Homebrew Unofficial 3DS RetroArch builds

[Plasmaster09]

Maybe just use the recommended tool

They literally do the exact same thing.
Plus I used guiformat for the first one- I just deleted it afterward and figure it doesn't matter.
Which it doesn't.

 

[MrHuu]

The issue with emulating multiple controllers is already mentioned by @Robz8 in 2016

Here are a few cores which should be capable of 2 player button mapping.

As discussed in this thread: Single-Device Retroarch Multiplayer?

This also includes an experimental TGB-Dual build.
It's fully capable of running a single rom twice alongside and has linking abilities. Pokemon linking works fine.
Loading a second, different, rom makes it crash..

A similar solution has been merged in the official builds. All cores should benefit from this in the upcoming nightly builds.

Set 'Max Users' in the input settings to the desired number of active controllers.

 

[Plasmaster09]

The issue with emulating multiple controllers is already mentioned by @Robz8 in 2016


A similar solution has been merged in the official builds. All cores should benefit from this in the upcoming nightly builds.

Set 'Max Users' in the input settings to the desired number of active controllers.

YES! AT LONG LAST!

 

[Zense]

I hope that one fixes SNES9X 2002 and lets you map more controllers as well

 

[Rj.MoG]

They literally do the exact same thing.
Plus I used guiformat for the first one- I just deleted it afterward and figure it doesn't matter.
Which it doesn't.

Ok then there’s nothing to do but cry and a corner and scream at the clouds “why doesn’t my 3DS play PSX”

 

[Plasmaster09]

Ok then there’s nothing to do but cry and a corner and scream at the clouds “why doesn’t my 3DS play PSX”

Wow no need to be obnoxious about it
I already used guiformat for the first card.
Plus, when something says FAT32 or a specific cluster size, they don't refer to different things between different programs. Formatting in the one I use has the exact same effect as using GUIformat.

 

[MrHuu]

I hope that one fixes SNES9X 2002 and lets you map more controllers as well

The core itself doesn't allow remapping, but you could always remap the general control binds to get the same results.

 

[Plasmaster09]

The core itself doesn't allow remapping, but you could always remap the general control binds to get the same results.

Wonder why.
And if there's a way to implement remapping in it that won't make it perform worse. (So basically just copying over the remap thing from 2005.)

 

[justinweiss]

Also, I can’t even get PS1 games to run well. I’m using CHD roms and tweaking all the settings towards “fast, looks shitty but it’s ok” and it only hits 30fps or above if I’m LUCKY.
How do I do it?

Which games are you trying? If I have any of them, I can give them a try.

The most important settings I use are:

- First, make sure you're running 1.8.5+ stable, or a nightly newer than that.
- Video Sync off, Audio Sync on
- Dithering off
- CD Read Method: Async
- 3d slider off

If you're using CIA cores, I _think_ it's better to uninstall the old CIA before installing the new CIA, but don't quote me on that. If you're using 3dsx, you just have to overwrite the old core with the new one. There shouldn't be a speed difference between CIA and 3dsx anymore.

 

[MrHuu]

Which games are you trying? If I have any of them, I can give them a try.

The most important settings I use are:

- First, make sure you're running 1.8.5+ stable, or a nightly newer than that.
- Video Sync off, Audio Sync on
- Dithering off
- CD Read Method: Async
- 3d slider off

If you're using CIA cores, I _think_ it's better to uninstall the old CIA before installing the new CIA, but don't quote me on that. If you're using 3dsx, you just have to overwrite the old core with the new one. There shouldn't be a speed difference between CIA and 3dsx anymore.

Dithering is disabled by default on the latest nightly builds.
There's no need to uninstall .cia builds, reinstalling works fine.

When updating a single core, just reinstall the .cia with FBI.
When updating all cores and assets, it will be the easiest to uninstall every core and start from scratch letting retroarch install the cores upon loading them. ( install and run at least one core before placing back your backups )


On a side note, i did notice there's already made some work towards having network functionality on the 3ds builds.
I guess with some more work, online updating functionality could be added.

With all the cores being added lately, this may be useful since the current builds surpasses 400mb. Being able to just download the required core upon loading them would be a great addition.


With the rzip_stream functionality added, some of the menu assets and info files could be bundled and compressed to work around the slow SD's I/O speeds.

There's still some room for improvement, i'd say.

 

[justinweiss]

That would be so great. I know updating is a pain, and I love having all these new cores but the boot slowdown has been really bad.

 

[Plasmaster09]

Dithering is disabled by default on the latest nightly builds.
There's no need to uninstall .cia builds, reinstalling works fine.

When updating a single core, just reinstall the .cia with FBI.
When updating all cores and assets, it will be the easiest to uninstall every core and start from scratch letting retroarch install the cores upon loading them. ( install and run at least one core before placing back your backups )


On a side note, i did notice there's already made some work towards having network functionality on the 3ds builds.
I guess with some more work, online updating functionality could be added.

With all the cores being added lately, this may be useful since the current builds surpasses 400mb. Being able to just download the required core upon loading them would be a great addition.


With the rzip_stream functionality added, some of the menu assets and info files could be bundled and compressed to work around the slow SD's I/O speeds.

There's still some room for improvement, i'd say.

Wait...
3ds network functionality?
Did I read what I think I did?
Considering there's also the whole experimental TGB-Dual double-run build...
perhaps eventually we could have actual netplay for at least 8 bit consoles!
The 3DS and even N3DS have too little RAM for anything resembling major netplay, but if there was a way to get a 3ds to communicate with a specific other 3ds online thru retroarch...

 

[justinweiss]

BTW, another change got merged into pcsx_rearmed for the 3ds that should give a few fps boost. It just got merged, so it will probably be in the next nightlies if you want to give it a try. That's the last of the changes from the unofficial build I posted in early March (what that was only a little over a month ago?!)

 

[Zense]

I've been testing some roms on the nightly that got published right after this post (and interestingly isn't available anymore), and so far it's really good. PS1 emulation has noticeable improvements in fps. Controller remapping for player 2 works fine.

The only problems I've had so far is that occasionally when I save my control remaps in various cores (pcsx_rearmed, snes9x 2005) I get an arm11 exception crash.

@MrHuu Also interestingly, I've found that the snes9x 2002 core does actually allow button remapping when you press left or right on an input under controls, it's just that retroarch doesn't show any signs of anything being changed when you do so. I tested it by pressing right once when highlighting A for player 1 and the A button didn't do the same thing in the game anymore, even though in the menu it still only showed "..." for A like before.

 

[cvskid]

Does anyone else have issues using bios with retroarch? I'm trying to use ps1 bios on the stable build 1.3.5 and i put it inside of the correct folder retroarch/cores/system, and change the bios settings from auto to hle but when i load a game up it says no playstation bios not found, use for better compatibility.

 

[NanashiFinal13]

Does anyone else have issues using bios with retroarch? I'm trying to use ps1 bios on the stable build 1.3.5 and i put it inside of the correct folder retroarch/cores/system, and change the bios settings from auto to hle but when i load a game up it says no playstation bios not found, use for better compatibility.

Let the bios setting to auto. By default it will load any bios on system folder. If you use hle will not use ps1 bios

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

Does anyone else have issues using bios with retroarch? I'm trying to use ps1 bios on the stable build 1.3.5 and i put it inside of the correct folder retroarch/cores/system, and change the bios settings from auto to hle but when i load a game up it says no playstation bios not found, use for better compatibility.

Also, name your bios like this: "scph1001"

 

[MrHuu]

This build features basic networking. With working RetroAchievements. Netplay does not work.
Downloading thumbnails for your playlists works, but images are not displayed properly.

So,
- sign up over at http://retroachievements.org/
- enter your credentials in the achievements setting menu on your 3ds
- disable 'Achievement Badges'

and start unlocking achievements for your favorite NES games. yay

Edit:
..and SNES and SEGA classics.

 

[justinweiss]

That's awesome! I'm excited to see more of these features make their way to 3ds.

 

[kenseiden]

So far, Achievements are working like they're supposed to, which is great. Can't wait to see this implemented into the other cores, hopefully.

 

[MrHuu]

So far, Achievements are working like they're supposed to, which is great. Can't wait to see this implemented into the other cores, hopefully.

Once added to the buildbot, all 'supported' cores should work. Although PCSX-ReARMed wasn't able to identify the .PBP and .CHD images i tried. I'll add a few cores to my previous post.


Now with regular downloads working, being able to update from the 3ds should be fairly easy to implement.
The .3dsx build just needs to be downloaded and replace the existing .3dsx core.
The .cia builds needs to be downloaded and installed, which retroarch is already capable of.

A few changes are needed on the buildbot side. It needs to offer separate downloads for the cores, like most other platforms already do.

Off course, this still needs to be discussed with the libretro team. But i think it would be a nice feature.