Lakka Switch, L4T edition
​

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).

 

[Snomannen_kalle]

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.

The new Lakka for switch uses the Ozone menu driver as the standard (I believe this is also used by HOS RA, although I rarely use that myself) -- if you want to change it, then you can do that from

Settings > User Interface > Menu

As for Vulkan -- I think gl is set as the default, but you can change that in

Settings > Video > Output > Video

Edit: Ninja'd

 

[evervolv]

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.

Got it - both of those worked. thanks so much!

 

[grabman]

do you have to be on certain firmware to use the new version? I am on 11.0 and i see the lakka logo flash but after it's a black screen ah ok i think it's format of card

 

[Snomannen_kalle]

do you have to be on certain firmware to use the new version? I am on 11.0 and i see the lakka logo flash but after it's a black screen

Firmware doesn't matter, no. Are you using FAT32 or exFAT? I think Lakka only supports FAT32 (at least the old one did). If that's not your issue, try a clean reinstall and/or a different build. If none of that works, then sadly I don't know.
With the old Lakka, some people reported issues where it wouldn't boot, it was never fixed back then, it could be this is still a problem

 

[grabman]

Firmware doesn't matter, no. Are you using FAT32 or exFAT? I think Lakka only supports FAT32 (at least the old one did). If that's not your issue, try a clean reinstall and/or a different build. If none of that works, then sadly I don't know.
With the old Lakka, some people reported issues where it wouldn't boot, it was never fixed back then, it could be this is still a problem

that was totally my problem. I mixed up sd cards. I am able to boot into it and i can dock it but a problem. How do i use pro controller? joy cons wirelessly?

I think this could be great. Really great. But I am having a pretty basic problem. If I plug in a keyboard it works great in the menu. This is important because if I detach the joycons I can't get them to work wirelessly. If I plug in a ps3 controller wired it works well for the menu. But I have to configure it. But I noticed something weird. Certain emulators the joycons are default controls? They can't seem to be changed. No clue. But because of this I cannot play. Also. Any way to set ozone to 1080p? Even at what seems to be a stock 720p the screen does not seem sharp. Hard to explain. All in all i am very impressed.

 

[Snomannen_kalle]

that was totally my problem. I mixed up sd cards. I am able to boot into it and i can dock it but a problem. How do i use pro controller? joy cons wirelessly?

I think this could be great. Really great. But I am having a pretty basic problem. If I plug in a keyboard it works great in the menu. This is important because if I detach the joycons I can't get them to work wirelessly. If I plug in a ps3 controller wired it works well for the menu. But I have to configure it. But I noticed something weird. Certain emulators the joycons are default controls? They can't seem to be changed. No clue. But because of this I cannot play. Also. Any way to set ozone to 1080p? Even at what seems to be a stock 720p the screen does not seem sharp. Hard to explain. All in all i am very impressed.

You might have to dump your joy cons in Hekate for them to work properly between Lakka and HOS -- you can do this from Nyx menu or something similar (bottom left corner in the main screen). Don't have a pro controller myself, so not sure how, but it should be supported -- try to look for somewhere where it says something about Bluetooth would be my guess.

As to resolution: you need to make a file

storage/dock-hotplug.conf

and put a resolution in it (e.g. 1280x720) your screen support. The maximum is 3840x2160@30, but note that there might be issues with 4k TVs and setting this resolution might not work

 

[ber71]

Lakka 3.1 is out
https://lakka.tv/articles/2021/06/05/lakka-3.1/

 

[tabzer]

Lakka 3.1 is out
https://lakka.tv/articles/2021/06/05/lakka-3.1/

For easy access to the Switch version: https://le-builds.lakka.tv/Switch.aarch64/

Lakka-Switch.aarch64-3.1.7z

All versions: https://le.builds.lakka.tv/

 

[Shaneus]

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).

I know this is an older post, but the newest full release of Lakka (3.1) includes Flycast by default, so this individual core file isn't needed. Not sure if there are any other differences in the included cores between 3.0 and 3.1, though.

 

[Rahkeesh]

nightly even has flycast w/vulkan which brings some really great performance. MvC2 is even playable!

 

[2Dover3D]

Ok need help its not reconizing my joycons

 

[Snomannen_kalle]

Ok need help its not reconizing my joycons

Did you dump your controllers on Hekate? Look for Nyx settings (or similarly named) at the bottom left on the main screen

 

[Shaneus]

nightly even has flycast w/vulkan which brings some really great performance. MvC2 is even playable!

Does the full 3.1 release do this too, or is it just the nightly?

 

[DominoBright]

Does the full 3.1 release do this too, or is it just the nightly?

Vulkin Flycast was added in a recent nightly.

 

[tabnk]

MelonDS was added to Lakka PR but Super Mario Bros run 30 FPS even with JIT on.

 

[evervolv]

If I have some save files/memory card files from Dolphin on PC, does anyone know where I can drop them in the Lakka filesystem? I feel like I've added .gci/.sav/.state files in every place i can think of and still can't seem to get my GC game to recognize any of them

 

[bad361]

nightly even has flycast w/vulkan which brings some really great performance. MvC2 is even playable!

Even playable? MvsC2 has been playable since the birth of lakka on switch, it was one of the reasons to use flycast in lakka over HOS.

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

If I have some save files/memory card files from Dolphin on PC, does anyone know where I can drop them in the Lakka filesystem? I feel like I've added .gci/.sav/.state files in every place i can think of and still can't seem to get my GC game to recognize any of them

If you didn't change the directory of your savefiles in lakka settings, the default path should be /storage/savefiles/dolphin-emu/User/GC/[whatever region of your games]/Card A.

(Also you could just make a save in some game and locate where it was... Afair lakka even shows highlighted path after creating a save).

 

[evervolv]

Even playable? MvsC2 has been playable since the birth of lakka on switch, it was one of the reasons to use flycast in lakka over HOS.

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


If you didn't change the directory of your savefiles in lakka settings, the default path should be /storage/savefiles/dolphin-emu/User/GC/[whatever region of your games]/Card A.

(Also you could just make a save in some game and locate where it was... Afair lakka even shows highlighted path after creating a save).

Yeah, I've put a GCI and RAW memory card file there and no dice. I've also tried saving within Lakka (at least a save state) and can't find it anywhere. it's really wild. I'll try an actual in game save and see

 

[cl4ssik]

Hello @bad361,

have you tested "Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter" on Saturn,
Myself, the game is still freezing and not playable :/
Thanks.

 

[bad361]

Hello @bad361,

have you tested "Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter" on Saturn,
Myself, the game is still freezing and not playable :/
Thanks.

I'm not interested in saturn emulation.. and i have this game as an arcade, it plays fine with fbneo.