap files yet, so considered nonfunctional until further notice.

 

[hiroakihsu]

also... anyone know how to switch background in live area pictures in emulators

If you look inside the RETR000x folders in UR0:/appmeta/ (NOT UX0: ), you'll see the following file structure:

RETR000x

• livearea
  • contents
    • bg.png
    • startup.png
      
    • template.xml
      
    • website.png
• icon0.png

icon0.png (120 pixels x 120 pixels) is the icon image displayed on the home screen.
bg.png (840 pixels x 500 pixels) is the background image used in the startup live area.
startup.png (280 pixels x 158 pixels) is the image used for the startup icon in the startup live area.
You can replace any of these 3 images; just make sure the new image pixel sizes and their respective image names stay the same.
And as always...Remember to restart vita after replacing the images.

 

[Stwert]

I'm assuming that if there's a major development such as dynarec or cores fixed, then LibretroRetroArc or Radius4 will announce it here. And if new cores are added, it's easy to just check this,

I've asked TheFl0W if he can add an option to VitaShell to batch install all .vpk files within a directory. I don't know if he will, but such a feature would make installing Retroarch much easier. The .vpks would need to be marked as 'safe' however.

Good call, it would be great to have a batch install option, especially if it does away with the security prompts. A small but significant feature that would make my life just that little bit simpler.

 

[niuus]

Is Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike playable on FBA vpk??

Tested on FBA2012. Playable. 35-45fps.

 

[Enigma Hall]

@LibretoRetroArc can we storage the roms with a smartphone and acess this over wifii thetering or some app android side like samba to save vita storage? Roms are small but have many of then. If we can see and load the game then worth use the smarthphone.

 

[SeongGino]

@LibretoRetroArc can we storage the roms with a smartphone and acess this over wifii thetering or some app android side like samba to save vita storage? Roms are small but have many of then. If we can see and load the game then worth use the smarthphone.

Without any network drivers working at the moment, this is impossible.
As of now, the Vita only has basic support for 2D graphics, controls, sound, and rGUI (I can't get XMB to work, so...) on the driver end.
And last I checked, even on say a Raspberry Pi, this is near impossible; let alone on a locked down system like the Vita.

 

[Enigma Hall]

So, we can see inside the vita but the vita cant see outside for now. Is it?

 

[SeongGino]

So, we can see inside the vita but the vita cant see outside for now. Is it?

Basically.
Aaaaaand doesn't help with the privacy concerns floating about at the moment that Sony very may well see you playing homebrew, unless you spoof each individual app of course.

 

[kakarotto]

new nightly (4-9; 6:35) working.
In FBA the option to disable Sound doesn't work (just trying to see if SFIII could improve without sound).

EDIT: to work the game has to be reset. Even without sound SFIII third strike is not fullspeed ( 40fps)

 

[Lord M]

Tested on FBA2012. Playable. 35-45fps.

It is possible to know, ehm, the name of rom? (idk if i can ask this here!)

Which of these you use?
fbalpha2012_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 v0.2.97.30, Arcade Machine Emulator (Various)
fbalpha2012_cps1_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 CPS1 v0.2.97.28, CPS1 Emulator
fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 CPS2 v0.2.97.28, CPS2 Emulator
fbalpha2012_neo_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 NeoGeo v0.2.97.30, SNK Neo-Geo AES/MVS Emulator

Another question: VBA Next (or mGBA) have support for Codebreaker and Gameshark cheats? I remember that gpsp have only ARv3 cheat type

 

[Joe007]

Currently between RA on Vita and RA on N3DS which has better performance would you say?

 

[SeongGino]

Currently between RA on Vita and RA on N3DS which has better performance would you say?

In most cases, the Vita currently has the best core support (About ~30 cores [Vita] vs. ~20 cores [3DS]), and the best performance (~5fps boost in Yoshi's Island on Vita vs. 3DS) IN MOST CASES (Ex. Batman - The Video Game (NES) runs 0.5fps better on N3DS Nestopia (RA 1.3.3 pre-ScreenTear) than on Vita Nestopia (Current); but FCEUmm both run the game completely fine).
It's too early still to tell if the Vita is fully capable of more or if this is the best we can get currently, as both projects are still Alphas (Note the current screen tearing on 3DS and the lack of distinct icons on Vita).

It is possible to know, ehm, the name of rom? (idk if i can ask this here!)

You can, don't worry! Just don't direct-link to any ROM sharing sites. (^^;

Which of these you use?
fbalpha2012_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 v0.2.97.30, Arcade Machine Emulator (Various)
fbalpha2012_cps1_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 CPS1 v0.2.97.28, CPS1 Emulator
fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 CPS2 v0.2.97.28, CPS2 Emulator
fbalpha2012_neo_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 NeoGeo v0.2.97.30, SNK Neo-Geo AES/MVS Emulator

The better question is: Which of these you use?
fbalpha2012_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha 2012 v0.2.97.30, Arcade Machine Emulator (Various)
fbalpha_libretro.vpk - FB Alpha v0.2.97.38, Arcade Machine Emulator (Various)

(Ya know, since it's a CPS3 game and NOT a CPS1/2/NEO game...)

Also,

Another question: VBA Next (or mGBA) have support for Codebreaker and Gameshark cheats? I remember that gpsp have only ARv3 cheat type

*Shrugs*
You can try native RetroArch cheats (Which I'm pretty sure is what you're doing, ahem), but I think they all use a singular code style. I haven't tried VBA on PC since.... Primary school, so I wouldn't even know what it uses to begin with; and I wouldn't dare try RA on PC because it exclusively causes ME problems there only so... neh.

EDIT: New Nightlies! The bot's working again, and the size has changed some.
...But the installs are still sooooooooooooo sloooooooooooooooooow. (Please let batch installs be a thing. >.<)

 

[falaschi]

i have an issue... Why retroarch cannot save my browser directory? my browser route does not save