Hacking Emulation RetroArch/Libretro Thread: PS Vita Edition! Nightlies Included

SeongGino · May 18, 2020

Happy early update!

This cycle brings with it new cores;

px68k_libretro.self - px68k, Sharp X68000 (added in 05-05)
{Everything beyond is added 05-09 or later.}
frodo_libretro.self - Frodo, Commodore 64
lutro_libretro.self - Lutro, game creation engine
nekop2_libretro.self - Neko Project II, NEC PC-980X family computers (Original, older than np2kai)

While there isn't anything new in the frontend to speak of for Vita users, there is an added safeguard against needless Cheevos activation, which helps I/O slightly if you don't use it in the first place.
You can read more about it in the usual place.

Post-script, so there's this little aside from Libretro that I found interesting:

the Libretro release article subsection "Some other noteworthy things" said:
With RetroArch 1.8.7 and overclocking, NeoCD reaches fullspeed on RetroArch PSVita. Even audio playback doesn’t stutter any more

Being a Neo-nut myself, I had to double-check this. My earlier reports indicated some slowdown due to a lot of single-core thrashing, and...
Yep, hasn't changed. Not even a bit.

So, either Crossed Swords II is the toughest game to emulate on NeoCD (which is odd, since every Neo-Geo game runs fine on even FGNeo, including the bootleg conversion hack of this game) and I'm being too harsh, or maybe they're misremembering something? But considering this game is probably the primary, if not only reason to emulate a Neo-Geo CD other than Samurai Spirits RPG...

bahamut920 · May 18, 2020

I've been having trouble getting RetroArch Vita to save properly on a 6.60 HENkaku Vita. The core is PCSX-Rearmed, and the game I tested was Breath of Fire IV. RetroArch never actually creates a .srm file in the "savefiles" directory, even after I've manually saved the game. I've tried with both one and two memory cards enabled.

SeongGino · May 19, 2020

bahamut920 said:
I've been having trouble getting RetroArch Vita to save properly on a 6.60 HENkaku Vita. The core is PCSX-Rearmed, and the game I tested was Breath of Fire IV. RetroArch never actually creates a .srm file in the "savefiles" directory, even after I've manually saved the game. I've tried with both one and two memory cards enabled.

Other than not being my personal recommendation (I mean, this is the Vita, and you have a perfectly usable POPS waiting to get used), have you set the saveRAM autosave interval to anything higher than 'off'? It probably should be set to ten (saves sRAM every n secs), but not sure what LR uses for defaults these days.

bahamut920 · May 19, 2020

The main reason I'd like to use RetroArch is because I want to be able to transfer my saves back and forth between my Vita and a PC emulator, and having an emulator on my Vita that doesn't use a proprietary save format and doesn't have "integrity checks" built in allows me to skip a few steps. I'll try setting the saveram interval.

calwy1 · May 30, 2020

Probably being stupid, but I can't seem to find a keyboard option for the Atari 800 emulator - Although I can get one working on the C64 (Vice) emulator.

Am I doing something wrong, or is it not implemented yet?

lovemakerz · May 31, 2020

i hope a better Mame performance

i need One game : Run and Gun at full speed ( Konami BasketBall game )

and in the Futur the CPS3 system ^^

you know if the PSVita have has enough power for that ( later of course... ) ?

AkitoUF · Jun 12, 2020

Is anyone else's Retroarch working weird after updating?
I update mine on my Vita after some months and now games are taking longer to load (they do run fine, they just take noticeably longer to load) and I'm not too fond of the notifications with the grey box in the corner but for some reason I can't seem to find the setting to change those.

Another thing happening to me is that games are automatically stretched and they seem to ignore whatever scaling output I'm trying to set. This happened because I enabled the Overlay to show me the FPS, I miss having the fps on screen with black bars, stretched games look horrible.

butman · Jun 12, 2020

About Arcade emulation.

So basically:

CPS-1, CPS-2 and NEO-GEO boards and some others, such as Snow Bros, run better on FBA 2012 core.

Konami board games and most of the remaining games of the MAME library run better on MAME 2003 Plus core.

Is there any compatibility list where we can see from which games outside Capcom, NEO-GEO and Konami run better on FBA 2012 or MAME 2003 Plus? Because in this case you will have to make a selection and use different romset depending on the game.

Rahkeesh · Jun 13, 2020

AkitoUF said:
Another thing happening to me is that games are automatically stretched and they seem to ignore whatever scaling output I'm trying to set. This happened because I enabled the Overlay to show me the FPS, I miss having the fps on screen with black bars, stretched games look horrible.

Can't replicate this on 1.8.8 stable. Framerate is normally part of notifications not overlay, but both of them worked fine while retaining the correct aspect ratio.

FmT · Jun 13, 2020

I had that weird problem of bad aspect ratio when upgrading from old retroarch on only one device before. Sometimes it was fixing only when coming back to menu after launching game... and found starting with a new .cfg resolve that problem. Try to make a backup of your cfg file and start with new to see if problem is solved.

As for MAME vs FBA performance. Mame 2003 plus will always be better (but less accurate) with exception of FBA special drivers like CPS, neogeo, toaplan (snowbros) cave and psikyo games as far as I remember

https://github.com/barbudreadmon/fbalpha2018/tree/master/src/burn/drv

is the list of the drivers, but you don't know if the driver is better or still in developpement like the midway one who is not working. Your best source of information should be "retropie" forum with people testing specific roms and core, and or list made by fan

butman · Jun 15, 2020

Hi there! I have two problems:

1. MAME cores and romsets.

I've tried 2003, 2003-Plus romset and when i run them with MAME 2003 or MAME 2003-Plus cores I get this error.

For testing purpose i tried a bunch of roms with the FBA 2012 core, like TMNT, and they worked.
Is weird because these roms aren't even from FBA romset.

Any ideas why this happen?

2. Can't do SaveState

I happen with every core. It freeze at 0% and it doesn't save. The savestate directory is the one by default.

kristianity77 · Jun 16, 2020

Does retroarch for vita use just one cpu core? I notice there is new homebrew out now that finally unlocks the fourth core for the vita to be used in gaming. Will this likely make any difference?

Bobble2k20 · Jun 24, 2020

Hi, can anyone help me with a quick question about what rom set I need to use for FB Alpha 2012 arcade core on the current 1.8.9 version of Retro Arch?
I’ve been digging about for the info and been getting conflicting reports, some say use one version rom set and others will say a different version altogether.
I’ve seen the post on the first page saying that I need to find rom sets compatible with FB Alpha 0.2.97.35, others say I need 0.2.97.40 rom set? I’m asking about the arcade sets, for running older arcade MAME roms, not the CPS1 + CPS2 version or Neo-Geo. But if I was looking to run them too, I’m assuming that they would need the same version rom set too? Would all cores in RA need the same version rom set?

I’ve managed to find a set for FBA v0.2.97.39, could they be used? I don’t have any way of converting them to a different version, so I’m hoping to find a set already working with the current FBA 2012 cores in Retro Arch for Vita now.

Thanks in advance

FmT · Jun 25, 2020

Taken from official github page, romset must be 0.2.97.29, with the complete list :
https://github.com/libretro/fbalpha2012/blob/master/svn-current/trunk/gamelist.txt

Arcade only :
https://github.com/libretro/fbalpha2012/blob/master/svn-current/trunk/gamelist-gx.txt

Seems it's the same set as MAME 0.149, as you can see in release notes on official site :
https://www.fbalpha.com/view/194/

Edit : If you want to know if your "specific roms" works with your romset, get the 0.2.97.29 dat file and compare with your romset in clrmamepro software

Bobble2k20 · Jun 26, 2020

Thanks for the information FmT, appreciate it.
I have another question about retroarch and roms. I’m just getting to grips with RA on the vita over the past few days and getting some console roms copied over onto it. I’ve copied some SNES and Genesis roms over and have them running ok, but they’re not unzipped, just have them all as zip files on my vita.

I have the standalone uae4all and mGBA emulators installed and they seem to work with the roms all zipped up ok. I’ve just been seeing conflicting reports about retroarch and zipped roms, some say it’s fine, others say to have them all unzipped.

What’s the general consensus on here, are zip files ok and work as normal or is it better to have my roms all unzipped? Does it affect the loading times if a rom is zipped compared to running an unzipped one or does it make any difference at all?

Thanks

01y · Jun 27, 2020

Is there a way to speed up execution by disabling sound emulation? Or does turning off sound just mute the emulated stream? Tried playing The Firemen (E) with snes9x2010 with max overclock, but still fell short of 50fps.

kristianity77 · Jun 27, 2020

01y said:
Is there a way to speed up execution by disabling sound emulation? Or does turning off sound just mute the emulated stream? Tried playing The Firemen (E) with snes9x2010 with max overclock, but still fell short of 50fps.

Basically no. But there is homebrew that has been released which allows the extra core on the vita to be used whereas currently it's disabled for anything other than system UI. I don't know whether retroarch on the vita even uses more than one core or not, but if it does, and changes can be made to now allow it to use the 4th core, you could see half decent jumps in performance in games like that where it struggles a bit.

gilx · Jun 27, 2020

Wouldn't firemen be 50-fps being PAL region?

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

Wouldn't Firemen be 50fps being PAL?

01y · Jun 27, 2020

kristianity77 said:
Basically no. But there is homebrew that has been released which allows the extra core on the vita to be used whereas currently it's disabled for anything other than system UI.

I wonder whether a snes9x2010 core with sound emulation removed (I would call it "Snes9x 2010 Minus") would provide an appreciable speed up, i.e. all the way to fullspeed? Have noticed flaws in a few games I tested with 2005 (for example there is a flickering scanline the whole time with Super Metroid (U)). I play games muted anyway

Rahkeesh · Jun 28, 2020

1.8.9 brings almost useable gl support for 2D anyway. It seems to be just as fast as the 2D driver now, as long as you don't turn on filters. Now we just need shader support and the blank borders cleaned up.

Kerbangman · Jul 28, 2020

Sega 32X is running pretty poor on Picodrive .
Is the the norm on Stable

Cuthbert32 · Aug 9, 2020

Pretty niche, but in the latest version of RA (1.8.9), its not adding Atari 7800 games to the playlist and some of my 7800 ROMs will no longer run. Both the playlist adding and the ROMs worked before (1.8.2 iirc) , have they really changed something recently in RA that would affect this?

DrumMaster777 · Aug 30, 2020

N64 isn't listed under a category on page 1, I'm assuming it isn't supported at all for Vita Retroarch, no core at all? I don't think I saw NDS either. I'm really hurting in the nostalgia department without a solution for N64. I considered a modded Wii/U to play N64, DS, along with PS2? & GC-Wii/U, if possible Sarurn/Dreamcast too but was just recently laid off due to Covid19 so don't have the means to buy a used Wii/U to try to mod. Thanks for any help or info

Hacking Emulation RetroArch/Libretro Thread: PS Vita Edition! Nightlies Included

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