Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

[LibretroRetroArc]

This isn't possibe I expect you mean 576i?

Yes, 576i - whatever - I thought it said '576p' in the Wii System Settings mode so that's what I am going by.

Anyway - set it to that, go over all the cores and report to me if you have any problems similar to what that previous guy reported.

I am simply very concerned about having something in here that possibly leads to the entire runtime performance of their Wii being crippled until they reset their console.

 

[Hielkenator]

Yes, 576i - whatever - I thought it said '576p' in the Wii System Settings mode so that's what I am going by.

Anyway - set it to that, go over all the cores and report to me if you have any problems similar to what that previous guy reported.

I am simply very concerned about having something in here that possibly leads to the entire runtime performance of their Wii being crippled until they reset their console.

Actually it's an interlaced signal of 720x576
I will test various instances and will notify if stumbled upon problems.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

Anyway, I can confirm what the guy was saying about the screen being distorted for a good chunk of the bottom when you set 576i at the Wii Settings mode (it shows the resolution as '640x576i'). It goes away when you set resolution to 640x480 but it still shouldn't be happening anyway.

 

[Hielkenator]

Anyway, I can confirm what the guy was saying about the screen being distorted for a good chunk of the bottom when set at 576i (it shows the resolution as '640x576i'.. It goes away when you set resolution to 640x480.

Probably 96 lines...

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

However, I CAN'T confirm what he is saying about not being able to go to the 'Settings menu' or his problems with 'ROM was loaded incorrectly' in either Genesis Plus GX or prboom.

Probably 96 lines...

Yes, more or less like that - about 80 of those lines showing 'black' and the rest showing 'white' (just thinking out loud here).

Anyway - I think I can fix that issue at least.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

If anyone needs more screenshots videos or anything that can help fixing the bugs just let me know, I can also post stuff from old revisions that actually work fine.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

If anyone needs more screenshots videos or anything that can help fixing the bugs just let me know, I can also post stuff from old revisions that actually work fine.

I can't reproduce the 'Settings' screen not showing at least in prboom/Genesis Plus GX.

Have you tried without a Forwarder? If it works fine without a Forwarder then I know which parts of the code to look at more or less.

 

[Hielkenator]

Yes, more or less like that - about 80 of those lines showing 'black' and the rest showing 'white' (just thinking out loud here).

Anyway - I think I can fix that issue at least.

No problem here, a side from the bars on the bottom.
I cannot reproduce the rom loading also.

I would really consider this resolution option converting it into a "double strike" option, disabling the overscan option ( as mednafen does sorta )
Only gripe is the devs ( you ) have to set the resolution on a console basis, it would be great if that could be automated per core.
No hassle for the end user to figure it out for themselves, call this option ( double strike or similar ), eleminating error reports on this matter.
overscan option would theoretically be obsolete. And is prone to give problems if it's not set properly.
Note this is just an idea.
I'm in no way a coder, but the resolution works great if you know to set the consoles/ boards/ games original resolution.
This really does miracles on crt monitors you would not believe.

On a side note, great job, really appreciate your hard work

 

[raulpica]

@the_randomizer
As long as the developer has no issues with it, users are free to discuss whatever they want pertaining the emulator. It's not up to you to decide what people can or cannot talk about.

Enough off-topic, hopefully.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

I can't reproduce the 'Settings' screen not showing at least in prboom/Genesis Plus GX.

Have you tried without a Forwarder? If it works fine without a Forwarder then I know which parts of the code to look at more or less.

I run the games using WiiFlow Plugin system, all the dols are in Wiiflow\Plugins\retroarch-wii folder, I don't use the main dol from homebrew nor from a forwarder channel.
P.S in genplus gx i can get to settings screen but with error message +/- codedump
it's Gambatte and Prboom that have this bug

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

I run the games using WiiFlow Plugin system, all the dols are in Wiiflow\Plugins\retroarch-wii folder, I don't use the main dol from homebrew nor from a forwarder channel.
P.S in genplus gx i can get to settings screen but with error message +/- codedump
it's Gambatte and Prboom that have this bug

I have never used WiiFlow Plugin whatever -

again, can you try using RetroArch in a normal way - ie. through HBC? Because I'm pretty sure there should be no problems that way.

We changed some control flow around for 0.9.8 so it's possible we might have to look again at 'WiiFlow' support. But I first need to 'isolate' these problems - hence why I want you to try RetroArch without this WiiFlow thing.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

Ok I'll test using HBC and report back

 

[Hielkenator]

I run the games using WiiFlow Plugin system, all the dols are in Wiiflow\Plugins\retroarch-wii folder, I don't use the main dol from homebrew nor from a forwarder channel.
P.S in genplus gx i can get to settings screen but with error message +/- codedump
it's Gambatte and Prboom that have this bug

This error does not happen on the "normal version" on my side. Possibly it's a plugin error.

 

[MassiveRican]

No problem here, a side from the bars on the bottom.
I cannot reproduce the rom loading also.

I would really consider this resolution option converting it into a "double strike" option, disabling the overscan option ( as mednafen does sorta )
Only gripe is the devs ( you ) have to set the resolution on a console basis, it would be great if that could be automated per core.
No hassle for the end user to figure it out for themselves, call this option ( double strike or similar ), eleminating error reports on this matter.
overscan option would theoretically be obsolete. And is prone to give problems if it's not set properly.
Note this is just an idea.
I'm in no way a coder, but the resolution works great if you know to set the consoles/ boards/ games original resolution.
This really does miracles on crt monitors you would not believe.

On a side note, great job, really appreciate your hard work

I don't know about getting rid of overscan Hielkanator. 80%of the time I have to make an adjustment with overscan to get the pic to fill my screens (flat screen CRT), And LCD I liked the way 0.9.7 did things but I'm all for improvement, if all that's added is double strike, however its emulated or achieved I'm happy. I don't need perfection of native resolutions I just want to "like the way it looks on my tv" lol, and have the options to change things a bit.

All those different resolutions sure why not as long as it doesn't cause performance problems. end users will have to know how to configure the game to the simulated "native resolution" that they want but again as long as stability is not sacrificed. That's what the devs are trying to achieve i believe and i for one want to thank u guys yet again for the effort and hope u can be patient just a little longer as I'm sure u guys are learning how to code with the GX scaler even more. No need to rush any releases if its not meeting your standards of quality that u want it to be for yourselves right ?

Honestly I've learned a lot just reading the las few pages which is great, and I hope to see Abz testing results soon since I also use retroarch through WiiFlow's plugin system. Maybe fix94 needs to make some adjustments to get things going right as well?

 

[AbdallahTerro]

When I start the app from HBC I get black screen followed by exit back to HBC!? so I can't test anything

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

When I start the app from HBC I get black screen followed by exit back to HBC!? so I can't test anything

Remove your old RetroArch config files.

This is entirely related to your specific setup. This shouldn't happen anywhere else - remove the entire 'retroarch' folder in the root of your SD card - remove everything to do with RetroArch in your apps folder or wherever it's placed, and start over again.

 

[AbdallahTerro]

k did that,
Now the black screen lasts forever, when I hard reset there is a Retroarch folder with 0 sized config file inside.
Deleted everything a second time and got same black screen

Edit1: I found that the SD is almost full,
deleted few stuff and tested again and the app launched fine from HBC

Edit2: Both Prboom and Gambatte work fine now (except for the 640x576i display bug) I can reach the settings and run the games
Also Genplus GX work fine, but some roms refuse to load or codedump but that's a rom issue not a dol issue

So yes most likely it's an issue related to using the dols as plugins with argument support
Only thing still present is the default resolution display bug

 

[davidmt]

Remove your old RetroArch config files.

This is entirely related to your specific setup. This shouldn't happen anywhere else - remove the entire 'retroarch' folder in the root of your SD card - remove everything to do with RetroArch in your apps folder or wherever it's placed, and start over again.

I am seeing similar behavoir.
I even formatted a new SD card, and put the RetroArch install by itself in a newly created "apps" folder.
Screen turns black and freezes.

The retroarch folder gets created and there is a retroarch.cfg file inside.
The file only has this inside:
libretro_path = "._boot.dol"
I'm thinking this may be a problem with the lastest version? I'm trying to find the prior version as it was working okay for me.

Edit: i think the download on the first version is bad? I went to the RetroArch site, downloaded 9.8.2 there and it worked.

 

[DAR CRO]

Edit the meta.xml file and remove

<no ios reload/>

. This happens a lot with apps. Do this and you'll be fine.

 

[LibretroRetroArc]

I am seeing similar behavoir.
I even formatted a new SD card, and put the RetroArch install by itself in a newly created "apps" folder.
Screen turns black and freezes.

The retroarch folder gets created and there is a retroarch.cfg file inside.
The file only has this inside:
libretro_path = "._boot.dol"
I'm thinking this may be a problem with the lastest version? I'm trying to find the prior version as it was working okay for me.

Edit: i think the download on the first version is bad? I went to the RetroArch site, downloaded 9.8.2 there and it worked.

Yeah you shouldn't be using any 0.9.8 versions prior to 0.9.8.2 now - the previous ones were borked.