Homebrew Retroarch Emulation Thread (Nightly Builds Included)

Kazuma77

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Much easier to just get a ps1 with either a psio, a modchip, or a swap disc. Plus it is the original hardware not emulation so 100% compatibility.

If you enjoy swapping discs, have fun. I'm done with that crap. Yes, for the sake of the 1% of games Sony's official emulator just won't run, and having a non-emu solution, I probably will buy a $200+ ODDE for my original 1001 PSX when one's available (the drive on it's shot anyway, but it's otherwise a perfectly good device, well actually, the GS port doesn't work either -- made the mistake of leaving the Sharklink attached 24/7, probably just needs a little soldering, something I'm pretty good at if I do say so myself).

Besides, you're the person who told him to get a PSP. That's technically not a 100% hardware backwards compatibility solution either, like, say, the PS2, so why criticize? Of course, HD Loader can't load PSX ISOs, so, no ease-of-use gains there either, but the PS2's a nice system itself (not that the PSP sucked, in fact, I liked it better than the DS). Granted, PS2 has a PSX emulator, but you might as well go with my PS3 recommendation in that case.

It's not like I'm not that "100% compatibility" "real hardware or go home" retrogamer. I did buy a Supergrafx for those 5 extra games it runs after all. And I did choose to get a C64C instead of a C128 for use with 1541 Ultimate II. I even own a PC-FX. The thing is, I know the ODDE is coming sooner or later. Besides, I have a 7501 with a working GS port I can dig out in an emergency. I also have a PS-X-Change 2 that I can use with it if I don't feel like flashing something Caetla-based to the GS. My thing is having the whole set on a single device. The PS3 is the only SDTV option that can do that atm. Since I have 2 PS3s, hooking old phatty to the SDTV is a no-brainer for me. YMMV.

Aside from that one thing, it's all real hardware here at home (except for when I want to play with someone online). OK, there's a couple of other cheats I pull. I use my Xbox to play SNES carts the SD2SNES can't yet. I also run FBA XXX and MAME to emulate the Super Gun, CPSx multicarts, Neo Geo MVS, Neo Geo multicart, and FPGA Arcade boards I haven't quite got around to buying yet (but at least I use an X-Arcade controller). Oh, and my Harmony is sitting in a Coleco Expansion Module, not an actual heavy-sixer 2600 ;)
 
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TecXero

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I have no idea if gameyob and retroarch saves are compatible but if they are .sav, then they might be.
They are, it's just the raw data that would be saved on the cartridge. .sav and .srm are the same thing, some emulators use .srm though, so you just have to change the extension. The only exception are VBA saves as they do some nonsense for larger save files most other emulators can't use.

EDIT: In other news, the popping issue with the DSP driver seems to be gone with the latest nightly.
 
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ArsonDoctor

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Does anyone know why Megaman Battle Network 1-3 run nearly flawlessly on gpSP 3dsx but 4-6 stutter at a mere 20fps? I'm on N3DS 10.3 running it through ironhax.
 

ihaveahax

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Does anyone know why Megaman Battle Network 1-3 run nearly flawlessly on gpSP 3dsx but 4-6 stutter at a mere 20fps? I'm on N3DS 10.3 running it through ironhax.
I think gpSP compatibility is a bit weird, I don't have much experience with the emulator but I noticed Pokémon FRLG run at about 30 while Emerald is 60. YMMV

if you're into emulation I would suggest trying downgrading, it's pretty safe at this point and a few emulators (gpSP included) run much faster.

you can also try out mGBA, there's a standalone one https://mgba.io/nightlies.html and also one included with Retroarch
 

ArsonDoctor

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I think gpSP compatibility is a bit weird, I don't have much experience with the emulator but I noticed Pokémon FRLG run at about 30 while Emerald is 60. YMMV

if you're into emulation I would suggest trying downgrading, it's pretty safe at this point and a few emulators (gpSP included) run much faster.

you can also try out mGBA, there's a standalone one https://mgba.io/nightlies.html and also one included with Retroarch
Last time I tried mGBA it only ran MMBN3 at about 40fps or so, I'll have to grab a new nightly and see if it works any better. I'm on the fence with downgrading still though, I have a few purchased games and the only real reason I can think of for downgrading is to play MMBN 1-6 on a proper handheld.
 

Kazuma77

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Last time I tried mGBA it only ran MMBN3 at about 40fps or so, I'll have to grab a new nightly and see if it works any better. I'm on the fence with downgrading still though, I have a few purchased games and the only real reason I can think of for downgrading is to play MMBN 1-6 on a proper handheld.

The process is completely reversible. Just make a NAND dump and backup your SD card before you format EmuNAND, and you'll have nothing to worry about. Just follow one of the tutorials here. Once everything is on a 10.3 EmuNAND, even the newest games will work just fine. Your eshop purchases will be OK. You can even still access the eshop.

The only exception would be if you've got any DSiWare. That won't run in EmuNAND. So, instead of unlinking SysNAND, you would use TinyFormat to unlink EmuNAND, reinstall BBM in EmuNAND using NASA, dump your non-DSiWare games using Decrypt9 and FunkyCIA, dump your saves using SDF, install your games and saves to EmuNAND, and once you've verified everything's working, delete the non-DSiWare games from SysNAND (it doesn't delete the tickets, besides, you have your backup).

Either way, if you ever want to go back, just format the SD card to destroy EmuNAND, restore your backed up SD card contents, restore your NAND dump, then update the system. Of course, if there was some way you could dump your NAND before downgrading, you wouldn't even have to re-update your system if you decided to go back (AFAIK, there's not, but things are moving so fast now, something may have slipped my attention).

As long as you backup your NAND and EmuNAND first, practically anything you do to the system can be reversed. Even bricking the unit. Granted, that requires a hard mod, but it beats having to buy a new system. But it's pretty easy to avoid. Just use BBM for general CIA installation, and DevMenu for downgrading non-brick-risk system files like MSET, TWL_FIRM (only useful on O3DS), the DS Cart Whitelist, the web browser, etc. You'll have nothing to worry about. I'm not saying don't ever use FBI. I just wouldn't recommend it as your main CIA installer. For the same reason I wouldn't recommend logging into Linux as root for daily use.
 
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mightymuffy

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Is there a place with compatibility list for cps2 and Neo-Geo ? Also a place with it's good romset ?

Pip'
On N3DS it's pretty much 100% for both now, bar the likes of Irritating Maze and its custom controls/bios and a couple of others (plus there's the screen rotation issue). O3DS though, not so good... smaller roms may work but personally I don't know..
As for romsets, determine the required ones based on the build of FBA used, then google away! ;)
 
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shoemaker

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Any reason why the PocketSNES core uses a different icon than the other SNES emulators? That's my favorite emulator of the ones available, but I don't like how the icon isn't a front view of the controllers like all the other ones I have. It's not easy to change that for the CIA, so I'm just curious as to why it's different.
 

Rj.MoG

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Any reason why the PocketSNES core uses a different icon than the other SNES emulators? That's my favorite emulator of the ones available, but I don't like how the icon isn't a front view of the controllers like all the other ones I have. It's not easy to change that for the CIA, so I'm just curious as to why it's different.
So you can tell which one is which.
 

Kazuma77

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Any reason why the PocketSNES core uses a different icon than the other SNES emulators? That's my favorite emulator of the ones available, but I don't like how the icon isn't a front view of the controllers like all the other ones I have. It's not easy to change that for the CIA, so I'm just curious as to why it's different.

I like the icon myself. And I can tell it from the others this way. Perfect, since only one of said others even survived the intro of Final Fantasy III(VI). CatSFC. Looks like it doesn't need the DSTwo's CPU anymore. Can't say I was shocked 9x wasn't optimized enough (it always lost to ZSNES on the PC). But I was surprised at just how bad the frame hit is with CatSFC Plus. Good thing they didn't even try Higan/BSNES. I'm somewhat surprised PocketSNES made it through the intro without the framerate dropping at all (I wasn't expecting any of them to). Though the audio quite noticeably suffered for it. Definitely those two are the ones to keep.

I'm having much less luck picking the NES winner. Even QuickNES didn't have any trouble with Akumojou Densetsu (Castlevania III) or Contra (the proper VRC4 version). I know it has to be sacrificing accuracy for speed if it runs good on the O3DS. There must be flaws, but whoever coded it hides them well. The palettte on QuickNES seems a little off, but not a deal breaker. Maybe checking MMC3 timing can determine a winner (flash adapters always have trouble with that after all). NEStopia is well known for its accuracy. FCEU is considered among the best also. It's going to be hard to trip up either of those.

I don't know what's a difficult test game for a Genesis emulator, but I've had a simple elimination process planned since I saw one of them was Plus GX -- see if Picodrive can run Beggar Prince and Pier Solar (if not, we have a winner). I'll check that in a bit.
 

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Any tips to improve PS1 emulation on N3DS at 9.2?

With Audio and VSync disabled and Frameskip set at 2 I can get Castlevania: SotN running at almost 40 FPS so a little boost would be perfect
 

Kazuma77

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Any tips to improve PS1 emulation on N3DS at 9.2?

With Audio and VSync disabled and Frameskip set at 2 I can get Castlevania: SotN running at almost 40 FPS so a little boost would be perfect

Same setup as mine. I was getting about 40 FPS with SotN myself. I didn't think to disable vsync, but I tried the other settings on the first page (disabling audio sync and using the "nearest" driver instead of the "sinc" one). I still had some hope left after that experience, but Diablo pretty much crushed it -- 15 FPS. Good thing I have a PSP.

The only other performance tip I can think of is to use MiniPasta. An EmuNAND obviously places an extra resource drain on the system.
 
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Same setup as mine. I was getting about 40 FPS with SotN myself. I didn't think to disable vsync, but I tried the other settings on the first page (disabling audio sync and using the "nearest" driver instead of the "sinc" one). I still had some hope left after that experience, but Diablo pretty much crushed it -- 15 FPS. Good thing I have a PSP.

The only other performance tip I can think of is to use MiniPasta. An EmuNAND obviously places an extra resource drain on the system.

Playing the cia versions of RetroArch on Pasta sysnand sounds like a great idea!
As a general rule, if the cia installs fine on emunand, it should install fine on Pasta sysnand as well without bricking, right?
There's no limit to what cia's you install on sysnand via pasta? Like emulators, homebrew apps, etc. I guess it will only really be useful for emulators. And if on O3DS, it's useful for AGBfirm + GBA injects. Or does AGBfirm also work on N3DS sysnand?
 

cearp

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Same setup as mine. I was getting about 40 FPS with SotN myself.
wow, 40fps for sotn sounds good, i mean, 'promising', especially if we think it can be improved to get to the magic 60fps one day? :)
i played it on my vita and was fine, but it would be really cool on the 3ds too, but only if the speed is fluid.
 

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wow, 40fps for sotn sounds good, i mean, 'promising', especially if we think it can be improved to get to the magic 60fps one day? :)
i played it on my vita and was fine, but it would be really cool on the 3ds too, but only if the speed is fluid.
If there is really somebody try to improve it ,but for retroarch, this won't happen.

What I mean is,what retroarch did is just porting their code to 3DS
 
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