# RetroArch version 1.8.5 available, now features new Ozone style menu



## huma_dawii (Mar 23, 2020)

I dont like that menu :v it loos bad on Wii U Gamepad because of resolution problems i guess...


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## VinsCool (Mar 23, 2020)

Nice, but I still only swear by the original Green overlay menu xD


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## smileyhead (Mar 23, 2020)

Looks nice. I do hope the icon pack also gets updated soon, though. It's still PlayStation-styled.


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## Sonic Angel Knight (Mar 23, 2020)

huma_dawii said:


> I dont like that menu :v it loos bad on Wii U Gamepad because of resolution problems i guess...


Yeah I noticed that too. Every theme looks bad on the gamepad.

Does anyone know how to make this work on wii u? 
https://docs.libretro.com/library/game_music_emu/


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## wonkeytonk (Mar 23, 2020)

I still say FCK RETROARCH! <3


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## Medveitsi (Mar 23, 2020)

wonkeytonk said:


> I still say FCK RETROARCH! <3


Why?


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## veesonic (Mar 23, 2020)

This has been the Switch version default for a while and I like it.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 23, 2020)

Medveitsi said:


> Why?


probably because on most systems the retroarch cores perform worse than the alternatives unless the retroarch core is a near-exact port of the LATEST version of a good emulator- none of that snes9x 2010 bullcrap


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## osaka35 (Mar 23, 2020)

definitely a fix to one of their most glaring problems. Probably still prefer individual emulators tweaked to how I like them, but this is great for those who like retroarch.


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## Uiaad (Mar 23, 2020)

Wait ... hasn't Ozone been around for like the last year ? i swear i have been using this for the last year lol


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## Pickle_Rick (Mar 23, 2020)

No mention that they fixed gpSP (on 3DS) after four years?


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 23, 2020)

pity the ozone emulator or even a scaled down version isn't available on 3ds


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## MikaDubbz (Mar 23, 2020)

huma_dawii said:


> I dont like that menu :v it loos bad on Wii U Gamepad because of resolution problems i guess...



I'm with ya, i was growing tired of the Playstation gui too, whichever that one is. I'm instead using the glui setting with one of its darker themes with the magnification in the menus up like 30% or so, and i feel its the best looking option for it on the Wii U at this time.


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## kudofan (Mar 23, 2020)

Is it any less user-hostile now?


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## lordelan (Mar 23, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> probably because on most systems the retroarch cores perform worse than the alternatives unless the retroarch core is a near-exact port of the LATEST version of a good emulator- none of that snes9x 2010 bullcrap


Why do you even use the 2010 version? Snes9x mainline is the best (in most cases).
Also of course many emulators are more recent and more stable than their libretro core counterpart but especially for most older systems this doesn't matter at all speedwise.
It matters for options though as not all standalone options an emulator offers are also transported to the libretro core options menu but having "everything under one roof" is an amazing experience for me, especially since it's available for so many host systems.

I can even *exclude* a few parts of a full RetroArch setup to be on a mobile storage and carry it around to different host systems (Wii U, Windows, Linux, Mac). I mean I put the following things onto an external drive:

thumbnails
playlists
cheats
system/bios files
roms
savestates
savegames
Then I just adjust every RetroArch setup on each host in directory to point to the drive and so I can continue my games *and* their savegames wherever I want whenever I want.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 23, 2020)

lordelan said:


> Why do you even use the 2010 version? Snes9x mainline is the best (in most cases).
> Also of course many emulators are more recent and more stable than their libretro core counterpart but especially for most older systems this doesn't matter at all speedwise.
> It matters for options though as not all standalone options an emulator offers are also transported to the libretro core options menu but having "everything under one roof" is an amazing experience for me, especially since it's available for so many host systems.
> 
> ...


I don't use 2010 because I KNOW how much it sucks. However... it's the latest Retroarch 3DS has.


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## Deleted User (Mar 23, 2020)

kudofan said:


> Is it any less user-hostile now?


Is something user-hostile if it doesn't hold your hand for literally everything now?


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## Nerdtendo (Mar 23, 2020)

kikongokiller said:


> Is something user-hostile if it doesn't hold your hand for literally everything now?


I would consider that green screen user hostile. Sure, it was managable, but nothing made since at a glance. It was hard to keep track of where things were, or what they did. Some simple animation and big readable buttons go a long way


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## LightBeam (Mar 23, 2020)

kikongokiller said:


> Is something user-hostile if it doesn't hold your hand for literally everything now?


Honestly ? Almost. For example, the way Retroarch handles playlists is, imo, user-hostile as it doesn't let you make your playlists the way you like that easily. Same with the thumbnails, boxarts etc ... Even when my roms are no-intro and I've updated the boxarts through the online adapter. Something "user-friendly" wouldn't be as tough to use, tho it could be worse so I'm not considering this menu to be really user-hostile.

Tho I consider the desktop UI on PC 100% user-hostile.


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## Issac (Mar 23, 2020)

Chary said:


> CHEEVOS: RetroAchievements rich presence for RA.org website/Discord
> CHEEVOS: Display measured progress on locked achievements
> ​


​Nice! There are something I've been interested in. And progress on locked achievements? I guess they've developed the achievement system some more then! It wasn't possible to have progress last time I was developing achievements


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## Pipistrele (Mar 23, 2020)

Kinda neat, but I still wish they stuck to something more original and designed specifically with Retroarch quirks in mind, rather than jumping from one knock-off UI to another.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 23, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> probably because on most systems the retroarch cores perform worse than the alternatives unless the retroarch core is a near-exact port of the LATEST version of a good emulator- none of that snes9x 2010 bullcrap



So don't fucking use Snes9x 2010, it has Snes9x regular on it. Cry me a river and use standalone emulators or program one yourself. Sheesh. People sure love to bitch about RetroArch this when they're not being held at gunpoint to use it.


What cores run "worse"?

There's no Mupen64 Plus standalone
There's no Beetle PSX standalone
There's no DraStic standalone for non Android devices
There's no Genesis Plus GX standalone

And they run worse? Gee, maybe don't use the outdated cores or a crappy PC, I can run all of these fine.

People are ingrates and love to bitch about something people provide for free


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## MikaDubbz (Mar 23, 2020)

kikongokiller said:


> Is something user-hostile if it doesn't hold your hand for literally everything now?



I can work my way around Retroarch, but it is not the easiest thing to initially figure out, and there are still features in there that I don't have a solid grasp on what it is that they truly even do.  There are plenty of other little issues I've had with Retroarch or can recognize getting in the way of other and new users.  It doesn't need to hold your hand, but Retroarch certainly could be considerably more user friendly than it is.  Compared to the individual GX emulators you can play on a Wii or Wii U (Snes9x GX, FCEU GX, VBA GX, Genplus GX) where I have next to no questions about what options do what or where specific options would be located, there is definitely room for Retroarch to step up its game in terms of being more user friendly while still being as feature heavy as it is.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



the_randomizer said:


> There's no Genesis Plus GX standalone



Yes there is, it's for the Gamecube and Wii (and by extension Wii U).  I prefer to use it for all my retro Sega gaming on the Wii U (as well as most individual GX emulators), and then only use Retroarch for the emulators that don't have individual emulators on the Wii U with the features I would also like (Pro Controller and Gamepad support mostly), so I'll use Retroarch only for stuff like Atari, MAME, Turbografx, Virtual Boy, etc.  I'd use it for the other systems (NES, SNES, Genesis, GBA), if I felt that Retroarch was all around better than the individual emulators of those systems, but frankly, I stick to the individual emulators as they have all the features I need, brilliant compatability, and load indidvidual roms quicker.  Not to mention I just love that the home screen on my Wii U has channels for each system emulator (with Retroarch in the bottom right):






To anyone interested, the DS channel is actually just Loadiine, but loaded with only DS games and injects, I thought this to be a clever way to essentially give the Wii U a DS emulator when it doesn't exactly have a true one.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 24, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> So don't fucking use Snes9x 2010, it has Snes9x regular on it. Cry me a river and use standalone emulators or program one yourself. Sheesh. People sure love to bitch about RetroArch this when they're not being held at gunpoint to use it.
> 
> 
> What cores run "worse"?
> ...


As I've said, I'm not using Snes9x 2010. Retroarch 3DS doesn't have the latest by default, so I just said screw it and replaced it with the bubble2k option since all I had to do was essentially lie to Retroarch about what core it was.
Snes9x and PicoDrive are just worse than the bubble2k ports, the nes emulators lag, Gambatte lags like hell on o3ds (I don't even know HOW) and mgba doesn't solve that problem, so yeah. Good thing there are standalones.


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## wonkeytonk (Mar 24, 2020)

Medveitsi said:


> Why?


It practically defeats the whole purpose of an emulator, being so inconvenient and making you have to be on top of so much yourself.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 24, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> As I've said, I'm not using Snes9x 2010. Retroarch 3DS doesn't have the latest by default, so I just said screw it and replaced it with the bubble2k option since all I had to do was essentially lie to Retroarch about what core it was.
> Snes9x and PicoDrive are just worse than the bubble2k ports, the nes emulators lag, Gambatte lags like hell on o3ds (I don't even know HOW) and mgba doesn't solve that problem, so yeah. Good thing there are standalones.



How the hell was I supposed to know you were referring to the 3DS?  The 3DS is weak hardware, what did you expect? That's no reason to shit on the RetroArch devs, maybe someone else can do better?

If you don't like it, DON'T F*CKING USE RETROARCH. How hard is that to understand?

The 3DS hardware is from 2011, it's old, use something else.



MikaDubbz said:


> I can work my way around Retroarch, but it is not the easiest thing to initially figure out, and there are still features in there that I don't have a solid grasp on what it is that they truly even do.  There are plenty of other little issues I've had with Retroarch or can recognize getting in the way of other and new users.  It doesn't need to hold your hand, but Retroarch certainly could be considerably more user friendly than it is.  Compared to the individual GX emulators you can play on a Wii or Wii U (Snes9x GX, FCEU GX, VBA GX, Genplus GX) where I have next to no questions about what options do what or where specific options would be located, there is definitely room for Retroarch to step up its game in terms of being more user friendly while still being as feature heavy as it is.
> 
> 
> Yes there is, it's for the Gamecube and Wii (and by extension Wii U).  I prefer to use it for all my retro Sega gaming on the Wii U (as well as most individual GX emulators), and then only use Retroarch for the emulators that don't have individual emulators on the Wii U with the features I would also like (Pro Controller and Gamepad support mostly), so I'll use Retroarch only for stuff like Atari, MAME, Turbografx, Virtual Boy, etc.  I'd use it for the other systems (NES, SNES, Genesis, GBA), if I felt that Retroarch was all around better than the individual emulators of those systems, but frankly, I stick to the individual emulators as they have all the features I need, brilliant compatability, and load indidvidual roms quicker.  Not to mention I just love that the home screen on my Wii U has channels for each system emulator (with Retroarch in the bottom right):
> ...



Oh, is there one on PC? No, there's no standalone Genesis Plus GX on PC.

I never mentioned Wii U, I only talked about PC. Is bashing RetroArch developers a fetish on this board or what?

It's not their fault the  3DS is weak


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## Reynardine (Mar 24, 2020)

Perfect timing, haha. I was just thinking I could update my retroarch setup again when I saw this news!

I love retroarch, having all my classic game systems under one roof is super awesome!


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## vincentx77 (Mar 24, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> The 3DS hardware is from 2011, it's old, use something else.



And it's hardware hasn't been modern since around 2005. I know most people are running this on the N3DS, but come on, it's about as fast, for emulation, as a 2010 smart phone. 
You guys also need to stop blaming retroarch for you not knowing how to manage your files and paths properly. Most problems get resolved if you read the friggin' documentation.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 24, 2020)

vincentx77 said:


> And it's hardware hasn't been modern since around 2005. I know most people are running this on the N3DS, but come on, it's about as fast, for emulation, as a 2010 smart phone.
> You guys also need to stop blaming retroarch for you not knowing how to manage your files and paths properly. Most problems get resolved if you read the friggin' documentation.



Well, in all fairness, the N3DS has an 800 MHz ARM CPU at its disposal, as oppose the O3DS having only a 268 MHz ARM CPU, and Snes emulation just doesn't do well without serious sacrifices to accuracy. Snes9x 2010 is also based off of a really old version of Snes9x, so it has to use a lot of speed hacks to get running right. N3DS would be a the better one to go *shrug*. I think people just hate on RetroArch because they have nothing better to do to get their jollies.

It doesn't help that the Snes9x 3DS has been abandoned either, as the original dev stopped work on it. It was so close to being perfect, and even started getting a better audio core.


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## godreborn (Mar 24, 2020)

I've been using this theme for the nes, snes, and genesis minis.  it's been around for a while on that version.


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## MikaDubbz (Mar 24, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> *Oh, is there one on PC? No, there's no standalone Genesis Plus GX on PC.*
> 
> I never mentioned Wii U, I only talked about PC. Is bashing RetroArch developers a fetish on this board or what?


While this is true, your post beforehand did not specify you were only talking about the PC, and many here are definitely talking about system versions including the Wii U version.  But all the same, people airing their issues with Retroarch should be understandable and expected, when the retroarch devs try to put it on as many devices as possible, with as many emulator cores as possible, with seemingly as many options as possible; issues were always going to be a certainty.  It's an ambitious program/project, but due to its ambition, it understandably is going to be prone to criticism.  No one wants to hate on Retroarch, and the bashings don't come from nowhere.  As a PC user of retroarch, you probably will have the least issues with Retroarch, which makes your responses here all the more understandable.  But for others using Retroarch in a modded system, they're going to have their own issues that you're not going to relate much with.  So I think if you recognize that, you might then understand why people on a site like GBAtemp, that specializes in modding consoles, will be discussing their issues with Retroarch builds for their consoles.


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## Silent_Gunner (Mar 24, 2020)

VinsCool said:


> Nice, but I still only swear by the original Green overlay menu xD



I like the Hacking the Kernel color scheme combined with that starfield one moving real fast! 

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



MikaDubbz said:


> While this is true, your post beforehand did not specify you were only talking about the PC, and many here are definitely talking about system versions including the Wii U version.  But all the same, people airing their issues with Retroarch should be understandable and expected, when the retroarch devs try to put it on as many devices as possible, with as many emulator cores as possible, with seemingly as many options as possible; issues were always going to be a certainty.  It's an ambitious program/project, but due to its ambition, it understandably is going to be prone to criticism.  No one wants to hate on Retroarch, and the bashings don't come from nowhere.  As a PC user of retroarch, you probably will have the least issues with Retroarch, which makes your responses here all the more understandable.  But for others using Retroarch in a modded system, they're going to have their own issues that you're not going to relate much with.  So I think if you recognize that, you might then understand why people on a site like GBAtemp, that specializes in modding consoles, will be discussing their issues with Retroarch builds for their consoles.



*Flycast updates on hacked Switch intensifies*

Although, to be fair, I've been considering rooting my phone lately and possibly installing a better bluetooth driver, as that's apparently the reason why BT inputs can be so laggy on Android regardless of the controller you use?


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## lordelan (Mar 24, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> I don't use 2010 because I KNOW how much it sucks. However... it's the latest Retroarch 3DS has.


It's been years since I used RetroArch on the 3DS. Isn't there the main Snes9x core as well?
But since RetroArch was a bit strange to handle on the 3DS (back then) I prefered the Virtual Console afair.
The 3DS was never a system to contain my "full rom collection" to begin with so installing just a few VCs for the few games I played there was fine.


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## Jokey_Carrot (Mar 24, 2020)

cool I use mednafen


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## depaul (Mar 24, 2020)

Good news.. But I've been using Ozone theme for like months now without issues. I'm playing mainly on TV and not the gamepad.

The feature "Download thumbnail on demand" doesn't work no matter what I do.


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## Ev1l0rd (Mar 24, 2020)

Ah neat. I've been using Ozone for a while now on the Switch. Neat to see it ported to upstream/other devices. It's a very nice UI, but a bit unintuitive here and there, which I mostly blame on RetroArchs UI in general being extremely unintuitive.

Looks and plays good tho.


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## MadMakuFuuma (Mar 24, 2020)

Ev1l0rd said:


> Ah neat. I've been using Ozone for a while now on the Switch. Neat to see it ported to upstream/other devices. It's a very nice UI, but a bit unintuitive here and there, which I mostly blame on RetroArchs UI in general being extremely unintuitive.
> 
> Looks and plays good tho.



agreed. i think im going to stick with xmb UI for now. at least i fixed in my mind where every option are, after all those years XD


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## the_randomizer (Mar 24, 2020)

lordelan said:


> It's been years since I used RetroArch on the 3DS. Isn't there the main Snes9x core as well?
> But since RetroArch was a bit strange to handle on the 3DS (back then) I prefered the Virtual Console afair.
> The 3DS was never a system to contain my "full rom collection" to begin with so installing just a few VCs for the few games I played there was fine.



3DS can't handle Snes9x mainline, it's too weak


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## spotanjo3 (Mar 24, 2020)

Ugh! I am fine with what I have. No thanks.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 24, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> 3DS can't handle Snes9x mainline, it's too weak


And yet it can handle Bubble2k's version, which is significantly closer to mainline. And runs leagues better, with the exception of one romhack that I can't seem to get to start (New Super Mario Land, a SNES remake of SML for the Game Boy. It starts, but after the opening "who made this" screen, nothing happens).


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## m4xw (Mar 24, 2020)

Ev1l0rd said:


> Ah neat. I've been using Ozone for a while now on the Switch. Neat to see it ported to upstream/other devices. It's a very nice UI, but a bit unintuitive here and there, which I mostly blame on RetroArchs UI in general being extremely unintuitive.
> 
> Looks and plays good tho.


Its been around and working on desktop since it exists.
Only thing that changed is its now the default + some fixes.

@Chary slightly missleading title.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 24, 2020)

m4xw said:


> Its been around and working on desktop since it exists.
> Only thing that changed is its now the default + some fixes.
> 
> @Chary slightly missleading title.


Pity they couldn't add Ozone or at least a lower res version of it to Retroarch 3DS... or at least fix the horrible overlapping text issues with the PS3 UI on 3DS.


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## m4xw (Mar 24, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Pity they couldn't add Ozone or at least a lower res version of it to Retroarch 3DS... or at least fix the horrible overlapping text issues with the PS3 UI on 3DS.


We got no 3DS devs in the team, feel free to contribute or offer suggestions + testing on the Discord.
Honestly you'd have to write a complete new menu driver to have a good experience on 3DS, given the screen sizes.
It's also why we wrote ozone for switch.
Edit: Tho I am pretty sure it should be available.


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## HulkWogan (Mar 24, 2020)

I know Covid 19 has the world all crazy and stuff but using 3DS as your emulation device in 2020? That is scraping the barrel.


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## nolimits59 (Mar 24, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> I know Covid 19 has the world all crazy and stuff but using 3DS as your emulation device in 2020? That is scraping the barrel.


Defo, a PSP is far better for portable retro emulation, even just the form factor of the console make it so much better.

And it's cheap af.


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## 64bitmodels (Mar 24, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> I know Covid 19 has the world all crazy and stuff but using 3DS as your emulation device in 2020? That is scraping the barrel.


dude i couldn't resist oot3d and mm3d, don't judge my purchasing decisions.
Plus i do have PC and Wii u as well so i'm not really scraping the barrel


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## Ev1l0rd (Mar 24, 2020)

m4xw said:


> Its been around and working on desktop since it exists.
> Only thing that changed is its now the default + some fixes.
> 
> @Chary slightly missleading title.


So this replaces xmb?

If so, I'm totally okay with that, it's much easier to navigate and looks far cleaner (plus the settings aren't a pain in the ass to configure like they are on xmb).


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 24, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> I know Covid 19 has the world all crazy and stuff but using 3DS as your emulation device in 2020? That is scraping the barrel.


Using a 3ds for emulation isn't crazy, especially since there are standalone cores that work fantastic- better than RetroArch cores on 3ds, may I add.


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## m4xw (Mar 24, 2020)

Ev1l0rd said:


> So this replaces xmb?
> 
> If so, I'm totally okay with that, it's much easier to navigate and looks far cleaner (plus the settings aren't a pain in the ass to configure like they are on xmb).


It's the new default menu driver. Simple as that.
You can still access everything else in the drivers menu in RA settings, as always.
XMB isn't gone, neither is rgui, etc.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 24, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> And yet it can handle Bubble2k's version, which is significantly closer to mainline. And runs leagues better, with the exception of one romhack that I can't seem to get to start (New Super Mario Land, a SNES remake of SML for the Game Boy. It starts, but after the opening "who made this" screen, nothing happens).



Probably because it requires more accurate emulation of the the SNES hardware, his version is based off of 1.43, which is absolutely ancient. Mainline version is on 1.60.2, so it's old.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 24, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> Probably because it requires more accurate emulation of the the SNES hardware, his version is based off of 1.43, which is absolutely ancient. Mainline version is on 1.60.2, so it's old.


Ah. Wonder if anyone's going to port mainline to 3ds or at least SOMETHING newer than that.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Ah. Wonder if anyone's going to port mainline to 3ds or at least SOMETHING newer than that.



Like I said, O3DS has a 268 MHz ARM CPU, two processors. N3DS has one 268 MHz and 800 MHz core, used in the N3DS titles like Xenoblade Chronicles. Snes9x 1.52 would be the best bet as it's the oldest core with the superior audio emulation, 1.60.2 would be far too demanding on either one.


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## justinweiss (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Ah. Wonder if anyone's going to port mainline to 3ds or at least SOMETHING newer than that.



Mainline can run on N3ds, but it's at least as slow, if not slower, than 2010. There's probably not much of a point, but I might try to get the core building at some point anyway.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> Like I said, O3DS has a 268 MHz ARM CPU, two processors. N3DS has one 268 MHz and 800 MHz core, used in the N3DS titles like Xenoblade Chronicles. Snes9x 1.52 would be the best bet as it's the oldest core with the superior audio emulation, 1.60.2 would be far too demanding on either one.


Yeah, you're not wrong.
Wish someone would port that over.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Yeah, you're not wrong.
> Wish someone would port that over.



At least 2010 (based off of 1.52) should run decently on N3DS


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> At least 2010 (based off of 1.52) should run decently on N3DS


Oh, so 2010 is based off the best one to work on n3ds. Thanks! I decided to upgrade, and my n3ds xl should arrive today (I figured I may as well splurge while I'm stuck inside for the foreseeable future), so I'll definitely check that out.
The other RetroArch cores (mGBA, Gambatte, Nestopia, PicoDrive, etc.) should run well, right? No more inexplicable lagging in something like Super Mario Land 2 Colored?


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Oh, so 2010 is based off the best one to work on n3ds. Thanks! I decided to upgrade, and my n3ds xl should arrive today (I figured I may as well splurge while I'm stuck inside for the foreseeable future), so I'll definitely check that out.
> The other RetroArch cores (mGBA, Gambatte, Nestopia, PicoDrive, etc.) should run well, right? No more inexplicable lagging in something like Super Mario Land 2 Colored?



Yes, but it needs to be seriously optimized to run well on ancient hardware, especially on an ARM CPU. Whether that'll happen or not remains to be seen.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> Yes, but it needs to be seriously optimized to run well on ancient hardware, especially on an ARM CPU. Whether that'll happen or not remains to be seen.


...the Retroarch cores aren't actually well-optimized either? Well, crud.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> ...the Retroarch cores aren't actually well-optimized either? Well, crud.



That's subjective, but to each their own. Snes9x, and many other cores work perfectly fine on PC, but I digress.


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## m4xw (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> ...the Retroarch cores aren't actually well-optimized either? Well, crud.


It depends on the platform / processor architecture and on the accuracy of the core.
That statement is way too generalized, but there are way too many platforms out there and not enough contributions.
Don't forget this is everyone's hobby after all.
People work on and optimize stuff they personally use.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

m4xw said:


> It depends on the platform / processor architecture and on the accuracy of the core.
> That statement is way too generalized, but there are way too many platforms out there and not enough contributions.
> Don't forget this is everyone's hobby after all.
> People work on and optimize stuff they personally use.



Thank you! Finally someone defends their work. They're doing this for free, and the best part is that people who complain about bad performance don't even report said issues on GitHub.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

m4xw said:


> It depends on the platform / processor architecture and on the accuracy of the core.
> That statement is way too generalized, but there are way too many platforms out there and not enough contributions.
> Don't forget this is everyone's hobby after all.
> People work on and optimize stuff they personally use.


Read the previous posts- I'm referring to the 3DS cores.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Read the previous posts- I'm referring to the 3DS cores.



And like I've said, there's only so much that can be optimized with the weak CPUs. I don't think it's fair to judge the entirety of RetroArch based off of the 3DS version alone.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> And like I've said, there's only so much that can be optimized with the weak CPUs. I don't think it's fair to judge the entirety of RetroArch based off of the 3DS version alone.


I know, I'm not. I just wish the 3DS RetroArch cores could stack up to their standalone alternatives on 3DS.


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## m4xw (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> And like I've said, there's only so much that can be optimized with the weak CPUs. I don't think it's fair to judge the entirety of RetroArch based off of the 3DS version alone.





Plasmaster09 said:


> Read the previous posts- I'm referring to the 3DS cores.


On top of me stating we have no active 3DS devs.
So while its a low power platform there is also barely interest because devs moved on / are missing to begin with.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> I know, I'm not. I just wish the 3DS RetroArch cores could stack up to their standalone alternatives on 3DS.



I don't know what to tell you, only thing I can suggest is using standalone emulators. Who knows if RetroArch 3DS will ever compare to those, it's not easy optimizing for the 3DS.



m4xw said:


> On top of me stating we have no active 3DS devs.
> So while its a low power platform there is also barely interest because devs moved on / are missing to begin with.



Yeah, ever since many of them moved from Wii U and 3DS development to Switch, I've become cynical of those ports ever being fully realized.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> I don't know what to tell you, only thing I can suggest is using standalone emulators. Who knows if RetroArch 3DS will ever compare to those, it's not easy optimizing for the 3DS.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, ever since many of them moved from Wii U and 3DS development to Switch, I've become cynical of those ports ever being fully realized.


well that's a pity- Retroarch has a lot of neat features. And as for the latter, you'd think they would be hesitant to work on a platform that isn't exactly safe to hack yet to begin with.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> well that's a pity- Retroarch has a lot of neat features. And as for the latter, you'd think they would be hesitant to work on a platform that isn't exactly safe to hack yet to begin with.



The thing is, the Wii U definitely had a good amount of power at its fingertips, it had potential to run full speed N64 and PSX emulation, provided a dynarec core was ported over. And while there is a dynarec core available for Beetle PSX and N64, sadly, no one has ported it over. Full speed for GBA, SNES, Genesis, etc has already happened, it would have been nice to see those two cores ported over before moving to Switch, but since Simias abandoned dynarec and other devs jumped ship, it leaves the Wii U hanging. That's what pisses me off, we ere so close to having really good PSX emulation because right now, WiiSX and Not64 are the only emulators we have. And let's be honest, they're broke as hell, audio emulation is sub par, many games have broken graphics, it could've been so much better. This is why I'm cynical and why I've vehemently refused to hack my Switch.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> The thing is, the Wii U definitely had a good amount of power at its fingertips, it had potential to run full speed N64 and PSX emulation, provided a dynarec core was ported over. And while there is a dynarec core available for Beetle PSX and N64, sadly, no one has ported it over. Full speed for GBA, SNES, Genesis, etc has already happened, it would have been nice to see those two cores ported over before moving to Switch, but since Simias abandoned dynarec and other devs jumped ship, it leaves the Wii U hanging. That's what pisses me off, we ere so close to having really good PSX emulation because right now, WiiSX and Not64 are the only emulators we have. And let's be honest, they're broke as hell, audio emulation is sub par, many games have broken graphics, it could've been so much better. This is why I'm cynical and why I've vehemently refused to hack my Switch.


I've refused to hack my Switch because I know that sooner or later Nintendo will release a firmware update that bans or even bricks any Switch with current exploits.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> I've refused to hack my Switch because I know that sooner or later Nintendo will release a firmware update that bans or even bricks any Switch with current exploits.



Another reason I didn't mod mine was because there's no permanent/persistent CFW option, and the process in which to do it convoluted. There really should be a softmod, but that's never gonna happen.

Edit: For now, I'm using an SN30 Pro + with my PC and RetroArch, so far so good


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> Another reason I didn't mod mine was because there's no permanent/persistent CFW option, and the process in which to do it convoluted. There really should be a softmod, but that's never gonna happen.
> 
> Edit: For now, I'm using an SN30 Pro + with my PC and RetroArch, so far so good


Ya know what, I'll probably download RetroArch on my PC as well. Funnily enough, I just got a SN30+ a couple days ago!
But yeah. I checked the guide and it really should be simpler than having to mess with the Switch or Joy-Cons physically. _The simplest option is buying a jig to basically tell the Switch it's f***ed._


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## the_randomizer (Mar 25, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Ya know what, I'll probably download RetroArch on my PC as well. Funnily enough, I just got a SN30+ a couple days ago!
> But yeah. I checked the guide and it really should be simpler than having to mess with the Switch or Joy-Cons physically. _The simplest option is buying a jig to basically tell the Switch it's f***ed._



Yeah, I don't want to risk damaging the hardware, RetroArch is so much easier to set up on PC with the 8bitdo pads


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 25, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> Yeah, I don't want to risk damaging the hardware, RetroArch is so much easier to set up on PC with the 8bitdo pads


Speaking of Switch, I've heard there's a Switch core. Although I won't be using it either way (my PC is "good-enough-for-me" quality, but not strong enough to run GameCube games at more than ONE frame per second, let alone Switch), I wonder: is it good?


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## PROTOBOY (Mar 26, 2020)

Will have the same theme on Xbox One X??


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## the_randomizer (Mar 26, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Speaking of Switch, I've heard there's a Switch core. Although I won't be using it either way (my PC is "good-enough-for-me" quality, but not strong enough to run GameCube games at more than ONE frame per second, let alone Switch), I wonder: is it good?



No idea, I don't see the point in Switch emulation yet


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## Ev1l0rd (Mar 26, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> Another reason I didn't mod mine was because there's no permanent/persistent CFW option, and the process in which to do it convoluted. There really should be a softmod, but that's never gonna happen.


AutoRCM is effectively permanent CFW, in that it makes your switch refuse to boot unless you send a payload to it.


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## NinStar (Mar 26, 2020)

kinda upset that all the ui drivers (except rgui) are broken on Wii U since the last update, it is fixable but for some reason, at least for me, it also affects the video settings on the cores


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## m4xw (Mar 26, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> Yeah, ever since many of them moved from Wii U and 3DS development to Switch, I've become cynical of those ports ever being fully realized.


What development moved to Switch?
I am the only person doing dev for Switch (including nati) and I never even dev'd for Wii U or 3DS.
The whole platform has been more or less a one man battle.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 26, 2020)

m4xw said:


> What development moved to Switch?
> I am the only person doing dev for Switch (including nati) and I never even dev'd for Wii U or 3DS.
> The whole platform has been more or less a one man battle.



I think I'm going to just show myself out. Ciao.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 26, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> I think I'm going to just show myself out. Ciao.


I mean you were still right- the approximately zero people working on 3DS cores moved to Switch.
Well, aside from Bubble2k and the others, but they've vanished off the face of the earth, or at least from GBATemp.


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## the_randomizer (Mar 26, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> I mean you were still right- the approximately zero people working on 3DS cores moved to Switch.
> Well, aside from Bubble2k and the others, but they've vanished off the face of the earth, or at least from GBATemp.


And it's that reason why I remain cynical, I'll be sticking to the Android and/or PC version of RetroArch; the 3DS and Wii U versions are never going to get full speed N64 or PSX emulation anyway


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 26, 2020)

the_randomizer said:


> And it's that reason why I remain cynical, I'll be sticking to the Android and/or PC version of RetroArch; the 3DS and Wii U versions are never going to get full speed N64 or PSX emulation anyway


eh I'll do both
besides, if I can turn my hacked 3ds into a portable emulator for decent PSX games, great 16 bit and basic arcade games and near perfect 8 bit games, I'm totally going to do it.


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## Reynardine (Mar 26, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> eh I'll do both
> besides, if I can turn my hacked 3ds into a portable emulator for decent PSX games, great 16 bit and basic arcade games and near perfect 8 bit games, I'm totally going to do it.


Speaking of arcade games. I'm a bit out of the loop, but are vertical arcade games like Donkey Kong now playable in retroarch on 3DS?

Last time I tried the screen was rotated sideways with no way of changing this.

Also the Virtual Boy core doesn't work at all for me. Virtual boy emulation on 3DS with 3D support, I can only dream...

Other than that I'm perfectly happy with the performance on 3DS. NES and SNES and GB/GBC/GBA run well for me. Sega's Master System/Game Gear and the Genesis too. Also PC Engine. That's the essentials covered.

For PSX, N64 and DOSBox I stick with my PC or Switch for now.

Retroarch's PCSXReArmed is currently surpisingly slow on Switch. It runs with overclocking, but that shouldn't be necessary. I previously used that emulator as a standalone on the openpandora handheld and it was much much faster, at a clockspeed of about 1 GHz.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 26, 2020)

Reynardine said:


> Speaking of arcade games. I'm a bit out of the loop, but are vertical arcade games like Donkey Kong now playable in retroarch on 3DS?
> 
> Last time I tried the screen was rotated sideways with no way of changing this.
> 
> ...


Wait, GBA runs well on N3DS? Through which core? My n3ds xl comes tomorrow, and if RetroArch is up to the task of making GBA games run well, I'd be glad to know. Also, I know o3ds can't run it well anyway but every time I launch gpSP or its standalone clone citrAGB, I get an arm11 exception crash once I try to start a game. I put the BIOS in the right spot! Any ideas?
Edit: As for vertical arcade games, I don't know. All I know is that there are a surprising amount of arcade cores and from what I've heard, the CPS cores run well, including CPS3 on n3ds. Arcade fighter time!


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## Reynardine (Mar 26, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> Wait, GBA runs well on N3DS? Through which core? My n3ds xl comes tomorrow, and if RetroArch is up to the task of making GBA games run well, I'd be glad to know. Also, I know o3ds can't run it well anyway but every time I launch gpSP or its standalone clone citrAGB, I get an arm11 exception crash once I try to start a game. I put the BIOS in the right spot! Any ideas?
> Edit: As for vertical arcade games, I don't know. All I know is that there are a surprising amount of arcade cores and from what I've heard, the CPS cores run well, including CPS3 on n3ds. Arcade fighter time!


Well, recently I played a bit of Mother 3 on my New 3DS via retroarch. The core I'm using is gpSP.

I haven't updated retroarch in a while. Unscrewing the lid to get to the SD cart is super annoying...
Maybe I'll take the time to do it now. But gpSP was running well with a nightly build from around September last year.





I only tested retroarch on those New 3DS models. I didn't bother running it on my original 3DS, it's probably too slow to be playable for most cores beyond NES.

I wish I had a way to quickly synchronize my savegames from 3DS, Switch and PC. Now that would be handy.
Switch is way too bulky, so when going out I actually prefer playing on the trusty old 3DS.


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## m4xw (Mar 26, 2020)

Reynardine said:


> Retroarch's PCSXReArmed is currently surpisingly slow on Switch. It runs with overclocking, but that shouldn't be necessary. I previously used that emulator as a standalone on the openpandora handheld and it was much much faster, at a clockspeed of about 1 GHz.


Because everything is software rendered + interpreter.
Suddenly it doesnt sound too slow anymore for what it actually does


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## BORTZ (Mar 26, 2020)

If the stuff about fixing the GBA core is correct and people are experiencing much fewer crashes, then color me excited. I would rather have a folder of ROMs rather than needing to install titles to my home screen. 

Also just because of how dumb it is, I would love to see FFVII running on my 3DS haha


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## Deleted member 514389 (Mar 26, 2020)

-snip-


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## Silent_Gunner (Mar 27, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> I know Covid 19 has the world all crazy and stuff but using 3DS as your emulation device in 2020? That is scraping the barrel.



Maybe that's all that they can afford? Not everyone has the luxury of living in the United States.

It's certainly more portable than the Switch, soyboy!


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 27, 2020)

Silent_Gunner said:


> Maybe that's all that they can afford? Not everyone has the luxury of living in the United States.
> 
> It's certainly more portable than the Switch, soyboy!


I have a Switch but I sure as hell ain't hacking it yet. It's definitely not safe to hack and I'm not blowing money on a jig.
Plus my PC is medium quality- in order, quality goes toaster -> outdated school computer -> mine (decent, good enough to run Binding of Isaac but not to run Wii games on Dolphin) -> high-end -> $2000 or whatever gaming pc.
Plus I can have freaking full speed PSX and SNES on a n3ds now, so why the hell not?


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## Silent_Gunner (Mar 27, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> I have a Switch but I sure as hell ain't hacking it yet. It's definitely not safe to hack and I'm not blowing money on a jig.
> Plus my PC is medium quality- in order, quality goes toaster -> outdated school computer -> mine (decent, good enough to run Binding of Isaac but not to run Wii games on Dolphin) -> high-end -> $2000 or whatever gaming pc.
> Plus I can have freaking full speed PSX and SNES on a n3ds now, so why the hell not?



PSX is full speed now? Or does it still have problems?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 27, 2020)

Silent_Gunner said:


> PSX is full speed now? Or does it still have problems?
> 
> --------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


Full speed with Unai and all that. There's bound to be some problems but if I remember correctly, for the games it works with (which is pretty many now) it works great.


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## HulkWogan (Mar 27, 2020)

Silent_Gunner said:


> Maybe that's all that they can afford? Not everyone has the luxury of living in the United States.
> 
> It's certainly more portable than the Switch, soyboy!




Portability isn't a factor, I wouldn't dream of playing outside of my home, I have other commitments.

Switch is plenty portable for me guy.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 27, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> Portability isn't a factor, I wouldn't dream of playing outside of my home, I have other commitments.
> 
> Switch is plenty portable for me guy.


yeah but switch hacking is relatively... unreliable compared to 3ds
3ds has easy softmod methods for the latest (and LAST) firmware
switch has no softmod methods and the simplest method (which requires specifically owning an unpatched Switch and there's no way of knowing if it's got a "maybe patched" serial number) requires basically shorting it out and has a much higher risk of bricking.


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## HulkWogan (Mar 27, 2020)

@Plasmaster09 3DS was a great handheld, no question. The issue was user/users expecting new builds of homebrew for a handheld that is so old, nothing to do with quality or anybodies finances as the other member mentions.


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## Plasmaster09 (Mar 27, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> @Plasmaster09 3DS was a great handheld, no question. The issue was user/users expecting new builds of homebrew for a handheld that is so old, nothing to do with quality or anybodies finances as the other member mentions.


it's not that I'm expecting anything new
I'm just mildly annoyed that the cores optimized are _so old- _some of them are older than the 3DS itself!


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## Ev1l0rd (Mar 27, 2020)

Plasmaster09 said:


> it's not that I'm expecting anything new
> I'm just mildly annoyed that the cores optimized are _so old- _some of them are older than the 3DS itself!


The 3DS is a very weak system in terms of what it can run to begin with. There was a comparison with the Vita back when it came out, and the tech in the 3DS compared to the Vita was reaching the "ancient" date even back then.

Emulation has made great strides, but a large part of that probably had to do with the increased amount of computing power available as well. The Switch on the other hand has around the processing power of an Nvidia Shield (a little bit less iirc), which also allows for a _lot_ more stuff to run on it.


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## Silent_Gunner (Mar 27, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> Portability isn't a factor, I wouldn't dream of playing outside of my home, I have other commitments.
> 
> Switch is plenty portable for me guy.



You have other commitments, yet you wouldn't play the game system outside of your house?

Thy logic is of no sense!


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## HulkWogan (Mar 27, 2020)

Silent_Gunner said:


> You have other commitments, yet you wouldn't play the game system outside of your house?
> 
> Thy logic is of no sense!


Is this reverse logic? when I am out I am doing adult things, working and the like. No time for gaming then young man, please refrain from diverting the thread any further from it purpose.


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## Silent_Gunner (Mar 28, 2020)

HulkWogan said:


> Is this reverse logic? when I am out I am doing adult things, working and the like. No time for gaming then young man, please refrain from diverting the thread any further from it purpose.



Except that I see Switch players on break all the time...


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## Deleted User (Apr 3, 2020)

since i upgraded from 1.8.4
now all my saved game files dont load, i cant save games

example:
_Retroarch not recognizing_ ._srm savefiles

saved game file path is correct inside cores
no longer recognize any save files
unable to make new save file

anyone having this problem, solution?_


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