Hacking Emulation RetroArch/Libretro Thread: PS Vita Edition! Nightlies Included

[SeongGino]

Currently, the Dev of VitaCheat has no plans to support Homebrew, so it only works for Games/Apps that start with PCxx##### for the TitleID

Why exactly would that even be necessary? RA already has a cheats UI (regardless of how... foreign it is to the average user), and frequency would be usually controlled by the homebrew itself.
I imagine the latter is what is being intended, but... not sure how effective that actually would be. =w='

 

[Smoker1]

Why exactly would that even be necessary? RA already has a cheats UI (regardless of how... foreign it is to the average user), and frequency would be usually controlled by the homebrew itself.
I imagine the latter is what is being intended, but... not sure how effective that actually would be. =w='

True, but not for the CPS1 or CPS2 Cores, which is what I would use it for.

 

[rez78]

I just made an improvement to Retroarch. Now, the Vita controller buttons are properly labeled in the various menus. For example, the first button is labeled "Auto: Cross" instead of "Auto: 1".

Download the latest nightly build with my change here:

https://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/playstation/vita/

Before:

After:

My pull request that was merged is here:
https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/pull/6761

rsn8887

I must download only data file? Thanks

 

[Lord M]

I would like to know, by someone expert, if theorycally PSVIta can handle a PSX emulator at 100% with its cpu and gpu charateristics (outside retroarch and pcsx-r core)...

Another thing: isn't possible to add macro feature in RA? Like: R vita button = X+ Circle.

 

[SeongGino]

True, but not for the CPS1 or CPS2 Cores, which is what I would use it for.

An outside-looking-in cheat engine would only obfuscate things further, really.

I would like to know, by someone expert, if theorycally PSVIta can handle a PSX emulator at 100% with its cpu and gpu charateristics (outside retroarch and pcsx-r core)...

It already can with Adrenaline/POPS.

Another thing: isn't possible to add macro feature in RA? Like: R vita button = X+ Circle.

Macros are not available for main controls, but you can set macros for common UI shortcuts (I.E. rewind/FF, save/load state, etc.).

 

[rsn8887]

I must download only data file? Thanks

No you need to download the latest .vpk and the latest .7z data file.
Install the .vpk, extract the .7z data file on your pc and transfer to the Vita, to ux0:/data/retroarch.

By the way, the default menu font looks blocky. But you can go to appearance->font and select the font in ux0:/data/retroarch/assets/glui/font . Then it looks better.

 

[rez78]

No you need to download the latest .vpk and the latest .7z data file.
Install the .vpk, extract the .7z data file on your pc and transfer to the Vita, to ux0:/data/retroarch.

By the way, the default menu font looks blocky. But you can go to appearance->font and select the font in ux0:/data/retroarch/assets/glui/font . Then it looks better.

But in latest nightly fba core don't work... :-(

 

[SeongGino]

But in latest nightly fba core don't work... :-(

Just use FBA2012 instead.

 

[rez78]

Just use FBA2012 instead.

Same performance like fba? Thanks

 

[Lord M]

An outside-looking-in cheat engine would only obfuscate things further, really.



It already can with Adrenaline/POPS.



Macros are not available for main controls, but you can set macros for common UI shortcuts (I.E. rewind/FF, save/load state, etc.).

i know, but macro is useful.
Anyway with 100% i meant with good savestate support as well. RA core now handle it very great (but you need to use vita internal storage for better savestates) but i still hope for further improvements

 

[Smoker1]

An outside-looking-in cheat engine would only obfuscate things further, really.

Well, with the 3DS Versions, I am able to create Codes with no problem, except, when you Update the Emulator/Cores, you have to look for the Codes again. But for those that Update once in a while, it would be perfect for them. Especially since the FBA Cores can not Load the .ini Cheat Files since it only uses .cht Files. For NeoGeo the UniBIOS are perfect, and the rest of the Cores have Cheats that work (if you get the RA Cheat Collection Files). All that is needed is the CPS1 and CPS2 (or just the all-in-one FBA Cores).

 

[Dave_Chad]

Is support for N64 or Dreamcast anywhere near or is it one of those never going to happen things?

 

[Count Duckula]

Is support for N64 or Dreamcast anywhere near or is it one of those never going to happen things?

This has been answered many many times.

N64 emulation is not perfect even on a high end PC, the vita is relatively weak compared to modern smartphones so it's very unlikely we're going to be able to emulate games at full speed. Don't hold your breath.
Dreamcast: no chance

 

[Lord M]

This has been answered many many times.

N64 emulation is not perfect even on a high end PC, the vita is relatively weak compared to modern smartphones so it's very unlikely we're going to be able to emulate games at full speed. Don't hold your breath.
Dreamcast: no chance

Is not perfect on high end PC? So this explain why high end pc can run all n64 games at full speed with 16x resolution?
About Dreamcast: so the DC emu devs trolled us when he said he cannot wait to port his emu on vita?

 

[Count Duckula]

Is not perfect on high end PC? So this explain why high end pc can run all n64 games at full speed with 16x resolution?
About Dreamcast: so the DC emu devs trolled us when he said he cannot wait to port his emu on vita?

PC N64 emulators cannot run all games properly, many still have glitches or other issues due to them using HLE with a lot of hacks. If your definition of an n64 emulator for vita is compatibility with very limited subset of games with some issues, then sure its possible.There's a POC emulator for PSP even.
I'm not familiar with what you're specifically referencing, but if you're expecting a full speed dreamcast emu with reasonable compatibility, yes.

 

[Lord M]

PC N64 emulators cannot run all games properly, many still have glitches or other issues due to them using HLE with a lot of hacks. If your definition of an n64 emulator for vita is compatibility with very limited subset of games with some issues, then sure its possible.There's a POC emulator for PSP even.
I'm not familiar with what you're specifically referencing, but if you're expecting a full speed dreamcast emu with reasonable compatibility, yes.

But if Vita is more powerful than PSP, and PSP can run some N64 - not perfect- but run some n64 games, why vita cant?
SUper Mario 64 run greatly without sound; we can expect at least this game at 100% on vita? And maybe Zelda games too?

 

[Count Duckula]

Dave_Chad asked if n64 or dreamcast emulation was close to being available on the vita.

N64 would take a lot of work and optimisation but yes for sure some level of emulation is possible. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised but I say dont hold your breath as it is far from a simple task and no one has announced they are working on it.
With pretty much all N64 emulators how well Mario 64 runs is more the exception than the rule. It's amazing Daedalus runs at all given the power of the PSP as a host platform and is a credit to StrmnNrmn, but I took Dave_Chad's query to mean something comparable to what is possible on PC/modern mobiles (kind of messy but workable for most games people care about).

Dreamcast is in another league along with PS2 emulation. To expect it is to either greatly underestimate the work involved in emulating the systems and/or greatly overestimating the power of the vita.

 

[SeongGino]

@Dave_Chad & @Lord M:
Short answer: No.

Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
I.E., not in the context of Libretro (where it's still purely software implementations), and will only be marginally better than Daedalusx64 from the PSP if you decide to do a hardware native emulator. Graphics emulation will be improved, yes, but the CPU certainly won't when most (if not all) emulators are made with more capable 1GHz+ smartphones in mind. And no, multi-threading won't solve everything.

And that's just speaking on N64; Dreamcast doesn't even have a well-developed ARM-compatible emulator available. It would have to be developed from scratch, and that takes years at the rate new DC emu projects are going. But in the end, the CPU and GPU alike will be heavily bottle-necking said theoretical emulators' potential.

As this is already going off-topic, please don't ask such questions again.

---

Anyway with 100% i meant with good savestate support as well.

Also, pretty sure Adrenaline's built-in savestate support works with PS1 games. If not, then some PSP plugins can handle the job just as well instead. Adrenaline is indeed the one-stop shop for legacy PlayStation stuff.

 

[Lord M]

@Dave_Chad & @Lord M:
Short answer: No.

Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
I.E., not in the context of Libretro (where it's still purely software implementations), and will only be marginally better than Daedalusx64 from the PSP if you decide to do a hardware native emulator. Graphics emulation will be improved, yes, but the CPU certainly won't when most (if not all) emulators are made with more capable 1GHz+ smartphones in mind. And no, multi-threading won't solve everything.

And that's just speaking on N64; Dreamcast doesn't even have a well-developed ARM-compatible emulator available. It would have to be developed from scratch, and that takes years at the rate new DC emu projects are going. But in the end, the CPU and GPU alike will be heavily bottle-necking said theoretical emulators' potential.

As this is already going off-topic, please don't ask such questions again.

---

Also, pretty sure Adrenaline's built-in savestate support works with PS1 games. If not, then some PSP plugins can handle the job just as well instead. Adrenaline is indeed the one-stop shop for legacy PlayStation stuff.

it have, but very inconvenient and slow. Exist many plugins to do savestates, but most of time, the game crash.
If only Adrenaline can have same savestates function from RA pcsx core...

Anyway you mean with hardware native emulation vita can handle a decent n64 emulator and better psx emu? What is needed to do hardware emulation than software?

 

[Lord M]

LOL Here just trolling us, uh?
http://wololo.net/2018/05/24/why-th...and-why-you-should-stop-asking-for-a-release/

"You might not believe me, but the PS Vita is powerful enough to emulate the PS2, at least with a compatibility similar to, or even better than, a non-BC PS3."
Obviously Vita can't emulate ps2, now and never...