First official build of RetroArch for the Nintendo Switch out now

D6D0FEBC-2D43-4E51-B578-AF0FB2C831D2.jpeg

The evolution of the Nintendo Switch hacking scene takes a major step forward with the impending release of RetroArch, a wildly popular emulator frontend. Known for being on nearly every possible platform under the sun, RetroArch’s development team has brought about the first official build of a version for the Nintendo Switch. If you install it onto your Switch, you can expect features like savestates, OpenGL support, and even netplay. The usual suspects of games from the NES, SNES, and GBA run well, and there’s even PS1 titles booting, to various results. RetroArch has already been running on the Switch in the past, (through Lakka) but this will be the first officially supported version by the Libretro team, and means that active development will include a Nintendo Switch version with each major update. A full version is scheduled to drop soon, with a nightly build at the link below.


:download: Source
 

the_randomizer

The Temp's official fox whisperer
Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
31,284
Trophies
2
Age
38
Location
Dr. Wahwee's castle
XP
18,969
Country
United States
Hey, the WiiU still has PPSSPP the ability to play both GC and Wii games with gamepad controls, something the Switch Will unlikely do, like ever.

It's a shame PPSSPP for Wii U hasn't been updated in some time, though :unsure: I'm still on the fence about trying the Switch port of this. This could be my go to method soon.
 

tpax

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2014
Messages
532
Trophies
0
Age
44
XP
3,020
Country
Ukraine
Why do we write a blogpost where we tell u the settings if u dont read it anyway?

Good job!

Maybe you can give me a hint according an issue with a certain shader(s) on a Gambatte GB emulator.
I'd really love to play my original GB games with a certain shader on (retroarch/shaders/handheld/console-border/gb-dmg-*.glslp). If I activate the shader while the Switch is docked, it runs perfectly fine. If I do so, while the switch is in handheld mode, it runs terribly slow (1-2 FPS at max).
Do you think it may be a bug, or is it because of the lovver CPU/GPU frequencies?
 

m4xw

Ancient Deity
Developer
Joined
May 25, 2018
Messages
2,442
Trophies
1
Age
119
XP
6,958
Country
Germany
Good job!

Maybe you can give me a hint according an issue with a certain shader(s) on a Gambatte GB emulator.
I'd really love to play my original GB games with a certain shader on (retroarch/shaders/handheld/console-border/gb-dmg-*.glslp). If I activate the shader while the Switch is docked, it runs perfectly fine. If I do so, while the switch is in handheld mode, it runs terribly slow (1-2 FPS at max).
Do you think it may be a bug, or is it because of the lovver CPU/GPU frequencies?
Switch Docked | Switch Non-Docked | Shield ATV or Lakka (OC)
CPU: 1020 MHz | 1020 MHz | 2 GHz
GPU: 768 MHz | 307.2 MHz | 1 GHz
MEM: 1600 MHz | 1331 MHz | 1600 MHz

I hope this explains it enough, you answered that yourself
 
  • Like
Reactions: tpax

tpax

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2014
Messages
532
Trophies
0
Age
44
XP
3,020
Country
Ukraine
I hope this explains it enough, you answered that yourself
Well, yea, thanks.

I just thought, it's not like it runs 50% slovver, more like it runs 99% slovver undocked. But the calculation probably isn't linear, so that's probably it.
 

Clydefrosch

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
6,024
Trophies
2
XP
4,626
Country
Germany
I'm dreading the days I have to update this. transfering the files to sd is estimated to take over an hour on my system with all the small files and whatnot.
 

Awstoned

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
May 14, 2018
Messages
97
Trophies
0
Age
34
XP
327
Country
United States
Why do we write a blogpost where we tell u the settings if u dont read it anyway?
Why make a comment and act like your superior??
when you could have just said “yea it’s in the blog post”

Fucking hombrew messiah complex.
 

m4xw

Ancient Deity
Developer
Joined
May 25, 2018
Messages
2,442
Trophies
1
Age
119
XP
6,958
Country
Germany
Why make a comment and act like your superior??
when you could have just said “yea it’s in the blog post”

Fucking hombrew messiah complex.
No I am just a ass thats tired of hearing the same questions over and over.
So you know there is even a entry under "Help" in the application that says you get a performance boost when enabling it.
 

Awstoned

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
May 14, 2018
Messages
97
Trophies
0
Age
34
XP
327
Country
United States
No I am just a ass thats tired of hearing the same questions over and over.
So you know there is even a entry under "Help" in the application that says you get a performance boost when enabling it.
Thanks for the help

Appreciate your teams work
 

zeveroth

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
Messages
206
Trophies
1
XP
849
Country
United States
I almost got excited when I read the thread title and it said official, then I was like, nvm, this isn't Nintendo allowing it. Good job anyway....
 

Noctosphere

Nova's Guardian
Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2013
Messages
6,760
Trophies
3
Age
30
Location
Biblically accurate Hell
XP
18,755
Country
Canada
I almost got excited when I read the thread title and it said official, then I was like, nvm, this isn't Nintendo allowing it. Good job anyway....
haha, of course it's not Nintendo
But it still is official ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: zeveroth

JEWUNIT

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
1
Trophies
0
Age
33
XP
110
Country
United States
Thanx for the news. This is why I hacked my switch. Emulators are awesome. I have a couple of questions.

  1. What is the core I need to choose for Nintendo DS emulation? I can't seem to get DS roms to display.
  2. What is the save type does retroarch use? I'm mostly playing GB (and it's series) and DS, but my pc emulators only accept .sav save types (just incase I want to switch between the switch emulator and PC emulators).
  3. If it doesn't use .sav files, is there a way to convert what every file type to .sav?
 

bottmint

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Oct 28, 2017
Messages
91
Trophies
0
Age
31
XP
385
Country
United States
Thanx for the news. This is why I hacked my switch. Emulators are awesome. I have a couple of questions.

  1. What is the core I need to choose for Nintendo DS emulation? I can't seem to get DS roms to display.
  2. What is the save type does retroarch use? I'm mostly playing GB (and it's series) and DS, but my pc emulators only accept .sav save types (just incase I want to switch between the switch emulator and PC emulators).
  3. If it doesn't use .sav files, is there a way to convert what every file type to .sav?
1) There isn't a DS core in the homebrew Retroarch. There's one in lakka.
2) I believe it's .svm. You can look in retroarch/cores/savefiles to find out for sure.
3) There should be a way to convert it. Google for (whatever format retroarch uses) to sav converter and you should find something.
 

freevil

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
71
Trophies
0
Age
47
XP
277
Country
United Kingdom
1) There isn't a DS core in the homebrew Retroarch. There's one in lakka.
2) I believe it's .svm. You can look in retroarch/cores/savefiles to find out for sure.
3) There should be a way to convert it. Google for (whatever format retroarch uses) to sav converter and you should find something.


Sorry for the off question, but, I have a problem with the mupen64plus Nintendo 64 core in retroarch which it wont load .z64 roms. It black screens then returns to title screen. Should I be looking for extension .n64 or others? If so, which? Thanks!
 

bottmint

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
Oct 28, 2017
Messages
91
Trophies
0
Age
31
XP
385
Country
United States
Sorry for the off question, but, I have a problem with the mupen64plus Nintendo 64 core in retroarch which it wont load .z64 roms. It black screens then returns to title screen. Should I be looking for extension .n64 or others? If so, which? Thanks!
I've had no issue loading any of the 3 extensions mupen supports. Test your rom on a different platform, or redump it.
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    Skelletonike @ Skelletonike: Welp, already have 40h in Stellar Blade and dying to home and put some more.