Retroarch help

awsome229

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I recently downloaded RetroArch for my 2dsxl and whenever I try to open up my roms folder it shows “No Items” even though the folder has a bunch if roms in it. I'm not sure if it's because I don't have everything downloaded or something like that. Any help would be appreciated!
 
Thee_Stranger

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Do you have the respective BIOS/Emulators downloaded for the devices you're trying to emulate?
I never had any luck trying to run anything through RetroArch directly. I use TWiLight Menu for that, but you have to download specific DS emulators and BIOS in order to run the ROMS, otherwise nothing is reading them.
 
godreborn

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coming based on my experience with retroarch on the series x, if it's similar, you have to enable "scan in zip files" and/or recursive (scan sub-directories). that may be why no games are showing up.
 
awsome229

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Thee_Stranger said:
Do you have the respective BIOS/Emulators downloaded for the devices you're trying to emulate?
I never had any luck trying to run anything through RetroArch directly. I use TWiLight Menu for that, but you have to download specific DS emulators and BIOS in order to run the ROMS, otherwise nothing is reading them.
Click to expand...
Alright thank you. I didn't know you had to download the emulators, I thought it already had them with it xD
 
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awsome229 said:
Alright thank you. I didn't know you had to download the emulators, I thought it already had them with it xD
Click to expand...
Well, what exactly are you trying to emulate? That might help. Sorry, I'm working back from memory, which isn't always the most reliable. I didn't have much luck running anything directly through the RetroArch program on 3DS, either. It has "cores", and I believe it already has Picodrive emulators and whatnot pre-installed should you want to emulate Sega Genesis or something. Pretty sure you should also be able to run stuff like GBA and DS natively, too. But if you're trying to emulate something like Sega CD, or any kind of CD-based console, you need a BIOS in conjunction with the emulator for that. But I believe, depending on what you're trying to emulate, you need to get the emulator and stick it in the appropriate folder/directory.

Like I said, I ended up using TWiLight Menu -- which is an app that pretty much turns your 3DS into a DSLite -- to emulate stuff like the MSX and Gameboy, and I had to download DS-specific emulators.

I'd also recommend looking into the "New Super Ultimate Injector" program for your PC, which you can convert ROMs into "CIA" files, and install them directly on your 3DS Home Menu as Virtual Console games.
 
awsome229

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Thee_Stranger said:
Well, what exactly are you trying to emulate? That might help. Sorry, I'm working back from memory, which isn't always the most reliable. I didn't have much luck running anything directly through the RetroArch program on 3DS, either. It has "cores", and I believe it already has Picodrive emulators and whatnot pre-installed should you want to emulate Sega Genesis or something. Pretty sure you should also be able to run stuff like GBA and DS natively, too. But if you're trying to emulate something like Sega CD, or any kind of CD-based console, you need a BIOS in conjunction with the emulator for that. But I believe, depending on what you're trying to emulate, you need to get the emulator and stick it in the appropriate folder/directory.
Click to expand...
I was actually just trying to run some SNES and GBA games. I was really confused why it didn't work on those. I'm going to mess around in the menu for a bit and see if I can find anything. Thank you for helping me out!
 
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Thee_Stranger

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awsome229 said:
I was actually just trying to run some SNES and GBA games. I was really confused why it didn't work on those. I'm going to mess around in the menu for a bit and see if I can find anything. Thank you for helping me out!
Click to expand...
No problem, man. Been there.
Yeah, the 3DS is able to run all GBA games natively, and perfectly, since it's fully-backwards compatible with the original DS, which is fully backwards compatible with GBA. If I recall, I don't believe you need any specific emulator if you're injecting them as .cia files. N3DS is able to run most SNES games, though some work better than others. I had to inject with RetroArch emulators for a couple of them because they wouldn't work with N3DS' Virtual Console emulator, and there were still minor glitches.

Come to think of it, I think a lot of the emulators are pre-installed on RetroArch. They must be, because I know I didn't individually download a lot of those things. It's just a matter of navigating RetoArch's shitty UI on 3DS, which I ultimately chose to forgo, opting for .cia injections and TWiLight Menu. But the built-in emulators do work.

If I get a chance sometime today, I'll try tinkering with it, and see if I can come up with anything for ya.
 
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godreborn

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if you're on b9s, just use open_agb_firm for gba. not sure what to suggest with snes as I've never tried one on the 3ds.
 
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All right, well, I went in there and tinkered around, got a ROM loaded and runnin', and was immediately reminded of why I ditched playing emulators through this thing. Make sure you "Load Core" before rummaging for the ROM. Here are the steps/folders/directories that worked for me:

Load Core > (Select an appropriate Core/Emulator, and then wait 3 years for it to load and kick you back to the menu) > Load Content > sdmc:/ > roms > (Select folder and appropriate ROM, wait another 3 years for it to run)

(And then delete all the stupid .cia/apps it creates on your home menu for each individual core for no good reason.)

If it's still not reading any ROMs, there's a chance that maybe your ROM folder is in the wrong directory or something. Make sure it's in "sdmc:/".

I highly recommend downloading and familiarizing yourself with the "New Super Ultimate Injector" for GBA & SNES games on 3DS, and avoiding this slow, clunky, crappy program entirely.
 
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awsome229

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Thee_Stranger said:
All right, well, I went in there and tinkered around, got a ROM loaded and runnin', and was immediately reminded of why I ditched playing emulators through this thing. Make sure you "Load Core" before rummaging for the ROM. Here are the steps/folders/directories that worked for me:

Load Core > (Select an appropriate Core/Emulator, and then wait 3 years for it to load and kick you back to the menu) > Load Content > sdmc:/ > roms > (Select folder and appropriate ROM, wait another 3 years for it to run)

(And then delete all the stupid .cia/apps it creates on your home menu for each individual core for no good reason.)

If it's still not reading any ROMs, there's a chance that maybe your ROM folder is in the wrong directory or something. Make sure it's in "sdmc:/".

I highly recommend downloading and familiarizing yourself with the "New Super Ultimate Injector" for GBA & SNES games on 3DS, and avoiding this slow, clunky, crappy program entirely.
Click to expand...
Yep, I just figured that out. I wish you could make it to where it automatically picks the correct emulator for the rom you choose. Kinda aggravating. Thanks again though.
 
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godreborn

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awsome229 said:
Yep, I just figured that out. I wish you could make it to where it automatically picks the correct emulator for the rom you choose. Kinda aggravating. Thanks again though.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure newer Retroarch does this on other systems, but I don't know about 3ds' .
 
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awsome229 said:
Yep, I just figured that out. I wish you could make it to where it automatically picks the correct emulator for the rom you choose. Kinda aggravating. Thanks again though.
Click to expand...
Nice. Glad you got to the bottom of it.
And, yeah. Not to mention slow as molasses. There are much quicker, more convenient, user-friendly ways to emulate games on the 3DS, while utilizing some of the RetroArch built-in cores/emulators when needed.
 
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godreborn said:
I'm pretty sure newer Retroarch does this on other systems, but I don't know about 3ds' .
Click to expand...
The RetroArch 3DS UI is nothing like any other version of it I've seen. Usually its UI is an XMB set-up, similar to the PS3, and it's pretty quick and snappy. The 3DS version, "Lib-Retro", is nothing like that. It's kind of an abomination, if you ask me. But its cores occasionally come in handy for other programs that work a lot better.
 

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