Lakka Switch, L4T edition
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I am proud to finally release the L4T version of Lakka Switch!
New kernel, new logo, new drivers, audio... everything is fresh and clean.

Did I mention Rayman 3 was full speed on Dolphin? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

General system updates

• New Linux kernel and underlying operating system, based on Linux4Tegra and Jetson Nano drivers
  • mainline kernel has been deprecated
  • system features should now be on par with the L4T Ubuntu distribution, except for dock support
  • Bluetooth was lost in the battle and needs some rest to come back stronger
• aarch64 is now the default and mainly supported architecture
  • arm has been deprecated since L4T doesn't support it
• New logo made with the help of jaames and the R:S community

New features and improvements

• Audio now works through the internal speakers and headphones
• The new GPU driver supports both Vulkan and OpenGL
• RAM is now locked at full speed (1600Mhz), was 800MHz before
• The system is now way more stable and should boot for everyone with a decent SD card (no more black screen of death)
• RetroArch has been updated to add menu widgets (fancy onscreen notifications)
• Overclock profiles have been updated :
  • Renamed all profiles
  • Added more overclock profiles
  • Added underclock profiles

New cores

• mupen64plus-next (N64 emulator)
  • The core is full speed, even on aarch64 thanks to the new dynarec
  • Includes the updated version of the GlideN renderer
• picodrive (various Sega consoles)
  • The core replaces Genesis Plus GX (Game Gear support has been dropped)
• Beetle PSX HW (PSX emulator with OpenGL and Vulkan renderer)
  • The core performs worse than PCSX ReARMed for now, even with Vulkan
• reicast (Dreamcast emulator)
  • The core is full speed on all commercial games, no visual glitches
  • The OIT renderer works (better accuracy), speed is still good on 1x resolution
  • The core needs the Dreamcast BIOS files to be placed in /lakka/storage/system/DC
  • WinCE games are currently not supported - there is a WinCE version of the reicast core in the works but the aarch64 dynarec is too slow for the games to be playable (for now)
• Yaba Sanshiro (Saturn emulator)
  • The core is full speed on all commercial games
  • Yabause and Kronos were also added but both perform worse than Yaba Sanshiro
• theodore (Thomson MO/TO emulator)

Updated cores

• Dolphin : Vulkan support
  • With Vulkan, Dolphin runs decently - some games are playable, some are full speed... see for yourself, try it and experiment with different games and settings!
• PCSX ReARMed : Switch optimizations and CHD support
• PPSSPP : doesn't crash anymore when closing content

Removed cores

• mupen64plus
• parallel-n64
• Genesis Plus GX
• Ishiiruka
  • It might come back once the core is updated with the (beta) Vulkan renderer

Credits

• Kernel and drivers work: NVIDIA, switchroot team (especially ByLaws and langerhans)
• Lakka Switch work: natinusala and plaidman
• RetroArch, original Lakka distribution: libretro team
• mupen64plus-next: Gillou and m4xw
• PCSX ReARMed: Switch optimizations by m4xw, CHD support by aliaspider
• Dolphin core: aliaspider
• reicast core: flyinghead

Download link

The Lakka Switch website has been updated with the new version: https://lakka-switch.github.io/documentation/

Please note that you can't dual boot Ubuntu and Lakka Switch for now (it will always boot Ubuntu).

 

[Rahkeesh]

Well I think I'll stick with broken dock for the moment if it means giving up handheld sound. Will watch for updates.

 

[ploggy]

Just to emphasise, YabaSanshiro now works in this so we have full speed Saturn emulation if you overclock CPU to 1781MHz.

Swanstation is also in there for PS1 folk.

I'm using the Lakka Build with Vulkan and Dock (the one with no sound in Handheld Mode) and I'm struggling to get Yabasanshiro to run fullspeed even at 1782MHz (I don't want to push the overclock any more than that)
The game I'm trying to run is Decathlete. I tried on the Yabause Core too but that was even worse
It does run better on the Android Yabasanshiro standalone. So the switch can handle it.

Swanstation is the tits tho, runs great!

 

[Shaneus]

Perhaps I'm missing something, but should this have included the Flycast core? I know it was compiled for the old Lakka build but I can't see any trace of it here.

 

[bad361]

Perhaps I'm missing something, but should this have included the Flycast core? I know it was compiled for the old Lakka build but I can't see any trace of it here.

It has problems building right now, so no flycast core for the recent builds. But the core from an older build seems to work fine. You can try it by placing it into "cores" folder in lakka, it will be available to select afterwards. (Also make sure that the threaded rendering is ON in flycast core options otherwise all games will be halfspeed, its gonna be off by default).

 

[Shaneus]

Awesome, thanks for that! I did have an older .so file that I put in the cores folder that seemed to work, but for some reason the controller mapping was broken. Maybe the one you posted is better!

 

[LeyendaV]

Lakka 3.0

 

[Reynardine]

It has problems building right now, so no flycast core for the recent builds. But the core from an older build seems to work fine. You can try it by placing it into "cores" folder in lakka, it will be available to select afterwards. (Also make sure that the threaded rendering is ON in flycast core options otherwise all games will be halfspeed, its gonna be off by default).

Can I ask how you were able to get the flycast core file from the older Lakka?
Is there a way to extract the files from the SYSTEM file or copy them to the SD card while Lakka is running?

I'd like to play Rayman 1 in YabaSanshiro, but it is broken in newer builds and never gets past the bootup logo.

The YabaSanshiro core that was included in the old Lakka by natinusala works with Rayman 1: https://lakka-switch.github.io/documentation/archives.html

It would be awesome if I could get this older version of the core into the newest lakka build.

 

[bad361]

Can I ask how you were able to get the flycast core file from the older Lakka?
Is there a way to extract the files from the SYSTEM file or copy them to the SD card while Lakka is running?

I'd like to play Rayman 1 in YabaSanshiro, but it is broken in newer builds and never gets past the bootup logo.

The YabaSanshiro core that was included in the old Lakka by natinusala works with Rayman 1: https://lakka-switch.github.io/documentation/archives.html

It would be awesome if I could get this older version of the core into the newest lakka build.

Launch this ver. of lakka you want to get the core from and just get it from /tmp/cores using ftp.

 

[jeferey]

thanks, no audio in game, it's normal?

 

[Snomannen_kalle]

thanks, no audio in game, it's normal?

Handheld audio was broken when dock support was added -- sound should work in docked mode, however. I don't think this is fixed yet

 

[evervolv]

Having an issue with 3.0 nightly 5/27 where I'm unable to use the joycons at all. The system seems to recognize that they're connected and when they're disconnected via toast message, but no inputs are accepted when booted. I've dumped them a couple of times in Hekate to no luck.

 

[tabnk]

Swanstation with Vulkan run full speed even with stock clock.

 

[Benja81]

Having an issue with 3.0 nightly 5/27 where I'm unable to use the joycons at all. The system seems to recognize that they're connected and when they're disconnected via toast message, but no inputs are accepted when booted. I've dumped them a couple of times in Hekate to no luck.

Did you do a clean install? If no or not sure, backup what you need and then delete the Lakka folder, and the lakka.ini file from bootloader\ini, and then paste the new lakka and bootloader folders again. If you already did that, try deleting just the retroarch.cfg from lakka\storage\.config\retroarch then try booting again.

Could also try using this version, it worked better for me than the nightly I tried:

Lakka pre build whit Vulkan support.

https://mega.nz/file/gNc21BhL#Wb4QEFvFlKoUYJHssnQYIq-2t42SSToao4-HzVAMwh4

 

[nWo]

What are the best options for gamecube emulation on handheld? I get stuttering on every game, tried a couple things but to no avail.

 

[bad361]

What are the best options for gamecube emulation on handheld? I get stuttering on every game, tried a couple things but to no avail.

The majority of titles are not fullspeed.. The only settings that will affect performance in some noticable way are OC and Vulkan, that's all. I can name a few titles that run fullspeed (with minor slowdowns depending on some areas): Tomb Raider Legend, PoP The Sands of Time, Burnout 1, Shrek 2, Batman Begins, Aggressive Inline, Wind Waker, Rally Championship, TMNT the Movie, Alien Hominid, Rayman 3, Rayman Arena. I tested a lot more, but most of the games weren't playable. All games were tested with 1.8 OC and Vulkan.

 

[tabnk]

Latest Flycast core for lakka 3.0 is here

https://nightly.builds.lakka.tv/PRs/pr_1360_000344/Switch.aarch64/

 

[cl4ssik]

Latest Flycast core for lakka 3.0 is here

https://nightly.builds.lakka.tv/PRs/pr_1360_000344/Switch.aarch64/

What difference between this release, please ?
https://nightly.builds.lakka.tv/2021-05-30/Switch.aarch64/

 

[tabnk]

What difference between this release, please ?
https://nightly.builds.lakka.tv/2021-05-30/Switch.aarch64/

No flycast core in 2021-05-30 build

 

[evervolv]

Did you do a clean install? If no or not sure, backup what you need and then delete the Lakka folder, and the lakka.ini file from bootloader\ini, and then paste the new lakka and bootloader folders again. If you already did that, try deleting just the retroarch.cfg from lakka\storage\.config\retroarch then try booting again.

Could also try using this version, it worked better for me than the nightly I tried:

That version worked with a clean install - thanks! Is it supposed to just be the regular retroarch UI though vs the lakka one? And is Vulkan auto-enabled? Can't seem to find a setting for it.

 

[Benja81]

That version worked with a clean install - thanks! Is it supposed to just be the regular retroarch UI though vs the lakka one? And is Vulkan auto-enabled? Can't seem to find a setting for it.

Nice. Yes, seems like its a standard UI but should have some options in under Settings/User Interface/Menu.
For Vulkan its probably set to gl by default, go to settings/drivers/video and change it to vulkan. Of course you may need to show advanced settings first to be able to see the drivers option, settings/user interface/show advanced settings.