Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

Charco · Jan 28, 2013

SoulSpawn said:
Ok, well I think I have them. The first game loads correctly and the second fails. No matter what game or order. I guess you don't have this problem so it must be something on my SD. I'll try a clean install.

Tested this and yes, same issue here. I am in the habit of restarting RetroArch each time I finish playing a game and load another so had not encountered this. I am not sure if it is planned to automatically restart the app on exiting and putting you back in the same folder or something similar on core switching. This would be great if possible, I am not a programmer so I will leave that to the devs to see it it's possible.

Does Real Bout Special work now? Didn't in the last release.

LibretroRetroArc · Jan 28, 2013

Charco said:
Tested this and yes, same issue here. I am in the habit of restarting RetroArch each time I finish playing a game and load another so had not encountered this. I am not sure if it is planned to automatically restart the app on exiting and putting you back in the same folder or something similar on core switching. This would be great if possible, I am not a programmer so I will leave that to the devs to see it it's possible.

Does Real Bout Special work now? Didn't in the last release.

It's most likely that you get the crashes because of FBA's RAM requirements going way up - so that means that if you run one game and then another, memory is already full so it creates a crash and dumps you back to HBC.

Really - unless I can get RAM requirements down to the way it was before, I might be forced to fork FBA entirely since there seems to be litle to no regard paid to systems with smaller amounts of RAM and the amount of games/systems it supports keeps increasing, thus increasing the memory footprint even more.

Toad King · Jan 28, 2013

To the user getting video corruption in PrBoom/Gambatte: Can you specify exactly which games/videomodes you got the corruption/crashes to happen with? I can't seem to reproduce it on my end.

ngelDiezFernndez · Jan 28, 2013

LibretroRetroArc

Whats the difference between Wii and XBOX in VBA core? Coz it works much better on Wii while other cores works better on XBOX.

AngryGeek416 · Jan 28, 2013

I cant be the only person having this CCP left analog problem...its annoying as shit i think the directions are switched like up is right down is left stuff like that.

Floating Seal · Jan 28, 2013

LibretroRetroArc said:
Yes, I've seen other people getting confused by how it is worded in the Cores manual - the main difference here is that on RetroArch Android, there is NO system directory - instead, you just drop the BIOS files into the same directory as the ROM/ISO/whatever that you're trying to load. We can't really find a good 'default system dir'location on Android - something that is easily accessible for the user - so this seemed like the best way to do it.

Ah, now I understand! Thanks for the answer! I would have thanked you earlier but GBATemp went down before I could reply.

nintygaming · Jan 28, 2013

LibretroRetroArc said:
Kirby's Dreamland 3 is in the same boat - if I don't do the 'hack' that disables pseudo hires, it will not be fullspeed.

And yes, with software rendering, the less image data you need to block transfer, the faster performance will be. For that reason 256 x 224 will always be much faster than 512 x 224.

Speaking of these resolutions, I've found something very strange.

Remember when I stated that using 512x224 on a CRT makes the image appear sharper?

Well, I've found that 512x224 looks EXACTLY the same as the Virtual Console Emulators, and EXACTLY the same as the SNES9x GX emulator. In other words, when I use 256x224 mode, it doesn't look as crisp and sharp as Virtual Console or SNES9x GX. Here's how I found out.

At first, I noticed this "loss" of sharpness on a 20" CRT. Then I decided that I really wanted to see this difference even more pronounced, so I checked it out on a 60" Rear Projection Hitachi from 1998 (no, its not HD). Because of the large screen, I could notice any small change very easily. Guess what I found? Well I used the same games for each emulator, and found that the Virtual Console, and SNES9x GX displayed the games crisp and sharp, but when Retroarch was in 256x224 mode, it would not display these games as crisp or as sharp as Virtual Console or SNES9x GX (yes, I did have Point-Filtering ON and VI Trap ON for 224p). HOWEVER, when I switched Retroarch to 512x224, it displayed the EXACT SAME amount of sharpness and crispness that the VC and GX emulators did. So this begs the question, why would 256x224 be less crisp than the VC and GX emulators? Yet 512x224 looks correct?

Also - just for fun - I tested NES games in 240p with VC, FCEU GX, and Retroarch. SAME RESULTS. The 256x240p mode was less sharp and less crisp than the VC and GX emulators......... BUT when I used 512x240 in Retroarch, once again, it had the SAME visual sharpness and crispness as the VC and GX emulator.

Whats up with this? Why would 256x224 or 256x240 look softer and less crisp than the VC and GX emulators? Do you think that there was an error in the 256 modes and thus are less than 256, something like maybe 255x224 or 254x224?

(If you really want to see this quite easily, then use Donkey Kong Country (other games with less complex graphics make it a bit harder to notice). Go to the overworld map on DKC, and look at the graphical difference of the island mountain when comparing each emulator.)

Toad King · Jan 28, 2013

nintygaming said:
Speaking of these resolutions, I've found something very strange.

Remember when I stated that using 512x224 on a CRT makes the image appear sharper?

Well, I've found that 512x224 looks EXACTLY the same as the Virtual Console Emulators, and EXACTLY the same as the SNES9x GX emulator. In other words, when I use 256x224 mode, it doesn't look as crisp and sharp as Virtual Console or SNES9x GX. Here's how I found out.

At first, I noticed this "loss" of sharpness on a 20" CRT. Then I decided that I really wanted to see this difference even more pronounced, so I checked it out on a 60" Rear Projection Hitachi from 1998 (no, its not HD). Because of the large screen, I could notice any small change very easily. Guess what I found? Well I used the same games for each emulator, and found that the Virtual Console, and SNES9x GX displayed the games crisp and sharp, but when Retroarch was in 256x224 mode, it would not display these games as crisp or as sharp as Virtual Console or SNES9x GX (yes, I did have Point-Filtering ON and VI Trap ON for 224p). HOWEVER, when I switched Retroarch to 512x224, it displayed the EXACT SAME amount of sharpness and crispness that the VC and GX emulators did. So this begs the question, why would 256x224 be less crisp than the VC and GX emulators? Yet 512x224 looks correct?

Also - just for fun - I tested NES games in 240p with VC, FCEU GX, and Retroarch. SAME RESULTS. The 256x240p mode was less sharp and less crisp than the VC and GX emulators......... BUT when I used 512x240 in Retroarch, once again, it had the SAME visual sharpness and crispness as the VC and GX emulator.

Whats up with this? Why would 256x224 or 256x240 look softer and less crisp than the VC and GX emulators? Do you think that there was an error in the 256 modes and thus are less than 256, something like maybe 255x224 or 254x224?

(If you really want to see this quite easily, then use Donkey Kong Country (other games with less complex graphics make it a bit harder to notice). Go to the overworld map on DKC, and look at the graphical difference of the island mountain when comparing each emulator.)

Probably because it's stretched to 512 in software first (using integer scaling for clean pixels) before having the video interface stretch it the rest of the way to 640 for the NTSC signal. In 256x224, the video interface stretches it all the way, and probably adds some soft filter to it.

SoulSpawn · Jan 28, 2013

LibretroRetroArc said:
It's most likely that you get the crashes because of FBA's RAM requirements going way up - so that means that if you run one game and then another, memory is already full so it creates a crash and dumps you back to HBC.

Really - unless I can get RAM requirements down to the way it was before, I might be forced to fork FBA entirely since there seems to be litle to no regard paid to systems with smaller amounts of RAM and the amount of games/systems it supports keeps increasing, thus increasing the memory footprint even more.

It's really weird as it concerns only to neogeo roms, even the smaller ones. And there's no code dump because menu is still working, in fact when I'm at that black screen then I'm able to load cps2 games for example.

I've read people complaining about this version of FBA core, I wonder if there is any way to compile last version of the core but keeping this version of retroarch advantages.

Charco · Jan 28, 2013

SoulSpawn said:
I've read people complaining about this version of FBA core, I wonder if there is any way to compile last version of the core but keeping this version of retroarch advantages.

This.

nintygaming · Jan 28, 2013

nintygaming said:
I got bad news guys.

Nintendo's Wii-U emulation is pretty bad. I've just tested their new release of Balloon Fight, and here is the list of problems.

1. Poor Gamma - (not as bright as the original NES, but then again, the Wii's NES emulator had this issue too)

2. Poor Colors - (same as the NES emulator on Wii, just a dull color palette, poor compared to the original NES)

3. No filtering Options - (no scanlines available, just a standard (non-lanczos) interpolation bilinear filter)

4. No Double Strike-240p mode - (for those who wish to hook up to a CRT for a more true experience)

5. Sound Not Correct (Although I could be wrong here, but it does not seem to have accurate sound)

5. Horizontal Stretch AND Vertical Squeeze - (Quite possibly the biggest offender. Simply put, the aspect ratio is WRONG. The original console - when hooked up to a CRT - would send a signal to display the 256x240p and the CRT would alter the aspect ratio to "almost" 320x240, but not exactly. In other words, it was not exactly a 4:3 ratio on all games (not to worry though, because the developers designed each NES game with this in mind, thus what you would see on a CRT would be what you were suppose to see and the way it was intended to be viewed). Well, the original's Wii emulator did this correctly, regardless whether it was in 240p mode or 480p. It would show the aspect ratio correctly, just like the old CRT (with the only exception being a black border on the bottom apparently). But for some odd reason, Nintendo is stretching the image even wider, AND to add insult to injury, they are SQUEEZING it vertically too. In other words, its close to a 8:5 ratio or thereabouts! Doesn't matter if you hook it up via HDMI, or Component, or even to your old CRT via composite, nor does it matter which resolution you choose, be it 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p. Its just the WRONG aspect ratio. I've tested this on both a SD-CRT and HDTV for your convenience.)

I use to think that Nintendo cared about preserving nostalgia EVEN IF only a little - I mean afterall, their SNES emulators on the Wii are virtually perfect, even if the NES one's are not (only real issues were black border on the bottom, the gamma, color, and that annoying "tinny sound" that the original NES did not have).

Will they release an update to correct these issues? We can hope and wish, but don't hold your breath.

EDIT: Fixed some errors and updated my post.

UPDATE: If you guys want to know the exact aspect ratio that the Wii-U's Virtual Console NES emulator is using, then do the following.

1. Download FCE Ultra GX (latest version) for the Homebrew Channel
2. Load up Balloon Fight in it.
3. Hit the Menu Button
4. Click on "Game Settings"
5. Next click on "Video"
6. Next click on "Screen Zoom"
7. Next Reduce the Vertical Size to 93%
8. Next Increase the Horizontal Size to 101%
9. Next Choose "Filtered" Mode (it will stretch the screen automatically by an extra 4%. Yes this is correct)
10. Next Choose "Default" for your color palette.
11. Now turn your TV's color settings down to ALMOST zero (somewhere between halfway).
12. Then turn down the brightness and contrast to about halfway.

Ok now exist the menu's and look at the game. What your seeing is the EXACT same aspect ratio that the Wii-U's NES emulator is using. Your also seeing a somewhat correct representation of the poor brightness and color saturation that these emulators produce. Pretty ugly huh?

Now contact Nintendo and beg them to fix it. Haha, good luck.

nintygaming · Jan 28, 2013

Toad King said:
Probably because it's stretched to 512 in software first (using integer scaling for clean pixels) before having the video interface stretch it the rest of the way to 640 for the NTSC signal. In 256x224, the video interface stretches it all the way, and probably adds some soft filter to it.

So are you saying that the GX and VC emulator are most likely using 512 horizontal for all games? Because it sure looks that way.

EDIT: I don't think that analog CRT's add any softening filter what-so-ever. Especially older ones like mine.

Disorarara · Jan 28, 2013

I am seriously impressed with the new ROM loading in this release - You no longer have to reset inbetween large roms! And on another note Gunbird doesn't have any lag at all, which probably means the other Psikyo games don't either so that's something to look forward to when it's fixed. Sadly I was unable to get any PGM games working, anyone else have any luck?

Charco · Jan 28, 2013

Disorarara said:
I am seriously impressed with the new ROM loading in this released - You no longer have to reset inbetween large roms! And on another note Gunbird doesn't have any lag at all, which probably means the other Psikyo games don't either so that's something to look forward to when it's fixed. Sadly I was unable to get any PGM games working, anyone else have any luck?

Nope, I tried too when I saw there was a PGM core. Would love to play Oriental Legend 2 player on the tv :-)

the_randomizer · Jan 29, 2013

nintygaming said:
UPDATE: If you guys want to know the exact aspect ratio that the Wii-U's Virtual Console NES emulator is using, then do the following.

1. Download FCE Ultra GX (latest version) for the Homebrew Channel
2. Load up Balloon Fight in it.
3. Hit the Menu Button
4. Click on "Game Settings"
5. Next click on "Video"
6. Next click on "Screen Zoom"
7. Next Reduce the Vertical Size to 93%
8. Next Increase the Horizontal Size to 101%
9. Next Choose "Filtered" Mode (it will stretch the screen automatically by an extra 4%. Yes this is correct)
10. Next Choose "Default" for your color palette.
11. Now turn your TV's color settings down to ALMOST zero (somewhere between halfway).
12. Then turn down the brightness and contrast to about halfway.

Ok now exist the menu's and look at the game. What your seeing is the EXACT same aspect ratio that the Wii-U's NES emulator is using. Your also seeing a somewhat correct representation of the poor brightness and color saturation that these emulators produce. Pretty ugly huh?

Now contact Nintendo and beg them to fix it. Haha, good luck.

That bad huh? I wonder if the Virtual Console Snes emulator will be just as bad as the NES. Granted, I will always prefer RetroArch over the VC. Why? One, the filtering looks close to a CRT and two, it's more accurate. Speaking of which, how the heck did Nintendo emulate the pseudo hi-res effects in Kirby's Dreamland 3 at full speed? I would assume frameskipping was used.

nintygaming said:
So are you saying that the GX and VC emulator are most likely using 512 horizontal for all games? Because it sure looks that way.

EDIT: I don't think that analog CRT's add any softening filter what-so-ever. Especially older ones like mine.

I think older TVs "bleed" the pixels together, making it look like a filter without actually being one.

jmckutchin · Jan 29, 2013

CanuckBuck said:
I cant be the only person having this CCP left analog problem...its annoying as shit i think the directions are switched like up is right down is left stuff like that.

I reported this issue on one of the previous pages.

Also, found an issue today in Actraiser. If you start the game without any previous saves, you can still "continue" the game, and it'll start you with all 0's in stats and you can't really do anything. Repeated this twice on latest retroarch by deleting the .srm file. Starting a new game and saving everything is fine though, so this is by no means a big issue.

Vague Rant · Jan 29, 2013

LibretroRetroArc said:
Snow Bros is on the FBA core? If it runs fine on RetroArch Android, indications point to endianness issues.

Sorry for the delayed response, but yes, FBA core.

nintygaming · Jan 29, 2013

the_randomizer said:
That bad huh? I wonder if the Virtual Console Snes emulator will be just as bad as the NES. Granted, I will always prefer RetroArch over the VC. Why? One, the filtering looks close to a CRT and two, it's more accurate. Speaking of which, how the heck did Nintendo emulate the pseudo hi-res effects in Kirby's Dreamland 3 at full speed? I would assume frameskipping was used.

I wonder myself. However, I'm willing to bet that LibretroRetroArch can fix the issue in SNES9x Next via ether adding a speedhack specifically for that game like he did Final Fantasy 3/6, or via some other genius method, because the guy knows his stuff from what I've seen!

the_randomizer said:
I think older TVs "bleed" the pixels together, making it look like a filter without actually being one.

Color bleeding comes from Composite and RF connections. S-Video and Component fixes the color bleed issue.

the_randomizer · Jan 29, 2013

nintygaming said:
I wonder myself. However, I'm willing to bet that LibretroRetroArch can fix the issue in SNES9x Next via ether adding a speedhack specifically for that game like he did Final Fantasy 3/6, or via some other genius method, because the guy knows his stuff from what I've seen!

Color bleeding comes from Composite and RF connections. S-Video and Component fixes the color bleed issue.

So that's why it looks worse....as for making that game-specific speed hack, I asked him but I forgot what he said...d'oh! Otherwise the game must be played on Snes9xGx to bypass the semitransparent water levels. I don't want to pester him any more than I do.

nintygaming · Jan 29, 2013

the_randomizer said:
So that's why it looks worse....as for making that game-specific speed hack, I asked him but I forgot what he said...d'oh! Otherwise the game must be played on Snes9xGx to bypass the semitransparent water levels. I don't want to pester him any more than I do.

From what I've seen thusfar, SNES9x GX 4.2.9 is the best one for Kirby, and 4.3.0 seems to introduce audio problems, and it definitely has more slowdown. I played Yoshi's Island on both 4.2.9 and 4.3.0 - to - 4.3.2 and 4.2.9 runs Yoshi's Island MUCH faster. I have no idea what happened with the newest releases, but Tantric original intentions with these emulators were to give us a nice looking GUI, and accuracy was not something he was too worried about because he's not into emulation coding. So we better be happy that he gave us a "almost" accurate emulator to begin with!

I'm willing to bet that ekeeke's Genesis GUI (with its lightweight and small foot print in comparison to Tantrics GUI) could work beautifully with Tantric's SNES9x core, providing that frameskipping was turned completely off. If you've used Genesis Plux GX, then you've noticed how much better and faster its GUI works. Its very light weight and doesn't use nearly as much memory as Tantrics GUI (I'm not knocking Tantrics work, so don't misunderstand me, I do appreciate his work and use it frequently).

Homebrew RetroArch - A new multi-system emulator

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

No Longer An Active Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

No Longer An Active Member

No Longer An Active Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

The Temp's official fox whisperer

Well-Known Member

Deceptively cute

No Longer An Active Member

The Temp's official fox whisperer

No Longer An Active Member

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum