Homebrew Retroarch for 3DS in development

[Jiro2]

Would this theoretically be able to play 3D Master System games in real 3D?

 

[Rinnegatamante]

Would this theoretically be able to play 3D Master System games in real 3D?

On final official release probably yes.
On current developing stage, no.

 

[aliaspider]

gpsp core compiled but seems to freeze with almost all titles (or at least all roms i tried): http://rinnegatamante.netsons.org/retroarch_gba.3dsx (Note that it takes a lot of time to setup Retroarch so wait, it's not a freeze).

you need the gba bios saved as sdmc:/retroarch/cores/system/gba_bios.bin
gpsp is also below 60fps so don't expect much yet. it might work better if you disable vsync (settings --> video settings --> VSync OFF)

 

[davhuit]

Eh, genesis and snes (outside of some of the specialized chips) should be doable (provided you're not attempting to use bsnes emulation core anyways).

Genesis is already working fine on DS, except the lack of scaling (ds resolution is too small) so it should also work on 3DS.

Snes is already working pretty good with BlargSnes, though there are still some compatibility problems (which come from a desynch problem with the SPC, which is the audio processor).

About people who ask about N64 and PS1, don't count on it (PSP can run PS1 games because they use the same architecture). And for those who said they have doubt for PS1 rather than N64, it's a no-go. PS1 would be easier to emulate, even in terms of RAW power, it's less powerful (and less complicated) than a N64 and that's why PS1 is emulated far better on PC than N64 (even PS2 seems emulated far better than the N64).

 

[StriderVM]

PS1 is theorhetically possible, as the popsloader being used to play PS1 games is the PSP basically an official emulator itself. N64 is always hard due to the complexities of the N64 hardware.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Genesis is already working fine on DS, except the lack of scaling (ds resolution is too small) so it should also work on 3DS.

Snes is already working pretty good with BlargSnes, though there are still some compatibility problems (which come from a desynch problem with the SPC, which is the audio processor).

About people who ask about N64 and PS1, don't count on it (PSP can run PS1 games because they use the same architecture). And for those who said they have doubt for PS1 rather than N64, it's a no-go. PS1 would be easier to emulate, even in terms of RAW power, it's less powerful (and less complicated) than a N64 and that's why PS1 is emulated far better on PC than N64 (even PS2 seems emulated far better than the N64).

What about NEO GEO NEO GEO 4 BRIGHT BUTTONS AND 2 JOYSTICKS!?

 

[davhuit]

NeoGeo could be emulated on 3DS without any problems I think, it's only a 16-bits system after all. I even think there were already some NeoGeo emulators for DS?

 

[Idaho]

I'd kill for Neo Geo on 3DS, there was a nice Neo Geo emu on the DS, I think the 3DS could do it perfectly

I love Metal Slug so much, I played them all on every machine that can run a Neo Geo emu I have ^^

 

[Rinnegatamante]

PS1 is theorhetically possible, as the popsloader being used to play PS1 games is the PSP basically an official emulator itself. N64 is always hard due to the complexities of the N64 hardware.

Popsloader is not an emu, at least POPS (Playstation One Portable Station). Anyway, PSP can emualte PS1 cause it uses similar hardware and POPS is developed by Sony so it's not an homebrew.

 

[StriderVM]

Perhaps I'm wrong.... I have always heard some people say that POPS is based on the Connectix's Virtual Game Station. Which Sony bought.

 

[Jiro2]

Unfortunately, mednafen's Virtual Boy interpreter is too slow for the 3DS, it runs at <10 fps.
A dynarec is our only hope, but I've heard it's being worked on...

Would it run at playable speed on a N3DS?

 

[danielps]

Would it run at playable speed on a N3DS?

Well it was tested on a N3DS, but the speed should be about the same as on an O3DS. Throwing in more cores doesn't help emulators a lot.

 

[Jiro2]

Well it was tested on a N3DS, but the speed should be about the same as on an O3DS. Throwing in more cores doesn't help emulators a lot.

I keep seeing vague references to the N3DS having a faster processor speed than the 3DS.

Nobody seems to know any numbers, though.

 

[danielps]

I keep seeing vague references to the N3DS having a faster processor speed than the 3DS.

Nobody seems to know any numbers, though.

It's the same speed according to 3dbrew.

 

[dubbz82]

Popsloader is not an emu, at least POPS (Playstation One Portable Station). Anyway, PSP can emualte PS1 cause it uses similar hardware and POPS is developed by Sony so it's not an homebrew.

pretty much this. Hardware is pretty significantly different between ps1 and 3ds. I'm sure someone will take a stab at it, but no promises it won't run like absolute garbage.

 

[davhuit]

Well it was tested on a N3DS, but the speed should be about the same as on an O3DS. Throwing in more cores doesn't help emulators a lot.

It can help a bit but of course, the same code won't do better on a N3DS. The code need to be modified (optimized) to use the extra cpu power of the N3DS.

But if it run at 10 fps, on a O3DS, seems hard to have it to 30fps (I suppose VirtualBoy games aren't 60fps?)

Perhaps I'm wrong.... I have always heard some people say that POPS is based on the Connectix's Virtual Game Station. Which Sony bought.

Dunno, but either way, it works pretty good because PSP and PS1 share the same architecture so a lot of PS1 code runs natively on the PSP CPU and so, you don't need a lot of more extra powert than the original system, like it's often the case for emulators. More info here, for example : http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/investigating-the-psps-psone-emulator-article

 

[Rather Dashing]

any update on this?

 

[hippy dave]

No code updates on the github from the op (since april 17th), no.

 

[DiscostewSM]

Eh, genesis and snes (outside of some of the specialized chips) should be doable (provided you're not attempting to use bsnes emulation core anyways).

If they have a fast way of handling software rendering, then perhaps. Hardware rendering helps a lot, but the problem with using it is that it lacks some of the most basic features one could imagine it should have. For instance, paletted texture support. I don't know what prompted the engineers to leave out such a feature if the ultimate decision was to also not have programmable fragment shaders (that would have handled such a feature had this been implemented). So for handling paletted graphics from systems like Genesis and SNES, the graphics themselves have to be converted into direct-color tiles, which takes up precious cycles, and even more if changes in the color palette happen per scanline (requiring these tiles be reconverted). Handling the emulation of these retro systems' PPU is what's taking up most of the system's processing power. Genesis games ran well on the DS because of its 2D hardware, alleviating most of the power requirements from that department. The 3DS, to my knowledge, lacks any access to such hardware.

 

[pdensco]

what is this can someone explain?