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

Rahkeesh

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No I mean I have the same problem that I've seen on other platforms in Retroarch. (Android, Lakka, Windows). I can get mouse inputs sent but not joystick. I don't think it's a vita specific issue.
 

rioray

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No I mean I have the same problem that I've seen on other platforms in Retroarch. (Android, Lakka, Windows). I can get mouse inputs sent but not joystick. I don't think it's a vita specific issue.

did you try to use select to toggle ?

from https://github.com/libretro/hatari

L2 Show/Hide statut
R2 Sound on/off
L Toggle Num Joy .
R Change Mouse speed 1 to 6 . (for gui and emu)
SEL Toggle Mouse/Joy mode .
STR Show/Hide vkbd .
A Fire/Mouse btn A / Valid key in vkbd
B Mouse btn B
X
Y HATARI GUI

Btw , need to cleanup/update a little if i had time, i will push the hatari 2.21 version out, altought i'm not sure the new uae cpu will works for vita (but i can be change to the old one a build time).
but for now i try to fix the sound issue and it take time to debug...
 

Rahkeesh

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Yes I do know how to look up libretro :P but even that doesn't seem quite accurate. Like Start is supposed to be keyboard overlay but its actually L1. Square brings up the Hatari Menu, and in there you can't move the cursors without hitting select first (i.e. mouse mode), which suggests that it defaults to joystick mode first. Anyway in mouse mode you can use circle to click on "joysticks" in the hatari menu and it comes up with 0: none found.

I fired it up on Mac and the controls are even weirder. It seems like there's some big disconnect between this core and retropad in general.
 

rioray

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Yes I do know how to look up libretro :P but even that doesn't seem quite accurate. Like Start is supposed to be keyboard overlay but its actually L1. Square brings up the Hatari Menu, and in there you can't move the cursors without hitting select first (i.e. mouse mode), which suggests that it defaults to joystick mode first. Anyway in mouse mode you can use circle to click on "joysticks" in the hatari menu and it comes up with 0: none found.

I fired it up on Mac and the controls are even weirder. It seems like there's some big disconnect between this core and retropad in general.

Yes looking at the code is more accurate than reading the readme :)

https://github.com/libretro/hatari/blob/master/libretro/hatari-mapper.c#L371
R2 swap kbd pages
L show/hide vkbd
R MOUSE SPEED(gui/emu)
SEL toggle mouse/joy mode
STR toggle num joy
A fire/mousea/valid key in vkbd
B mouseb
X switch Shift ON/OFF
Y Emu Gui
L2 show/hide Statut

input section in emu gui are not active in this libretro core.

But anyways i ve also noticed some pb using joy0 in some game.
Core need to be fixed to be playable.
 
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Rahkeesh

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I got Magic Pockets to work with joystick, so I confirm that you are probably right. Turrican and Major Motion are just go-tos for testing and they are probably Joy0 games. So the core is perfectly ported to vita, its just that the core itself would need some work to support Joy0.
 

ciskohansen

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Emulation under Genesis Plus GX core is a disaster, it is totally broken. I use picodrive for sega systems but I have tried segacd and the games are slow and unplayable, I use chdv5 format and in this console it is the only place where they go wrong and I do not want bin/cue on picodrive.
No one had reviewed this?
Even the emulation for example of megadrive has the same problem using this core.

First page "Genesis (Genesis Plus GX): ~60fps, consistent".......

It is not like this
 
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FmT

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Genesis Plus GX is working flawless for Genesis, Master System and SG-1000. Picodrive is good for 32X. Never tested Sega-cd. You obviously doing something wrong... (tested with last nightly to be sure)
 
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juancava

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One thing, when I try to play an Amstrad game, it gets stuck on the basic msx screen since I can't type anything... Is there any way to bring a virtual keyboard or something?

Thank you very much!
 

Rahkeesh

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Sega CD is frequently slow for genesisplusgx. I generally use Picodrive, so many Sega CD games rely on the PCM hardware that the crappy yamaha emulation isn't such an issue. This does mean you need bin/cue though.
 

niuus

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Genesis Plus GX is working flawless for Genesis, Master System and SG-1000. Picodrive is good for 32X. Never tested Sega-cd. You obviously doing something wrong... (tested with last nightly to be sure)
Hi FmT. Are you still putting out your special fast retroarch builds? I'd rather use that than to experiment with nightlies.
 

niuus

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You mean the ones with actual cores but with older retroarch UI or just my build with the legacy FBA core ?
Not sure what you name your builds, they have a lot of functional/stable cores and some minor improvements here and there.
 

SeongGino

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Emulation under Genesis Plus GX core is a disaster, it is totally broken. I use picodrive for sega systems but I have tried segacd and the games are slow and unplayable, I use chdv5 format and in this console it is the only place where they go wrong and I do not want bin/cue on picodrive.
No one had reviewed this?
&
Sega CD is frequently slow for genesisplusgx. I generally use Picodrive, so many Sega CD games rely on the PCM hardware that the crappy yamaha emulation isn't such an issue. This does mean you need bin/cue though.
Mind actually posting a source for these claims? Examples? I've tried to look into this myself, even using PSVShell to examine peak CPU usage. All I can come up with are:
Games that use PCM and Yamaha FM audio, such as Popful Mail, play just fine in the upper-60% usage range.
11db674c55.png
CD-based FMV garbage, such as the endless explosion-filled Surgical Strike, also play just fine, only going up to mid-70% usage in game play, which involves flipping between many video sequences at once.
8ce97ef83a.png
The only game that caused even a hint of trouble is Sonic CD But even then, this is only in the title screen, and in special stages - I can presume this is because of the faux-3D rotation/scaling that's being used; in these sections, it's at 80%-90% usage. If you use stock 444mhz clocks, it will slow down about 1-3 FPS, but a 500mhz CPU setting will run perfectly in trouble areas.
a845b819fb.png

1bee5d2d23.png
Now it is true that Genesis Plus GX does use more CPU than PicoDrive on average, and I imagine if you're okay with using loose .bin/.cue images, the latter will perform better (and by that, I mean use about half the CPU usage of GenPlusGX). If you do run into slowdown with disc images, it is more an unfortunate side effect of the Vita's slow read speeds, and not the fault of the cores. Both have roughly comparable accuracy, so it's up to preference what you decide to use. But don't spread misinformation; the OP, as far as these cores are concerned, are accurate and will remain as such.

Hi FmT. Are you still putting out your special fast retroarch builds? I'd rather use that than to experiment with nightlies.
. . . When was this ever a thing? I don't imagine 'special builds' that haven't been upstreamed are particularly special, nor would they improve performance without literally being magic. If you're really desperate for speed and need to use a different UI, then just use the rgui Menu Driver... or just stick to the last Stable release; they exist for a reason.


PS: Tried giving gpsp another chance... literally can't even play Golden Sun 2 with an existing save, and both GS's Boreas summons are bugged out; I imagine it has the same layering issues I've seen in comparable releases based on gpsp. VBA also doesn't perform very well when summons and effects are concerned. These will be reflected in the main post, and apologies for the delay.
 
Last edited by SeongGino, , Reason: Goddammit, GBATemp.

niuus

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. . . When was this ever a thing? I don't imagine 'special builds' that haven't been upstreamed are particularly special, nor would they improve performance without literally being magic. If you're really desperate for speed and need to use a different UI, then just use the rgui Menu Driver... or just stick to the last Stable release; they exist for a reason.

Well, they are "a thing" because users decide to make them, with stable cores already tested. I am a tester and a developer. Who said something about magic? LOL. Stop getting facts out of your arse and get down you high horse.

I specifically wrote @FmT (spelled F - M - T) and asked for his tried and tested builds. Are you jealous or something? I smell some weird desperation for attention out of your weird answer. :rofl2:

Stable releases are NOT WORKING on the cores I NEED TO USE, while nightlies tend to work sometimes. Again, why are you just spewing ignorance in this thread? You can't even play Golden Sun, kiddo. Rude unsolicited opinions are just that, unsolicited opinions, so stick them to yourself.
 
Last edited by niuus,

FmT

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Not sure what you name your builds, they have a lot of functional/stable cores and some minor improvements here and there.

- up to date SDK (buildbot from libretro is not updated often)
- fbalpha is based on last 0.2.97.43 version with minor CPS3 optimisation
everything else up to date

Lately I don't feel regression for UI and Cores so I keep them updated

EDIT : removed because OP complained
 
Last edited by FmT,

SeongGino

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Well, they are "a thing" because users decide to make them, with stable cores already tested.
What else do you think stable releases are for? I'm not seeing the reason for (what looks like) redundant releases.

I am a tester and a developer. Who said something about magic? LOL. Stop getting facts out of your arse and get down you high horse.
One, who said being a developer gives you the authority to suddenly act aggressive when challenged for a simple answer to a user's query (if you've forgotten, I asked When was this ever a thing? This neither answers the question, nor provide any context.
Two, I'd say I have enough reason to be skeptical of a third party's builds if there isn't any obvious evidence of tangible improvements. If I was a developer, I'd like to think that it would benefit everyone involved by upstreaming these updates, or at the very least bringing up the point of concern (outdated toolchains, platform-specific bugs, etc.) to the teams involved.

I specifically wrote @FmT (spelled F - M - T) and asked for his tried and tested builds. Are you jealous or something? I smell some weird desperation for attention out of your weird answer. :rofl2:
Again, the aggression and lack of sufficient evidence while resorting to childish namecalling doesn't make your response any more reputable; all it does is confuse me when scrolling through this thread.

Stable releases are NOT WORKING on the cores I NEED TO USE, while nightlies tend to work sometimes. Again, why are you just spewing ignorance in this thread?
See? This is what I'm talking about? What isn't working; why aren't they working? THAT is more helpful than the answer that I'm getting right now: it dun work. I've gone through as much as I could with my personal library to make this thread in the first place, to be an informative locale for discussion not only for users, but developers who would be watching and would like to know when shit don't work. And if I can confirm and make that information easier to see at a glance - on the OP - then it would be appreciated rather than a soft-forking of the project.

You can't even play Golden Sun, kiddo. Rude unsolicited opinions are just that, unsolicited opinions, so stick them to yourself.
...What are you, a ten year old? No, seriously; what does this add to the conversation? At least my original postscript comment was stressing the incompatibilities with a core; you're just being petty.
But what the hell? Let's engage.
Obviously, I'm the only one that cares if the 11th-highest rated Game Boy Advance title and 2nd highest RPG on the console (short of Final Fantasy VI) works on a GBA emulator.


Anyways...
- up to date SDK (buildbot from libretro is not updated often)
- fbalpha is based on last 0.2.97.43 version with minor CPS3 optimisation
everything else up to date
So, what exactly has changed or been improved beyond the changelog here? My personal testing brings up about similar results (though I'm unable to even use FBA 2018, assuming due to mismatched ROMset which is rather inconvenient...) to the latest couple of nightlies.
EDIT: To FmT specifically, I don't want to come off as disrespectful or anything, and sincere apologies if the last reply that off-handedly mentioned you is indeed baseless; I'm just out of the loop and haven't seen this kind of behavior for the couple of years I've managed this thread.
If these were indeed improvements that could help the Libretro team, did you or would you consider bringing this up with them directly? They could be easily reached on the Vita Nuova or (more obviously the) Libretro Discord. And I wouldn't be too surprised if someone involved with the Vita port just so happened to be watching the thread.
 
Last edited by SeongGino,

niuus

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What else do you think stable releases are for? I'm not seeing the reason for (what looks like) redundant releases.


One, who said being a developer gives you the authority to suddenly act aggressive when challenged for a simple answer to a user's query (if you've forgotten, I asked When was this ever a thing? This neither answers the question, nor provide any context.
Two, I'd say I have enough reason to be skeptical of a third party's builds if there isn't any obvious evidence of tangible improvements. If I was a developer, I'd like to think that it would benefit everyone involved by upstreaming these updates, or at the very least bringing up the point of concern (outdated toolchains, platform-specific bugs, etc.) to the teams involved.


Again, the aggression and lack of sufficient evidence while resorting to childish namecalling doesn't make your response any more reputable; all it does is confuse me when scrolling through this thread.


See? This is what I'm talking about? What isn't working; why aren't they working? THAT is more helpful than the answer that I'm getting right now: it dun work. I've gone through as much as I could with my personal library to make this thread in the first place, to be an informative locale for discussion not only for users, but developers who would be watching and would like to know when shit don't work. And if I can confirm and make that information easier to see at a glance - on the OP - then it would be appreciated rather than a soft-forking of the project.


...What are you, a ten year old? No, seriously; what does this add to the conversation? At least my original postscript comment was stressing the incompatibilities with a core; you're just being petty.
But what the hell? Let's engage.
Obviously, I'm the only one that cares if the 11th-highest rated Game Boy Advance title and 2nd highest RPG on the console (short of Final Fantasy VI) works on a GBA emulator.


Anyways...

So, what exactly has changed or been improved beyond the changelog here? My personal testing brings up about similar results (though I'm unable to even use FBA 2018, assuming due to mismatched ROMset which is rather inconvenient...) to the latest couple of nightlies.
EDIT: To FmT specifically, I don't want to come off as disrespectful or anything, and sincere apologies if the last reply that off-handedly mentioned you is indeed baseless; I'm just out of the loop and haven't seen this kind of behavior for the couple of years I've managed this thread.
If these were indeed improvements that could help the Libretro team, did you or would you consider bringing this up with them directly? They could be easily reached on the Vita Nuova or (more obviously the) Libretro Discord. And I wouldn't be too surprised if someone involved with the Vita port just so happened to be watching the thread.
Zzz... did not read your bible nagging. Good luck, kiddo. Stop getting yourself into conversations you were not addressed. Good luck in you high horse, dummy.
 

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