Emulation Homebrew Emulator [UNOFFICIAL] Some Libretro cores compiled with RetroArch Wii v1.7.9 (and other versions)

[RunningSnakes]

Testing more with latest 176 PD - this core is very stable and I was able to reproduce black screen freeze. However this only happened after booting 10 consecutive 32X games in same session then booting 2 more GG games without issues, the 13th boot finally gave black screen freeze, assuming this was memory issue. I then tested only GG games and 4th same session boot gave black screen freeze.

I then tested the previous 176 PD recompile and results were similar although this core is more stable in my tests.

I am not testing .ogg, so if nothing else has been added or improved since last week release, I will stick with it for now.

I think in the future I will limit my gg, md, sg and ms games tests with PD recompiles and focus only on 32X games. PD does play the other Sega system games but all have issues (always have) especially Genesis and SG-1000 games where graphical problems make some games unplayable...for example Contra HC and SG Galaga among many others I have encountered.

 

[niuus]

Testing more with latest 176 PD - this core is very stable and I was able to reproduce black screen freeze. However this only happened after booting 10 consecutive 32X games in same session then booting 2 more GG games without issues, the 13th boot finally gave black screen freeze, assuming this was memory issue. I then tested only GG games and 4th same session boot gave black screen freeze.

I then tested the previous 176 PD recompile and results were similar although this core is more stable in my tests.

I am not testing .ogg, so if nothing else has been added or improved since last week release, I will stick with it for now.

I think in the future I will limit my gg, md, sg and ms games tests with PD recompiles and focus only on 32X games. PD does play the other Sega system games but all have issues (always have) especially Genesis and SG-1000 games where graphical problems make some games unplayable...for example Contra HC and SG Galaga among many others I have encountered.

Never had that issue, because: I never ever even consider PicoDrive for anything other than playing 32X

If ekeeke ever decides (unlikely) to do 32X inside GenesisPlus GX, then i'm abandoning PicoDrive for good

It is a very good multi emulator, of course, but it is best suited for really low powered devices, where it is the king

 

[SaulFabre]

was bored here, so i recompiled mGBA and PicoDrive.
--------------------

mGBA - until git https://github.com/libretro/mgba/commit/affc86e4c07b6e1e8363e0bc1c5ffb813a2e32c9 , but with this new change made by me https://github.com/saulfabregwiivc/mGBA/commit/261bb0a5ee25aa63e048cdf55e2059b9a5234626

supposedly since mGBA libretro cores now force the GBA resampled rate number to be in a VERY, VERY higher number (exactly 65536), that's causing the emulation to be super slow on Wii. here i reverted back to 32768, which was the resample rate where it had good emulation performance / speed (i guess?).

Compiled with RA Wii v1.7.6, v1.7.9, and v1.10.3.

-------------------

PicoDrive - until git https://github.com/irixxxx/picodrive/commit/3cd193ed1c7a2ffa94e69334367c64c136de0c7d

Compiled with RA Wii v1.7.6.
------------------

please test these, thanks

 

[MeXen]

WHy in the name of everything that is good would screw up one of the few really good emulators on the Wii which could play seemingly ANY GBA game at full speed and no issues?

 

[SaulFabre]

WHy in the name of everything that is good would screw up one of the few really good emulators on the Wii which could play seemingly ANY GBA game at full speed and no issues?

Yeah i hated when the libretro devs screwed up their core performance when made the sound rate MUCH accurate.
But now with the latest change i made in my fork, the speed should be fixed or at least improved since i lowered the sound rate to the previous one.

Also, the native standalone Wii version of mGBA still has a low number of max samples and sound rate, in favor to get extra emulation performance. But that's set by the mGBA developer itself (endrift).

EDIT: sent a PR proposing the changes i made to the latest mGBA build. https://github.com/libretro/mgba/pull/312/files

 

[RunningSnakes]

was bored here, so i recompiled mGBA and PicoDrive.
--------------------

mGBA - until git https://github.com/libretro/mgba/commit/affc86e4c07b6e1e8363e0bc1c5ffb813a2e32c9 , but with this new change made by me https://github.com/saulfabregwiivc/mGBA/commit/261bb0a5ee25aa63e048cdf55e2059b9a5234626

supposedly since mGBA libretro cores now force the GBA resampled rate number to be in a VERY, VERY higher number (exactly 65536), that's causing the emulation to be super slow on Wii. here i reverted back to 32768, which was the resample rate where it had good emulation performance / speed (i guess?).

Compiled with RA Wii v1.7.6, v1.7.9, and v1.10.3.

-------------------

PicoDrive - until git https://github.com/irixxxx/picodrive/commit/3cd193ed1c7a2ffa94e69334367c64c136de0c7d

Compiled with RA Wii v1.7.6.
------------------

please test these, thanks

I tested all 3 mgba cores...

1.7.6 - tested 3 times and got Stack Dump at boot, definitely a different dump we normally see when a core is not stable.

1.7.9 - limited testing but the core works and seems stable so far. Ultimate Winter games is running at 50-52 fps. Current builds run this game anywhere from 38-42 fps although 1.10.3 distributed in Frankenstein pack runs it 59-60 fps. I'm willing to bet my test games will give similar results (huge improvement vs current builds but well behind 1.10.3) but this core also supports bezels/overlays.

1.10.3 - tested 3 games and all black screen hang. Again, this was definitely different than a normal black screen freeze. There is some video garble where the game attempts to boot 2-3 times, then fails hanged..

I'll try to test PD later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[MeXen]

I am using mGBA-0.10.5 standalone for awhile and i havent got issues with any game yet..............but i havent tested the big ones.

 

[RunningSnakes]

I am using mGBA-0.10.5 standalone for awhile and i havent got issues with any game yet..............but i havent tested the big ones.

The standalone release is obviously better, it has always been.

This thread is dedicated to RA cores, you know that!

The standalone mGBA 0.10.5 current release IS slower in all tests from 0.10.3 standalone done months ago.

If you really want the very best Wii mGBA standalone emulator, roll back to 0.10.1. Do some testing and you will see difference in speed.

Where it stands for mGBA using RA on Wii, we look no further than Frankenstein. We all want the most capable option, not quite as fast as the standalone but not far behind.

Simply put, the only thing it lacks is bezel support. It runs full speed on 98% of the library.

 

[wiiandrewii]

can the creator of this post edit the first post and add all optimized cores there?
EDIT: Also, is the version 1.20 the ideal now? It refers that is has the fba core 0.2.97.26 but i can't seem to find this exact romset anywhere.

 

[wiiandrewii]

Sorry to ask again,
Just today i had the opportunity to test this matter.

I downloaded RA 1.7.6 (but doesn't have filters, in this regard, can i add them from the newer RA versions?)

About the cores, i downloaded now every single core available in this post and i have them all here organized by folders/date of release here (pack 1, pack 2, pack 3...). Can i assume the best cores are always the newest ones right?

I have been trying also the RA 1.7.9. All of these cores that i downloaded from here which i read that were "compiled with 1.7.6 ; 1.7.9 ; 1.8.1 ; 1.10.1" will work with RA 1.7.6 and RA 1.7.9 ?

About the Bios. Do they need to be inside the game zip, in the same folder of the game or in the "SD:\bios" folder?

Finally, I have here some FBA packs, which one is the recommended?
FBA v0.2.97.24 (split) (2890 of 2896)
FBA v0.2.97.29 (split)
FBA v0.2.97.35 (non-merged)
FBN v0.2.97.44 (non-merged)
RetroArch FBA NEO-GEO Package (this pack have all games each one inside a folder with a bios file)

The objective here is to have regular arcade roms plus cps1, cps2, cps3, neogeo cores/games working, most needed to work with the scanlines2x filter since it will be to work on a 480p TV.

I think i can consider these questions a resume of all this 13 pages of posts !

 

[niuus]

PicoDrive (irixxxx) - until git https://github.com/irixxxx/picodrive/commit/150c28559e1fbf50bd49b88070d059a655e70fd8
Compiled with RA Wii v1.7.6 and RA Wii v1.21.0.

Finally had the proper time to test this one (1.21.0). It breaks Wii U Pro Controller support, so I couldn't do much.

Even with the GCN controller, it is crazy as hell. Every button or d-pad press acts like it was on permanent turbo. Games crashes on loading at the first try.

was bored here, so i recompiled mGBA and PicoDrive.
-------------------

PicoDrive - until git https://github.com/irixxxx/picodrive/commit/3cd193ed1c7a2ffa94e69334367c64c136de0c7d

Compiled with RA Wii v1.7.6.
------------------

If you manage to do compiles for 1.7.9, 1.10.3, and 1.19.1, i'll test.

 

[wiiandrewii]

I'm using RetroArch-Wii 1.7.9.

question 1:
Retroarch asks me a second time for select core. The first time i see all cores that came by default and i can select these custom cores i have downloaded from here, however, after selecting the rom, retroarch asks me for a core the second time and this time the menu doesn't show the custom cores i saw in the first selection menu. How can i solve this?

question 2:
I have these roms from various romsets that i keep each one in respective folder. How can i add thumbnails to these roms? I can use screenscraper and launchbox to get these gamelists but how do they work within retroarch 1.7.9 for wii ?

 

[josepijolo]

Lately I've been playing Atari ST games with the standalone Hatary Wii emulator v0.0.5. The emulator works fine and loads all games, but it has a glitch: you can't map the joystick buttons to the Wii remote, which makes it difficult to play racing games because you accelerate with the D-pad instead of the 1 or 2 buttons.

There is a core for Retroarch for the Atari ST, but there isn't much information about it, but in the thread The Return of the Extra Unofficial Cores - https://gbatemp.net/threads/retroarch-wii-the-return-of-the-extra-unofficial-cores.632719/ - Saulfabre compiled this core for Retroarch for the Wii.

The core works reasonably well, but it's not possible to play with the Wii Remote horizontally. It's mandatory to play without the classic controller. This bug is known and can be fixed by compiling the core with older versions. Although I'm no expert on the subject, I'd like to ask if this is possible.

The Retroarch core allows easy button mapping and also allows bilinear filtering, something the standalone emulator doesn't have.

Thank you.

 

[GhaleonX]

Amstrad, Sharp X1, Thomson, Sega 32X, Atari800, Atari 5200, Atari XEGS, Game & Watch, Odyssey2, PCE, PCE CD, Watara, Neo CD, Vectrex...all are superior or can only be played through RA-Wii.

For some reason, the Sharp X1 emulator isn't working with the font ROM and a lot of Japanese text is displayed as question marks:


Zeliard crashes it right after the GA logo

was bored here, so i recompiled mGBA and PicoDrive.
--------------------

Your work is amazing! If you happen across another boredom spell, would you mind taking a peek at either quasi88 or neko project 2?

The version of Quasi88 in the current WiiFlow Lite Plugins Pack works quite well (better than the official download), but it would be quite a dream to get some better command line support (BlueMSX is arguably king in this category, though I don't know how realistic it is to incorporate such a framework).

Neko Project 2 FWIW currently runs about as well as PC-FX mednafen, but I haven't found a way to get that to load anything via WiiFlow yet (though I think it could be a syntactical error on my end).

 

[water_kooler]

I'm using RetroArch-Wii 1.7.9.

question 1:
Retroarch asks me a second time for select core. The first time i see all cores that came by default and i can select these custom cores i have downloaded from here, however, after selecting the rom, retroarch asks me for a core the second time and this time the menu doesn't show the custom cores i saw in the first selection menu. How can i solve this?

question 2:
I have these roms from various romsets that i keep each one in respective folder. How can i add thumbnails to these roms? I can use screenscraper and launchbox to get these gamelists but how do they work within retroarch 1.7.9 for wii ?

https://www.marcrobledo.com/retroarch-playlist-editor/

Hope that helps

 

[FanNintendo]

https://www.marcrobledo.com/retroarch-playlist-editor/

Hope that helps

Have you tried this? If i insert Wii or Switch card in pc, scan the playlist then insert back in Wii or Switch will it be good to go?

 

[water_kooler]

Have you tried this? If i insert Wii or Switch card in pc, scan the playlist then insert back in Wii or Switch will it be good to go?

I have not.

 

[GhaleonX]

https://www.marcrobledo.com/retroarch-playlist-editor/

Hope that helps

We can use this with the Wii?

Do you know how or anything about it?

I made this with it but don't know what I can do with it lol

{
  "items": [
    {
      "path": "SD:np2/Briganty.hdi",
      "label": "Briganty",
      "core_path": "DETECT",
      "core_name": "DETECT",
      "crc32": "00000000|crc",
      "db_name": "NEC - PC-98.lpl"
    }
  ]
}

I'm using RetroArch-Wii 1.7.9.

question 1:
Retroarch asks me a second time for select core. The first time i see all cores that came by default and i can select these custom cores i have downloaded from here, however, after selecting the rom, retroarch asks me for a core the second time and this time the menu doesn't show the custom cores i saw in the first selection menu. How can i solve this?

The second list is a list of the most common cores. I believe this happens when it fails to launch with the originally selected core, so it’s asking you to choose again but takes you to this menu instead of the original one you saw. With that in mind, it may mean that whatever you attempted to run won’t work in its current form, so check that first. I have this same problem when I try to use M3U.

question 2:
I have these roms from various romsets that i keep each one in respective folder. How can i add thumbnails to these roms? I can use screenscraper and launchbox to get these gamelists but how do they work within retroarch 1.7.9 for wii ?

If you’re using WiiFlow you can just put the thumbnails in the appropriate folder in device:/wiiflow/snapshots/ and make sure the name of the screenshot is identical to the Game Title.

 

[water_kooler]

We can use this with the Wii?

Do you know how or anything about it?

I made this with it but don't know what I can do with it lol

{
  "items": [
    {
      "path": "SD:np2/Briganty.hdi",
      "label": "Briganty",
      "core_path": "DETECT",
      "core_name": "DETECT",
      "crc32": "00000000|crc",
      "db_name": "NEC - PC-98.lpl"
    }
  ]
}

The second list is a list of the most common cores. I believe this happens when it fails to launch with the originally selected core, so it’s asking you to choose again but takes you to this menu instead of the original one you saw. With that in mind, it may mean that whatever you attempted to run won’t work in its current form, so check that first. I have this same problem when I try to use M3U.



If you’re using WiiFlow you can just put the thumbnails in the appropriate folder in device:/wiiflow/snapshots/ and make sure the name of the screenshot is identical to the Game Title.

I tried the playlist editor
The playlists appear on the Retroarch menu
However it reads, no content entries found
I thought I had everything correct

Post automatically merged: Nov 26, 2025

This was my playlist for FinalBurnAlpha 2012 CPS-2
it appeared on the wii but didn't load a game

{
"items": [
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Alien vs. Predator\\avsp.zip",
"label": "avsp",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Capcom Sports Club\\csclub.zip",
"label": "csclub",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Dimahoo\\dimahoo.zip",
"label": "dimahoo",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Hyper Street Fighter II - The Anniversary Edition\\hsf2.zip",
"label": "hsf2",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Mars Matrix - Hyper Solid Shooting\\mmatrix.zip",
"label": "mmatrix",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Mega Man - The Power Battle\\mmancp2u.zip",
"label": "mmancp2u",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Progear\\progear.zip",
"label": "progear",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Progear\\progearj.zip",
"label": "progearj",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha\\sfz2al.zip",
"label": "sfz2al",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
}
]
}

 

[GhaleonX]

I tried the playlist editor
The playlists appear on the Retroarch menu
However it reads, no content entries found
I thought I had everything correct

Post automatically merged: Nov 26, 2025

This was my playlist for FinalBurnAlpha 2012 CPS-2
it appeared on the wii but didn't load a game

{
"items": [
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Alien vs. Predator\\avsp.zip",
"label": "avsp",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Capcom Sports Club\\csclub.zip",
"label": "csclub",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Dimahoo\\dimahoo.zip",
"label": "dimahoo",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Hyper Street Fighter II - The Anniversary Edition\\hsf2.zip",
"label": "hsf2",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Mars Matrix - Hyper Solid Shooting\\mmatrix.zip",
"label": "mmatrix",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Mega Man - The Power Battle\\mmancp2u.zip",
"label": "mmancp2u",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Progear\\progear.zip",
"label": "progear",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Progear\\progearj.zip",
"label": "progearj",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
},
{
"path": "D:\\0 RA-FRANKENSTEIN ROMS\\Arcade CPS2\\Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha\\sfz2al.zip",
"label": "sfz2al",
"core_path": "D:\apps\retroarch-wii",
"core_name": "fbalpha2012_cps2_libretro_wii.dol",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Arcade CPS2.lpl"
}
]
}

This is new territory for me, but it's something I'm eager to try and learn. It seems odd to me that the path is using two back slashes in a row. I'm also used to paths using forward slashes, but IDK if either of those could be an issue.