Homebrew RELEASE pFBA: final burn alpha

[notimp]

Dont be like a lot of people.

Also - no.

Also - seemingly few emulator devs want to implement a file manager "just for the kicks", or get hit with complaints - whenever a user, or a fluke interaction "deletes something mistakingly". Because no emulator - on the face of this earth, ever, had such a feature. (At least to my knowledge.)

Maybe the mindset to ask for "feature addons" comes from the app ecosystem - where stuff often is not possible, if the app itself doesnt support it. In a general computing environment, you can just use another program - that does what you want. Not right now - but eventually. Also - dont forget to ask the retroarch developers next, because you'd want that feature there as well, and...

 

[solrac21]

I used Romlister to filter out most of the games that I didn't want including clones. You can then copy the games that you want to the SD.

 

[Aftershock]

Dont be like a lot of people.

Also - no.

Also - seemingly few emulator devs want to implement a file manager "just for the kicks", or get hit with complaints - whenever a user, or a fluke interaction "deletes something mistakingly". Because no emulator - on the face of this earth, ever, had such a feature. (At least to my knowledge.)

Maybe the mindset to ask for "feature addons" comes from the app ecosystem - where stuff often is not possible, if the app itself doesnt support it. In a general computing environment, you can just use another program - that does what you want. Not right now - but eventually. Also - dont forget to ask the retroarch developers next, because you'd want that feature there as well, and...

Ha ha thanks for that. If you re-read you'll find I asked if such a thing existed in the app. I never actually requested a feature implementation in this or any other app. No need to let the facts get in the way of a good flame though :-)

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

I used Romlister to filter out most of the games that I didn't want including clones. You can then copy the games that you want to the SD.

Thanks man that's genuinely useful.

 

[Masterwin]

Guys is there a way to delete roms straight from the app? I'm guessing a lot of people dump the whole romset onto their SD card but 90+% of the roms will probably turn out to be of no interest.

delete them manually

 

[RichKK]

I use the FTP homebrew app to manage my sd card files from my laptop, saves a lot of faffing about.
There are plenty of threads on here that can tell you where to find it and how to use it :-)

 

[hexdump]

There's something I don't understand about the msx emulator. If it is the emulator of a closed system why use a game list instead of a folder rom search to load the games?

Cheers.

 

[Aftershock]

I use the FTP homebrew app to manage my sd card files from my laptop, saves a lot of faffing about.
There are plenty of threads on here that can tell you where to find it and how to use it :-)

I use that app to FTP in from my phone, do transfers and file management while in bed :-)

 

[MachRc]

I use that app to FTP in from my phone, do transfers and file management while in bed :-)

every sentence sounds better when it ends "in bed"

Im going to take a shower....in bed

 

[untok]

There's something I don't understand about the msx emulator. If it is the emulator of a closed system why use a game list instead of a folder rom search to load the games?

Cheers.

Game list would be nice but theres tons of naming styles to people and different romset etc. Maybe they tinking its easier to scan roms to specific folder.

 

[yardie]

Guys is there a way to delete roms straight from the app? I'm guessing a lot of people dump the whole romset onto their SD card but 90+% of the roms will probably turn out to be of no interest.

Just delete them via ftp

 

[hexdump]

Game list would be nice but theres tons of naming styles to people and different romset etc. Maybe they tinking its easier to scan roms to specific folder.

My post was not about discovering the roms from a folder or using a list it was about: "If they have an msx emulator almost everyrom should work, why have a list limiting users to play every game?". I understand they could have implemente msx 1 only but this is not the case because there are msx2 games listed, so, I still don't understand this decision. The only thing sensible to me is that they are following the rules applied to other systems (load what is on the game list and nothing more) buy again, in emulators like this one (MSX, etc...) it makesnot sense.

 

[notimp]

Ah, nice applied logic. Sounds correct to me. Now have them change their organisational principal and implement two different kinds of principals, when listing roms.

Not so easy either.. Maybe correct, but not easy - or a given.

Its one thing to tell people, everything on this list works, but another to tell them, everything on this list works for one system, but for the other one its mostly rom prefixes - apart, from that one rom that might not work, and... And then manage that going forward.

Still - your suggestion would be best for an educated audience.

 

[Brasse]

Things are truly becoming better and better for every update. Thanks for the hard work guys.
I would like to give a feedback:
It would be great if we could map the second player buttons as well. Right now, we have the option to map player 1 but not player 2. This would give us the ability to map player 1 buttons into the left joycon and player 2 into the right joycon, thus making us able two play multiplayer games such as metal slug together with friends bringing the true potential of mobility.

 

[cpasjuste]

Hi guys, just uploaded a new release with lot of changes for the switch. Hope you'll enjoy!
Next is 2 player support i guess, and hopefully improve audio).

Changelog 1.52:

• SWITCH; new ui renderer (libcross2d/sdl2), improved texture and font rendering (no more scaling)
• SWITCH: use bigger font size
• SWITCH: add proper joystick implementation (joystick was previously interpreted as buttons).
• SWITCH: add "point filtering", limited to 1x, 2x and 3x scaling. This is slower but may give a better image.
• SWITCH: add basic/crappy scanline effect
• SWITCH: fix input rotation (OFF=landscape, ON=landscape, FLIP=portrait)
• SWITCH: fix random crash on exit? (libnx fix?)
• VITA: fix wrong input rotation (hopefully)
• VITA: add sharp-bilinear-simple shader back in
• PFBA: don't play an audio frame when entering menu/savestates
• PFBA: reset configuration when updating to a new version (sorry).

 

[Masterwin]

Hi guys, just uploaded a new release with lot of changes for the switch. Hope you'll enjoy!
Next is 2 player support i guess, and hopefully improve audio).

Changelog 1.52:

• SWITCH; new ui renderer (libcross2d/sdl2), improved texture and font rendering (no more scaling)
• SWITCH: use bigger font size
• SWITCH: add proper joystick implementation (joystick was previously interpreted as buttons).
• SWITCH: add "point filtering", limited to 1x, 2x and 3x scaling. This is slower but may give a better image.
• SWITCH: add basic/crappy scanline effect
• SWITCH: fix input rotation (OFF=landscape, ON=landscape, FLIP=portrait)
• SWITCH: fix random crash on exit? (libnx fix?)
• VITA: fix wrong input rotation (hopefully)
• VITA: add sharp-bilinear-simple shader back in
• PFBA: don't play an audio frame when entering menu/savestates
• PFBA: reset configuration when updating to a new version (sorry).

great, i'm going to try it

 

[Brasse]

great, i'm going to try it

i see you are a very active man, keep testing and uploading videos, i can always count on you! hermano

 

[notimp]

Point filtering is very much appreciated.

Implementation is a bit wonky though. Currently, if you have point filtering selected, it overrides the scaling settings. F.e. If you have chosen "FIT" the displayed image will actually be 3x with point scaling active (point scaling then also is active on screen).

Imho - either remove the "non viable settings" from the menu, if point filtering is chosen - or have the scaling settings override the filter setting. (Most people will have a hard time understanding, why some scaling options dont work, while they might overlook the difference between point and linear filtering - Im not most people and I appreciate point filtering probably more than the fit mode - but the current behavior is sure to cause more confusion ).

Thank you for increasing the font size - although... just from a design perspective - I almost liked the old one better.. But usability is more important. Unless you get this sentiment from the majority..

Also thank you for fixing font scaling in the UI.

Those scanlines are really not that good looking at the moment (no real transparency?) so thank you for the warning..

Havent tested the vertical mode, but will do so later.

Thank you for your work and the update.

n.

edit: SF3 3rd Strike doesnt run at full speed anymore with point filtering enabled (with linear filtering it does). So be aware of that (performance hit is hinted at in the changelog as well). Point filtering was the default setting, once I booted up pFBA - so @cpasjuste you should probably change the default to linear - as most games will run full speed that way.

I also found, why I didnt like the font size change - so much so, that I mentioned it.. Its the in game menu font. It now reads as "bold" and "screaming at the user" (because it looks bold.. ). Eh, design sensibilities - most people might not care...

Also - the joystick sensitivity in menu is still an issue (hitting exit instead of save...), I think I called it "lag" before - but I still have to be extra careful not to hit A too quickly (exiting the game instead of saving).

edit: Tested rotation modes - the "issue" on vertical (turn screen by 90°s) games with taking off the joycons not being accounted for still persists. They work, but the button layout is rotated by 90°, as if they still were attached to the console - and you rotated them with the device. On a Switch it is more likey, that you would take them off at that point - and therefore would not need the controls rotated at all. Just mentioning it, because you added a the flip mode - which had me trying out Galaga again.

One last one - the Analogue mapping of the analogue stick seems to be an issue in the UI. Could be a sensitivity/deadzone issue - it is very easy to press f.e. down/right instead of right when changing settings options. Could be because now diagonal inputs are implemented. That said, menu movement still feels like it lags at times, and is oversensitive (multiple inputs registering too fast when you just intended to press down once, and then not at all (lag)...) - so it could be fixable by tweaking the sticks sensitivity.

 

[Kerbangman]

Would it be possible to have more rom directory pointers in the config please.

 

[cpasjuste]

Point filtering is very much appreciated.

Implementation is a bit wonky though. Currently, if you have point filtering selected, it overrides the scaling settings. F.e. If you have chosen "FIT" the displayed image will actually be 3x with point scaling active (point scaling then also is active on screen).

Imho - either remove the "non viable settings" from the menu, if point filtering is chosen - or have the scaling settings override the filter setting. (Most people will have a hard time understanding, why some scaling options dont work, while they might overlook the difference between point and linear filtering - Im not most people and I appreciate point filtering probably more than the fit mode - but the current behavior is sure to cause more confusion ).

Thank you for increasing the font size - although... just from a design perspective - I almost liked the old one better.. But usability is more important. Unless you get this sentiment from the majority..

Also thank you for fixing font scaling in the UI.

Those scanlines are really not that good looking at the moment (no real transparency?) so thank you for the warning..

Havent tested the vertical mode, but will do so later.

Thank you for your work and the update.

n.

edit: SF3 3rd Strike doesnt run at full speed anymore with point filtering enabled (with linear filtering it does). So be aware of that (performance hit is hinted at in the changelog as well). Point filtering was the default setting, once I booted up pFBA - so @cpasjuste you should probably change the default to linear - as most games will run full speed that way.

I also found, why I didnt like the font size change - so much so, that I mentioned it.. Its the in game menu font. It now reads as "bold" and "screaming at the user" (because it looks bold.. ). Eh, design sensibilities - most people might not care...

Also - the joystick sensitivity in menu is still an issue (hitting exit instead of save...), I think I called it "lag" before - but I still have to be extra careful not to hit A too quickly (exiting the game instead of saving).

edit: Tested rotation modes - the "issue" on vertical (turn screen by 90°s) games with taking off the joycons not being accounted for still persists. They work, but the button layout is rotated by 90°, as if they still were attached to the console - and you rotated them with the device. On a Switch it is more likey, that you would take them off at that point - and therefore would not need the controls rotated at all. Just mentioning it, because you added a the flip mode - which had me trying out Galaga again.

One last one - the Analogue mapping of the analogue stick seems to be an issue in the UI. Could be a sensitivity/deadzone issue - it is very easy to press f.e. down/right instead of right when changing settings options. Could be because now diagonal inputs are implemented. That said, menu movement still feels like it lags at times, and is oversensitive (multiple inputs registering too fast when you just intended to press down once, and then not at all (lag)...) - so it could be fixable by tweaking the sticks sensitivity.

Hi @notimp ,
First thanks for your detailed report, as always.

- For the scaling problem with point filtering, you're right. I must fix that, and will try to do that in a future release (was aware of that but if i don't release i will never release ).
- I do agree that the font is a bit too big now, i guess i'll lower that again.
- Scanline code is crap yes, i'll take a closer look in the future
- You're also right on setting linear filtering by default, this is something i wanted to do but forgot ! :x
- The problem with input is caused by two things: first the ui is very expensive on the switch, it run around 20/30 fps, this can make things a little jerky. Second, the way i handle input need a little delay after each key press, which can be a little jerky too, but this is usefull for allowing fast scrolling. This is also something that could be fixed in the future with some time.
- I didn't test with joycon detached I'll take a closer look too in the future.

So, i put all that on the todo list
Thanks again;

 

[notimp]

Thank _you_.