Homebrew RELEASE Development Thread - RetroArch libnx

[Tebra]

I want to say a HUGE thank you to all you guys working on these.

WOW...this is seriously cool. As an older gamer I am super grateful and would love to donate if I can.

Quick question: I was playing Castlevania in libretro-fceumm and I was trying to back out to the menu but could not. The + button worked to pause, but pushing the - button with the + did nothing. Is there a mapping setting I missed, or should that be default to back out to menu?

I have exactly the same problem. It's not possible to go back to retroarch menu with "+" and "-" on fceumm core.
My switch is on fw 4.1.0 with last stable retroarch

 

[XCristiano1992]

The hotkey for menu is L3 and R3 together, press the two stick simultaneously

 

[m4xw]

This is kind of random, but I was looking for ways to prevent the tearing effect that happens when using threaded rendering in docked mode, and I had the idea to try the SDL2 drivers that are already included in the RetroArch source. The drivers all worked, to varying degrees of success. With threaded rendering and Vsync both turned off, the video driver is able to display RGUI. It actually does a better job than the custom Switch driver, because it renders the colours correctly! I've attached a screenshot below. Unfortunately, it doesn't run any games; the screen resizes, but nothing happens after that. The audio driver seems to work just fine (I had to test it alongside the Switch video driver to get a game running). The input driver works, with incorrect mappings, but that can be fixed pretty easily. This doesn't really accomplish anything right now, but I thought it was interesting, and maybe with some work it could be something. Source is here.
View attachment 134943

Dont. Do. That.

Keep the cancer that is sdl2 far away from my port.

And no, you wont fix it. Its essentially bugging out nvidia internals.

 

[sj33]

Great to see things are coming along. A good amount of the regular cores are now working and we have an all-in-one loader now. Great stuff.

Small bug I noticed - in Doom for Snes9x mainline the developer logos and title screen are distorted. This does not happen with psnes which also uses Snes9x mainline.

 

[SeongGino]

Great to see things are coming along. A good amount of the regular cores are now working and we have an all-in-one loader now. Great stuff.

Honestly, it's really just the same as usual -- I proposed this as a way of streamlining things so EVERYONE hopefully has access to the same exact cores and file structure and remaining updated with the masters. But thanks.

Small bug I noticed - in Doom for Snes9x mainline the developer logos and title screen are distorted. This does not happen with psnes which also uses Snes9x mainline.

Difference in SNES9x upstream version -- pSNES is based on the slightly newer 1.56.2 version (unavailable to Libretro atm), which fixes, alongside other things, DOOM's graphics output and Super Butouden 2's flickering. Can't do much about that until the Libretro branch matches upstream, because doing the update manually is more a PITA than just waiting.

 

[ploggy]

Dont. Do. That.

Keep the cancer that is sdl2 far away from my port.

And no, you wont fix it. Its essentially bugging out nvidia internals.

It's an Nvidia + Retroarch problem? Standalone Emualtors (pFBA, PSNES doesn't have this tearing issue when docked.

 

[m4xw]

It's an Nvidia + Retroarch problem? Standalone Emualtors (pFBA, PSNES doesn't have this tearing issue when docked.

I've said it a thousand times and will say it once more: Threading is the cause

 

[lordelan]

Turn integer scaling on and then change the aspect ratios (Settings->Video)

This seem to be at Original by default (Snes9x).
I'd like to keep the original ratio while have it scalet to hit the top and bottom display border of the Switch. What would be the setting for this?

 

[SeongGino]

This seem to be at Original by default (Snes9x).
I'd like to keep the original ratio while have it scalet to hit the top and bottom display border of the Switch. What would be the setting for this?

Disable integer scaler.
Either save as core override with content loaded, or save as current config without content loaded (global).

 

[lordelan]

Disable integer scaler.
Either save as core override with content loaded, or save as current config without content loaded (global).

Thx. Btw @you and @m4xw : Changing the Window Size in video settings totally froze my Switch and made me force shut down it (hold power for 12 seconds).

 

[Hydr8gon]

Dont. Do. That.

Keep the cancer that is sdl2 far away from my port.

And no, you wont fix it. Its essentially bugging out nvidia internals.

Don't worry, I was just playing around with it May I ask why you're so against SDL though?

 

[Theeze]

So I've taken the helm of creating a new package for RetroNX/Libretro-NX that should be perfectly suitable to essentially plug-and-play. Includes the latest Master-build cores, the latest dummy core loader (for HBL), and has a preset and pre-configured configuration file and folder structure to go along with the fancy Libretro standard; by default, you'll have a 1:1 image for each core, with threaded video and audio enabled. All you need to do is plug in the ROMs directory (set 'file browser' under Directory) and play.

You can find the link here, and I'll do my best to continuously update it whenever new master builds are uploaded.

Also new is a specially-designed README THAT I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO READ BEFORE DOWNLOADING, which answers all the common questions, tracks currently known bugs in specific cores, and basically should filter out a lot of the idiocy. If you need support in the future, you MUST read the packaged README before anything else.

I also refuse to acknowledge Beetle-PSX as a thing at this time, so don't expect it to be included. Read the README for any info.

I really appreciate this as do many of us on here.. However, would it be possible to date the updates? I'm never too sure if the all in one package is a new update or the same one. Maybe something like ( updated : 2018/07-08 ) or something to that effect besides the link. Just a little suggestion.

 

[SpaceJump]

...
All you need to do is plug in the ROMs directory (set 'file browser' under Directory) and play.

I changed the file browser setting to sd:\Roms, but when I go to load content, it doesn't start at that location. The file browser setting is saved. It's even still there after quitting and reloading Retroarch. It just doesn't work. Any idea?

 

[lordelan]

I changed the file browser setting to sd:\Roms, but when I go to load content, it doesn't start at that location. The file browser setting is saved. It's even still there after quitting and reloading Retroarch. It just doesn't work. Any idea?

After entering the file browser there's a top entry "start directory" or something like that. Hit that and you should be at sd:\Roms.

 

[Twistedziefer]

I changed the file browser setting to sd:\Roms, but when I go to load content, it doesn't start at that location. The file browser setting is saved. It's even still there after quitting and reloading Retroarch. It just doesn't work. Any idea?

you have to load a core first. for instance if you want to play snes you would load snes9x core then goto load content

 

[lordelan]

you have to load a core first. for instance if you want to play snes you would load snes9x core then goto load content

I was assuming he already did that.
Confused me too when I first used the Salamander Pack as any other RetroArch build (PC, mobile, Wii U) gives me a complete core list when I try to load any zip via load content.
But yes, as for the Switch right now, always go this way:
hbmenu (aka HBL) -> RetroNX -> load core -> [pick your core] -> load content

To quit go the clean way:
quick menu -> close content -> main menu -> quit retroarch

 

[SpaceJump]

After entering the file browser there's a top entry "start directory" or something like that. Hit that and you should be at sd:\Roms.

Thanks, choosing start directory worked. Didn't notice that.

Is there a way to set a start directory per core?

 

[lordelan]

Thanks, choosing start directory worked. Didn't notice that.

Is there a way to set a start directory per core?

As far as I know the directory settings are global. So no. I may be wrong though.

Edit 1: You should create playlists (aka collections) anyways. That saves you the hassle.

Eidt 2: I'm too lazy to write a Switch guide right now but I wrote one for the Wii U back then and it should still apply:
https://gbatemp.net/threads/retroarch-guide-clean-games-collection-faq.468193/
Just adjust the core directory to the Switch cores.
And try to use playlist buddy for the most cases.

Edit 3: Wow some information in that thread is really old. Take it just as an inspiration. I'll do a new one for the Switch soon.

 

[m4xw]

I was assuming he already did that.
Confused me too when I first used the Salamander Pack as any other RetroArch build (PC, mobile, Wii U) gives me a complete core list when I try to load any zip via load content.
But yes, as for the Switch right now, always go this way:
hbmenu (aka HBL) -> RetroNX -> load core -> [pick your core] -> load content

To quit go the clean way:
quick menu -> close content -> main menu -> quit retroarch

Those builds don't use Salamander ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[lordelan]

Those builds don't use Salamander ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Seems like I'm confused what Salamander even is.
I thought it's that you have one homebrew (RetroNX) which then launches the cores from within itself while "non Salamander" was the old way of having a separate NRO for each core which must be launched from hbmenu.